Episode 158
To be honest, Jeong In-ho was dumbfounded by Lee Jae-heon’s story.
‘I get killed by a green algae monster every time in my dreams?’
Jaeheon Lee woke up from a dream and although he was vomiting blood, there were no visible wounds. In other words, he suffered internal injuries, but how on earth did he die? I couldn’t even imagine it, so I almost burst into laughter.
But I was even repeating it every night. Just listening to it was such a terrible thing that I understood why Lee Jae-heon said, ‘It’s hard to fall asleep at night.’
In-ho Jeong also thought this way.
‘The green algae monster must have done something.’
I’m sure the other survivors didn’t stop dreaming, but with the exception of Lee Jae-heon, their dreams had never been revealed to the outside world in that way. The fact that Lee Jae-heon had a dream of a green algae monster and that he had to die to wake up meant that something had happened.
So it was clear that the green algae monster had done something. Since President Choi Jeong-man did not vomit blood, it may be that he was having such a dream when he was rejecting the urge to kill. Since making someone feel murderous in the first place meant being able to touch the human mind, it wouldn’t have been very difficult.
But that didn’t mean the problem ended.
“….”
Jaeheon Lee was probably hearing hallucinations.
“…I don’t really remember, but the last time I received the manager’s pain, I felt something strange. “I heard something I shouldn’t have heard.”
“…Sound.”
“It was the voice, to be exact. “I think I just said something that I didn’t want to hear.”
“….”
“Manager.”
Inho Jeong asked.
“What happened before?”
“…I do not know.”
“A long time ago, when I came to the other side of the world. “What happened when we weren’t there?”
“You say you don’t know?”
“I inherited what the manager felt…!”
“….”
“…Okay. “Do you know that?”
Jeong In-ho gently made eye contact with Lee Jae-heon, running his hand over his loose front button with a few buttons undone.
“I really hated the feeling of being tied up.”
“…I…”
“Do you know why I took off my tie and rolled up my sleeves to my elbows? “I did it because I couldn’t stand it because even if I felt the slightest pressure, it felt like a bug was crawling on me.”
“It’s really no big deal. “I’m just a little stupid…”
“Chief.”
“I do not know.”
Lee Jae-heon, with a stern face, continued speaking.
“So don’t ask.”
“….”
“…Let’s go back slowly.”
After saying those words, he passed me by without even looking back.
“…under.”
It’s like running away.
I can say for sure that this was the first time Jeong In-ho had seen Lee Jae-heon’s expression so pale.
‘A person who gets killed by a green algae monster every night reacts like this?’
A person who dies once a day in an unimaginably cruel way would make that kind of facial expression. Jeong In-ho was instinctively convinced that Lee Jae-heon had a very terrible past. In fact, even when judged objectively, a different result could not have been obtained.
Jeong In-ho chewed his lip and immediately followed behind Lee Jae-heon.
“…Let’s go together, Manager.”
“….”
“I’m sorry. “I won’t ask, so don’t be angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
“sure?”
“….”
Puuk.
He sighed and continued speaking in a tired voice.
“…I’m sorry for acting like a child. “What In-ho Jeong asked about was a very sensitive topic for me, so I guess I didn’t think about it properly.”
Jeong In-ho blinked at the surprisingly calm response.
‘…I don’t think you’re really calm.’
The time it took to capture my emotions was strangely fast.
I don’t know if I really suppressed that feeling. However, at least on the outside, Director Lee Jae-heon seemed quite sane and even had no hesitation in apologizing for his overreaction. Even though Jeong In-ho saw him clearly getting sick of the terrible memories.
Maybe it was because I was so used to hiding it like this my whole life.
“…I really owe you an apology.”
Funny enough, that was quite comforting.
They say I’m not the only one who’s crazy like this and that there are people who are worse than me. Although I was disillusioned with using one person’s pain as my own comfort, I couldn’t help it.
“I think I said something for no reason.”
“No, you don’t need to. “Just erase it all from your mind without thinking about it any more.”
Jaeheon Lee chanted in a cracked voice.
“No matter what you felt, no good will come from remembering it.”
“….”
“…More than that… didn’t you say something would happen soon? They said there was a reason why the group split up. “If what I heard is true.”
“…That’s true.”
Although he clearly knew Lee Jae-heon’s intention to change the topic, Jeong In-ho skillfully pretended not to know and answered.
“Fortunately, there don’t seem to be any problems so far.”
The current problem that Jeong In-ho remembers was that when Manager Lee Jae-heon woke up vomiting blood, dog-shaped monsters attacked. Even thinking about it now, it was a ridiculous situation.
However, unlike back then, Jaeheon Lee was vomiting blood, but his condition did not look very serious, and there were no sounds from the dog monsters. I could hear a shallow noise as if there were animals or small monsters wandering around nearby, but it wasn’t enough to cause much concern.
