I Became a Villainous Character with a Limited Lifespan

Episode 52

“…Since we’re not something special, it’s a nuisance.”

Unlike usual, Jae-young’s voice confirming Seung-hyun’s words was low. He had a face that didn’t understand what he heard.

Seung-hyun knew too. Where his heart was headed. And also the fact that his own heart was also aimed at the same place Jae-young thought.

That’s why it wasn’t a pleasant thing for Seung-hyun to see Jae-young’s hurt face now. But when was life ever about doing only pleasant things?

“Are you saying that sincerely?”

Jae-young asked. His attitude was that it couldn’t be. He wasn’t a slow-witted person, so even without saying or expressing it, he would have noticed how Seung-hyun came to see Jae-young.

So he approached without fear. Seung-hyun, who liked that appearance but kept delaying the decision, thinking if it was okay like this, if this much was fine.

But the moment he saw Jae-young’s face, he knew. That he could no longer avoid it with such a complacent thought. The heart that had grown too big to be included in the small range of “this much” had become too huge to turn his eyes away.

No one would make such a face to someone who could be replaced by anyone. He didn’t know how he was able to find where Seung-hyun was, but there would be no one who would do such a troublesome thing for someone trivial. 

“Is there a reason it wouldn’t be sincere?”

“That we’re nothing to each other.”

“If you didn’t misunderstand, why do you keep talking about it?”

“Because… it doesn’t make sense.”

Jae-young took a step closer to Seung-hyun. As Jae-young approached closely, Seung-hyun, who stepped back in case he noticed his shaking expression, tried to speak again, but Jae-young stopped him.

“I told you not to say anything… but there are things you can know without explicitly confirming with words, right? I thought we had that between us.”

The slightly calmer tone felt more unfamiliar than a moment ago when he seemed angry. Unlike Seung-hyun’s wavering gaze, Jae-young’s gaze was upright and still.

Seung-hyun inevitably took one more step back from the eyes that made him feel embarrassed just by looking. To hide his shaking heart, he had to lay the lies thicker.

“It’s a misunderstanding. A nonsensical misunderstanding.”

“……”

“It hasn’t been that long. As I said earlier, I guess you’ve already forgotten where we first met.”

Seung-hyun reminded Jae-young of their first meeting again. A place no different from where Jae-young found Seung-hyun a moment ago, a place only for casual encounters.

“Whoever I met there, I would have slept with them, and if that person was annoying like you, Ju Jae-young, it would have become a relationship no different from now. It’s not because you’re special.”

At first, he thought meeting Jae-young there was misfortune. Why Ju Jae-young of all the many people in the world?

But as time passed, that thought gradually faded away. Because the time spent together was fun. The silly jokes and the relationship that became too close were nice.

“I just left it alone because I was too lazy to correct it, but I didn’t know you were thinking of it this way.”

Certainly, but Seung-hyun lied as if he had never thought that way. Seung-hyun wanted to become a replaceable person to Jae-young. Someone he wouldn’t grieve for long even if he suddenly disappeared one day.

“As you know, I didn’t live an interesting life before, right? So I wanted to live a little more interestingly from now on.”

Seung-hyun maintained his nonchalant act. He wasn’t confident that his poor acting could properly deceive Jae-young, so the harsh words grew longer.

“So that’s all it is. It doesn’t matter who the other person is. Sleeping together is something you can do with any passerby. Is there a need to assign meaning to that?”

The more he did that, the more clearly effective it was, so Jae-young’s face was noticeably stiffening as Seung-hyun’s words grew longer.

“You’re more naive than you look. Ju Jae-young.”

It was always Seung-hyun who was swayed by the other person’s words, but today, unlike usual, Seung-hyun was swaying Jae-young.

“…You say it’s a misunderstanding.”

Jae-young opened his mouth heavily. Seung-hyun answered without being able to meet eyes with such Jae-young.

“Yes. It’s a misunderstanding. A completely nonsensical misunderstanding at that.”

