Actually, It’s a Messy Melodrama Chapter 71

“Well, that might be possible.”

Taejun answered with a shrug of his shoulders. From the beginning, Taejun did not even remember what he was doing when his first regression happened. It was a bolt from the blue that suddenly struck him during an ordinary day.

It was at that moment that a slight feeling of guilt surfaced on Haeshin’s face. It was because the fact that Taejun must have experienced regression out of the blue came to mind.

“Maybe I… begged for a prince to please help me?”

Did Han Taejun end up being here, in this place, due to bad luck, because I desperately wished for it without knowing, and because I hoped and hoped for a savior until the moment of my death for a revenge I could not carry out alone?

Once such a thought occurred to him, a huge sense of guilt washed over him, to the point where he wanted to avoid Taejun’s eyes. He felt sorry for Han Taejun, who would have been living a life envied by everyone in the world if he had not been dragged into this situation.

He could guarantee that not many people earned pity from Cha Haeshin himself.

“So, someone, whether it’s the universe or a god, sent me down as the prince to save Cha Haeshin?”

However, Taejun’s voice, which asked the question in return, contained no resentment or agony. Instead, Taejun’s voice was light, as if he were joking.

The guilt that had been slowly tightening Haeshin’s breath was pushed far away by Taejun’s voice. It happened in an instant, caused by a single word from Taejun.

“That makes no sense, right?”

So, instead of panicking, Haeshin was able to laugh and answer like before, “Hee—”

“Well, if that’s the case, then that’s a relief.”

And the words Taejun casually uttered as he started walking again, having stopped, did not just lessen Haeshin’s guilt, but also made his heart pound.

“A relief?”

“Yes. Because I actually have the power to take revenge on your behalf, and to save you.”

“But Mr. President, even though you were forcibly dragged into this? It’s not a relief… this is a misfortune for Mr. President.”

“Who said it’s a misfortune?”

“You said you have your hell. And that hell was created because of me.”

Haeshin chattered like someone who thought Taejun should not consider this a relief. Taejun, who had been walking quickly, feeling embarrassed after saying something shameful, let out a chuckle.

He could clearly picture Haeshin’s heart filled with guilt toward him, as if he could grasp it with his hand. He probably considered all of Taejun’s misfortunes to be his own fault. Even though the biggest victim of this regression, the person suffering the most here, was Cha Haeshin himself.

Taejun stopped walking again and looked back at Haeshin. He held his thin shoulders with both hands and met his gaze squarely. Hoping that Cha Haeshin would accept every single word he said without missing a letter.

“Cha Haeshin.”

“Yes.”

“It’s no use continuing to say things like that. My answer is consistent.”

So, Taejun opened his mouth again. If Haeshin asked ten times, a hundred times, he could answer the same way a thousand times, ten thousand times.

“You didn’t create my hell.”

“But…”

“The one who created your hell and mine is Jin Youngmin, and furthermore, whoever created this dog-like regression. It’s not you. And…”

“And…”

Haeshin mumbled, following Taejun’s words like someone out of his mind. Every word Taejun spoke seemed to deeply penetrate his soul, which had only been hurt and broken for a long time.

“I no longer consider this my hell.”

“Why, why? This is too terrible a hell…”

“Because thanks to me being dragged into this, I was able to save you.”

“…”

“I’ve decided to consider this good fortune now.”

At that moment, Haeshin heard the sound of something breaking deep inside his heart.

“Cha Haeshin, you are now the only good fortune I have.”

It was the loud sound of the wall he had built to protect himself from the painfully rushing agony collapsing.

“So, Haeshin.”

What tore down Cha Haeshin’s fortress was that gentle and affectionate heart.

“Stop feeling guilty towards me too.”

Taejun waited for Haeshin to fully absorb his words deep into his heart. And as the feeling of shyness slowly began to creep into him too, he turned his body around again.

“Let’s go back now.”

Haeshin walked after Taejun without saying anything in particular. However, he could feel that his head was loud and noisy without him having to say it.

As they slowly walked back the way they came, Cha Haeshin suddenly opened his mouth.

“Then, can I call Mr. President my prince n…”

“No.”

Taejun answered, as if dumbfounded by Haeshin’s ridiculous joke. With the joke between the two of them, which had become familiar, smiles lingered on both of their faces the entire way home.

☂️

“So, you’re determined to go to work?”

