Episode 145
Lee Jae-heon, who brought a pipe with him, started a new fire a little away from where the group was staying. A small fire was burning, just enough to light two people.
After determining that there were no monsters or people around, he opened his mouth to the main character in front of him.
“…so.”
The voice came out messed up thanks to the blood it contained.
“Why are you so angry, Jeong In-ho?”
“….”
At those words, the protagonist slowly blinked. It was similar to a person moving their stiff eyelids to wake up from sleep, but the smile on his face was so sincere that it was annoying. A really disgusting guy.
He was silent for a moment before answering.
“…It’s been a while since I heard that title.”
“I don’t think I can say it’s been a while.”
“I know.”
I know it too.
‘If I found out about it now, things would get messy.’
Lee Jae-heon, who cursed out of fatigue, just sighed. Not only did it not suit his temperament, but he was not accustomed to planning things in such a way that he would rather save someone than to devise a plan to throw one person into the abyss.
Nevertheless, as a member of the protagonist’s group, he had to somehow raise the protagonist in front of him. At least for the immediate and permanent escape from the underworld.
“…I don’t know what on earth Mr. Jeong In-ho knows.”
Originally, I was going to say something like, ‘I don’t know what I know,’ but I immediately corrected it.
Looking at what he just said out of his wits, it seems like he felt an unreasonable loneliness from the fact that he was the only one to remember all of this. Even if you don’t understand it, touching on the other person’s weaknesses wasn’t a very good idea at the moment. I had to go back as far as I could.
Even though he turned the tide, the protagonist was still looking at Lee Jae-heon with a blank gaze and a sincere and neat smile.
“….”
“….”
Around the time ‘Jaeheon Lee’ frowned as if he didn’t understand that gaze, the other person slowly opened his mouth. It was the moment when my mouth, which had been smiling all the time, finally did its job.
“I know the manager is very sick.”
Oh, I guess it starts from there.
“…What do you mean out of the blue?”
“Of course, you have a lot of pain.”
It wasn’t a bad introduction.
Jaeheon Lee deliberately spoke quietly. It meant that he was tired and couldn’t hide it and showed his agitation, and it also showed that ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was making an effort not to make something known.
‘Even if I’m mentally ill, I’m still the main character.’
It seemed that Jung In-ho wanted to first reveal what he was hiding: the fact that he was ‘being driven crazy by the green algae monster.’ I also thought that I had caught a pretty good lead in order to take the lead in the conversation. A person whose secret is revealed will inevitably lose his cool.
Of course, I don’t know if he thought that far before starting the story, or if he was lucky enough to catch the topic while his mental power was at its lowest, but Lee Jae-heon was planning to bow down to the other person as much as possible. There was no need to waste time here.
“I came out of the office with holes in my body and burns on my ankles, and I was dragged by some monster and came back with nowhere to be found….” “….” “
…
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just stay still even when you sleep?”
After saying that, Jeong In-ho tapped his neck lightly with his finger.
“I don’t know how weird of a dream you had that you were scratching like that.”
“…This is just….”
Lee Jae-heon raised his hand and lightly covered my neck. I felt a crusty scab with my fingertips, and judging by the pain in my throat, it looked like there was a bruise.
‘This is what it would be like if you threw a fish trap into the lake.’
Perhaps making a fish trap and throwing it into the lake was part of yesterday’s plan. Right now, I think it’s time to take a break before going out to catch the fish. It could be expected that the protagonist had already figured that out and was pretending to sleep to see Jaeheon Lee’s reaction.
It would have been at that level to be able to follow along so quickly.
“…Boss.”
“….”
“What on earth are you dreaming about?”
Lee Jae-heon frowned at Jeong In-ho’s words.
“I don’t know what that has to do with Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“You always vomit blood when you wake up. Does it really have anything to do with me, who is on the same team? “Really?”
“I don’t have any problems….”
“You know, problems.”
“….”
“This is the problem that arose after you were dragged away by that monster.”
The protagonist seemed to be trying to let him know that he could return on his own. At least they won’t try to hide it even if they don’t say anything. To that extent, no effort was made to hide the knowledge prior to the regression.
