Cheon Jaekyung glared at Lee Hyeonseok as if he would kill him, but he didn’t lunge at him. And for good reason. Unlike Han Taeseok, who had a similar build to Lee Hyeonseok, he had a relatively lean physique, so he wouldn’t stand a chance in terms of weight class from the start. He had a nice body with moderately defined muscles, but he wouldn’t be able to beat Lee Hyeonseok in a fistfight.
“You’ve really gone completely insane.”
“I guess I have.”
I quietly agreed with Cheon Jaekyung’s criticism. I thought he wouldn’t have heard since I spoke really quietly, but Lee Hyeonseok looked down at me. Wondering if I’d provoked him by his standards, I just turned my head away pretending not to notice since he didn’t raise his hand.
“Acting like you love him so much, begging to see him just once, like it’s the love of the century. I guess your love wasn’t much either.”
When Lee Hyeonseok didn’t say anything, Cheon Jaekyung sneered at him once again. He probably intended to damage, diminish, and disparage Han Hyeonseok’s sincerity no matter what, but unfortunately, since Lee Hyeonseok wasn’t Han Hyeonseok, he just felt wronged.
It was clear he wanted to immediately confess that it wasn’t him, but there wouldn’t be a single person who’d believe him anyway, and it was obvious he’d be treated like a crazy bastard. Perhaps he’d be treated like a pathetic person, accused of playing dumb because his pride was hurt.
“Fuck. Being condemned for something I didn’t even do—I can’t believe how wronged this makes me feel.”
“Hyeonseok-ah….”
Lee Hyeonseok ruffled his bangs and appealed his sense of injustice to me, who knew the circumstances. I nodded to let him know I at least understood that much.
Just then, Lee Juwon called out Lee Hyeonseok’s name regretfully. Last time he said something about not giving him attention or whatever, but since the novel’s ending was that they all live together, Lee Juwon might have had feelings too. But the guy who had been following him around lovingly changed his attitude in just one day, and not only that but even hit him, so it made sense for him to act regretful.
“I’ll make this crystal clear with this opportunity, fuck. I have no interest in Lee Juwon, so go ahead and suck each other off.”
Lee Hyeonseok spoke with contempt toward Lee Juwon and Cheon Jaekyung. His voice was filled with disgust. It was embarrassing enough to make even me feel secondhand embarrassment. Lee Juwon’s body trembled with his head down. However, Cheon Jaekyung didn’t seem particularly hurt by Lee Hyeonseok’s words. Rather, even though he didn’t like that Lee Juwon was shaken, he seemed to see this as an opportunity.
“…You really mean that?”
“Should I stamp it with my seal?”
“You think I’d believe that? You should at least stake something that would harm your company.”
Still, it seemed difficult to believe immediately, so he asked Lee Hyeonseok once more. While doing so, he glanced down at Lee Juwon. He was clearly planning to completely cut him out with this opportunity, even if Lee Juwon got hurt. They were both eyesores.
“Ugh….”
“Ah, Taeseok-ah…!”
While the two were squabbling, Han Taeseok seemed to be regaining consciousness and let out a groan, and Lee Juwon, who had been in a daze, approached Han Taeseok. I felt like I’d seen a similar scene somewhere before.
“…Lee Juwon?”
“Thank goodness…. Are you coming to?”
I had an ominous feeling that things might become a shitshow again. Unlike Lee Juwon, who had whimpered and struggled for a long time before getting up, Han Taeseok got up quickly. More precisely, he pondered what the situation was for a moment, then as if the memory came back to him, his face flushed with shame and anger as he shot up. He staggered briefly, probably from the shock of being hit on the jaw, but immediately straightened his posture and tried to lunge at Lee Hyeonseok once again. Lee Hyeonseok snorted as if dumbfounded and clenched his fist.
“Wait, wait! Stop it! Taeseok-ah, stop!”
I thought I’d have to watch someone get hit again, but Lee Juwon, who was right next to Han Taeseok, blocked Han Taeseok’s attempted charge with his whole body. But Han Taeseok, not realizing the person lunging at him was Lee Juwon, unconsciously pushed Lee Juwon away.
“Ah!”
“Juwon-ah!”
“!”
Lee Juwon almost fell to the floor, but fortunately, Cheon Jaekyung caught him. Only after Cheon Jaekyung called out Lee Juwon’s name did Han Taeseok realize that the person he’d pushed was Lee Juwon, and he froze. Lee Juwon’s body really never had a peaceful day.
While it was pitiful, Lee Juwon wasn’t my friend, so I just wanted to get out of here quickly. Lee Juwon would be taken care of by Han Taeseok and Cheon Jaekyung anyway. Good grief, so this is how headache-inducing someone else’s love triangle completely unrelated to me could be. Lee Hyeonseok was also looking at them with dead eyes.
“I can’t stand this anymore. Let’s go.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Lee Hyeonseok, looking truly fed up, turned around without any lingering attachment to leave the infirmary. Thanks to Lee Hyeonseok thoughtfully looking out for me, I could barely escape from this place too.
“Who said you could!”
“Taeseok-ah, I told you to stop…!”
Han Taeseok, who had been hit by Lee Hyeonseok, seemed to think he couldn’t just let him go and tried to grab him. But Lee Juwon once again firmly grasped Han Taeseok’s arm with both hands to stop him. This time, Han Taeseok didn’t shake off Lee Juwon’s hands. Good job, Lee Juwon. You can do it. Hang in there.
