Episode 129
Lee Jae-heon did not like the current situation at all.
“…I’m really fine.”
“Director, shut up….”
“….”
However, this time, even he couldn’t come up with a joke about ‘the worst’.
The atmosphere was so gloomy.
‘What the fuck did I do?’
Even though I knew what exactly caused this atmosphere, it didn’t mean I wasn’t annoyed. I’m doing everything I can for your future, but you don’t even know Manager Lee’s big features. At this point, I was starting to wonder why no one was listening to me.
Jaeheon Lee continued his thoughts, avoiding the pitch black eyes that were staring at me.
‘It looks like monsters will attack soon…’
In the original novel, the night he entered the park, his co-workers died, and after bringing the siblings in, they met Detective Hong Gyeong-jun and his group, leading to a situation of annihilation. There was an incident in which three people died while visiting a flower field, but the weight was definitely different from annihilation.
The biggest cause of the annihilation is obviously the green algae monster and killer, but monsters often came before that. I remember especially after three people died in the flower field.
And now that the child’s body has been found…
“…even if the person has a hurt leg…”
“Please stop.”
“Why don’t you listen to me? If a monster comes in here, we have to run away…”
“Please stop.”
“….”
Oh, look at the situation objectively, you bastards.
‘Why are you saying I can tolerate it well?’
Still, when Lee Jae-heon, who had a good sense of humor, was grumbling to himself, doctor Ha Seong-yoon, who was checking his wounds, sighed and opened his mouth.
“So… why did you treat me? “It’s not like I didn’t know it would end up like this.”
Jaeheon Lee was a little dumbfounded by those words.
“Don’t you know that if there is someone on the team who can be cured, that person should be saved first…?”
“So am I dead?”
“If the doctor hurts your arm, you’re almost dead.”
“It seems like you’re throwing things more and more without a filter, so please take care of yourself.”
“I think I’m out of my mind too.”
Feeling the familiar nervousness of his head not working properly, he bit his lip. Maybe it’s because I’ve never experienced this low level of function for this long in my previous life, but I couldn’t really get used to it.
‘But even people with really injured legs need to be treated.’
Most of the survivors who went to get water and food returned injured by the ferocious monster. In the case of Seo Jang-hwa, who owns several dogs, he was still suffering from a mental breakdown apart from his injured limbs, and even to other people, he didn’t seem particularly normal.
Even though it was a small lake, the monster was attacking so aggressively that something would happen sooner or later.
‘If the discomfort I’ve felt so far is anything to go by, I might explode.’
Considering that the previous site, which had even been built with a wall, was destroyed by a not very aggressive stray dog monster, it didn’t seem like a pavilion near the outskirts of the park would be much different. I even remember that the habitat of the abandoned dog monster is around this pavilion.
So, while things were already like this, I tried to treat the survivors and collect some debt.
“…Should I feel guilty for treating someone?”
“It’s not true, but it would be good if you acted with your own health in mind.”
“It’s hard to make a living.”
Lee Jae-heon, who mumbled as a habit, continued.
“The doctor is taking responsibility for the health of the group. “The person’s arm was injured so badly that he couldn’t move it, so I didn’t want to leave him alone when there was a way to fix it.”
“Thanks to this, everyone became aware that there was a far-fetched cure. “It was said that the structure was such that the person who picked the fruit took all of the patient’s pain, but couldn’t it have at least been carried out in a quiet and unattended place?”
“To be honest, I was like, whatever happens, happens. “It may be an unnecessary anger, but wasn’t our place, which we had built up a wall, destroyed by a monster?”
“So.”
“I just thought that could happen here too.”
Ha Seong-yoon pursed his lips at those words, and Lee Jae-heon lightly wiped the corners of his mouth.
“…I didn’t want to get separated again.”
There was nothing I could do as there was no sign of ending the nagging.
‘They said I did it because I was anxious that people would die, so what can I do?’
Since his image was set as an underdog anyway, it wouldn’t be surprising if he showed a weaker side.
Actually, I didn’t intend to use it like this, but when the abandoned dog monster attacked, the group would feel guilty for running away and leaving Lee Jae-heon there. Lee Jae-heon hoped that it would be felt as a sense of rejection or discomfort rather than guilt, but since he couldn’t, he had no choice but to write it like this.
Therefore, it would not be entirely improbable for him to claim that being left alone and worrying about the safety of the survivors was a kind of trauma. So, you can just blindly say that you fixed Ha Seong-yoon.
“I was out of my mind when I was fixing it, and then I started thinking that other people should also fix it. That way, even if the monster attacks again, you will be able to escape well…”
“You don’t have to handle it alone, Manager.”
“…why.”
Lee Jae-heon glanced at Ha Seong-yoon.
“You guys are bad at it, and I’m the best at it.”
“….”
“There’s no need for someone else to handle it, right?”
The doctor blinked and asked.
“Isn’t there a time when Kwon Yeon-hee stood in front of Lee Jae-heon?”
“yes.”
“He seemed very embarrassed and awkward. “Is what I saw correct?”
“…I guess so.”
“this.”
He rolled his eyes to the side, still smiling softly.
