Chapter 170:
After confirming that there were no monsters nearby, the whole party gathered together again for the evening.
“Mister.”
Choi Min-hong’s child called Lee Jae-heon.
“Oh?”
“hand.”
“What kind of rude language is this for an adult?”
Even as he said that, Lee Jae-heon obediently gave his hand to Choi Min-hong, and the child smiled broadly, pressing his hand with her little finger. Even though there was no cat jelly on his palm, Minhong Choi looked genuinely happy.
Of course, it was something that Lee Jae-heon, who had become a child’s toy, could not possibly understand.
“I wonder if they put honey on my hands…” Even
with empty words, I couldn’t say that my hands, which were bleeding, blistered, and cracked here and there, looked good. President Choi Jeong-man, the child’s father, seemed to have a fairly ordinary personality, but there was no way to know where his son’s taste for clinging to his son’s hands, which, as he said, was almost corpselike, was formed.
‘Even Jang Seo-ah said that, but kids these days are strange.’
Jang Seo, who was slowly approaching me, saying she had seen a zombie for the first time, and Choi Min-hong, who was fiddling with his blue, red hand and using it as a toy, were all there. It occurred to me that these children were not preyed upon by the underworld for no reason.
‘At first, I thought I was out of luck after being around crazy people.’
Noh Yeon-seok’s eyes sparkled at the sight of Choi Min-hong now openly sitting on top of Lee Jae-heon’s legs.
“Oh, isn’t that it? Attachment doll?”
“Yeonseok, didn’t I always tell you to think three times before speaking?”
“…I’m sorry…?”
“Why is it in question form?”
It was absurd.
‘I guess I looked calm because the company was concerned about me.’
In fact, the current Noh Yeon-seok was quite calm for a young man of his age, but now he was no longer afraid of ‘Lee Jae-heon’, and the occasional remarks that flew out often confused Lee Jae-heon’s mind. He’s not a very tactful guy, but when I saw him do that, I wondered if he was deliberately trying to screw me over.
“Not counting the fact that Choi Min-Hong treated me like a dog, man. You can’t do that. “Is the name ‘Manager’ worth it?”
“It’s not that, but…”
Lee Jae-heon couldn’t help but lament at the sight of him not losing his nerve even as he muttered like that and slowly cringed. Although this was aimed at creating an image, people no longer really accept kkondae-jil as kkondae-jil. In the long run, it was a good thing, but I couldn’t help but feel bitter.
At that time, Choi Min-hong, a child who was snuggled in Lee Jae-heon’s arms, asked.
“What is the manager?”
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, after thinking for a moment, answered.
“A person in power.”
“What is a boxer?”
“A person who is rich and can bully others.”
“Then I heard it didn’t work out.”
“You are well educated.”
Jaeheon Lee nodded.
“You shouldn’t be this big.”
He didn’t like his life, but he never regretted it. In both my past and present lives, I have lived by swindling people and taking advantage of my interests, but I have never once thought that this way of life was right. Jaeheon Lee was the type of villain who knew he was a bad guy.
Choi Min-hong, who blinked just twice at those words, tilted his head.
“…why?”
“Friend Minhong Choi, what have we talked about so far?”
“The manager is bad, but maybe he’s not bad?”
“Kids these days are so smart. Should I give you a compliment sticker?”
“there is? “I like that.”
“I’ll buy it for you later. “You have a lot of money.”
“It’s a line from TV.”
“…?”
President Choi Jeong-man, what kind of drama are you watching?
“My friend has a good vocabulary.”
“swimming.”
“Anyway, don’t be like me.”
“why?”
“….”
“Why?”
I was speechless.
“….”
“…Is now the time for me to criticize myself?”
“Chief, why did you dig your own grave and then say something like that?”
“You’re not the manager!”
“….”
“That’s right, Manager.”
“Mr. Jeong, shut up.”
As I swept the corner of my eyes with my other hand, which was not grabbed by Choi Min-hong, Jeong In-ho, who was looking at me like that, continued speaking in his characteristic sincere tone.
