I Became a Villainous Character with a Limited Lifespan

Episode 140

“You shouldn’t think you’ve completely recovered yet. Take your medication consistently, and for follow-up visits…”

“I don’t even remember how many times I’ve heard that.”

As the discharge day that didn’t seem like it would come approached, Seung-hyun shook his head with a slightly annoyed face. Jae-young’s overprotectiveness alone was enough nagging.

“Since this is an unprecedented case, it wouldn’t be strange for something to happen. So don’t think it’s unnecessary and contact us immediately even for minor changes.”

“I understand.”

While Seung-hyun was calm, today was a very meaningful day for Jae-young. Because Seung-hyun was able to walk out of the hospital with his own feet, a place he thought he would never leave.

Although he didn’t have the stamina to walk for a long time yet, just being able to walk from the hospital lobby to the car was a moving thing for Jae-young.

“Jae-young, do you not need to go to your own house?”

“…Do you want me to go somewhere else?”

“No, I’m not telling you to go… It’s just that you’ve only been at the hospital. You used to stop by your family home occasionally. But recently you’ve only been here…”

It was a tone of concern for Jae-young, but it sounded a bit different to him. Was he drawing a line after all? Since he had bad memories of family, he might be making the line clear from the start.

Not knowing at all that Jae-young had taken his words that way, Seung-hyun added one more thing.

“After you take me home, it would be good for you to stop by your house too. You’ve been through a lot. Rest for about a day.”

“I’m fine. And it’s only the first day of discharge. For about a day, someone needs to watch over…”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Seung-hyun said in a calm voice. Don’t worry, he said. Did he have some faith in something?

“Someone promised to come.”

“…Do you have a friend?”

It was a bit rude, but it was true. Since he had never seen Seung-hyun meet anyone else, it was hard to believe that there was someone who would visit. Did he call a caregiver separately?

“Not a friend, but… Lee Seon-hu said he would visit.”

“What?”

At the unexpected name, Jae-young was surprised and stopped the car. Seon-hu, was he talking about the Seon-hu he knew?

“Are you talking about… the person I know?”

“If there’s only one Lee Seon-hu you know, it must be him.”

He had never even seen them contacting each other, but suddenly he was coming to his house. As Jae-young had a dumbfounded expression, Seung-hyun gave a brief explanation.

“I think it was when you went out to eat… I got a call once. When I asked how he knew my number, he said he peeked at Han Tae-sung’s phone.”

“Why would he…”

“Who knows? I don’t know well either, but when he said he wanted to meet, I agreed. You need time to rest too, and I knew you wouldn’t rest at all if you left me alone.”

“I’m fine. Just…”

“I already made the promise, so go in and rest today. It would be good to go to your family home too. It’s close by.”

Seung-hyun cut off Jae-young’s stubbornness decisively. Going to the family home, he said. He wasn’t mentally prepared yet.

Jaeseong kept his promise and didn’t talk about Seung-hyun, but the fact that Jae-young was practically living at the hospital had reached Madam Ju through someone else’s mouth.

‘It seems I’ll have to explain things when I go home. Isn’t it better to do it sooner?’

He had already ignored the threat disguised as a suggestion several times, so he was afraid of what would happen if he went back. He couldn’t avoid it forever, but he had planned to introduce Seung-hyun to his family only after finishing their conversation.

‘At this rate, I might not have the right or anything to introduce him…’

For that, he needed to at least get a definite answer that they would become a family, but he wasn’t confident. He had no good memories of family, and he even heard an answer that he didn’t place much importance on family, so his anxiety grew.

He could just not go to the family home, but this anxiety didn’t seem like it would be easily resolved. Jae-young let out a long sigh and said,

“…What time did you agree to meet?”

“Around three o’clock… It’s around 1:30 now, so it’ll be a good time when we arrive.”

“You’re not close, and there’s not much to talk about for long, so I’ll probably go in the evening. Executive Director Han isn’t the type to leave Seon-hu out for long.”

“I didn’t talk about when to part ways, so I’m not sure…”

“It’ll probably be like that. Then I’ll go again in the evening.”

This was the most Jae-young could concede. Was he that worried? This time, Seung-hyun nodded.

“Okay. Do as you please.”

Although his condition wasn’t great yet, it wasn’t serious enough for him to stick by his side all the time. If it was, the hospital wouldn’t have discharged him.

