I Became a Villainous Character with a Limited Lifespan

Episode 139

It didn’t take long for the news that Seung-hyun had woken up to spread. Although not many people were genuinely happy about the news, Seung-hyun didn’t really care.

They weren’t his family anyway, and he had no desire to look good to them. If they would cut ties with him forever, he would be grateful. Thinking that way, Seung-hyun peacefully prepared to be discharged from the hospital.

However, the day before his discharge, an uninvited guest finally came to see Seung-hyun. It was Seung-hyun’s mother.

With only a few hours left until her flight, upon hearing the news that Seung-hyun might wake up, she canceled her flight and stayed in Korea. Since the reason for urgently leaving the country had disappeared, she planned to finalize the divorce proceedings and completely leave Korea.

Taehyeop also had no lingering attachment to their married life, so the divorce process would proceed without difficulty. While spending peaceful time finding a place to stay until then after leaving the house she had lived in for a long time, she suddenly thought of Seung-hyun.

It wasn’t that she was worried or felt fortunate. However, before completely leaving this country, she thought it might be better to see him at least once.

It was just a whim. With the thought of completely settling things since it was the last time, Seung-hyun’s mother visited his hospital room.

“…”

Although it was still unreasonable to say he looked healthy, she definitely saw Seung-hyun with his eyes open and conscious. At that moment, the first thought that came to her was that it was tiring.

From the moment he was born until now, she had seen him all her life, but except for when she found out the child in her womb was an alpha, she had never felt particularly attached to him. Even that was closer to relief.

She had been told it would be difficult to get pregnant again, but since this child was an alpha, it was okay. She had endured thinking that way and feeling fortunate. But when she heard there was a high possibility of him manifesting as recessive, it felt like her world was collapsing.

After that, she had never looked at Seung-hyun positively. He only seemed like an obstacle meant to ruin her life.

She knew Seung-hyun was trying in his own way. However, that was something too obvious. If he was born lacking, shouldn’t he at least do that much?

So she didn’t feel sympathetic or pitiful towards him.

‘I don’t even understand myself why I came here.’

But for some unknown reason, she had come to see Seung-hyun of her own will. Except for when she came to express her anger, it was the first time this had happened.

“You finally woke up.”

At the first words uttered in a cold voice, Seung-hyun didn’t even blink an eye. Rather, he just looked at her with indifferent eyes as if seeing a stranger.

Had Seung-hyun ever looked at her with such eyes? Although Seung-hyun also didn’t think of her as a precious family, his current face was unfamiliar.

Eyes looking at a completely unrelated stranger. It was a gaze similar to how she had looked at Seung-hyun.

“Now are you feeling refreshed?”

“Why do you think that would be the case?”

A question was answered with a question. She paused for a moment and thought. Why did she think he would feel refreshed?

“Because now you can do as you please. As if living as a failed alpha was too boring, you even dated an alpha. And on top of that… Ha…”

Pregnancy. Not wanting to say the words herself, she sighed, holding her forehead.

“If your father, if you had only known that the chairman was aware of your condition…”

“Why should I care about that?”

Seung-hyun spoke as if it was pathetic. He had thought there would be some reason for her to come all the way here, but even after coming this far, her words were the same.

‘I should say it’s fortunate that she’s consistent.’

He was grateful that he could cut off Seung-hyun’s family without a shred of lingering attachment. Seung-hyun took a step closer to her and said,

“If that’s all you have to say, it’s best you leave now.”

“…What?”

“You also find me so embarrassing and disgusting, and I also have no lingering attachment to family, so it worked out well. Isn’t it fine to go back and live as strangers?”

“Han Seung-hyun” definitely had a desire to be acknowledged by his family. It stemmed more from a sense of duty rather than love for family, but it was the only thing he cared about for the sake of his goal, so he felt a little sorry for cutting it off on his own, but now he didn’t feel sorry at all.

“You know better than me how meaningless and cumbersome family is, don’t you?”

