Chapter 114

It was an unexpected question, but Gyeol didn’t look shaken.

“...You’re asking that now? I assumed you’d already figured it out.”

“How would I have done that?”

“Because you’re not the kind of person who’d fail to put something that obvious together.”

Seong Yo Han let out a short laugh.

It sounded closer to mockery than amusement.

Silence settled inside the car.

Aware of Yo Han driving beside him without another word, Gyeol felt his throat slowly drying out.

What if he changed his mind now?

The two-hour limit had already started, and every second was ticking away even now...

What if Seong Yo Han suddenly changed directions?

I should’ve driven.

Yo Han had opened the passenger-side door for him first, and insisting afterward that he drive instead would’ve looked awkward—not to mention completely out of character for the image Gyeol usually maintained.

So he’d let it go.

A mistake.

Even if it meant taking a risk, he should’ve been the one behind the wheel this time—

“Is your kid sick?”

The question cut through his thoughts.

Unexpectedly gentle.

There wasn’t even a trace of hostility or malice in it.

Gyeol’s mind stalled.

A normal person would soften if they heard a child was sick, no matter how terribly they’d acted beforehand. Human beings were supposed to react that way.

But to Gyeol, Seong Yo Han was a hopeless, unpredictable time bomb with no brakes and no sense of direction.

He genuinely couldn’t understand the meaning behind the question.

Was he pretending?

Or was he sincere?

As if handing him the answer directly, Yo Han let out a brief sigh before adding,

“I get that you’re wary of me, but you don’t have to be like that about this. Do I seriously look like the kind of trash who’d pull bullshit when a kid’s sick?”

Yes.

Honestly, yes, you do.

When Gyeol failed to answer, Yo Han frowned.

“So that’s really how you see me.”

“...Either way, I’m in the weaker position here, and I’d rather not provoke you, so I’ve been watching what I say. But you haven’t forgotten what you said to me before, or the things you did, right?”

The frustration pressing against his chest finally made him ask the question, even in his careful tone.

Yo Han clicked his tongue.

“So in Gyeol’s eyes, I’m that stupid.”

“You could just say you remember.”

“Oh. Now you’re finally calling me out directly. Guess having no cameras around changes things.”

“As I said, I’m still being careful because I’m the one at a disadvantage here. I’d appreciate it if you kept that in mind.”

At the dry response, Yo Han laughed quietly.

The car stopped at a red light.

Running a hand back through his hair, Yo Han looked at him.

“I told you already. I don’t know why I’m acting like this either.”

“......”

“Though I know ‘I don’t know’ isn’t actually an answer.”

Gyeol stared at him expressionlessly for a moment before turning toward the window.

Then he finally answered the earlier question.

“I’d already heard he had a slight fever. Before this, there were times he’d run a fever and then go back to normal, so I hoped this time would be okay too... but the fever got worse, and his coughing got bad enough that they ended up taking him to the ER.”

He tried to relay the facts as plainly and emotionally detached as possible, but the words gradually thickened in his throat.

Darkness.

Exhaustion.

Regret.

Those emotions refused to stay hidden.

“...I should’ve been there with him.”

He shouldn’t have said that last part.

Especially not in front of Seong Yo Han.

He shouldn’t reveal vulnerable thoughts to him of all people.

And yet paradoxically, the reason he could say it at all was because it was Seong Yo Han.

Feelings he’d swallowed alone until they rotted and softened inside him spilled out naturally the moment he stood before someone who knew Yuli existed.

That was why Gyeol had been trapped in a strange emotional state this entire time.

Confusion born from contradiction.

“Anyway. That’s what happened. I need to see him, and I have to handle the admission paperwork too since I’m his guardian.”

Gyeol deliberately lightened his tone, trying to shift the mood.

It wasn’t as though he’d said any of this because he wanted comfort from Seong Yo Han.

The words had leaked out accidentally, and he wanted to escape the strange emotions tangled around him.

“Kids grow up getting sick.”

The unexpected response brushed against Gyeol’s ears.

When he turned toward Yo Han in disbelief, the light changed and the car began moving again.

Yo Han’s profile remained calm and serious as he watched the road ahead.

“They’ll keep getting sick in small ways and big ways as they grow up. It’d be nice if you could always stay beside them every time, but there’ll be moments when you can’t help not being there.”

“......”

“It’d be great if you could protect against everything. But realistically, that’s impossible. So stop blaming yourself for it. Your kid isn’t hurting more because you weren’t there, and hurting less because you were.”

It was strange.

Gyeol found himself thinking Seong Yo Han sounded like someone who had spent a long time taking care of a child himself.

Was it just his imagination?

