Alas, there is no regret medicine on earth. It's a solid short story that doesn't deviate from the summary and delivers a good jab to the heart. It's sad watching HYS be forced (though HYS is also willing to be forced) to watch LJ parade his new, younger, and hotter lover in front of him as revenge for abandoning LJ years ago.

But I think the reason why this story is both sad yet not really is that this entire situation is both their fault. In all fairness to LJ, HYS... more>> literally wrote an email and skipped out of town without giving any reason; effectively abandoning LJ to be left with all the questions and doubt with zero answers. Through the entire story, HYS continually keeps his illness a secret and doesn't explain a damn thing. Is LJ in the right for treating HYS this way? No, but HYS isn't any better for literally abandoning his lover and keeping everything a secret. It's easy to sympathize with HYS because the readers know he's sick and dying, but LJ literally has no idea so you can't even begrudge him for treating a sick person like this.

The story is ok but the problem is that under all the sadness is this feeling of annoyance because LJ would have done everything differently if he knew HYS had a terminal illness. This whole situation could have been avoided had HYS opened his mouth at any point and said "I am dying.", but HYS doesn't, so LJ didn't, and thus this. I get that the author wanted a quick sad story, but with the easiest solution being just a sentence away, it's hard to truly feel bad for HYS or LJ without a tinge of irritation. <<less

(nothing's gonna be in a spoiler drop-down cuz it's such a short story and everyone kind of knows what's gonna happen from the very beginning)

It's a heart-wrenching story. But I felt like there was a lot to be improved story-wise (no comments about the writing/translating, it was impeccable).

I felt that the MC is not to be pitied. He left his lover with little to no warning because he didn't want to give the ML hope that things could get any better. He wanted a clean cut-off to their... more>> relationship. Okay. Bad idea. What he actually did is leave a scar on the ML's heart forever, which leads to the bad decisions that he makes concerning the MC when the MC comes back. Oh yeah. The MC comes back.

It's hypocritical. First, the MC wants a clean cut-off. Then, he wants to enjoy his last days with his lover. First, he makes a bad decision. Then, he somehow makes that decision even worse. Because all going back does is reveal his true intentions in a heartbeat. He basically leads the ML into a downward spiral of death and despair, making the ML think that he's at fault for not knowing something that he couldn't have known. The MC wants his lover to live a good life, but then destroys his lover's chances at a good life with his own hands.

However, the fact that the MC is sick and on death's door can give rise to sympathy from the readers (like how prisoners headed for the electrocuting chair get a last meal, everyone feels it). In such cases where emotions are high and the author leaves the faults of the MC out, we think that the MC is pure and unsullied. We think that the ML is the villain. Don't get me wrong, the ML should have never treated the MC the way he did after the MC came back, but at least it was warranted. On the other hand, the MC's intentions and actions are entirely contradictory. He's the reason that the tragedy of this story really exists. <<less

In My Opinion,

There are various people with various amounts of sin in this story. Rather than playing the game of blame, and trying to puzzle out exactly whose fault it was for this tangled mess of deception, hurt and lies, it is perhaps more in the nature of this story to just observe what happened, and learn from it.

He Yusen, the MC, is terminally ill. Informed of this diagnosis by his doctor, and knowing there is no cure for a genetically inherited disease, he panics, choosing to break up... more>> with his partner, Lu Jing over a perfunctory email, and flees the city. The surgery He Yusen undergoes fails, but he still has several years to live. Still yearning for his partner, he returns to the city, wishing to visit an old place of memories, but there he meets his ex, Lu Jing. This is where their self destructive tale truly unfolds.

Irregardless of hurt feelings or emotions of betrayal, it is absolutely abhorrent of Lu Jing to kidnap He Yusen, assault him, sexually and not, and further abuse him emotionally, mentally and physically out of some childish sense of petty revenge.

He Yusen himself is not completely blameless— had he had more faith in their relationship, understood to rely and trust in his partner instead of running away from that responsibility, or just been truthful, all of this could have been prevented. But he did not, and so he suffered. Given the diagnosis of terminally ill, anyone would find it hard to go about day to day life normally, let alone a youth with a very limited support system, and nobody to run to for advice other than his partner— who is the exact person he doesn’t want to know of his illness.

