Since reuniting with Choi Jeokhyeon, I ended up staying at his house. After creating an uncomfortable atmosphere with Han Jaewoon’s parents, it felt awkward to go back to their house now.
‘It feels a bit like I’ve run away from home and taken refuge at a friend’s place.’
When I used my eavesdropping ability, I found out that they were having a heated discussion among themselves about Han Seungbeom’s change. I felt like I had wasted my energy listening to their useless conversation.
Choi Jeokhyeon was rather pleased to have me at his house, and since I had stayed at his place for a long time in the past, there was no problem at all.
There was truly no problem with my daily life.
“…Stop staring at me.”
Except for the discomfort of Choi Jeokhyeon staring at me intently all the time.
“I’m sorry. I just found it fascinating how you’re still living the same way even though your body size has shrunk by almost half. At this point, it seems like you’re not even trying to hide it.”
I quietly looked down at my body, dressed in a black tank top and training pants, sitting in a pose reminiscent of the Thinking Bodhisattva. Then, I asked bluntly.
“…Are you saying I look like an old man?”
“To put it bluntly, yes. As expected, Yutae is amazing.” Choi Jeokhyeon, with his eyes curling into a smile, clapped his hands as he spoke.
Is he picking on me right now?
I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to charge at him or not, then lifted my head and asked Choi Jeokhyeon.
“What are kids nowadays wearing at home?”
“Well?”
Choi Jeokhyeon rested his chin on his finger, tilting his head and rolling his eyes. Well, of course, that guy wouldn’t have any idea what kind of pajamas kids from “
ordinary
” or “
middle-class
” families wear.
Look, look at that. He’s wearing a gown at home.
As expected of a young master from a wealthy family. His outfit was exactly the same as Lee Hwayoung’s.
As I clicked my tongue in disapproval at his elegant attire, Choi Jeokhyeon put down the phone he had been holding and spoke.
“I asked for a few sets of pajamas for men in their 20s. You can’t use your original bank account anymore, right? Take them with you you move in.”
I nodded, expecting clothes that would cost around 10,000 won each. Then, Choi Jeokhyeon asked me, putting on a worried face.
“Will you be okay living at the dorm? You had a hard time with living in a group setting, and ended up getting sick before.”
“How do you know?”
“…….”
Choi Jeokhyeon didn’t answer my question and just kept smiling. Perhaps thinking that answering wouldn’t benefit him in any way, he simply closed his mouth and smiled with narrowed eyes.
I hurriedly changed the subject to avoid hearing the creepy story.
“Now that I think about it, how did you end up chasing me back then? It was too perfect to be a coincidence.”
“We’ve been together all the time since the final competition. Don’t you remember?”
“…….”
Ah, goosebumps again.
This guy really needed to fix his way of speaking. Why the hell did he keep talking like he was in a thriller movie?
I rubbed the goosebumps that had risen on my skin with my hand and asked again, “I mean, what were you doing there?”
“Ah, my nephew is appearing on the program, so I went to the venue to support him.”
Only then did Choi Jeokhyeon seem to understand the meaning of my question and replied carefully. I was a little puzzled by his answer, so I repeated his words.
“Nephew?”
“You used to take care of him often when he was younger. I thought you knew?”
“I don’t know. Who?”
Choi Jeokhyeon tilted his head slightly as if he found it strange, tapped his phone a few times, and then handed it to me.
On the screen was a photo of a child with light blond hair, sleeping in my arms. The child, who was sleeping with my completely contrasting jet-black hair tightly clenched in his tiny fist, was so stubborn and picky that he remained vividly etched in my memory.
“Say bye-bye to uncle?”
“I don’t want to. Stay still, Seo Yutae.”
The moment I saw the photo, I screamed in shock.
“Your son!”
“…I’m single.”
There was a pause.
The child I took care of so diligently, thinking he was my friend’s son born out of an accident, turned out to be his nephew. And to top it off, that nephew was appearing on our program.
It was ominous. The color had darkened, but there was only one person with natural blond hair on the program. Since the name and appearance were different, I hadn’t suspected anything, but could it be?
“Everyone in my family has ‘
Hwa
‘ in their name. My name in the family register is Lee Saehwa. You’re really not interested in me, are you? You can find it if you search on the internet.”
“…Why would I search for you? I’m not interested in which family you’re from. Choi Jeokhyeon is Choi Jeokhyeon.”
