Usage of 'late/later' with 'had I' [closed]

Are the following sentences grammatically correct?

Had I been any late than that, the guy would have died instantly.

Had I been there a minute later, the guy would die instantly.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.

The first sentence is incorrect, and the second sentence is correct.

The issue isn’t agreement with “had I”. Rather, in both cases, the question is whether you intend to use “late” as an absolute, or “later” compared to something.

If you are describing something as late without a comparison, then you would use late.

This is not affected by “had I” which marks the tense, but doesn’t need to agree with the adjective.

You can say “had I been late, the guy would have died...” Or “Had I been later than planned, the guy would have died”. Or “Had I been later, the guy would have died...”

The second and third mean the same thing, but (than planned) is being left unstated or implied from some other context in the final example.