“…”

He thought she would rush at him in anger, but unexpectedly, she didn’t get angry. She just had a pensive look on her face and quietly looked down at the floor.

‘He said he’s getting a divorce. Well, now this person can be free too.’

Seung-hyun looked at her and opened his mouth. He could intuitively feel that this would be the last moment he saw her.

“Now let’s just live as strangers. You can think you never had a son from the beginning and live as you wish.”

“…”

“Even if you leave that house and live on your own, and someday feel the urge to come back on a whim, don’t come back. That would be the best path for us.”

He thought he would be angry as soon as he saw her, but strangely, he felt calm. It must be because she was no longer Taehyeop’s wife and knew there was no possibility of Seung-hyun returning to the company. Because Seung-hyun’s success was no longer related to her well-being.

But there seemed to be another reason besides that. However, she nodded her head without ever knowing the identity of that emotion until the end.

“…Okay.”

She quietly left the hospital room without saying anything more. Jae-young, who had been worried there might be a commotion, approached Seung-hyun.

“…Are you okay?”

“What is there to not be okay about? I actually feel refreshed.”

Seung-hyun said, shrugging his shoulders. He definitely felt refreshed. He felt he would never see her again.

“My mother won’t come looking for me again. If it ended with this level of conversation, it’s quite peaceful.”

It was surprising that she had decided to leave on her own from the beginning. He thought she would never be able to let go of the HJ name out of greed, but although the reason wasn’t very pleasant, what mattered was that she was leaving that house of her own will.

‘No one in that house can be sane.’

Although she didn’t seem to be aware of it herself, Seung-hyun felt a bit of relief on her face. He had wished for her to die, but when he actually saw her face, he felt strange.

Maybe it was because she had already left that house and felt at ease, so her thoughts had changed a bit. But even so, he didn’t want to get involved with her again.

The ties of family had already ended, and there was no one to apologize to anymore. Only the current Seung-hyun, who had a little of his body and memories, existed.

‘So we’ll never meet again. We shouldn’t.’

Someday, when she could look back on the situation more leisurely, she might feel sorry for Seung-hyun, but even so, he had no intention of accepting it.

There was no one for her to apologize to now, and Seung-hyun’s parents had thrown away even their last chance. Unless it was in the past, the real Seung-hyun was already as good as dead, so from now on, he planned to live a life completely of his own.

Maybe she was a little better than Taehyeop, who didn’t even come to see him. Seung-hyun thought so and checked the time. It was almost dinner time.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

It didn’t matter to him since he would get hospital food, but Jae-young had to have his meals separately. Since he had stayed in the hospital room at lunchtime saying he wasn’t hungry, it must be a time when he was really hungry now.

“…Ah, yes.”

Jae-young, who had been lost in thought, answered a beat late. Was it because he was worried? Seung-hyun spoke to reassure Jae-young.

“I’m really fine. We weren’t on good terms originally. I think it’s fortunate that we can completely cut ties like this.”

Seung-hyun spoke as if it was no big deal. However, Jae-young still seemed uneasy, with an ambiguous expression.

“…Don’t you think you need family?”

“There are families in this world that are better off not existing. You said you saw it too, so don’t you know?”

“…”

“So don’t worry about it. I’m not foolish enough to do stupid things blinded by familial affection.”

Seung-hyun spoke with relief. Although it was about his parents, it resonated with Jae-young in a slightly different way.

‘…It seems he doesn’t have good memories of family, so with me and the child too…’

Would he feel burdened by being tied together under the name of family? A shadow fell over Jae-young’s face as he felt anxious.

“Aren’t you tired of eating near the hospital? I’m not a child, and I can stay alone, so why don’t you go somewhere far today? You can even go home. It’s like the hospital has become your home.”

Seung-hyun, who didn’t notice that change, just suggested to Jae-young that he must be tired of the restaurants near the hospital by now and asked how about going somewhere else today.