Chapter 204
“Tell me what you want. I’ll give you anything except letting you leave. Do you want compensation for the damage? Or revenge?”
Hyeon-woo, who had never thought about it before, blankly asked back.
“…Revenge?”
“Yes, revenge.”
“……”
“I decided to have eye surgery for two reasons. One was to see you again, and the other was…”
Tae-geon’s eyes suddenly blazed with anger as his voice trailed off.
“…Those bastards who tried to hurt you. I’m going to wipe them all out without a trace.”
Hyeon-woo’s neck chilled at the murderous intent that leaked out uncontrollably. He was speechless.
“It’s different from when you weren’t by my side.”
Tae-geon started muttering to himself as if possessed by something.
“Now I can protect you and Jerome sufficiently with my own power.”
“……”
“We’re almost there. Just like what was done to you, no, even more terribly and painfully, to the point where even their corpses can’t be found-”
“…Stop!!”
Hyeon-woo shouted, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Stop it! That’s not what I want! Revenge?! I’m sick and tired of it! Really!!”
Hyeon-woo’s shoulders trembled slightly as he shouted sincerely.
“Hating and resenting? Throwing yourself into hellfire to pay back as much as you’ve been hurt? I’ve already done that to my heart’s content. What did I gain from it? You know. What we had to endure because of that…!”
His eyes, tinged with regret and remorse, turned towards Tae-geon.
“I don’t want to live miserably anymore, bound by the past. The future with Jerome is much more precious to me than the past. So if it’s revenge for me, stop it. I never wanted such a thing!”
“Then what do you want?”
“……”
“What the hell do you want?! Tell me, damn it!!”
Hyeon-woo glared at Tae-geon, who was shouting at him.
He hated Tae-geon for not understanding why he was so troubled, for not being able to be patient even for a moment when he asked for time. That’s why, in the heat of the moment, he blurted out something nonsensical.
“For my parents to come back alive.”
“……”
“That’s what I want.”
Hyeon-woo glanced at Tae-geon, who seemed to have lost his words, and smiled bitterly.
“…Forget it. Don’t worry about it. I was just saying.”
Seemingly embarrassed by his impossible request made in anger, Hyeon-woo quickly changed the subject.
“I have one promise left to keep to you.”
“Promise…?”
Judging by Tae-geon’s frown, he clearly didn’t remember.
We promised to go for a walk together when spring comes.
Either he didn’t remember, or he had erased it from his mind, thinking Hyeon-woo wouldn’t keep the promise. Thinking that way left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“I’m going to keep that promise no matter what. I won’t leave before that.”
“……”
“…Right now, too many things have entered my mind at once, so, I need time to sort it out. So please wait a little.”
Nevertheless, Tae-geon’s gaze remained unchanged. Hyeon-woo smiled bitterly, feeling that Tae-geon didn’t trust him at all, as his eyes were full of disbelief and suspicion.
Did he say he wouldn’t believe what I say anymore?
As Hyeon-woo lowered his head bitterly, he saw Tae-geon’s injured foot. A red puddle had formed around the foot he was standing on. Hyeon-woo frowned.
“…Come with me, let’s treat your foot first.”
Tae-geon silently followed Hyeon-woo as he walked towards the hospital room.
*
After being discharged, they returned to the mansion in a car driven by Driver Yoon.
Tae-geon was receiving daily updates about Hyeon-woo’s condition through the butler, as he was losing weight and becoming thinner day by day. He also learned through the butler that Hyeon-woo was throwing up all the food he ate during meals in hidden places, and that he was suffering from insomnia every night.
Tae-geon’s condition was just as bad as the wasting Hyeon-woo.
The bags under Tae-geon’s eyes were stained with deep fatigue, as if he hadn’t slept for days, as he scanned the documents and laptop screen spread out on the table.
The documents were densely filled with diagrams that reversely estimated the degree of battery damage due to impact and the enormous energy leading up to the explosion.
Ring- Ring-.
Late at night, Tae-geon checked the caller ID on his ringing phone and pressed the call button as if he had been waiting.
“Hello.”
-Did you get the email? It’s as we expected. The test results were indeed manipulated.
