Episode 106:
What should I say to someone who has adapted to being in so much pain?
It was the first time Kwon Yeon-hee saw someone who attached the word ‘natural’ to all the pain she was experiencing. It would probably be his first and last time in his life.
I grew up in a decent, if not spectacular, family. Rather than becoming a saint of the century, her parents wanted Kwon Yeon-hee to grow up to be someone who could raise a fallen child in front of them, and to know that gray exists between black and white. Kwon Yeon-hee grew up to be just that kind of adult.
That’s why she couldn’t react properly when she witnessed something outside of her proper world, what she knew. For Kwon Yeon-hee, Lee Jae-heon was not black, white, or gray.
I couldn’t even tell if this could be called a human being.
“….”
In the end, she couldn’t hold back the question and let it out.
“…Why did it happen like that?”
You probably didn’t have to do that.
I wouldn’t have had to take the pain for granted or treat myself like an object. In fact, a very ordinary and common person other than Lee Jae-heon has better common sense and lives than him, so why do you, who is the manager of a large company, be such an idiot?
Even though it was because she had been to this world several times, Kwon Yeon-hee found it difficult to accept it.
“Who… who says the manager is bad? Is it okay if I die? “Because the manager is stronger and hurts less, it’s okay to get hurt like that… Is that right?”
“….”
“Why do you think that? we we we we. “Everyone else can live like that, using the manager as a shield, but only the manager… has to suffer and suffer like that…”
I couldn’t understand.
“…Who on earth said that…?”
Kwon Yeon-hee found out that Manager Lee Jae-heon lived in a pretty good family. There was a so-called royal family, a worthy family name, and a family business. The old-fashioned and parachute-like side he usually showed was quite persuasive given this background.
So, it may have been right for Lee Jae-heon to have been raised that way. I view other people as objects, despise them, and bow down to people who are stronger than me. It would have been better if he had been the ‘Manager Lee Jae-heon’ we originally knew. An arrogant and incompetent person in power.
However, what he actually saw as an object was himself, and Jaeheon Lee was neither arrogant nor incompetent. I couldn’t remember why this person was so twisted.
“The manager is a human being.”
“…I know.”
“Are you sure you really know…? “You shouldn’t use the word ‘bitter’ when referring to people.”
“Aren’t people also resources in a way?”
“Then why don’t you do that to us? Why don’t you look at it like a tool? “The manager could have just thrown away a bunch of luggage like us and run away alone.”
“I have enough of you… but you are still weak. If only you were a little stronger or more mature. “He could have abandoned it and run away.”
“really?”
“….”
Lee Jae-heon did not answer.
“…It’s a lie.”
“….”
“I heard you wouldn’t have run away alone.”
At her words, Lee Jae-heon wrinkled his face as if he was a little frustrated, but Kwon Yeon-hee was no longer fooled by that expression. He had already shed too much blood to be fooled by that kind of leather.
“What about the manager? “I do something called worry.”
“…Do you think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t think you know. “It really breaks my heart to see the manager get injured in our place, stay in that position, and then come back bleeding.”
“You guys are so inefficient. “Don’t you know how much of a benefit it would be if you just grind one thing and everyone else survives?”
“It’s one person, not one. It’s not efficiency, it’s sacrifice. “I don’t know what kind of people you’ve been living in this world with, Manager, that’s why you’re like this, but please come to your senses.”
“I am always sane.”
“Then you’re crazy.”
“….”
“The people who were around you while this was going on were even crazier.”
Lee Jae-heon’s brow furrowed even more at that, but Kwon Yeon-hee had no intention of picking up the words.
“What’s really strange is why don’t you curse at those people…? Why does it have to be only the manager who is bad? Since you came here, you’ve been getting hurt and sick as if it was a given, but what did the people next to you say when they saw that? “They say that’s natural too. Is it only the manager who gets hurt?”
“…I’m the only one who’s never been hurt, and it’s only natural that the person who can do the best steps forward…” “It
‘s not natural at all. It’s not natural, so please tell me if it hurts. If you get hurt, get some rest. “I saw with my own eyes the manager scratching his neck because he had a nightmare. Are you going to keep doing this?”
