Actually, It’s a Messy Melodrama Chapter 15

Haeshin, having regained his composure, took out the business card he kept preciously in his worn wallet. The card Secretary Choi, or more precisely, Han Taejun, had given him. He had already saved the contact information, but Haeshin carried the card around as if it were a talisman.

Would he answer if he called now?

A sudden, whimsical impulse struck him. He’d been told to contact him if he needed help. What would Han Taejun’s reaction be if he called now and cried about how hard things were?

He chuckled at the absurdity of the thought. Haeshin put the card back in his wallet, dusted off his pants, and stood up.

Enough wallowing in self-pity. He had already gained quite a lot in this round, hadn’t he? So maybe this time, things would be different. The oasis Cha Haeshin had been desperately searching for might be right here.

And so, Cha Haeshin walked through the dawn slum, a madman once again. Freely.

☂️

“So… are you seeing anyone these days?”

As soon as Taejun asked, Youngmin, who had been bringing his fork to his mouth, stopped and raised his eyes.

“Why are you suddenly asking me that?”

A clearly defensive attitude. Taejun calmly put a piece of sliced meat into his mouth and said,

“Why am I asking? It’s not like it’s something I can’t ask.”

“Hyung, don’t tell me… you heard something, did you?”

Youngmin still reacted sensitively. Well, anyone would be defensive if they were being gossiped about for chasing after a bar worker. Taejun, also placing his fork gently on his plate, asked,

“I guess there’s something to hear about?”

“……I knew it. I wondered why you suddenly wanted to have dinner with me. Was it Dad? Mom? It was Mom, wasn’t it?”

Youngmin grumbled like a child. They hadn’t really been in touch since becoming adults, so he’d found it a bit strange when Taejun suddenly contacted him for dinner.

Taejun gave a nonchalant chuckle and continued,

“That’s not important, so what are you going to do?”

Taejun asked bluntly without further ado. Youngmin’s expression also became serious.

“What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“You’re not seriously pursuing him, are you?”

“What if I am?”

Youngmin shot back without hesitation. Anyone could see he was serious. Taejun let out a hollow laugh. One had to be this crazy to bring someone like Cha Haeshin home as a marriage prospect.

“You don’t even know him that well.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m getting to know him.”

“By frequenting bars?”

At Taejun’s repeated negative questions, Youngmin closed his mouth tightly. Even Jin Youngmin, who hadn’t batted an eye at his parents’ protests, seemed to care about Taejun’s reaction.

Letting out a long sigh, Youngmin put on a pitiful expression, unlike before, and spoke.

“Hyung, come on… Don’t you think I know that too? But there’s a reason why I’m doing this.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Why do you like him? If you’re just attracted to his looks, you can just have a one-night stand and be done with it.”

The words treating Cha Haeshin like a plaything left a bitter taste in his mouth. He remembered Cha Haeshin’s face as he said, How could someone like me even dream of someone like Director Jin Youngmin?

I’m saving Cha Haeshin’s life right now. I’m fulfilling a request he made himself. He justified himself like that, managing his expression, but Youngmin, with an even more serious look than before, replied.

“You know, Hyung, I’ve thought about that a lot too. A guy working at a bar, I couldn’t believe it either. It would be ridiculous even if he was chasing after me, let alone me frequenting a bar like you said.”

“…….”

“But Hyung, there’s no reason. I don’t understand it either. I just want him. This is the first time I’ve felt this way about someone. If I just wanted a one-night stand, I would have already slipped him some money and slept with him. But it’s not like that.”

Persuading Han Taejun would actually make things easier. Youngmin calmly replied, recalling the moment he first met Cha Haeshin. Like the beginning of a typical romance novel, it started with curiosity.

Youngmin often enjoyed being entertained at low-class bars that were below his status. It pleased him to see people struggling in the gutter grovel before him.

Then he saw Cha Haeshin. That day, Cha Haeshin was confronting a man twice his size, and seeing a bartender with a busted lip standing behind him, he could roughly guess the situation.

It wasn’t anything special. It was probably something that happened several times a day in such bars. Nevertheless, Jin Youngmin couldn’t easily leave because of Cha Haeshin’s attitude.

