NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 22 - You Didn't Eat Lunch, Right?
To explain why I suddenly visited Baek Yerin’s house, we need to go back to the day before.
That day, I first heard some not-so-good news from my dad.
“Mom fell down the stairs?”
– Yes. It seems she tried to keep her balance as she fell backwards, but stepped wrongly and sprained her ankle. Looks like she’ll need to be hospitalized for about 2 weeks.
Hearing that, I recalled my memories from my previous life.
No matter how much I thought about it, such an unfortunate incident never happened during this period.
‘Maybe I shouldn’t blindly trust the memories from before the regression…’
Well, it was just last year that I skipped academy and confidently declared to mom that I’d become a composer.
Since that time was moved up by a whole 2 years from the original, there’s a high possibility that a completely different future from what I remember will unfold.
Nevertheless, I knew one future that wouldn’t change at all…
A future that wouldn’t change no matter how much I struggle.
After finishing school, I headed straight to the university hospital where mom was said to be hospitalized.
And for some reason, mom was not in the hospital room, but in the outdoor rest area on the hospital rooftop.
“Is it okay for you to be here?”
“Staying cooped up in the hospital room might actually slow down recovery.”
Mom answered my question with a faint smile.
And she asked the person who seemed to have been sitting next to her and talking with her for a while:
“The outside air feels so warm and nice, maybe because the weather is completely spring-like, right?”
“…Yes, it does.”
That person smiled languidly, yet somewhat bitterly.
I knew who this person… no, this woman was.
“So is this the one you’ve been talking about?”
“Yes. This is my son.”
“So you’re Ryu Won…”
The woman called my name and gave a faint smile.
The miracle of regression.
I’m in a position where I can’t help but be very grateful for it, as it gave me a chance to achieve my dream again.
But human greed seems to really have no end.
If I had come back in time just one year earlier…
“I’m Yerin’s mother. I didn’t expect we’d meet like this.”
I might have been able to save you.
Today, I faced a future that I absolutely cannot change anymore.
That was the death of Baek Yerin’s mother,
The person named ‘Lee Yeon-hee’.
* * *
Baek Yerin’s mother and I remained in the outdoor rest area to talk more.
“So you knew about me?”
“Of course. How could I not know when Yerin talks about you so much every day.”
“Yerin does?”
“I’ll just say that she says you’re a genius composer and that she really respects you. If I say more than that, I feel like I might get hated by that child.”
“There’s more than that?”
I scratched my head.
It was something I didn’t quite understand, so I had to just pass over it.
And.
“You’re… very ill, aren’t you?”
“Yes. The doctor says I don’t have long to live.”
She spoke about her own death so nonchalantly.
To the point where I, who was asking, felt bewildered.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hm? What are you sorry for?”
“In a way, I’ve taken away the time you and Yerin could have spent together. So I’m sorry.”
Baek Yerin debuting as a singer and living a much busier life.
The life she’s living now is one that she could never have imagined if she were an ordinary middle school student.
And all of that stemmed from my greed.
Originally, she would have debuted as a singer around this time even without me, but now it was entirely because of me.
Even if Baek Yerin’s mother wanted her daughter to become a singer, the fact that I took away their precious time remains unchanged.
“No. Thanks to you, I was able to see Yerin’s cool side. And I heard you always raise your voice to try to reduce Yerin’s schedule as much as possible?”
At her question, I thought for a moment.
Well… it wasn’t particularly wrong.
But that was just natural for me.
“It was just something I had to do.”
“I’m a person who thinks there’s nothing natural in this world. After all, the fact that Yerin can be loved by people this much is all thanks to you. So I only have grateful feelings for you.”
Her words make me smile a bit bitterly.
“No. Even if it wasn’t me, that child would have received lots of love from people in the world.”
“Aren’t you too certain?”
“Because she’s that kind of child originally. And you raised her too well for me not to be certain.”
Hearing my words, Baek Yerin’s mother chuckled for some reason.
“Thank you for saying that… It makes me feel a bit relieved.”
Relieved?
Just as I was about to ask about the meaning of that, it happened.
“You were here again?”
A familiar voice was heard nearby.
When I turned my gaze in that direction, sure enough, Baek Yerin was approaching.
As our eyes naturally met, Baek Yerin didn’t show any surprised or puzzled reaction.
As if it was natural for me to be here.
