My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 53

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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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53.

After seeing the streetlamp and CCTV camera in the alley, Lee Jin had spent the past few days in a peculiar state of mind.
What’s more, Kang Hyun appeared in her dreams every night, gazing at her with those aching eyes.
Dreams are said to be manifestations of desire. Does that mean Kang Hyun lives in my desires?
Lee Jin believed that time would eventually let her forget him, but she couldn’t be certain how much time that would take.
“Your submission has been received.”
“Thank you so much. Have a good day.”
After passing the first round of the contest, she had submitted her pottery pieces for the second round at the reception desk and left.
She’d poured effort into these works, and logically she should have felt relieved and happy, yet something felt curiously unsettled.
As the wind picked up, the trees lining the street rustled, their leaves tumbling down with a soft whoosh.
She stood gazing vacantly at the golden ginkgo leaves drifting earthward, then hurried her steps toward the workshop.
Autumn had arrived in full, yet she had no energy to appreciate it, nor any desire to.
Now that she’d submitted her work for the contest, she needed to prepare to teach again like before. As she rushed toward the workshop, eager not to waste a moment, she caught sight of a figure at the door and stopped abruptly.
Kang Hyun sat in a wheelchair at the workshop entrance.
‘He’s been waiting this whole time?’
The realization that he, an injured patient, had been guarding the door in the cold wind struck her forcefully, and she exhaled sharply.
Anger flared when she looked at his face, but seeing his damaged leg and the wheelchair, she couldn’t simply turn away and ignore him.
“What are you doing here?”
Lee Jin asked, and he answered with casual composure.
“If I’d called first, you’d have just told me to go away.”
“Ugh.”
She glared at him for using such cunning tactics, then opened the workshop door.
She went inside, set down her bag, switched on the lights, and opened the windows—moving busily about—but he didn’t follow her in.
When she stepped back out to the entrance, Kang Hyun spoke.
“You can’t just abandon a patient.”
Only then did Lee Jin realize how difficult it would be for him to enter the workshop alone from his wheelchair.
There were no stairs or raised edges, but managing the chair on his own when he wasn’t accustomed to it would clearly be too much.
“You could always just turn around and leave.”
When Lee Jin offered an artificial smile, Kang Hyun smiled back at her and replied.
“After waiting all this time? That’s not going to happen.”
He began rolling the wheelchair toward the entrance but hesitated. Seeing this, Lee Jin let out a long sigh and reluctantly walked over, grasping the handles from behind and pushing him inside.
At that moment, Kang Hyun’s lips curved into a subtle arc, but Lee Jin stood behind him and saw nothing.
As she pushed the wheelchair, she guided him toward the table. Kang Hyun looked around, surveying the workshop he hadn’t seen in some time.
“There are a lot of new pieces here.”
He asked while observing the various pottery pieces densely arranged on the shelves.
“I made them while preparing work for the contest.”
She’d removed those with flaws or poor condition, so the shelves were still full of pieces.
“Our Lee Jin is so diligent, isn’t she?”
When Kang Hyun offered this compliment with practiced smoothness, she flinched. She had no idea how to handle this shameless familiarity—as if nothing had changed.
“Stop putting on airs. If you have something to say, just say it.”
She spoke with a stern expression, and Kang Hyun chuckled softly.
Had his mother said nothing to him? He must surely know that I refused him even when she gave permission.
Yet now his words and manner were relaxed and glib—as if he knew nothing about it all.
“Something to say, you mean…”
He murmured quietly, then looked directly into Lee Jin’s eyes and spoke.
“I came because I wanted to see you. Without seeing you, I felt like I’d die.”
“What? What do you…”
Lee Jin hadn’t expected him to lay bare his feelings so honestly, and she stammered in confusion.
“I felt like I couldn’t survive this day without seeing you.”
His words struck at her heart with unexpected force—there was no defense against such directness. Yet Lee Jin steeled her gaze, fixing him with a hard stare.
She was suddenly overcome with anger at how he was trying to breeze past what he had done.
“Words like that won’t work. If you really felt like you’d die without seeing me, would you actually throw yourself in front of a car? If you’d died, you’d never have seen me again anyway.”
“You’re right. I was an idiot.”
