Chapter 8: A Stranger’s Truth!

Yoojun opened the hospital room door without knocking.
Leaning back leisurely against the bed, Sayoung turned his head to look at him, his face showing no signs of surprise or alarm.

There was no way to know if he had expected him to arrive around this time, or if he was simply unperturbed because it didn’t much matter to him whether he came or not.

Yoojun didn’t enter the room right away but stood in the doorway, gazing steadily at Sayoung.
Although his eyes held blatant suspicion, Sayoung did not avoid his gaze.

His light autumn-colored eyes seemed to meet Yoojun’s gaze directly, yet at the same time, they seemed to let it pass through like a transparent glass wall.

He felt the same sense of incongruity he had felt the last time they met.
The space Yoon Sayoung occupied felt like a different dimension, completely disconnected from the outside world.

The tip of Yoojun’s foot twitched.
A strange fear arose that if he stepped inside, he might be completely swallowed up by a space different from the world he had been living in.
It was a ridiculous feeling, but it was a sharp sensation that was hard to simply laugh off.

For a moment, an impulse to just turn around and leave arose.

Just chalk it up to having met a crazy person for a moment.
Conclude that the prediction was just a coincidence, or that he had been played by information he had learned through his connections.

He wondered what it would be like to turn back now, take responsibility for the financial aspects of his remaining treatment, and sever this unpleasantly entangled connection by giving him some appropriate compensation.

Then he wouldn’t be played by Yoon Sayoung’s clever tongue, and he would no longer have sleepless nights over foolish thoughts.

All he had to do was take one step back.
Then Sayoung wouldn’t stop him, and he wouldn’t come looking for him ever again.
He had a strong conviction that this would be the case.

While Yoojun was engulfed in all these worries, Sayoung’s calm demeanor, as if to say, ‘I don’t care what you choose,’ supported his conviction.

“…Where did you hear it.”

But in the end, instead of turning back without a word and leaving Sayoung’s space, Yoojun took a step inside.
He spoke as he closed the door behind him with his own hand.

The ripple of the silently closing door became an unidentifiable pressure, pushing Yoojun into the hospital room.

Sayoung, who had been sitting like a well-made doll, finally took a deep breath at Yoojun’s question and answered.

“I didn’t hear it, I experienced it myself.”

Although there was no subject, Sayoung immediately grasped his intention.
His comprehension was too normal to think of him as someone who had lost his mind.

The only problem was that the content that flowed from his mouth still sounded like crazy talk.

Yoojun walked right up to Sayoung’s bed.
Yoon Sayoung, who slightly raised his head, looked thinner, weaker, and hazier than yesterday.
That grated on his nerves again, and Yoojun, without realizing it, opened his mouth with an irritated expression.

“I have no intention of playing along with your nonsense anymore. So speak clearly.”

His voice was threatening, unlike before.
Even at Yoojun’s attitude, Sayoung still showed no particular signs of being flustered.

A short silence fell in the hospital room again.
Yoojun tried hard to find even the slightest hint of wavering in Sayoung, but it was no use.

As Yoojun had demanded, Yoon Sayoung spoke.

“I don’t want to deceive you, Mr. Yoojun. It’s true that your shadow existed in my misfortune, but it’s not your fault, Mr. Kim Yoojun.”

“……”

“So, instead of trying to deceive and use you, I spoke honestly.”

The moment he heard Sayoung’s answer, he was sure.
Sayoung knew what kind of feelings Han Jaewoo had for Yoojun.

His heart sank.
When you thought about it, he was in a position of being unfairly caught in their love quarrel, but his heart felt heavy as if he had committed a crime.

If Sayoung had tried to coax Yoojun with lies, there would have been plenty of better ways than this.

If Sayoung’s words were a lie, this was the worst of the countless options Sayoung could have chosen.
That very point kept kindling a ‘what if’ suspicion in Yoojun’s mind.

It was ironic that the fact he was saying something so unbelievable could be proof that he was telling the truth.

Sayoung looked at Yoojun’s confused face and continued.

“Believing me or not is entirely up to you, Mr. Kim Yoojun. If you can’t believe me… if you don’t want to believe me, you can just turn back. Then it will be over.”

‘Then it will be over.’

Those words from Sayoung became a strange wave, churning Yoojun’s heart.

‘He is right.’
‘If I turn back now, this would be the end of everything.’
‘This would be concluded as just an absurd incident, and I would probably live the rest of my life without ever knowing for sure whether Yoon Sayoung’s words were true or not.’

As if nothing had happened.
Normally.

“Hoo…”

Yoojun let out a long sigh.

The answer to what was the wise choice was already clear.
Yoojun was sick and tired of the interest Han Jaewoo showed him.

It wasn’t simply because Han Jaewoo had personal feelings for him, or because he was an Alpha, but because the way he expressed those feelings was somehow insidious and unpleasant.

