[CHOI JEOKHYEON’S POV]
“We’ve secured all the data inside the phone.”
The person who opened the door and entered gave a slight bow in greeting, then placed a USB and a phone on the desk before stepping back. I stared at him indifferently before speaking quietly.
“The valuable evidence has been corrupted. It’s such a pity, since we haven’t even managed to extract the information properly yet.”
“…Yes?”
I heard a sound that blatantly revealed the foolish thought of wondering what I was talking about, given that the phone was still functioning perfectly and all the information had been successfully extracted without issue.
I lifted my lowered head and confirmed the dazed, unfocused expression on his face. As soon as our eyes met, the other person immediately hardened his expression and gave me the answer I wanted.
“…I apologize. We tried to work as quickly as we could, but their response was too fast, and they blocked the access to the phone remotely, so we could only secure part of the information.”
He finally seemed to understand what I meant. In response, I gave a slight nod toward the others in the room.
It was an order to leave. Then, they bowed and walked out quietly.
Even if I didn’t say something like, “
Keep your mouth shut
”, someone else would do it for me. For example, the secretary, who was checking my expression with nervousness.
After they had completely left the room, I placed Lim Seunghoon’s phone in the safe, then shifted my gaze to the data he had handed over.
And then I recalled a memory from not too long ago.
“…….”
One day, when I couldn’t reach you, my nephew contacted me.
He seemed to have kept his word to tell me right away if there was anything wrong with ‘
Han Seungbeom
‘.
Bright blond hair and blue eyes. With a complexion so light that it made him look far from East Asian, it wasn’t immediately obvious that he was related to me by blood, but he was the only one among many blood relatives whom I considered
family
.
“Han Seungbeom is suddenly in a strange condition. Do you know something?”
The child asked me that question in a blunt tone, obviously having learned it from you.
I answered that question with, “
I know, but I can’t tell you
“. He clicked his tongue quietly, seemingly displeased. However, despite showing his dissatisfaction, he didn’t throw a tantrum to get me to tell him.
That child knew well that I was the type of person who would stick to my word once I said ‘
No
‘.
As you were aware, Nicholas was one of the few people I actually cared about, but that didn’t mean I blindly adored him like I did with you.
I had never been particularly cautious from the beginning, but the problem of having to protect your identity was resolved rather easily. However, the problem that followed was something far more burdensome and difficult for me to handle.
“You, have there been any times when you couldn’t contact me?”
When I heard the question you asked me so bluntly, I felt as though my heart had plummeted to the floor.
“It’s just, there was a time when that happened, but I don’t remember it very well.”
Your memory is coming back.
Just as you must wake up one day from even the sweetest of dreams, the situation I dreaded most was coming upon me all too naturally.
You probably would never know what kind of feelings I had as I watched you suffer every time a fragment of your memory resurfaced.
“CEO-nim, it seems that the customer you mentioned before is in very poor condition.”
While spending each day like that, I received a message that your condition was unusual. I rushed out of my office as soon as I heard that.
I had anticipated this situation to happen from the moment I was asked to suggest a suitable place to have a conversation with Lim Seunghoon. But apparently, I wasn’t prepared enough.
Without realizing my suit was wrinkling and my hair was getting disheveled, I hurriedly headed to where you were.
And when I arrived, you were there, pale as a corpse, barely able to breathe, unable to even stand.
“Come to your senses!”
I called your name over and over again and held onto your body.
Then suddenly, your eyes closed and your body went limp.
“…Choi Jeokhyeon.”
You muttered my name one last time.
I froze in place, unable to say anything. As I slowly looked down at your cold, motionless skin, your gaunt body, and your colorless face, the image of your face lying in the morgue flashed back in my mind.
You had been vomiting severely, so you must have become dehydrated, and your stomach must have been strained. The headache you were always having must have gotten worse as well. I needed to take action quickly, perhaps with painkillers, but my legs wouldn’t move.
Just like that day when I sat there in a daze, unable to move.