His swift acknowledgment and admission were somewhat infuriating, yet they held a power to soften her anger.
Of course, it wasn’t enough to bring her to a complete calm, so Lee Jin continued her grievance a bit longer.
“What were you even thinking doing something like that? What if something had gone wrong?”
Once she started, the words pent up inside came pouring out all at once.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“What if you’d been hurt much worse? What if something had gone wrong and you couldn’t get up again?”
“You’re right, you’re right. I’ve committed an unforgivable sin.”
“Are you going to keep talking about dying?”
Lee Jin’s voice rose, and Kang Hyun responded with a smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Ah, so that’s forbidden language. Our Lee Jin wants me to live and stay with her for the rest of our lives, doesn’t she?”
“What?”
Kang Hyun had become strange. It wasn’t that he’d been entirely normal before, but never to this extent.
Lee Jin was so taken aback that she could only exhale in frustration. There was wisdom in the old saying about not being able to spit in the face of a smiling man—that was exactly where she found herself now.
She realized that continuing to express her anger would be pointless. There was no impact to her words, so what difference would more talk make?
After exhaling a long breath, she spoke through gritted teeth.
“I don’t want to fight. Let’s stop now.”
“We were fighting? I’ve been confessing my love this whole time.”
…….
Lee Jin was rendered speechless by his shamelessness. What on earth had happened in the time they’d been apart? He’d never been like this before.
As if reading her thoughts, Kang Hyun shrugged and spoke.
“I’m going to be like this from now on.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Sensing an inexplicable foreboding, Lee Jin narrowed her eyes slightly as she asked.
“It means I won’t be pushed back just because you push. I don’t know about other things, but when it comes to our relationship, I’m done with consideration.”
When Lee Jin had said they should break up, Kang Hyun had respected her position enough to wait.
Even now, he understood why she was pushing him away. But that didn’t mean he was willing to accept all of it.
“I threw myself in front of a car knowing I might die. Do you really think I’d give up on you?”
His eyes—raw and feral—fixed on her. That gaze seemed to slowly devour her from her toes upward.
Just as it had on that night drunk on pleasure.
At the sight of those eyes, Lee Jin’s memory flickered back to a certain moment when she’d been gasping at the height of rapture.
The reason such a lewd memory surfaced was because his current gaze bore a striking resemblance to the one he’d worn when he’d wanted to possess everything about her, relentless in his intensity.
The memory sent a tingling sensation crawling up her spine.
‘No, stop thinking about it.’
Lee Jin forced herself to cast off the thought.
“So… no matter what I say, you’re just going to force your way through?”
“Not force my way through.”
He seemed to pause, choosing his words carefully, then smiled and continued.
“Right. This is seduction. I’ll do my best to seduce you until your heart turns back to me.”
I told you. He’s strange. Not just strange—Kang Hyun is profoundly strange.
Lee Jin found herself at a loss for words, watching him declare his intention to seduce her so brazenly.
Could she possibly withstand Kang Hyun’s relentless flirting? As that question took shape, her pupils wavered.
“Why… why have you become so shameless?”
As Lee Jin breathed out in exasperation, asking repeatedly, Kang Hyun answered.
“I came back from the dead. Do you think I’d have any reservations about you?”
He knew well that she was sensitive to the word ‘death.’ He also knew she was very angry about his actions.
But what had already happened could not be undone. So he would simply make good use of it.
He’d come back from death itself—there was nothing stopping him from charging forward like a bulldozer.
Watching Lee Jin sputter helplessly like a broken machine, Kang Hyun let out a soft laugh.
By his measure, he hadn’t even done anything significant yet, and already she was thoroughly flustered. The outlook didn’t seem so bad.
So he wouldn’t stop. He’d shake her to her core. Since he was going to be a storm, he might as well be a massive tornado that swallowed her whole, not some minor squall.
Kang Hyun concealed these thoughts beneath a smile as he spoke.
“I wish Lee Jin were like a poorly constructed building.”
Frowning as she tried to parse the meaning, she asked.
“What… what do you mean by that?”
“It means I want you to sway whenever I push.”
At those words, red warning lights flashed on in Lee Jin’s mind.

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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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