Episode 159:
The reason I brought up the snow story was really nothing special.
‘I did it because I had to deal with the Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Ga-ram cases as well.’
I don’t know if I’ll be able to finish everything before I join Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s team and face Song In-myeong, but anyway, even if I’m rushing, the only thing I can do right now is clean up the internal affairs. Jaeheon Lee wanted the story to be somewhat organized internally before it progressed externally.
And since the problem of ‘Lee Jae-heon’ has been roughly resolved through frequent conversations with the main character, the next place they should turn their attention was Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Gar-ram.
The protagonist, who was looking intently into my eyes, soon opened his mouth.
“…It’s a really strange world. “Isn’t that right?”
“This place has always been strange.”
“I felt like I was in a crazy fairy tale.”
Inho Jeong asked.
“Why was this place created?”
“….”
At those words, Jaeheon Lee rolled his eyes for a moment and then spat out an answer.
“…The creator may have unique tastes.”
It was correct to refer to my wife from my past life.
Lee Jae-heon loved her, but that didn’t mean they were a good match. If my wife hadn’t insisted on reading it just once in the first place, I wouldn’t have read this 19+ novel about survivors.
Lee Jae-heon, who briefly remembered a meaningless memory, soon spoke.
“Why are you curious about the origin of the other world?”
“…Maybe so.”
The protagonist looked at the park in the other world with pitch-black eyes.
“If I knew that, wouldn’t this world possibly disappear?”
“….”
No, I can’t.
‘This novel had a bad ending.’
All the main character gained from going in and out of this world was a severe mental illness, and this irrational world simply took away everything from Jung In-ho. He died alone until the end.
“…Isn’t it a long way off now?”
“That’s right, it’s a long story.”
“Please clean up the surroundings of Mr. Jeong In-ho first. First the thing in my hand and then the thing right outside. And it would be much more efficient to organize things in the order of things that are further away than that.”
“Can I think of it as an experience?”
“What comes out of people’s mouths is always based on personal experience.”
‘Lee Jae-heon’ continued speaking with a tired face.
“So what’s at hand right now? “You know that.”
“….”
“Because I know things I didn’t know, won’t I be able to know what the biggest problem is?”
“…That is correct.”
In the tone urging him to take action, Jeong In-ho felt his strength slowly fading away. Perhaps because Ha Seong-yoon in his previous life often encouraged him in this way, he seemed to have a basic aversion to it.
Lee Jae-heon, who had thought that far, added immediately after that.
“Is there anything you want me to do for you?”
I asked what I should do, not what you should do.
“Other than just not dying and not getting hurt. As I said, I am not some kind of talisman, so shouldn’t people wish for something from person to person?”
“….”
The main character, who looked at Lee Jae-heon blankly for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.
“…I’m sorry I didn’t think of it that way….”
Damn I knew that.
‘It’s not because they treat a living person as a talisman.’
For the protagonist, ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was just an indicator that could be used to determine whether the time period was a failure or a success. No one wants an amulet sitting in a closet or on a table in plain sight to do their chores or cook their meals. That’s really crazy.
But the problem was that ‘Lee Jae-heon’ was also a person. I just thought I should point out this point at least once before a strange problem that cannot be easily dealt with arises.
“…Well, that’s good. Then let’s do it like this.”
“….”
“I thought that among our team members, Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Garam were the most mentally vulnerable. “It is often said that it is a situation that cannot be talked about.”
“…That’s probably right.”
“The world behind the scenes has a knack for eroding a person’s mental strength, and there is nothing you can do about it once your mind is broken. It also means that we must help the party maintain their sanity in their own way.”
Lee Jae-heon, who had spoken up to that point, stared into space for a moment and then spoke again.
“…Of course, the ‘Lee Jae-heon’ that In-ho Jeong mentioned seemed to have forgotten that. I don’t know what to say, but I will apologize. sorry.”
“…Ah…”
He looked into the protagonist’s pitch black eyes.
“So please let me know.”
“….”
“What did Inho Jeong see and hear from them?”
Rarely did that broken gaze waver.
Lee Jae-heon acknowledged that the main character in front of him was in quite a precarious condition. That’s why we had such frequent conversations, and several times, I fed him the information I wanted or created situations for the sake of probability.
No matter what Jung In-ho thought, Lee Jae-heon knew that he had to go outside now.
I had to kill the green algae monster. However, since the main character wants to stop, such a supporting character had to create at least an inevitability disguised as coincidence.
“Can I help?”
And that was Lee Jae-heon’s specialty.
“….”
“….”
“…Yes, if possible.”
In the end, the protagonist nodded.
That meant that Jaeheon Lee would be quite busy in the future.
* * *
“Ha Seong-yoon, are you okay for a moment?”
After daybreak, Jeong In-ho spoke to Ha Seong-yoon.
“Ah yes. Sure. Even if you got hurt somewhere….”
“….”
Suddenly, I feel a sense of disconnection.
“No, there are no injuries.”
Because it was so different from the last time I saw it.
He smiled as naturally as possible towards the doctor who was doing his job even in this crazy world. In-ho Jeong was holding an empty fish trap in his hand.
“I’m trying to put the fish trap back in the pond, and I was wondering if you could come with me.”
“A fish trap?”
I looked at Director Lee Jae-heon and said that I didn’t want to do anything, but Jeong In-ho was too sincere to really do that. It was a habit that I couldn’t shake off as he continued to use his insidious brain and evaluate others.
So, Jung In-ho has been thinking about the existence of Ha Seong-yoon for quite some time. How good and how bad a person is. How will it help or harm me? What will that person eventually accomplish?
That was the conclusion.
“I also catch bugs on the way.”
