“Ha-yoon?!”
A middle-aged man who had been lingering near the entrance approached with an openly delighted expression. Judging by the way he called out the name and the look on his face, he seemed to have a close relationship with Seo Ha-yoon.
“Ha-yoon! You’re okay! Thank goodness! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been, how long I’ve been waiting? Why is it so hard to meet you these days? And why aren’t you answering my calls?”
The middle-aged man, with his heavily wrinkled face and dark complexion, looked like someone who had endured many hardships in his youth. Grabbing Kim Min-seok’s wrist, he bombarded him with questions. Naturally, Kim Min-seok, who had never seen this man before, could only stare in bewilderment.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Noticing the confused expression on Kim Min-seok’s face, the man took a step back. Kim Min-seok hesitated for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
“Uh… I’m sorry, but… who are you?”
“…What?!”
The middle-aged man looked utterly dumbfounded. Kim Min-seok quickly added,
“Actually, I was in a serious accident a few days ago and hit my head. I lost all my memories because of it. My phone was destroyed too, so I had to get a new one.”
“What? You were in an accident? You lost your memory?! Are you sure you really lost it?!”
The man’s tone became sharp, revealing his impatient nature.
“And… what’s your relationship with Seo Ha-yoon?”
At Kim Min-seok’s question, the man’s face stiffened. His sharp gaze swept over Kim Min-seok’s face and eyes before he slowly opened his mouth.
“I’m your father.”
“……”
“…F-Father?”
“Yes. Do you really not remember?”
The man scrutinized Kim Min-seok’s face as if trying to gauge the truth. Kim Min-seok felt uncomfortable under his intense stare but was too shocked by the revelation to think too deeply about it.
“…Yeah… I lost my memories…”
Kim Min-seok muttered under his breath. Explaining something as absurd as body-swapping would only land him in a hospital for psychiatric evaluation, so claiming amnesia was the easiest way out.
“I was wondering why you weren’t answering my calls no matter how many times I tried. So this is what happened. I thought you were ignoring me on purpose.”
The middle-aged man—Seo Ha-yoon’s father—softened his expression as he spoke.
His eyes, however, continued to shift restlessly, as if assessing Kim Min-seok’s reactions. His pupils had a slight cloudy tint, making him look somewhat unhealthy. As Kim Min-seok observed him, he couldn’t help but think that this man bore no resemblance to Seo Ha-yoon at all. It seemed Seo Ha-yoon’s striking appearance must have come from his mother’s side.
“…But why didn’t the hospital contact you when I was admitted? Were you not saved in my phone?”
Kim Min-seok voiced his rising suspicion without hesitation.
Thinking about it, that was true.
If an unconscious patient was brought to the hospital, they would usually contact their closest family members, not their lover. The hospital must have reached out to the people listed in the phone’s contacts, yet this man wasn’t among them.
“I’m sorry for asking this since I’ve lost my memory, but… are you really Mr. Seo Ha-yoon’s father?”
“Of course I am! I’m Ha-yoon’s father! How could you even think otherwise?!”
The man reacted violently, to the point that Kim Min-seok was startled. His shouting was so loud that passersby and even the security guard at the gate turned to look.
“Here, look. I really am your father.”
The man pulled out a wallet from his inner pocket and opened it. The ID inside displayed the name Seo Chang-seop. The surname matched. A strong smell of cigarettes wafted from the man, and for some reason, it made Kim Min-seok shudder with discomfort.
“And here, look at this too.”
Seo Chang-seop took out a worn piece of paper from the inside of his wallet and held it out. As he unfolded the tattered document, an old photograph was revealed.
The photo depicted a younger version of the man, standing with a child in front of him. Although the picture was quite old, the child’s dazzlingly beautiful features were unmistakable—it was Seo Ha-yoon. Even at a young age, his extraordinary appearance was already evident.
“I’m sorry. Since I’ve lost my memories, it’s hard for me to believe people so easily.”
Kim Min-seok apologized as he returned the photograph. Seo Chang-seop took it back and carefully placed it in his wallet, nodding.
“I understand. The world is a dangerous place these days, and you can’t just go around believing everything people say. So, have you been to the hospital? When do they think your memory will return?”
“Well… they said there’s no way to know. It could come back in an hour, or it might never return.”
Kim Min-seok vaguely answered, recalling things he had seen on TV about amnesia.
Seo Chang-seop’s expression grew serious. He stood there hesitantly for a moment before grabbing Kim Min-seok’s arm and pulling him to a quieter spot on the side of the road. Lowering his voice, he spoke in a conspiratorial tone.
“You… if you’ve lost your memory, then you wouldn’t remember this either.”
“What…?”
“You see, your old man hasn’t been doing well lately, so I haven’t been able to work. That’s why you’ve been covering my hospital bills and living expenses.”
At that moment, Kim Min-seok finally understood his first impression of Seo Chang-seop.
If he put it nicely, the man looked aged beyond his years due to hardship. If he put it bluntly, he looked like someone addicted to something—whether it was alcohol, drugs, or gambling. In short, his eyes weren’t normal.
It seemed that Seo Ha-yoon, despite everything, had been giving money to this man simply because he was his father.
But Kim Min-seok was not Seo Ha-yoon.
