_Before I judge, I just want to bring him back._
_Before I hate him, I want to ask him first._
_I want to get you back._
_I want to take back the only thing in my life that was ever truly mine._
But…
"Sister."
A stranger's voice called out.
It was only then that Seoryeong realized she was standing in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary.
"...!"
_Strange._
She blinked rapidly in disbelief.
The statue, which should have only appeared blurry, now looked as if it were real before her eyes.
_If I get a little closer… it seems like it will be clearer._
It was a feeling she hadn't experienced since her symptoms began.
_It looks like I can see._
Impossible.
Even so, the strange sensation made her rub her eyes and step forward.
"Sister, your nose is bleeding…!"
The old priest's face immediately turned pale.
"Ah…"
With a vacant stare, Seoryeong grabbed a leaflet attached to the statue and pressed it haphazardly against her nose to stop the bleeding.
"Your face looks very pale. This… is really not good…"
"It's alright. Thank you."
She hurriedly turned around.
But then, with her cane planted on the floor, she turned back towards the old priest.
"Father, do you really believe in things that cannot be seen?"
Even though the question was sudden and sharp, the priest didn't look surprised.
Seoryeong's lips trembled, her body thin and looking so tired. But her posture remained upright, making the priest's eyes stay fixed on her.
"I'm sorry, but… maybe you're being deceived. Don't end up being a fool like me. Please, open your eyes quickly."
"Sister, not everything needs to be seen to be believed."
"That could just be a delusion…!"
"Does one need a reason to believe in something?"
Her breath hitched as she roughly swept the hair sticking to her face.
The anxiety and disbelief that had clung to her like unremovable dirt finally burst forth. She couldn't stop her mouth.
"I don't know. It's precisely because I don't know that I'm like this!"
Seoryeong bowed halfway, gripping her cane tightly as if nauseous. She coughed lightly, and a burning sensation spread through her dry throat.
"I don't even know his face, but I still fell in love with him. Because of his hands… the warmest and largest hands I had ever held. I thought… he was my savior. I couldn't help but like him. Of course…! All this time, I had only held the stiff hands of patients, and for the first time… those hands were **different**…!"
"..."
"There was no one like him in my life before…"
This time, she wiped away the tears that flowed, not the blood from her nose.
Her eyes felt hot, and the words she had never said to anyone finally escaped her lips.
"I just want to know… if he's getting enough sleep, if he's eating well, just trivial things like that are all I think about. If I look even a little tired, he panics and doesn't know what to do."
"..."
"To me… he was a **miracle**."
However, life can knock you to the ground in an instant.
And she had forgotten that for too long.
"He disappeared… Like he just evaporated…"
Seoryeong laughed bitterly.
The pain in her chest that came for no reason now felt familiar.
_I want to find you._
_I can't just give up and end it like this._
"For some reason, all of that came to me too easily."
Her colorless face still looked bewildered, as if she still couldn't believe reality. She stood there, leaning on only one cane, completely lost.
"But, Sister… perhaps, today's meeting is the will of God."
The old priest, who had been listening silently, took the leaflet from Seoryeong's hand and opened it slowly, attentively.
> "Matthew 7:7—Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you."
Seoryeong listened to the quote silently and accepted the leaflet that was handed to her.
And it wasn't a hallucination.
Still blurry, yes… but as if the fog covering her vision was slowly beginning to fade.
Startled, she blinked rapidly.
---
After going through various instruments, finally a round flashlight shone into Seoryeong's eyes.
The ophthalmologist constantly tilted his head, as if finding it strange. He even held his head, complaining softly, "Sss, haa…"
"Patient, you said you started being able to see objects a few days ago?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't make sense…"
She was just as confused as the doctor.
When she was first diagnosed with retinal degeneration, the reasons given were genetic factors, or sometimes such things could just happen. Illness didn't come with a warning, and even though it was painful, it was still acceptable.
_Something like this 'could' happen to me too._
But this… what is it?
"This… seems like it should be reported to the academic community first."
"Is it that serious?"
