Divorce Contract C51

Chapter 51

Having come down together with Go Igyeol, Yoon Jaeseon glanced around restlessly with an awkward expression. Aside from the difference in room size and bed type, Go Igyeol felt it was more or less the same and shifted from where he had been sitting in a daze.

“Do you need anything?”

“…No. I just… want to lie down a bit.”

“Ah, just a moment. I’ll help you.”

Yoon Jaeseon quickly stepped over and adjusted the angle of Go Igyeol’s bed. Even though it was an electric bed that Go Igyeol could have adjusted himself with the remote, he deliberately helped anyway. His gaze brushed against the cheek that had swollen red and quickly darted away. Earlier, he had only noticed the nosebleed and hadn’t realized his lip was split too—now, a crust of blood sat there.

“Are you… all right…?”

“…Ah.”

At the gaze directed at him, Go Igyeol faintly smiled and shook his head. He wasn’t the least bit all right, but just as Seo Dohyeon had once said, perhaps he had grown accustomed to situations like this, for it no longer fazed him.

“This sort of thing… it doesn’t matter anymore.”

His weary, shabby voice rang out quietly. Unable to respond to Go Igyeol’s words, Yoon Jaeseon bowed his head deeply.

“…You haven’t even had lunch. Would you like something to eat?”

“No. I just… want to sleep a little.”

“Shall I draw the curtain for you?”

At his cautious question, Go Igyeol answered that he should. Confirming that his eyes were closed, Yoon Jaeseon quietly moved his feet. Perhaps because it was a blackout curtain, the room soon sank into darkness. The soft whirring of the electric curtain motor filled the still hospital room.

Yoon Jaeseon checked the humidifier’s water tank five times to make sure the output was steady, and only when he heard Go Igyeol’s breathing turn even did he relax his tense body. He slumped onto the sofa, only to spring up at the sudden sound of the door opening.

“You’re here.”

“Who moved the room?”

“The Madam did. She said she couldn’t wait until you came…. It’s been a while since Go Igyeol-ssi fell asleep. He must have been tired, because as soon as he got here, he just….”

With exhaustion plain on his face compared to that morning, Seo Dohyeon stared fixedly at the deathly still figure of Go Igyeol asleep. The brown envelope bearing the hospital’s insignia in his hand suggested he had already checked the mandatory test results.

Sensing the atmosphere, Yoon Jaeseon lowered his voice. Asking if they might step outside to talk, Seo Dohyeon nodded. Yoon Jaeseon took the lead, and Seo Dohyeon followed him out of the hospital room.

“The Madam came and caused quite an uproar.”

“……”

“She was so furious that while Go Igyeol-ssi was standing there, she just—like this…!”

He recounted what he had seen to Seo Dohyeon. At the right moments, he even imitated Im Yeonhui, detailing how she had treated Go Igyeol. The expression on his face as he described how Go Igyeol had staggered and finally been sent flying carried a grimness that left no impression of exaggeration.

“He fell down, and then she came back and grabbed him by the collar like this and struck him again…. But Go Igyeol-ssi didn’t even let out a single groan.”

“……”

“He didn’t even try to defend himself…. That’s how it was.”

“I understand.”

Letting out a long sigh, Seo Dohyeon was given a brief moment of reprieve before Yoon Jaeseon spoke again. It was not something to decide hastily, but it was a matter that needed thorough review.

“And I’ve narrowed down a few agencies, as you instructed. Shall I organize them and give you the details?”

“Agencies?”

“Adoption agencies. You had told me to look into them for when Go Igyeol-ssi gives birth.”

At Yoon Jaeseon’s explanation, Seo Dohyeon made a low sound, as if only now recalling.

“One of them says they can arrange adoption into the best households regardless of the child’s gender or traits. Once adoptive parents are matched, they immediately conduct aptitude tests, and the results are shared. They claim even the family’s financial status, housing conditions, and tax payment history are disclosed transparently.”

“That sounds like a good place.”

“The other two don’t discriminate based on gender either, but the adoptive parents’ wealth depends on the child’s traits. Even so… they say the child would be placed in at least a middle-class home. The difference from the first place is that while they do run aptitude tests, the results are only shared with the agency, and the agency isn’t obligated to disclose them to us.”

“Then isn’t that a problem?”

