# Chapter 69.
## Confrontation
When Lee Hwan regained consciousness, it was morning again. He tried to get up but groaned at the stiffness in his side. Only then did memories of the previous night flash through his mind.
The night before, Lee Hwan had left Taesung’s house just before midnight. By then, the tears he’d been stupidly shedding had stopped. With nothing to pack, he put on his shoes while still wearing someone else’s clothes and headed for the front door. As soon as he stepped outside, the humid air hit him, making it difficult to breathe.
‘…The electricity bill.’
Even though it wasn’t his money, Lee Hwan went back inside and turned off the air conditioning in each room before leaving again. He had already tidied up the bed where he’d been lying, sniffling as he did so.
Even if someone asked what kind of person does this, he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t leave the air conditioning running in such a spacious house with no one in it.
After all, Taesung was an Awakened person with that kind of ability, so he probably didn’t even feel the heat. No matter how much money he had to burn, what was the point? Imagining the progressive electricity rates for that house suddenly gave Lee Hwan chills even in the middle of summer.
After leaving, he realized he had neither money nor a phone when he tried to go home. He sat down in front of the complex for a while, wondering if he could walk all the way home.
He must have still been under the influence of the medication then. That’s why he couldn’t think of other options and foolishly started walking. He must have walked several kilometers. By the time his side started to ache again, Lee Hwan realized he could just take any taxi home and come out with money.
After returning home through all these complications, he considered whether he should shower, but fell asleep like he was passing out. That was the last thing he remembered. When he opened his eyes, the day had already dawned, and although his body was drenched in cold sweat, he felt quite refreshed.
‘7 AM…’
Was his biological clock set for work? Fortunately, he woke up at just the right time. Lee Hwan admired his own foresight in buying an alarm clock despite having a phone. Otherwise, he might have been sticking his head out of the balcony, trying to tell the time by the position of the sun.
When he unwrapped the bandage to examine his wound, the surface was already beginning to heal. If it continued to recover smoothly like this, he might be able to start training before a month passed. He wouldn’t be able to see the doctor again, but he could remove the stitches himself later.
Lee Hwan examined his now-dormant side like a dormant volcano, then rummaged through the first aid kit and firmly attached a patch over it.
‘Let’s shower first.’
He didn’t want to start the day covered in sweat, especially since he had to ride a crowded bus. And he didn’t want to endure a sticky body until he got off work.
He also needed to wash away the heavy feeling that kept trying to weigh him down. Lee Hwan took a deep breath and walked briskly to the bathroom, giving himself no chance to feel depressed.
The hardest part about showering was blocking out stray thoughts. Even with a waterproof patch, prolonged exposure to water wouldn’t be good. Actively trying to erase the memories of the previous day that kept surfacing, Lee Hwan quickly washed and left the bathroom.
He removed the patch, disinfected the wound, changed the gauze, and carefully wrapped a bandage around it again. It was only 7:30 AM. There was still time before work. Only then did Lee Hwan lean back on the bed and fall into contemplation.
The previous day… he must have been disoriented after collapsing and waking up. He shouldn’t have cried like that. Wasn’t he being treated like a con artist who approached Taesung to swindle his money? He should have slapped that mouth before tears could burst out.
Of course, one of the major reasons he had stuck with Kang Dongha was money, but it was unpleasant to hear it expressed that way. He had surely given back more than he had received.
So if Taesung had just asked, “Were you struggling because you had no money? Is that why you’re helping each other with Kang Dongha?” he would have nodded without hesitation.
Unlike before, Lee Hwan had been quite upset yesterday. He had finally gotten a taste of that personality that so deliberately put up shields against whatever Kang Dongha was blabbering about.
‘Kang Taesung wasn’t originally so overbearing.’
What were the chances that a previously decent personality had suddenly gone down the drain because of his regression? Lee Hwan couldn’t believe those were Taesung’s words and actions. Especially not directed at him.
‘Getting so close to my face like he was going to devour me…’
It had been a very strange and sensual feeling. If Taesung had been a blood-eyed monster, Lee Hwan might have thought he was coming to rip out his throat… but those calmly burning eyes.
Lee Hwan’s forehead suddenly felt hot as his thoughts reached that point. Abruptly, he remembered Taesung’s face from last night, so close beside the light, almost touching.
Although Taesung appeared to have strong features at first glance with his well-defined facial features and tall stature, up close his dense eyelashes, eye shape, and facial lines were incredibly delicate and striking. Thinking about the ticklish breath so close to him last night and those long shadow-casting eyelashes suddenly made his chest flutter on its own.
