I Picked Up the Greatest Villain in the Story

27.

“Jian, should we ask to end today’s lesson early?”

Hyunwoo, leaning towards the passenger seat, made an enticing suggestion. After thinking for a moment, Jian nodded.

It would be difficult to work in this state, and above all, he didn’t want to be apart from Sehun.

Hyunwoo got out of the car and disappeared to the second floor, saying he would talk to the teacher currently in class.

Jian entered the cafe while holding Sehun. The eyes of the customers chatting inside the cafe turned to the faces of the two with tear stains.

Quickly seating Sehun on the special chair inside the counter, Jian asked in a kind voice.

“Sehun, sit here for a moment. Should I make you something to drink?”

Shake shake.

Sehun shook his head and just tightly held onto Jian’s sleeve. Jian, momentarily looking troubled, gently held the small hand and carefully coaxed.

“I’ll finish work quickly. Can you wait just a little bit? Okay?”

His voice was soft as he soothed the child. Sehun, breathing roughly from crying, loosened his clenched fist.

After wiping the tears from the corners of Sehun’s eyes with his thumb, Jian straightened up from his bent position at the child’s eye level.

He apologized to the customers and cleaned up the cafe. Even the complaining customers thanked him and left when Jian handed out three free drink coupons each.

Unlike usual when he would wipe everything dry with a cloth, today he just washed the cups used by customers and placed them upside down on the metal shelf. As he was wiping the remaining moisture on his hands with a handkerchief, a clear bell sound rang.

“Sehun!”

Hyunsu ran into the cafe, shaking off even Hyunwoo’s hand he had been holding. Hyunwoo momentarily stared blankly at his empty hand.

Regardless of his brother’s shock, Hyunsu ran up to the counter looking for Sehun. And as soon as he spotted Sehun behind the counter, his small face crumpled.

“…I’m sorry about earlier.”

Jian wore a puzzled expression at the sudden apology. He had been curious about why Sehun suddenly came downstairs, and seeing the situation unfold, it seemed to be related to Hyunsu.

Could they have fought again?

But Hyunsu spoke as if he had unilaterally wronged Sehun.

Jian made eye contact with Hyunwoo and mouthed a question. Asking if something had happened. But Hyunwoo couldn’t readily answer either.

Seeing his face full of troubled expression, Jian also became serious. When he had asked Sehun earlier, he only said he missed his hyung too much.

He shouldn’t have let it go then. He should have asked more precisely about what had happened.

As he felt belated regret, Hyunsu ducked under the counter. However, he couldn’t approach Sehun completely, stopping about two steps away and clasping his hands together.

“I just… missed mom and dad, so, I asked if you missed them too…”

Jian took a small breath at Hyunsu’s stumbling, tearful words. The topic of parents was an Achilles’ heel for Jian as well.

Even now, remembering his parents made a corner of his heart ache. Come to think of it, how did Sehun end up at the research facility?

He still didn’t know anything about that part and could only speculate. Considering Sehun said he had nowhere to go when asked, he might have lost his parents like Jian or been abandoned.

Either way, just talking about it would be a big wound for the child. Especially since Sehun was the only survivor of the research facility where inhumane experiments were conducted.

What the child had gone through before meeting him was beyond simply describing as terrible.

Even as Hyunsu awkwardly apologized, Sehun’s expression remained calm. Except for his occasional blinking eyes, he looked like a doll, making it difficult to read what he was thinking.

Jian suddenly felt anxious. Seeing the eyes that used to sparkle when looking at him now lifeless like ashes, his mouth went dry.

“Hyunsu, shall we talk about this later?”

Although he understood the desire to apologize, Sehun’s appearance looked too unsettling to keep watching.

“Yes, Yoo Hyunsu. Come to hyung.”

Hyunwoo also called Hyunsu at that moment. Hyunsu returned to Hyunwoo with a gloomy face.

“I think it’s better for us to go first. I’ll call you later.”

“Yes, hyung. Take care on your way home.”

After seeing off the Yoo brothers, Jian crouched in front of Sehun, who was sitting motionless with his head bowed low.

As he met Sehun’s gaze with a smile, unlike before, life sparkled in his round eyes. It felt like watching a withered flower suddenly bloom full of vitality.

Jian took the child’s hand and began to speak gently. He was as careful as possible to ensure his words wouldn’t cause new wounds.

“Did you talk about family with Hyunsu during class today?”

“…”

The child’s silence pierced Jian’s heart painfully. What should he do? What words could he say to comfort the hurt child’s heart?

From a very young age, Jian had to do anything to survive. As a result, he not only didn’t get along well with peers but also had no opportunity or time to form positive relationships.

There were moments when talking to people felt awkward, crushed by the daily life that was as heavy as a rock.

He felt frustrated, wanting to look into the child’s heart more closely and comfort him, but not knowing how.

“Hyung…”

So Jian spoke about himself instead of the child who had locked his words away. It was the first time he was talking about his parents to someone.

His aunt, his only blood relative, would get upset at the mere mention of his mother, and when the topic of parents came up during school or with peers, Jian would clam up like Sehun.

Because he felt like he would burst into tears if he opened his mouth. The loss experienced at such a young age had created a hole in his heart that would never be filled.

Expressing emotions he had always suppressed was easier than he had feared. Jian gently rubbed the back of the child’s hand with his thumb.

“Actually, I don’t have many memories of my parents. But I remember that they loved me very much. It’s really strange, isn’t it?”

Even when he wanted to talk about his parents to someone, he didn’t have many memories to share. Only vague feelings and fragmented images arose, carrying the emotions he felt at the time.

“So even just hearing the words ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ suddenly makes me want to cry.”

But tears always only welled up in Jian’s heart. Partly because of his aunt and uncle who became more violent when he cried, and partly because he realized early on that crying didn’t change anything.

“Even though you and I aren’t really blood family…”

When he first realized he had been incarnated into a novel, he thought lightly of it. Because his past life had been so hard, he decided to enjoy his current life with newfound power and money as much as possible.

He resolved never to do anything dangerous and to fully enjoy an ordinary life he couldn’t have before while running a small cafe.

“I want Sehun to really become my brother. So I can be both mom and dad for Sehun.”

But everything changed when he met the child. At first, it might have been just a small compassion, but now he really wanted to do his best to ensure Sehun would grow up well, different from the original content.

“Our Sehun must have been very upset today.”

The child had run out of class and sought him with tears in his eyes. Even in that situation, when Jian cried, the child suppressed his own sadness and tried his best to comfort him.

The child in front of him now was very different from the villain described in the original work.

The child’s quivering lips held his sorrow. When Jian silently opened his arms, a small warmth jumped into his embrace.

“Can we really… become a family?”

The tear-soaked voice struck a chord. His trembling voice was full of desperation, as if Jian was his last lifeline.

“Of course. Absolutely.”

His throat tightened, making even a short answer difficult. After speaking as firmly as possible, he tightly hugged the fragile body. Hoping to convey the feelings he couldn’t fully express in words.

What Jian said to Sehun wasn’t just empty words, but the truth. Jian sincerely decided to become family for Sehun.

Even if they weren’t blood brothers like Hyunsu and Hyunwoo, he wanted to help Sehun forget the pain of the past and no longer cry at the mention of parents.

It was the moment Jian fully gave his heart to Sehun. Sehun’s eyes closed with satisfaction in Jian’s embrace.