“…Are you talking about the bug that In-ho Jeong caught the other day?”
“A bug that smells like your blood.”
Ha Seong-yoon intentionally wanted to come to the underworld.
Of course, I know that he heard about this world from someone he called a ‘friend’. However, that and the actions shown by Dr. Ha Seong-yoon were different. The amount of bandages he had and the scalpel he was still hiding were too much to assume that he had taken it simply because he was ‘anxious about being eaten by the underworld at some point.’
Moreover, in the last time slot, Ha Seong-yoon went to change his eyes as soon as there were no people watching him. As with the things he showed afterwards, it was clearly the behavior of a person who wanted something.
“I think it was probably thanks to that bug that I was able to easily catch the fish this time.”
Also, Ha Seong-yoon’s purpose may be related to the previously changed eyes.
“…Well, blood has been the most effective bait since ancient times.”
“….”
“You look like you have a lot to say, but something won’t happen while you two are on a date at the lake, right? “If a doctor named Ha Seong-yoon dies…”
“Do you really want me to kill Ha Seong-yoon?”
“Don’t you look at me with eyes that wouldn’t be at all strange even if I kill you sometimes?”
“….”
“But I understood.”
Ha Seong-yoon continued speaking with a blunt smile instead of his typical soft smile.
“I also want to hear why I’m suddenly being suspected.”
“…It’s a shame because the hatred is more grounded than you might think.”
“Doctors are a group of people who are hated everywhere.”
Reddish-brown eyes rolled like glass beads and made eye contact with Jeong In-ho. Suddenly, he felt an instinctive suspicion that one eye was white and not blue, but Jeong In-ho had to convince himself once again.
“But that’s a separate issue, right?”
This person is different from the previous ‘Ha Seong-yoon’ I remembered.
“Suspicion and hatred are different, Mr. Jeong In-ho. And I think Inho Jeong knows me pretty well. “Isn’t that right?”
“…Maybe.”
“Can I hear it too? You’ve been talking to Jaeheon Lee quite often these days. What on earth did you tell that tattered friend? So what did Jaeheon Lee answer?”
“Let me think about it.”
“Can I ask you again?”
There is silence around.
The park, which had been full of noise, gradually became quiet like rusting bronze, and Jeong In-ho could not even sigh in this windless place. He was thankful that no one was around to listen.
“who are you.”
“….”
It’s impossible to tell the conversation of these crazy people.
I could have died of exhaustion, but I did not give up.
“…My name is Jeong In-ho.”
I was still Jeong In-ho.
“I am the acting manager of the Ohseong Planning Department, and I have a crazy manager on top. “I escaped from work with my co-workers and met CEO Garam Yoon and doctor Seongyoon Ha at a flower shop, and when we entered the park, we met two students.”
“How did it end up like this?”
“I agree.”
Perhaps saving Munsan-gun and Choi Min-hong was the right answer, but fortunately, the dog monsters did not come in this direction. I think I heard the noise of a few entities wandering around, but it wasn’t enough to be a huge concern. Compared to the previous episode, it was truly peaceful.
So, as Director Lee Jae-heon said, all he had to do was do what he could right away.
“Then would you please come with me?”
“I just want to ask you one more thing.”
“….”
“You’ve been looking into my eyes since a while ago. You talked about eyes last time too. “Didn’t you urge me when you were going to change it?”
“I thought you were going to ask a question.”
“I will ask that question now.”
Suddenly, Ha Seong-yoon’s eyes seemed to turn bright red.
“…Why do you know about the tree of knowledge of good and evil?”
“…Ha….”
Jeong In-ho couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“…I don’t know.”
“….”
“I don’t know anything. Nothing….”
I understood why Manager Lee Jae-heon looked so tired.
“If I had known, I would have done something.”
That was the face of a failed person. He looked like a person who had something to lose but couldn’t even react even if he lost everything. Jeong In-ho couldn’t sympathize with that in the previous class, but he seemed to understand it now.
Yes, that’s right. I’m so tired, how can I react to losing something? How great a struggle can people who just want to fall asleep from exhaustion have? No one could do that.
“But the manager didn’t stop. “To be honest, I’m not sure how that can happen, but there must be a good reason, so I’m going to try to follow their example.”
“…Are you asking a question I can’t answer?”
“It can’t be. Just a moment… “I just had a headache.”
Jeong In-ho once again showed a neat smile on his slightly distorted face.
“Still, I think it’s fortunate. “I think you are willing to talk to me.”
“Isn’t there a reason why people wear mouths?”
“That is correct.”
Ha Seong-yoon looked at the snake statue or referred to something as the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil.’ Even if Jeong In-ho was not interested in religious history, he did not know about the tree of good and evil.
‘It is a fruit that, if eaten, will lead to knowledge of good and evil.’
It is also a fruit that leads to sin.
“…Is there perhaps a history in the other world?”
At that question, Ha Seong-yoon frowned as if he was embarrassed.
“…You didn’t ask because you knew?”
“I’m really going crazy. I’m serious.”
Jeong In-ho, who instinctively stopped thinking further, spoke impatiently.
“Please talk to me.”
The sense of obligation to resolve anything was making him anxious.
It has changed a lot from previous times. Only a day had passed, but the dog monster did not attack and the two people who should have died were saved. All of this was as precarious as stairs built on sand, so Jeong In-ho consciously tried to erase that anxiety from his mind.
But I couldn’t.
“….”
“Tell me why you had to do that.”
It was because I didn’t want to fail again.
“What on earth do you want?”
What is it about this world that can make people go crazy so quickly?
What is the reason we have to go crazy here?…
(Continued in the next episode)
