My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 51

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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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51.

When Do Hyun-su hesitated and couldn’t answer right away, Lee Jin pressed him further.
“What did you mean by that earlier?”
Mom, I’m scared. Do Hyun-su found himself avoiding Lee Jin’s gaze without meaning to.
Since no one else was in the hospital room, Do Hyun-su had never assumed anyone would hear his words. Besides, he’d been half out of his mind trying to determine what was true.
Lee Jin was indeed fierce beyond measure.
Do Hyun-su looked at the blazing intensity in Lee Jin’s eyes and turned to Kang Hyun as if begging for help, only to be startled. There was an even more ominous fire burning there.
I’m done for. Do Hyun-su shrank his neck like a turtle caught between the two of them.
“Lee Jin.”
Kang Hyun called her name to convey that it wasn’t what she thought.
But realizing she wouldn’t get the answer she wanted from Do Hyun-su, Lee Jin turned her questioning to Kang Hyun instead.
“You tell me. What did you mean by that? You threw yourself into the car? You didn’t, right?”
Lee Jin’s voice trembled as she asked.
……
Kang Hyun pressed his lips firmly together. Her finding out about his recklessness was never part of the scenario.
Throwing himself into the car—that would be a word that touched Lee Jin’s trauma. It made sense, given that she’d lost her brother Lee Hwan to a traffic accident.
Damn it, Do Hyun-su. As Kang Hyun glared at him with murderous intensity, Do Hyun-su’s neck practically folded in on itself.

