# Chapter 66
Indeed. This place was, as suspected, Taesung’s house. Though the furniture and interior were still completely different from the Taesung’s house in his memory, the layout was familiar enough that he could walk through it with his eyes closed.
Unlike before, however, the path to the living room was dimly lit as if no one lived here. When he was with Taesung, this place was always as bright as daylight with lighting. Lee Hwan felt like he was exploring vanished ruins as he walked along the hallway, opening doors one by one.
Study, bedroom, dressing room… The location of every room was exactly the same as before the regression. Instead, everything from the wallpaper to the furniture was different, making it look more subdued and darker.
Still, details like the night light placed beside the bed with a small notebook underneath, or the way the desk was organized with paper on the left side and writing utensils on the right, hadn’t changed at all from before, automatically reminding him of Taesung.
His feelings became increasingly strange. He had only meant to look for his phone, but it felt like he was secretly glimpsing an aspect of Taesung he hadn’t known. Feeling an odd sense of guilt, he eventually left for the living room without even opening the last room.
The living room was just as dim. Instead, the sparkling night view beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows created a mysterious and strange atmosphere. Lee Hwan trudged toward the entrance, no longer trying to muffle his footsteps.
That’s when it happened.
Click.
With a small sound, one part of the living room lit up in a pale glow. Startled, Lee Hwan turned his head and realized someone was sitting on the sofa next to the floor lamp. He also realized he had missed such an obvious presence because he was distracted exploring the house.
‘Oh no, was Jade guarding the place?’
But the person staring at him with half his face in shadow was, unexpectedly, Taesung. Lee Hwan discovered that when someone is too startled, they actually do jump a little, just like in cartoons.
‘!’
Why is this guy here?
When Lee Hwan froze stiffly, Taesung slowly lowered his gaze. Lee Hwan could easily tell those eyes were focused on his side. To avoid any potential confrontation, he carefully stepped back from the entrance.
He had already felt his heart sink when his face was discovered. Now that Taesung knew he had been deceived all this time, would he be angry? Recalling the severe beating he’d received before, he couldn’t bring himself to look directly at him, and his neck instinctively shrank.
No, that’s not it. He wouldn’t harm someone he’d brought here and even treated. He wouldn’t do something so unproductive. Forcing himself to think this way, his shoulders relaxed somewhat as he felt a bit relieved.
Still, what terrified him was the fact that Taesung had been sitting here waiting for him.
“Why are you just standing there…?”
Though the reason was obvious, Lee Hwan asked anyway. Thinking that as a human, Taesung would naturally be curious if the person he treated was okay, and expecting a response like “to catch you if you tried to run” or something similar.
But the answer that came was a voice that felt somewhat flat and distant.
“What does it matter what I do in my own house?”
‘The attitude…’
It was true, but… his tone was quite unpleasant. Didn’t he say he wanted to talk earlier? Now his attitude suggested he wanted Lee Hwan to leave. It seemed too extreme. Though finding out his face might be reason enough to be angry…
He had planned to leave anyway. Lying in enemy territory without even a phone could lead to trouble. For instance, that sleeping bomb who might think Lee Hwan was completely on his side and drag him to all sorts of places like the HPA and that strange TF team. Like Kang Dongha, or Kang Dongha, or because of Kang Dongha.
But now that he was actually trying to leave, it felt annoying, especially with the homeowner sitting in the living room as if daring him to go while speaking like that.
‘This is giving me a headache…’
He was grateful that Taesung hadn’t turned him over to the Management Bureau even after seeing his face. And for treating his injury, even though it was Taesung’s fault he got hurt in the first place. Even for the consideration of bringing him to his home instead of sending him to the hospital. Thanks to that, he hadn’t woken up with his record in the Hunter Management Database and handcuffs on.
But taking all his belongings and blocking the exit to start a confrontation was… a different matter. Lee Hwan looked around the hallway he had passed through, sighed, and retorted.
“I don’t recall asking to be brought to your home.”
Collapsing like that had been an unplanned accident. Because of it, he now had a mountain of additional tasks on his already tight schedule.
He needed to check on Kang Dongha’s condition immediately, and replay and organize the recorded meeting content. For a while, information had been exploding on its own, so he needed to find the next target based on that. He also needed to visit the gate he couldn’t go to last time because of Taesung.
Lee Hwan truly felt like he was teetering on the edge of death by overwork. Having already wasted too much time, he couldn’t afford to hesitate any longer here.
Moreover, his ultimate goal wasn’t improving his relationship with Kang Dongha, nor playing riddle games with annoying skills or the system, but recovering the pre-regression Taesung and living well together for a long time. Ironically, to do that, he needed to be cold to the current Taesung.
“I appreciate the treatment. But isn’t it a bit much to take my phone and essentially imprison me?”
Since his identity had been discovered anyway, he decided to be brazen. Like a hedgehog raising its quills, Lee Hwan hardened his expression and quietly protested.
“Imprison?”
Taesung furrowed his brow as if he’d heard something absurd. In the pale light, his shadow stretched, making the movement particularly noticeable.