‘So maybe Song In-myeong didn’t kill Munsan-gun and Choi Min-hong…’
I wondered if the monsters inside the park were also able to remain calm. In the previous episode, it was concluded that when one witnesses a person’s death, the monsters also become excited.
‘Then it looks like the owner of the blood that was spread died a long time ago. There hasn’t been a monster rampage recently, so even if Song In-myeong killed it, it wouldn’t have happened yesterday.’
Jeong In-ho, who thought that far, asked Jae-heon Lee, who was stroking his neck.
“But it seems like the monster gets excited when it sees someone’s corpse… Is that what I thought?”
“…Are you linking that to what happened last time?”
“We found several bodies. Detective Hong Gyeong-jun also made that judgment.”
“Huh.”
Lee Jae-heon looked bored at the part where several corpses were discovered, but even that quickly returned to a blank expression.
Jaeheon Lee hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“Now that I think about it, I couldn’t tell you about the rules of the underworld.”
“Rules?”
“Actually, it’s embarrassing that it’s even a rule, but I’m roughly speaking about what I felt. “Even though it’s a world where we don’t know how things will unfold in various directions, there are common phenomena that apply.”
The strange gray young eyes rolled over and returned to their original position.
“First of all… you guessed right. “If even one person witnesses the death of a person, monsters in the nearby area run rampant, depending on the level of psychological trauma.”
“Are there cases other than death?”
“of course. In fact, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a person’s death. Monsters also become agitated if they receive a shock that causes mental problems in any way. However, in the case of death, it feels like additional confusion is added beyond the actual shock.”
“Why…”
“It is safe to say that this world is shaped by human mental elements. Basically, the concept of ‘death’ itself is not very pleasant. “I see it as part of that.”
And perhaps Jaeheon Lee had to witness the death of others several times to learn these rules. Even if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, you’ve probably heard screams or smelled blood.
It may have been absurd, but Jeong In-ho felt pity for it.
“The other side of the world is a place where the other side of humans… is built on top of an already existing ecosystem. That’s why what’s most important is what the survivors inside see and feel.”
“…I guess this means that we need to pay attention to mental management as well, right?”
“It is not as easy to manage as it sounds, but it would be better if possible. Like Ha Seong-yoon and me, injuries that are beyond our capabilities can be overcome with mental strength. Ah, Yeon-seok is in a similar situation.”
“Yeonseok is really surprising.”
“That friend should be seen as the opposite case. If you are mentally weak, you are able to overcome it with your physical strength. To put it conversely, your body suffers because your mentality is weak. Well, even that seems pretty good these days…”
Lee Jae-heon didn’t close his mouth, as if he wanted to tell us something.
“Do you sometimes hear no noise around you other than people talking, or do you sometimes see the world in black and white?”
“…there was a little bit.”
“It means I was pushed to my limit mentally. In times like that, it’s better to take a little rest. And often, the appearance changes depending on the individual’s personality.”
“What do you mean by appearance?”
“If I had to give an example, it would be CEO Garam Yoon… or Seongyoon Ha.”
At those words, Jeong In-ho blinked a couple of times. This was because it was difficult to immediately understand why Lee Jae-heon mentioned Yoon Gar-ram or Ha Seong-yoon. Because their appearance has never changed.
In response to Jeong In-ho’s reaction, Lee Jae-heon lightly rubbed the corner of his mouth and said.
“It rarely changes once you get inside. Most people change when they move from the real world to the underworld. “I understand that both of your eyes have changed color.”
“You’ve never seen Mr. Garam Yoon before.”
“I know it even if I’ve never seen it.”
Talk.
He continued speaking, tapping his eyes with his fingers.
“Such grey-green eyes are not something humans can be born with naturally.”
“…gray-green…?”
Jeong In-ho muttered softly.
‘Was it that color?’
I have never looked into other people’s eyes particularly carefully. If there was one, it would be Ha Seong-yoon or Lee Jae-heon. Additionally, there was also Detective Hong Gyeong-jun. But other than that, I just thought it was dark brown or black.
Jeong In-ho, who was rolling his eyes, heard Lee Jae-heon’s voice.
“In fact, most people won’t even notice the color. If you don’t look carefully, it is difficult to recognize it, and Ha Seong-yoon is in the same context.”
“What color was he?”
“Maybe maroon? I have brown eyes with a reddish tinge. “If your appearance changes, it is often the case that your eye color changes first.”
“Aha…”
Those words suddenly reminded me of something from a long time ago.
“Is it the same story that Manager’s eyes sometimes look gray?”
“….”
Jaeheon Lee looked back at him with a slightly surprised expression.
Maybe it was embarrassment, or maybe it was just a sad face. However, Jeong In-ho could not read any clear emotions in those neatly shaped round eyes. Jae-heon Lee just looked at In-ho Jeong, who silently told his story.
It wasn’t long before Manager Lee Jae-heon answered.
“…Maybe so.”
He gave no further opinions.
(Continued in the next part)
