The Side Character Breaks The Plot|| A Solo Leveling Fanfiction

Chapter 33 - A Fragment of light

A/n: I finally got my account back. ___*( ￣皿￣)/#____ I should really save my passwords somewhere or on something. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Huhu. I'll try posting updates every day or every other day. Sorry sorry sorry.

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(Third person POV.)

"Goodbye Mr. Sung!"

"Please come back some other time!"

The twin little girls waved their arms at Ilhwan, their arms stretched up to the sky as high as they could. Ilhwan chuckled a bit before turning his back on the girls that were in charge of the dried fish stall he had just exited. He sighs as he looks at his wristwatch. It's almost dinner time. His wife should be home by now.

It's been a few days since his son left home. It gave a whole lot of stress to his wife since it's not the first time it happened. She's been going out these days, however. She says it's to pay attention to something else. He scratched the back of his head wondering what he could do to lift his wife's spirit.

"Ugh." But it seems he won't be coming straight home tonight.

"It's been a while."

"Ah." Lee Sol Gyoung took him to one of the nearest cafés. They go way back. Sol Gyoung used to be his senior from college that helped him a lot with Org stuff. They also entered the Military together. He was even there when Lee married his first wife. Although, Ilhwan left early due to the fact that he just betrayed one of his best friends, a girl named Yoona.

"I haven't seen you since the wedding."

"Since the fire of your family's laboratory." Ilhwan corrected as he took a sip of his coffee. He crossed his legs and looked outside to the city traffic.

"Well, you ignored me that time."

"I had a lot of regrets in my life. Supporting you was one of them. I hope your daughter is at least different."

"You're always the righteous one between us." Sol Gyoung's order arrived. A strawberry cake which made him clack his tongue. It was Yoona's favorite pastry. "I have a favor to ask you."

"I'm not doing this again, Sol Gyoung. The fire was the last time I'm helping you with anything."

"How many times do I have to tell you, I didn't kill Yoona." He said in a monotone voice, as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "Yoona's child has decided to betray me. I need to—"

"For heaven's sake, leave the child alone!" He had to calm himself down. They're getting unwanted attention from the other customers. "Did you even love her at all? Just the slightest affection."

"Yoona betrayed me. She deceived me. She wanted to expose my family. She entered the lab convincing my father all she wanted was to be with me. And now her daughter decided to do the same thing."

"You weren't even on board with your father's activities. You wanted it to be gone as well. Yoona did you a favor. And I can't believe I helped you hide the secret of that laboratory."

The day the laboratory was burned down, Ilhwan was one of the firefighters who were in charge of making a report about the fire and what caused it. He helped Sol Gyoung hide the documents that would lead to the downfall of their company. In addition to that, she found one of Yoona's journals. He decided to burn it anyway for the sake of his former friend's child.

"Your son is the detective handling LSY's case. Get the evidence from him."

He can't believe this man. After all those years that they helped hoist each other up, he just had to appear again and ask for another favor. And this time Sol Gyoung's asking him to betray his own son.

"Who killed Yoona?"

"What?"

"If it wasn't you who killed her, who did?"

"Well." He adjusted his suit and position to lean on his chair. "A man named Nam Do Hyun. He's a five-star admiral who used to serve in the US." Ilhwan's eyes widened. "I'm sure you're familiar with him."

"That man..."

"Yes, he's a hero of this country. He's an untouchable foe. Now that you know who killed your best friend, what do you ought to do?"

Sol Gyoung looks at him dead in the eyes. Nam is revered today as a hero of Seoul and is highly trusted by the people to defend the country from any sudden attacks since he has great connections with the US military and government.

"I can't kill him either. Well..." Sol Gyoung continued.

"What are you thinking about now?"

"At first I wanted to place my daughter in a spot close to Nam Do Hyun so she can take the blame for me once I end up shooting a bullet in his head. I can't trust my daughter to do just that anymore. Or should I use the death of her mother so I can carry out the plans."

"Your daughter..." Ilhwan chuckled underneath his hair at this man's joke. "You are indeed out of your mind, Sol Gyoung. No. You weren't human to begin with."

"It's not your world therefore you wouldn't understand. You can't trust anyone. My father used me. Yoona used me. My own son, who was to take the title of chairman, shot a bullet in my leg. Now I need a fucking cane to walk. Shin-Ah. Well, I saw she was a cold-hearted genius whose only desire is to be accepted in a family. I thought she was perfect. That she could fit into my world. That she could understand me. But she took the evidence we hid."

"Shin-Ah is a kind and brilliant girl. She doesn't fit in your self-loathing world."

"It seems to me that you've met her a couple of times." He flinched when Sol Gyoung looked at him with a sharp and discerning gaze. "I heard our children became close. Doesn't that just take you back to the old days? Your child. And then Yoona's child. Only they live in completely different worlds."

"She's your daughter. Why can't you fix this world for her?"

"At one point, I did think of loving her. She made me worry a couple of times. For the first time, I really thought of having a connection with my kid. But this company is far more important than anything else. I will silence them in the shadows if I have to."

"If you keep on doing this, you're no different than your father."

"Insanity runs in our blood." He shrugs. "My father had this constant nightmare in the past. That monsters will rip open the world and destroy it. He became insane over it. And that insanity led him to create the asset. Nam Do Hyun happened to share the same nightmares, I heard."

Ilhwan felt like a bucket of cold water was tossed on his body. Those nightmares seem to describe the past. The reversion of time was not perfect after all. If he remembered the past, so could other people.

"At the end of the day, the Lee family was a cursed clan. It's time to end this bloodline once and for all."

"Why did you even try?" Sol Gyoung's brow raised. "Why did you try and make a family with Yoona if you're going to kill your child anyway?"

"I loved her." He says it as if he had a heart to love. "This talk had dragged on for far too long. I won't ask anything else if you won't agree to my plans. I can take it by force. The Lee will go down with honor."

"Honor? Coming from you?" Ilhwan shook his head as the other man stood up and fixed his suit. "I won't help you this time, Sol Gyoung. So please, go down with the last ounce of honor that you have. Spare your children."

He just stood there and never responded. He must be contemplating his faults and his life. This old man has seen so much and sacrificed so much. Nothing could bring him back to being human. He left the restaurant and drove away.

Ilhwan, on the other hand, thought about something. As payment for betraying his friend. It's only so rare but he thinks he can make it happen. To connect with the rulers once again.

Only, without him knowing, was it the biggest mistake he could ever make for Yoona's child.