Chapter 79 – ​The ​Price ​of ​a ​Misjudgment

He ​was ​anxious. ​Jeong Si-jun crossed the ​hospital ​corridor with quick ​strides.

He had barely ​managed ​to ​buy ​some ​time ​by kneeling on ​the ​floor ​and even shedding ​tears. The time granted ​to him ​was one ​month.

To be ​precise, it ​was ​30 ​days, so he ​had to ​somehow persuade Yoon Ki-hyun—who ​was demanding the termination ​of their contract—before the ​21st of ​next ​month.

Since Ki-hyun had requested the termination ​because he could no ​longer ​provide ​guiding ​due ​to his treatment, ​Si-jun was ​in ​a position where ​he ​had to at least get ​a firm ​commitment ​that Ki-hyun would ​continue ​to ​meet ​him, ​even if ​the ​contract ended.

If ​he couldn’t change Yoon Ki-hyun’s mind…

‘Let’s not ​think about it.’

Jeong ​Si-jun decided not ​to entertain “what ifs.” ​He decided ​to act as ​if ​there were no ​such things as ​”what stolen contentifs” ​in ​his [Read on Read BL Novels]style="font-size:0;color:transparent;display:inline;">visit our sitelife ​from ​now on. ​He ​intended to ​keep ​Yoon ​Ki-hyun by his ​side ​no matter ​what.

The ​problem ​was ​that he felt completely lost as to how to go about it.

Standing before the door to Yoon Ki-hyun’s hospital room, he knocked cautiously. He had already been told it was fine to come before he left, but he felt the need to ask for permission.

As he waited for the answer to enter, he heard movement inside, and shortly after, the door opened. To his delight, a grumpy-looking Yoon Ki-hyun opened the door himself.

“You could have just come in on your own.”

“I didn’t get an answer telling me to come in. If you had just told me to enter, I would have opened the door and walked in.”

“Do you know how far it is from the door to the bed? I don’t want to be the nuisance shouting in a hospital.”

Despite the grumbling, Yoon Ki-hyun gave a small nod. It was a signal to enter. Jeong Si-jun stepped into the room with a bright smile.

‘He’s still not speaking informally to me.’

Though Ki-hyun had worn a look of disgust because Si-jun was being subtly annoying, he didn’t speak comfortably in banmal like he used to. If only he could turn back time, he would have gone back to that day, knelt on the floor, and begged him to date him.

It was simply a shame that while he had the power to beat Kaijus to death, he lacked the power to turn back time.

“How are you feeling?”

“Just so-so.”

Ever since learning about Yoon Ki-hyun’s diagnosis, Jeong Si-jun had been deeply troubled. The fact that it was a disease for which information was not easily found online and that the treatment prognosis was not optimistic kept him awake every night.

“I’ve prepared something.”

As he spoke, Jeong Si-jun placed the laptop he had been carrying under his arm onto the table.

As the price for agreeing to the condition of not avoiding Jeong Si-jun’s contact [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copy -->for a month, Yoon Ki-hyun had to listen to Si-jun’s nonsense at all hours of the day.

“I made the materials all by myself. I’m actually really bad at this kind of thing.”

Ki-hyun couldn’t even guess what kind of materials he had created. After fiddling with the laptop, Jeong Si-jun turned the screen so it was clearly visible and cleared his throat.

“From this point on, would it be alright if I gave a… presentation?”

“…Will you not do it if I tell you not to?”

“No. I’m going to do it.”

“Then why even ask?”

“I just wanted to take Ki-hyun’s opinion into account as much as possible… Should I just not do it?”

Seeing the face that was belatedly gauging his reaction, Ki-hyun felt the bread [unauthorized Read on Read BL Novelscopy]unauthorized copyunauthorized copy -->he had eaten earlier strangely get stuck in his chest. That bread had been bought by Jeong Si-jun, certainly.

It felt a bit ridiculous that he, despite having made up his mind to die, still felt hungry and ate meals and snacks.

‘…’

Yoon Ki-hyun gave a curt nod of his chin with a bored expression. In his heart, he wanted to ignore and brush off Jeong Si-jun’s contact, but he had already failed. This man was not an ordinary pest.

He should have realized it when Si-jun knelt on the floor, cried, and stubbornly suggested the absurd idea of seeing him for a month. Jeong Si-jun was a crazy man, like a leech.

Even if he ignored him with an uninterested face, Si-jun continued to annoy him with a non-stop stream of nonsense.

After being tormented for a few days, Yoon Ki-hyun decided it was better to just listen to the nonsense and give moderate reactions. He had learned through experience that ignoring him only increased the amount of time he had to spend dealing with Jeong Si-jun.

The material that Jeong Si-jun had made himself was none other than a PPT. The topic written on a format typically used for lectures or presentations at a company was appalling.

[Jeong Si-jun: Who is He?]

Above a selfie of Jeong Si-jun was a title that looked like something from an investigative exposé program. He had diligently applied border effects, but it was immediately obvious that the readability was terrible.