“It wasn’t a nightmare.”
“Then what if you had a dream?” Why did you scratch your neck? Why are you so strangled? “He was struggling like he wanted to die right away and vomited blood. So what should we think when we see that?”
“I really…”
“Oh, this person is normal…? It doesn’t hurt at all? So, I have to stay here and hold on, clinging to me like a tick and sucking blood and scraps like a leech. I must survive by sacrificing the one person who can die the least painfully. “That…”
“…”
“Do you think we would have thought that way?”
Kwon Yeon-hee continued speaking while clenching her hands.
“I don’t know what the manager has heard or experienced to have such common sense, but I can assure you of this one thing.”
“….”
“The people who were next to the manager are all bastards.”
Lee Jae-heon’s eyes twitched at that.
“It wasn’t that much… just. “They were just ordinary people.”
“Why are you defending me?”
“….”
“Why do you say that only those people are good when you actually say that you are bad?”
“…That’s not what you’re saying.”
“But that’s the situation, Manager.”
He couldn’t respond to Kwon Yeon-hee’s words and just kept his lips moving, and only after some time had passed did he carefully open his mouth. It looked a little unfair.
“…If you were just as strong as me, you wouldn’t be like this.”
“Then?”
“….”
“If we become just as strong as you, and it doesn’t hurt, will you abandon us and run away?”
“Are you going to stick right next to me and eat everything you can?”
“That’s nice.”
“….”
“I think that’s really… good.”
Not lying, really.
“I’m not sure if that’s sincere or not, but you can’t forget it. “I will pass this on to other people as well.”
“…Why are you doing that? Seriously.”
“But Manager, if we become that strong. “If only I knew how to do my part more than I do now.”
Kwon Yeon-hee muttered that and stayed still for a while.
She lived only in incidents within reasonable limits, not major incidents, and grew up in a reasonably upright family. Due to my simple nature, I have rubbed shoulders with everyone, but have never crossed their line. Even if they became friends, there was always a minimum line for Kwon Yeon-hee.
“…then.”
The feeling of having to cross that line is,
“Manager, why is it hurting so much right now…”
“…”
“Can you tell me?”
It was really strange.
“…Can I ask what happened that evening?”
* * *
“…Can I ask what happened that evening?”
Jaeheon Lee blinked at Kwon Yeonhee’s question.
Lee Jae-heon, who was excited by a stranger criticizing his former colleague, calmed down for a moment by acknowledging that his physical and mental condition was not good. In fact, the target of Kwon Yeon-hee’s criticism was not a colleague from her previous life, but a virtual being.
“On that day… that vine. After being captured by that thing, the manager often doesn’t look like a person. No this. Actually, I had that feeling before…”
“….”
“It got worse. It wasn’t to this extent, but he was much more dazed. You put your hand in the bonfire last time. No matter how sleepy you are, doesn’t that make sense? So…”
“…So.”
“What’s the problem, Manager?”
Anyway, that’s what I thought.
‘It turns around and comes all the way here.’
Anyway, I took a bite of the bait laid by Lee Jae-heon.
My first intended strategy of ‘Actually, he wasn’t as bad as I thought’ failed and I became a ‘survivor of the other side of the world’. In the process, I vomited red water due to the influence of lucid dreaming, which made me feel like a ‘terminal patient’. A….
‘I thought that was too improbable and too over-the-top, so I blamed it on the green algae monster.’
It was to give a reason for a man who was working fine at work suddenly hemorrhaging blood.
In fact, if it weren’t for this, Lee Jae-heon wouldn’t have tried to put the group on guard like this. Because of this unexpected setup, the police officer Kim Yeon-woo card was used too early, and as a result, other people, including Detective Hong Gyeong-jun, had to be dragged by the collar. The damage was great.
“….”
Of course, even if I hadn’t met the detective halfway, there was a high probability that I wouldn’t have had to deal with it. Perhaps because water was secured in the beginning, the survivors’ character was much more generous than in the original novel.
