I Became a Villainous Character with a Limited Lifespan

Episode 56

“Umm…”

When did he fall asleep? Only the trace of the IV remained on his arm. Wake me up. Seung-hyun raised his heavy body.

“What time is it…?”

It was almost evening. He slept so long. While blankly looking at the time, a little surprised, the curtain opened.

“You’re awake.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I fell asleep by accident.”

“You don’t need to apologize, just a moment. I’ll take your temperature.”

The nurse approached Seung-hyun and took his temperature. Seung-hyun quietly nodded his head at the words that his temperature had returned to normal.

“Professor Kim prescribed you new medicine, so you can pick it up when you’re discharged. Go home carefully.”

As soon as Seung-hyun received the new medicine as instructed by the nurse and returned home, he immediately threw himself on the bed. So many things had happened in just a day.

“…Should I move?”

This new house seemed to be cursed somehow. If he hadn’t moved here, he wouldn’t have met Seon-hu. Then…

“No. It was something I had to do someday.”

Seung-hyun shook his head. It wasn’t something he could avoid forever. It was just pushed forward a bit.

Even that, he couldn’t do properly and the relationship ambiguously continued. Seung-hyun grabbed his throbbing head and sighed. 

Sex partners. It was truly a relationship he only saw in novels. He felt strange whenever he was in front of Jae-young. Was it because of pride or lingering attachment?

“…Should I block him?”

Should I just block him? Change the password and not let him come in. Seung-hyun thought so and deeply lowered his head.

“This will only be for a moment too. He’ll get tired of it soon. Even I would think it’s the worst, a person like this.”

With every word he says, he’s a jerk, only saying hurtful things, yet in the end, he can’t properly push him away and comes back to square one.

At first, he’ll hold on out of spite. But no one will stay by the side of a person like this for long.

If he wasn’t confident he could let go first, he had to act terribly so the other would have no choice but to let go. It was pathetic, but this was Seung-hyun’s best.

“Rather than that… I’m a bit concerned about Lee Seok-hyung.”

Since he was blindly devoted to Seung-hyun, it wasn’t strange that he asked Professor Kim about his well-being. The strange thing was something else.

He was too quiet. Seung-hyun was the one who clearly changed his number and even moved, but while hearing about his progress through the hospital, he showed no signs of trying to contact him.

Could it be that he’s preparing something useless behind the scenes? It was dizzying enough that he already got an absurd misunderstanding from Tae-sung, he didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.

He didn’t want to contact first. Seung-hyun hesitated for a moment and reached out his hand towards his cell phone. There was a way to check his news, even if very indirectly.

Seung-hyun searched for Hyeokjaee’s name on the portal site. Since he said he became his secretary, if he’s lucky, he might find a photo or two of them together.

As he sorted the news articles by latest, Hyeokjaee’s recent status began to appear one by one. There was nothing special, and several photos of him attending ceremonial events were posted.

Before long, Seung-hyun found Seok-hyung at the edge of a photo. It was a blurry photo with half of his face cut off, but it was enough to tell who it was.

Nothing special stood out. Did he go too far? Seung-hyun closed the search window and threw his cell phone on the bed.

‘I just wanted to play without thinking…’

Even if it was for a short time, he wanted to live without being lonely, was it too greedy? He sighed at the situation that was so entangled that he couldn’t even muster the courage to solve it.

“I have to do something. I have to do something… so I won’t have these thoughts.”

After yesterday’s failure, he no longer felt like meeting other people. Ah, I want to go away. He wanted to go anywhere, as long as it was a place where no one knew Han Seung-hyun.

But now he didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger. Seung-hyun, who was blankly staring at the ceiling, closed his eyes again. Why was he sleepy no matter how much he slept? He must have lost a lot of stamina.

He hadn’t eaten all day, but he wasn’t hungry because of the fatigue. Soon, Seung-hyun began to snore softly.

That day, Seung-hyun had a dream. Seung-hyun in the dream was healthy. His body, which always felt heavy, was light and his head was clear. A day spent without any worries was just refreshing and happy.

In that dream, Seung-hyun was with Jae-young without any hesitation. Without anxiety about the future, without feeling sorry for the other person, he easily said love and kissed.

