Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: No Need to Worry Anymore
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No need to worry about it anymore.
A woman suddenly appeared amid the chaos of the fight.
Dressed in soccer gear, she was a complete stranger to Kim Ji-su.
Even if she had known her, it wouldn't have made much difference.
Right now, Kim Ji-su couldn't see anyone clearly except for Lee Sung-min.
The problem was the vivid murderous intent radiating from that woman at this moment.
A gaze that viewed the other person not as a human, but as something that needed to be killed.
Even Kim Ji-su, who had half-lost her grip on sanity, couldn't help but tremble instinctively in the face of this terrifying sensation that clawed raw at her survival instincts.
"Wha... what the hell are you...!?"
In the heavy grip of fear, Kim Ji-su raised the steel pipe with shaking hands.
However.
She wasn't even given the chance to swing it.
"!!!"
"..."
It happened in an instant.
The distance between her and himself had closed in a flash.
The purple eyes staring right at him from right in front of his face.
The moment he faced head-on the ferocity spilling from those violet pupils, Kim Ji-su was seized by a sensation like her heart was shriveling up, leaving her unable to think for a moment.
Meanwhile, that thing extended the hand it had been clenching sharply toward Kim Ji-su.
Like the talons of an eagle snatching its prey.
Her hand gripped Kim Ji-su's head with irresistible force.
"Gahk!"
For an instant, the pain felt like her skull was shattering.
Right after,
a cold voice flowed from its mouth.
"Don't touch my daughter."
"!?!"
With those words, her head was yanked downward by an immense force.
And.
-BAM!!!!
A sharp sound pierced her ears alongside a horrific impact.
With that, Ji-su lost consciousness completely.
Trembling to the end in a terror she'd never felt since birth...
*
The woman who appeared out of nowhere in her soccer uniform.
Chae Soo-jeong.
However, even with her arrival, Lee Sung-min didn't feel any particular relief.
She might be the top swordswoman of Joseon in the drama, but in reality, she was just an ordinary woman.
Kim Ji-su was a woman too, but she was armed with a steel pipe, and more importantly, she was clearly out of her mind.
On the other hand, Chae Soo-jeong had come empty-handed without even a weapon, which seemed even worse than Ha Yu-ra, who had fought with a fire extinguisher just moments ago before collapsing.
And to top it off, her young daughter was here too.
This incident had happened because of him, and he couldn't bear to watch these two get dragged into it and suffer misfortune.
'I'd rather die myself... I can't let a fragile woman and a child get any more involved...'
His body still wouldn't move due to the drug.
But even so, if there was anything he could do—whether shielding Seon-hwa or buying time with pathetic taunts—
Lee Sung-min spoke to Chae Seon-hwa, who had been staring intently at her mother's face with an oddly serious expression.
"Kid. Listen to me carefully. Right now..."
But.
"...Huh?"
-Whoosh!
Before Sung-min could finish, Chae Soo-jeong lunged at Ji-su in an instant.
Without a shred of fear or hesitation,
she closed the distance to Ji-su, who held a bloodied steel pipe in her bare hands.
And.
"Ah..."
Chae Soo-jeong seized Kim Ji-su's head with the ferocity of a wild beast.
She then slammed the gripped head straight into the floor.
-BAM!!!!
Kim Ji-su's head crashed into the floor with a sharp sound.
Thanks to the gym floor's shock absorption,
it still packed enough force with acceleration and body weight to knock her out cold.
Kim Ji-su lay sprawled on the floor, motionless.
The being who had seemed like inescapable 'death' itself just moments ago was subdued in the most anticlimactic way imaginable.
And the one who had subdued that 'death,' standing alone.
At this moment, she exuded the heroic aura of a general who had just beheaded the enemy commander.
Chae Soo-jeong.
Watching her,
Lee Sung-min stared blankly, unable to tear his eyes away for a long while.
Then.
"...!"
Chae Soo-jeong slowly approached them, leaving the fallen Kim Ji-su behind.
Even though the situation was over, her ominous aura made Lee Sung-min feel an inexplicable fear.
However.
"..."
Chae Soo-jeong didn't even glance at Lee Sung-min.
Even as she came right up beside him, her gaze was fixed on only one person.
Chae Seon-hwa.
"M-Mom... Are you oka...!"
The next moment, Chae Soo-jeong pulled Chae Seon-hwa's small body into a tight embrace.
The heroic aura from moments ago was gone.
What she showed now was...