“Your clothes were removed for treatment, and your belongings are all in there. When daylight comes, Jade will bring both.”
Even after seeing his face as soon as he lost consciousness, he never once searched his pockets? Lee Hwan momentarily hesitated whether to take this statement at face value. Though, on the other hand, he would have felt worse if all the items in his pockets had been thoroughly examined.
But before Lee Hwan could accept this fact, it felt like a sharp retort slapped his cheek.
“Aren’t you a bit too self-conscious? You think you’re something special.”
‘…That’s unpleasant.’
He just spoke exactly like Kang Dongha. To be reminded of that person when looking at a completely different person, Taesung of all people. It was a moment that seriously made him question life. Lee Hwan felt a flush of heat rise unconsciously as he responded.
“If that’s not surveillance, then what is it? Isn’t it stranger for you to be sitting here with all the lights off? Right now, you’re guarding the path and waiting for me to come out…”
“Lights? Why would the lights…”
Taesung stopped mid-sentence this time. As if only now, after hearing Lee Hwan’s words, did he realize how strange it was to be sitting alone for hours in a darkened living room.
Lee Hwan was about to shoot back a few more remarks but stopped awkwardly. A curious thought occurred to him. Was Taesung lying after being caught guarding the entrance? Or did he really live like this normally?
‘…No way.’
But his gradually stiffening face seemed to indicate it wasn’t an excuse. Lee Hwan unconsciously made a distant expression.
Could it be that this guy only just now realized how strange that was?
“…”
During the brief silence that followed, Lee Hwan quietly gazed at Taesung’s shadowed face and thought.
There’s no way Taesung wouldn’t know the obvious principle that you turn on lights when it’s dark. He simply hadn’t felt like moving. From when the sun was still up, continuing all along.
If he had been like this for hours, it wouldn’t have been dark from the beginning. He just didn’t feel the need to turn on the lights even as the day grew dim. As always, thinking there was no one here to care about the darkness anyway. Just like Lee Hwan himself when he was a teenager…
‘What the hell does this guy do in this house?’
Forgetting his previous urgency, Lee Hwan looked around with a strange expression. Suddenly, this unnecessarily spacious living room seemed incredibly empty. Even in a cool indoor environment, Lee Hwan felt as if his fingertips were freezing even in this season.
Even before the regression, Taesung would occasionally show a dark face. That’s natural—life has both good and bad moments, and even in the same situation, emotions felt each time can differ.
Whenever that happened, Lee Hwan would playfully break his silence. Even though Taesung never asked for it, he had sometimes made him sit on the sofa or bed, handed him tea, and opened lots of snacks. Because that was all he could do.
‘Has he always been like this until then?’
Even this Taesung with his memories gone was still Taesung, and Lee Hwan felt something akin to sympathy despite his own precarious situation. His growing dissatisfaction noticeably subsided. Absurdly so. Recently, Lee Hwan was gradually realizing that he was particularly weak when it came to Taesung.
‘Was our relationship always this tender?’
Well, looking back on his life, he had never made such a good friend…
Finding himself completely unwilling to act harshly, Lee Hwan changed his approach and decided to try a gentler tactic.
“The treatment, I didn’t know you would…”
He muttered while fiddling with the back of his head, then trudged toward the center of the living room. Taesung had kept his mouth firmly shut since stopping mid-sentence earlier.
“Um, things haven’t been great every time we’ve met.”
Lee Hwan muttered an unnecessary explanation like an excuse. Wondering if perhaps Taesung was upset at being treated like a cold-blooded person who would abandon an unconscious person. He seemed to have completely forgotten how consistently cold Taesung’s tone had been.
“You’re thoughtless. If it were me, I would have rested quietly and left unnoticed.”
Another barb flew at him, hitting him right in the solar plexus. Lee Hwan suppressed his rising indignation and forced a smile as he stood before him.
Yes, this guy had lost seven years of memories, so he was essentially that much younger. There was no need to respond with the same irritation to a clueless young person. Be patient, Joo Lee Hwan. Be patient and just escape smoothly.
However, his intention to handle the situation maturely, drawing on years of social experience, completely collapsed in less than a minute when he heard Taesung’s monologue.
“Like master, like dog…”
“…What?”
A breath snorted out of his nose. If he had been a natural crab, he would have foamed at the mouth. Being called a dog wasn’t what bothered him. It was that he knew all too well who that “master” referred to.
‘Ah, damn it…’
In that moment, Lee Hwan forgot his efforts and everything became annoying. The memory loss he had taken for granted for months, the approach-and-retreat attitude that made no sense, and the stiff tone that was already imposing at this age.
Thinking about it, Lee Hwan hadn’t just been getting weaker toward Taesung lately. In front of him, his patience diminished, and his emotions increasingly fluctuated. He felt like a reed that was helplessly swaying with every action and word from Taesung.
Unable to hold back any longer, his frustration burst out.
“The thoughtless one is your head. My side was injured saving you in the first place, and I never asked for help, yet you picked me up on your own and have the audacity to act like this?”
