My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 49

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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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49.

Jin Ae-ran sighed as she watched Moon Jung-hyun speak carelessly of her younger brother as if he were a lunatic. Unfortunately, she couldn’t correct him—because he wasn’t wrong.
Had she failed in his upbringing? Overstepped during his school years? Jin Ae-ran caught herself drifting into such thoughts and cut them short.
“In any case, I’ve heard what you both have to say. Let me think it over.”
With that, Jin Ae-ran wrapped up the conversation and moved her exhausted body toward Kang Hyun’s room.
Her eldest and second son had spoken lightly of Kang Hyun’s recovery, saying he was young and would heal quickly. But the figure lying in that hospital bed didn’t look like it would recover anytime soon.
His left leg was encased in a full leg cast and elevated on a rest, while his head was wrapped in bandages. His face and exposed arms bore numerous scrapes and abrasions.
Jin Ae-ran drew in a slow breath and released it. Seeing her son like this, the fervent prayers she’d made to heaven—just let him live—seemed to fade into obscurity.
“You wretched boy! You ungrateful wretch!”
She cried out, then stumbled. Moon Jung-hyun clicked his tongue and steadied her.
“I’m sorry.”
Kang Hyun answered in a voice rough and fractured. Yet his eyes showed little sign of remorse.
What a life I’ve been given. Jin Ae-ran realized he wasn’t sorry for what he’d done at all.
“For now, for now… let’s focus on getting you better before we talk about this.”
Jin Ae-ran spoke with the face of someone whose very soul had drained away. At least she’d confirmed he was alive. The harder conversations could wait.
But it seemed that logic applied only to her.
“I’m going to have I-jin come to the hospital.”
Her son, with no patience whatsoever, was going to summon the girl here.
“Sigh…”
Jin Ae-ran exhaled without meaning to. Yes, this was just like him. What could she possibly do to talk down someone so reckless? She answered with the resignation of someone who’d already given up.
“Do as you wish.”
Not that he’d listen even if she objected.
Jin Ae-ran, drained of energy and unable to even glare properly at Kang Hyun, shuffled back to her own hospital room.

***

At that same moment, Cheon Eun-jeong received a phone call from the hospital.
“Yes? Moon Kang Hyun was in an accident and badly hurt? Yes, I know where that is.”
She hung up the phone and struggled to calm her racing heart.
“A traffic accident, just like that…”
What am I supposed to do? Her mind wouldn’t work clearly, as though panic had seized it. Her heart pounded heavily against her ribs. In that state, she failed to notice something odd—why the hospital had called her in the first place.
Moreover, a nurse with feelings for Kang Hyun had attempted to explain his condition in excessive detail, scattering medical terminology recklessly in the process, which only made her perceive his injuries as far more severe than they actually were.
The first thought that entered Cheon Eun-jeong’s mind was: ‘Has Seo I-jin heard about this yet?’ Chewing her lip anxiously, she dialed I-jin’s number.
[Yes, sister.]
But I-jin’s voice on the other end was oddly calm.
“Have you heard anything about Kang Hyun?”
[What? Heard what?]
Only then did I-jin’s voice begin to tremble with unease.
‘Damn it, she doesn’t know anything!’
Cheon Eun-jeong muttered curses and frantic exclamations under her breath, then spoke quickly.
“You’re at the workshop, right? I’m coming over there now. We’ll talk when I get there.”
She ended the call, grabbed her car keys, and rushed out of the house. She’d been in such a hurry that she hadn’t bothered to change clothes or put on makeup.

When she arrived at the workshop, I-jin, sensing something was wrong, was pacing nervously.
Cheon Eun-jeong swallowed a complaint about why she always had to be the one to handle the worst situations and stepped inside.
“Sister, what’s wrong?”
I-jin’s eyes widened. Just from looking at Cheon Eun-jeong’s appearance, she could tell something had happened.
The woman who normally carried herself immaculately from head to toe, draped in luxury goods, now stood bare-faced with glasses on, wearing an ordinary t-shirt and comfortable pants she wore around the house.
Cheon Eun-jeong inhaled and exhaled several times, struggling to find the words, before she finally managed to open her mouth.
“Don’t be alarmed, but listen—Kang Hyun was in a traffic accident.”
“What?”
I-jin’s hands visibly began to tremble.
Lee Hwan had passed away in a traffic accident less than a year ago.
Another accident, heard so soon after, would strike her with many times the shock it might give someone else.
“I just got a call from the hospital too. He’s badly hurt, but it shouldn’t be life-threatening—probably.”
Her voice wavered with uncertainty on that last part. The nurse had given her detailed information about Kang Hyun’s condition, but had said nothing to reassure her that he’d be fine.
“Badly hurt?”
Seo I-jin’s face had turned pale, and she asked with evident anxiety.
“That’s what it seems like. Let’s go anyway. I know where it is.”
…….
Seo I-jin hesitated, her lips pressing together. But the memory of how empty it had felt to let Lee Hwan slip away remained vivid enough that she finally nodded.
What if Kang Hyun was wrong? The thought itself made her recoil, but the fear of losing her chance to see his end forever proved stronger. So she left the studio with Cheon Eun-jeong.