Seeing the eyes that didn’t know how to give up, it didn’t seem like he would easily end the conversation. Seung-hyun took a small deep breath and raised his head.

“I told you not to talk like that.”

At the moment when a strange atmosphere was created, Seung-hyun, who lied as if covering Jae-young’s mouth was for his sake, took a step closer to Jae-young.

“Don’t cross the line. No matter what I do, or who I spend the night with, you have no authority to control that.”

“…”

“If you can’t keep that line, it will be hard to remain even as we are now.”

Seung-hyun pretended to be calm. Even if this ended their relationship, it couldn’t be helped.

‘Even if I hate it… it’s something that can’t be helped.’

Someday, a moment will come when Jae-young thinks, “I’m glad I made that choice then.” Thinking so, Seung-hyun said,

“I don’t need a lover. Even if I need a lover or spouse someday, it won’t be an alpha like you, Ju Jae-young, but an omega.”

“……”

“Right now, it doesn’t matter how I enjoy myself, but someday, I’ll have to build a normal family too, right? Like Director Han, I might be lucky enough to have my child born as a dominant. If Chairman Han is healthy until then, that child could also take a position, couldn’t they?”

It was said to hurt Jae-young, but with each word he spat out, the one getting hurt was Seung-hyun himself. A normal family. He didn’t know he would say such a thing with his own mouth.

“You too, Ju Jae-young, will have to stop this play someday and marry a proper omega. Since Lee Seon-hu is married, you have nowhere to hold onto anymore, right?”

“How do you know about Seon-hu?”

Seung-hyun was a reader of this world, so he naturally knew that Jae-young had liked Seon-hu for a long time. However, for Jae-young, it was surprising that Seung-hyun knew about Seon-hu and his relationship.

“…Of course, I would know. Who is Lee Seon-hu’s spouse?”

It wasn’t a situation he couldn’t handle, so Seung-hyun nonchalantly avoided the situation. He definitely wanted to do something, not wanting to think about Seon-hu, but after going around, it ended up like this again.

“It’s something you can find out just by looking into it a bit, what’s so surprising about it?”

Jae-young’s eyes could be seen shaking severely. Lee Seon-hu is still someone who can shake Jae-young. Thinking that, it felt like his mood was sinking a bit.

“Come to think of it, since Lee Seon-hu was a recessive… you couldn’t help but have less aversion to recessives.”

The nasty words that flew out might have been because he didn’t like those shaking eyes. Seung-hyun, who said hurtful words that he didn’t need to say, even hurting himself, bit his lip.

“If I was an omega, I would have even proposed then. But what can I do? Even if I’m a recessive, I’m an alpha, and I have no intention of meeting such expectations…”

“Enough.”

Jae-young cut off Seung-hyun’s words. He seemed angry and also a bit sad.

“I understood, so please stop.”

He got the reaction he wanted, but he didn’t feel good. Now it would really end. Seung-hyun turned his gaze away from Jae-young.

“If that’s all you had to say, go back now. Thanks to you, I couldn’t do what I was going to do, so it cooled off.”

They probably wouldn’t be able to call each other by the shoddy name of friends anymore. It would be a lie to say there was no regret, but this was right. Seung-hyun acted tough until the last moment.

“Or will you do it instead, Ju Jae-young? That would be fine too.”

He thought there would be no reply or a stinging reply that would give a final blow due to the hurt. As expected, there was no answer from Jae-young, and Seung-hyun turned his back on Jae-young as is.

“Thank you for driving me. If you want the things at home, I’ll return them…”

“Okay.”

At the answer that came even before the words ended, Seung-hyun smiled bitterly. Fortunately, Jae-young couldn’t see his expression.

“I won’t touch them and leave them as is, so come find them or send someone, whichever is convenient.”

“No, that doesn’t matter at all.”

No way. Seung-hyun stopped as is without being able to look back. A shadow slightly longer than Seung-hyun’s took a big step towards him.

“If I interfered, I should take responsibility.”

A familiar yet unfamiliar voice tickled Seung-hyun’s ears. It was the worst answer.