To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 64

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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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Chapter 64
The sight of it lying there, solitary and stark, seized Kwon Yeol’s breath in an instant.
With fingers gone cold, he touched it gently before suddenly rushing toward the Dressing Room like a man possessed.
Nothing had changed.
Hee-jo’s clothes, scarves, bags, and accessories all remained in their usual places, meticulously organized.
He forcibly suppressed the anxious hammering of his heart.
…She must have simply forgotten to take it.
With everything she had going on, it was possible to overlook such things.
Even as he reassured himself with these thoughts, his feet were already moving urgently toward the Study Room.
He was aware of how absurd he looked, like a child experiencing separation anxiety, yet the blackened, burning chaos within him refused to be controlled.
Click.
As he opened the Study Room door, instead of Hee-jo’s characteristic subtle fragrance, a cool chill greeted him.
“….”
Kwon Yeol swallowed hard, his eyes trembling as they swept across the room.
The Study Room remained orderly as always.
The laptop on the desk, the pencil holder with several pens, the tray with the fountain pen—everything in place.
And in the corner, a document envelope.
The moment he spotted it, Kwon Yeol’s heart stopped completely.
An instinct flashed through his mind—he should not open this.
But his body, beyond his control, moved of its own accord.
With trembling fingers, he opened the envelope and unfolded what lay inside.
Kwon Yeol exhaled the breath he’d been holding like a scream.
“…Ah.”
[Divorce Registration Form]
Beside it, written in Yoon Hee-jo’s neat and elegant hand, was her name.
Cleanly. Decisively.
Kwon Yeol tensed his hand to crumple it immediately, but upon discovering the contents of the next page, he froze entirely.
His dark eyes widened as if they might burst.
[To Kwon Yeol,
Though the contracted period still has time remaining, circumstances have arisen that require us to end this relationship sooner.
First, the project you’ve undertaken shows signs of concluding successfully.
On this business trip, you will certainly have secured the results you desired.
Once that is confirmed, I’ve heard that the long-cherished aspiration you’ve yearned for will finally be realized. So it seems my role ends here.]
Thick veins bulged across the back of Kwon Yeol’s hand as he gripped the paper.
Each letter was a blade slicing through his heart.
[Second, because I no longer have the confidence to endure.
I thought I could see this through to the end, but it seems I was mistaken.
Breaking my promise and changing my heart is entirely my fault, so I will not accept the alimony we agreed upon.
I sincerely apologize for all the losses and damages my decision will cause you.
But since this decision comes from my inability to remain by your side any longer, I hope… you can understand.]
He had to stop here.
If he didn’t, Kwon Yeol sensed with terrible clarity that the carefully constructed world he had built would crumble into ruins.
Yet his gaze, already accustomed to Hee-jo, traced across the neat handwriting of its own accord, beyond his control.
[It would be a lie to say I didn’t feel the absence of my brother Hee-jae, but thanks to him, I’ve been able to endure and smile until today.
My brother has already been more than generous to me.
So now I can shed all the guilt and sense of obligation, and move forward freely.
Though I’m sure my brother would do well even without me saying this.
I was happy because of my brother.
Thank you so much for being entirely on my side, for becoming my only family.
My brother gave me so much, yet all I can offer in return is this.
I hope my brother finds his own happiness going forward.
I wish for you to laugh often, to love someone, and to live a life that shines like that.
Please be happy.
Forget about me, and free yourself from the shadow of my brother Hee-jae.
This is all I ask for.
-To my brother’s friend who cherished me and became my family, from Hee-jo.]
To my brother’s friend.
That was how Hee-jo defined and concluded her relationship with him.
Kwon Yeol, frozen solid, couldn’t even breathe properly.
The next page contained a brief notice that everything would be handled through her lawyer.
The paper crumpled pathetically in the grip of his hand wearing the wedding ring.
While he had been preparing to draw closer to Hee-jo, she had been preparing to leave.
The moment he realized this was love, Yoon Hee-jo had drawn a line and disappeared.
