Chapter 6: Emergency Family Meeting

Somehow, it felt a little strange.

Usually, I rarely leave my room.

The main reason is not about my mobility but because I simply don’t have a reason to go out.

Meals are prepared separately by my mother or the housekeeper and brought to my room. As for the bathroom, my room has a private one, specially remodeled to accommodate my wheelchair.

Above all, my lifestyle, which involves gaming mostly at night until dawn, differs significantly from the rest of my family. Naturally, I rarely encountered other family members apart from my mother.

It’s precisely because of this routine that I didn’t feel any sense of incongruity until now.

Everything had been the same as usual.

But, considering what had happened to me, things shouldn’t have been normal.

“I thought Mom would’ve said something by now…”

Of course, I couldn’t blame my mother.

I could understand the emotions she must have felt about not yet informing the family of my situation.

“If anyone’s to blame, it’s me.”

I had left everything for my mother to handle while I spent this time gaming.

Looking back now, I realized how little sense of urgency I had.

The time was already 2 a.m.

Given that tomorrow was a weekday, and my father and younger sibling had work and school respectively, it felt far too early to drop such a significant bombshell.

“Can’t we just do this tomorrow? Everyone’s asleep right now.”

“No, it has to be now,” my mother said firmly.

“Do you still need the wheelchair?”

“No, I can walk.”

Hearing my response, I saw a small shimmer of moisture pass across my mother’s eyes.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Knock, knock

“Wake up.”

The lights throughout the house flicked on as my mother woke my father and sibling.

“What’s going on? What’s the matter?”

“Please get up. I have something to say.”

Sensing something unusual in her tone, my father got up without any objections.

“Wake up.”

“Mmm… What time is it?”

“Two o’clock.”

“T-Two? Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”

“It’s 2 a.m.”

“…What?”

“There’s something I need to say. Please get up.”

After some grumbling, my sibling finally managed to get out of bed.

“Everyone, sit here.”

“Mom, what is it? Why are you waking us up like this? I have class first thing tomorrow morning!”

“What’s going on?”

For the first time in a while, the entire family gathered around the dining table.

“There’s something important I need to tell you.”

When my mother gave a subtle glance, my father and sibling’s eyes naturally shifted to me, sitting in the corner.

“Uh, um… Who is this person? You should have mentioned we had a guest.”

“Wow… Uh, hello. Haha.”

My father and sibling froze momentarily upon noticing me.

Well, I could understand how they felt.

Even now, I still get startled whenever my reflection appears on my darkened monitor screen.

“It’s Eugene.”

“…What?”

“What do you mean by that?”

At my mother’s sudden and explosive remark, both my father and sibling looked utterly dumbfounded.

“She’s Eugene.”

With my mother’s firm declaration, their gazes shifted sequentially back to me.

“Eugene? What do you mean by that?”

“Why are you bringing up my brother’s name here?”

“Sigh…”

Faced with their confusion, my mother took a deep breath.

“I’ll start from the beginning and explain everything step by step.”

She then began to speak slowly.

“Eugene had a seizure.”

“…What? Where is Eugene right now? Is he at the hospital? Why are you only telling us this now?!”

“What about him? Is he okay?”

“Eugene is fine… probably.”

“Probably? What does that even mean—”

My mother interrupted my father mid-sentence.

Then, she turned her gaze toward me.

“Are you okay?”

She was passing the baton to me now?

“Uh… um, yeah.”

My father and sibling, clearly confused by the surreal situation, couldn’t hide their unease either.

“What does this person have to do with Eugene? …Oh, is she his nurse?”

“Nurse? She looks younger than me. Isn’t she a foreigner?”

My mother interjected.

“This person is Eugene.”

“…What are you even saying? Speak in a way that makes sense.”

There was a noticeable sharpness in my father’s tone.

He was visibly irritated by the situation.

Well, being woken up abruptly in the middle of the night and bombarded with confusing statements was enough to test anyone’s patience.

“I am speaking clearly. It’s hard to believe, but this person is Eugene.”

“Are you telling me this woman is my son Eugene? What the—”

“Yes.”

“…Right.”

Flinch.

My father gave me a once-over, shook his head as though struggling to comprehend, and then asked,

“Why? You must have a reason for thinking this.”

My mother took another deep breath and began recounting everything that had happened just a few hours ago.

“When I got home, this girl was collapsed in Eugene’s room. Eugene wasn’t there.”

“…And then?”