They made plans to travel to a far country together and laughed while talking about things a few years later. Seung-hyun nodded his head without refusing any of the plans Jae-young made.

But dreams always have an end. Seung-hyun, who woke up around dawn, couldn’t move from his spot for a long time, retracing the faint memories.

***

“I told the bodyguards, but you need to be careful too.”

“I know. How many times are you going to say it? I’m not a kid.”

“You are like a kid. You get into trouble as soon as I take my eyes off you for a moment.”

Tae-sung tapped the cheek of Seon-hu, who made a sick face. He was a person who could go off anywhere to the point that saying he was like a kid was quite an understatement.

That aspect was good, but Seon-hu should only be careless in front of him. If he acted like this in front of others, he would get his nose cut off without even knowing it.

Is it because he only lived in goodwill that he doesn’t know people are scary? Tae-sung lightly pinched Seon-hu’s cheek.

“Han Seung-hyun is even worse than a kid if you can’t remember him after seeing him once, and at a wedding at that.”

“But… it was only once, and the atmosphere was completely different from the wedding.”

Seon-hu made an excuse while having his cheek pinched. He even secretly took out the wedding album after returning home, but he still felt wronged.

“Even so, that’s too much. I never thought you wouldn’t even know Director Han’s face properly, it’s my fault too for not knowing… but it’s better to be careful for the time being.”

“Okay…”

Seon-hu lowered his head with a deflated face. He’s really like a kid. Tae-sung left the house after emphasizing it one more time.

“But he really didn’t seem like a bad person.”

Seon-hu muttered softly while looking at the door Tae-sung left through for a moment. He knew how much Tae-sung disliked Seung-hyun. Seon-hu recalled the day a few months ago when he was anxious thinking Tae-sung had gone missing.

‘I’m sorry. But you’re the only one I can talk to… What should I do? If something really happened to him.’

It was a day he was so anxious that he ended up contacting Jae-young, who seemed to strangely keep his distance from him after the marriage. Having lived a life away from management, Seon-hu couldn’t even imagine that the fight over succession rights could continue like that.

Was it the influence of that incident? Without knowing, Seon-hu was thinking of Seung-hyun’s impression more fiercely or coldly than he actually saw.

But the Seung-hyun he met a few days ago was far from that image. The first impression made him want to take care of him, and even excluding that, he seemed like a person far from malice or greed.

Tae-sung said it was clear that Seung-hyun deliberately approached him. Can anyone fighting over succession rights put on such a perfect act?

“It’s difficult…”

Seon-hu muttered and returned to the living room. He was a person who caught his attention strangely.

“But his illness can’t be a lie.”

Because there can’t be a person who can act out their complexion and even cold sweat. Seon-hu pondered and picked up his cell phone.

With the simple thought of finding the name of the disease through symptoms, he was searching by changing keywords here and there, when he was startled by a sudden vibration and dropped his phone.

“Speak of the devil…”

Seon-hu muttered to himself. It wasn’t even talking, just a brief thought. The subject of the vibration was none other than Jae-young.

After getting married, he naturally grew apart from Jae-young compared to before. The last time they contacted each other was probably that time he just recalled.

[Jae-young: How have you been lately? I’m not contacting you when you’re busy, am I?] 8:33 AM

[Where would I be busy? I’m just around.] 8:34 AM

[Jae-young: There’s something I want to ask, can we meet for a bit?] 8:34 AM

As soon as he sent the text, a reply came back. He doesn’t usually just say his business like this, is there some urgent matter? Seon-hu recalled Tae-sung’s words about keeping a low profile for the time being and pondered before sending a reply.

[It won’t take long, right? Is 3 o’clock okay? I can’t go far.] 8:37 AM

It should be fine since it’s Jae-young, not someone else. How long have we known each other? Seon-hu naturally erased Tae-sung’s nagging from his mind. He was able to think that because he had no idea Tae-sung disliked Jae-young.

[Jae-young: Okay. See you then. I’ll come nearby.] 8:38 AM

This time too, the reply arrived almost immediately. What’s going on that he’s acting so hastily? Seon-hu tilted his head, worrying about Jae-young.