***

Kang Hyun lay in the hospital room, idly calculating when Seo I-jin would arrive.
It was no accident that he’d given the nurse Cheon Eun-jeong’s phone number instead of Seo I-jin’s.
He’d reckoned that Cheon Eun-jeong, upon hearing he was injured, would make sure to look after Seo I-jin.
He’d also considered the shock that would hit Seo I-jin—still reeling from Lee Hwan’s death—if she heard it directly. If Cheon Eun-jeong broke the news instead, it would be gentler than a call from the hospital itself.
There was one more thing: he wanted to prevent Seo I-jin, without a car, from venturing out anxiously on public transit.
The upshot was that he’d conscripted Cheon Eun-jeong as his driver—but what of it? She was an unwitting accomplice who’d stepped into this ridiculous scheme without even knowing.
As Kang Hyun turned these thoughts over, the hospital room door slid open with a soft scrape. In that instant, all his senses sharpened to a knife’s edge.
It was unmistakably different from the presence of the many others who passed through this place.
Her breathing, her footsteps, the particular care in her movements as she opened and closed the door—Kang Hyun kept his eyes shut, attuned to every detail of her approach.
The visitor drew in a deep breath and held it. Only after a long stretch did a trembling exhalation escape—almost pitifully.
“……”
Hearing that voice, Kang Hyun knew his instinct had been right, and he felt a quiet satisfaction bloom inside.
He wanted to look as pitiful as possible to Seo I-jin. He wanted her compassion—or anything else—just so long as she stayed beside him. That’s why he kept his eyes closed. It looked more tragic that way.
He slowly opened his eyes for maximum dramatic effect.
Knowing that his appearance would read as quite critically ill to others, he scrunched his brow as if in pain. Well, it wasn’t entirely an act—he really was in pain.
“You came.”
At the hoarseness in his voice, Seo I-jin’s eyes flushed red.
“How did the accident…… No, I’m just grateful it wasn’t worse. Really.”
She’d poured all her focus into making sure nothing worse would happen to him, forgetting entirely that they’d broken up.
She’d only prayed that he’d live, that he wouldn’t be badly hurt.
Full recovery would take time, but even so, she thought it a mercy. She meant it sincerely.
“When the accident happened, all I could think about was you.”
When Kang Hyun said this in a flat tone, something stirred in Seo I-jin’s chest. The hard resolve to cut him out of her life began to dissolve.
“Will you stay with me?”
As hesitation flickered across her face, Kang Hyun pressed further.
“I think I’ll heal faster if you’re beside me.”
When Kang Hyun winced as if even shifting slightly was an ordeal, Seo I-jin finally exhaled and nodded.
“Just for today.”
Yes, today would end and become another today, and that today would end and become yet another. So it would go.
Kang Hyun smiled, keeping his true thoughts hidden—as if her decision delighted him enormously.
But then the door swung open loudly, unlike when Seo I-jin had entered. It was Cheon Eun-jeong, who’d stopped by the nurses’ station to check on his condition.
“What in the world is this! I nearly had a heart attack!”
As she burst out angrily, Kang Hyun—his eyes narrowed to slits, fixed on her face—spoke.
“Who…… are you?”
Cheon Eun-jeong stopped dead in her tracks, her indignation faltering. Her eyes wavered as she stared intently at the bandage wrapped around Kang Hyun’s head.
From his reaction, she deduced one devastating conclusion, and her expression crumpled.
“Wait—didn’t you say it was just a mild concussion? It’s not, is it. Did you…… lose your memory?”

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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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