Husband Role - Episode 49

Eun-seol fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. When she opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling. She was momentarily dazed. Her thoughts were sluggish, making it difficult to grasp the situation.

She wasn’t in a hurry and slowly blinked several times.

It was then.

“…Lee Eun-seol.”

A voice, low like mist, called her name. Eun-seol struggled to gather her scattered thoughts. It wasn’t easy. Instead, she slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice.

“…You.”

Jung-hyuk, his eyes bloodshot, was looking down at Eun-seol.

…Jung-hyuk?

Eun-seol was puzzled. She couldn’t understand why he had such a sad expression.

She wordlessly reached out her hand.

Jung-hyuk gripped her small hand tightly, painfully so.

Eun-seol winced, but his grip didn’t loosen.

“What happened?”

Eun-seol asked, her voice hoarse.

Jung-hyuk sighed deeply.

Last night, Jung-hyuk had rushed his unconscious wife to the hospital.

It seemed she had taken a large dose of sleeping pills.

The head of Hocheon Hospital, who had rushed to the emergency room, quickly examined Eun-seol’s condition.

It was confirmed that she had taken sleeping pills.

The head doctor repeatedly said to Jung-hyuk, who was momentarily staggering in shock.

‘But it doesn’t seem to be a lethal dose.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘In my opinion…’

The head doctor hesitated, pushing up his glasses.

‘It just looks like she’s sleeping.’

Jung-hyuk collapsed. And as he held his forehead, lost in thought, the head doctor asked.

‘If you’re worried, should we proceed with a stomach pump?’

The head doctor asked in an incompetent tone.

‘Is that the right thing to do?’

He asked in return.

‘…No, it seems she took them because she was sleep-deprived. I checked the types of medication she took, and they’re over-the-counter drugs that are easily available at any pharmacy, so there’s nothing particularly dangerous.’

‘…So that means.’

‘Yes. She’ll wake up after a good night’s sleep. Actually, a stomach pump can be very painful for the patient when they wake up.’

In the end, Jung-hyuk admitted Eun-seol to a VIP room instead of waking her up. He thought it would be best to let her get some sleep.

He had been short-sighted.

Eun-seol hadn’t seemed to sleep at all during the funeral.

Jung-hyuk had been busy with the accident caused by Mok Dae-hyuk, so he had assumed she had at least dozed off in between.

And even after returning home, he hadn’t seen her fall asleep.

When he closed his eyes, she closed hers, and when he opened his eyes, she opened hers.

He naturally assumed they were moving in the same pattern.

In conclusion, he hadn’t properly assessed Eun-seol’s condition and had been anxious alone. He was foolish. He had been taken prisoner by the past and had become terrified.

To project his own misfortune onto his wife, who was suffering from insomnia to the point of taking medication.

He felt a bitter sense of self-reproach.

“Jung-hyuk…?”

Now the worry had shifted from Jung-hyuk to Eun-seol.

Eun-seol, who had struggled to sit up, looked at Jung-hyuk’s face with a worried expression.

Jung-hyuk silently looked down at Eun-seol.

Eun-seol, with her pale white face, gentle eyes, and dry white lips, was vividly alive.

Jung-hyuk hugged Eun-seol tightly.

She was warm.

A storm raged within his heart.

“…What was I thinking?”

He murmured lowly.

Eun-seol put her hands under Jung-hyuk’s armpits and hugged his broad back.

It was a hug so strong it felt like her whole body would break, but Eun-seol didn’t care.

She was willing to give up a rib or two if it meant Jung-hyuk could feel at ease.

Irregular breathing, a heaving chest, a subtly trembling jaw.

All of it pointed to her husband’s anxiety.

She gradually realized how careless she had been.

Jung-hyuk had a secret trauma. His mother had committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.

It was a fact that Eun-seol knew, but others didn’t.

She hadn’t considered him.

Why do I keep becoming such a selfish person in front of you?

“…I’m sorry.”

Eun-seol said sincerely.

“I love you, Lee Eun-seol.”

But he confessed something else.

“I love you so much.”

His confession sounded like he was constantly saying he was anxious. Eun-seol heard a cracking sound in her heart. She was truly, truly sorry to him.

“I won’t go far away.”

She said, her voice slightly wet.

“I know better than anyone, how lonely it is to be left behind.”

“Eun-seol.”

“So, don’t worry. I did everything wrong.”

Eun-seol didn’t make excuses that she hadn’t been thinking bad thoughts.

The fact that he had been waiting for her to wake up meant that Jung-hyuk had understood the whole situation.

