TSG 87

Park Ha-seong and Yoo Jin-ha looked at each other as if they had hit the mark. It seemed they had struck a chord with Se-hyun. Perhaps today’s conversation would be a turning point in Se-hyun and Shin Tae-oh’s relationship?

“Well, once feelings develop, they don’t disappear just because you can’t see them,” Park Ha-seong responded, while Yoo Jin-ha pretended to drink beer as he observed Se-hyun’s expression.

Se-hyun didn’t even try to fake a positive expression. He looked burdened and conflicted as if carrying a heavy load.

“I’m not sure if this is the right thing to say in this situation, but…” Park Ha-seong hesitated, fiddling with his lips before nodding subtly in response to Yoo Jin-ha’s gaze.

“Sometimes, it’s not bad to follow where your heart leads you,” Park Ha-seong tried to say casually. He wanted to convey that he was simply sharing what he knew, not trying to persuade.

Se-hyun, who had already emptied another glass and pushed it aside, sighed and muttered, “What if the direction my heart is heading is different from my destiny?”

“Destiny…”

Park Ha-seong was caught off guard by Se-hyun’s mention of destiny. Se-hyun continued regardless of Park Ha-seong’s reaction.

“What if there’s a predetermined destiny for each person, and I’m disrupting it?”

Even though it was called the original story, it was ultimately the destiny of certain characters. He was someone who had been an extra, now interfering with one of those characters. Was that really okay?

Was it really right to just focus on his own feelings?

“If it’s about that, may I say something?” Yoo Jin-ha raised his hand like a student. Then, tilting his head, he met Se-hyun’s eyes and asked, “Do you know your destiny?”

“…”

“Usually, people don’t, right? And even if it’s predetermined, who says we have to follow it exactly as it is?” Park Ha-seong nodded in agreement. Yoo Jin-ha stirred the condensation around his lukewarm beer glass with his finger as he spoke.

“Isn’t changing your career path or quitting a stable job all about altering your destiny?”

Park Ha-seong added to Yoo Jin-ha’s explanation.

“Did you see the sample I made earlier? It kept changing until it was complete. Maybe destiny is like that, too.”

Se-hyun had fallen silent, lost in thought.

“Everyone can change their destiny, so I believe Se-hyun hyung can, too,” Yoo Jin-ha said, smiling contentedly, as if he had just gulped down a refreshing beer, even though he’d just finished a warm one.

“Whatever it is, just do what you want, Se-hyun hyung. Do what feels right.”

Se-hyun didn’t respond. Instead, he watched the bubbles in his freshly poured beer burst.
Looking closely, his focus was slightly blurred.

Yoo Jin-ha waved his hand widely in front of Se-hyun’s eyes.

“Has he finally gotten drunk?”

Yoo Jin-ha muttered, wondering if he had spoken earnestly for nothing. He then asked Park Ha-seong,

“Should we have one last drink and go?”

“Let’s do that.”

Leaving the seemingly tipsy Se-hyun to himself, Park Ha-seong and Yoo Jin-ha continued their conversation happily. Though they conversed as if they were alone, they occasionally glanced at Se-hyun, clearly still concerned about him.

“Shall we get up now?” At Yoo Jin-ha’s words, Se-hyun stood up like a doll and stumbled out of the bar. He wasn’t as drunk as Yoo Jin-ha had worried.

It was just that his mind was so dazed that he couldn’t move quickly.

“Can you go alone? Should I walk you home?”

“No.” Se-hyun gently pushed Yoo Jin-ha’s worries back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. I need some time to think alone right now.”

Only after Se-hyun explained his reason for refusing did Yoo Jin-ha stop insisting.

“I’ll hail a taxi. Wait here for a moment.”

As Park Ha-seong spotted a nearby taxi and ran towards it, Yoo Jin-ha urged Se-hyun to go, pushing his back.

“Please call me when you get home.”

As Yoo Jin-ha kept worrying and trying to take care of him, Se-hyun couldn’t help but smile. It felt strange yet not unpleasant to be looked after by Yoo Jin-ha.

“Alright. Then…”

Se-hyun was nodding obediently when he noticed a black SUV approaching behind Yoo Jin-ha. He grabbed his hand and pulled him aside.

The car, which they thought would pass by, stopped next to Yoo Jin-ha. Just as Se-hyun found it odd that it suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, the door opened and two men with black masks covering their faces stepped out.

Se-hyun, instinctively sensing danger, grabbed Yoo Jin-ha just as the suspicious men moved.

They grabbed Yoo Jin-ha’s mouth, shoulders, and arms, pulling him into the car while roughly pushing Se-hyun away, forcibly removing his hand.

Se-hyun, having lost his grip on Yoo Jin-ha, shouted as he tried to grab him again.

“Jin-ha!”

“Se-hyun, Mr. Se-hyun. Hyung. Mmph!”

The startled Yoo Jin-ha shook his head, breaking free from the hand covering his mouth, and reached out towards Se-hyun. He called out his name as if begging to be grabbed somehow.