***

At that moment, in another VIP hospital room, Jin Ae-ran was conversing with Cheon Eun-jeong, who had come to visit her.
“I didn’t know your face was this thick.”
After what had happened with Kang Hyun, Jin Ae-ran thought she’d never see Cheon Eun-jeong’s face again. She never imagined the woman would learn of her hospitalization and visit so casually.
“I hear such things quite often anyway. But when someone’s hospitalized, it’s proper etiquette to visit. It’d be different if this were another hospital, but since Kang Hyun is here too, and it’s so close by.”
Jin Ae-ran let out a hollow sigh when she saw Cheon Eun-jeong today, dressed in an especially glittering finery.
Unaware that the woman had dolled herself up more elaborately to make up for yesterday’s bare-faced appearance, Jin Ae-ran found the whole thing rather excessive.
“Still, thank you.”
Yes, she was grateful. She couldn’t ignore the sincerity of bringing homemade cookies, fruit, and other gifts instead of arriving empty-handed.
After exchanging words for a while, the two rose from their seats since Jin Ae-ran’s discharge was imminent. They intended to stop by and see Kang Hyun before she left.
If that smitten fool of a son had Lee Jin in his room, she wanted to see her face once more.
To be honest, it wasn’t so much that she wanted to see Lee Jin’s face—she wanted to see what expression her son would make in front of her.
After changing into casual clothes, Jin Ae-ran went to her son’s hospital room together with Cheon Eun-jeong. But the door was ajar, and she heard something odd coming from inside.
“How could you do such a thing? Do you have nine lives or something?”
“Lee Jin, it’s not like that.”
Kang Hyun wanted nothing more than to reach Lee Jin and comfort her, but his injured body left him unable to move even an inch.
He flinched, then ran a dry hand over his face and exhaled a long breath.
“Is that what you did to keep me by your side? Did you think I’d be happy about it?”
Lee Jin spoke in a flood of heightened emotion. Kang Hyun couldn’t counter and his face contorted.
“Didn’t you think about the people left behind at all? What if something happened to you? If it did, what would the people left behind do……?”
Lee Jin took a deep breath, repeating her words several times as she struggled to control the surge of emotion rising within her.
“How would they go on living?”
Every word she spoke was right, so Kang Hyun found no room to object and could only sigh repeatedly.
Telling her that the accident had all been planned would only fan the flames of her anger.
As Kang Hyun stood there, unable to offer even a feeble word and only sighing, Jin Ae-ran watched from a slight distance. As she listened to what his lover said, she wondered why her chest felt so relieved.
When Jin Ae-ran saw her son’s face growing paler by the moment, it felt as though a long-standing weight had finally lifted.
‘Yes, he’s found his match at last.’
Lee Jin had nothing, yet she had preserved her dignity to the end.
Even back when Jin Ae-ran had refused to accept her as her son’s partner, this quality had left a deep impression on her mind.
“I’m really disappointed in you.”
Lee Jin spoke with a hardened expression and then spun around abruptly. She flinched when she saw Jin Ae-ran and Cheon Eun-jeong standing in the back.
Cheon Eun-jeong’s face showed confusion about what was happening, but there was no opportunity to explain.
Lee Jin realized she’d stayed at the hospital only because her resolve had weakened, and regret washed over her.
She gave a silent bow of respect toward Jin Ae-ran and left the room. A heavy silence fell between those who remained.
Jin Ae-ran exhaled and stepped into Kang Hyun’s hospital room.
That cunning tiger of a son surely wouldn’t have blurted out his secrets like that. With that thought, as she entered the room, she spotted Do Hyun-su looking like a corpse, shriveled up in the corner.
‘So it was him all along.’
Having sized up the situation, Jin Ae-ran took her place near Kang Hyun. She wanted to laugh and mock him for bringing this on himself, but that wasn’t appropriate for a patient.
She composed her expression deliberately and met Kang Hyun’s gaze, only to find his dark eyes already fixed on her.
“You look quite relieved, actually.”
So much for hiding it—and he’d seen right through her. Jin Ae-ran cursed silently, settling instead on a brazen smile.
“That’s nonsense.”
At her denial, Kang Hyun let out a thin, derisive laugh—the sound of air hissing from a punctured balloon.
“But here’s the thing. You’re not entirely blameless in this either.”
What was he driving at? Jin Ae-ran narrowed her eyes, trying to read his intent.
“Let’s finish the conversation we started before. Right here.”
As the atmosphere between them grew heavier, Cheon Eun-jeong caught Do Hyun-su’s eye—a silent signal to leave.
Do Hyun-su nodded gratefully, as though she’d just thrown him a lifeline.
The two of them slipped out of the hospital room quietly, careful not to interrupt the conversation between mother and son.
The door closed. The noise from the hallway faded. Jin Ae-ran’s brow furrowed—she still had no idea what he wanted to say.
“Are you going to keep objecting?”
Kang Hyun asked bluntly, as though beating around the bush had never even occurred to him. Jin Ae-ran exhaled slowly.
The answer was already decided, really. As long as her son was clearly insane, there was no other choice available to her.
“Do as you wish.”
Jin Ae-ran expected her permission would make her son delighted. Yet Kang Hyun’s face barely shifted.
“My permission doesn’t mean your work is finished.”
What? What else could there possibly be for her to do? Jin Ae-ran had never contemplated anything beyond this. She’d assumed that giving permission was generosity enough.
“You went to meet Lee Jin with a money envelope, didn’t you?”
“H-how did you know that?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
At his question, Jin Ae-ran’s jaw tightened. Right—if it was him, he would’ve gotten to the truth by any means necessary.
She didn’t think Lee Jin had told him. If she had, they never would have broken up in the first place.
“Go meet with Lee Jin. Tell her yourself that you’ve agreed to let us see each other.”
“Do I really have to go that far?”
Jin Ae-ran’s voice was colored with distaste. Though she couldn’t mount a strong objection—the money envelope was a fact—her reluctance was unmistakable.
“It’s only fair. You rushed in to interfere when it suited you, but now you won’t lift a finger? That’s hardly consistent, is it?”
A weight radiated from him—that same soft, terrible gaze returning to his eyes.
Jin Ae-ran had thought that when Lee Jin left him, saying she was disappointed, he’d escaped relatively unscathed. But now she understood: he hadn’t at all.
Her son was slowly, methodically going mad.
Jin Ae-ran—who had witnessed his madness firsthand before—let out a low groan.
The thought of approaching Lee Jin with regrets and apologies was unbearable. She could barely stomach granting permission in the first place.
As Jin Ae-ran hesitated, Kang Hyun’s mouth twisted into a lopsided smile.
“Why, shall I accompany you instead? Or would you prefer to watch your son’s leg cast shatter?”
This bastard! Jin Ae-ran clenched her lips and glared at him. She knew now that his threat wasn’t hollow.
He was the type who wouldn’t blink at breaking his own healing leg.
“Fine, fine! I’ll go meet with her!”
Jin Ae-ran shouted, utterly convinced that her son must have been her sworn enemy in a past life.

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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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