Chapter 51: Conditions of Separation

“How can I just leave him alone? He’s still my little brother.”

“Haa….”

Seung-hyuk let out a sigh and shook his head.

He couldn’t understand why Hyun-woo cared so much about Hyun-jin.

But Hyun-woo also couldn’t understand Seung-hyuk.

‘Ah, come to think of it, Lee Seung-hyuk is an only child.’

If Seung-hyuk had siblings, he might have understood him a little more, but since he didn’t, it was probably harder for him to empathize.

And it wasn’t only because of his personality, either.

Either way, continuing to consult with Seung-hyuk like this felt like a waste of time.

Realizing that, Hyun-woo opened his mouth to end the conversation.

“Anyway, thanks for telling me. I’ll handle it from here….”

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

Hyun-woo looked at him with a puzzled expression at the sudden interruption.

Seung-hyuk spoke again, his voice serious.

“I have a good idea.”

“A good idea?”

Even though his empathy might be lacking, his mind was sharp—much sharper than most.

So Hyun-woo decided it wouldn’t hurt to at least hear him out, and nodded.

“Okay, tell me.”

“Yes.”

Once Hyun-woo gave permission, Seung-hyuk continued.

“First, let Joo Hyun-jin do what he wants and move out. You were planning to send him out during the break anyway.”

“But if we do that….”

“We add conditions. Tell him that if he proves he can live completely fine without any family support, then you’ll allow him to leave the family registry as well.”

“What?”

“Calm down. I’m saying to just say it like that.”

“……?”

At first, Hyun-woo couldn’t understand what he meant.

But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.

“That kind of thing is subjective anyway. Later, you can always find some excuse to retract it. And right now he seems really determined—if you just get angry at him, he’ll only rebel worse.”

“Ah….”

Seung-hyuk had a point.

Back at the hospital, Hyun-woo didn’t even try to listen to Hyun-jin—he only got angry.

He needed to approach him more calmly.

And thinking about it, Seung-hyuk’s suggestion wasn’t bad.

This kind of issue was better handled slowly, over time.

“Okay. I’ll do as you suggested. Thanks.”

“Why thank me? Your business is my business.”

“Haha….”

Seung-hyuk smiled lightly as he sipped his drink.

His lips curled upward as if he were smiling, but his eyes were cold.

‘It’s obvious what Joo Hyun-jin is thinking. But I’m not going to help him.’

Letting the bothersome Hyun-jin leave the house was fine—good, even.

But anything more than that was unacceptable.

He knew exactly what Hyun-jin wanted once he severed ties with the family.

And there was no way he would allow that.

Muttering inwardly, Seung-hyuk drank the last of his drink.

Something felt wrong.

Hyun-woo stood blankly in the middle of a place crowded with people coming and going.

It was a movie theater, not far from the bookstore.

Because it was inside a multiplex mall, there were a lot of people around.

The reason he was here, in such a noisy crowd, was simple.

To watch a movie.

‘How did I end up going to a movie again…?’

Hyun-woo lowered his head and thought back.

He had planned to spend the day wandering around alone.

But he unexpectedly ran into Do-kyung at the bookstore, and then ran into Seung-hyuk as well.

Then he ended up talking to Seung-hyuk about Hyun-jin—and since the advice had been genuinely helpful, he felt a bit grateful.

And since they were already out, they decided to eat together.

While eating, the conversation naturally shifted to movies, and before he knew it, they were heading to the theater.

“Hyung, what are you doing? The movie’s about to start.”

“Ah… right.”

Hyun-woo nodded automatically and turned to look.

Seung-hyuk was standing there with popcorn and drinks, staring at him with a questioning expression.

“…….”

Seeing Seung-hyuk holding the snacks so casually felt strange.

Before the regression, he could never have imagined going to the movies with him like this.

“What?”

“…I told you, I don’t really eat popcorn.”

“I’ll eat it all, then.”

“That somehow just annoys me.”

“Haha.”

Of course the popcorn was the sweet caramel type—exactly Seung-hyuk’s preference.

Hyun-woo grimaced.

“Let’s go inside.”

“…Yeah.”

He shouldn’t feel this, but his heart kept pounding.

He tried to act normal.

Because it was the weekend, the theater was crowded.

Thankfully, the movie they chose wasn’t that popular, so there were still seats left.

“Here.”

“Mm.”

The only available seats were near the edges—either at the very back or the very front.

So they ended up in a corner seat.

He worried the screen might be hard to see, but sitting down, it surprisingly wasn’t bad—mostly because Seung-hyuk had taken the outermost seat.

“Can you see well?”

“Yeah, I can.”

“That’s good.”

“…….”

Feeling relieved, Hyun-woo looked at the screen where ads were still playing.

Seung-hyuk quietly watched Hyun-woo’s profile.

He could see him very clearly. And he liked that.

“Eat some popcorn.”

“It’s too sweet.”

“It’s good.”

“…….”

Seung-hyuk ate the sweet popcorn without hesitation.

Hyun-woo looked at him and shook his head.

He could drink soda, sure—but that popcorn was too much.

He quietly sipped his drink instead.

“You need to fix that habit of only drinking coffee every day. You’ll get stomach problems sooner or later.”

“My stomach is fine.”

“Which is why you should eat other things, before it isn’t.”

“Mm—”

Before he could protest, Seung-hyuk popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth.

The sugar-heavy sweetness spread instantly.

“Ugh.”

Of all pieces, it had the thickest caramel coating.

He grimaced and gulped down more soda.

“You want to die?”

“It’s that bad?”

“It’s not just bad—it’s too sweet.”

It’s not that he couldn’t eat sweet things—just overly sweet things like this.

“It’s not even that sweet to me.”

“Ha… Fine. You eat it.”

Hyun-woo gave up and sighed.

Seung-hyuk, who practically worshiped sweet foods, would never understand his taste.

If this weren’t a story world, Seung-hyuk would’ve probably already developed diabetes at this age.

But with protagonist immunity? He could eat sugar forever and stay perfectly healthy.

Some things never change, regression or not.

Hyun-woo turned his eyes to the screen.

The movie was starting.

• I will save you. No matter what!

The film opened with an intense scene: a couple on a date suffering a sudden car accident.

The protagonist, a man, loses his lover.

But right after, he learns of a way to return to the past—and decides to go back to save her.

• Why… Why does it keep happening…!

But no matter what he changed, she still died.

If he avoided the car accident, she died in another one.

If he removed her from the situation entirely, something else killed her.

No matter what he did, her death was inevitable.

Yet he kept going back.

Despair, then determination, again and again.

‘This hits too close to home….’

The reason he chose this movie was because he sympathized with the protagonist.

He too had returned to the past.

Though in his case, he had transmigrated into a novel on top of that.

‘But it’s not exactly the same.’

The protagonist had once lived happily with the lover he was trying to save.

Meanwhile, Hyun-woo was trying to run away from Seung-hyuk, the person he had married in his past life.

He hadn’t watched Seung-hyuk die.

He was the one who died.

If he had seen Seung-hyuk die in front of him—would he have tried to save him like the movie protagonist?

“……!”

While lost in that thought, something suddenly came close to his face.

Startled, Hyun-woo turned his head—

And found Seung-hyuk’s face right in front of him.

The theater was dark, but the flickering screen lit Seung-hyuk’s face just enough for him to see it clearly.

Hyun-woo’s eyes widened.