A mother...
"Sorry... I'm sorry... Mommy's sorry... Baby... My baby..."
"..."
The near-miss of losing her child.
The mother's trembling body and tears born of that terror.
Watching from the side,
Lee Sung-min could only remain silent, a solemn guilt settling in his chest.
*
The arson-cum-attempted-murder incident involving Kim Ji-su was finally sorted out.
Though one corner of the gym had burned black and there were quite a few injuries, it was a horrific crime.
Compared to his past life where it had been full-blown arson and 'murder,' the fact that it stopped at attempted murder meant the people in this world were a bit luckier, in a way.
Son Bin, the SYPR manager who had been the first target in his past life.
He had originally been struck on the head by Kim Ji-su, suffered a concussion and heart failure from neglect, and died.
Now, he lay there fully conscious with bandages wrapped around his head after emergency treatment.
The incident, initially seen as a simple fire, was revealed as a planned crime thanks to my intervention and Lee Sung-min's survival, prompting a swift investigation.
It was regrettable that Ha Yu-ra's injury was added, something that hadn't happened in his past life...
"I'm sorry, Yu-ra. It was because of our Seon-hwa..."
"Ah... No, I should be the one apologizing. If I hadn't come here for no reason, I wouldn't have gotten caught up in this. Well, thanks to that, this guy's okay though."
"...Khuhum... On that point... I am... grateful."
Lee Sung-min replied to Ha Yu-ra in a stiff voice.
Fortunately, his drugged paralysis had worn off,
but even so, he couldn't muster a retort and just wore an uncomfortable expression.
As she said, without Ha Yu-ra, Lee Sung-min would already be in the afterlife instead of here.
Then.
"Oh my, you should be thanking this child, not me. If Seon-hwa hadn't insisted on coming here, we wouldn't have come at all. And honestly, if Seon-hwa hadn't stopped you, you would've ditched him long ago, right?"
"W-Was... that so?"
Lee Sung-min gave Ha Yu-ra a troubled look and glanced at Seon-hwa.
Watching her stuck right by my side, he cautiously opened his mouth.
"Thank you, really. I survived thanks to you."
"..."
Whether flustered or embarrassed,
Seon-hwa buried her face in my navel and averted her gaze.
Meanwhile, I stroked Seon-hwa's head,
and for some reason, the series of events felt too perfectly timed to be mere coincidence—almost contrived.
Kim Ji-su's crime had been meticulously planned just like in my past life, so nothing odd there.
But what stopped what should have been a 'success' was me...
More precisely, Seon-hwa's involvement.
If this child hadn't come here,
no... if she hadn't stayed until the end, I wouldn't have risked coming all the way here.
Honestly, the death of a total stranger like Lee Sung-min was just a landmine to avoid, not something I cared deeply about.
I hadn't even known the incident was happening today, let alone that this man was here.
'And yet things unfolded this way... Just coincidence? Or...'
I was lost in thought for a moment.
But Sung-min's next words cut me off.
"Thank you once again. Thanks to you, Chae Soo-jeong, I survived. I'll repay this debt somehow later."
"Ah..."
Lee Sung-min bowed his head with a bright smile.
His demeanor stirred a different emotion in my heart.
A man who should have died today with a agonized face.
Yet now, he smiled alive before me.
Someone's precious son,
and beloved by countless fans.
Separate from personal fondness, the fact that I had saved such a person's life
made me suddenly recall the moment in my past life when I saved 'Plea.'
The pure joy of saving a person's life as a person.
"I only did what needed to be done. Don't worry about it."
Dismissing that earlier vague unease,
I simply felt proud of the moment and smiled.
Then.
"Let go of me! Let go! I'm innocent! I'm innocent! Sung-min! Sung-min!"
"!"
"That bastard..."
"Haa..."
Even as she was dragged into the police car at the last moment, she thrashed, staring this way...
Precisely at Lee Sung-min.
Kim Ji-su.
Her brazenness, spouting such nonsense after committing this atrocity, made me grimace involuntarily.
The sight of that bitch approaching our daughter with a steel pipe still turned my stomach.
Thank goodness I barely restrained myself with the last thread of reason—not wanting to make our daughter a murderer's child.
If I'd let go just a bit more then, I really would have killed her with my own hands.
Honestly, watching her babble nonsense without a hint of remorse even now still stirred murderous rage in me...
But separate from those feelings, I knew full well.
That regarding that matter, I
no longer needed to worry about it.