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Chapter 345: Mayfly (4)

"Alright, I\'ll do that."

Hoping to bring back her memory, I told her everything I knew. After hearing how I signed a contract with Haru and helped him debut, Natalia seemed to let her guard down a little.

"My husband\'s name was Lee Hyung-Moon?"

"You really don\'t remember that name?"

"No. I only remember being terrified of him hitting me and running away from him. I remember nothing else."

"Then do you not remember your son\'s name, Haru? He\'s been on TV a lot recently."

"No, I had no idea until you mentioned it. I don\'t watch TV at all, so..."

"I understand. Now it\'s your turn, Ms. Natalia. What exactly happened to you during that time?"

At that moment, Kim Chul-Soo lowered his guard and stepped in. "I\'ll explain. I remember that day more vividly than she does."

After apologizing for the misunderstanding, Kim Chul-Soo began to recount the past.

Five years ago, Natalia was involved in a hit-and-run accident in front of the nursing hospital.

Fortunately, Kim Chul-Soo found her at the scene of the accident while returning home early in the morning. He immediately brought her to the hospital and she barely survived after emergency surgery.

Natalia was in a coma for two months and only remembered fleeing from her husband when she woke up. She had forgotten everything else.

Kim Chul-Soo explained he treated Natalia with dedication and concluded his story. "I wanted to help her find her identity, but she panicked every time I tried. So we were never able to go to the police."

Natalia nodded. "I was afraid I\'d be dragged back to my husband if I went to the police..."

Thanks to Kim Chul-Soo and Lee Jung-Mi\'s help, Natalia had been able to live without leaving a trace.

Kim Chul-Soo paid Natalia\'s salary in cash, and Lee Jung-Mi rented a studio apartment for Natalia under her name.

\'No wonder it had been so hard to find any trace of Natalia. It finally all makes sense,\' I thought.

After hearing the story, I bowed to Kim Chul-Soo and thanked him.

Then, I asked Natalia to meet Haru. After all, she was the only one who could protect him completely from his father\'s abuse.

"My husband... is now threatening my son?" Natalia asked with worry in her eyes.

When I told her that Lee Hyung-Moon was trying to extort money from Haru, Natalia began to cry.

"Don\'t blame yourself. It\'s not your fault, Ms. Yung-Hee," Kim Chul-Soo consoled her.

However, Natalia shook her head. "No. No matter how hard my life was, I should have protected my child. I should have... but I... I... I abandoned my son and ran away on my own. And now this..."

As Natalia\'s guilt began to deepen, I told her that she had left Haru in the care of the village before she left. "Before you left the village, you left a letter with Sae-Ri\'s grandmother. You said you would come back for Haru after earning enough money. You asked her to take care of him until then."

I called Sae-Ri\'s grandmother to prove I was telling the truth.

When Sae-Ri\'s grandmother picked up the call, an excited voice came through.

-Team Lead Jung, have you found Natalia?

"Yes, I\'ve found her."

-Oh my! That\'s wonderful! Such wonderful news!

Sae-Ri\'s grandmother hummed joyfully. However, when I told her that Haru\'s mother had lost her memory, her tone turned sorrowful.

-Natalia lost her memory? Why? How?

"I\'ll explain later. But for now, could you ask Sae-Ri\'s father if he could do a video call with us?"

Hoping that it might help Natalia recover some memories, I suggested a video call.

-Just a moment, Team Lead Jung.

After a brief conversation, the screen switched. Sae-Ri\'s grandfather, grandmother, and parents were all in a car on their way to Seoul.

-You\'ve found her!

-You really found her?

-Oh my goodness! Natalia!

-Natalia~ it\'s me. Do you remember?

They all cheered the moment the four of them saw Haru\'s mom, saying they had finally found her.

Sae-Ri\'s grandmother in particular burst into tears and cried out.

-Oh, Natalia. Don\'t you really remember my face? I\'m your mom!

"You\'re...my mom...?"