“Thinking about it, I’ve only pushed to date you, but I’ve never properly introduced myself in a formal setting.”

“…”

“It was wrong from the start. I reflected deeply while making these materials.”

“…”

“Now, please listen carefully.”

Jeong Si-jun cleared his throat and tapped the laptop keypad. With a flashy transition effect, the slide changed, and text that filled the screen appeared.

“As you know, my name is Jeong Si-jun. I am twenty-five years old.”

As he listened quietly to Jeong Si-jun’s profile, Yoon Ki-hyun suddenly wondered.

It was a fundamental question of why he had to be sitting through this. Regardless of Ki-hyun’s confusion, Jeong Si-jun’s briefing continued.

“According to the results of the physical exam I had a few days ago, my height is 187cm, my blood type is B…”

“…”

“The thing I’m most confident in is spending money.”

“Ha.”

Yoon Ki-hyun let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity. He had wondered what kind of nonsense he would spout after going to the trouble of making such a thing, and it turned out to be only about money.

“It might sound funny, but it’s the truth. Look at the next page.”

As Jeong Si-jun flipped the slide, an effect of a paper airplane flying in appeared. Then, various images popped up across the screen.

“This is my bank balance, which I wouldn’t mind withdrawing in cash right now.”

Where Jeong Si-jun pointed with his index finger was a certificate of deposit balance issued by a bank. Before he could even be shocked by the extraordinary figures, an image resembling a national map flew in like a bomb, with dots scattered across it.

“This is a map of the buildings I own in my name.”

Just by glancing at the locations, it was clear they were all in areas where land prices were brutal.

“Honestly, I’ve made many mistakes in what I said to you, Yoon Ki-hyun, and I’ve only done pathetic things.”

He knew that Yoon Ki-hyun felt a sense of inferiority regarding financial matters. However, money was the only thing he had to offer.

“So, use me.”

Jeong Si-jun spoke while looking directly into the eyes of the bewildered Yoon Ki-hyun.

“As you can see, I’m just a brat who has nothing but money. I can give everything to the person I like. No matter how much it is, I’m confident that if you meet me, you’ll at least never have to worry about money.”

Yoon Ki-hyun blinked slowly at the confession, which might have moved him if he had heard it a bit sooner.

“I really want to be used. By you, Yoon Ki-hyun.”

After reciting his solemn resolve while maintaining eye contact, Jeong Si-jun flipped the slide. Just as Ki-hyun swallowed hard, fearing what other content might be written…

[Thank You.]

Yoon Ki-hyun ended up laughing at the five words written in a large, plain font.

‘What kind of…’

When Jeong Si-jun’s unexpected presentation ended, he felt more absurd than angry.

It seemed that the shallow inferiority and self-consciousness that had been eating away at him were unable to hold their ground in the face of Jeong Si-jun’s slightly derailed behavior.

Staring at the five words filling the screen, Yoon Ki-hyun slowly raised his head. Jeong Si-jun, who had been standing before him to present, seemed to be waiting for his impression.

“…Is it over?”

“Yes.”

Including the exposé-style title and the page filled only with “Thank You,” it was a PPT of barely four pages.

‘It’s a bit surprising that after fighting with the Esper Head of Department to get three weeks of leave, the best he could do was make something like that.’

Jeong Si-jun was currently on leave. If he weren’t, a man whose body never had a day of rest from raiding gates every day wouldn’[stolen content]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content];t be able to camp out in a hospital.

It was said that when Jeong Si-jun first requested leave, the Esper Head of Department was perplexed. This was because the frequency of gate occurrences had increased significantly.

‘When I got pissed and told them I’d just quit, that’s when they told me to take about three weeks off. Honestly, quitting would be better for me too, but…’

Jeong Si-jun shrugged, his voice trailing off.

‘I’m still debating because I think a guy with a job is better for seducing someone than a jobless guy.’

In the first place, he hadn’t expected a lip-service sense of duty to protect citizens from gates from a guy like Jeong Si-jun.

It was just absurd.

He could clearly imagine how the Center Director and various superiors would react if Jeong Si-jun quit the center.

However, it was simply ridiculous that the man himself treated the center as a mere cover job to avoid [stolen content]style="font-size:0;position:absolute;left:-9999px;">[[visit our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]being looked down upon when hitting on someone.

‘A Jeong Si-jun who isn’t an Esper?’

Perhaps because he had seen him being carried in wearing a combat suit from their first meeting, it was hard to imagine a version of Jeong Si-jun who wasn’t an Esper.

“How was my presentation?”

Jeong Si-jun looked at Yoon Ki-hyun, who had fallen silent in thought. He was curious about what impression his hard-prepared presentation had left on him.

“How was it…?”

Yoon Ki-hyun trailed off for a moment and then nodded.

Was it a nod of affirmation?

Just as Jeong Si-jun was secretly hoping…

“Yeah, well…”

It seemed he couldn’t bring himself to give the empty compliment that it was good.

Ah, as expected. A few pages of such shoddy materials weren’t enough.

Jeong Si-jun quietly closed the laptop.