Ha-neul choked up and apologized, saying she had hidden the truth because she didn't want him to take any more mental hits. After that, she told him the whole truth as she knew it.
It turned out that before the ambulance arrived, both she and Kyung-min had still been somewhat conscious. Knowing he couldn't hide it anymore, Kyung-min blurted out bitter words about the grudge between him and Dong-gu's family.
Kyung-min had been born into a single-parent family, with a father who was an alcoholic. Thanks to his hard work and his talent, a university professor took a liking to him and recommended him to be Dong-gu's tutor so he could make a living. Dong-gu's mother was very generous, paying him double the usual salary. But in Kyung-min's eyes, she was a selfish person who cared more about herself than about her own child. She hired a tutor simply because she was afraid Dong-gu would ruin her reputation.
At first, Kyung-min felt bad for Dong-gu, having to live in such a cold family. But when they met, he saw that Dong-gu was always smiling, positive, and optimistic. He realized that the optimism was genuine. And then, the two of them slowly grew close, like blood brothers.
Kyung-min often took Dong-gu out for good food, but he always told him not to call him older brother in front of his mother. Both of them had family backgrounds that were hard to talk about. But while Dong-gu always looked forward, Kyung-min grew more pessimistic and felt more and more inferior.
The tragedy happened a few weeks before Dong-gu's big exam. That night, Kyung-min's father was dead drunk and called his son for help. Kyung-min asked Dong-gu's mother for two hours off to take his father home, but she coldly refused. As a result, that night, his father died in a traffic accident, after drinking too much and accidentally taking eight sleeping pills.
Ever since then, Kyung-min's love had turned into hatred. He once secretly put sleeping pills into Dong-gu's drink, to make his mother taste the pain of losing a loved one. But at the last minute, he didn't have the heart to go through with it, so he took him to the emergency room instead.
He just kept living in that tearing cycle of love and hate. Dong-gu's kindness only made him feel more pathetic.
Right now, due to the severe injuries from the car crash, Kyung-min's internal organs were all failing. Knowing he wouldn't make it, he called Dong-gu over and confessed.
"I only found out it was your clinic one day before the medical accident happened. I did try to stop it, but things had gone too far."
Kyung-min admitted he had his hands in too many things, so he couldn't turn back anymore.
Even so, Dong-gu absolutely refused to forgive him. He dropped bitter words, stating that Kyung-min had no right to receive any forgiveness from him.
Kyung-min just whispered, "I'm sorry for hurting you. Don't forgive me, and don't hate me for too long, either. Just forget me and start a new life."
Bitterly, up until the very last moment of his life, Kyung-min still didn't receive a single word of forgiveness. He took his last breath in loneliness on his hospital bed.
Looking at the suit Kyung-min had gifted him, laid out on the bed, Dong-gu remembered the day he graduated college as the valedictorian. At that time, his parents had been too busy to even show up. Right when he felt the most left out, Kyung-min showed up with a bouquet of flowers and the suit he had promised to give him before.
Only now did Dong-gu realize that time was also when Kyung-min's father had just passed away, not long before. Yet he still held back his own pain in order to keep his promise. The more he thought about it, the more heartbroken Dong-gu felt, and the tears just kept pouring out non-stop.
After Kyung-min's death, all the evil things he had done were exposed by the media. The hospital, after finding out that Kyung-min was the one who stole Ha-neul's research, offered to invite her back to work as a specialized professor.
Ha-neul hesitated a bit. Even though that spot belonged to her, sitting in the chair of someone who had just passed away made her feel a little guilty.
Dong-gu wasn't doing much better either. He went to the prison to meet the accomplice nurse from the medical accident back then. She confessed that it was true, Kyung-min had handed her a note. But the content of it was actually asking her to lower the drug dosage, to prevent any deaths.
This proved that Kyung-min's dying words were true. He did bad things, but he never intended to kill or to harm anyone's life.
With a heavy heart, Dong-gu called his mother to ask about what had happened back then. It turned out that his mother had known perfectly well about Kyung-min's father passing away, but she hid it because she was afraid it would affect his exams.
His mother's heartlessness and her disregard for human life made Dong-gu hurt even more. He regretted not forgiving Kyung-min sooner.
On the way home, he ran into Ha-neul, who was carrying the exact same heavy mood. Both of them understood that the other was hurting deeply, so they silently agreed to give each other private space to face their own sadness.
To change the mood, Ha-neul's family decided to go on a field trip to Busan for the day. Right when Dong-gu's parents were about to return to the country, because he wasn't ready to face them, he shamelessly asked to tag along with his girlfriend's family.
It's just that this trip was a bit more chaotic than he had imagined.
The lucky man was sandwiched tightly between the uncle and Ha-neul's mother in the car. The vibe was so awkward he wanted to hide in a hole. To warm up the atmosphere, Ha-neul's mother pulled out all kinds of food she had prepped, stuffing one thing after another into Dong-gu's hands. She had even brought pig head meat and rice wine along in the car for snacking. When your future mother-in-law offers, how could you refuse? Dong-gu just had to bitterly accept.
Seeing her mother being a bit extra, Ha-neul was about to stop her, but to save her face, Dong-gu actually asked for more wine. And right then the car hit a bumpy stretch of road, and the wine spilled all over him.
The younger brother quickly said he had his old pick-up outfit from back in the day in the back of the car, so Dong-gu had to change right away. Who knew that after changing, he would find it was a huge kendo uniform? Wearing it out on the street would make him the most eye-catching man in town. He was about to change out of it, but the uncle quickly grabbed his old clothes, saying he'd take them to wash for him.
So the crew hit the road again. This time, the uncle was shoved into the middle to keep an eye on Ha-neul's mother, so she wouldn't cause any more chaos.