Wishing for Salvation (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 13
“Nonsense.”
Kang Hyun snapped coldly and walked straight out of the hospital room.
From the vein where the IV needle had been pulled out, drops of blood fell—plink, plink—leaving a trail along the path he’d taken.
“Ms. Seo Yoon arrived at the ER with you, and after surgery, she was moved to the ICU, but she didn’t survive past five days. Early morning two days ago, she suffered multiple cardiac arrests, and Dr. Han himself declared her time of death. I’m sorry.”
Seok Won chased after Kang Hyun, who was pushing forward unsteadily with his injured body, leaning against the wall, and continued as calmly as he could. He then knelt down in front of Kang Hyun and placed the slippers he’d brought from the room on the floor.
“…The floor is cold.”
Naturally, Kang Hyun didn’t even glance at the slippers and walked right past them, marching steadily toward some unknown destination.
Seok Won swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say—that wherever Seo Yoon was now, it must be even colder—and hurried to catch up before he fell too far behind.
Neither the swarm of medical staff rushing in to assess Kang Hyun’s condition nor Chairman Tae Seok Joong, who’d collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage upon hearing news of his son’s accident, mattered to him at all.
“I’ll accompany you.”
Seok Won took hold of Kang Hyun—who clearly had no idea where he was going—and personally guided him to the morgue.
Inside the morgue, barefoot and shivering in her thin clothes, Seo Yoon waited for him, already cold and still, her wounds not yet fully healed.
★ ★ ★
Avoiding Kang Hyun’s persistent gaze, Ji An turned her head away and absentmindedly touched her own cheek.
Was it this face that unsettled him? Yet she couldn’t understand why Kang Hyun, who had always treated her solely as Han Seo Yoon’s twin, was suddenly acting this way now, so belatedly.
“I didn’t let you do anything because I was afraid it might hurt you.”
Each time that unfathomable despair dug deep into her ears, the dull ache in her left chest throbbed helplessly—it was clearly affected by him. She was swept away by Kang Hyun’s emotions to a degree she couldn’t even comprehend.
As she watched Kang Hyun rub both hands down his face, she reached up to massage her tightening throat—just as a loud ringtone and vibration sounded simultaneously. The moment Ji An pressed the call button, Kang Hyun also brought his phone to his ear.
“Yeah, Mom. Just a sec.”
—Tae Kang Hyun, what is this? What on earth is going on?
To avoid interrupting Kang Hyun’s call, Ji An quickly left the room. Watching her disappear into the dining room, Kang Hyun tilted his head slightly and slowly opened his mouth.
“The results?”
—Ms. Seo Ji An’s fingerprints match Seo Yoon’s, but they don’t match her own previous prints. Do you know something? Why did you run this test?
Yeon Ju’s voice grew louder through the receiver, echoing like a reverberating sound over and over again.
“Director, I’m terribly sorry for interrupting your call.”
Kang Hyun looked up at Ji An, who had approached him looking anxious and restless.
“Oh, I just got a call saying my dad got hurt—I think I need to head to the hospital right away.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Ms. Seo Ji An.”
“Yes?”
What was he about to say? Kang Hyun clenched his jaw in self-mockery for grabbing hold of her so helplessly.
“…Never mind.”
Ji An gathered her things from the sofa and turned her back to Kang Hyun, but after only a few steps, she turned around again.
Kang Hyun was still staring at her.
Perhaps because she’d left him alone in a space utterly devoid of warmth, the image of him—his eyes twisted in pain, lips trembling silently—lingered as an afterimage, impossible to erase all the way to the hospital.
★ ★ ★
Yeon Ju, sitting in Secretary Do’s office sipping grapefruit ade, had just received a call from Kang Hyun for the first time in four years.
“…Director Do, could you just slap me on the back of the head once?”
“I emailed you Seo Ji An’s fingerprints. Please check if they match the ones previously registered—and also compare them with Seo Yoon’s.”
Having easily obtained the results through her parents’ connections in the prosecutor’s office, Yeon Ju had pressed Kang Hyun for a proper answer, but when he remained evasive, she hung up and stormed directly to his house.
The fingerprints of the current Seo Ji An did not match those from her past records. Instead, they matched Seo Yoon’s.
Four years of university, a master’s degree, studying abroad—she’d always prided herself on using her intellect sufficiently. Yet she couldn’t make sense of what stood right before her eyes.
