The Sickly Transmigrator Hides the Fact that He Became a Puppy - Chapter 8.1
“Se Hyun!”
A middle-aged woman rushed up the stairs, darting to where Se Hyun lay on the floor with Han Joon over him. She looked just like Se Hyun, pleading with Han Joon to calm down and release his grip.
Moments later, a man in his mid-to-late forties trudged up the metal steps, standing at the doorway with a fierce scowl fixed on Han Joon.
As a congressman whose handsome face often popped up on shows beyond the news, Yi Hyeon instantly recognized him.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing!”
Only then did Han Joon let go of Se Hyun’s collar, almost tossing him aside. When the congressman demanded an explanation, Han Joon kept silent.
“I didn’t do anything. I just… wanted to get closer to him. I only brought Louie something tasty because I know he cares about him.”
The sneering tone from earlier, when he’d told Han Joon to leave, was completely gone. Now he seemed weak, his voice even trembling as if scared.
“Your little brother reaches out, and this is how you, as his elder, respond…!”
The congressman, like the students at school, took Se Hyun’s words at face value, jumping to scold Han Joon. From Yi Hyeon’s point of view, the one who was wronged was clearly Han Joon.
“So I lost my temper out of nowhere? Hey, say it right. You knew exactly what you were feeding him. Do you think I wouldn’t catch on?”
“I… I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Hyung.”
Se Hyun kept up his act, pretending to be the helpless victim.
“You’re telling me you didn’t know how dangerous grapes are for dogs? You liar.”
Se Hyun’s mother turned to him with a worried look.
“Se Hyun, did you really try to feed Louie grapes?”
“I brought it because I thought it tasted good. I didn’t know it was dangerous for dogs.”
She then looked back at Han Joon, offering an apologetic expression.
“Joon, I think Se Hyun just didn’t realize. He hasn’t had a dog before… so—”
“And what if it had killed him?”
“… What?”
“Would you still be saying that? ‘Oh, he didn’t know’?”
“Joon, that’s not what I—”
“Are we really making this big of a scene over one dog?”
The congressman’s dismissive comment made Han Joon’s face twist with complex emotions. Without a word, he abruptly stood, grabbing his bag and wallet from his desk.
“What are you doing now?”
“Leaving home, as you can see. You won’t come looking for me, right? After all, it’s just one freeloader gone.”
Holding Yi Hyeon securely in his arms, Han Joon spoke in a voice thick with restrained anger. In response, the congressman, as he watched him step toward the front door, spat out an icy warning, telling him not to bother coming back because he would no longer consider him a son.
“It’s not like I wanted to be here anyway. If you brought me here just to keep my mouth shut, the least you could’ve done was pretend to care. What if, out of spite, I found a reporter and told them my father is Congressman Han Chul Woo, and my mother is…!”
At that, the congressman’s hand flew up, and Yi Hyeon instinctively flinched, memories of his own father’s harsh strikes flashing in his mind as he curled into Han Joon’s arms. A resounding slap echoed through the house as Han Joon staggered from the blow.
“Is that how you speak in front of the woman who took you in?”
He wasn’t even her real son. Han Joon finally snapped at his father’s words, and burst out laughing at the congressman. He pressed on, asking if he had ever thought about position of someone who had a child out of wedlock and put it on his family register.
“Fine, fine! So go live happily with your precious wife and only son, Se Hyun! And don’t come to my funeral if I die somewhere on the streets, just like you didn’t for my mother.”
With that, Han Joon stormed out of the house, tearing himself away from his father’s furious shouting.
Once outside, he realized he had nowhere to go. Clutching Yi Hyeon tightly, he wandered the streets for a long time before finding a bench at a playground in a nearby park. Sitting down, he scrolled through his phone’s contacts, letting out a deep sigh as he scanned the list. Yi Hyeon, sitting beside him, watched his lonely gaze fall as he wrestled with how exposed and helpless Han Joon’s pain had been laid bare.
Yi Hyeon had always envied Han Joon.
He had a wealthy father who could pay for any college he wanted, was smart, and possessed looks so striking that he drew everyone’s gaze whenever he walked into a room. He’d thought that someone like Han Joon would have a carefree, happy life—never imagining he’d come from such a fractured home.
Now, he could understand why Han Joon carried so much bitterness.