“Don’t look back. I hope you achieve everything you want, brother. Eat delicious things, sleep well… just live well and come back.”
Was that her final farewell left for me?
“Come to think of it, I’ve received so much from you, brother.”
Hee-jo had smiled with a lightness that seemed unburdened.
“Thank you, brother. For everything, from beginning to end.”
I was the fool who just laughed, not knowing those were her final words to me.
A low groan escaped from Kwon Yeol over the crumpled paper.
“…I can’t.”
Kwon Yeol muttered with unfocused eyes.
“…I can’t let you go like this. Never.”
His eyes turned cold and sharp as he fingered Hee-jo’s wedding ring kept in his pocket.
I won’t let you go, Hee-jo.
Even if you’ve set your heart on someone else, I don’t care.
Even if the rumors are true and you have more than a casual relationship with Seung-won, or—
Even if you’re carrying another man’s child.
I still intend to keep you by my side.
Because I cannot breathe without her.
* * *
Kwon Yeol immediately set out to find where Hee-jo had gone.
The first place he rushed to—the Transmission Hall—had its doors firmly shut.
He had assumed that if Hee-jo had left, she would naturally have gone with her master.
Yet a faint, lingering hope that some small trace might remain drew him to this place.
The manager told him they had begun preparing to close the facility weeks ago.
The day before her business trip, Hee-jo had even stepped down from her Vice President Position.
Like an idiot, I hadn’t even known that.
When exactly had she made the decision to leave?
With eyes grown cold and sharp, Kwon Yeol sought out the Study Room of Chairman Beom Hun-young, located deep within Jeoksanwon.
Creak—!
Kwon Yeol pushed the Study Room door open without hesitation.
Chairman Beom Hun-young, who had been smoking a long pipe, and Seok Ki-young, who had been explaining something while showing documents, both turned their heads simultaneously.
“…Kwon Yeol? What are you doing here? It hasn’t even been a week.”
“You’ve returned early, Executive Director.”
“Bursting into your grandfather’s Study Room in the dead of night without a sound—where did you learn such manners? You weren’t like this even as a child.”
Chairman Beom Hun-young drew deeply on his long pipe and exhaled the smoke.
“The business trip results—I thought you’d be gone for over a week, but seeing you back so soon, it seems to have gone well. Or perhaps not.”
“The contract has been concluded.”
At those words, both Chairman Beom Hun-young and Seok Ki-young lifted their heads simultaneously.
“…That quickly?”
“The negotiations with Metro Fund concluded as originally planned. We also secured favorable terms regarding the equity participation issue that they had been dragging out with talk of owner risk.”
Seok Ki-young let out a small exclamation, his mouth opening slightly without his realizing it.
“Smart City has now entered the final trajectory toward holding company status. It means the completion of the long-cherished project you so desired is within reach.”
Kwon Yeol delivered his report with the cold precision of a machine devoid of emotion.
It was a perfect achievement born from five days of grueling, relentless effort.
Satisfaction settled into Chairman Beom Hun-young’s eyes.
“To bring those difficult men to their knees in merely five days… Yes, now you’ve surpassed not only your father but me as well.”
“I didn’t rush here to receive praise.”
Kwon Yeol’s voice scraped harshly, as though he had no energy left for courtesy.
In his sharp gaze burned a desperate, gnawing anxiety.
“Where is Hee-jo?”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“I’m asking where Hee-jo is.”
“Why would you look for her with me?”
Chairman Beom tapped ash from his cigarette and spoke as usual.
“In this household, you’re the only one who takes interest in that girl.”
“Where did you send her?”
“You think I sent her? That girl would have had more than enough reason to disappear on her own, without needing my hand.”
…
“I know you’ve been through hell these past five days, but do you know what that girl said to me last?”
Even Hwan-hee fell silent as Chairman Beom’s eyes grew distant and heavy.
His voice dropped low and grave in a way that was unlike him, piercing Kwon Yeol’s heart with surgical precision.
“She made a request of me. She asked me to stop you, should you ever come looking for her.”

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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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