‘It’s a little unsettling that the murderer joined the detective team, unlike the original story, but still.’
It doesn’t matter if it’s at a level where you can’t use it. There was no reason to throw it away since Lee Jae-heon could raise it and use it later.
It may seem like the atmosphere has improved more than expected just because water was secured, but in any case, as long as the results are right, that’s enough. Kwon Yeon-hee in front of him was also asking a very appropriate question about the problem that Lee Jae-heon had to solve immediately.
‘I heard that if you grow them all, they will be useful.’
Lee Jae-heon took advantage of the moment of silence and listened.
“….”
The snoring sound noticeably decreased.
He saw the blurry shadows swaying behind Kwon Yeon-hee’s staff, and after being sure that they were not asleep, he slowly opened his mouth.
“…I don’t need to know, right?”
He was going to tell me anyway, but he still looked like he didn’t want to talk about it. If I tell him right away that he is asking, an error will be made in Lee Jae-heon’s settings, who has been hiding this fact all this time.
“I’m really confident that it won’t cause any inconvenience. Even if you don’t know, there won’t be much harm to Kwon Yeon-hee or others.”
“I hate that even more… Have you even listened to me so far?”
“….”
“The moment you say that, I have to listen to it unless the manager or I die. “I’m really sorry for running away because I was scared of the manager, but I think I should know this much.”
“…Haa….”
You asked me to tell you.
Anyway, you know there’s nothing wrong with me, right guys?
* * *
A low sigh and a brushing of hair.
“….”
“…Sir….”
“Shh.”
Jeong In-ho listened as he placed his hand on the shoulder of the intern squatting next to him.
Garam Yoon said that this place, where there was originally a pavilion, was quite spacious, and those who joined here late volunteered to sleep near the entrance. Thanks to this, In-ho Jeong was able to quietly wake up President Yoon and Yeon-seok Noh.
Of course, there was only one person who was not what Jung In-ho wanted.
“…I’m keeping quiet.”
“…I know.”
It was Detective Hong Gyeong-jun.
As soon as employee Kwon Yeon-hee got up and went outside, Jeong In-ho followed her, so the work could not proceed without Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s knowledge, who returned immediately afterwards. He was a person who didn’t sleep much, so even if he was sleeping soundly, he wouldn’t have been able to wake up the others without them knowing.
‘It’s not like it won’t help.’
To be honest, I’m not a person I like very much, but I recognized Hong Kyung-jun’s abilities. I don’t know why, but my guard against Director Lee Jae-heon seemed to be low, so I thought that if I could coax him, it might help me catch him.
Yes, that was the reason why I woke up the entire group right now. This is to hold on to the ankles of Manager Lee Jae-heon, who doesn’t know when he might die.
‘If he rushes this much, it will be difficult for him to act as he pleases.’
Surprisingly, Noh Yeon-seok and Hong Gyeong-jun seemed to know Director Lee Jae-heon’s past at least vaguely, so Jeong In-ho was able to act even more without hesitation. Anyway, if you have already told me that much, aren’t you ready to hear the next story?
Jeong In-ho, who was quietly waiting for Director Lee Jae-heon’s voice, heard his distinctive low, mechanical voice. It was a voice that seemed to have made an effort to erase emotions.
“…To be honest, I don’t know exactly.”
“…So?”
“I don’t remember that day in detail.”
It was a fairly calm reaction for someone who had lost part of his memory, but Jeong In-ho noticed that the end of his voice was shaking. Since he was a person who was dragged like that and even had nightmares, he probably couldn’t have completely ignored the fear at the time.
Lee Jae-heon, who hesitated several more times, gave a dry response that felt even more foreign. It was as if he had cut off his emotions.
So doesn’t that mean there was a need to erase the emotions?
“That happens sometimes.”
Jeong In-ho bit his lip.
“I have an impulse.”
“….”
“…I want to kill someone.”
Why did it have to be that person?
It seemed like everything in the world wanted Lee Jae-heon to die.