“Did you already become friends with Won?”
She just said that.
Seeing that natural reaction…
It’s a bit scary, isn’t it?
.
.
.
“So you came to the hospital because your mother was hospitalized.”
“Yes. And then I naturally met your mother and got to greet her.”
“I see.”
“…It’s true.”
“I don’t think you’re lying? I always believe what you say.”
Baek Yerin smiled faintly.
For saying that, it feels like she doesn’t believe it at all though…
“I’ll be going now. I was originally planning to just see my mother’s face briefly and leave.”
Anyway, it was about time to leave now.
Even if it wasn’t, I wasn’t so tactless as to interfere with their time together.
“Then I’ll just see you off to the main entrance and come back.”
“Alright.”
“?”
But somehow it naturally became a picture of me together with Baek Yerin.
“Won’t you come to my house tomorrow?”
Just before parting, I heard a puzzling question.
Along with a somewhat wistful smile.
“There’s a story… that I really want you to hear.”
Facing that smile, I found myself nodding before I knew it.
* * *
“Did you see him off well?”
“Yes.”
Baek Yerin, who had seen Ryu Won off, returned to her mother’s hospital room.
Baek Yerin’s mother, Lee Yeon-hee, recalled the boy she had just conversed with and said:
“He seems like a good child, just as you said. That Ryu Won.”
“Right?”
“Yes. I can see why our daughter fell for him.”
Baek Yerin didn’t give any answer to Lee Yeon-hee’s words.
She just grinned.
Here, silence…
I don’t need to say what it means.
That’s enough.
If something precious has come into her daughter’s life now, that’s enough.
“Ah, it’s the weekend, should I come together tomorrow too? I feel like I want to talk more with that child.”
“Wouldn’t mom be interfering with your cozy time together?”
“Oh, stop teasing me now.”
And so, they continued their friendly conversation today as well, but…
“Ugh!”
Pain is something that comes suddenly regardless of such things.
“M-Mom!”
“Yerin… Mom is fine.”
“How can you be fine! I’ll quickly go and bring the doctor!”
Lee Yeon-hee could only watch her daughter leave the room hurriedly with a serious expression.
That was truly…
Painful in a different sense.
* * *
─ Won’t you come to my house tomorrow?
Lying in bed, the words I heard before parting with Baek Yerin keep circling in my head.
Why did she specifically invite me to her house?
Moreover, since Baek Yerin’s mother is currently hospitalized, only she is alone in her house.
It’s a situation that stimulates imagination, but…
“A story she really wants me to hear, huh.”
I saw it.
The expression Baek Yerin made before we parted.
Probably the story that will come out of her mouth won’t be so ordinary.
Moreover, because the future has started to change due to me, I can’t guess the content well.
But well…
“It doesn’t matter what it is.”
I just need to do what I can do.
So, the very next day, I arrived in front of the villa where Baek Yerin is currently residing.
Actually, Baek Yerin could move to a better house than this right now if she wanted.
Not only the settlement money, but also because there’s support from RT Entertainment.
Baek Yerin is currently RT Entertainment’s flagship star and face.
Even if they didn’t want to take care of her, they had to, and Kang Beom-joon is quite certain about these aspects from the start.
In fact, even the hospital bills for Baek Yerin’s mother, Lee Yeon-hee, were being covered by RT Entertainment.
Only, the person herself had no intention of leaving this house at all.
Probably continuously in the future too.
With such thoughts, I called Baek Yerin in front of the front door, and Baek Yerin opened the door as soon as she received my call.
I entered her house with a slightly awkward face.
“Um… Excuse me for intruding.”
“Make yourself comfortable. It’s just me alone in the house anyway. Oh, right. You didn’t eat lunch, right?”
“You insisted. You told me absolutely not to eat before coming.”
Sure enough, as soon as I entered Baek Yerin’s house, something smells good.
Actually, when she told me not to eat before coming, I was secretly expecting it.
That’s because the Baek Yerin I know is very good at cooking.
To what extent? Based on my previous life’s standards, she went on a cooking competition program and beat a famous chef who holds a Michelin star.
So I want to check once.
Whether that was fabricated or not.
And the result is…
“How is it?”
“Damn… It’s more delicious than the food mom makes. And I’m so resentful of myself for only being able to express it like this.”
“Anyway, it suits your taste? That’s a relief.”
I felt a bit sorry towards mom.