This didn’t sound like shallow comfort repeated from something he’d heard elsewhere.

It sounded personal.

Like sincerity that could only come from experience.

“You already know that logically too, don’t you, Gyeol? You’re smart.”

“......”

Gyeol quietly nodded.

“You’re exhausted, and the timing overlapping like this obviously makes those feelings worse. But don’t hold onto them too long or too deeply. They’re not even objectively true, and all they’ll do is wear you down.”

“...Okay.”

“Though I don’t know whether I’m really in any position to say things like this.”

“...At least you’re aware of that?”

As the clouds parted, sunlight flooded through the windshield.

Gyeol looked over the glittering hood of the car before lifting his gaze toward the blue city skyline and the sharply shimmering river cutting through it.

Seong Yo Han’s words had worked surprisingly well.

The heaviness in his chest and the stiffness in his body loosened, even if only slightly.

“Well. I guess you really do live long enough to see everything. Getting comforted by Seong Yo Han of all people.”

Keeping his eyes fixed on the glittering sunlight scattered across the river, Gyeol leaned back into the seat.

Only moments ago, it had felt difficult to breathe. Now his breathing had finally eased.

“Comforted?”

“It was comfort, wasn’t it?”

Yo Han didn’t deny it.

After a short silence, he spoke with visible dissatisfaction.

“You look terrible right now. You know that? Your face is pale, your cheeks are hollowed out... yesterday I even deliberately kept shoving meat in front of you trying to make you eat, and you still barely touched anything.”

“I ate enough.”

Yo Han was right.

Gyeol hadn’t been eating properly at all. Every time he thought about Yuli, neither food nor alcohol wanted to go down his throat.

But he hadn’t realized that was why Yo Han had kept feeding him meat and piling more onto his plate.

“I’m not interested in hearing lies like that.”

And apparently he saw straight through every lie too.

Seriously.

He wasn’t an easy person to deal with.

Pretending.

Deceiving him.

Running away.

Ignoring him.

None of it worked easily.

“I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“If you’re trying to criticize me or lecture me—”

“No.”

Seong Yo Han existed as difficulty itself in Gyeol’s life.

“I don’t think I want to see you suffering.”

In the distance, the hospital building finally came into view.

***

Seong Yo Han dropped Gyeol off at the entrance to Building C.

The building where Yuli had been admitted.

After briefly watching Gyeol hurry inside with his cap pulled low over his face, Yo Han put on sunglasses and headed toward the underground parking garage, careful not to attract attention.

The car spiraled downward until it reached the very bottom floor of the garage.

Basement Level Six.

It was troublesome, but there was no other way to avoid being seen.

Last month alone, Seong Yo Han had donated enormous sums to Ieum St. Mary’s Hospital several times.

Thanks to that, he was able to park safely in the VIP-only area and use the private elevator and passageways reserved for it.

“What are you going to do, Seong Yo Han? If you’re staying in the car, then at least...”

“Just tell me the room number and go in first. I’ll park and come up.”

The image of Gyeol hesitating briefly before hardening his gaze and nodding faded through Yo Han’s mind.

A moment later, the elevator rose above ground level, and the outside scenery came into view beyond the glass walls.

Wearing a cap and mask, Seong Yo Han silently watched the increasingly distant landscape.

“I think I’ll love every performance you ever do, actor Yo Han. I always have, so I’m sure I always will.”

Gyeol kept slipping through his subconscious again and again.

“Senior... why are you so nice to me?”

As though he had already carved himself there long ago.

“If you keep acting like this... I think I’m going to misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand what?”

“That you... might...”

As though uncovering an answer that had already been decided from the start.

“I genuinely can’t understand why someone like Seong Yo Han keeps obsessing over a nobody like Gyeol Go.”

“Obsessing?”

“At this point, yes. This is obsession. Back then and now.”

The moment he first wanted to have him, everything had already been decided.

“Do it with me.”

Thunk.

The elevator stopped.

“Eighth floor.”

The emotionless mechanical voice rang out.

After confirming the number eight, Seong Yo Han stepped out of the elevator.

Walking through the quiet VIP ward corridor, he was finally forced to admit it.

Seong Yo Han wanted Gyeol.

No matter what kind of background he had.

No matter what kind of story he carried.

Even if it meant willingly bearing what the world called immorality.

Even if it meant confronting his own trauma head-on.

Even if he ended up becoming the exact kind of person he had despised and loathed his entire life.

You’re out of your mind.

Seong Yo Han liked Gyeol.

He liked him.

...He has a child.

He liked him.

And a spouse too.

Yo Han had always—

always—

liked Gyeol.