IPSTDS Chapter 84

Chapter 84

When Lee Kangil gently stepped back, the two of them were finally able to look at each other’s faces.

Though Yoon Noah had stopped crying, his eyes were still wet. That, too, was strangely captivating.

With a sensual expression, Noah spoke boldly.

“If I come to hate Seo Dowoong… will you stay by my side until the day I die?”

“…”

“Can you promise not to leave me lonely?”

It wasn’t irritating—if anything, his pouting looked almost cute.

Maybe his own eyes were playing tricks on him.

Kangil let out a small laugh and brushed Noah’s damp eyes with his hand.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

The word responsibility weighed heavily. Kangil was someone who didn’t understand love, someone long accustomed to being alone.

But in such a short time, no one had stirred his heart this much before.

If this was how he felt, then at least until Noah recovered, he could take responsibility. And perhaps even afterward, when Noah was fully well, he would still keep his promise not to let him be lonely.

A faint smile curved Noah’s lips.

He wore an odd expression—eyes wet with tears, mouth lifted in a smile.

“So… are you saying you won’t like Seo Dowoong anymore? I want to hear it clearly.”

Aside from caring for Noah, Kangil wanted a definite answer.

Noah took a deep breath, then spoke slowly, haltingly.

“…I can’t say I’ll hate him starting tomorrow morning. I’ve liked him for too long. But this time, I want to try changing, even just a little.”

The words sounded like a reflection on life, spoken when death was close at hand.

Kangil silently listened to the confession.

“But honestly, I’m exhausted from liking him.”

Of course he was. Noah had given everything—his heart worn to pieces—still liking Seo Dowoong.

To have kept loving him even while being despised and ignored was impressive in its own way.

It was something Kangil, who knew nothing of love, would never have done. He would never even glance at someone who dismissed him.

“Seems you’ve reached your limit.”

Kangil’s large hand tousled Noah’s hair gently.

“Being tired means you really gave it your all.”

“…”

“It’s okay to quit.”

“…Will it really be okay?”

“Yeah. Nothing will change. If anything, your life will be new.”

Lowering his head, Noah spread his arms and wrapped them around Kangil’s waist.

“Lee Kangil… thank you.”

He said it awkwardly, as though it was his first time thanking anyone.

And an unbidden, faint smile appeared on Kangil’s face—one even he hadn’t realized.」

After that, the story shifted to short episodes of Yoon Noah and Lee Kangil enjoying daily life together, almost like dates.

Noah’s words about giving up on Seo Dowoong didn’t seem like empty talk; he was focusing more on Kangil now.

During that time, he also took the experimental drug Kangil gave him, and his health quickly improved. The illness that had worsened under the weight of his obsession with Seo Dowoong was easing as he gave his heart a rest.

Nahyuk felt a surge of relief. In chapter 77, it had looked like Noah was on the verge of death, but now it seemed like he might truly survive.

It felt as though he and Noah were tied as companions of fate—if Noah lived, so would he.

And like fate itself, the Noah in the novel was starting to get along quite well with Kangil.

Nahyuk thought the two of them suited each other. At least Kangil was far better than Seo Dowoong.

Still… Kangil was incredibly attractive, even in the novel.

His promise to take responsibility had sounded more dazzling than any confession of love. Would Nahyuk be able to hear those words himself, in reality?

Just when chapter 78 seemed to be winding down peacefully, a final twist appeared.

「…After having dinner with Lee Kangil and returning home, Yoon Noah was in the middle of changing clothes when his phone buzzed softly.

It was a call from a number he didn’t recognize.

When he answered, a long-forgotten voice came through.

—Yoon Noah, how have you been?

It was Park Sangcheol, who hadn’t contacted him once since being expelled.」

And that was how chapter 78 ended.

Just as Park Sangcheol had reached out to Nahyuk in reality, in the novel he was contacting Noah after years of silence.

Won’t the author give us a double update?

Nahyuk burned with curiosity over why Park Sangcheol was calling Noah now. He scrolled down, pointlessly dragging the screen lower, but there was no chapter 79, no further update. It was frustratingly disappointing.

“When’s the next chapter going to be uploaded…”

That was when he noticed something rare: an author’s comment. He read it slowly.

「The end is near! Please stay with me until the conclusion~!」

Nahyuk turned off his phone screen with a sigh. The thought of the story nearing its end felt oddly unwelcome.

Will my life stay intact after it ends?

He worried it might shatter like an illusion. That he might even be forced back into the body of the original Lee Nahyuk in the real world.

He knew worrying would solve nothing, yet he couldn’t stop. This was a matter of life and death, and utterly beyond his control.

So he remained sitting at the dining table until the sky grew bright, lacking even the strength to go back upstairs.

Leaning his face against his folded arms, he stared blankly out the window.

Watching the sunrise wasn’t as bad as he thought. It even lightened the burden of his anxious heart a little.

One of the housemaids, who had just found him lying motionless like a corpse, cried out in alarm.

“Young master?”

It was the woman who cooked his meals every day. Since he hadn’t learned their names properly, he simply called her “ajumma.”

“Good morning, ajumma. I must have scared you. Don’t worry, I just couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh dear, I see. Please wait just a moment.”

Her shock faded quickly, and she moved about the kitchen as if it were her own, soon filling the air with a gentle fragrance.

“This is herbal tea. It will help you feel better.”

“Thank you.”

Nahyuk drank it slowly. Even in the heat of summer, drinking something hot didn’t feel unpleasant.

“Is there anything you’d like for breakfast?”

He replied that anything was fine. He couldn’t eat much, but he wasn’t picky.

The maid told him to wait and began cooking.

It struck him then—there wasn’t a single servant in Noah’s household who wasn’t kind. Even the chauffeur was considerate, and Secretary Song was someone he could rely on.

Well, of course. Only good people would remain by the side of someone as difficult as Yoon Noah.

Just as he was hoping that the Noah in the novel could get along with his servants too, one of the men upstairs stirred awake.

“Noah. What are you doing sulking alone down here?”

It was Lee Kangil. He had come down from the second floor and sat across from him.

“Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Then is it Park Sangcheol making you uneasy?”

Though his voice was gentle, his expression was dark, as if warning Nahyuk not to lie or dodge the question.

“That worries me too… but that’s not why I’m like this.”

Truthfully, Park Sangcheol didn’t scare him much. The man’s grudge was aimed at Seo Dowoong, not Noah.

“Then what is it?”

“I was just… worried about what would happen if I suddenly died.”

“I told you not to waste time worrying like that. I’m working hard to keep you alive. Look at me—these dark circles won’t go away because of you.”

It should have sounded silly, but it didn’t—because Kangil’s face really was exhausted.

Even with fatigue written all over him, he leaned in, offering his handsome features to Nahyuk. The way he fussed over eyes and nose and lips made him seem almost like he was pouting for attention.

Without meaning to, Nahyuk kept staring at Kangil’s face, and the image of the novel’s Kangil came to mind—the man who had been helplessly drawn to Noah.

“Then can you say this for me?”

“…What do you want to hear?”

Nahyuk whispered the line that had struck him most.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

If he heard that, maybe he too could smile faintly, like the Noah in the novel. Maybe the anxiety crushing him would ease.

Kangil said it gladly, as though it were nothing at all.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

He even added more.

“Even if you refuse me, I’ll take responsibility for you to the end.”

Yes. That was enough.

If Kangil promised to take responsibility for him, then even if the Noah in the novel died, he himself would surely survive in reality.

A smile finally touched Nahyuk’s lips.