I was turned around by the strong arm shaking my body.
The moment I confirmed the owner of the arm holding me, my pupils trembled.
With healthy, glowing skin that looked good, glossy hair, a straight bridge of the nose, and tearful eyes, it was a face that closely resembled my own, making it impossible not to know who he was.
It was a young and lively face I had never seen once during his past lifetime.
“Haejoo, you’re our Haejoo, right?”
The voice of my own flesh and blood, impossible to forget even with the passage of time.
This young man, who was full of tears both past and present, was undoubtedly my dad.
I stood speechless, looking at my dad as he shed tears right in front of me.
I thought I would burst into loud, sobbing tears the moment I saw him, but strangely, once the existence I had kept buried deep in my heart actually appeared before my eyes, my mind settled down calmly.
I couldn’t believe it.
This meeting didn’t feel like reality.
Even though I was seeing the healthy figure of my dad—exactly as I had dreamed of—with my own eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
This really is my dad, right?
This isn’t a dream, is it?
Unable to fully believe his presence, I raised my hand and began to gropingly touch his face.
Skin with a warm texture where blood was circulating.
The vividness of being alive.
My dad had truly come back to life right in front of me.
My dad, who tightly grasped my hands as they fumbled over his face, also couldn’t stop crying.
Disproportionate to his tall and well-built frame, he wept sorrowfully like a young child.
“It’s truly a miracle, isn’t it? Out of so, so many people, only you caught my eye, Haejoo. You were startled because I grabbed you so suddenly, right? It was because I couldn’t believe it. I was afraid you might disappear to somewhere else again.”
My dad held me tightly, stammering his words as he wailed at the top of his lungs like a child.
Only then did this entire situation begin to feel real to me, and I threw my arms around him.
After coming to this place, I had endured loneliness and solitude for a very long time.
I burst into tears in my dad’s embrace, crying for the entirety of those sorrowful times.
Without even being able to say thank you to Brother Hanbin and Hyunwook, who were blocking the gaze of other people for us, the two of us just held onto each other and cried for a long time.
With our eyes swollen thick, we moved our seats inside the car.
Even while we were sharing news of how we had been, I clung closely to my dad and refused to detach myself.
Although his healthy appearance—having become younger and, above all, no longer sick—felt unfamiliar, it was identical to the look of my dad that I remembered from my childhood, which brought me psychological comfort.
My dad was currently running a quite large business as the representative of a travel agency whose name anyone would recognize.
In his past life, he had always said that once he got better from his illness, he wanted to take us and travel around freely, but I never imagined he would be doing work related to that here.
“Dad woke up here with my memories intact too. My heart ached so much thinking about you guys that I suffered and struggled to adjust for quite a while. Since no photos, traces, or anything else remained, I just kept pulling out the images of you guys from inside my memories. I tried my best to recall them as much as possible, fearing I might forget even those. But for something like this to happen.”
He said that here, where everything was identical to the Korea of our past life, he had even gone to visit the place where we used to live.
However, because it wasn’t exactly identical down to the finest details, he said that while the neighborhood existed, the villa we lived in and its previous appearance did not.
It made sense when I thought about it.
This place was certainly like the Korea I used to live in, but it wasn’t perfectly identical.
Therefore, it was only natural that it wouldn’t be there even if he went looking for the place we lived.
Because that was a place the author who set up this world building didn’t know about.
“I don’t know how grateful I am to that tourist who showed me your photo. If I hadn’t seen that, I would have just gone on missing you forever. Although you’re an imperial concubine so your status isn’t ordinary, having the hope that I could meet you brought vibrancy back to my life.”
“Dad, don’t I seem a bit strange to you? I’m different from before. I’m an Omega.”
I also went through a heat, and because of that, a baby was created and then lost.
I’m very different from your son in the past.
Even so, do I still seem like your whole son?
I couldn’t bring myself to say these words out loud and just looked at my dad.
My dad probably already knew about my situation through the news and the internet.
Right now in the media, speculative articles about me were running rampant without restraint.
From the moment he realized I was a member of the imperial family, my dad would have taken a lot of interest in that direction.
So he naturally would have looked up articles about me, and in fact, it would be more strange if he didn’t know.
And just as I expected, there was a lot contained within my dad’s eyes as he looked at me.
It was an expression that could understand everything completely without me having to utter a single word.
“What about it? That’s only natural here. Dad is an Alpha too. I can understand all of it. More than that, Dad is just so upset that you suffered such horrible abuse from that old man. Even though I was under the same sky for that long time, I couldn’t protect you. That makes me so resentful and fills me with bitter grief. That son of a bitch, to my child…”
My dad hugged me tightly and began to sob once again.
“Because I had nothing to pass down to you, I passed down that damn disease and turned your young life into a hell, but to think you suffered that kind of thing here again… when I heard the news, it felt like my intestines were tearing apart. I’m sorry. Dad is so sorry for everything.”
From my dad’s tone of voice, I could feel just how disastrous his current state of mind was.
Because it seemed my dad was far too upset, reassuring him quickly was of the utmost urgency.
I hadn’t always been unhappy since coming to this place.
Excluding the times when that damn grandfather came around, it was a reasonably peaceful daily life in its own way.