Tae-geon picked up one of the documents spread out on the table while listening to Ju-on’s voice. It was the battery test report submitted by the mobility company during the investigation of the accident in which Hyeon-woo’s parents died. Tae-geon’s eyes sharpened as he looked at it.
-We tested with the same battery more than dozens of times, and the results were all the same. It never exploded throughout the experiments. Even under greater impacts than back then.
This meant that fatal damage had already been inflicted on the entire vehicle, including the battery, before the explosion accident. They had disguised the accident by manipulating the test results, even underestimating the performance of the battery they had made.
Tae-geon’s gaze fell on the emblem adorning the top center of the report.
It was the emblem of a famous British mobility company that had dominated the electric car market and now boasted the highest authority in the battery field rather than in automobiles.
-Anyway, I’ve prepared everything as you ordered. I’ve got the same car model with identical internal specs, and I’ve scouted locations to avoid human casualties.
“Good work.”
-But will they really cooperate with the reinvestigation? They’ll have to admit that the test results were manipulated.
Tae-geon smiled slightly at Ju-on’s worried voice.
“They’ll have to. It’ll be less fatal than the battery defect allegations that will be raised publicly.”
-No, what I mean is, will anything be different from the accident 7 years ago? They didn’t understate their battery performance back then because they wanted to, right? It must have been because of orders from above.
“……”
-There must be a force behind this that made sure there was no problem even if the battery performance and test results were different. Isn’t it all pointless unless we take care of that bastard first?
“Don’t worry.”
-……”
“They’ll have to be desperate to prove that the test results were manipulated. I’ll make sure of it.”
Ju-on swallowed hard, feeling an indescribable murderous intent from the determined Tae-geon.
-Well, I’m sure you know what you’re doing. Anyway. Good luck.
“Thanks.”
There was a brief moment of silence between them at Tae-geon’s unexpected word of thanks. Then Ju-on’s voice, tinged with laughter, came through the receiver.
-No, I’m really laughing. If we were in Korea, I would have rushed over to laugh in your face right now.
Tae-geon raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
-When I was trying to persuade you to have the surgery, doing everything I could, you completely ignored me. But look, as soon as Han Hyeon-woo appeared, you went straight for the surgery. You must have been so eager to see his face-
Beep- Beep-.
Tae-geon quickly hung up the phone as nonsense started pouring out. Then he cleaned up the table.
Whoosh-.
The sound of rain that had been pouring since late at night had intensified. After checking that the planned work was progressing without a hitch, Tae-geon sat on the bed and stared blankly out the rain-soaked window.
Hyeon-woo’s face appeared on the dark glass. The image of him smiling bitterly while saying he wished for his parents to come back alive kept flickering before his eyes, as if it was clearly etched on his cornea. Although Hyeon-woo had brushed it off, saying not to worry about it, that it was just something he said, Tae-geon couldn’t help but know it was Hyeon-woo’s true feelings.
While it was impossible to bring Hyeon-woo’s deceased parents back to life, he wanted to do whatever it took to restore the honor of those who had died unjustly.
After that, would the thoughts troubling Hyeon-woo become a bit easier? Even if not forgiveness, would there be a possibility that he might reconsider his view of Tae-geon, even a little?
Even if that wasn’t the case, Hyeon-woo had no other choice. The words about not letting him go weren’t empty.
The dull and foolish twenty-year-old Choi Tae-geon, who only wished for Hyeon-woo’s happiness even if it wasn’t by his side, no longer existed.
A huge thunderclap accompanied by lightning struck from the sky, as if reproaching his selfishness that only thought of keeping Hyeon-woo by his side, even if it meant relying on sympathy, tying him down, or using any and all means necessary.
Rumble… Boom-!!
Along with the earth-shaking sound, a flash of light appeared, and another thunderclap split the dark night in two.
The rain pouring from the torn sky became even fiercer.
As Tae-geon sat on the bed looking out at the rattling window, he heard a knock-knock sound at his door.
At first, he thought he had misheard, but at another knock-knock on the door, he had a bad feeling.
When Tae-geon got up and opened the door, his heart almost sank. Hyeon-woo, his face pale and covered in tears, was standing in front of the door in his pajamas.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