So, there was no need to ramble on.

She would just stay by his side.

That would be enough.

It was also what she, who had always been left behind, had always wanted to hear.

“So.”

Jung-hyuk released Eun-seol from his embrace and stroked her round cheeks as he asked.

“You slept well.”

Worry, love, and relief were reflected in his long, narrow eyes.

Eun-seol’s lower lip trembled faintly as she clearly witnessed it.

He had always embraced her so naturally, at any moment.

Even from long ago, when he didn’t love her.

How can you do so much for me? she suddenly wanted to ask. But her throat was so tight that it was difficult to make a clear sound.

“…Yeah.”

It was then, as she barely managed to answer and bit her lip.

Thank goodness.

He said. Eventually, Eun-seol burst into tears.

________________________________________

After his father’s funeral, Dae-hyuk had called Jung-hyuk out to the garden behind the charnel house. And with a pitiful face and voice, he had desperately pleaded.

‘Please, just save me once, Director Yoon.’

Faced with Jung-hyuk’s cold reaction, he eventually knelt down. The garden was desolate, but anyone in the charnel house with its glass windows all the way to the hallway could have watched to their heart’s content.

But Dae-hyuk couldn’t afford to care about appearances.

A well-honed blade was aimed at his neck. It was so deep and precarious that blood was seeping out.

If Jung-hyuk moved even slightly, his head would be chopped off. He was facing a very shitty situation.

‘For the sake of my deceased father…’

Dae-hyuk said again in a servile tone. He couldn’t possibly fall this low.

‘Are you selling off your father, who was just cremated… so quickly?’

Even at Jung-hyuk’s harsh rebuke, Dae-hyuk grabbed his pants and cried out, “How could I ever do that!”

Hmm, Jung-hyuk stroked his chin and slowly moved his lips.

‘Please pray a lot.’

With those cryptic words, Jung-hyuk left.

It was difficult to discern exactly what he meant, but it wasn’t a stern threat, so he was relieved.

So, after his father’s funeral, Dae-hyuk busily met with people.

Most people avoided him or offered a few words of encouragement, but he didn’t give up.

He had to protect what was his, as much as he could.

Despite all his efforts.

“Shit…”

Just yesterday, Yoon Jung-hyuk had held a press conference, and Dae-hyuk had become a ‘national quack’ in just one day.

At the same time, the verdict in the previous medical malpractice lawsuit was also handed down.

Dae-hyuk didn’t have the time to wait for the verdict. So, he rushed to the courthouse to hear it in person.

The result was devastating. In the 2 billion won damages suit, he was ordered to pay 1.4 billion won. It was a clear defeat.

Apparently, the tuberculosis patient who was said to be an orphan was a teacher whom the director of treated like her own daughter.

That’s why the director of the orphanage had taken the lead in this medical malpractice case as if it were her own.

“The purpose of requesting a tissue biopsy from Mok in the first place was to identify the exact causative agent and provide appropriate drug treatment, not to surgically resect and treat the lesion itself.”

The judge continued.

“Ms. Yang had a very negative reaction to the extent of the resection performed during the tissue biopsy from the time she signed the surgical consent form. If she had been informed that the entire upper lobe would be resected, Ms. Yang would never have agreed.”

In addition, the testimony of the dedicated nurse who had been in the operating room was added.

It was adding insult to injury. It was as if everyone was performing a ritual to tell Dae-hyuk to die.

The disastrous trial result was sure to be thrown back to the media as fodder.

Since the Hocheon Foundation, which should have been protecting him, had already turned its back on him, there was nothing Dae-hyuk could do with his own power.

Dae-hyuk ran to the parking lot after leaving the courthouse.

He heard So-hee calling out, “Honey—!” from behind, but he didn’t stop.

He started the engine and drove like a madman towards Hannam-dong.

After wandering around the familiar streets several times, he saw a sedan with a familiar license plate entering the intersection.

Dae-hyuk stepped on the accelerator without hesitation.

And rear-ended the black car.

With a loud crash, the car in front slammed into a red brick wall.

Yoon Jung-hyuk got out of the crumpled car, which was slowly emitting smoke.

He immediately went to the other side and opened the passenger door.

Lee Eun-seol was getting out with his support.

‘Are you okay?’

Yoon Jung-hyuk, who had taken Lee Eun-seol to the side of the road, was carefully checking on her.

…Those bastards are really having fun.

Dae-hyuk stepped on the pedal again. He charged towards Lee Eun-seol with a barrage of angry honks.

He felt like he would have no regrets if he killed them both like this.

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