Because I was cautious and careful time and time again, unlike the original work, I didn’t have any major problems with Joo Minhyuk and lived quietly, even growing close to the court lady and maids of the pavilion to feel small amounts of happiness.
On top of that, before meeting Hyunwook, Brother Hanbin had protected me reliably, giving me a place to depend on and set my mind at ease.
Since it crossed my mind, I decided to introduce my brother to my dad.
Soothing my crying dad, I called for my brother and Hyunwook, who were standing outside.
My brother came inside and sat down next to me with a slightly awkward expression.
“Dad, this is my brother. He’s the reason I was able to endure here, and my only family. What Brother suffered from Grandfather was even more severe than me, and he really went through a lot of hardships to protect me. And Brother knows everything about my situation. So please treat him comfortably.”
My dad, who had been crying while leaning on my shoulder, raised his head to look at Brother Hanbin, and showed a smile along with a sheepish expression.
“Actually, while hearing about the circumstances from Hyunwook, I heard a lot about the Commander as well. Thank you so much. Truly. You’ve gone through a lot of hardships. From now on, don’t worry about anything.”
“Hardships? Haejoo is my younger brother. Protecting him as an older brother is only natural, and in the future as well, if I don’t have our Haejoo…”
The polite tone of Brother Hanbin, who had been greeting him respectfully out of manners, trailed off.
Realizing that his words contained a misunderstanding, my dad quickly corrected his statement.
“Ah, no. Me telling you not to worry doesn’t mean I’m going to just snatch Haejoo away. I have no intention of separating the two of you either. Of course, the Commander’s opinion is important too…. What I meant by telling you not to worry is that from now on, I will look after the two of you.”
“Yes?”
When the words about looking after him came out, Brother Hanbin turned back to look at me with an expression I was seeing for the very first time, as if he were flustered.
Then again, my brother was not someone who had been taken care of by anyone until now.
He was an independent and strong person who overcame everything on his own.
So just how unfamiliar must that word be to him?
On top of that, to hear such words from someone around his own age….
Now that I think about it, let’s see.
What is the current age difference between the two of them?
Uh… a four-year difference?
Oh boy.
How do we sort out this relationship?
While I was unable to hide my flustered mind, my dad stepped in to sort things out as if he had read my thoughts.
“Since Haejoo is my son, the Commander is my son too.”
Uh….
“What?”
The question mark filling my brother’s face was speaking for his mind.
No, isn’t that a bit too much of a stretch?
However, my dad’s expression is far too serious.
Since he is shouting that you are my son too with a face completely devoid of any laughter, what should we do about this?
“A father… but we look to be around the same age….”
“The Commander is in his twenties and I am in my thirties, so I am fully qualified to be a father. At any rate, it’s a relief that I am older. Your shoulders must have been heavy with responsibility all this time, so from now on, lean on me, take a breather, and live comfortably.”
“Ah…. Yes.”
Ah, yes? Yes?
What? Did he accept it?
That Cha Hanbin gives in to another person’s words that easily?
It’s an incredibly absurd thing to say, but because my dad is serious, even my brother became serious along with him and nodded his head.
Perhaps because he knew about my past, my brother accepted everything with an open mind.
Normally, even if someone knew, they wouldn’t be able to believe it and would pass it over after doubting it at least once.
Is he unexpectedly naive because he only did training in the military?
While I was feeling bewildered by the relationship being sorted out as smoothly as flowing water, Hyunwook, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned his body around.
“I’m sorry to spoil the fun while everyone is catching up, but we don’t have much time right now. For now, let’s discuss the most important plan for the future.”
Right. Hyunwook is right.
Although I am incredibly happy because it’s a meeting after a truly long time, we can’t just be leisurely crying and hugging like this right now.
Now that I’ve met my dad, I have no intention of parting ways again.
It seems to be the same for my dad too.
If so, what should we do?
“The situation is such that Haejoo needs to come out of the palace one way or another. At a time when talk of deposing the Imperial Concubine is constantly coming up, His Majesty is stubbornly refusing to divorce, so at this rate, there is a high possibility he will be deposed.”
“That’s what I’m saying. If I get deposed, my situation becomes difficult. They call it living outside the palace, but I’ll be semi-forcibly confined and have to live under constant surveillance for the rest of my life. I have to get a divorce somehow.”
At Hyunwook’s and my words, my dad’s expression grows heavy.
“Is it impossible to just live without doing either of the two? Just…”
“Dad, even if His Majesty insists that he won’t divorce, the feasibility of that is zero. The ministers won’t sit still. I am the grandson of the Prime Minister, who was the mastermind of the rebellion. Just being in that position makes no sense in the first place. They will definitely drag me down. That’s why the ministers are also looking at my circumstances and willing to let it slide with a divorce instead of deposing me to become a commoner, but His Majesty is unyielding. If the bill to depose me gets passed like this, I will be in a truly difficult spot.”
“First of all, we must ensure a divorce, and Haejoo and I must go outside. The family meeting up can come after that. Therefore, we need to draw up a safe divorce plan.”
A safe divorce. Now, it’s not a matter of liking or disliking Joo Minhyuk.
If I get deposed to a commoner, everything is over, so we can’t drag out the time any longer.
