Chapter 4: To Be Believed!

Silence filled the hospital room.
Yoojun, his lips pressed into a firm line, stared at Sayoung without a word.

Seeing the corners of his lips tremble slightly, it seemed he was trying to hold back a laugh.
Undaunted by his derision, Sayoung continued.

“Two years from today, I died.”

“……”

“But when I came to my senses, I found myself back here, two years in the past.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Yoon Sayoung.”

“Thanks to that, I already knew that you would get into an accident at that spot today. So… so I went there at the right time to save you. On purpose.”

She knew there were other ways.
There must have been many safer paths to approach Yoojun using the information Sayoung already possessed.

And yet, Sayoung chose the most dangerous method.
A dead-end path from which there would be no turning back if Yoojun simply dismissed her as a lunatic.

If she had to state her reasons, she could list several.

First, Sayoung was sick and tired of hiding herself.
For nearly seven years with Han Jaewoo, Sayoung had always lived like a shadow.

Jaewoo hated situations where Sayoung drew attention, no matter where or how, and Sayoung was afraid that if she disobeyed him and ‘acted out,’ she would be even more neglected by him.

So Sayoung spent most of her daily life holed up at home, pretending to be non-existent, quiet, and satisfied with this life.

She didn’t want to go back to that kind of life.
No matter how much she wanted revenge, she didn’t want to stand before Yoojun pretending things that happened didn’t, or fabricating a version of herself to achieve her goal.

“Mr. Yoojun.”

“Yes.”

“I know you must think I’m crazy… but please give me a little time. I can prove it.”

“Why do you feel the need to prove it to me?”

Yoojun’s subsequent question touched upon the second reason Sayoung had chosen this path.

Yoojun’s question was valid.
Even if Yoon Sayoung wasn’t really crazy and everything she said was true, there was no need for Yoojun to know it.

No, from Sayoung’s perspective, it would have been more advantageous to hide it.
It would have been far more beneficial to pretend she had saved him by chance, collect a reward, and secure the position of Yoojun’s savior.

But the reason she had gone so far as to offer proof to Yoojun, revealing all her cards, was because there was another reason she had to.

Sayoung answered Yoojun’s question without hesitation.

“There’s someone I want to get revenge on.”

Yoojun’s eyes flickered for a moment.

“And for that revenge, I need you, Mr. Yoojun.”

To make Han Jaewoo as miserable as Sayoung wanted, Yoojun was absolutely necessary.
Of course, for the success of her plan, she could have used him without his knowledge, but Sayoung didn’t want to do that.

Because Han Jaewoo was the one who had personally made Sayoung’s life miserable, but Kim Yoojun did not.
He had done nothing wrong to Sayoung.

Yoojun was simply a man who was too brilliant, and so he had coincidentally caught Han Jaewoo’s eye.

Around the time he had asked Sayoung for a divorce, Han Jaewoo had openly displayed his crush on Kim Yoojun.
But that was, to the end, just Jaewoo’s one-sided courtship.

If Yoojun had wavered even slightly at Han Jaewoo’s advances, Sayoung would have suffered something far more miserable.
That was why Sayoung couldn’t use Yoojun while pretending not to know.
She felt she shouldn’t.

This was about resolving the ill-fated connection between Han Jaewoo and herself, and Yoojun was an unrelated party.
If she was going to use Kim Yoojun, she had to let him know everything and allow him to choose.

So that he could get involved in this matter by his own choice, not be deceived and used by another’s lies without knowing anything, just as Sayoung had been.

Sayoung, risking complete failure, spoke to Yoojun.

“I would like you, Mr. Kim Yoojun, to help me.”

‘By your own will, please help me.’

****

“Are you sure Kim Yoojun wasn’t hurt?”

Jaewoo, who had just heard the news of Yoojun’s accident from his manager, asked with a deep frown.
The manager nodded.

“Yes. According to the articles, a passerby jumped in and saved him, getting hurt instead.”

“That’s a relief.”

A wave of relief finally washed over Jaewoo’s face.
It was rare for Jaewoo to worry about someone so genuinely, so the manager couldn’t help but sneak a glance at his face.

It was a face he hadn’t seen even when he had told him that his own spouse had been hospitalized.
Though, that was all meaningless talk now.

“It would’ve been a huge problem if he got hurt when filming isn’t even over yet.”

Jaewoo muttered, taking a sip of the coffee his manager had bought.
If he had been hurt and hospitalized, it might have been an opportunity to visit and make an impression, but it was still better that he wasn’t injured.

Savoring the aroma of coffee that filled his mouth for a moment, Jaewoo suddenly asked again.

“By the way, who was the person who saved Kim Yoojun? Were they badly hurt?”

The manager shook his head and replied.