“Actually, it would be better if we didn’t look alike. It really breaks my heart to think that a child with a bright future will resemble the manager in the future…”
“Am I so easy?”
“I don’t think you have any sense of why you are like that.”
“Oh, did you get hurt because I wanted to get hurt?”
And why did that bastard speak so vaguely from earlier?
‘Is this bastard doing this to abandon Hong Kyung-jun’s team?’
Lee Jae-heon, who already had a plan in mind, was quite anxious by the fact that he seemed to have no intention of clearing up the misunderstanding of Munsan-gun, who was still looking pale. I may not have intentionally abandoned it, but seeing those comments made me feel like I had given up halfway.
‘The response is to let things happen, but that’s it.’
As he frowned out of habit, Choi Min-hong grabbed Lee Jae-heon’s hand and shook it. In response to a gesture asking anyone to pay attention to this area, he lowered his gaze and looked at the child.
“The smell of your blood.”
“….”
“I smelled blood at that time.”
When Lee Jae-heon, who could not understand the flow of the conversation, looked embarrassed, Choi Min-hong continued.
“It also smelled like medicine. “This happened back then too.”
“…ah.”
Only then did Jaeheon Lee understand what the child was saying.
“I got scratched by a nail.”
I was referring to the scratches I made on my arms in a panic right after I first remembered my past life. The bandages had come off quite a bit thanks to the stray dog monster rubbing his head. The child must have seen the red wound that was covered by the bandage. This long wound that never heals, perhaps because it was an injury sustained outside the other side of the world.
Lee Jae-heon took Choi Min-hong’s hand, which was gently touching the bandage that was almost completely removed, and gently squeezed it.
“Evie Gigi. “I’m not touching that kind of thing.”
“This is not support.”
“….”
“Are you sick? “I know this too.”
Before Lee Jae-heon and the other adults could even sense what was strange, the child continued.
“This is what happens when you stab yourself with a knife.”
“…Wait a minute….”
Hey, the atmosphere is getting weird.
‘My head already hurts from the small ball that Song In-myeong shot, and here you explode it like this?’
My head hurt from all the stares coming from all over the place. I couldn’t figure out why they were making such a fuss when they said they were going to take care of my body.
No, more than that.
“Children Choi Min-hong.”
“yes.”
“What does your father do?”
Why does a 6-year-old child know this hurt?
“I know, Dad… Boil this much soup. “There is a restaurant.”
“Oh yeah. I see…”
My mind was dizzy.
‘Does even a kindergartener have to do this much to get into the cutoff line of the secret world?’
This isn’t really crazy.
In the original novel, Choi Min-hong died early in the story due to a car accident, so I don’t know what the circumstances were, but considering that President Choi Jeong-man’s personality was very ordinary, it couldn’t have been this heartbreaking. Why do you really know this?
At this point, Jang Seo-ah, who had approached the men with a harsh look without hesitation, also became anxious. I thought he might have a twisted side compared to his peers, but…
no, honey. Why are the kindergarten students here set up like this?
‘You still liked the babies…’
As Lee Jae-heon was struggling to maintain his composure, Kwon Yeon-hee sneakily approached him.
“Mi Minhong…?”
“….”
“We said hello, right? Nice to meet you, lady. Do you remember her name?”
“It’s not an ajumma, it’s a sister.”
“Oh, thank you… not this.”
Kwon Yeon-hee carefully asked Choi Min-hong, who managed to mutter an answer worth 100 points.
“Minhong, have you ever seen a police officer…?”
He seemed to be suspicious that domestic violence was occurring in the house. First of all, self-harm is something that people who are mentally burdened do unless they are pressured to do so, and cases of such burden are quite common even in marital relationships.
‘mother? Is it from your mother’s side? Under what circumstances would a kindergartener remember the shape of a self-inflicted wound?’
Lee Jae-heon’s parenting stress was already saturated with just the Park siblings, but for some reason, he was nervous that Choi Min-hong and Jang Seo-ah would also have difficult backgrounds.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the child shook his head.