“That’s why you kept trying to distance yourself from us, Manager.”
In contrast to his sincere and neat expression, his voice was cracked.
“You did that because you thought we would be in danger…”
“….”
‘Lee Jae-heon’ couldn’t hide his embarrassed expression after hearing those words.
Even before coming to the underworld, he had been trying to keep his distance from others. In the first place, wasn’t ‘Lee Jae-heon’ even hiding his past that he had visited the secret world several times? Even at this point, the only people who knew it were Ha Seong-yoon and Jeong In-ho. There were many things he could not share, so he could not easily communicate openly with others.
So I thought it would be okay to increase the distance a little more. If his guess was correct, ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was turning into some kind of monster. Since he didn’t know when he might kill these weak and pitiful creatures, he thought it would be a good idea to let his companions be wary of him.
And I never thought that Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho would know the detailed circumstances.
“…Why did you say that….”
I was exposed to a fact that I thought I was hiding well.
“…If a monster comes here, you will be alone again. You probably think it’s okay to die anyway, right? “Because you mean nothing to us.”
“Are you swearing?”
“No, that’s what you think. “You don’t think we have any value or meaning to you, so you don’t think of us as human beings… That’s right.”
“I…”
“Why do I have to repeat this stupid story with you?”
‘Lee Jae-heon’ bit his lip at the extremely smooth and neat smile that did not match his distorted voice. Jeong In-ho probably felt aggrieved about something.
“Isn’t it enough to say this useless nonsense once? Don’t you think so? I thought we could still talk like human beings…” “
….”
“Okay, I’ll just get to the point.”
He took a shaky step and grabbed Lee Jae-heon by the collar.
“what…!”
When Jae-heon Lee, who was taken aback by the sudden attack, reflexively tightened his grip on the pipe in his hand with murderous intent, In-ho Jeong, who grabbed his collar with both hands, spoke firmly.
“Don’t die.”
“….”
“Don’t die.”
Jet-black eyes were staring at him.
“….”
…In the meantime, I felt that he came back even crazier.
‘How on earth must it be for your eyes to roll like that?’
Even while talking nonsense, Jaeheon Lee couldn’t hide his distorted face. Although I was trying to restrain myself to make it seem plausible, I felt a sigh of relief when I saw the main character, who had a different meaning from the original novel, right in front of me. I wasn’t this crazy guy.
“I understand why you want to die. “I feel like I’m going crazy because I keep going back and forth between these different worlds, and it’s so hard, and I understand that I want to just pass it on and take a break because I happen to see myself as a really good talent.”
“….”
“Now that you have a reason to die, how relieved must you be? Because you have no value to us, and you are even becoming a monster who deserves to die. “I want to die, but there is a reason to die and there is no reason not to die.”
“…Wait….”
“But you know what? You helped us so much. He said he cared for me so much. Even if you die, I believe we can just forget about you and live happily ever after, but it’s really unfortunate. We’re not that fucking stupid. People who were just talking and laughing normally go crazy when they go out. i know?”
“Director Jeong, wait a minute.”
“I feel like I’m going to get so annoyed every time you act like that and avoid answering…!”
Ah, this was a mistake. It’s been so long since I’ve been grabbed by the collar that I made a mistake.
‘Maybe the title Mr. Jeong In-ho was ingrained in my mind more deeply than I thought…’
Now he was being scolded for calling me ‘Assistant Manager Jeong’ instead of ‘Mr. Jeong In-ho.’
Jaeheon Lee suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu as he was grabbed by the collar and shaken slightly for saying the wrong name. I don’t know why there are so many people, including Kang Min-ah and this bastard, who don’t think they can get to know the manager as much as a convenience store receipt. These shameful bastards. This means that not everything I do is acting.
But it also struck me in a new way.
‘The mental performance really went well.’
No matter how annoying Lee Jae-heon was, the guy who maintained at least some manners grabbed him by the collar. It meant that he had no intention of managing his image, even roughly, and at the same time, it also meant that he couldn’t even shake that level of hypocrisy.
‘What on earth happened after I died?’