“This feels strange…”
Lee Hwan shook his head slightly and deliberately muttered aloud as he approached the dining table. He dumped a bag of cereal into a bowl and poured cold milk over it generously.
“Is today the day the milk gets delivered…?”
His plan was to calm his stomach with breakfast first and then think again. His breathing kept becoming rapid, probably because his blood sugar was dropping.
* * *
Sitting quietly at work always gave him a strange feeling. Lee Hwan fiddled with his rolled-up sleeves as he looked around the quiet office.
The world was going to hell, and in the shadows, experiments that should never happen were taking place. Although he was struggling, destruction was gradually approaching. Yet this place always seemed peaceful, and everyone looked equally bored with their daily routines.
The work hours were the only respite from the repetitive cycle of combat, investigation, combat, investigation. But lately, he sometimes wondered: now that his identity had been completely exposed, was it right to maintain this lifestyle while taking risks?
Thinking about the impending tragedy of enormous scale… how should he put it? Things like commuting to work seemed meaningless.
Amidst all that, another incident that shattered such thoughts occurred from the morning. The problem was that Lee Hwan could hear people whispering all too clearly. He wasn’t some kind of office wiretap.
“What? A VIP showed up on the first floor, and the Team 2 leader threw up while drinking coffee?”
“The advance team doesn’t come this way, do they?”
“No, not the little uncle, but the nephew.”
What kind of titles are those? Lee Hwan’s mind suddenly cleared as he thought about it. The meaning of those words flew straight into his head with crystal clarity.
‘Damn, why is that bastard here…’
He instinctively sensed that Kang Dongha was coming. Disappearing in the middle of a meeting without a word for two days. After Taesung followed and disappeared with no contact, Kang Dongha was now coming to wreck his daily life as if nothing had happened, filled with rage.
Lee Hwan mentally slapped his past self for just moments ago thinking his daily life was meaningless.
‘I almost lost this too…’
Kang Dongha was someone who knew exactly what would be most troublesome and fatal to him. It seemed he had recently developed a taste for gradually making his work life difficult.
Good thing he knew in advance. If he had been a little later, they might have met in the office. Lee Hwan expressed gratitude for the peace that was nearly lost as he rushed through the door toward the elevator.
Ding-.
Just then, the elevator opened with a notification sound. Lee Hwan suddenly popped out from the side, pushed Kang Dongha who was about to exit back inside, and hurriedly pressed the button for the top floor.
“What are you…”
Lee Hwan felt resistance from behind—not that it was any match for him in terms of strength—but it soon stopped when he waved his hands with an anxious expression. The look on Dongha’s face when Lee Hwan turned around, seeming to say “go ahead and try what you want,” was quite irritating.
Whenever the elevator opened on the way up, he quickly pressed the close button. Seeing Lee Hwan’s stiff expression, people unanimously left the elevator with puzzled looks but without saying anything.
Some buildings had rest areas on their rooftops, but this property had nothing developed yet, just bare concrete. Even those who used to smoke there had been driven away because they couldn’t properly dispose of cigarette butts, so the rooftop was always abandoned.
Still, there should be an emergency key in accordance with fire safety laws, so there would be no problem breaking in. Lee Hwan tapped Kang Dongha to follow him and strode up the stairs.
“I thought I had done everything I could for you, but this is how you respond.”
On the empty rooftop, Kang Dongha interrogated Lee Hwan with an annoyed expression under the blazing sun. His tone was exactly like a company commander greatly disappointed in his troops.
“I lost my phone.”
“What? You expect me to believe that now? Is the tablet I gave you just decoration?”
“It’s not activated. It’s just a document viewer.”
“That’s your excuse? Don’t you use messenger apps?”
“No, I don’t.”
“…Are you a spy or something?”
Lee Hwan felt somewhat guilty at the incredulous expression. As if his true intentions had been read.
In fact, Lee Hwan had always felt that way. Since he’d regressed, he had to stay here regardless of whether things went well or not, but he’d been living like someone who was just passing through.
Because of that, he still had unpacked boxes at home. There was nothing hanging on the walls except for one family photo, and even though the shower curtain in the bathroom wasn’t at all his style, he just left it as it was.
If asked why, it was because he hadn’t yet become attached to this world. It was actually a bit strange even to Lee Hwan himself that he felt more awkward in this seven-years-earlier world without a single friend than in a world overrun by monsters. In the early days after his regression, he had even thought several times that this might all be a dream.