“Ugh.”
“Why are you so spoiled? “I should say no.”
“no.”
“…Boss…?”
Jaeheon Lee’s eyes suddenly asked why he was acting like a brat, so he pretended to cover the child’s forehead, blocking his view, and shook his head slightly. To be honest, I was a bit desperate.
‘Let’s not make it more complicated here.’
Anyway, if you are a survivor of the other side, there is at least one point where you have gone crazy. Because of Yoon Garam’s destructive ability, he had no choice but to dig into the past, but Lee Jaeheon had no intention of taking care of those crazy people one by one. It was the same even if I was still a soft kindergarten student.
Kwon Yeon-hee noticed Lee Jae-heon’s extreme annoyance and embarrassment and nodded. It seemed like he felt he was being considerate of the child, but whatever his misunderstanding, I was just grateful if they could just let it go.
“…So…”
Lee Jae-heon opened his mouth, feeling that he had to somehow pass up this topic.
“Minhong, is this child sleepy now? Or do you want to play more?”
“I’m not sleepy.”
“Then ask that older brother and older sister over there to play together. “Uncle, my legs are starting to go numb so I can’t do it.”
“I like it here.”
“No, you’re already weak, your blood won’t work.”
“Then you die…?”
“Why is this kid so extreme? “I won’t die, but it hurts.”
“ah.”
Only then did the blood on Lee Jae-heon’s leg become visible. Nevertheless, his face looked so calm and not at all surprised that Lee Jae-heon had no choice but to once again doubt the family environment that President Choi Jeong-man had created.
‘Is it nature or a product of education that a 6-year-old child is not afraid of blood?’
Fortunately, Choi Min-hong willingly ran to the Park siblings, and two high school students who were watching Jae-heon Lee also welcomed the child. In particular, student Park Da-hoon seemed quite happy that a child younger than him had appeared.
“….”
“…Minhong seems more courageous than me, manager….”
“It’s sad that I can’t deny it.”
Kwon Yeon-hee’s head drooped at Lee Jae-heon’s affirmation.
‘But what can I do? I’m a chick.’
It’s not that employee Kwon Yeon-hee’s soft thinking style was bad, but it wasn’t particularly efficient. Lee Jae-heon had a headache wondering when these squishy chicks would grow up.
“….”
Oh wait a minute.
‘It really hurts.’
He suddenly realized that something was wrong with his health.
To be precise, my mental strength was plummeting. Since this is a world where people who would otherwise die due to their mental strength can survive, it was a situation that could not be ignored that their mental strength was being visibly diminished like this. To be honest, it is true that it would not be strange if Lee Jae-heon’s body fainted in an hour…
“…Ah.”
“Boss?”
“Oh no, it’s okay.”
Well, I guess I’ve done a lot of bad things during that time.
‘I needed to have normal physical strength or mental health, but I was too complacent.’
When I met the abandoned monster dog, my mentality was weakened, but I don’t think I noticed it because Song In-myeong gave my brain strength. Maybe the mental burden just before and after the regression had piled up and I could no longer endure it.
“Can I get some sleep first?”
“…It doesn’t matter because it’s almost time to sleep anyway, but are you feeling unwell?”
“No, it’s really okay.”
In response to Jeong In-ho’s question, Lee Jae-heon shook his head. You’re probably asking me if I’m going to go crazy because of the green algae monster. Of course, but since he didn’t have to worry about that, he was able to deny it with pride.
“It’s because I’m tired.”
Jet-black pupils stared at Lee Jae-heon, but the smile on his lips remained the same.
“Rest well.”
“…okay.”
“I hope you’re okay.”
Jaeheon Lee clicked his tongue and turned his back on me as he slightly rolled his eyes.
‘They cause accidents like that.’
Every time the main character makes an expression like that, he feels like he has to hurry up and kill the green algae monster. To do that, he has to sacrifice his life to expose Song In-myeong’s identity.
Even if it’s for my own wealth and fame.
