Episode 154
In fact, what Jaeheon Lee had guessed was correct. In Jeong In-ho’s opinion, it was essential for President Choi Jeong-man’s child to be alive in order to avoid repeating the same stupid time as last time.
‘Besides, it’s more convenient if you’ve already been threatened by Song In-myeong.’
If so, it would be easier to send Song In-myeong to the abyss.
Of course, Detective Hong Gyeong-jun was extremely stubborn, but there was still a big difference between having a witness and not having one. If the child and two other adults knew Song In-myeong’s identity, they could quickly avoid the suspicion that Jung In-ho had to endure.
Around that time, Jeong In-ho felt a twisted sense of self-destruction.
“Inho, is this what you saw from this side?”
“Yes, maybe… I thought I heard a voice in this area.”
I wanted to be a good person, but in the end, when things got difficult for me, I didn’t hesitate to wish for other people’s pain. Even though he knew that just meeting the killer could be a nightmare enough, he couldn’t change his decision and wondered if he was really a better person than Song In-myeong.
“…I hope I find it before it’s too late.”
I meant it.
Noh Yeon-seok and Kang Min-ah nodded and said as Jeong In-ho muttered.
“That’s right. It would be much more dangerous when it gets dark…”
“Did you say you think there was a child…? “You weren’t hurt anywhere, right?”
The two were purely concerned about the safety of other survivors.
If you think about it, did you actually welcome CEO Yoon Garam and doctor Ha Seong-yoon when they joined you? There was a lot going on, but from the perspective of Kang Min-ah and Noh Yeon-seok, not Jung In-ho, it was an incident that didn’t take that long ago. It wouldn’t be strange to say that the emotions from that time are still intact.
However, only Jeong In-ho, who had changed dozens of times alone, felt impatient.
“Shouldn’t you… pray that you aren’t hurt?”
The feeling of loneliness, as if he had been left alone in a world with no one, suddenly passed through him. Among those who were genuinely concerned about the safety of the survivors, only Jeong In-ho, who had changed, was weighing the pros and cons. It was a truly strange and miserable thing.
Still, I couldn’t help but wish for it.
‘If they say I’m dead, I’ll be the first to not be able to survive.’
There is no need to go all the way to President Choi Jeong-man. If he just saw the child dead, In-ho Jeong would not be able to endure that time and would either go crazy or give up on CEO Jeong-man Choi. It would no longer be possible to kill that good-looking person with murderous intentions.
No, I just couldn’t do that.
“…Oh, wait a minute. for a moment.”
“….”
“Didn’t you hear me just now?”
The reason why Jung In-ho did not give up everything was because Manager Lee Jae-heon made a superficial promise not to die. He was giving strength to his legs, even though he was struggling.
“…I heard it too. Me too, Inho. Mr. Inho….”
“…Yes.”
He blinked slowly and continued speaking.
“That’s what I heard.”
It was a lie.
In fact, In-ho Jeong had never actually heard the voices of those survivors. However, I needed an excuse to go find someone else, and since unrealistic phenomena occur frequently in this world, I made up such a lie with the intention of covering it up later.
‘I was fortunate that Ha Seong-yoon and the manager agreed.’
Jeong In-ho quickly moved his feet, remembering the person who had returned covered in blood.
“Mina Kang, please check if there is a monster nearby.”
“…If it comes close, I can hit it.”
“I feel reassured. Yeonseok, can you help Chief Kang?”
“Ah yes! yes Okay.”
Jung In-ho felt a slight sense of discomfort in Kang Min-ah’s firm voice, but soon erased it from his mind, thinking it had no value. Jeong In-ho was too exhausted to even assume another variable in this situation.
Almost mesmerized, he ran ahead and found two figures hiding inside the cleared bushes.
“…ah.”
Rattling.
My breath stopped.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. “Huh…”
A familiar, yet unfamiliar, living, breathing child.
“…who are you?”
“….”
It was an adult male with an unfamiliar face that had been miserably crushed and unrecognizable before.
A desperate breath escaped.
* * *
The other one was never found.
* * *
“….”
“…So I looked around and asked…”
Jeong In-ho, who had laid out the situation in detail, quickly continued.
“They say one person has already been killed.”
“…okay?”
As soon as the investigation team returned, Lee Jae-heon, who was suddenly dragged in, gave me a strange look at the actions of the main character, who was reporting the situation to me in such a detailed and desperate manner. A variety of strange emotions circulated within him…
“It’s a shame.”
To be honest, I was a little embarrassed.
‘Didn’t all the survivors I recognized return to the point where they were alive?’
This was the judgment Lee Jae-heon made while looking at the situation so far.
Isn’t it true that all the survivors I know and have seen come back alive? Or maybe we’ll come back to a point where we can save them all.
So, I thought that if there was a return, it would be when all the survivors were alive. Of course, since this is only my second regression, I don’t know how many cases I can count…
“….”
Wait a minute.
‘All survivors?’
And the body disappeared as cleanly as if it had been deleted.
I frowned at the sudden sense of discomfort, but I couldn’t clearly figure out what it was. Lee Jae-heon, who instinctively realized that this worry would take a long time, continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
“Then, based on the testimony of those people… won’t we be able to kill the guy who killed me?”
Jeong In-ho, who froze at that, soon calmly opened his mouth.
“…That’s according to common sense. “As long as Detective Hong Gyeong-jun isn’t stubborn.”
“stubborn? “What are you talking about when there is a bold witness?”
In response to Lee Jae-heon’s question, which he obviously knew but pretended not to know, he said while maintaining a smile.