‘Hey, sir! You should be the one to hold back. With a build like that, do you have nowhere else to use your strength but on a woman? Huh?’

Just listening to the words, it was hard to tell whether he was trying to stop the fight or provoke the man, but he was acting so cute and flirtatious in front of the big guy with such a bright and pretty expression. Judging by his expression alone, he looked like a concubine flattering an emperor.

‘I respected you, thinking you were a real man, but now, I’m disappointed. Should I be disappointed?’

He subtly saved face for the man, and the foolish brute, unaware that he was being played, fell for it completely. Whether he was swayed by the smooth talking or the sweetly smiling face was unclear.

However, the moment that truly left a deep impression on Youngmin was what followed. While secretly observing them, Youngmin overheard the conversation between Cha Haeshin and the manager after the situation was resolved.

‘Hey, you’re really fearless. Don’t just jump into things like that. You’ll die young.’

‘Hyung, it’s not like I jump into everything. I use my gut feeling. And it’s okay, my life isn’t even mine anyway.’

‘Whose is it then, if it’s not yours?’

‘The loan sharks’, whose else? I live if they let me live, and I die if they kill me.’

‘Damn it, stop talking about such unlucky things so casually!’

Hearing those words, Youngmin felt a strange yearning welling up inside him. A life entrusted to trash like loan sharks? Then wouldn’t it be much better for Cha Haeshin if he took ownership of it?

At first, he thought it was pity. He felt sorry for someone so bright and shining to be groveling in such filth. Since Youngmin donated to pitiful lives he didn’t care about anyway, he thought saving one person wouldn’t be so bad.

But it wasn’t as easy as he thought. He expected Haeshin to jump at the chance when he showed kindness, but Cha Haeshin didn’t react as Jin Youngmin expected.

He would act all sweet and charming, but if Youngmin tried to cross any personal boundaries, he would slip away slyly. He repeatedly refused, pretending not to understand when Youngmin hinted that he would help him if he wanted.

As a result, it was Jin Youngmin, who had approached with a benefactor’s mindset, who became anxious. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t possess Cha Haeshin’s life, which even loan sharks had a hold of.

“Hyung… I really want him.”

Youngmin’s eyes gleamed strangely as he spoke slowly. If Jin Youngmin wanted, it was nothing to save a pathetic life and have them worship him. If it was simply to satisfy such an interest, he could find plenty of people.

“I have to have him completely.”

But Jin Youngmin’s desire was fixed on Cha Haeshin from the start. Whether it was true love or just spite towards Cha Haeshin for rejecting him didn’t matter. The important thing was that it had to be Cha Haeshin.

And Taejun, listening to Youngmin’s words and looking into his eyes, finally understood why Cha Haeshin had asked him to intervene.

Cha Haeshin had no other choice from the start. For someone with money to corner someone without it was easier than breathing. There was no escape for Cha Haeshin from the beginning.

“Who knows? Like you said, Hyung, I might lose interest after sleeping with him.”

Han Taejun knew. That Jin Youngmin would never lose interest. Rather, as time went on, he would fall deeper, eventually overcoming all opposition and even marrying him.

“But if this is really love… Hyung, you have to help me then.”

Perhaps realizing he was being too serious, Youngmin spoke playfully in a slightly lighter tone.

“Me?”

“Yeah. What if I say I’m going to marry Cha Haeshin? Wouldn’t the family go crazy? But if you take my side, everyone will accept it.”

Every word from Jin Youngmin made his stomach churn. In his first life, Han Taejun had helped Jin Youngmin. Without knowing anything, without truly understanding what kind of person Jin Youngmin or Cha Haeshin was, he had meddled.

If Taejun hadn’t persuaded his grandfather back then, Cha Haeshin might not have died so tragically.

“Youngmin.”

“Huh?”

“Stop talking nonsense and end it.”

“……Huh?”

Youngmin stared blankly at Taejun’s chilling words. Regardless, Taejun, overwhelmed with irritation, drained the water in front of him in one gulp. It felt like fire was burning in his stomach.

It didn’t matter to Han Taejun whether Jin Youngmin and Cha Haeshin got married or not. It wasn’t as if there was a reason they had to get married, but Taejun felt as if he had interfered in Haeshin’s life and pushed him into the abyss.