“Who are you people!”

A kidnapping in the middle of the street. Se-hyun shouted loudly, catching the attention of Park Ha-seong, who had been trying to hail a taxi and was now rushing over.

“Jin-ha! Se-hyun!”

“Over here!”

In the brief moment Se-hyun turned to look at Park Ha-seong, Yoo Jin-ha had already been pulled into the car.

“No!”

As Se-hyun tried to grab Yoo Jin-ha again, he happened to see the man sitting in the passenger seat.

‘Ha Jin-woong?’

As soon as he recognized Ha Jin-woong, one incident from the original story flashed through his mind. The kidnapping of Yoo Jin-ha that occurred in the original work was unfolding right before his eyes.

It wasn’t a sudden event, but a planned one.

“Help m- ugh!”

At that moment, he met Yoo Jin-ha’s terror-stricken eyes. Se-hyun, without thinking further, reached into the car before the door closed.

“Ugh.”

Se-hyun let out a short cry at the strong impact on the back of his hand. Even so, he didn’t let go of the headrest of the passenger seat.

“Get out of the way!”

The man threw a punch at Se-hyun’s face and pushed his stomach. But Se-hyun stubbornly inserted his body into the SUV and grabbed Yoo Jin-ha.

‘Everyone can change their destiny, so I believe Se-hyun hyung can, too.’

Yoo Jin-ha’s words moved Se-hyun.

“Damn it. Who cares about the original story…”

What was his stable life worth if he had to stand by and watch Yoo Jin-ha being kidnapped right before his eyes?

“This isn’t right.”

As Se-hyun refused to let go of Yoo Jin-ha, the men’s punches became more violent. They hit Se-hyun anywhere they could—his face, his body—trying to make him release his grip, but Se-hyun didn’t give up.

“Enough. Let’s go.”

At Ha Jin-woong’s restraining voice, the blows hitting Se-hyun’s body ceased.

Se-hyun, who had been tightly holding onto Yoo Jin-ha’s clothes without letting go, turned around, suppressing his groans of pain.

The car had already started moving.

He sent a look toward the approaching Park Ha-seong, telling him not to come closer. Park Ha-seong stopped in his tracks and suddenly ran off somewhere.

‘Thank goodness.’

Se-hyun noticed one of the men closing the door. It seemed they wouldn’t try to separate him from Yoo Jin-ha any further.

But then…

“Ahn Se-hyun!”

Why did he see Shin Tae-oh?

⍣⍣⍣

“Ahn Se-hyun!”

Shin Tae-oh chased after the moving SUV. Seeing Ahn Se-hyun being beaten by unknown men right before his eyes shocked him to the core.

Someone so precious to him was being taken away. Se-hyun was disappearing.

“It’s my… because of me…”

Because he loved Se-hyun, danger had come to him. The world was once again trying to take away what was most precious to Shin Tae-oh.

“Shin Tae-oh! Get a grip.”

Lee Jin-ho, who had witnessed Se-hyun’s kidnapping together, grabbed Shin Tae-oh’s arm.

“Let go! I need to follow them now.”

“Calm down. How can you catch up to a moving car!”

Lee Jin-ho wrapped his arms around Tae-oh from behind, restraining him as he struggled.

“He’s gone. He’s about to disappear again. And you’re telling me to just stand and watch?”

Shin Tae-oh glared at Lee Jin-ho with resentment.

“Who said to just stand and watch?”

As Lee Jin-ho looked to the side, a taxi stopped next to them and the window rolled down.

“I’ll follow them, so please call the police.”

It was Park Ha-seong. He was in the taxi he had hailed to take Se-hyun home. Tae-oh tried to get into the taxi as well, but Lee Jin-ho held him back once more.

“Please keep in touch.”

Lee Jin-ho said to Park Ha-seong instead and stepped back, still holding Shin Tae-oh.

“Why are you stopping me!”

“Ha Jin-woong was in the car.”

“…What?”

Shin Tae-oh, belatedly understanding, looked at Lee Jin-ho.

“Let’s leave it to CEO Park Ha-seong to follow where they’re going. Instead, there’s somewhere you need to go.”

Lee Jin-ho looked at the motionless Shin Tae-oh with a frustrated expression.

“It’s Ha Jin-woong. If we’re going to stop him, you need to bring Ha Jin-seong. You.”

That was the reason Lee Jin-ho held Shin Tae-oh back. It would be much faster to resolve the situation if Shin Tae-oh went to find Ha Jin-seong rather than for him to chase after the car himself.

“I’ll call the police, so you go to Ha Jin-seong. Oh, and also contact Ha Min-hyuk.”

To Lee Jin-ho, it looked more like Se-hyun had gotten caught up in trying to save Yoo Jin-ha.

At this moment, Se-hyun was the most important person to Shin Tae-oh, and it dawned on him that he had only just realized Yoo Jin-ha’s involvement in all of this. Only then did Shin Tae-oh understand the full context of this situation.