With her name, face, and a certain amount of influence already known, it wasn't difficult to track down her identity or where she lived.
The police kept pressing Minsoo to give his testimony, but every time he came up with excuses that weren't convincing at all—for a reason only he himself knew.
Late at night, on a quiet street in a modest neighborhood, the silence was so profound that even the faint footsteps of the few people passing by a small grocery store on the corner could be heard.
A black car pulled up beside the store. A man stepped out and walked inside with slow, steady steps.
He pushed the door open quietly. The shop owner, a middle-aged woman, eyed him suspiciously. After all, there was nothing normal about his appearance; his face was completely hidden beneath a cap and a mask. She kept watching his unsettling movements as he wandered through the aisles. His calmness itself felt threatening. He didn't touch a single product. He simply walked around with no apparent purpose.
As he wandered, he occasionally glanced at her, carefully observing her growing unease: the stiffness in her movements, the tremble in her eyes, the way she pressed her lips together until the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes became pronounced.
He had succeeded in provoking her.
That was exactly what he wanted.
She slammed her hand onto the counter and shouted,
"You! You've been wandering around for ten minutes without even touching a single item. Get out of my store, or I'll call the police."
"Ma'am, do whatever you want... you'll be the one who loses either way."
The moment she heard his voice, a chill raced through her entire body.
She recognized it.
She had memorized it.
There was no way she could mistake it.
She began studying every visible detail: the shape of his neck, the color of his skin, the way he spoke, even the smallest of his movements.
She covered her mouth in shock.
"My God... Is that really you? Can it be...? Thank heavens... Minsoo."
He slowly approached her, each step calm and deliberate, almost like a graceful dance. When he reached the counter, he rested both hands on it and leaned toward her.
She closed her eyes, tilted her face toward him, and pressed her lips together. Her obsession with him was so overwhelming that the slightest closeness was enough to send her into bliss.
He noticed.
He simply didn't care.
Leaning toward her ear, he whispered,
"I remember you very well."
He took a deep breath before continuing.
"There's something we need to talk about... but the security cameras might get in the way."
To her, Minsoo's words were no different from commands.
With a single press of a button, she turned off the surveillance cameras.
Thoughtfully, she even locked the shop's front door.
Minsoo stepped back and took off his jacket.
The woman moved closer, reaching out as if trying to touch him.
"I can't believe you're really here. I knew... somehow, I knew you'd sensed how much I loved you. You came to see me yourself. Tell me... do you love me the way I love you?"
Minsoo let out a long sigh.
Then, in a voice filled with anguish, he shouted,
"What love are you talking about, ma'am?
I never had a family to teach me what love is.
But I do know one thing.
Someone who truly loves doesn't hurt the person they love.
Anything else is nothing more than pretending... or blindly following the crowd."
He violently lifted his shirt, exposing the scars left by the two stab wounds that had nearly taken his life.
The moment she saw them, she collapsed onto the floor.
"Was it really... that terrible? Who dared to do something like that to you?"
Minsoo laughed bitterly.
"That's exactly why I came.
I want an answer.
Why did you do this to me?"
Her voice trembled.
"No... no... please don't accuse me of something so horrible. It wasn't me."
Minsoo shouted,
"Stop denying it!
Every piece of evidence points to you.
I'm not a detective.
I'm not a judge.
I didn't come here to sentence you.
I came for one answer.
Have we ever met?
Did we ever have a conversation?"
Still sitting on the floor, she nodded weakly.
"Yes...
At the beginning of your group's career...
You asked me if we could exchange shoes.
I still remember it."
"How could I ever forget such a strange request, ma'am?"
Minsoo continued.
"After that...
Did we ever meet again?
Did I ever hurt you in any way?"
With every question, she silently shook her head.
His questions weren't random.
They were filling a void that had haunted him for years.
The greatest thing his life had stolen from him was his memory.
He was convinced she was the culprit.
But he wasn't sure whether she had been taking revenge for something he had done to her without realizing it.
He stepped closer and crouched before her.
"Ma'am...
If you're telling me I never hurt you...
Then why did you try to kill me?"
She cried out desperately.
"No... no...
I told you, it wasn't me!
Why would I ever do something like that?
I swear to you...
I wouldn't even hurt an ant."
At that very moment, a voice echoed from the back entrance of the store.
"Mom?
Mom, are you here?"