Pressing his fingers against the corners of his eyes in weariness, Seo Dohyeon replied. Yoon Jaeseon explained that most agencies operated that way, and that the first one was a special case.

“They said if we don’t register quickly, our place in line for adoption will be pushed back.”

Yoon Jaeseon subtly suggested that it might be best to go ahead and register everywhere. Honestly, he thought Seo Dohyeon might just delegate the whole decision, telling him to handle it however he saw fit. Yet contrary to expectation, Seo Dohyeon showed no reaction. With a hardened expression, he kept staring stubbornly at the floor. Had something unpleasant happened at the main house? Even if it had, it couldn’t have been worse than what had happened to Go Igyeol.

“Later.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s do it later.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

With a gesture, Seo Dohyeon dismissed him. As Yoon Jaeseon, looking displeased, bowed his farewell, Seo Dohyeon told him to inform the desk that the room would be moved again.

“…You’re moving him again?”

“Yes, moving him. Back to the original room. You should have insisted it wasn’t acceptable. What were you doing while Go Igyeol’s room was being moved?”

At the reproach, Yoon Jaeseon’s jaw dropped in disbelief. What had he been doing? He had been struggling to stop the Madam, of course. Irritation at his superior, who didn’t acknowledge his effort, made his voice come out sharp.

“I told her multiple times that it would be best to wait until you arrived, but… the Madam isn’t someone I can stop.”

“I see. Even if that was the case with the room, couldn’t you at least have stopped her from striking Go Igyeol-ssi?”

“…I’m sorry. I was just too shocked.”

“Enough. It wasn’t your fault.”

Seo Dohyeon muttered flatly and gripped the hospital room door. Interpreting it as a dismissal, Yoon Jaeseon bowed his head deeply.

“I’ll inform the desk about moving the room. Then I’ll return to the office.”

Even as he walked down the corridor, he kept glancing back several times, studying his unusually strange superior. But then again, there hadn’t been a single day lately when his superior wasn’t strange, so he shook the thought off.

Just before going back inside, Seo Dohyeon turned his head, staring fixedly at Yoon Jaeseon’s retreating figure, then stepped into the hospital room.

The door closed with the faintest sound. Seo Dohyeon quieted his footsteps as he approached the bed.

Fast asleep, Go Igyeol had turned his head to the left, as was his habit, with both hands resting neatly atop his sunken belly.

The cheek that had been struck was still bright red. It was clear that soon a bluish bruise would spread. His nose tip was red as well, evidence of the nosebleed. The corners of his lips, which never seemed to have a day of peace, were torn and crusted with blood.

“Phew….”

He wondered when things had first gone wrong, only to realize that perhaps from the very beginning, every moment had been wrong, leaving him with an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Looking at the face that seemed peaceful only in sleep, Seo Dohyeon’s thoughts traveled back in time.

Though not memories from so very long ago, they felt blurred. Letting out a long sigh, pushing his hair back, Seo Dohyeon muttered, “January.”

The memories were unusually hazy. The only thing that came back vividly was Go Igyeol’s crying face.

It hadn’t looked much different from other times. A face too pained to feel pleasure. Hands that pushed him away, a frightened expression at times, saying it felt strange. A weight that clung to him, an act he had never once granted mercy to because he had relished it.

Was it then, in that frenzy, that contraception had failed?

“Ha… fuck.”

As he muttered a curse, Go Igyeol slowly opened his closed eyes. Blinking heavily laden lids, he soon recognized Seo Dohyeon and lowered his gaze. The silence that followed was no longer awkward.

“I heard you haven’t eaten.”

“…I’m not really hungry.”

“What, are you planning to starve to death.”

Since waking, he had not eaten properly. How many more days could he endure on nothing but supplements and IV drips? His already small face had grown so gaunt that the phrase “half a face” could no longer even be used as a joke.

“Tomorrow we’ll move you back to the original room.”

“It’s fine… I can just stay here.”

“I don’t like it. It’s uncomfortable.”

“That room’s too big, and I… I’m not in any position to recover in such a luxurious place. Honestly… staying here seems better.”

Recalling what Im Yeonhui had said, Go Igyeol blinked. Thinking about it, everything she said was true. For someone like him to use a VIP room was indeed absurd from their perspective. After what he had done, to brazenly enjoy such luxury was something he ought not to do.