“Even if you slap me, nothing’s going to change.”
The three fingerprint comparison reports laid on the table plunged the three of them into deep confusion.
“So… the Seo Yoon we saw was actually the deceased Seo Ji An?”
“That seems to be the case.”
Seok Won muttered with a sigh.
“Why? How on earth? No—she was Seo Yoon. I’m sure it was Seo Yoon. You saw her too, Director Do!”
“Yes, but even if they were identical twins, they couldn’t possibly look this alike. Right now, if we called Ms. Seo Ji An ‘Han Seo Yoon,’ it wouldn’t feel strange at all.”
Yeon Ju, who had tried hard to deny reality, now looked devastated, tears welling in her eyes. In that moment, she even resented Do Seok Won a little for staying so composed.
Out of countless possibilities, everything had converged into one single, terrible truth. Kang Hyun sat dazed, submerged headfirst into an abyss so deep he looked as if he couldn’t breathe.
He stared again and again at the crumpled papers until they were creased in every direction, blinking silently, unable to speak.
Am I happy right now—or sad?
Or perhaps I’m just utterly baffled.
Even in this moment, he wanted to tear apart his useless brain that couldn’t grasp any clear emotion.
“It’s been four years. How could someone live as her when their fingerprints don’t match?”
“Have you used your fingerprints even once in the last four years?”
“…No, except for registering them to unlock devices.”
“Exactly.”
Conversation died out completely, replaced only by sighs that rose and fell like a refrain.
“I failed to recognize Seo Yoon.”
What he’d dug up after searching everywhere was, predictably, self-loathing.
No matter how out of his mind he’d been, no matter how identical their faces were—this should never have happened.
“You weren’t even certain twins existed back then. It was only natural to assume it was Ms. Seo Yoon. How could you possibly suspect she might be someone else in that situation? It’s not your fault, sir.”
“It was strange even then that the hit-and-run driver was never caught.”
Yeon Ju, putting on a serious expression, opened a bottle of mineral water to soothe her dry throat.
“If it was arranged by my father…”
Kang Hyun immediately suspected the late Chairman Tae, believing him to be the culprit behind the accident.
“Be reasonable. He collapsed from shock because of that very accident.”
“He probably didn’t expect I’d get hit too.”
The words sounded so plausible once spoken aloud that a bitter laugh slipped out.
This kind of scheme—capable of swapping two lives—was impossible without immense wealth and power. And Chairman Tae Seok Joong, who had been obsessed with separating Seo Yoon from him back then, certainly had both.
“I’ll start the investigation from the very beginning myself.”
“Where did Ms. Ji An go?”
“Home.”
Kang Hyun murmured softly.
Home—Seo Yoon’s home—had been me.
“What are you going to do from now on?”
“I don’t know.”
“Kang Hyun-ah…”
“Go.”
“I’ll stay here.”
Ignoring the worried gaze behind him, Kang Hyun entered the bedroom and sat down, hugging tightly the framed portrait of Seo Yoon—one worn smooth from constant touching.
He was alone again.
The voices drifting in from outside faded away, and even the sunlight filtering through the curtains sank into dark shadow.
Even in the pitch-black room, Seo Yoon’s face remained vividly clear—perhaps because he’d seen it so often, it was permanently etched into his mind.
His fingers slowly traced the curved edge of her eyes across the glass, trembling weakly.
“How much must you have hated me…”
The memories she’d left behind were of the time they’d spent together.
Apparently, she no longer wanted to live as Han Seo Yoon to Tae Kang Hyun.
Once his mind finally settled, it truly sank in—Seo Yoon was alive.
A deep sense of relief surged through him, immediately followed by an equal magnitude of loss that nearly dissolved his throat.
For a brief moment, he imagined Seo Yoon living free from him, forgetting who she’d once been.
“Mom, I love you.”
Perhaps this was the form she’d wanted most—a Seo Yoon smiling in utter happiness.
Living now under the name Seo Ji An, Seo Yoon was bright. She wore a variety of expressions, just like the young Seo Yoon who’d first entered the Seo family estate, expressing herself honestly and without restraint.
All traces of the past—of the Seo Yoon slowly withering away inside the iron cage called Tae Kang Hyun—had vanished completely.
It didn’t take long for him to accept the truth: only after erasing him from her memory had Seo Yoon finally found peace.
The heat rising up his throat pressed against his eyes, yet, as always, no tears came.