-Yes. You said you\'d be my daughter because you were lonely without a mom. You don\'t remember?

"I... don\'t remember."

At that moment, Natalia began to cry and clutched her chest in sorrow.

She spoke with Sae-Ri\'s family for a while but ended the call without recalling anything. She said they felt familiar but she couldn\'t remember them, and she started crying again. "It all feels so familiar... Everyone seems so familiar... but I just can\'t remember..."

Lee Jung-Mi hugged her shoulders. "Ms. Yung-Hee, that\'s enough. You don\'t need to remember everything at once."

Natalia sobbed. "N-no, Ms. Jung-Mi. Just a little more... just a little... Haru, my son, is being threatened by his father. I need to do something."

"But what if you collapse? Do you know how you look right now?"

It was clear that recalling memories wasn\'t easy for her as her face had gone pale.

It seemed like we\'d have to delay asking for Natalia\'s help for now. No matter how urgent Haru\'s situation was, it wasn\'t more important than Natalia\'s health.

I would have to fight with the evidence I had and hope that Haru\'s mom would get better.

At that moment, Natalia suddenly grabbed my arm. "The final stage. Can we still make it if we go now?"

There were still 20 minutes left before the third stage started. The broadcast would last for another 1 hour and 20 minutes, so we could just make it if we left now.

"That\'s possible, but...I think it would be better for you to rest first."

Natalia shook her head. "No. I can\'t abandon my son twice. If you don\'t take me, I\'ll go by taxi."

Although she didn\'t remember Haru, Natalia was clearly aware that she was his mother. She started moving completely differently from a moment ago.

Eventually, I reluctantly agreed.

The moment Natalia showed her determination, Kim Chul-Soo spoke to me. "Then I\'ll come with you too. It\'s better to have a doctor present in case anything happens. Please wait a moment."

Kim Chul-Soo quickly ran back into the hospital.

In the meantime, Lee Jung-Mi wiped Natalia\'s tears. "Ms. Yung-Hee, don\'t push yourself too hard. Your memory will return one day, so stay positive."

"Yes, I will."

A moment later, Kim Chul-Soo returned with a medical bag. "Let\'s go."

"Yes, sir."

I drove Kim Chul-Soo and Natalia from Suwon to Seoul.

***

We barely made it to the TVM studio, with ten minutes left till the broadcast ended.

After parking and entering the studio, the cooking had already finished and they were preparing for the evaluation.

Haru had served bean sprout salad as the appetizer. As for the main dish, he presented grilled Andong short ribs and deboned Andong mackerel. For dessert, he made an apple crumble using apples from Andong.

Most of his dishes were made with ingredients easily found in Haru\'s hometown.

In contrast, Lee Jin-Taek prepared a royal dish, tarak porridge, as an appetizer, followed by galbitang and pyeonsu[1] as the main dishes. For dessert, he served iced persimmon on a black lacquer tray adorned with mother-of-pearl.

Haru\'s simplicity and Lee Jin-Taek\'s grandeur were opposites in every way.

While the two were waiting for their food to be judged, I headed to the backseat of the staff area next to the stage.

Lee Yung-Jin, who was watching the stage, was surprised to see Natalia. "Is, is this her?"

"Yes. This is Haru\'s mother, Ms. Natalia."

Lee Yung-Jin lowered his voice since they were in the middle of filming. "I\'m glad you\'re here. Haru has been waiting for this moment."

Natalia nodded with tears welling up in her eyes. Then she turned her gaze to the set without a word. Almost instinctively, her eyes fixed on Haru who was filming.

Meanwhile, Baek Jong-Suk\'s final evaluation began with Haru\'s turn first. "Mr. Haru, this is your final meal. Who did you prepare today\'s dishes for?"

Haru took a deep breath and answered. "I made this meal for someone who gave me hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes."

Something seemed off. I thought he was making this meal for his mother, but he was saying it was for someone who gave him hope.

\'Ah, he must mean he found hope even when struggling thanks to his mom,\' I thought.