"Yes. Throughout my career as an ophthalmologist, I have never seen a case like this."
Although it had been happening for several weeks, her previously blurred vision began to improve.
This wasn't a delusion.
Even now, she could still vaguely distinguish the doctor's facial features. It felt like if she wore corrective glasses, her vision would become clearer.
Her heart began to race quickly.
Before, it felt like the world had collapsed into an abyss, but now everything felt like it was turning upside down.
_Her husband disappeared, and the fog in her vision vanished…_
It was too coincidental to be just a coincidence.
_Could it be that God truly exists, and justly gives illness and medicine in turns?_
_And now, He was taking both back?_
"Is it possible that my eyes weren't actually sick?"
Seoryeong opened her mouth, not even knowing for sure what she was asking.
"What does that mean?"
She didn't know either.
But somehow, her husband's disappearance and this strange occurrence felt interconnected.
_What is the connection between his disappearance and these eyes?_
But the retinal degeneration came on suddenly… and then just left.
It felt like Kim Hyeon.
He appeared when she was at the lowest point in her life, and now, when she felt most broken, the light of vision returned.
Lately, her mind was full of things that felt nonsensical. Even the policeman's shouting at her to go to the hospital now sounded like advice worth considering.
"When I was first diagnosed, the doctor said I wouldn't be able to recover."
"That's true. This disease is almost incurable. I see from your medical records that the condition progressed rapidly. But now, you're actually starting to recover."
The doctor rubbed his chin and spoke carefully.
"The first time you were diagnosed… was two and a half years ago, right?"
"Yes."
"It feels like it was just a temporary condition."
While listening to the doctor's suspicious explanation, Seoryeong looked around the examination room.
"This definitely needs further research… But if the function of the optic nerve and retina was temporarily halted, and then returned to normal due to some kind of paralysis subsiding… Theoretically, it's not entirely unreasonable."
"...!"
"But still, this is a case that even I, as a doctor, have never heard of. First, it's very difficult to 'temporarily' paralyze the optic nerve. In fact, making someone blind is easier. If it's like this, it means something was periodically affecting the optic nerve—"
The doctor shrugged lightly.
"That's… quite **malicious**, even if only in theory."
_Yes… that's right._
She could only grip her cane tightly.
Once a week, her husband would always put eye drops in for her.
With his presence, she didn't feel sad or lonely.
When she blinked so that the medicine would spread evenly to the whites of her eyes, her husband would immediately kiss her eyelids gently.
"If the recovery ability is like this, you might be able to regain your former vision. Let's monitor the progress!"
The doctor clenched his fist enthusiastically.
Seoryeong, who was touching the corner of her eye, asked softly.
"By the way, has the doctor who was treating me been replaced?"
"Ah, that…!"
The doctor seemed to remember something and lightly pushed up his glasses.
"I'm sorry, I was late in explaining. I'm filling in for Dr. Park. He got a great opportunity and starting this semester has been appointed as a professor at Johns Hopkins University."
"..."
Her husband didn't leave alone.
For some reason, when her husband disappeared, many people around her also vanished.
_Is this also just a made-up thought?_
Now, she wanted to know the **real** answer.
Not a guess or an assumption, but a definite answer.
She wanted to find the thread that could connect all the scattered pieces.
But, she felt that no one—neither the police, the priest, nor the doctor—could explain all these oddities.
---
"His name is fake, his workplace, his car's license plate number are also fake. So the resident registration number is useless too. After all, that's also fake. The CCTV inside the villa and in the alley are all gone. The neighbors who lived in the villa also suddenly disappeared, so there are no witnesses. But… can you still find my husband?"
The voice that spoke the truth sounded very flat.
The agent from the missing persons service gaped for a moment, then immediately smiled.
Although his tone was cynical and showed no hope at all, the desperate expression on her face actually aroused his curiosity.
The agent's small, narrow eyes gleamed with competitive spirit.
"It will be difficult, but it seems interesting. The fee starts from four million won, is that alright?"
Seoryeong simply nodded expressionlessly.