Actually, It’s a Messy Melodrama Chapter 92

Chairman Han Sangwoo lamented that he must have raised the fellow too indulgently, yet he did not press Taejun to get married.

It was partly because he knew Taejun’s personality was such that he would only stray further if forced to do something, but also because the marriage of his grandson, who lacked absolutely nothing—wasn’t particularly an urgent matter to Chairman Han Sangwoo.

However, even Chairman Han Sangwoo, who had been relaxed thinking Taejun would eventually find a partner on his own, had recently started to feel inwardly anxious. The problem was that Taejun didn’t seem to be choosing a person, but rather appeared to have no intention of marrying at all.

Marrying late was fine, but not doing it at all was a different story. Chairman Han Sangwoo was a man who desperately wanted to see Taejun get married before he died.

It wasn’t for the purpose of further stabilizing the group or continuing the family line; it was simply out of a desire for his cherished grandson to not be lonely for the rest of his life, but to form a warm family while relying on someone.

Unexpectedly for the head of a major corporation, he was a man with a romantic side.

Anyway, for that reason, he had just been badgering his innocent son behind the scenes, asking if they shouldn’t come up with some kind of countermeasure, when Taejun first said there was someone he wanted to meet. It was truly an earth-shattering event.

“Who, who is it?”

The Chairman asked, fidgeting in his seat and forgetting his dignity. The words he had asked about it being someone “beneath his standards” were already disappearing from his mind.

Taejun shrugged his shoulders as if he had expected this and opened his mouth.

“Just, well… he’s a good person. A good person, but.”

“Yes, yes.”

“It’s a man.”

“…A man?”

“And he’s poor.”

“Poor?”

“Yeah. All he has is debt. Although I paid it off for him.”

The more Taejun’s words continued, the more the Chairman’s face, which had been flushed with excitement, slumped. Regardless of the situation, this fellow was never submissive when it came to this issue. The Chairman lowered his head and held his forehead with his hand, letting out sighs for a long time before looking up.

“From the look of things, you’ve been properly taken for a sucker.”

Taejun burst into a chuckle at his grandfather’s disgruntled grumbling. It was because a conversation he had shared with his grandfather in the previous cycle suddenly came to mind. Taejun nodded with a pleasant mood.

“Yeah. I’m a total sucker right now.”

“How do you even know a human who is poor and has nothing but debt?”

The Chairman’s question became somewhat sharp. Taejun could easily understand the hidden meaning in that question. He was suspicious that the person might have approached Taejun intentionally to use his money and power.

“Grandfather. Do I look that easy to you?”

As soon as he heard Taejun’s question, the Chairman let out a deep sigh. It was because he had no words to rebut. It wasn’t just because he was his grandson; Taejun truly was not an easy target.

Well, while there are many people who lose their minds entirely when blinded by love, as far as the Chairman could see, his grandson was absolutely not that kind of fellow.

“And Grandfather, don’t be shocked, okay?”

“What could there be to be more shocked about than this.”

The Chairman had a face of resignation. Though the world had changed much and meeting someone of the same sex wasn’t a major flaw anymore, an atmosphere that valued “bloodline” was still strong among people of the Chairman’s age group.

Now that he had even heard that the fellow who would be responsible for the Myungjin Group in the future had his heart set on a man—and an insignificant one at that—what more could there be to be shocked about?

“He doesn’t like me.”

“What?”

But the Chairman was shocked. Regardless of the voice that had risen uncharacteristically for him, Taejun continued his words.

“Your grandson is currently in the middle of a pathetic one-sided love.”

“Hah….”

The Chairman held his forehead. It seemed he had lived far too long.

☂️

Taejun flopped down onto the bed with an exhausted face. It was Taejun’s room prepared in the Chairman’s house, not Taejun’s own home. Taejun intended to stay overnight at his grandfather’s house today.

At most, all he had done was play chess and share a conversation with his grandfather, but today his mood was drooping particularly low. This was despite the fact that the conversation hadn’t gone poorly.

‘Grandfather. Actually, I didn’t say anything because I thought you’d worry, but lately… I’ve been suffering from a truly terrible sense of helplessness.’

The tone of the conversation, which had been continuing like a joke, changed when Taejun began to pour out his more honest feelings.