“When I woke her up, she claimed to be Eugene.”

“…And you believed that?”

“I couldn’t believe it at first either. But… she is Eugene.”

My father looked bewildered but still tried his best to listen to my mother’s explanation.

“Did you try looking for Eugene?”

“He wasn’t at home. And he’s not someone who could just go out on his own.”

“What about the front door security camera? Did you check it? Someone might have taken him outside.”

“No one came or went. No one entered, and no one left. All the windows were locked from the inside, too.”

“That’s… strange.”

At that moment, my sibling, unable to hold back any longer, interjected.

“Wait, what is going on? Why don’t we just ask her directly? Hey, pretty lady. What’s your relationship with my brother?”

What relationship? I am your brother.

Of course, I couldn’t say that outright, so I hesitated for a moment.

‘What should I say?’

Introducing myself to someone else is already challenging.

And now, I had to give a briefing to prove that I am Eugene Lee.

Still, it wouldn’t be impossible.

Because right now, I had the most reliable ally standing beside me.

“Yuri.”

My mother called my sibling softly and placed a sheet of paper on the dining table.

It was a formidable weapon to end this tedious back-and-forth in one blow.

[DNA Test Report]

The moment my mother handed the paper to my father and sibling, the entire household was thrown into chaos.

“Uh… What is this?”

“A paternity test between Eugene and me. I got it done earlier today.”

“So… Mom, you’re saying that girl is Eugene?”

“That’s right.”

“What?!”

My father’s booming voice echoed as he processed the explosive information.

The piece of paper my mother had presented held an undeniable, destructive power.

“Seriously… this person—no, this girl is my brother?”

“Yes. Just to be certain, I sent samples to multiple labs. All of them confirmed a match.”

I didn’t know she had gone to such lengths.

Should I call it thoroughness? It was more meticulous than I expected.

“So… uh, are you really my brother?”

“Yes, I am.”

My short response seemed to shock my sibling further, their expression morphing into pure astonishment.

“Haha… This is pretty funny. What kind of surprise is this?”

“Yuri.”

“Mom, no matter how I think about it, this doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t we be looking for my brother instead? Did you file a police report? Wait, is my brother hiding in his room? I’ll go check!”

Even with the undeniable evidence of a DNA test, convincing them wasn’t going to be easy.

“Yuri Lee.”

When I called my sibling’s name, they flinched after opening my door and confirming that no one was inside.

“Huh? What is it?”

“That trip you mentioned to Gapyeong with just the girls—there were boys there too, weren’t there?”

“W-What? How do you know that? No, wait, even my brother wouldn’t have known about that!”

“I pretended not to know.”

My sibling averted their gaze.

“You’re definitely not my brother. My brother wasn’t two-faced like this. Mom!”

“Yuri…”

My mother looked at my sibling with a sad smile.

“Let’s talk about Gapyeong tomorrow, okay?”

“…This is the worst. Totally screwed.”

Watching this brief argument unfold, my father finally intervened.

“Ahem. So, you had a seizure, and when you woke up, this is what happened?”

“Yes. I’m sure it was different from my usual seizures.”

“And you found this woman—or rather, Eugene—collapsed and woke her up?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm.”

My father nodded slowly.

“Circumstantial evidence, physical proof… well, there’s no problem then.”

“Dad!”

“You stay out of this. And what’s this about going to Gapyeong with a bunch of guys?”

“Th-There were girls too! If anything, there were more girls than—”

“Quiet!”

“…”

My father turned his gaze to my mother.

“Oh, and I’ll be doing a paternity test with her too. No objections, right?”

“What? Why?”

My father spoke playfully.

“She could be a secret daughter you’ve been hiding from me. If we’re doing this, we should be thorough.”

“What did you just say?”

My mother’s voice turned sharp.

Sensing that something was wrong, my father tried to recover, but the damage was already done.

“It was just a joke! Why are you so sensitive?”

“Is this really the time for jokes? And that test—you’re doing it. No excuses. Got it?”

My father is great, but he always has to say one word too many.

‘That’s going to be three years—no, five years of trouble.’

If anyone exemplifies the phrase “digging your own grave,” it’s my dad.

“Honey? I’m sorry. I messed up. You know me, right? I just like to joke around.”

And so, the emergency family meeting came to an end.

Of course, it didn’t seem like my father or sibling completely believed everything yet, but I trust that time will sort things out.

In just a few hours, I felt like I had been to heaven and hell.

At last, I had truly returned home.