My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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43.

Her tone was so natural, as casual as everyday conversation, that Kang Hyeon was all the more bewildered.
“What? What are you talking about?”
He questioned her as if doubting his own ears, but Lee Jin offered the same answer with an untroubled expression.
“Let’s break up.”
Kang Hyeon narrowed his eyes and straightened his posture on the sofa, where he’d been lounging loosely.
“What did you hear? Did my mother say something to you?”
He poured out the questions without fully containing the turmoil of his emotions.
“No. It’s not because I heard something from someone—it’s a decision I made after thinking it through myself.”
Her pale, delicate face set with stubborn resolve.
When Lee Jin looked like this, it meant she’d steeled herself to not back down.
“That’s not good enough. Lee Jin, think about it again.”
Kang Hyeon spoke in a low, grinding voice. Seeing his expression twist with anguish, Lee Jin’s own heart wasn’t at ease.
But she told herself this was a hurdle she had to cross, and she hardened her resolve.
“We couldn’t stay together long anyway. I want to end it before our hearts grow any deeper.”
“We couldn’t stay together long? Why do you get to decide that on your own?”
“Isn’t it you who’s running away from reality? What are we supposed to do together? Get married?”
The moment the words left her lips, Lee Jin flinched seeing the shift in Kang Hyeon’s gaze. His eyes had darkened with something she sensed she shouldn’t have touched.
“Yes. If you wanted it, I’d marry you. That’s why I asked you to date me. You think I treated you lightly?”
Kang Hyeon, speaking like this, resembled a wounded beast. Lee Jin swallowed the sigh building in her throat as she watched the raw turmoil flickering in his eyes.
She hadn’t known he saw her that way. But even if he did, nothing would change, would it?
“I want a marriage that has everyone’s blessing. Living well with just the two of us? I don’t want that. You can’t give me what I want, can you?”
She spoke more harshly on purpose. If she showed any hesitation now, they’d both suffer more.
“Lee Jin…”
Kang Hyeon called her name pleadingly. Family recognition and blessing—that was his weakness.
Even he, who had controlled everything thoroughly by his will, could not have his way with this fatal vulnerability.
“So don’t hold me back. Don’t contact me anymore after this.”
She hadn’t known she could speak with such coldness. But this was the only way to sever the tie.
In a sense, it was a desperate struggle to cut off her own lingering affection by speaking such harsh words.
Lee Jin stood and took a step, then stopped.
“Find a good person and live happily.”
This came from her heart. A sincerity deeper than all her harsh words.
……
Kang Hyeon said nothing. Lee Jin lacked the courage to meet his gaze, so she quickened her pace and hurried out of Cheongjuk-je as if fleeing.
In the space she left behind, only a suffocating silence remained. Kang Hyeon stared down at his fist, not knowing when he’d clenched it so hard. The tendon bulging along his forearm looked ready to snap.
He’d had to summon every ounce of reason just to keep from reaching for her as she left.
If he’d caught her, he would have locked her in Cheongjuk-je and never let her leave again.
A twisted desire surged within him. It was that base urge to break a perfectly good bird’s wings just to cage it and keep it.
He drew a long breath through gritted teeth, barely holding himself together. She said he couldn’t give her what she wanted. Don’t contact her anymore. Find a good person and live happily?
Ha, ha, ha……
Kang Hyeon let out a dry, brittle laugh.
There’s no one like you in this world.
I can’t possibly live well without you.
Not knowing that, how could you speak such cruel words in the name of my happiness?
Kang Hyeon continued his thoughts with eyes gone dark and hollow.
If what you want is your family’s recognition and blessing, then I’ll give you exactly that. If you demanded more—even my life—I could give it. Family recognition and blessing is nothing.
The light in his eyes, lost in thought, was not that of someone accepting a parting.

