I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 69

Hyunjin’s descent into hell was proceeding smoothly, Dongsoo reported to Mujin.

“He’s unable to eat properly?”

“Yes, right now he’s barely eating enough to survive.”

Mujin had thought that Hyunjin would last for a long time, letting him torment him as much as he wanted, but it turned out he was weaker than he appeared. Mujin chuckled as he looked at a recent photo of Hyunjin. His skinny frame and the venom shining out of his eyes reminded Mujin of his past.

His past wasn’t pleasant, but it had made him the man he was today. He threw the photo down on the table and asked.

“And Jaewoo?”

“It seems like he’s been wandering around some different places lately, most likely because we’ve banned him from this building.”

“Where’s he been going?”

“They say he’s been hanging out around the Yoram Construction company.”

“Yoram Construction?”

The first thing they’d done after kicking Jaewoo out the other day was block his access to the apartment. If he could come and go as he pleased, he wouldn’t feel a mounting sense of urgency. He wanted to force Jaewoo into painful situations in order to encourage his desperation, so that he’d become willing to accept things that he wouldn’t have before. This was something Mujin had done a lot in the past. But suddenly Jaewoo’s behavior had changed.

Instantly, Jiheon of Yoram Construction popped into his mind. Before, he’d approached Jaewoo in a strange manner. It was possible that Jaewoo was trying to establish contact with him now.

“Look into this more.”

“Yes sir!”

Tap tap. Mujin tapped his fingers on the table. Things weren’t going as he’d planned. Why was Jaewoo seeking out Jiheon?

‘The answer is obvious.’

To ask for help. So, would Jiheon help Jaewoo? If he did, what would he expect in return?

‘It’s probably not money.’

Mujin felt a strange sense of unease. He clicked his tongue and stood up. He would just have to check for himself.

Bzzzzt.

The cell phone vibrated on the table. The buzzing of the phone continued on annoyingly, but Jiheon didn’t even pay attention to it, quietly flipping through the documents in his hands.

“Good, everything is going as expected.”

Only after reading through the documents to the end did Jiheon look at his phone. On the screen, the name ‘Jaewoo’ was written in clear letters.

Jaewoo hadn’t been idle while Hyunjin was suffering. As soon as Jaewoo had realized that Mujin wasn’t going to help him, he’d started contacting Jiheon.

He’d probably reached out thinking that he was grasping at straws, especially when Jiheon didn’t answer the phone. He’d entered the company headquarters and ignored Jaewoo’s presence, even though he knew that he was waiting near the entrance.

He needed Jaewoo to feel even more desperate. That way, he’d be able to recall the memories that had been forgotten. He didn’t care about what Hyunjin was going through in the meantime.

‘He won’t die, right?’

That was it, then. There was only one thing Jiheon cared about.

‘Think of me.’

Anything that got in the way of that needed to be removed. Things like Hyunjin, or Mujin.

After a while, the cell phone stopped buzzing.

He hadn’t answer the phone. Jaewoo let out a deep sigh and moved away from the entrance to the building where he had been waiting the entire time. He’d thought that Jiheon would need to go to the office at least once, but he hadn’t seen him at all.

‘Can a vice president really not come to the office?’

Jaewoo gnawed at his fingernails. He was developing new habits due to nervousness. Why was being helpless so painful? His head was throbbing. Even headache medicine wasn’t enough to help these days.

‘Hyunjin is suffering more.’

A drop of blood welled up at the tip of his nail where he’d bitten it, but Jaewoo couldn’t seem to stop. He looked at his phone again, nervously. He had to go home – it was almost time for the children to return.

After Hyunjin had left, the children had become depressed. It felt like if Jaewoo abandoned them as well, the problem would become even worse, so Jaewoo had started spending as much time with the kids as possible. Getting Hyunjin out of his situation was urgent, but the kids were also important.

Hyeonu tried to act grown-up in order to somehow fill the void left by Hyunjin’s disappearance, and Woohee had stopped laughing as much. In the midst of these sad changes, Jaewoo was struggling to support them. He prepared meals, helped with their homework, and comforted them however he could.

Jaewoo removed his hand from his mouth and stood up from his crouch. His long-stiff body swayed. He’d been eating the meals he cooked, but his appetite had disappeared, and his body was becoming increasingly thin. Of course his physical strength had deteriorated as well.

As he was stumbling away, his cell phone suddenly rang.

‘Is it the kids?’

When he looked at his phone, he spotted a familiar name.

[Yoon Jiheon]

Jaewoo immediately answered the phone.

“Help, please help.”

Jaewoo was afraid that Jiheon would hang up again, so he quickly blurted out what he wanted to say. Then he heard laughter coming from the other side of the phone.

─ Why are you speaking so politely all of a sudden?

Jiheon said something that Jaewoo didn’t understand. Who cared if he spoke politely or if he spoke informally1? Jaewoo’s anger was rising, but he couldn’t afford to show it.