When I responded bluntly out of embarrassment, Choi Jeokhyeon widened his eyes before bursting into a cheerful laugh. In my opinion, it seemed like he was making fun of me. Then, wiping away the tears that had naturally gathered around his eyes, Choi Jeokhyeon spoke in a voice mixed with laughter.
“My nephew’s name is Nicholas Hwayoung Lee. Ah, you call him Lee Hwayoung.”
My ominous premonition came true. Somehow, the two of them acted too similarly.
I looked up at Choi Jeokhyeon, his face beaming with happiness, and felt a surge of anger.
“You said his name was Jack!”
“He was brought to Korea because he was almost kidnapped, so I can’t use his real name.”
“…….”
These damn young masters, they had really mastered the art of messing with people.
They seriously pissed me off.
***
“So, how many people know your true identity now?”
Late in the evening, Choi Jeokhyeon, who was drinking wine alone after handing me a cola, asked me that question with a slightly reddened face. Watching him, I casually told him to drink in moderation, then opened my mouth again.
“The only ones who truly know are you and Jay. There’s one more person who knows about the possession among the people related to the owner of this body, but they don’t know who I am. I think they might have known something before I opened my eyes in this body.”
“Wow, you really got caught a lot.”
“Shut up. I know.”
I’d rather he just pretend he didn’t know. The fact that the guy who had been the loudest in making it obvious that he figured it out was saying that really stung.
I sighed heavily and opened my mouth. Now that he knew my identity, there was something I needed to tell him.
“I have no intention of telling the Prism members about my true identity. I don’t want to be misunderstood as someone with a mental illness. Jay believed me, but he was just a special case. Seo Yuseong might believe me, but right now, I don’t want to burden him. So, don’t show any signs in front of the other members, and keep your head straight.”
Choi Jeokhyeon looked startled at my words, and he asked with a hardened expression, “…Are you serious?”
“Yeah. If I go find those guys who are working hard to overcome the situation and say ‘
I’m back to life
‘ in the body of a much younger person, it would feel like a deception, wouldn’t it?”
“…Okay.”
Choi Jeokhyeon seemed to hesitate at my request, but he finally nodded and replied in a small voice.
Then he hurriedly brought up another topic.
“Why did you appear on that program? Was it because you wanted to be an idol again?”
“Because I can’t compete with Kang Hyukwoo as an ordinary person. I couldn’t think of anything else to do besides being an idol. This is the only talent I have. I can’t just waste Han Seungbeom’s life, especially since I’m not even good at studying.”
I didn’t need to say that I wanted to be on stage or that I loved this industry. Those close to me already knew that. So, I didn’t bother saying it aloud.
“Yeah, that’s perfect for you.”
Just as I thought, Choi Jeokhyeon nodded with a small smile, confirming that he was already aware. Then, he ran his fingertips over his wine glass and muttered.
“Maybe I should start an entertainment company. I really regret not doing it when you were alive. Of course, at that time, my situation wasn’t great, so it wouldn’t have been easy.”
“Forget it. It’s uncomfortable.”
I cut off his regretful words sharply. However, Choi Jeokhyeon continued to mumble as if he couldn’t shake off his lingering feelings.
“….Actually, that wasn’t what I really regretted. I still regret not getting rid of Kang Hyukwoo. I should have at least tried, even if it meant you would have hated me.”
“You’re drunk. Stop drinking.”
“If the first person to die was Kang Hyukwoo, everything would’ve been so much better. Don’t you think so?”
“…….”
I could feel Choi Jeokhyeon, his head thrown back as if he were drunk, watching me with his rolling eyes.
‘.…You’re watching to see how I react. You’re testing me.’
I kept my gaze fixed on the table and maintained as much composure as possible.
I couldn’t let Choi Jeokhyeon find out the emotions I’d been hiding from him all along.
In fact, I might have been shocked by the journalist’s death, but I didn’t feel sorry for him, even though I had strongly reprimanded Choi Jeokhyeon. After all, that journalist had been someone who spread rumors about me and constantly insulted me.
At the point where I was pursuing personal revenge rather than legal punishment, I already had a mindset that was quite twisted compared to others, though not to the extent of Choi Jeokhyeon.
In the end, I wasn’t a saint. I was a coward who prioritized my friend over my enemy.
