Episode 178
Kang Min-ah has never once thought that fire was scary.
That was natural, even if it wasn’t her. The fire that most people know is that it either rises from a machine as big as the palm of one’s hand, or, no matter how big it is, it only briefly flutters over a frying pan the size of someone’s torso. It has never transferred to other objects or burned people.
If we were to look further, we would find forest fires and fire accidents that occasionally appear in news and internet articles. However, even though the fire inside was so big that it seemed like it would consume the world, it was only a world beyond the screen. Even when people encounter such incidents, all they do is click their tongues and say ‘it’s a shame’, but they don’t get scared.
“…president…?”
So, I had no idea that the fire right in front of me, which I could feel with my whole body, would be this scary.
“Mr. Yoon Garam.”
“I feel good.”
“…yes?”
Bright green eyes stared at Kang Min-ah.
“I love it so much that my head feels dizzy….” “
….”
“…Ha haha. Phuhahahaha….”
The two hands desperately covering the corners of his mouth are unrealistic. My tears fall to the ground in a patter, and my wide-open eyes look lovingly at the park, where there is no place that is not on fire.
“how is it.”
She instantly smiled gently and asked Kang Min-ah.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“….”
The moment she heard those words, an ember fell on Kang Min-ah’s feet.
“Uh uh…”
It was a fire that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried to shake it off.
“…Ahh!”
My heart dropped.
The fire had no shape. I couldn’t just scrape it off with my hands like food residue that fell on my clothes while eating, and I couldn’t wipe it away like I accidentally spilled water or drink while drinking. The change in fire that did not spread all at once, but gradually covered the body, was enough to put people in fear.
“Ahahahahaha…!”
A loud laugh rang in my ears.
Kang Min-ah desperately ran away, trying to keep her mind from working properly. No, I ran to find other people. It was because I instinctively realized that in order to survive, I had to protect others. It was truly a struggle that bordered on unconsciousness.
“Yeonseok, Yeonseok…! Hey Noh Yeon-seok!”
The person I must protect.
“Curb….”
“….”
“…Ah.”
The people I had to protect.
“….”
But what’s the use if they all die?
“…no.”
When I saw Noh Yeon-seok lying face down with one hand outstretched, tears fell drop by drop.
Even when I desperately grabbed his sturdy shoulders and shook him, even when I stroked his cheeks with my hands and made eye contact, the poor young man did not respond. As usual, he didn’t look at me with such a loving gaze that I couldn’t even dare to accept him.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I’m sorry ahhh…ugh I’m sorry ha.”
“….”
“What should I do… Huh? Yeonseok, Yeonseok. No Yeon-seok….”
Even though I tried to hold him in my arms, I couldn’t even hold his heavy body without any strength. After making a fuss over and over again, I just accepted reality and fell on top of it.
“Why why why why does it have to be like this….”
Why did this good child have to die like this?
Noh Yeon-seok’s hand was holding a hammer covered in blood and flesh, and around him, the body of President Choi Jeong-man was leaning against a tree. I couldn’t help but notice that the reason why the shape of the face couldn’t be recognized was because of the hammer that Noh Yeon-seok was holding tightly.
“You are because of me.”
killed a person
“Because I couldn’t take responsibility…”
I hated people.
“Huhhh… Yeonseok. Sorry sorry. I am.”
“….”
“I wanted to do better….”
I knew it well. Noh Yeon-seok was such a kind and innocent child that he never hurt anyone easily. That kind of person hated Vivian, a poor student, because of Kang Min-ah, and killed the person who tried to kill me. They turned President Choi Jeong-man into such a miserable corpse.
And yet you died.
“I couldn’t protect it.”
Kang Min-ah was an idiot who couldn’t protect anything and couldn’t do anything for her age.
The tears that fell from Kang Min-ah’s eyes reached Noh Yeon-seok, but had no effect on him, whose entire body was soaked in blood. There was a big difference between the blood, which had a fishy smell and was now soggy, and the clear, slightly salty water. Unlike Kang Min-ah, who cried because she was just sad, Noh Yeon-seok must have been very sick and distressed. “
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
…
“….”
This is how the manager died too.
“…Kang Min-ah?”
“…Doctor.”
“Are you okay, Kang Min-ah?”
I died because I couldn’t protect anything….
“You have to run away. There’s a monster nearby. “Right now, they are preying on Vivian, so they won’t come right away, but they will come after me when the time comes.”
“…What about Vivian?”
“yes?”
“Aren’t you going to save me?”
“….”
“…Hahaha….”
So much has changed, Manager.
“sorry.”
I guess it’s because you died. Jaeheon Lee It’s because I killed you.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…”
“…Student Vivian was the first to step forward to take on the monster. There is no need for Kang Min-ah to feel guilty. Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s death was also the monster’s fault in the first place…”
“It wasn’t like this from the beginning, we were.”
“Mr. Kang Min-ah.”
“You’re not the type of person to say things like that…”
I missed the person who just said something light with a blunt look. I missed the strange peace I felt when that person protected us, just living and breathing by our side. I couldn’t say I was very happy back then, but at least it was much better when I had Lee Jae-heon as my spiritual support.
“Let’s move first. It’s never too late to think about it later.”
“….”
“Kang Min-ah.”
“…all right.”
