I am not a Yandere chapter 156

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This question stirred an unfamiliar emotion within him—something warm and fuzzy in his chest.

He wanted to understand why he felt this way.

“What’s your name?”

When Dowon was with Eungyeol, his world felt larger.

Until then, his narrow life revolved solely around studying and work.

It was thanks to Eungyeol that he discovered the bliss of fried chicken, realized movie screens were bigger than he had imagined, and learned there were many fun things he had never experienced.

For the first time, life felt vibrant.

The dry, dim monotony of his days transformed when he was with Eungyeol, even if the circumstances were the same.

Dowon didn’t want to lose him.

‘I want Eungyeol to stay by my side. Forever. To show me new things—other foods besides chicken, places other than the movies, and everything else I don’t know.’

But watching Eungyeol easily connect with others, Dowon realized this was nothing more than his wish.

While Eungyeol was everything to him, Dowon was not everything to Eungyeol.

Bright and sociable, Eungyeol naturally attracted people like Seo Jihoon, Baek Seonwoo, and Ha Wonjin.

Seeing the constant stream of people around him filled Dowon with a chilling anxiety.

‘What if he gets tired of me? What if he abandons me? After all, he has so many other people.’

A person who’s lived their whole life in a snowy, cold country wouldn’t know the warmth of spring.

But once they’ve experienced it, even in the dead of winter, they’d yearn for spring.

Dowon felt the same.

He had never felt anything for anyone before.

But now that someone had brought warmth into his life—what if that person left?

An unbearable anxiety gripped him.

That fear ignited a dangerous obsession within him.

If only there were no one else around Eungyeol.

Then, he’d never leave.

They could be each other’s only ones.

ꔚ

“Is it true that Dowon isn’t really my grandson?”

“What? Father, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Secretary Ha told me. He overheard Park Kyungsook talking on the phone with Dowon’s real father.”

Dowon looked at Wonjin, standing next to Heeseok.

His gaze demanded an explanation, but Wonjin coldly turned away, betraying his trust.

Seeing him like that, Dowon felt his heart sink with a powerful sense of betrayal.

Until now, he had thought of Wonjin as someone he could rely on after Eungyeol.

Despite his naive appearance, he was dependable and had always taken care of him as his subordinate.

The image of Wonjin handing him an energy drink, urging him to rest after pulling an all-nighter, was still vivid.

But that memory shattered like an illusion, leaving only a stranger who now looked at him like an enemy.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

‘Why did he betray my trust?’

Dowon had countless questions he wanted to ask Wonjin.

At first, he was too stunned to react.

Then, a terrible sensation overtook him, as though his insides were twisting.

‘Why? What did I ever do to him?’

But the worst was yet to come.

“Both of you, get out of this house and my company immediately!”

In less than ten seconds, with a single sentence, Heeseok discarded Dowon.

He drove him out of the company, out of his home, and refused even to meet him despite Dowon’s repeated requests.

It was as though all the effort and time Dowon had poured into their relationship had been mocked.

For Dowon, being acknowledged by Cha Heeseok had been the goal of his life since the day he was born.

He had lived his entire life striving solely for that.

Yet, in an instant, that aspiration dissolved into nothingness.

Not because of a fault of his own, but simply because of his very existence—his birth.

If you reject me like this, doesn’t that mean my very existence is a mistake?

Having lived with the singular, blind goal of “earning Cha Heeseok’s recognition,” Dowon felt utterly adrift once that goal disappeared.

It was as if he were stranded in the middle of a vast ocean without a map, compass, or even a raft.

He didn’t know where to go, what to do, or how to move forward.

He lacked ambition. There was nothing he wanted to achieve.

He couldn’t even find a reason to keep living.

Something inside him crumbled, painfully and irreparably.

His heart ached unbearably.

It was sorrowful.

Just… sorrowful.

And agonizing.

ꔚ

Having lost his life’s purpose in a single moment, Dowon shut himself away at home, living day to day while barely breathing.

Even though he did nothing, his entire body felt heavy, and his heart thudded painfully as though it would burst.

Everything felt futile.

Everything he had built over his lifetime had been destroyed in an instant.

He couldn’t summon the courage to start anew.

The emotion called despair ate away at him.

As his mental state deteriorated, he instinctively sought out Eungyeol, who had been the first to bring him joy.

“Lee Eungyeol…”

Hoping Eungyeol would pull him out of this abyss, Dowon ventured outside and walked aimlessly, not even knowing where to find him.

That’s when a truck barreled toward him at a terrifying speed.

The deafening blare of the horn struck Dowon’s ears.

He saw the truck charging toward him but knew there was no way he could evade it at human speed.

In that moment, his entire body froze.

The most primal fear a human could experience—fear of death—seized every cell of Dowon’s body.

Bang.

The deafening crash rang out.

Dowon’s vision flipped, and the next thing he saw was the blue sky.

“Ahhh! Someone!”

Sharp screams echoed nearby.

Soon, a crowd began to gather around Dowon.

Through blurred vision, Dowon gazed at the murmuring people.

His insides felt completely destroyed.

The cold asphalt beneath his back contrasted sharply with the burning pain that engulfed his body. The agony of death was starkly clear.

He knew that if he closed his eyes now, it would all be over.

His eyelids drooped shut on their own.

And thus, Dowon met his death.

ꔚ

He thought it was all over.

But Dowon was given another life.

It was absurd, really.

Now that he knew the whole truth, he no longer had any desire to earn Cha Heeseok’s acknowledgment or anything else.

Still, if there was one thing he wanted to achieve before he died this time, it was revenge against PetitRolang, the one responsible for making him like this.

Yes, in this life, Dowon would dedicate himself to one thing: revenge against PetitRolang.

After all, there was nothing else he wanted, nothing else he aspired to.

Even in his final moments before his death, he had been tormented by suffocating helplessness.

Though his second life began fixated solely on revenge, once Dowon cast off all the constraints that had bound him, the world began to look different.

At first, he questioned, ‘Why am I doing this? or How can I even do this?’

Tasks he initially dreaded became trivial when he approached them with the mindset of screwing over PetitRolang. And as his experiences grew, he found himself developing new aspirations.

Even starting his shop had been nothing more than a step in his revenge.

But as time passed, the small space filled with memories of Jihoon, the part-timer, and regular customers.

Slowly, it became something he treasured.

Unlike before, he began forming connections with many people: the Beautiful Life brats, Kim Dal-soo, Lee Eungyeol, Ha Wonjin, Baek Seonwoo, and… Seo Jihoon.

‘So, what do I truly want now? Not obsessive revenge, but what is it that I genuinely desire?’

After revisiting the past like a montage, Dowon asked himself this question and blinked awake from a long slumber.

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