NOVEL NEXT chapter 50
“The guardian says he only wants one of the children. If you’re a doctor, then shut up and give him options.”
“Haa…”
“First pregnancy, and it’s triplets—how hard that must be for Uichan. Ah. But I think I heard about a way before. Something about a seminar, wasn’t it?”
At that, Uichan suddenly threw off the sheet and twisted his body to get out of bed. But before he could escape, strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him back onto the mattress. The moment his back hit the bedding, he started struggling.
“Don’t—don’t touch me…!”
“Don’t what.”
“Hy—Hyde…”
“Call me hyung. Unless you want to make a scene.”
At that swift correction, Uichan’s gaze darted sideways. Oh Juhyuk had half-risen from his seat, staring at them with a stiff expression. His hand hung awkwardly midair, unable to intervene. And Uichan’s appearance was… telling.
His ears, neck, and along his jawline were flushed red, blooming like spring flowers. Who could imagine how many marks covered the rest of his body beneath the clothes? Even his fingers bore faint bite and suction marks.
When Oh Juhyuk first saw Uichan in the man’s arms, he had seriously doubted that what he was witnessing was consensual. The sight had shocked him that much.
When the black hole had suddenly opened in the air and the man stepped out, Oh Juhyuk had thought he was a villain. But looking closer—he realized it was none other than La Épée, one of Korea’s top-ranked heroes. The man had ordered him to stabilize Uichan, and Oh Juhyuk had used his ability, Extreme Vision, to scan Uichan’s body. That was when he’d learned several things.
“…W-we have to extract the remaining fluids from his body immediately. Otherwise, the babies will be in danger. Ha Uichan can’t keep suffering like this! La Épée only cares about the survival of his own child right now. But that’s not what you want, is it, Mr. Uichan?!”
“…You’re making quite a fuss.”
The low voice above him was chilling. Fearing what he might do, Uichan hurriedly grabbed La Épée’s arm.
“Don’t, hyung!”
“…You talk like I’m about to do something terrible. Why—are you afraid I’ll brainwash the doctor?”
“Mr. Uichan, those marks on your body—if any of them were caused by assault, you need to say so right now. Even if he’s La Épée, this isn’t something that can be overlooked! I’ll report it myself—”
“Assault?”
As La Épée turned toward the doctor, Uichan pulled him forcefully back into his arms. Holding him tightly, he said as calmly as he could,
“Doctor… I’m fine. So please step out for a moment. I need to talk with La Épée alone.”
“It’s fine… really. It was consensual. He never meant to hurt me. Please, just give us a moment alone.”
Whatever Oh Juhyuk had been about to say froze in his throat. He took off his glasses, rubbed at his eyes wearily, and looked between La Épée and Uichan clinging to each other. With a sigh, he nodded.
“…If anything happens, call out immediately. I’ll come running.”
“Yes… thank you, doctor.”
Uichan didn’t release La Épée until the sound of the closing door echoed through the room. Neither of them spoke at first.
“……”
In truth, Uichan still felt like the events of the previous night were unreal. That La Épée was Hyde, that he had slept with him, that he was the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ father of his child—he didn’t even know where to begin untangling it all.
He should have been furious, should have been trembling with rage and humiliation. But instead, somewhere inside, he felt… relief. Maybe because seeing La Épée reminded him of Hyde? Because if they were the same person, he no longer had to feel guilty?
Come to think of it, he had often been reminded of Hyde when looking into La Épée’s eyes. Even if he hadn’t consciously recognized it, some instinct in him already knew. It was ridiculous—like a cruel joke of fate.
“You didn’t send him away just so we could be alone, right? Planning to persuade me, maybe?”
Uichan gripped the man’s collar tightly. If Hyde had truly brainwashed himself, then perhaps Hyde’s personality, not La Épée’s, would be easier to reach.
“First… turn back into Hyde.”
“The face’ll be the same either way, but if you prefer it…”
Almost instantly, the Big Dipper constellation flickered to life in Hyde’s eyes. The atmosphere shifted at once—the sharp, oppressive air softened into something calm, familiar. The gentleness around his gaze returned. It was unmistakably Hyde.
