A case of Transmigrating as a Sick Villain chapter 90

* * *

He couldn’t bring himself to read it, so he left it as it was.

It might just be a message he didn’t need to think too deeply about or could easily ignore.

However, ever since he had that dream, he couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease.

One thing he hadn’t forgotten: Baek Jingyeom was a villain.

He wondered if it had something to do with that, but there was no one around to ask.

On the day the message arrived, he thought about asking Jinwoo if he knew this person, but then he hesitated.

He was cautious, fearing that getting involved with him might not bring any good.

While communicating with him, he learned a new fact: Baek Jingyeom didn’t have anyone he could call a friend.

No matter how much pain he was in, he didn’t expect him to have no friends at all. It was even more shocking because, although Jinwoo might have found him a prickly and bad guy, he wasn’t like that to others.

At first, he thought it was convenient not receiving personal messages. But as time went on, it seemed odd.

When he checked his message inbox, he felt it again—how could someone’s social life be in such disarray?

Thinking back, he realized he had never asked Jinwoo if he had any memories of friends or people around him when he lost his memory.

This meant Jinwoo knew something about Baek Jingyeom’s social life.

“I never asked, but… it is strange.”

When he was first writing his resume for a part-time job, he realized that he and Jinwoo had attended the same schools throughout elementary, middle, and high school.

This meant they might have had mutual friends. Yet, he had never seen Jinwoo meeting up with anyone.

It was strange that not only Baek Jingyeom, but Jinwoo also seemed to have no friends.

Of course, Jinwoo’s friends were never mentioned in ‘Gray’ either.

Most of the people he met were those he encountered at work, and even those were rarely featured.

As he thought about it more, one question led to another.

Jingyeom shook his head side to side, trying to clear his increasingly tangled thoughts.

“Maybe they just don’t have time to meet friends.”

If every day is tough and exhausting, you may not have the time to meet people around you.

Plus, with debts to pay off and Baek Jingyeom’s poor health, it wouldn’t have been easy for Jinwoo to meet anyone.

Thinking about it that way, it didn’t seem strange at all. Jingyeom decided to believe that.

---

When Jinwoo returned home after work, he seemed slightly surprised by the prepared meal.

“Good job today.”

Jingyeom tightly hugged Jinwoo, who had come in after taking off his shoes.

It was the “welcome home” hug he couldn’t give after the surgery because he had to be careful.

“I’m back.”

Jinwoo gently wrapped his arms around Jingyeom’s slender body, which he hadn’t held in a long time. When Jingyeom first suggested a “welcome home” hug, Jinwoo couldn’t believe it.

The hug felt awkward but made him happy.

He never thought there would come a day when he could hold this small body in his arms.

Until now, all he had done was move him while he slept. But now, Jingyeom reached out to him first without hesitation.

That… stirred his desires.

He began to wish that, in the future, he would be the only one who could hold and touch this body.

Jinwoo gently brushed Jingyeom’s hair aside.

“It needs a trim.”

“Does it? Maybe I should go to the salon tomorrow.”

“Let’s go together this weekend. I need a trim too.”

“Really? Then let’s go out, have some good food, and have fun after.”

Jinwoo, who was about to say no, kept his mouth shut and nodded.

During his hospital stay, Jingyeom had never complained about feeling suffocated or wanting to go outside.

Whether it was out of consideration for him or because he genuinely felt okay, Jinwoo wasn’t sure.

But given that Jingyeom frequently walked in the rooftop garden, it seemed more likely he was just holding back his feelings.

“Okay. I’ll make a salon appointment. Let’s eat before the food gets cold!”

Jingyeom clapped his hands a few times, saying the food looked especially delicious today.

All he had done was wash the rice and put it in the rice cooker, but still.

After finishing the meal and cleaning up, Jinwoo, drying his hands, looked at Jingyeom, who was staring at his laptop.

“Do you want me to dry you off with a towel today too?”

“Huh? No, I’m fine. They said I could take a light shower now.”

While in the hospital, he had only been wiped down with wet towels and hadn’t showered.

After three weeks, when Hoonil said his wounds had healed well and he could now take light showers, he hesitated, fearing it might worsen.

At first, just wiping down with a wet towel felt uncomfortable, but since he hadn’t been sweating, he eventually got used to it.

Still, it didn’t compare to washing under a warm stream of water.

“Okay. Go wash up before you start feeling too lazy.”

Jinwoo turned on the boiler and spoke.

Before being hospitalized, Jingyeom often procrastinated, claiming he was too lazy, and ended up showering just before bed, so Jinwoo nudged him to get up.

As Jinwoo noticed, Jingyeom, who had planned to shower a bit later, grabbed his underwear and went into the bathroom.

Even though he could shower, he still applied a waterproof dressing band to keep as much water off his wounds as possible.

After leisurely washing from head to toe with warm water for the first time in a while, Jingyeom looked at his drowsy face in the mirror. He wiped the misted mirror with his wet hand.