“It’s not supposed to happen that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just everything. “You shouldn’t have done that, sir.”
After checking the injured area once again, Ha Seong-yoon stood up. I raised my head without stopping my gaze from naturally rising, and he gently rolled his eyes and continued speaking.
“I think Mr. Jeong In-ho has something he would like to say to the manager.”
“What again? “If it’s nagging, I want to reject it.”
“Aha, are you saying that we were nagging you about our worried well-being?”
“Crazy… please help me.”
“Doctors save people, then.”
The familiar sound of laughter flows faintly.
“There are too many people worried. “It’s a little too much.”
“….”
“If you don’t like nagging, please have a full conversation.”
With those words, the doctor left, and I could see him grazing the shoulder of the protagonist who was far away. It was a light, dry gesture, as if pressing a button on a machine.
I realized too late that I had met the protagonist’s gaze.
“….”
“….”
It smiled sincerely and held up a round bead to me.
It was the same fruit that Jaeheon Lee had.
“…gross bastard.”
As expected, I can’t like the main characters.
* * *
I had expected something like this to happen right after the existence of the fruit was announced.
In fact, the main character and the group showed excessive worry to the point that people naturally called them ‘chicks’, and to that extent, they were not immune to other people being hurt and in pain. It seemed like he would somehow try to treat Lee Jae-heon, whom he had become acquainted with.
But apart from that, he had no intention of eating the fruit that looked like it had been picked by Jeong In-ho.
‘They said there is such a thing as shock death in this world.’
The moment the protagonist endures my pain, he might die, so how can I eat it?
“…This is edible?”
“It looks more like an interior accessory than a fruit…”
“The glass apples that In-ho Jeong picked are no small feat.”
The survivors couldn’t help but be amazed as they looked at the shiny fruits listed inside the pavilion.
In fact, it was closer to lamentation than admiration, but at least the siblings seemed to be genuinely admiring it.
‘I recognized that guy from the time he mentioned the pebbles on the bottom of the lake.’
In reality, the siblings showed a deep interest in things such as sparkling jewels.
So, to put it another way, the fruits the survivors picked… looked more like jewelry than planting material. It looks like you will die if you eat it.
“This is like that. “It’s a light bulb that looks like a cherry tomato that you hang on a Christmas tree.”
“Cherry tomatoes….”
“…I feel uneasy about tasting various vegetables, so we have replaced our food with these fruits.”
Hong Gyeong-jun said that and held up something with a bunch of fruits on a stem.
“If you smell it, you will see that there is almost no scent. “If I put it up to my nose and smell it, I can smell it at least a little bit.”
At those words, Park Da-young directly brought the small fruit to her nose. Then, as he wrinkled his nose a few times and sniffed the scent, Jaeheon Lee was able to recall the dying puppy that his son from his previous life had picked up. Isn’t that what you felt when you put powdered milk in front of your nose?
Park Da-young, who was momentarily startled by his subtle gaze, quietly put the fruit down and avoided his gaze.
“Uh… it smells like peaches.”
“Are you looking at it again? “You’re not really a pig.”
“Stop arguing, you ostrich.”
“Usually, when you look at that, they say you have long legs. “Superior genes, right?”
“Yes, it’s far.”
“He’s tall.”
Hong Gyeong-jun, who watched for a moment as they exchanged fists that did not hurt, then tapped the back of his neck a couple of times with his finger and continued speaking again.
“Yes, like you said, the scent is close to peach. “It grows on a low bush, similar to raspberries, with about 10 fruits per stem.”
“…They check it very carefully….”
“And the taste,”
Hong Gyeong-jun wrinkled the bridge of his nose and said.
“That’s right.”
“…yes?”
“It’s a lump of sugar.”
Lee Jae-heon knew that the frowning bridge of his nose was a detective’s habit of revealing something he really didn’t like. There was a description in the story where the bridge of one’s nose was wrinkled every time one got into an argument with the main character.
For reference, the fruit that Hong Gyeong-jun is holding now did not appear in the story.
‘I knew there was more to it since I said there were theme concept fruits, but…’ As expected,
there seemed to be many fruits other than those shown in the novel.
However, since Detective Hong Gyeong-jun rarely reveals his likes and dislikes openly, the main character and his companions who joined late seemed surprised, and the detective’s companions each made subtle expressions as if they had seen something a little funny.
Noh Yeon-seok secretly looked at me and asked.
“…Do you hate sweets?”
The answer to that question came not from me, but from Jang Seo-ah.
“do not like it!”
“Oh.”
“Police man, every time you eat that, you make your face like this.”
Hong Gyeong-jun then looked shocked as he smashed his face with both hands, and Jeong In-ho did not hide his joy, which was rare. Lee Jae-heon was momentarily dumbfounded by the silent laughter.
He said while looking at Assistant Manager Jeong.
“Why are you laughing so hard when you can’t even eat sweets?”
“….”
“I saw you throw up while drinking a caramel macchiato the other day.”
The other person looked at him with a straight face and answered.
“You can’t call that coffee anymore, Manager.”
“whatever.”
“It’s almost like a coffee-flavored drink…”
“Oh, what should I do?”
(Continued in the next part)