“Yes! Of course, I have to.”

As if the ticklish and soft atmosphere of last night was all a lie, the two of them were fiercely confronting each other since the morning.

Haeshin held a spoon in his hand and looked directly at Taejun, whose brows were heavily furrowed, with wide open eyes. They looked like they were not willing to budge an inch.

“No, why on earth can’t you quit right now?”

Taejun, who had been glaring at Haeshin while standing in the living room, shook his head in frustration and sat down on the sofa. Haeshin immediately followed him and sat down next to him, answering.

“Even if I quit, I have to give them time to find someone.”

Taejun wore a look of bewilderment at Haeshin’s gaze, which seemed to ask why he could not understand this obvious fact.

The beginning was this. The two of them lightly discussed what to do next while having breakfast. Taejun first advised Haeshin to quit his job for his safety. This was the part that Haeshin agreed with.

The point of divergence was exactly when to quit. Taejun told him to notify them that he could not go out starting today, and Haeshin countered that he could not do that. The reason was that he had to give them time to find a replacement.

“Is this the time for you to be worrying about things like that?”

Taejun was genuinely frustrated. The sight of Haeshin dying multiple times at Jin Youngmin’s hands was still vivid in his mind.

There was no time to think about the circumstances of the place he worked when he did not know when that crazy bastard would snap and try to kidnap Cha Haeshin.

However, Haeshin, unperturbed by Taejun’s somewhat sharper voice, calmly started speaking.

“The bar has many people who can work besides me, so it’s okay if I don’t go out right away, but the other place won’t have anyone to work if I don’t go out right away.”

“So, is that important right now, is what I’m saying. You might die right now!”

Taejun, who had finally raised his voice, quickly shut his mouth. Even so, it was not something to be angry at Haeshin about, but he had momentarily lost his temper. Recently, Taejun had been obsessively worried about Haeshin’s safety, as if suffering from a neurosis.

Haeshin did not answer and quietly looked at Taejun. He seemed to be giving him time to calm down on his own.

“I’m sorry.”

After a short silence, Taejun apologized. Haeshin shook his head.

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“No. It’s not something to be annoyed at you about…”

“Strictly speaking, all of that is my fault too.”

Taejun furrowed his brow at the unexpected remark. Haeshin continued speaking with a soft smile.

“I mean all those things Mr. President went through. I know how much that mentally breaks a person. Besides, Mr. President… saw me die right in front of your eyes.”

Haeshin tightly clasped his two hands together. Infinite regression is a problem, but repeatedly watching someone die is also by no means easy.

Taejun was even the one who had to watch Haeshin take his own life. Although they did not explicitly mention the events of that day and moved on, the shock Taejun received must have remained intact within him.

So, Haeshin understood Taejun’s aggressive reaction. Considering what he had gone through because of Haeshin, this was rather a moderate reaction.

Of course, Taejun would still say that none of it happened because of Cha Haeshin.

“But Mr. President.”

However, being able to understand did not mean that he agreed with his words. Haeshin looked directly into Taejun’s eyes and spoke in a calm and firm voice.

“You don’t have to worry that much yet. Jin Youngmin will be fine until I act aggressively. You know it. That I know Jin Youngmin better than anyone.”

“How can anyone know the mind of a lunatic?”

Taejun’s voice was much softer. Haeshin nodded his head.

“That is true, but… in fact, at this point in time, Jin Youngmin and I were quite close. So, nothing will happen right away.”

“Still…”

“Do you know what the truly safe way is?”

Taejun, who understood Haeshin’s words but was still about to object due to his anxiety, stopped talking at Haeshin’s suddenly different tone.

“It’s to lock myself up in a small prison where no one can enter and live inside it forever. Then Jin Youngmin wouldn’t be able to do anything to me.”

“…”

“But Mr. President, can that truly be called living?”

Haeshin’s eyes shone brightly. The fighting spirit for life, the flame for existence, was still present there.

If the goal was simply to stay alive, the best method would literally be to confine himself. Not going anywhere, not meeting anyone, locking the door, and being thankful every day that he was at least still breathing.

But Haeshin did not want such a life. He did not want the ending he reached after surviving brutal and long-standing violence to be like that.

“As for me, Mr. President. I want to live a little more like a human being than that.”

I want to live like a human being.

That was the only sentence Cha Haeshin had wished for on all the days he had existed in the world.