Chapter 94 – GOY 94

#94

As ​I ​stared ​blankly ​at ​him, ​Ju Jeong-han quickly ​lowered ​his ​head.

“Ah, ​I ​apologize. I misspoke. Lexington ​is ​furious, and my ​father insisted that ​I ​settle ​this ​today ​no ​matter what. I ​was ​in ​such a rush ​that I said something ​I shouldn’t ​have.”

Was it ​really a ​mistake? It ​wasn’t ​unreasonable ​to make a ​slip of ​the tongue when under ​pressure from both sides.

If ​it wasn’t said with ​malice but ​was ​truly a mistake, then everything Ju ​Jeong-han said must be ​true.

It ​meant ​that ​Joo ​Seung-hyeok had slept ​with numerous ​Guides ​in the meantime, ​and ​even while he was with ​me, he ​had ​been preparing for ​marriage ​with ​Lexington’s ​only ​daughter behind ​my ​back.

“Ha….”

I hadn’t ​believed Joo Seung-hyeok’s claim of being a ​premarital virgin anyway. ​Yet, now that ​I had the confirmation, ​a hollow, ​absurd laugh escaped ​me.

Ju ​Jeong-han cautiously gauged ​my reaction again.

“Guide ​Lee Yeon-soo, ​as ​Seung-hyeok’s stolen contentHyung, ​I ​am unauthorized copy[Read on Read BL Novels]truly ​sorry ​about this ​situation.”

“We’re ​breaking ​up,” I said ​firmly.

Come ​to think ​of ​it, ​it ​didn’t matter if Ju Jeong-han had made a mistake or if he had intentionally leaked the information to end things between me and Joo Seung-hyeok.

My goal from the beginning had been to escape Joo Seung-hyeok, and the opportunity had finally arrived.

“Thank you. I will provide any compensation you desire.”

“I don’t need money.”

“Pardon? Then…?”

“Instead of financial compensation, please guarantee the safety of myself and my family.”

In the original story, Kim Joon was shocked by Joo Seung-hyeok’s mention of marriage and broke up with him, only to be imprisoned.

Even if everything he had said and done to me so far was a lie, his obsession was a separate issue. There was a possibility that even if I broke up with him because of the engagement, he wouldn’t accept it.

“Of course. I have already made arrangements for you to stay abroad until the engagement ceremony takes place.”

Ju Jeong-han answered instantly, as if he had prepared the line in advance.

I felt a strange sense of dissonance from that response.

Why had he prepared this in advance? What if I had refused? And why abroad instead of within the country? Could I really trust this man?

A drama I had seen long ago suddenly came to mind. It was a story where a conglomerate chairman lied to separate a couple, and misunderstandings piled up upon misunderstandings. A cliché, unoriginal plot.

Could it be the same here?

Chairman Joo disapproved of his son dating a Beta. (In the original, he favored Lee Yeon-soo, but his attitude flipped once it was revealed that Joo Seung-hyeok was his biological son.) So, he had Ju Jeong-han set up this scenario.

But that didn’t matter much either.

This might be my last chance to leave Joo Seung-hyeok. I couldn’t let it slip.

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes. I will do my utmost to ensure that Guide Lee Yeon-soo can stay comfortably abroad.”

“Thank you.”

“By the way, may I ask for one favor?”

“What is it?”

“The engagement schedule is quite tight. Because of that, I would like you to depart early….”

The engagement ceremony must be right around the corner. If so, even if it was being handled secretly, word would have started to leak. It was plausible that Park Geon-woo knew about the engagement.

“When is it?”

A quick departure was better for me too. Since I had already decided to break up, there was no need to drag it out.

“It’s tomorrow.”

Tomorrow…. Still, isn’t that too fast? If it’s tomorrow, I won’t even have time to properly say goodbye to Joo Seung-hyeok….

No, what goodbye! The sooner I leave, the better. Besides, tomorrow the final exams end and vacation begins.

In the original, Kim Joon was imprisoned immediately after the end-of-semester party. It’s better to leave before the break starts.

“…I understand.”

I decided to follow Ju Jeong-han’s lead.

---

After finishing my conversation with Ju Jeong-han, I returned to the Esper Academy.

Tomorrow, I can finally escape the embrace of the Obsessive Madman.

The purpose behind Joo Seung-hyeok’s approach to me, the truth about the engagement, the reason he intercepted Park Geon-woo’s letter—none of it was clear, and everything was confusing.

But none of it would matter once I left him.

I just have to get through today safely. Then, freedom will come.

It was something I had longed for so much, yet I wasn’t as happy as I thought I would be….

I trudged back to the dormitory.

“Hyung….”

“Seung-hyeok-ah….”

As I opened the door, I saw Joo Seung-hyeok sitting on the bed.

It had already been four days since we started living together in the dorm, but I couldn’t get used [unauthorized copy]to the [Read on Read BL Novels]sight of him waiting for me as if it were his own room. Though, technically, it was his room now.

“You’re late. Where did you go?”

“Ah, the library…. You came back early? Isn’t it still exam time?”

“I finished early and came out.”