After returning the hammer that Noh Yeon-seok was holding with trembling hands, Kang Min-ah stood up.
“But but over there…there’s President Garam Yoon.”
At that moment, the fire that had been slowly gnawing away at my leg died down little by little. One side of the suit pants was burned and stuck to the skin, making it sore, but it actually made Kang Min-ah feel at ease. Actually, yes. When I think about it, the manager also suffered an injury like this.
“…Are your legs okay?”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“If you say so.”
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon smiled with a soft face that must have been fake.
“I just need to stop by the hospital later.”
“…Then…”
Kang Min-ah also laughed at the smile that was so similar to Yoon Garam.
“I will protect you until then.”
With those words, Kang Min-ah and Ha Seong-yoon ran in the direction where Yoon Gar-ram was. Because the entire park was being consumed by fire, it was difficult to breathe and their eyes were sore that they were distracted, but thanks to Ha Seong-yoon and Kang Min-ah, who found their way strangely quickly, they were able to avoid getting lost.
When I finally got to Yoon Garam after shaking off the little monsters that came from time to time.
“….”
“…Aha.”
Insanely beautiful green eyes greeted them.
“….”
It seemed as if the whole world was run by Yoon Garam.
So, it wasn’t something as empty and pretentious as saying, ‘He looks like the main character.’ This means that the person who caused the burnt tree branches to fall to the ground, the leaves that turned into ashes to fly like butterflies, and dye the entire white sky red was Garam Yoon.
“mister.”
She called out to Ha Seong-yoon in a soft voice from among the bumpy roots of the tree.
“help.”
He was happy to answer.
“Don’t worry.”
“…Wait a minute”
Phuuk―.
The blue blade dug into my delicate neck.
A bright smile spread across a face covered in tears.
* * *
‘Kang Min-ah’ was watching it.
* * *
“…I… I mean.”
“….”
“That wasn’t my story.”
The end of his voice trembled slightly.
“It’s true, he was a different person than me.”
Only then was Jaeheon Lee able to be sure.
‘…was this a structure where each world had its own timeline?’
What Kang Min-ah wanted to say was clear. She saw the story of ‘Kang Min-ah’ in the last episode and that passage was just a dream. That’s probably why his mental state was much more stable than that of the main character, who experienced everything firsthand. Because the current Kang Min-ah is not the ‘Kang Min-ah’ from the previous episode.
However, the problem was that, when interpreted this way, the world depending on the episode was different. There is a separate world for the first round, a separate world for the second round, and a separate world for the third round…
“Even that person died in the end.”
“….”
Suddenly, the people who died in the first and second rounds came to mind.
If this structure is really true, the ‘return’ experienced by the protagonist and Lee Jae-heon was not a concept of reset. All you have to do is abandon the previous timeline and move to the next timeline. It’s like moving on to a new book with the same name.
The story after that was left to those who were left behind.
“Of course, he was the same as me. But I didn’t think I would protect someone so… blindly. But he was different.”
“how.”
“It was an obsession. It’s survival instinct. “I think it was like I couldn’t survive if I didn’t protect others.”
Kang Min-ah was looking at the current self and the previous ‘Kang Min-ah’ completely separately.
‘…If the main character finds out about this, he’ll lose his temper again.’
Lee Jae-heon barely swallowed a sigh.
The probability that the hypothesis from the conversation with Ha Seong-yoon and Jeong In-ho was correct was increasing. The hypothesis is that the last survivor will return. That is, only when all the characters die will there be a ‘last survivor’. In that case, wouldn’t the world, having decided that there is no longer any value here, send the ‘main character’ to another timeline to continue the story?
It could have been moved to a point in time when all the ‘characters’ he recognized were still alive, or to a point where he felt it was convenient to proceed with the ‘story’.
“…But I don’t think there’s anything I can’t understand…”
“Yes.”
“I thought that if I were to be picky, I could end up like that. “I can’t explain it well, but it felt like the branches were in different directions, but the roots were the same.”
Of course, questions remain.
‘Why do I return with the main character?’
Additionally, what value does the ‘last survivor’ have to have the right to be handed over the memories of the previous episode? Above all, why did Choi Min-hong’s first guardian, whom Song In-myeong had already killed, have to die?
First, let’s think about the last part. Even if the main character is moved to a point in time where all the characters he remembers are alive, or to a point in time that the main character finds convenient, there is a contradiction in either way, coming to a point in time where the ‘first protector’ is dead. What does the protagonist know about his guardian to find his death convenient?
‘Then in this case, it means that Choi Min-hong’s guardian was not treated as a character…’
Why?
‘why?’
As Lee Jae-heon, the reincarnated person, is also undergoing regression, for some reason ‘Choi Min-hong’s first guardian’, a native of this world, was not treated as a ‘character’.
“But he and I… don’t seem to be completely the same.”
“….”
“Ha Seong-yoon and In-ho seem to have some memories of that time. “That’s it…”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
“…return.”
“yes yes. “It’s just like the subject matter of a common novel.”
Next is the reincarnation of possession.
‘Because among these, there are regression and reincarnation.’
What remains is possession.
“…Boss?”
“No, just a little.”
“I did something wrong…”
“It’s just that my head hurts.”
Yes, I had a headache.
‘I really couldn’t believe it…’
Choi Minhong’s guardian, did you possess him?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
