Actually, It’s a Messy Melodrama Chapter 37

“But, am I really going to live here?”

Haeshin asked the question he’d been wanting to ask since yesterday just as their quiet meal was nearing its end. Taejun, who had left nearly half his porridge, took a sip of water and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“And you’ll find a separate place for my mother to live?”

“Yeah.”

“Then couldn’t I just live there with my mom?”

“Well, I don’t mind if you do, but……”

“But?”

“It will be safer here.”

At Taejun’s answer, Haeshin pressed his lips together. The word ‘safe’ pierced his heart like a sharp fragment. It was a word Haeshin had never had in his life. For some reason, his hands felt numb, and he gripped the water glass in front of him tightly with both hands. Taejun continued.

“Jin Youngmin might relentlessly seek you out wherever you are, but would he dare come all the way here?”

“That’s true, but……”

“Besides, your mother is……”

Taejun stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth. He had almost said, your mother will have to be hospitalized soon, won’t she. Even if he said it, there was nothing Haeshin could do, but he didn’t want to give the impression that he had been digging into his background too persistently.

Haeshin, waiting for him to continue, tilted his head.

“What about my mother?”

“Wouldn’t she be shocked if she saw something she shouldn’t while with you?”

“Ah……”

It was an excuse Taejun had made up on the spot, but it sounded plausible. Haeshin fell into thought with a serious expression.

It was true that there was no place as safe as this house. Judging from Jin Youngmin’s state when they last met, there was a high probability he would descend into madness at an increasingly rapid rate. This meant simply moving to a new residence wouldn’t be of much help.

But was moving into Han Taejun’s house really a safe choice?

Haeshin turned his head and looked around. The space, too vast to be taken in at a single glance, boasted its grandeur. It was a space larger and more solid than Jin Youngmin’s prison where Haeshin had been confined.

After staring at the space with a dazed expression for a moment, Haeshin suddenly opened his mouth.

“Your house is so big and offers so much privacy that no one outside would know what’s happening inside. Right?”

“……What?”

At the somewhat unfamiliar voice, Taejun frowned and asked back. Haeshin’s expression, which seemed to be looking at some point in the empty air, was as strange as his voice just now. The sense of dissonance he occasionally got from Haeshin once again pricked at Taejun’s senses.

“The house is just so big, it really seems like no one would know if a person like me were hiding in here.”

There was nothing particularly strange about Haeshin’s subsequent words, but the air surrounding the two of them still felt unfamiliar.

Haeshin slowly turned his gaze to meet Taejun’s eyes. He could see a sharp look, as if trying to figure out the real intention behind his sudden words. Meeting that gaze, Haeshin wondered just how benevolent this person could be, and just how cruel he could become.

Haeshin had known and married Jin Youngmin for longer than the time he had now spent with Taejun. Even so, until things went wrong, he hadn’t known what a lunatic he was. It was only natural to wonder what lurked in the hidden depths of Han Taejun.

“CEO.”

“What is it you’re trying to say?”

“Thank you, truly.”

“……”

“I was the one who asked for help, so I’ll gratefully accept this kindness.”

But Haeshin had already made up his mind. So what if there were unknowable depths for now? Haeshin was at a dead end anyway.

In the worst-case scenario, even if Han Taejun turned out to be not much different from Jin Youngmin and confined and abused him here, it would be break-even for Haeshin anyway.

It didn’t matter whose hands delivered the fated violence. If he learned of Han Taejun’s psycho tendencies in this timeline, he could just find another way in the next. One of the few advantages of being an infinite regressor.

“I’ll move in right away! I don’t have much luggage anyway, just a single bag to pack.”

Haeshin answered cheerfully, as if he had never been ambiguous.

“I’ll take care of the other things, so you just worry about moving yourself and your mother.”

Taejun, for his part, chose not to delve into the sense of dissonance he had felt for a moment. It wasn’t the kind of question he could ask frankly anyway.

“Yes. Thank you, CEO. This favor… to be honest, I can’t repay it all, but anyway, I’ll serve you with the utmost respect from now on! Just give me any order!”

Haeshin even got up from his chair and bowed respectfully. The sound of Taejun’s scoffing laugh, as if in disbelief, was familiar by now.

If I die here at the hands of Han Taejun instead of Jin Youngmin, who will my next regression be tied to? Surely, I won’t be fated to be obsessed over by both of them.

Swallowing the grim and silly question, Haeshin let out a long breath. It felt like a new chapter was finally beginning.