“…”

When he stared directly into his eyes like this, he felt as if he was being sucked into somewhere. As he blinked, the water droplets that had gathered on his eyelashes seeped into his eyes.

Feeling the irritation, he rubbed his eyes and reached for the towel. In doing so, he knocked his underwear off the rack, and it fell to the floor.

Due to poor drainage in the bathroom, the water didn’t drain well, and his underwear ended up more than half soaked.

He thought he should grab a new pair from outside, so he roughly dried himself with a towel and opened the bathroom door wide.

Seeing Jingyeom step out of the bathroom, Jinwoo flinched and quickly turned his head away.

Startled by his reaction, Jingyeom stopped in his tracks on the bathroom threshold. Wondering if he had done something wrong, he quickly glanced around.

All he had done was come out after a shower.

Jingyeom cautiously spoke up.

“…Why?”

Jinwoo, with his face buried in his hands, didn’t answer.

Growing more anxious, Jingyeom tiptoed out of the bathroom, trying not to make any noise.

He looked around rapidly but still couldn’t figure out why Jinwoo was acting like that.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Your underwear?”

“Underwear? Oh, it’s wet.”

“Then you should have asked for a new pair… Why did you come out naked?”

“Why bother? It’s just two steps to the room.”

Finally realizing why Jinwoo had turned his head, Jingyeom lowered the heels he had been standing on.

He then went into the room and put on his underwear.

“Are you going to stay like that?”

“…Put some clothes on.”

“I already did.”

Jinwoo, who had raised his head, tightly closed his eyes again. He rubbed his face vigorously and let out a deep breath.

‘He meant to put on pajamas, too. Who told him to just put on underwear!’

Jinwoo exhaled heavily due to his rapidly beating heart.

Although he had seen that body countless times when wiping it down with a wet towel, the change of setting made it feel completely different.

Moreover, freshly washed with warm water, his pale body had turned a soft pink in places, creating an oddly tantalizing atmosphere.

Watching Jinwoo, who had begun to curl up even more, Jingyeom peeled off his dressing band and put on a new one.

Although his wound had healed, he decided to keep it on for a while longer.

He sometimes scratched it unconsciously while sleeping, so it was a precautionary measure.

He found it itchy, so his hand kept drifting up without him realizing it.

Now fully dressed in pajamas, Jingyeom asked Jinwoo, who was still in the same position.

“Are you going to stay like that?”

“…”

“What’s wrong with you?”
It seemed excessive to assume that Jinwoo’s reaction was simply because he was flustered by Jingyeom coming out without clothes.

Sure, some guys might not like seeing another man naked, but Jinwoo had never seemed bothered by it before.

In fact, when they were at the hospital, Jingyeom had been the one who felt awkward, while Jinwoo appeared completely indifferent.

“Hey.”

Jingyeom crouched down in front of Jinwoo and shook his arm.

“Are you feeling sick? Or tired?”

“…No.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“…I just had some things on my mind. Sorry.”

Jinwoo slowly raised his head and gave a faint, strained smile.

Jingyeom started to worry, wondering if something had happened at work.

As far as he knew, Wonbeom wasn’t bothering Jinwoo anymore, but maybe someone else had bad-mouthed him, like what happened in the rooftop garden last time.

No matter how unreliable his brother might be, Jingyeom could at least listen to his concerns.

After all, it’s said that sharing one’s worries with others can bring peace of mind.

“Did something happen at work? Is someone… bullying you?”

“No, it’s not that. I’m probably just tired these days.”

As Jingyeom stared closely at Jinwoo’s face, he noticed that Jinwoo’s ears had turned red. Not just his ears; his neck was red too.

“Do you have a fever?”

He quickly pressed his palm against Jinwoo’s forehead.

Since he had just washed up with warm water, his own hand felt cooler by comparison, but Jinwoo’s face had reddened even more.

Removing his hand from Jinwoo’s forehead, he gently cupped both of his cheeks.

“You’re really flushed.”

“…”

Jinwoo bit his lower lip tightly, perhaps too tightly, as he felt a metallic taste of blood.

He was so close to Jingyeom’s face that he didn’t know where to place his hands, now awkwardly hovering in the air, unable to swallow the blood and saliva pooling in his mouth.

He had been this close before, but freshly washed Jingyeom felt strangely provocative.

Water droplets ran down from Jingyeom’s still damp hair and landed on Jinwoo’s foot, snapping him back to reality. He let out a breath he had been holding in.

“Do we have any cold medicine? Wait a second.”

Thinking Jinwoo might have caught a cold, Jingyeom hurried to search through the medicine cabinet.

His thin silk pajamas pulled tight, outlining his body, and Jinwoo covered his eyes with his hands as he looked at his slender back.

On any other day, this would have been completely normal.

The only thing that had changed in this house was…

‘…Haah.’

…Jinwoo’s own heart.

* * *