“Help me out, please.”

─ With what?

In contrast to Jaewoo’s urgency, Jiheon’s voice was casual and relaxed.

“My best friend – my family – was kidnapped by a gangster.”

─ Oh, you mean Hyunjin? But is that really what happened? I thought he decided to leave on his own.”

For a moment, Jaewoo forgot how to breathe. Jiheon already knew everything about Hyunjin. How could he know that unless he was involved? He tried to get his tired brain to work. Now that he thought about it, how had Hyunjin known he was working for Mujin? Even if he wasn’t at the supermarket, figuring it out just from that would have been tricky, right?

Unless. Unless someone else had told him.

“Was it you?”

Jaewoo’s voice suddenly trembled.

─ What?

“Did you tell Hyunjin everything?”

He heard laughter coming through the line again, louder and with a mocking edge to it. Then the laughter stopped.

─ You figured it out.

An inferno raged inside of him. Jaewoo’s hand suddenly clenched tightly around his phone. So, did that mean that everything that had happened was all caused by Jiheon? His body was shaking and his eyes were dark with rage. If Jiheon had been standing in front of him, Jaewoo might have attacked him.

“Wh- Why?”

Why would he do this? Jaewoo felt a deep sense of betrayal, even though they’d only met a few times.

─ You want to know why?

Jaewoo bit his lip.

─ Jaewoo.

Jiheon called Jaewoo’s name.

─ Honestly, I didn’t want it to come to this.

“Liar.”

─ I mean it. What do I have to gain from making him miserable?

“Don’t lie to me.”

─ I’m telling you the truth.

Jiheon answered clearly.

─ The fact is, you’re more important to me than Hyunjin is.

Jaewoo didn’t know what he was talking about. He knew that Jiheon was interested in him, but didn’t this almost seem like the other man cared about him?

─ Because we’re friends.

Friends? That damn word again. Jaewoo covered his eyes with his hands. He couldn’t understand Jiheon. Should he even keep listening? Even though that thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t bring himself to hang up the phone. The faintest glimmer of hope held him back.

─ You need to remember. Think back to your life a long time ago, not now. Once you remember it all, I’ll help you. I’ll even get your friend Hyunjin out of there. Oh right, you don’t know his situation right now, do you? Shall I tell you?

Were Jiheon’s words all true?

─ Your friend’s becoming a real gangster. He’s turning hard – beating people, ruining them, and pushing them into despair.

Jaewoo’s eyes were growing hot, as if he could start crying at any moment. Hyunjin was the most decent person he knew. He was a regular person who just wanted to live like a human being. Tormenting others must be tearing him apart.

‘He must be in so much pain.’

Hyunjin must be hurting so badly. Jaewoo couldn’t even guess how much.

─ That guy, Mujin, is good at breaking people. Pretty soon Hyunjin will break too. Shouldn’t somebody save him before that happens?

“What do you want?”

─ I told you. I want you to remember.

There were many memories that Jaewoo had forgotten. Memories of ‘Jaewoo’, but also the memories of his original self, whose name he couldn’t even remember. And out of those memories, it seemed like the ones that Jiheon were interested in weren’t his memories of Jaewoo.

At least, it didn’t seem as though the memories of Jaewoo, a miserable side top, would be important to Jiheon.

Jaewoo slowly opened his mouth.

“You’re not from this world.”

He’d finally realized it. Jiheon, like Jaewoo, came from another world. He had transmigrated into the body of a character in this world. That’s why he was so insistent on Jaewoo remembering what he’d forgotten.

─ Ding ding ding ding! I gave you so many hints, huh?

“What is it you want?”

─ I’ve already told you what I want, several times.

He wanted Jaewoo to remember what he’d forgotten. Jaewoo carefully thought about everything Jiheon had said, finally focusing on the most important keyword.

‘Friend’.

When he remembered that, Jaewoo’s expression changed.

“My friend wasn’t like you.”

Jaewoo hadn’t forgotten everything. He still had some memories of his friend from before he transmigrated. The friend he knew was a man with a healthy appetite, a good personality, and boundless capabilities. He cared for his friends, and was always there for them, whether times were happy or sad.

There was no way Jiheon was that sort of person. For a moment, silence reigned.

─ Do you really think that you knew everything about your friend?

Jiheon asked.

“Maybe not, but I know he wasn’t like you.”

─ No, no. Jaewoo, everyone has parts of themselves that they don’t want others to know; parts that they hide, even as they secretly hope that someone will accept that part of them. I was like that too. I don’t expect you to get it, but just think about it.

That was the end of the phone call.

Footnotes
도와주세요 vs 도와줘 – dowajuseyo vs dowajwo – Both of these mean ‘please help’, but the first one is something you might say to your boss or to someone older than you. The second one is less formal and is something you’d use with friends, family members, or someone younger than you. “Can you please assist me with this?” vs. “Hey, help me out, bro?”