Even faced with this crushing reality, Kang Hyun didn’t know how to spit it out.
He’d never screamed in desperation, never howled like a wild beast—so he simply stuffed the thousands of glass shards piercing his entire body into his gut, already rotted beyond recognition.
“Why can’t you… give up on anything, hyung?”
“Anywhere—anywhere without you. I really want to break up. I don’t want to live as a doll anymore. So please, let me go.”
A hollow laugh escaped through his tightly closed lips. Every time he replayed her words in his mind, Seo Yoon seemed to be in pain—and every time, he felt like a selfish monster.
Maybe it would’ve been better if his memories hadn’t returned.
He wasn’t even sure he could bear confirming again that Seo Yoon’s love for him had ended and that she wanted to leave his side.
Marriage must have been an issue, but more than that, Seo Yoon had long grown weary—exhausted—of his abnormally twisted behavior.
“Hyung, just wait a sec…”
“No time. In two days, follow Secretary Kim to Singapore.”
“Again? Just stay in the hotel the whole time?”
“Of course. You’ll be with me. I’ll have guards posted outside, so don’t do anything reckless.”
Every time he traveled abroad for extended business trips, he took Seo Yoon along—but he’d only kept his promise to take her sightseeing a couple of times.
Mostly, he’d show up late at night when she couldn’t possibly go anywhere, just to satisfy his own desires. At some point, Seo Yoon began referring to herself as something lowly.
Only now, after retracing four years of unspoken words and accumulated wounds, did he finally realize it.
He’d wanted to tell her he loved her.
He’d wanted to return to her side just a few months later and finally say those words—but now they’d lost their owner forever.
That you weren’t waiting for me anymore—perhaps that was a despair greater than death itself.
Kang Hyun sat like that for a long while, unable to cry or laugh, before murmuring quietly,
“Just as long as you’re alive.”
Yes. As long as you’re alive—that’s all that mattered.
Kang Hyun slowly pulled his heavy body up and opened the door gently.
“Sir?”
“I’ll be returning to the office. Make preparations.”
Seok Won, who’d been sitting in the living room out of fear Kang Hyun might do something reckless, stood up awkwardly from the sofa.
“…Are you alright?”
“Get Seo Ji An’s medical records from that hospital I mentioned before—by any means necessary. Drag the hospital director here yourself if you have to.”
“Yes, understood. And as for Ms. Seo Ji An…”
“Don’t let on anything. First, catch the culprit. We’ll deal with everything else after that.”
Even my own life or death comes after that.
Male lead is a clingy little husband
One-line summary: The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
Introduction:
One day, Lu Yuner’s soul transmigrates into a female-dominant world. She enters the Imperial Academy and takes up the position of a doctoral instructor, teaching classes and grading schoolwork.
One day, she encounters the young prince Su Qingwan secretly skipping class from the male academy.
As a result, Su Qingwan is punished.
From then on, Su Qingwan sees Lu Yuner as a “thorn in his side”.
But before long, this “thorn” becomes the person he cherishes most, and he goes to great lengths to win Lu Yuner’s affection.
Mini scene 1:
One day, the sun is high in the sky but Su Qingwan still hasn’t gotten up for class.
Servant Xiaoyuan: “Young prince, it’s time for class. You’ll be late otherwise.”
Su Qingwan says arrogantly: “I’m not going. I am the esteemed prince, my status is so noble, why should I suffer this hardship? Besides, isn’t learning all this just to please women? Hmph, they’re not worthy!”
Mini scene 2:
After Su Qingwan falls for someone, he completely changes. He no longer skips class and diligently learns how to be a good husband and father. But he discovers that Sister Yuner is always surrounded by admirers.
Drunk and overcome with jealousy one day, he clings to Lu Yuner, crying beautifully like a pear blossom in the rain.
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan likes Sister Yuner.”
Lu Yuner: “Young prince, you’re drunk.”
Su Qingwan: “Qingwan isn’t drunk. Qingwan likes Sister Yuner, likes you so much, likes you to bits…” Before he can finish, Lu Yuner’s eyes flash with emotion and she leans in closer.
[Reading Guide]
1. The female lead is gentle, gracious, humble and polite but not weak. The male lead is initially an arrogant, noble, love-deprived brat, later a cute, clingy, scheming little jealous one.
2. 1v1, a bit torturous in the beginning but definitely sweet later on.
_____
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