“I don’t know, there’s no word on that. They seem to be just an ordinary person… I heard actor Kim Yoojun had them admitted to a VIP room. Other than that, there’s no other information yet.”

“He handled it well.”

Anyone who saved the current top star of Korea and got injured in his place would inevitably draw public attention.
If handled poorly, it could lead to all sorts of controversies, so it was right to provide the best possible care regardless of the extent of the injuries.

Jaewoo waved his hand for the manager to leave and leaned back deep into the sofa.
A relaxed atmosphere he hadn’t been able to feel until recently gently enveloped him.

Yoon Sayoung, who had clung to him so annoyingly, was finally gone.

He had been surprised when the person who had clung to him so wretchedly no matter how miserably he insulted and ignored her had suddenly asked for a divorce, but in the end, it was for the best.

The manager had said it was suspicious that Sayoung had suddenly asked for a divorce.
He had questioned if she was perhaps hiding some other scheme while pretending to back down willingly, planning to stab him in the back later.
It wasn’t that Jaewoo hadn’t had such suspicions himself.

‘But even if she had a scheme, what could she possibly do now?’

Even if she ran her mouth trying to reveal the truth, Jaewoo had ‘physical evidence’ he had painstakingly created over a very long time, and a network of contacts that would lend even more credibility to that evidence.

Her exposé might cause a stir on internet communities and forums for a while, but Han Jaewoo’s thought was that it wouldn’t have enough influence to change the game.

This wasn’t baseless arrogance.
Nor was he vaguely looking down on Yoon Sayoung.
Even though it had been a long time since her retirement, Sayoung was an actress who had once enjoyed great popularity.
Moreover, in this industry, there were quite a few who were wary and envious of him for his success after marrying her.

If Yoon Sayoung came forward with an expose, it wasn’t that there would be no one to take her hand.

However, the reason Han Jaewoo was so confident was because he had faith in himself, having prepared for just such a moment for a long time.

To ensure that no matter what Sayoung did, it wouldn’t cause any major trouble, to make sure her struggles would end within a scope he could manage, Jaewoo had continued the loveless marriage for so long and pretended to love her.

All to kill Yoon Sayoung’s presence, to erase her voice, and to make everything she had seem insignificant.

No matter what Yoon Sayoung did now, Jaewoo was confident he could resolve the “incident” without much difficulty.
So there was no need to worry too much just because Sayoung had backed down with suspicious compliance.

Jaewoo’s relaxed humming echoed in the quiet living room.
Han Jaewoo is now ‘officially’ single.

The only remaining concern was just how much time would have to pass after the divorce before Yoojun would no longer find his feelings burdensome.
Right now, only Kim Yoojun mattered in Han Jaewoo’s life.

‘I like you, Jaewoo.’

‘I don’t even want to think about the face of Yoon Sayoung, who was so foolish that she gave everything she had to me after falling for my false love and smiling happily.’

****

“Why should I help you?”

Yoojun asked.
And before Sayoung could answer, he changed the question.

“No, before that. Are you seriously asking me to believe what you just said?”

They say you laugh when you’re utterly dumbfounded, and this was exactly that.
It seemed she must have received a major shock to the head during the accident.
Or maybe she was already crazy before the accident happened.

But Sayoung answered with a calm expression, as if she had known Yoojun would react that way.

“Yes. I know it’s hard to believe. But like I said before… I can prove it.”

Her calm demeanor, while spouting such nonsense, was grating.
Yoojun asked again.

“How?”

“In about a week, actor Jung Soomin’s drug scandal will break.”

“Jung Soomin?”

“Yes.”

Yoojun’s expression briefly contorted.
Jung Soomin was an actor in the same agency as Yoojun, and while not on Yoojun’s level, he was currently a successful actor with solid acting skills and a loyal fanbase.

In particular, he was an actor who had gained public favor with his always upright and polite image.
It wasn’t just a surface image; he had a good reputation among his colleagues for his clean conduct.
Yoojun had never heard even a minor bad rumor about him.

But out of nowhere, not a dating scandal, but a drug scandal.
It was truly unbelievable.

“Jung Soomin is doing drugs?”

“Yes. A paparazzi-specializing entertainment media outlet will break the story, and it will soon be revealed to be true.”

“So… you know this because you saw it yourself in the future before you died?”

“Yes.”

Sayoung nodded with a still-calm demeanor.
Yoojun muttered, “This is crazy,” and let out another dumbfounded laugh.

A week from now was a pretty specific timeframe.
And the details were also very specific.
It wasn’t some vague prophecy, but something whose truth could be definitively determined immediately.

There could be two reasons for telling a story that would be proven true or false in just a week.
Either she was really not in her right mind and believed it to be true herself, or it was something that had actually happened in the future Sayoung had experienced.

Whether to watch and see which of the two it was depended entirely on Yoojun’s will.