I slowly moved my arms, which still had sensation, to support my limp body in place of my numb legs. Then, unconsciously, I grabbed the back of your neck.
And then, I felt a small pulse on my index finger and thumb that touched your neck.
“…….”
You’re alive.
It was only after I confirmed it that I was able to get up from my position.
After barely getting you to the hospital, it wasn’t long before you opened your eyes. And as soon as you did, you began moving as if you were obsessively being chased by something. I pressed down on your shoulder to stop you from getting up.
I didn’t show it, but honestly, I was surprised when I saw you sit quietly again without resisting my touch. It was rare for you, who never listened to anyone, to behave so obediently, so I felt relieved.
“…Is that the reason why you don’t even spend any of the money you earn? You want to create an environment where Han Seungbeom can live happily if he comes back later?”
Until you answered that question so obediently.
I was angry.
It was a kind of anger I had never felt before, as if it were swallowing me whole.
Even though the effects of the alcohol had completely worn off, my legs still wouldn’t move properly. It felt similar to the numbness I had felt in my legs just a moment before, but I ignored it and staggered towards you.
Then, I threw aside my usual way of speaking and unleashed my anger without restraint.
“Would you like to imagine what kind of person Han Seungbeom must have been?”
I really intended to commit it.
I was also perfectly prepared for it.
Even as I said that, I had a USB in my jacket’s chest pocket with all the information I needed to destroy Han Seungbeom’s father, mother, and younger brother.
Ever since I noticed that you never used any of the money you earned as Han Seungbeom…….
“While you were dead, I constantly thought about how I should have acted at that time.”
No, it was something I thought about every day in regret since the day you died.
“You know, I’m really curious if that child could live with a sane mind after watching his family die in front of his eyes, and knowing that all of it happened because of him.”
I was born without the ability to understand people’s hearts well, and I felt no guilt in using others outside my fence for my own purposes.
I threw caution to the wind and recklessly poured out everything I had been keeping hidden in order to live as a member of society, as your friend. Once I made the vow to use every means at my disposal to keep you tied to this world, nothing seemed off-limits.
I knew that it was no different from cutting a bird’s wings.
But even so, I thought it didn’t matter as long as you were alive.
I even thought that this might be the first time in my life that I had directly threatened someone. I doubt even you could have imagined that you would be the target.
“As long as you don’t disappear, everything will be fine, okay?”
But the moment I carelessly uttered those words, all the agitation and exhaustion that had been lingering in you vanished.
And then, you started to stand up again.
…Why on earth.
What is it that makes you like this?
As soon as I saw you like that, an indescribable emotion surged through me, and I thought I had to break you so that you could never rise again. So, I tried to imprison you with information that could immediately endanger the members of Prism.
“Thank you, Choi Jeokhyeon.”
But the moment I heard those words, I couldn’t speak, as if I had a malfunction.
I was fully prepared to be resented, but what I heard was something I hadn’t even considered.
When I came to my senses, I realized that I was the one who had been shaken.
“Thank you. For thinking of me more than I think of myself.”
And when I heard that I was just anxious and taking desperate moves to try to hold onto you, I almost let out a hollow laugh.
In my eyes, it seemed like you saw me as too good of a person.
It seemed like you thought I could live like ordinary people, sharing love with others and forming relationships.
But it wasn’t true.
Because you foolishly believe in people like that, you got betrayed by someone like Lim Seunghoon, and you got hurt by having someone like me as a friend.
These words nearly escaped my mouth.
You’ve always been like that.
You were too weak to the people in your arms, and you trusted them too much.
I didn’t care if Han Seungbeom had abilities beyond human comprehension. If he had eyes that could read people’s minds, I could just gouge them out. If he had physical strength, I could just destroy his mental strength.
No matter how extraordinary a person’s abilities were, they were still human.
As long as they lived within the confines of society, there was no one I couldn’t threaten.
And I felt no emotion at all about destroying someone’s life like that.
But…….