Moreover, for a married man to be so clingy, it was a wonder he had restrained himself from punching him in the face all this time.

So, not getting involved with Yoon Sayoung in any way was the best policy.
No matter how much they were divorced now, getting entangled with a person who had been married to Han Jaewoo for years would obviously only lead to all sorts of tiresome situations.

He didn’t believe it, and he didn’t want to believe it.
There was no reason to believe, and only a plethora of reasons not to.

‘And yet, why am I standing here now, continuing this conversation with Sayoung?’

Pondering a question he couldn’t answer himself, Yoojun spoke.

“You said you had someone to get revenge on.”

Yoojun took another step toward Sayoung.
The face of Sayoung, who had shamelessly said he had someone to get revenge on and that he needed him for it, came to mind.

This time, too, Sayoung nodded with an utterly shameless face.

“Yes.”

“Why do you need me for that revenge?”

“……”

“Is it not, in fact, that I’m included in the targets of your revenge?”

Yoojun said without hiding his suspicion.
If Sayoung knew of Han Jaewoo’s feelings, then Yoojun was no different from an enemy to him.

No matter how much Yoojun had done nothing wrong, the human heart doesn’t always move logically.

From Sayoung’s perspective, it was possible to hold a grudge against Yoojun for stealing Jaewoo’s heart.

Sayoung was silent for a moment, turning his gaze to look down at his own hand clutching the blanket.
Yoojun’s gaze naturally followed his movement.
Yoon Sayoung’s hand, so thin that the bones protruded, entered Yoojun’s vision.

His hand, like a tree branch in midwinter, seemed to represent his life.
He didn’t look like someone who had lived a married life receiving the ardent love of a top star.

‘What had made him so withered?’

Whether he was suffering from a mental illness or had truly experienced death and become someone dreaming of revenge, he would not have looked like this if his life had flowed with complete happiness.

For the first time, Yoojun became just a little curious about the life of a complete stranger who had nothing to do with him.

In the meantime, Sayoung, having ended his short silence, raised his head and opened his mouth.

“If you’re not going to help me, there’s no need for me to answer that question, is there?”

“……”

“If you accept my request, I’ll explain everything then. If you need other proof, I’m willing to tell you more.”

Paradoxically, the moment he heard those words, Yoojun realized that what he needed now was not proof like a prophecy.

The important thing wasn’t whether his words were true or not, but whether he had the mind to join his crazy plan or not, that was all.

Yoojun, his expression hardening, answered.

“No. The important thing isn’t whether what you say is true or not.”

“……”

“Whether it’s true or not, whether I have any intention of participating in your nonsense. That’s what’s important. Isn’t it?”

At Yoojun’s words, Sayoung’s gaze deepened.
He wasn’t wrong.
Yoojun participating in Sayoung’s childish revenge drama was a completely different matter from confirming the facts.

“So tell me why you need my help and persuade me. Even if you’re a crazy person, if I feel like helping you, I’ll gladly help.”

Hearing those words, Sayoung closed his eyes for a moment and repeatedly took deep breaths in and out.
The sight of this person with a faint, ghost-like presence breathing, his thin chest heaving, was so incongruous it was jarring.

Yoojun suddenly thought that his two hands, resting on the blanket covering his knees, looked cold.
Though that couldn’t possibly be true.

Finally, Sayoung, who had opened his eyes, spoke again.

“Before I died, Han Jaewoo who was still my spouse, told me that he had found someone he truly loved, and asked me to get the hell out of his life.”

It wasn’t a story one could easily tell to others.
But having heard such words from the person he had loved his whole life, what pride could he possibly have left?

Instead of clinging to that measly pride, Sayoung wanted to gain something else from Yoojun.

“I want Han Jaewoo to become miserable in the exact same way I was.”

Upon hearing that, Yoojun knew.
Who the ‘person he loved’ that Han Jaewoo had spoken of before Sayoung died was.

“What it’s like to have the heart that loves someone torn to shreds. How miserable it is to have the person you love confess that they love someone else right in front of your eyes.”

Even now, Sayoung could vividly recall Han Jaewoo’s face as he had sneered at him, saying, ‘Do you really think someone like you can even compare to someone like Kim Yoojun?’ as if he had seen it just yesterday.

‘What on earth had I loved so much about him?’

Struggling not to fall into self-deprecating thoughts, Sayoung looked straight at Yoojun.
The emptiness in those eyes was more suffocating to Yoojun than any feeling of hatred.

‘Does Sayoung know what kind of eyes he has?’

Leaving Yoojun’s unspoken question behind, Sayoung continued.

“That’s why I need you, Mr. Kim Yoojun.”

“……”

“Because you are the only one who can throw Han Jaewoo into that very pit of miserable emotions.”