***

A few days later, Kang Hyeon attended the Family Gathering held once every two months.
Jin Ae-ran didn’t emerge from her room that day, claiming she wasn’t feeling well.
Since such behavior from her was rare, the rest of the household exchanged glances, trying to discern what might be wrong.
Before their grandfather Mun Hee-chan came out for the meal, the brothers gathered in the living room to chat.
“Is the reason Mother’s like that because of you?”
Mun Jeong-hyeon, the second brother, asked while eyeing Kang Hyeon, who was emanating an oddly dark aura.
Yeah.
He answered immediately, but the response was so terse that Mun Jeong-hyeon gleaned nothing useful from it and furrowed his brow. His second sister-in-law, Kang Sa-ra, who had been watching him with interest, jumped in.
“It’s a woman, isn’t it? The young master has someone he wants, but Mother doesn’t approve.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When Kang Hyeon admitted it readily, Kang Sa-ra gasped in surprise as if she couldn’t believe she’d guessed correctly, covering her mouth with her hand.
Then Mun Seong-hyeon, who had been reading the newspaper, looked up and asked.
“You didn’t mention you were seeing someone.”
“If I had, would you have supported the person I want?”
Dark energy radiated from Kang Hyeon as he asked this.
“This boy has completely lost his way.”
Mun Jeong-hyeon clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
By then, everyone felt the gravity of the situation and stopped what they were doing, fixing their eyes on Kang Hyeon.
“A young lady who could capture the young master’s heart to that degree? I’m curious to know who she is.”
Park Eun-ju, the eldest sister-in-law, spoke with a gentle smile. At that, everyone turned to Kang Hyeon with an expression of burning curiosity.
He was the wiliest tiger in the Mun family, so rather than spilling everything about Lee Jin, he simply scoffed at them.
“If I tell you everything, you’ll take my side, won’t you?”
It was a remarkably bold question. The eldest brother was twelve years his senior, the second brother eight years older, and the sisters-in-law were all of a similar age—people who should have been difficult for Kang Hyeon to address as equals. Yet he behaved as if he held the upper hand.
“The way you put it, it seems you’re quite serious about this.”
“Exactly.”
Everyone looked at him with fresh eyes. Until now, he had never caused a family disturbance over a woman, not even once.
But twisted as he was, when Kang Hyeon didn’t hear the answer he wanted, he smirked.
“You all pretend to be on my side, but none of you will actually back me up, will you?”
Mun Jeong-hyeon responded to that.
“That’s not it. Honestly, Mother’s standards are too harsh. You’re not going to marry Mother—you’re going to marry someone you love.”
“That’s right. If she has no serious character flaws and is a good woman, there’s no reason to object.”
Kang Sa-ra chimed in agreement with her husband’s words. They had both experienced opposition before their marriage.
When Mun Jeong-hyeon was of marriageable age, Jin Ae-ran had been far more demanding than she was now. So she initially objected, but eventually lowered her standards and accepted Kang Sa-ra.
Even though Kang Sa-ra’s family was quite well-off, she hadn’t met Jin Ae-ran’s exacting eye.
Now Jin Ae-ran and Kang Sa-ra got along so well that they laughed and chatted together like old friends, but that was entirely because Kang Sa-ra worked hard to make a good impression on her mother-in-law.
When it seemed that the two wouldn’t apply the same standards to Lee Jin as Jin Ae-ran did, Kang Hyeon’s sharp demeanor softened somewhat.
He stared intently at Mun Seong-hyeon’s face as if determined to extract a definite answer from the eldest brother as well. In response, Mun Seong-hyeon sighed and spoke.
“I feel the same way. What kind of times are we living in? I can’t push you down that path into a loveless marriage.”
“Exactly. Even if the young master married for conditions and strategic advantage, how much would that truly benefit the Munseong Group?”
Park Eun-ju also voiced her agreement with her husband’s words. They had gone through blind dates and an arranged marriage under Jin Ae-ran’s direction, but were fortunate enough to fall in love. Of course, there had been many obstacles before they confirmed that love.
Only after hearing the response from the eldest brother and his wife did Kang Hyeon finally curl his lips and speak.
“Good. I take it you all agree then.”
“Even if we all agree, Mother is coming at this so stubbornly that it’ll be tough. Do you have a plan?”
At Mun Jeong-hyeon’s worried question, Kang Hyeon answered with a cryptic expression.
“I’ll have to find one.”
Everyone who heard this opened their eyes wide. The youngest, who should have been the most spoiled, had shown his stubbornness and eccentric behavior more than once before his mother.
He had beaten the tough and headstrong Jin Ae-ran repeatedly.
They say no parent can outmatch their child, but looking at it, it seemed less that Jin Ae-ran was indulging him and more that Kang Hyeon consistently wore her down.
Mun Seong-hyeon, worried about the turmoil that might engulf the household, urged him.
“Please, let’s do this the normal way.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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