‘Life was so uninteresting and tedious that I even wondered why I should bother living.’

The Chairman had a hurt face at Taejun’s words. He seemed to feel guilty over the fact that he hadn’t known at all that his beloved grandson was struggling with such a horrible emotion.

Looking at his grandfather’s face, Taejun’s heart ached just the same, but he couldn’t hide his emotions. Since Taejun intended to eventually drag Cha Haeshin into the fence of this family, it was a gateway he had to pass through at least once.

‘Then I met him by chance… Grandfather. These days, I live because of him.’

‘You really have no shame saying anything in front of this old man.’

‘I know. I’m sorry. But it’s because you’re my grandfather that I’m talking so honestly like this. And the fact that I could hold on and endure while I was having a hard time was thanks to you, Grandfather.’

‘Stop it. At least wet your lips before you tell a lie.’

Even in the midst of that, Taejun felt comforted by his grandfather’s words as he cracked a joke to lighten his heart.

It wasn’t a lie. If it hadn’t been for his grandfather, who cherished and supported him in any situation, Taejun wouldn’t have been able to endure the long tunnel of regressions, and even now, he wouldn’t have been able to confess Haeshin’s existence so honestly.

Chairman Han Sangwoo was the most reliable ally Taejun had.

‘Anyway, that’s how I feel. He saved me. If he’s a benefactor to me, then he’s a benefactor to you too, Grandfather.’

‘….’

‘Because if something happened to me, you wouldn’t be able to live either, Grandfather; it’s as if he saved you too. So please think of him as a benefactor.’

It was a statement that could sound brazen, but the Chairman quietly chewed over Taejun’s words for a long time. At that moment, Taejun was certain that the victory or defeat had already been decided. As always, his grandfather would support him wholeheartedly.

‘Bring him over once for now. I have to see the person to say this or that about him, don’t I?’

Just as Taejun expected, the Chairman answered with a much softer tone. Since his grandfather would surely have no choice but to like Cha Haeshin once he saw him in person, it was virtually no different from receiving permission.

“Phew….”

Therefore, the fact that Taejun was currently sitting on the edge of the bed with a long face, sighing deeply, meant there was a reason other than his grandfather.

“Maybe I should have brought his mother to our house.”

Finally, Taejun lay flat on the bed holding his phone, muttering nonsense. That was it. The reason Han Taejun was depressed right now like a child who had his candy taken away was precisely because of Cha Haeshin.

To be a bit more precise, it was because ‘he had to sleep away from Cha Haeshin tonight.’

When Haeshin said he would spend the night with his mother today, Taejun couldn’t object. Firstly, it wasn’t a matter Taejun could object to, and secondly, because he hadn’t anticipated even himself that being away from Cha Haeshin for one night would be this difficult.

Han Taejun’s regret expanded rapidly by the time he finished work. He didn’t want to believe the fact that even if he returned home, Cha Haeshin wouldn’t be there. In the end, Taejun came to his grandfather’s house instead of his own.

The decision to stay here for a day was a way of showing filial piety to the grandfather he hadn’t seen often under the pretext of being busy; it was definitely not because he didn’t want to be alone in a house without Haeshin. Taejun excused his pathetic situation in that way.

Naturally, it was an excuse that didn’t hold a grain of truth even to Taejun himself.

“Is there really something wrong with me?”

Taejun was serious. No matter how much he had fallen in love, it made no sense that it was this hard to be apart for just one night. He couldn’t distinguish whether one-sided love was originally like this, or if he was being excessively dramatic. Literally, how would he know without having tried it? Taejun repented just a little for the past days when he had mocked people who hung their lives on love.

Taejun looked for Haeshin’s contact information on his phone. Since it wasn’t even 10 o’clock yet, it wasn’t time for Haeshin to be asleep.

“….”

Looking at the name, the longing grew even deeper. Did the conversation with his mother go well? Did the conversation not go well, leading him to wound his own body and mind again? All sorts of worries flooded in sporadically.

On the other hand, he was curious. Whether Cha Haeshin felt the emptiness too, whether he was thinking of him and wondering about him.

Whether Cha Haeshin’s heart was also burning because he missed Han Taejun.

Taejun was curious about every single bit of that. It seemed tonight would not pass by easily.