Bad Relationship 117

“Damn it. I really failed.”

Spoken words had become reality today.

Junghyun, who had collapsed onto the small sofa in the room, sighed wearily.

Not only had the first attempt failed, but the second attempt was a complete failure too.

If other days had yielded poor results despite diligent searching, today had been bad from the very process.

To be honest, for the second attempt, he had to return without even reaching his destination.

Despite clearly following the map, he kept losing his way en route and going in circles.

After wandering like that for several hours, his legs hurt so much that he went into a nearby café, intending to just have a quick drink, but when he came to his senses, it was already this late.

So he had no choice but to give up and return.

It was obvious he wouldn’t find what he was looking for even if he searched all night in that state.

It wasn’t just a mistake or confusion that made him take the wrong path.

His concentration had completely hit rock bottom to the point where he couldn’t even read a map properly.

And he knew the cause.

While he felt relieved that Jaehyuk had finally made a decision, one corner of his heart felt empty at the fact that his relationship with him would now be completely settled.

Though it was merely a relationship on paper, it seemed he had unconsciously been relying on him quite a bit.

No, perhaps it was only natural.

He was the first family Junghyun had obtained by his own will.

Regardless of how it began or what form it took, for the past four months, he had been Junghyun’s only family and closest friend, and sometimes like an older brother who protected him.

How could he not be unsettled when a relationship with such a person was ending?

Because now they would truly become complete strangers.

At this thought that suddenly came to mind, he unconsciously looked down at the ring finger of his left hand.

That morning when he left the house, he had definitely intended to take it off before leaving.

But when he actually tried to remove the ring from his finger, his hand wouldn’t move.

It was an excuse to say he couldn’t take it off because he was worried Jaehyuk might notice something if the ring wasn’t visible on his way to work.

He seemed to have wanted to keep a trace of Jaehyuk.

Because this ring and the baby were the only evidence that he had been with Jaehyuk for four months.

At this sudden thought, he looked down at his stomach beneath his large hoodie, but fortunately or unfortunately, it still didn’t show.

Even looking in the mirror, it just felt like he had gained some weight, but there was no way to tell from his appearance that he was pregnant.

No, recently he had been losing weight again, so even the weight gain wasn’t noticeable now.

Not only visually, but besides sleeping, there weren’t any special pregnancy symptoms, so honestly, even he sometimes wondered if he was really pregnant.

Actually, without the ultrasound picture, he would still be uncertain even now.

Come to think of it, he should go to the hospital soon.

He had visited a hospital a month ago and received vitamins and emergency medications along with his medical records, but he needed to go for a checkup just in case.

The preparations for that hospital had already been completed.

So the time remaining was three days, no, now a maximum of two days.

In two days, he would have to pack up and leave this place.

The baby was what he needed to prioritize now.

So there was no need to have lingering attachments anymore.

Not to him, and not to his mother…

Letting out a long sigh at these futile lingering feelings, Junghyun slid down from the backrest and lay on the sofa.

The fact that he couldn’t find her despite searching so extensively meant it was deliberate. It had to be assumed that she had intentionally erased her tracks.

To be honest, he had thought he could meet his mother anytime if he really wanted to.

He had asked Seojun’s mother to let him know if there was anyone in contact with his mother, but in reality, he knew a faster method.

In this world, with enough money, you could find even dead people.

Especially in an era where social media had become active, no matter where in the world someone was, if you dug deeply with determination, it would be easy to discover their whereabouts.

The reason he started this job was partly due to Yongwoo hyung’s suggestion, but also because he thought he might find his mother’s account by chance.

Nevertheless, the reason he hadn’t actively sought out his mother until now was due to an instinctive fear.

If she had left without a trace 19 years ago and hadn’t sought him out even once since then, maybe his mother truly didn’t want to meet him.

Even if there were other circumstances, if his mother was now living a new life, he didn’t want to interfere with that life.

If asked whether he resented his mother, that wasn’t the case, but if asked whether he wanted her to be unhappy, that wasn’t the case either.

He just wanted her to be happy.

Even if they never met again.

That was all.

Yet the reason he suddenly changed his mind and started looking for her was that this might be his last chance.

Depending on the situation, he might not be able to return to Korea for a while, or even if he did return, he might never be able to meet her again.

So he wanted to see her before leaving.

Just once, even from a distance, he wanted to see how she was doing.

With only that wish, he had requested a private investigator through Yongwoo, but the results weren’t very good.

For some reason, even professionals found it difficult to trace his mother’s whereabouts. She had no family or close friends, and she left no traces on documents either.

Just as he was about to give up on finding her due to the private investigator’s conclusion that further tracking was difficult, he remembered that the last friend who had seen his mother had said she was leaving for Japan 12 years ago, which allowed him to confirm her departure.

But that was as far as it went. His mother’s last known location was this city.

After that, no matter what, they couldn’t confirm where she had gone.

The only certainty was that there was no trace of her returning to Korea. So his only option was to blindly search around her last known address and workplace.

But now that was over too.

This should be enough. Now it was time to move on to the next chapter.

Just as he had organized his thoughts and let out a sigh, his phone rang.

It was the private investigator.

Seeing the name appear on the screen, he hurriedly pressed the answer button.

“Hello.”

“This is Director Yoon.”

“Yes.”

“Are you still in Japan?”

“Yes. I was about to move soon.”

“To America?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll need to come back briefly before that.”

“…To Korea?”

“Yes.”

“…Why?”

“We’ve confirmed Jung Hyeseon’s entry records.”

* * *

His heart was racing.

No, he was anxious.

Upon receiving the call from the private investigator, Junghyun immediately booked the earliest flight to Korea and began packing up his place.

There wasn’t much luggage anyway.

He had left with just a backpack for formality’s sake.

Thanks to that, he could head to the airport just two days later.

He was in such a hurry that he couldn’t even contact his uncle beforehand. As a result, he barely managed to send a message right before the plane took off.

[I’m coming back now. I’ll contact you when I arrive.]

Just after sending that message, the takeoff announcement came.

At that sound, he quickly switched his phone to airplane mode and began checking the newly received report.

But as expected, the contents of the report didn’t register at all.

His heart was beating unusually fast.

* * *

Time flowed quickly yet slowly.

Throughout the entire flight, as he anxiously stared at the screen, each minute and second passed slowly, but in an instant, he realized the plane was already landing.

With a body somewhat stiffened from tension, Junghyun got off the plane, immediately passed through the automated immigration, and took out his phone as he headed toward the gate.

Only then did he realize that he hadn’t turned off airplane mode yet and felt foolish.

In his haste, he had forgotten the most important fact.

As he needed to call the private investigator as well, he immediately disabled airplane mode, and as if it had been waiting, messages poured in instantly.

This all-too-familiar situation made him laugh.

This too was something he hadn’t experienced in a while. He had been living so well-behaved lately.

At the welcome sound of message notifications, he checked the notification window and sure enough, there were messages from his uncle.

The content expressed worry, asking what was going on.

Only then did it occur to him that he hadn’t properly explained the situation to his uncle, so he immediately pressed the call button.

As he crossed the hall looking for the taxi stand, the call connected right away.

“What’s going on with you? Why are you suddenly coming back?”

After shouting, wondering what trouble he was about to cause again, Juwon immediately lowered his voice as if his energy had dropped.

It seemed he had tired himself out imagining all sorts of things and fuming for an hour.

Feeling a bit sorry as he imagined this, Junghyun quickly reassured him.

“I got a call saying they found my mom. She’s in Korea now.”

“…In Korea? I thought there were no entry records?”