The woman hurriedly wiped away her tears, stood up, and rushed toward her daughter.
The girl looked at her mother's face.
It was obvious.
"Mom...
Have you been crying?"
Her mother answered quickly,
"No.
I haven't.
Go home.
I'll be there in a little while."
But suspicion crept into the girl's eyes.
"Did something happen?"
"No.
I said go.
I'll be there soon."
The girl didn't listen.
She slipped past her mother and walked into the store to see what was happening.
Her mother ran after her.
"I told you to go back!
There's nothing in there to see!"
The moment the girl saw Minsoo, she glared at him with cold disgust.
"You.
What are you doing here?
What do you want from my mother?"
Then she screamed,
"Your face has haunted me for years.
Just leave!"
Her mother immediately yelled at her to be quiet before turning to Minsoo to apologize for her daughter's rude behavior.
Then she forcefully pushed her daughter's head down.
"Apologize to him."
Tears streamed down the girl's face.
"No...
I won't.
You chose him over me my entire life.
You neglected me.
You left me alone.
You kept chasing after him.
I hate him."
Minsoo silently watched the scene unfold.
But eventually, he could no longer listen.
"Enough!
I didn't come here to hear about your family problems.
You...
I know your face.
You came to the last fan meeting.
You whispered to me,
'The smell of guilt clings to you.'
What guilt were you talking about?
The only one who reeks of guilt is your mother.
She tried to kill me without a shred of mercy or reason.
I kept searching for a reason...
Even the smallest one...
So I could forgive her.
But she has none."
The woman begged Minsoo not to say such things in front of her daughter.
Then she repeated,
"I already told you...
It wasn't me."
Minsoo answered without hesitation.
"Yes, it was.
The same shoes.
The same height.
The same voice.
It was you.
You tried to kill me while wearing my shoes.
I never imagined anyone could be so shameless.
Do you have any idea how precious those shoes were to me?
You forced me to give them to you.
You saw how disappointed I was, yet you ignored it.
And then you tried to kill me while wearing them."
The woman fell silent.
But for a brief moment, her eyes drifted toward her daughter.
She finally realized just how trapped she truly was.
She remembered how she had treasured those shoes like a priceless possession for all those years.
On the day of the attack, she had found tiny drops of blood beneath them.
She had mercilessly accused her daughter, convinced she had taken the shoes.
Then the memories came flooding back—
Years of neglect.
Her daughter's tears.
Leaving her alone at home while she stood outside Minsoo's house for hours, obsessed with catching just a glimpse of him.
Her family falling apart.
Her divorce.
And worst of all...
The fire that had broken out in her house, nearly costing her little girl her life.
In that instant, she realized just how terrible a mother she had been.
But she had never imagined that such hatred could grow inside her daughter... enough to make her try to take the life of a complete stranger.
Her voice dropped as tears streamed down her face.
"Yes...
I did it.
It was me.
You can report me to the police.
I promise I won't deny it.
I'll confess to everything."
The girl tried to object.
She wanted to confess herself.
But her mother stopped her.
Then she politely said to Minsoo,
"You got the answer you came for.
Please...
Leave."
Minsoo turned to walk away.
Just as he reached the door, he heard that same voice once again.
"You've already paid the price for your sin."
It was the girl.
Her mother desperately tried to silence her.
Minsoo turned around.
"So it was you...
Not your mother?"
The girl shouted,
"Yes.
It was me.
You should have died.
I planned it for an entire year.
Tell me...
Why do you keep breathing?
Isn't your very existence a crime?"
Her mother covered the girl's mouth.
"Please, Minsoo...
Just leave.
She doesn't know what she's saying.
She's only trying to protect me.
I'm...
I'm the guilty one."
The girl finally broke down.
"You're the nightmare I've spent my whole life trying to escape...
and I never could."
She looked at her mother through tear-filled eyes.
"You loved him more than you ever loved me.
You're fifteen years older than him.
But even that didn't stop you from chasing after him.
You should have abandoned me.
You should have left me in an orphanage.
Maybe then...
this hatred wouldn't have grown inside me."
The mother crawled toward Minsoo and collapsed at his feet, clutching his legs.
"Minsoo...
My daughter is only sixteen years old.
I'm the one who did it."
Ignoring her plea, she continued desperately,
"She won't survive prison.
Her future will be destroyed.
Please...
You've heard my confession.
I...
I was the one who tried to kill you.
Not my daughter."