“That can’t be evidence, right? “Things like fingerprints, CCTV footage, or the owner of blood.”
“Huh.”
“Furthermore, we couldn’t even find the body of the person Song In-myeong said he had killed. It would be lucky if I didn’t see it because I was rushing around, but strangely, only the blood stains remained…” “…”
”
He could be a very strong suspect, but I won’t treat him as a complete criminal. I think.”
Jeong In-ho’s lips twisted for a moment.
“He is a very noble person.”
First of all, I understood that Hong Gyeong-jun was a bastard.
‘Isn’t this the kind of thing where you go directly to kill someone if you have a suitable excuse?’
When I heard the story, it seemed like he had personally killed someone before. Of course, it was an unavoidable choice, but there was still a big difference between someone who had blood on their hands and someone who didn’t. Since his aversion to murder must have been quite low, I thought he might be able to catch a living person with just a glance.
As I was looking at him with a strange feeling, Jeong In-ho continued speaking.
“Besides, doesn’t mental power play a big role in this world? “I would say that you can’t convict someone of murder just based on their memory when they also show hallucinations.”
“…That’s true….”
“In some sense, you could be seen as a crazy person. “Because they are so obsessed with rules.”
Well, I knew it from reading a novel.
‘Hearing this, I can vividly understand why the main character was upset.’
It was clear that the two had incompatible tendencies. Jeong In-ho already has a yearning for goodness, but he does not do the right good deeds even though he is in a position that he cannot rise to. In addition to a sense of deprivation and inferiority, he must have been feeling an indescribable sense of betrayal.
However, Hong Gyeong-jun had his own view of justice. Although it was never clearly described in the novel, it was how Lee Jae-heon felt, and it was probably largely due to his mental breakdown beneath the other side of the world. I said that he is not a person who acts so narrow-minded even in real life.
‘The conclusion is that the two cannot overlap unless they overlap.’
A sigh came out of my mouth. When are we going to raise all these bright yellow baby chicks?
“…Then…”
Lee Jae-heon, not noticing that his mind had become dull due to fatigue, just spit out his thoughts.
“I should try using bait. Should I approach you and try gently? If he meets a victim who remembers his face, he will react in his own way, but if you sneak up on him and provoke him, he will tell you with his mouth…” “
No.”
“….”
“No.”
It was only after hearing the pale voice that Jaeheon Lee was able to come to his senses.
“…I made a mistake.”
“Never do this. “Don’t do anything, just stay still.”
“Aren’t you saying I made a mistake? “I just thought…”
“Isn’t the problem of thinking like that in itself?”
“Um…”
I had nothing to say this time. Even though I knew that my death would have a significant impact on the protagonist’s mentality, I didn’t touch it… no, wait a minute.
Honestly, it was unfair.
‘Fuck, I’m tired too so my words came out in vain.’
Rather, it is about how to change your thoughts. In my past life, I lived my whole life with this mentality, and in my current life, I am not a member of society with particularly general thoughts. In the midst of all this, if you force yourself to change your thoughts, how much will you be able to fix? Thank you for not saying it out loud.
“Oh, you really just need to control yourself, right? “If you restrain yourself.”
“I didn’t mean to refrain from doing it, but to not do it at all, Manager.”
“I understood you well, man…!”
But I also had this thought.
‘Isn’t it good for the plan we just made?’
If Jung In-ho had heard, he would have punched him in the face, knocked him unconscious, and tied him to a tree, but unfortunately Jae-heon Lee didn’t know that. It was a plan so plausible that it would have been a shame to throw it away to please the main character.
Hong Gyeong-jun would not be able to deny it if a murder was committed in front of him, and since no one should die in the process, Lee Jae-heon, an experienced assistant, steps in to play the role of a ‘victim’. Since Song In-myeong’s selection of Lee Jae-heon as material was already planned, wouldn’t it be okay to secretly see the timing and make it happen?
‘Then, even if Song In-myeong picks and dies at some point, I might not care much…’
Lee Jae-heon, who was thinking of becoming the main culprit of ‘even if at some point he picks and dies’, calmly hid his thoughts deep in his head. He continued.
“Don’t worry, I really won’t do anything. “I will follow what Mr. Jeong In-ho says.”
“…I can’t believe it….”
“What are you asking me to do?…? Even if I can’t help but get caught up in other people’s actions, I won’t do it willingly. It’s true.”
Of course, it was Lee Jae-heon’s job to make it look that way.
‘If something doesn’t get caught, it’s true.’
In the first place, I didn’t really understand why I was overly worried like that. It is true that Lee Jae-heon was the one who brought it to that point, but it was even more so because 70% of it was unintentional.
He nodded inwardly, stroked the neck once, and then opened his mouth again.
“Shouldn’t we go back sooner than that? Even if we were just talking among ourselves, it would be quite strange for the rest of the group to see it.”
“…That’s right.”
The protagonist obediently agreed, and Lee Jae-heon, relieved by that, also dragged him back to his place. Familiar faces were sitting around a bonfire located not far away.
Among them, Lee Jae-heon, who made eye contact with an unfamiliar face, spoke lightly.
“How did you calm down?”
“… that… ah….”
Just like teacher Lee Yun-byeol, he held the sleeping child in his arms and kissed his lips. The man with features that seemed to reek of ink slowly let out a cracked voice.
“…thank you.”
“….”
“As I told you earlier, it’s called Munsan-gun.”
The name is Munsan-gun.
For reference, he is ranked 3rd in sunfish ranking after Kim Yeon-woo and Do-yoon Han.
(Continued in the next part)