“Sensitive skin, huh? I didn’t even bite that hard, and it still left marks. Does it hurt?”
“Hyde, you really were La Épée?”
Uichan asked bluntly. Hyde chuckled and rubbed his nose against Uichan’s cheek.
“You already knew, didn’t you? Let’s see… I needed a new identity at the time. Remember how my brother said he’d tried several ways to erase the Big Dipper mark? Well, after some experimentation, this face stuck. Probably because it resembled the one I had when I was alive.”
His face when he was alive—he must have meant during the La Mute days. Uichan didn’t actually know much about La Mute. The hero had risen to fame after the Seolhyang Village tragedy, then faded quickly. For someone uninterested in heroes, there’d been no reason to remember him. He’d only vaguely heard the name before.
The one time Uichan had encountered La Mute was when the man’s face had already been torn apart and he was hanging upside down in a ruined building. Of course, there’d been no time to study his features then. Even if he had, the flesh had already been ripped open—there was no way he could’ve recognized him.
“Why… why become La Épée?”
Hyde looked at him in silence for a while, then snapped his fingers. The air around them began to change. The sound of sliding doors echoed—clack, clack—as dozens of paper doors appeared and surrounded them.
Beyond the lattice frames, the scenery shifted rapidly. After a brief storm of sound, everything quieted again. The sterile hospital room was gone.
They were now in the dim, warm interior of a traditional tiled house, lit by a single oil lamp. Leaves swayed beyond the shoji screens, and the patterned curtains by the window bore drawings of orchids. It was the same kind of space Hyde usually stayed in.
Somehow, they were no longer on a bed but on a futon. Lying on his side, Hyde propped his head on one arm and answered slowly.
“…At first, it was for my brothers. In case any of them got caught or surrounded by heroes, we needed someone powerful enough to pull them out. That someone became La Épée.”
Given his strength, it must have been easy for Hyde to rise to the top of the hero world using that persona. He said it was for his brothers—but Uichan suspected part of him still longed for the hero’s life he’d once lost.
“And the change in personality… that’s because of the self-brainwashing. When I take La Épée’s form, my mindset shifts too. What I suppressed the most was… you, our youngest. As La Épée, I didn’t want to meet you. I would’ve treated you terribly. Well—guess I actually did.”
Hyde’s hand slid over Uichan’s lower abdomen. Uichan instinctively grabbed his arm, but the man’s touch stayed gentle, tracing only the surface.
“…So I tried to keep my distance as much as I could.”
“You even altered your own memories? Seriously?”
“Only at first. It didn’t last long—it unraveled on its own.”
When they had first met on the restricted bridge, they were, officially, strangers. Yet the moment La Épée heard Uichan’s voice, he’d said it felt familiar. Maybe the brainwashing had already been loosening back then.
“Of course, I never thought it would last. It was only a safety mechanism.”
As Hyde’s hand lingered on his abdomen, Uichan shifted uncomfortably, trying to sit up. But Hyde wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back.
He was drawn against the man’s broad chest, Hyde’s palm resting just below his navel—right above his genitals.
“But, Uichan.”
Moist breath brushed his ear. Outside, the wind suddenly howled, shaking the leaves like furious beasts. The oil lamp flickered violently. Hyde whispered into his ear.
“You’re saying there are three babies, and each has a different father?”
The world went still. A chilling silence filled the room, crawling down Uichan’s spine. Then—
Clatter.
Uichan immediately tried to escape his hold. But Hyde caught his waist again, dragging him back. He kicked out, knocking over a nearby water bowl. Water spilled across the futon as he shook his head desperately.
“No… I’ll have them all… I’ll raise them… all of them…”
“You’re this sick—how do you plan to give birth and raise them?”
“It doesn’t… hurt that… much—ugh!”
“It doesn’t?”
When Hyde pressed firmly against his abdomen, Uichan squeezed his eyes shut. Still, he kept struggling, clawing at Hyde’s arm. He could already guess what Hyde wanted. The man knew his own fluids were still inside him—if the first child grew strong enough to drive the others out, then only Hyde’s child would remain.