“Fuck, go and I’ll send you a contract with my seal stamped on it saying I’ll transfer the stocks I have if I make any moves on that bastard today.”
Lee Hyeonseok spoke in a low voice as if he wouldn’t let it slide if they stopped him one more time and left the infirmary. I quickly followed behind Lee Hyeonseok before I missed the timing. And I closed the infirmary door quickly and quietly. Before we left, I heard Han Taeseok cursing, but we walked down the hallway without looking back.
* * *
“Fuck. It’s so fucking shitty, really.”
I was just exasperated and tired, not feeling as dirty as Lee Hyeonseok seemed to be, but I roughly nodded in agreement, meaning for him to calm down.
“And what were you doing there?”
Lee Hyeonseok, who had been venting his irritation, asked as if doing me a favor.
“I was in the middle of being grabbed by the collar.”
“I must look like I’m in a good mood.”
“Because the two of them noticed that Lee Juwon’s mistake and getting hit had something to do with me.”
“Poor bastard. You’ve been marked.”
I got involved entirely because of Lee Hyeonseok, so I answered curtly out of spite, and he laughed and threatened me. My responses always flipped like turning over the palm of my hand. Lee Hyeonseok said he understood, acting nonchalant. The words that came out of Lee Hyeonseok’s mouth always made me sad.
“Will I be killed by Han Taeseok first, or by Cheon Jaekyung first….”
“Those bastards aren’t the only ones you should be worrying about, are they?”
I muttered bitterly and self-deprecatingly. I was seriously wondering how to please Han Taeseok and Cheon Jaekyung so they’d let me live peacefully, when Lee Hyeonseok picked a fight. Those two people alone were already difficult enough, but Lee Hyeonseok made me feel hopeless. What the hell is wrong with this bastard anyway.
“That’s right. Of course. I should worry about hyung too.”
“Not that, that Lee Juwon thing.”
“Lee Juwon?”
I wanted to give him a mouthful of curses, but since I might need to ask him for help with Han Taeseok and Cheon Jaekyung’s matter, I decided to just humor him. But from Lee Hyeonseok’s mouth came the name of Lee Juwon, whom I hadn’t been particularly concerned about. I expressed doubt, but it wasn’t that strange.
“Right. If I ask Lee Juwon, I might be able to survive….”
“I thought you just had no pride, but you’re also clueless?”
“I have it, I don’t have it.”
“Huh….”
I didn’t see anything particularly strange about what I said, but Lee Hyeonseok asked seriously. This bastard seemed like someone desperate to get under my skin. Reacting would only please Lee Hyeonseok, so I responded appropriately. Lee Hyeonseok let out a hollow laugh as if he couldn’t go on. The one who couldn’t go on was me.
“Right now you seem clueless, so I can already picture you being played by Lee Juwon.”
“Hyung. Did I ever say I respected you?”
“Try saying you have pride, you don’t have pride?”
“I don’t think I need to have it with you, hyung.”
Lee Hyeonseok thoroughly mocked me. But since Lee Hyeonseok didn’t seem like he’d let me go for a while, just like he called me his dog bastard, it would be more comfortable to have no pride from the start rather than getting hurt by asserting my pride every single time. Moreover, even if I acted without pride toward Lee Hyeonseok, everyone would understand.
Honestly, it wasn’t that my pride and self-esteem weren’t hurt, but it was tolerable enough.
“Can’t you really feel that he’s looking down on you?”
“……”
Lee Hyeonseok told me as if he was being generous. Apparently, I was the perceptive type. Just as Lee Hyeonseok said, in the infirmary, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was strangely being excluded. I kept thinking I was becoming an extra for Lee Juwon’s sake.
When Lee Hyeonseok first picked a fight with me, the center of that incident was me and Lee Hyeonseok. However, the statement Lee Juwon blurted out when he intruded changed the center of that incident to ‘Han Hyeonseok’ and ‘Lee Juwon.’ ‘Kim Hyeonmin’ was changed into an extra for ‘Lee Juwon’ to develop the incident.
If Lee Juwon had really wanted to help me in the infirmary, he should have sent out Han Taeseok and Cheon Jaekyung, who were growling on the side. However, the moment ‘Lee Juwon’ accidentally mentioned statements about his own wounds and looked at me nervously, ‘Seo Jiwoo’ was changed into an extra who could both inform ‘Han Taeseok’ and ‘Cheon Jaekyung’ about the reason ‘Lee Juwon’ got hurt and provide plausibility for showing intense emotions toward ‘Lee Juwon.’
Even at the moment when ‘Lee Hyeonseok’ accidentally got involved in the incident unintentionally, ‘Lee Juwon’ treated ‘Seo Jiwoo’ as if completely unrelated. It was as if I didn’t exist there at all.
I tried to think that Lee Juwon was just clueless or couldn’t see his surroundings, but since Lee Hyeonseok said it like that, it probably wasn’t a far-fetched thought.
Still.
“I don’t really care though….”
Whether Lee Juwon looked down on me or not, I have zero fucking desire to get involved in their love triangle anyway. It was actually something to be grateful for. As long as I don’t get hit, I don’t give a damn whether he treats me as an extra or treats me as if I don’t exist.