Baek Jong-Suk smiled. "You like speaking in riddles. That\'s fine. What about the dishes you presented in the semifinals? They were Russian cuisine."

Haru nodded. "They were for someone who taught me the importance of family. So I wanted to serve them the family dishes I learned from my mom."

\'Wait a minute. If he wanted to serve his mom\'s cooking to someone else, does that mean it\'s for a different person? No way... it couldn\'t be?\' I pondered.

Baek Jong-Suk smiled. "Then is this third meal also for the same person?"

"Yes. I put my all into it. It\'s my first time making a course meal."

"Is there a special meaning behind it?"

"I put my earnest hope into it, asking that they stay with me until the end since we started out together."

Baek Jong-Suk looked pleased. "Whoever that is must be very lucky to hear such a heartfelt confession from you, Mr. Haru. Now, please tell us. Who is this person?"

Haru answered with a shy expression. "It\'s my talent agent, Yoon-Ho hyung."

My head buzzed for a moment. \'Could it really be that all those dishes today were for me?

\'

I felt grateful, shocked, and utterly baffled at the same time.

I had been so convinced that it was all for his mother because he had kept it such a secret, but I was wrong.

\'It was for me!\' I realized.

Suddenly, all the efforts I had made throughout the day to help Haru didn\'t seem in vain.

At that moment, Haru turned his head and waved at me. "Yoon-Ho hyung, thank you~"

Simultaneously, the cameras all turned toward me.

That\'s when Haru\'s eyes met Natalia\'s. "Mom...?"

Haru\'s wavering gaze shifted to me next, asking what was going on with his eyes.

At that moment, Natalia standing next to me started crying and spoke. "Moye sokrovishche..."

Natalia muttered something incomprehensible and then collapsed toward me, losing consciousness.

***

Haru\'s mother fainting caused a commotion.

"Call 119! Call 119, now!"

Even though it was a live broadcast, a commercial break started which gave us about five minutes to handle the situation.

"Control room! Edit out that scene immediately and give us three minutes! We\'ll handle it fast."

The moment Jo Han-Ill urgently instructed the control room, the studio cameras 1 and 2 turned toward us.

I gently laid Haru\'s mother down on the floor.

Kim Chul-Soo, who had come with us, carefully checked her condition.

I didn\'t know what was going on, but I knew what I needed to do.

I urged Lee Yung-Jin who was standing by in a daze. "Yung-Jin, I\'ll stay here. You go to Haru quickly."

"Yes, sir."

Lee Yung-Jin quickly ran to the set to comfort Haru standing there frozen.

In the midst of the murmuring commotion, Kim Chul-Soo conducted a few tests before finally sighing in relief. "We\'ll need to confirm with a CT scan, but it seems she fainted from temporary shock."

As soon as the doctor made his assessment, the staff let out a collective sigh of relief.

I immediately asked Kim Chul-Soo for help. "Mr. Kim, please take Haru\'s mother to the hospital. I\'ll come by after the broadcast."

After a moment of consideration, Kim Chul-Soo nodded. "I\'ll take her to the hospital and contact you after checking her condition. As for having Ms. Yung-Hee and Mr. Haru meet, let\'s decide after assessing the patient\'s condition."

"Okay. I\'ll follow your advice."

Watching Kim Chul-Soo provide emergency care, I fell into deep thought. \'She must have regained her memory.\'

I didn\'t know how much she had remembered, but it was clear she had recognized Haru.

\'But what does "Moye sokrovishche" mean?\' I wondered.

I couldn\'t even search for it because I had no idea how to spell it out.

At that moment, the pale-faced Haru holding Lee Yung-Jin\'s hand walked over.

With a dazed expression, Haru spoke. "Moye sokrovishche... It\'s something my mom used to say to me all the time."

Even after being apart for years, his voice was filled with longing as if his feelings for his mother had never faded.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

Tears streaming down his face, Haru spoke again. "It means... my treasure."

1. square-shaped mandu (dumpling) in Korean cuisine ☜