“So … don’t be so anxious.”
You make me feel like an ordinary person.
You gave a name to the emotions that passed by me much more faintly than others and disappeared just as quickly.
“If you’re just going to waste your life getting drunk like that, then shut up and follow me. I’ll show you a stage that’s far more enjoyable than that.”
You made it possible for me to enjoy the ordinary things in life, like laughing, sleeping, having conversations, and occasionally traveling, allowing me to spend such joyful times.
“Because I…….”
You made it possible for me to feel happiness.
‘So, maybe that’s why both I and Seo Yuseong needed you.’
Perhaps that was the reason. After you died, it felt like all the colors had faded from the world.
You definitely didn’t know me as well as you thought you did. You didn’t even fully understand what I was thinking in my head, or what you meant to me. The way you looked at me with that smug expression on your face, as if you knew me so well, was baffling to me.
I had obviously put a lot of effort into raising you, so where did it all go wrong … it was truly a regrettable situation. Or perhaps, you were just born that way.
“That’s the reason you brought me here, wasn’t it?”
But seeing you laugh like you used to when you said that, it wasn’t so bad.
When I watched how much you wanted to live as Seo Yutae, not
Han Seungbeom
, what more could I say? It was something I also wished for more than anyone else. Seeing that you seemed to have re-set your goal to that vague hope, rather than returning to your original state, I thought,
let’s just wait and see for now
.
“If anything happens to your safety, I will immediately become a wreck.”
Weren’t there also words that lingered, stuck like a stumbling stone?
As my leg started to go numb again, I pushed myself up, taking a deep breath. My fingers trailed across the desk as I lost myself in thought.
‘Come to think of it, the next thing on his schedule is a variety show about the celebrity’s parents.’
I heard that the wife of my father’s first son, born to his legal wife, had come to Korea for Nicholas.
‘I hope that woman doesn’t say anything unnecessary.’
As I shook my head, thinking such thoughts, the USB on the desk, which was not easily visible from my sitting position, caught my eye. It was Lim Seunghoon’s USB, filled with all sorts of information, like Han Seungbeom’s father’s workplace, the parents Han Seungbeom’s mother had connections with, and even Han Jaewoon’s social circle.
As I stared at it, I heard my secretary knock again.
When I told him to come in, the secretary, who had approached with documents in hand, noticed the USB lying on the desk and subtly asked.
“CEO-nim, should I dispose this data?”
I remembered what you had said when I heard that question.
“Don’t touch anything I hold dear.”
I smiled, and gave my reply.
“…No, leave it alone.”
…Even if I tell you that I’m probably not as good a person as you think I am, you won’t believe me, will you?
[END OF CHOI JEOKHYEON’S POV]
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Translator’s Corner:
Isn’t this what you guys have been waiting for ….
Actually, I really really really disliked yandere character. No matter in rofan or BL, I really can’t be attracted to yandere character. Like, obsession or only liking one person and hating anyone else are fine, but I really don’t like that typical ML who manipulated the MC in creepy way. (I’m a very happy stories lover) (The only genre where I could find those MLs acceptable is in smut. If not smut, then it really doesn’t work). And I hated characters who acted like they’re harmless uwu puppy crybaby in front of MC when they actually the most sinister. Everytime I saw those kind of ML got picked in a reverse harem, when there are other ML who’s basically a whole forest, I got so mad. But anyway.
The point is … why CJH doesn’t feel creepy at all ASDFGHJKL EVEN MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT. LIKE WE HAVE A CHARMING YANDERE RIGHT HERE T_T SEO YUSEONG, TAKE NOTES !!! Omg … the charm of a mature man …… like …. maybe I want to … cough … see … cough … confinement arc … cough
Anyway, let’s meet Nicholas’ mother soon. (If you forgot about the family tree, it was mentioned before during Survive IDOL. Nicholas’s father is Sanghwa Group’s first son, who ran away from home to marry a British conglomerate, while Choi Jeokhyeon is the youngest son.)