Jaeheon Lee erased all the light emotions from his face. Actually, it didn’t exist in the first place, but what can you do? Since Jung In-ho already thought that ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was acting, he had no choice but to follow suit.
He opened his mouth with a look of hesitation, borderline sadness, and a look of confusion on his face.
“What on earth… on what basis are you continuing to say this?”
The protagonist laughed at the mechanical yet tired voice.
“On what basis?”
“That’s right…”
“Wow, that’s something I really don’t want to hear… Do you know?”
“….”
“I really don’t want to hear it.” The hand that was holding my collar
suddenly
lost its strength.
“…Why do I have to be like this….”
The voice was just dry, without even crying.
“….”
It seemed like he had probably reached his limit.
‘…? ‘Did I raise him too nicely?’
In the original story, Jung In-ho is not mentally stronger than this. At least I think it was solid. Lee Jae-heon couldn’t help but be embarrassed at the sight of him losing his mind after only returning twice.
If Jae-heon Lee had expected it to go as planned, In-ho Jeong should have taken control of the conversation and brushed him off. They revealed that Lee Jae-heon was brainwashed by a monster and gradually distanced themselves from him because of his past, so it was time to ask him to change his mind and cooperate properly.
‘Even after that, there’s a lot of work to do.’
After finishing the work of ‘Lee Jae-heon’, we had to think together about a strategy to get rid of Song In-myeong and devise a way to escape from the underworld, or dig into those who had problems one by one, such as Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Ga-ram, and put them on a leash. I have to think about how I will be connected to Hong Kyung-jun’s team.
But….
“….”
“….”
It seemed that Jeong In-ho’s mental strength had been lost even more than expected.
‘…Isn’t this bastard committing suicide, not me…?’
He swallowed a sigh as he looked at the main character sitting still with his head down in a daze.
Even if you commit suicide, you will regress again, and even the main character may be convinced of that now, but what is there that mentally broken people can’t do? It was natural to do anything without being able to distinguish between efficiency and inefficiency.
The guy in front of me is currently in that state.
“….”
He wiped the corners of his mouth for a moment and called out Jeong In-ho.
“…Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“….”
The protagonist raised his head at the call.
Lee Jae-heon said, slightly biting his lip.
“I’m sorry.”
“….”
“I don’t know what the situation is, and I don’t know what I did to In-ho Jeong, but still… I feel like I did something wrong.”
“…Chief?”
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
As if he still doesn’t understand, but as if he will respect you. Although there was a mixture of confusion, he continued speaking so that it could be seen that he was trying to take the other person’s words as seriously as possible.
“I did everything wrong.”
This one year old chick.
‘Why was that chick considered 5 years old even though it was no older than an elementary school student? It was almost a newly born chick.’
Lee Jae-heon managed his facial expression, skillfully hiding his rising skepticism.
I think there was a similar situation before I was dragged away by the green algae monster, but the good news was that the other person wasn’t crying this time. If I had cried here, how tired would it have been to soothe it. No matter how much I thought about it, I hated seeing a grown man cry.
Jeong In-ho, who was quietly staring at Lee Jae-heon with a blank face, perhaps knowing that he was treating him like a child, slowly opened his mouth.
“…that’s right.”
“….”
“Because it was the manager’s fault… I…”
The guy who had been silent for a long time burst into laughter.
“I failed.”
“…What do you mean from earlier?”
“I failed because I was wrong. “I ruined everything.”
“Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“sorry. The manager worked hard to get it there. “I thought a lot had changed.”
“….”
“…I ruined it….”
It was full of guilt, but it was also full of bitter resentment, and he was stubborn, bordering on brainwashing, saying he couldn’t have done anything wrong. The end of his voice was shaking, but in the end, Jeong In-ho’s neat and sincere smile could not be erased.
A complex conflict that only takes place internally.
“….”
It was crazy, but that wasn’t the direction Jaeheon Lee pursued.
‘It’ll break down like that.’
Jaeheon Lee wanted the main character to go crazy, but he also wanted him to be as healthy as possible. I didn’t want him to be like now, a fool who thinks he’s broken on the outside and broken on the inside, but he’s the only one who doesn’t show it.