☂️

“So now…… you’re telling me my Taejun is chasing after some kid who works at a bar?”

“Yes, Chairman.”

Youngmin bowed his head and replied with a polite attitude. The person sitting in front of Youngmin was Chairman Han Sangwoo, the chairman of Myungjin Group and Jin Youngmin’s maternal grandfather.

One would typically imagine a warm and intimate atmosphere between a grandfather and grandson, but the mood flowing between Chairman Han and Youngmin was far from it. Even though Youngmin had come around lunchtime, Chairman Han not only didn’t invite him to eat together but didn’t even ask if he had eaten.

Perhaps that was why. To Youngmin, he was more of a ‘Chairman’ than a grandfather. He had been loved normally as a grandchild when he was young, but he didn’t know when he had become so difficult to be around.

Chairman Han was silent for a moment. In an instant, the air in the chairman’s office froze. Youngmin understood the silence. For the grandson he had doted on and cherished as if he were his only one to be infatuated with a bar boy, it must be quite a shock.

Youngmin sneered inwardly. He didn’t think it was a cowardly move at all. Han Taejun was the one who used his parents first.

Taejun’s parents, given their position in the family and their dispositions, were not the types to pressure Taejun or make him feel self-conscious. So what could he do? He had no choice but to seek out the only person in Myungjin who could bring Han Taejun down.

Today would be the last day Chairman Han acted as if he would give Taejun his liver and gallbladder and everything else.

Why did you have to covet what belongs to someone else, he thought. It’s not like you’re even sincere with Cha Haeshin. It’s nothing more than a nasty impulse to snatch away what someone else treasures.

Youngmin added in a voice feigning concern for Taejun.

“Whoever hyung meets is none of my business, but I was worried…… This is a matter directly related to Myungjin’s honor, after all. If rumors were to get out……”

“Are you suggesting that my Taejun would tarnish Myungjin’s honor?”

However, Chairman Han’s following words were different from what Youngmin had expected. Momentarily flustered, Youngmin raised his head to look at Chairman Han. He was looking at Youngmin as if he were pathetic.

“Are you telling me you spied on Taejun, and on top of that, came here to tattle on him to me?”

“Ch-Chairman! Spying? It’s not like that. I just found out by chance……!”

“Right. And after finding out by chance, did you speak to Taejun about it?”

“……Excuse me?”

“Before coming to me, did you tell my Taejun you were worried? That’s what I’m asking.”

Youngmin was at a loss for words, his mouth just opening and closing. He had expected Chairman Han to fly into a rage, but he had never dreamed that the arrow would be aimed at him.

“Th-that is, I……”

“Without giving Taejun any hint, you come running to me and blurt out, what? Myungjin’s honor?”

“I was just worried about hyung……!”

“If you were truly worried about my Taejun, you would have gone to Taejun first, not come tattling to me!”

Chairman Han glared at Youngmin with fiery eyes. His eyes were filled with unmistakable disapproval of Youngmin.

Chairman Han Sangwoo. He had several grandchildren, including his eldest grandson Taejun, but Jin Youngmin was one he was particularly dissatisfied with. It wasn’t an issue of lacking ability. It was even less about him being a maternal grandson.

Chairman Han prided himself on being a good judge of character. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have been able to properly serve as the head of a group like Myungjin.

In Chairman Han’s eyes, Jin Youngmin was, for some reason, an unreliable grandson. He didn’t cause any particular trouble and did what he was told well enough, so he didn’t push him away, but he inwardly thought of him as someone who couldn’t be entrusted with great responsibility.

And just today, Chairman Han once again realized his judgment was accurate. Youngmin might think he was a good actor, but to Chairman Han, it was as if he could see right through to his inner thoughts.

Though his words expressed concern for Taejun, his scheme to use his grandfather to put him in a difficult position was obvious.

If Taejun was really chasing after some bar boy, it was certainly something he needed to pay attention to as an elder, but he couldn’t allow himself to be swayed by Youngmin’s words. Under the name of Myungjin Group, there was a clear difference in the positions of Han Taejun and Jin Youngmin, and Chairman Han could not stand by and watch Youngmin cross that line.

“Let me make this clear right here. Youngmin. Whoever Taejun meets, however he meets them, is none of your business. I will handle it, so from now on, stay out of it.”

“Chairman, I……”

“If you have nothing else to say, you may leave.”

“……Yes, Chairman.”

Chairman Han made it clear he would not listen to another word from Youngmin. In the end, Youngmin couldn’t even make an excuse and had no choice but to stand up.