“I’m sorry, but as far as I know, Seo Ha-yoon is currently unemployed and has no source of income. I do have a bank account and a check card, but I don’t know the PIN, so I have no idea how much money is in there. Based on what I’ve gathered so far, I don’t think there’s any money available to give you, sir.”
Kim Min-seok spoke as gently as possible.
It couldn’t be helped. As he had just said, Seo Ha-yoon was jobless. He lived in a luxury apartment and drove a foreign car, but those had been gifts from his lovers. Even his daily expenses were…
It was probably all Choi Sang-hyuk’s money.
There was no way there would be enough left over to cover a family member’s hospital bills and living expenses.
“Ha-yoon, you little…!”
Seo Chang-seop’s eyes flared with rage as he grabbed Kim Min-seok’s arm and twisted it tightly.
“Ah…! That hurts!”
Kim Min-seok let out a small cry, forcibly shaking off Seo Chang-seop’s grip. The older man’s eyes widened further, as if shocked that his son had actually pushed him away.
“You ungrateful brat! How dare you act like this toward your own father?! I’ve never seen such a disgraceful child!”
Kim Min-seok frowned and rolled up his sleeve to examine his arm. The red marks were still imprinted on his skin, evidence of just how hard the man had twisted it. But rather than reacting to Seo Chang-seop’s outburst, Kim Min-seok simply checked his own body. Seeing this, the man’s expression quickly shifted.
“Ha-yoon. Ha-yoon. Look at me. I’m your father, aren’t I? I’m sick, and I urgently need money for my hospital bills. Who else do I have to turn to but you? Just think about it—do you know how expensive the apartment you live in is? If you don’t have cash, just give me one of those expensive watches like last time. I’ll figure something out with that.”
“…A watch?”
Kim Min-seok narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah, a watch. You must have plenty of those—watches, rings, whatever expensive gifts your lovers gave you. Just hand me one, okay?”
At that moment, Kim Min-seok remembered what Ha Jun-seo had said before.
He had mentioned giving Ha-yoon a watch that was even more expensive than a foreign car, only to find out it had been sold off. It must have ended up in Seo Chang-seop’s hands.
“That watch was worth more than a luxury car. It had to be worth at least tens of millions of won. You’re telling me you already spent all of that?”
Kim Min-seok’s voice turned sharp. Seo Chang-seop’s face twisted in momentary confusion.
“And another thing—you keep mentioning my ‘lover’s gifts.’ Do you even know who my lover is?”
“Well, of course… It’s that rich guy. The one who bought you this apartment, gave you the watch, and feeds you.”
“…Ha—!”
Kim Min-seok let out an incredulous scoff.
So not only did his son have a male lover who completely supported him, but this father—instead of stopping it—was leeching off of his son, who was already leeching off someone else.
For the first time, Kim Min-seok actually pitied Seo Ha-yoon.
Until now, he had dismissed him as just another lazy freeloader, using his good looks to mooch off his lovers. But now, he saw the truth—a father who was desperate to drain his own son dry. Seo Ha-yoon must have suffered more than he let on.
“Ha-yoon, listen. The hospital bills are just too much. I spent all the money on them, and now I have nothing left.”
“You burned through tens of millions of won that fast? What, do you have cancer or something?”
“T-That’s right. It’s cancer. The surgery was insanely expensive.”
“What kind of cancer? Where was the surgery?”
Seo Chang-seop hesitated, unable to answer immediately. Then, as if realizing he was cornered, he suddenly exploded in anger.
“Your father is on the verge of death, and that’s the kind of shit you say?! You ungrateful little bastard!”
Kim Min-seok had no idea how Seo Ha-yoon would have responded to this situation. But as for himself—he felt absolutely nothing toward Seo Chang-seop’s tantrum.
“Excuse me. I don’t know what kind of addiction you have, but maybe you should consider getting treatment at a hospital. If you really needed money for actual medical expenses, that’d be one thing—but leeching off your son’s lover for cash? I, for one, won’t be doing that.”
“You little bastard…!”
Seo Chang-seop swung his hand toward Kim Min-seok’s face.
However, his movements were sluggish, and Kim Min-seok barely managed to dodge the slap in time.
“Seo Ha-yoon!”
Having failed to land the hit, Seo Chang-seop’s rage intensified, his cloudy eyes flickering wildly in fury. The sight of it was downright repulsive.
“Leave.”
Kim Min-seok had no interest in dealing with him any further, so he turned away quickly. Seo Chang-seop grabbed his arm from behind, but Kim Min-seok forcefully yanked himself free and picked up his pace.
The commotion at the apartment entrance had already drawn attention, and the security guard—who had been watching warily—finally approached.
“What’s going on here?”
The guard, a large and imposing man, asked firmly. At that, Seo Chang-seop hesitated.
“He’s a solicitor. Won’t stop pestering me.”
Kim Min-seok answered flatly.
The security guard immediately stepped in, blocking Seo Chang-seop’s path. Seizing the opportunity, Kim Min-seok swiftly slipped into the apartment complex without looking back.
Behind him, Seo Chang-seop was shouting something, but he ignored it completely.
His own situation was already a mess—he had no time to worry about someone else’s deadbeat father trying to milk his own son dry.