He really did finish early. I thought I had ended the conversation with Ju Jeong-han quite quickly, yet he was already here.

“I see…. Then you only have one left, right?”

“Yes. You have one left too, right, Hyung?”

“Yeah. Guide Ethics.”

I sat at the desk, pulling out the Guide Ethics textbook.

“You’re going to study that too?”

“Yeah….”

“You’re really hardworking.”

One corner of Joo Seung-hyeok’s mouth curled up.

‘Guide Ethics’ was a PASS/FAIL subject evaluated solely on attendance. While they formally took an exam, it didn’t affect the grade whether one scored 0 or 100. Even if one missed the exam, it only cost them one attendance point. (One had to submit a report instead, but even if it was written terribly, it didn’t hinder passing the course.)

Naturally, no one studied for it. Normally, I wouldn’t have either. But I stared at the book just to avoid spending time with Joo Seung-hyeok.

“Why do you study so hard for your exams, Hyung?”

Joo Seung-hyeok usually didn’t disturb me when I was reading or studying. However, he seemed to think ‘Guide Ethics’ was a blatant excuse and started talking to me.

“Well….”

“Forget the bullshit about taxpayers’ money or whatever; what’s the real reason?”

“…Because I have to get a job?”

“Do you have no intention of becoming my Guide?”

“What…?”

After the matching rate test, I became Joo stolen contentSeung-hyeok’s assigned Guide. But that stolen content[visit our site]was only within the confines of the Esper Academy; I hadn’t become his exclusive guide.

Joo Seung-hyeok had never brought it up before. Yet, for the first time in seven years, he asked me to be his Guide.

“When will I be able to enter the future that Lee Yeon-soo envisions?”

Joo Seung-hyeok gazed at me intently. But I couldn’t say a word.

There was no way Joo Seung-hyeok would have a place in my future. Because I was leaving tomorrow.

“Seung-hyeok-ah, aren’t you studying for your exams?”

“It’s Esper Ethics. I don’t need to.”

“…….”

He was right. Whether it was Guide Ethics or Esper Ethics, almost no student studied for PASS/FAIL subjects.

“Hyung, by the way, where did this ugly dog come from?”

He spoke while looking at the Woong-i doll lying on the bed.

‘It’s old, but it’s not ugly….’

I wanted to argue, but if it looked ugly to Joo Seung-hyeok, then it was just ugly.

‘I’m sorry, Woong-ah. Hyung is powerless, so I can’t take your side.’

Still, tomorrow is freedom. This shriveled existence will be completely over.

“I bought it at an amusement park.”

“An amusement park?”

“Yeah. I went to an amusement park when I was little, and I bought it because it looked so much like our Woong-i.”

Originally, Kyung-soo and Min-soo had thrown a tantrum saying it looked like Woong-i as soon as they saw the doll, so I bought it. But they lost interest as soon as we returned from the park, and it eventually became mine.

At first, I kept it because I felt it was a waste of money, but now it had become a complete comfort object.

“Min-woong?”

“Yeah. Our Min-woong.”

Joo Seung-hyeok’s eyes suddenly turned cold.

“Why do you call that son of a bitch so sweetly?”

“Woong-i is part of our family.”

“Don’t call him more affectionately than you call me.”

Is this crazy bastard jealous of a dog?

Come to think of it, he had gotten angry because of Min-woong even the first time we slept together.

Was that kind of behavior really an act? Could someone actually act like that?

Everything felt clear when I decided to leave Joo Seung-hyeok, but facing him now, I felt confused again.

The engagement, the intercepted letter, the fact that he pretended not to know my home address despite knowing it—it all felt like a lie, and the only truth felt like the fact that he liked me.

“Let’s go to an amusement park after exams are over.”

“An amusement park?”

“I’ve never been to one.”

“Ah….”

Joo Seung-hyeok probably had no childhood memories.

As a child believed to be the offspring of a wife and her lover, he might have received material support, but he wouldn’t have been cared for with love.

He wore expensive clothes and ate delicious food every day, but there was likely no one to bring him an umbrella when it rained or take him to an amusement park on his birthday.

Even if Joo Seung-hyeok got engaged to the only daughter of Lexington Pharmaceuticals, he probably wouldn’t go to an amusement park with a partner in an arranged marriage.

“Seung-hyeok-ah, do you want to go to an amusement park?”

The words popped out impulsively before I could think deeply.

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

But the milk was already spilled. I nodded.

“I thought you were studying?”

“I don’t think I need to either. Besides, let’s go now. I suddenly really want to go.”

Today would be the last day I spent with Joo Seung-hyeok. I wanted to leave him with one last memory.

Perhaps he was just trash who mocked me while planning to marry someone from another conglomerate family.

No, that was almost certainly the case.

If only Ju Jeong-han had said it, I might have doubted it, but combining Park Geon-woo’s statement and Joo Seung-hyeok’s reaction, it was true that he was preparing for an engagement with someone else.

Even knowing that, I didn’t hate or resent Joo Seung-hyeok. I just wanted him to be happy.

What on earth was this emotion? It was my own heart, but I couldn’t understand it at all.