32. The Misery
86th timeline
October 15, 2022
A Day After Yunho’s 86th Death
W ooju imagined Yunho matching steps with him as they approached the metal railings of the Han River.
Yunho would hold his hand and smile, and Wooju would melt from the comforting warmth of Yunho’s touch. That was, until Wooju came to realize that it was all in his mind. There was no Yunho.
Wooju had told Yunho what would happen again—about how Yunho dies and who ends up killing him. Wooju told him everything , including Jaehee’s identity.
Jo Woohyun was Noh Jaehee’s real name.
He was also Jo Wooju’s older brother.
And regardless of the timeline or situation, Yunho always died at this man’s hands.
Revealing the future didn’t save Yunho’s life.
The dark, swollen bags under Wooju’s eyes had worsened only a day after Yunho’s eighty-sixth death. He’d been through too many tragedies, too many times. The loop was gradually swallowing him whole, making it impossible to breathe, even though he wasn’t drowning underwater.
How he ended up at the edge of the railings, Wooju couldn’t even remember. He just wanted to die.
One, two, three.
In the eighty-sixth timeline, Wooju jumped off the Han River bridge, plunging himself into the water below.
As he descended, the painful, icy-cold river embraced him, and Wooju allowed it to consume every fiber in his body. The lack of air or the water filling his lungs must have clouded his mind because Wooju thought he saw his father swimming toward him, extending a hand from up above, gilded rays trailing him from behind.
Wooju simply stared at the hand reaching out for him. He knew that if he took it, he would wind up weeping over the same mistake of thinking he could escape this hell if help showed up at his door.
Wooju’s mother passed away after giving birth to him, his father drowned after saving him, and then there was Yunho, murdered because of him. If he took the hand and resurfaced, he would be alive but damned.
One, two, three.
Die.
Wooju stopped breathing.
A familiar, strong, and calloused hand seized hold of him, pulling him out of the water’s grasp.
One, two, three .
The next time Wooju blinked his eyes open, he found himself lying on a hospital bed. He looked around and saw the lines hooked to him, the cardiac monitor beeping next to him, and a man sitting at his bedside, reading a book.
Everything was a blur at first, and Wooju so desperately wished it would stay that way. But as he rubbed his eyes and focused on the man who must have been his savior, Wooju didn’t know how to feel. He just asked, “Why?”
Noh Jaehee, born with the name Jo Woohyun, shifted his gaze from the book in his hand to Wooju.
“Why did you pull me out, hyung ?” Wooju continued, his voice brittle as ice. “Why didn’t you just let me die?”
Wooju wished his brother would lie. Just lie and make him feel better instead of constantly haunting him.
Woohyun was not one to lie, though. The man may have been manipulative and narcissistic, but never a liar.
Upon considering his little brother’s question, Woohyun set his book aside and brought his hands together.
“You know, Wooju, sometimes I still hear Dad’s voice in my head, saying his last words. ‘You were supposed to watch over him, Woohyun .’” He laughed bitterly. “What an idiot. I thought it was my fault he died, but no, I was wrong. It was your fault, little brother.”
Wooju could feel his insides twist.
Heartless, Woohyun shot Wooju a glare. “Why would I let you die now?” he questioned. “Dad saved your life, so shouldn’t you live even if you don’t want to? Since it was your fault he died, do him a favor and live, Wooju.”
Sometimes, words cut deeper than knives. Woohyun knew what he was doing. He knew how to hurt Wooju. And he did it very well.
“Live in misery,” added Woohyun, his voice laced with venom. “For the rest of your life, little brother.”