‘Anyway, it’s overprotection.’

However, that excessive concern didn’t feel bad. It weighed on his mind that Jae-young couldn’t rest and kept struggling, but forcing him to rest probably wasn’t a good thing either.

“I’ll contact you after Lee Seon-hu leaves.”

Only after receiving a promise to contact him right away several times did Jae-young let Seung-hyun get out of the car. After dropping off Seung-hyun, Jae-young circled the neighborhood a few times for no reason and parked the car nearby.

‘I have nothing to pack anyway, and I’m not hungry…’

I had nothing to do, so should I just wait here for Seon-hu to leave and go back as soon as he’s alone? It would be a few hours at most. Thinking that, Jae-young turned off the engine and reclined the seat.

***

“It’s been a while.”

Seon-hu, who came with snacks in his hand as if visiting for a housewarming, greeted him. Seung-hyun, who awkwardly accepted the greeting, guided Seon-hu to a seat.

“…We weren’t that close. I was surprised you contacted me first.”

Although he accepted the meeting out of curiosity about what he wanted to talk about, he still couldn’t guess why Seon-hu wanted to meet him.

“I wanted to meet again at least once. We parted without properly talking that time.”

“Don’t we have nothing to talk about?”

“I heard a lot about you from Tae-sung. I don’t know you well, but whenever I heard about you, I always thought it was strange.”

“…”

“Although I only saw you briefly, you didn’t seem like that kind of person, so I wondered why he spoke so badly of you.”

Seung-hyun, who thought it was because Seon-hu was too kind, swallowed his words without answering. He now knew what kind of life “Han Seung-hyun” had lived and why he acted that way, but he also knew that he couldn’t justify all his past actions.

So even if it felt bad that Tae-sung pretended to know Seung-hyun well, he didn’t think Tae-sung was wrong.

‘…But if it was Seon-hu, he would have tried not to see him badly even if I hadn’t become “Han Seung-hyun.”‘

In the original work, Seon-hu was repeatedly fooled by Seung-hyun, but he didn’t fear or avoid him. Rather, he wanted to meet him in person and talk.

‘If you have a problem with me, you should tell me directly. So tell me. I’ll make time anytime.’

He was so frustratingly kind and believed in the goodness of human nature that it made him sigh at times, but the Seon-hu he directly interacted with was just a good person. If such a person had been by “Han Seung-hyun’s” side from the beginning, would his personality have changed a bit?

“At least the Han Seung-hyun I saw was like that. He did change a bit after finding out I was Tae-sung’s spouse… but the more I felt him being cautious, the more I thought he wasn’t such a bad person.”

It was a line-drawing close to ignoring, but wouldn’t his behavior when he thought he was an ordinary person be closer to his true feelings? So I wanted to talk again. And when I found out the reason for pushing people away, I felt a bit of regret.

I should have tried to approach him more. It’s not like I would have lost anything by doing that. The image of him pushing people away as if he didn’t want anyone by his side alternated with him calmly saying his health wasn’t good.

At first, Seung-hyun definitely didn’t seem to dislike human warmth. No, he rather seemed to enjoy the conversation.

So now that there was no reason to push him away, I thought maybe this time we could really become good friends.

“I’m no longer part of that family. I don’t want to be involved with them either. I submitted my resignation, I said I would cut ties with my parents and they accepted. I’ll settle my shares too, so I have nothing to do with HJ…”

“Then we can become even better friends. I don’t really like that family either.”

Seon-hu said with a grin. To the point of understanding why Tae-sung, who was on his honeymoon, was such a frustrating person, the HJ family was unpleasant even to the kind-hearted Seon-hu.

“We can meet sometimes, complain together, and hear about each other’s lives to avoid them. That would be perfect.”

Seung-hyun looked at him and unknowingly chuckled. Was it because he was the protagonist, or was he just a good person? He really was someone he couldn’t hate.

“…I’m not the type to be all friendly. Rather, it would be frustrating. I probably wouldn’t be a fun person to talk to either.”

“Still, you’re not refusing.”

Seung-hyun shrugged at Seon-hu’s words. Yeah, it was still awkward, but he definitely didn’t dislike it.

‘Now that I’ve completely escaped the story, maybe this time we can really become friends.’

Seung-hyun thought so and smiled. Now that the rest of his life was solely his own, making new connections was awkward but welcome.