Different people have different views of course, and it is understandable to have no sympathy for He Yusen in this situation— he was the one who started it after all. Terminally ill or not, foolish and s*upid actions or not, it doesn’t erase the fact that before he died, He Yusen lived a long period of suffering and neglect, continuous abuse that he himself endured under some misguided sense of guilt and repentance. Wilful ignorance is a sin, but mere ignorance is not. And that was what He Yusen was. Dumb, reckless, young, alone, so, so, alone. Can one really blame him? It is not in my place to say so, only for you to decide for yourself.

Maybe one can alleviate the gravity of Lu Jing’s actions. He was angry, confused, and worst of all, unable to let go. So of course when he saw He Yusen again, he would do anything in his power to make him stay. But even if He Yusen had started it, Lu Jing was the one who stretched the situation far beyond any forgivable point. He had the chance to turn away. He had time. Lu Jing had the resources to move on. But he didn’t. He refused, and destroyed a man whom he claimed to love, and himself in the process. Had he just been more sympathetic, and reflective of his actions, rather than let himself be consumed by his desire for revenge, this story could have gone in a completely different direction.

Rather than a annoying tale of two adults who never made or even considered the right decision for a single moment in their lives, as many would call it, I personally read it as a more tragic tale of two teenagers who never really grew up, and lacked the people or support in their lives to develop into the emotional maturity they sorely needed. Like teenagers, they never grew to move past their complicated feelings for each other, and never took the time to step back and take a second look at their relationship. Until the end, when the consequences finally came crashing down onto their heads, it might have never occured to them to ‘regret’, and to reflect. So they hurt each other and dragged others around them into a maelstrom of resentment and sorrow, and for what, really?

Sympathy seems to be the end goal of this story. Had He Yusen stopped to think how Lu Jing might feel, and how hurt he would be if he knew that He Yusen didn’t trust him with such a life-shattering news and ran away instead, or had Lu Jing stopped even once in his petty self-indulgence of abuse to wonder why He Yusen still endured, and how He Yusen, who cried right in front of him, would think, this might have been a completely different story. Had they put aside their personal issues to sympathise, to have compassion, and communicate, so much suffering could have been prevented. But like the story reiterates in both He Yusen’s and Lu Jing’s last POVs, what’s done is done. It cannot be taken back, only regretted upon.

Whether one can attribute He Yusen’s foolhardy endeavour to his lack of genuine support, or Lu Jing’s childish wrath to how no one dared to question his decisions ever, perhaps it is even more moronic of us, the audience, to try to draw links of blame and judgement, because isn’t that what the characters did? And they failed so horribly in their undertaking. Rather than that, this story seems to compel us to look forward. Not to forget or even forgive, but to look forward so that we all can progress towards the acceptance and tranquility these characters never reached. And such it is to move on, no matter how difficult it may seem. So we can be better people, and the world a better place.

Anyway, kudos to translator (s) 先生, fantastic job. I liked the recommendations. Vocab was alright, grammar was consistent, sentence structure made sense and the paragraphing was faithful. Stellar job overall. Your hard work is much appreciated. Thanks to author too for the story, it was a very action-packed (?) one. And hope this helped you, reader. <<less

Okay, This story made me lose many tears. And now I can't breathe because of running nose.

Well this kind of story is exaggerated to make it very sad. But well, it still a nice read. I will not read a story with tragedy if it was longer. But if it's a short one like this it's okay. Because we are already expecting it.

This story means to tell us that we should stop being mean to other as a revenge. Because revenge not only breed more hatred or suffering and usually never ends well, but yeah overall this story was pretty good, I just want to see ML suffering more 😄, but yeah, knowing MC couldn't come back already making him pretty miserable. And actually the one still living will be the one suffer more, they will always regreting their mistake. Yep, im sucker for tragedy so 5 star for the author and... more>> thank you for the translator, second life always doing a good job at translation. 😁 <<less

Depressing, but frustrating. You know what you're getting into when you read a story like this, and if you're looking for a read to make you upset, this will do the trick.

But the misunderstandings required to get here, the fact that it could all be assuaged by the MC literally just opening his mouth and not running away is so... ugh.

2/5, frustrating but tolerable.

There are tragedies which are just sad, unavoidable situations.

Here. Both the ML and the MC were freaking dumbasses. MC could have literally just opened his mouth, not just ran away randomly and gone through the surgery with the support of bis partner. Even after he came back he could have at least said Hey I'm dying.

The ML was... my dude... therapy and anger management classes are an exceellnt method to cope. Noth whatever the heck he did.