The reason why I was so shocked by Choi Jeokhyeon’s actions was because everything he did was done
because of me
.
‘I thought it was a good thing when that journalist died.’
There was a strong possibility that the things Choi Jeokhyeon did were things I subconsciously desired deep down. Choi Jeokhyeon was a guy who reacted very sensitively to even my slightest emotions and words.
“Yes, it’s my gift for you. Do you like it?”
I felt like I had transferred the responsibility of my ugly desires onto his inhumanity, making him nothing more than a tool that allowed me to reap the benefits. As soon as I realized that I was the key to unleashing his antisocial tendencies that I had so desperately wanted to fix, an immense sense of despair washed over me.
“When, when did I ever ask you to do something like this!”
“Do you have any idea how horrible the thing you’ve just done is?”
Even if it were Choi Jeokhyeon, I couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t bear any responsibility.
It was just a stroke of luck that the journalist hadn’t come to him with a knife in his hand, looking for revenge.
Whether it’s the president, a king, or a conglomerate, humans would die if they get stabbed in the wrong spot.
I was scared of Choi Jeokhyeon shouldering the resentment and responsibility for what he did on my behalf.
So, I minimized my contact with Choi Jeokhyeon, trying to prevent him from reading my ugly inner thoughts, and warned him not to commit any more mistakes.
“If you make someone die again, I will never appear in front of you again. And you’re not allowed to appear in front of me either.”
Choi Jeokhyeon didn’t actually cause anyone to die as I had warned, but he still removed the obstacles in front of me in similiar way, and like a side effect, the degree of it became more and more severe. If anything, it got worse, not better. Because of that, I decided to keep him close to me in this life, and watch over him to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.
“It’s strange … you’re not getting angry.”
And now, while he didn’t seem to understand the emotion of guilt, he seemed to be slowly realizing that I didn’t hate him.
I calmed my breathing and opened my mouth.
“How do you plan to kill him? Are you going to target his family again like last time? That won’t work. Kang Hyukwoo absolutely hates having any weaknesses, so he doesn’t even have a family. Then, since threats won’t work, are you going to order an innocent person to kill him? Or will you do it yourself? Go ahead, try that. If you do, it’s really over.”
“…….”
“From the start, Kang Hyukwoo is on a completely different level compared to that journalist. He has a strong backing, and the risk is incomparably greater. I don’t want to drag the people around me into this kind of matter.”
The reason Kang Hyukwoo, who only had Prism as the major hit among the groups he produced, became a big shot in the entertainment industry was because of the dirty business he was running.
On the second floor of his club, illegal transactions targeting top celebrities were taking place. And since that place was being used as a major source of income for gangsters, threatening Kang Hyukwoo could lead to a confrontation with the gangsters.
As a precious heir from a prestigious family, there was no need for him to tremble in fear under the mere threat of gangsters, but with so many people caught in the middle of it all, no one could predict what might happen.
‘People who have nothing to lose are the most dangerous.’
“That guy’s only weakness is the corruption he committed himself. And there’s no one more suitable than me to attack that.”
“You failed in your previous life.”
“When I was alive, I couldn’t act recklessly. I was under his surveillance every day, and he had too many of my weaknesses. People wouldn’t have believed me either. But now, it’s different.”
When I uttered the word ‘
weakness
’, Choi Jeokhyeon, whose eyes were half-closed due to intoxication, frowned and quickly grumbled like a child.
“…..Prism are annoying.”
And as I watched him fall right back to sleep, I muttered softly.
“…You know that too. I couldn’t do anything until I got rid of that video.”
It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand Choi Jeokhyeon’s reaction.
One of the obstacles to my revenge was that club’s CCTV footage, clearly capturing Jo Inchan lying on the floor, intoxicated by something.
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Translator’s Corner:
New MC’s lore dropped, who’s excited
I know I should have been sleep but I really cant wait for this chapter to announce that THE REASON NICHOLAS BEHAVED ALL LIKE THAT WAS BECAUSE MC THE ONE WHO RAISED HIM LOLOLOLOL
If you noticed, when Cha Woon visited for mid-term evaluation before, he said he had met Nicholas before. And Nicholas said he had been in Korea since long time ago. That’s the clue. Jay probably thought MC already knew since he was practically taking care of Nicholas from the very beginning……..
Okay now I’m going to sleep