In essence, life is all about blaming others, but that guy didn’t know anything. Anyway, innocent child. I thought he was playing the main character because of that, but when Lee Jae-heon saw him, he was just a brat.
‘I don’t think I was that stupid to begin with.’
Oh, just blame me like you did before, you disgusting bastard. What kind of psychology is it to blame yourself when there are people who will take care of you even if you get kicked and stepped on thousands of times in front of your eyes? I didn’t understand.
He felt the need to first melt his opponent.
“…I think I’m not the only one who is familiar with this situation. I’m sure something like this happened before. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago, but…” ”
….”
“Even then, In-ho Jeong was out of his mind. In my personal opinion, it seems worse now… I don’t know why normal people keep getting ruined like this.”
Lee Jae-heon, with embarrassment and worry painted on his tired face, made eye contact with the protagonist.
“Do you remember what I said before?”
“…What do you mean?”
“He said he would listen if I told him.”
“….”
“That wasn’t just something you said, Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
In fact, ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was not in a good condition to calmly provide psychological counseling to others. I’m already going crazy because I don’t know when I’m going to kill an innocent person, and my nose is three feet wide both physically and mentally. What kind of counseling is this and what kind of comfort is comfort?
Still, I felt a certain amount of pity for the ‘Lee Jae-heon’ that Lee Jae-heon created. Because of that, he lost his senses when he saw Song In-myeong killing someone, and he has sacrificed his life to protect the others.
‘There is no problem with probability.’
He sighed lightly and continued.
“…Inho.”
I opened my mouth cautiously, just like I did when I called my children and comforted my young family.
“great job.”
“….”
“I don’t know what it was, but you did a good job.”
Hugging and patting each other wasn’t a bad option, but hugging grown men who weren’t even children wasn’t what Jaeheon Lee or Inho Jeong wanted. To begin with, the two aren’t on good terms to approach each other like that.
So what can we do? You should at least clean your mouth.
“If you’re having a hard time, you can tell me. “I’m not saying anything about that.”
Of course, 89% of your troubles were my intention.
Lee Jae-heon sighed openly and covered the back of his neck with one hand and gently swept it. Although it was partly due to the itchy throat that had barely recovered and then turned into a mess on the road, it was also a motion that showed that ‘Jaeheon Lee’ was remembering what happened with the green algae monster.
Nevertheless, he opened his mouth without any hesitation.
“I know I have a different common sense from you. I’m sorry if I did something wrong with that. I apologize. So, if you want to be angry, be angry. “Stop acting like a fool like this.”
“….”
“…I’ll ask you this because you seem to need an excuse.”
He asked firmly, making eye contact.
“what’s the matter.”
“…Uh….”
“Why are you dying alone?”
I winced.
He continued speaking without catching Jeong In-ho, who was retreating.
“Do you want me to help you?”
“….”
The other person kept his mouth shut.
In-ho Jeong seemed to have been thinking about it hundreds and thousands of times. It seemed like he was regretting his mistake, but it also seemed like he was too dazed and an idiot to understand what was going on. I couldn’t answer for a long time.
Lee Jae-heon quietly looked into the main character’s pitch-black eyes. Jeong In-ho made eye contact several times with that calm and determined gaze, but he avoided it and tried to make eye contact again. To put it bluntly, Jaeheon Lee couldn’t understand what that stupid chick was thinking.
However, only after about 10 minutes had passed did Jeong In-ho respond in a faint voice.
“…Why did he have to be the manager?”
“What do you mean?”
“Anything. “Why do I have to…”
The neat smile disappeared, leaving only an empty face, creating the illusion of water droplets falling down.
Yes, it was a hallucination. In the silent forest, the sound of a round bell breaking sounded like a scream, and even the empty smile disappeared, and the extremely dry face raised its head and faced Jae-heon Lee. Thankfully, it seemed that In-ho Jeong did not cry.
Nevertheless, it did not look like the eyes of someone who had given up or resigned to everything.
“…help.”
“…okay.”
“Don’t even die.”
“I will try my best.”
“And…”
said the protagonist.
“Please listen to my story.”
