Episode 206 Immediately
after meeting with the two police officers and sharing the plan, Lee Jae-heon sent a request to the errand center to investigate the survivors’ residence. The information would arrive within a day at the earliest, but looking at the old manager’s social status, it seemed unlikely that he would work that hard, so Jaeheon Lee decided to take care of one thing before that.
“Boss.”
The idea was to visit the neighborhood where the main character lives.
“Oh, Assistant Manager Jeong.”
“…Why are you here?”
“Then why are you here?”
The bench where Lee Jae-heon is currently sitting is very close to the road where he blew up Shaoxingju last time. In other words, it is the scene of an accident that struck Choi Min-hong, and it was located in a place where the main character always jogs.
Jeong In-ho, who had not received a single call, closed his mouth while smiling for a moment as if confused, and then spoke with a sad smile typical of the protagonist. When I returned to reality, I wondered if it was even worth living. It was so disgusting.
“Oh my, if you had called me, I would have come out near the manager’s house.”
“What phone call is that creepy?”
“Weren’t you waiting for me?”
“Why am I waiting for you?”
In fact, I was planning to contact him soon.
‘I came here because I was wondering if I could meet the Choi family here.’
The activity radius of a child like Choi Min-hong was not that wide, so the Choi family’s residence was probably around here. As I had experienced all kinds of hardships in the other world, I would not leave the child outside, but since there was no chance of meeting him by chance, I went to visit him in person.
However, the probability of meeting him like that was naturally low, and I planned to wait 10 more minutes and call Jeong In-ho if I couldn’t run into him.
However, there was no need to reveal all of these trivial details, so Lee Jae-heon just swallowed his words.
“…All right.”
The protagonist’s gaze sank as he wondered what Lee Jae-heon’s appearance was like.
“You bought alcohol again?”
“…there’s an empty spot in the display case.”
He was looking at the Shaoxing liquor that Jaeheon Lee was holding.
‘Oh, isn’t it?’
Maybe he was looking at his watch.
The watch that broke last time was left in a corner of the house, and the watch I am wearing now is different from the last time. Lee Jae-heon had no choice but to buy alcohol in order to use the excuse he used before, ‘I came to this town to buy Shaoxing liquor.’ Although you will rarely actually drink it.
But I couldn’t figure out why the main character reacted this way.
“Not really… I didn’t buy it to drink. “It’s for decoration.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
The unpleasantly smooth smile was meant to hide the negative feelings in anyone’s eyes, and the eyes inside the gently folded eyelids were as black as ink. He was looking at Lee Jae-heon with a face like a well-made porcelain doll.
“…Did I sprain my eye? Even if you just look at it, you look upset, so what…”
“It’s not like that.”
Jeong In-ho mumbled his answer and once again smiled brightly.
“Then shall we change seats? “Were you planning on going to my house?”
“It’s strange for two dark guys to go to a cafe together.”
“It’s an unremarkable studio, so I don’t have anything to treat you…”
“Do you think I came to you, Jeong In-ho, hoping for a treat? Please guide me.”
“Haha, I understand.”
After that conversation, Jeong In-ho continued to talk nonsense while moving to his home. From the weather to the story about what Jaeheon Lee wore today. Lee Jae-heon sighed inwardly as he clearly showed that his mind was preoccupied somewhere.
‘Why am I so distracted today?’
Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t understand.
Lee Jae-heon looked around and asked Jeong In-ho.
“Are you okay?”
“yes? “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t be so pretentious. “You understand what I’m saying.”
“….”
Jeong In-ho shifted his gaze and looked at the large mirror abandoned on the side of the road.
It was full of dust and was torn to pieces for some reason. The mirror, which seemed unable to properly reflect even a simple object, let alone a person, had a faded appearance befitting an old neighborhood like this. Jeong In-ho looked into the mirror of such yellow and cloudy light without saying a word.
Soon, when his pitch-black eyes blinked slowly, Jaeheon Lee knew what he had seen.
“Doesn’t that bother you, Mr. Jeong In-ho?”
Mannequin monster.
This monster, located in the mirror, is trying to become a survivor and torments them in order to become human. They are so startled and scared that they become mentally exhausted and hope that the survivor will eventually die.
‘It’s quite painful to see.’
Seeing something that shouldn’t move is more creepy and unpleasant than you might think.
What would you think if your puppy stood on two feet by your bedside and looked down at you? What would you think if your phone rang while the line was disconnected or if a doll on a drawer was dancing? Maybe it’s interesting and just surprising, but most people will find it confusing.
The mannequin monster was not much different. Things that shouldn’t be there, places where they shouldn’t be, and behavior that shouldn’t be shown.
“Don’t you feel like your position is being threatened?”
Even survivors feel it instinctively. That thing wants ‘my’ life. We are doing our best to take it away in its entirety, and we also realize that we will eventually die.
“I came back from something like that, and somehow I saw something like that in the mirror.”
“…I see.”
“Don’t you think I’m whispering to you that you can’t completely escape?”
You see things like that not just in mirrors, but all over the world. The existence of those who have already been eaten by the underworld, died, and were eventually replaced by mannequins. Unlike the monster in the mirror, it looks very human-like and acts like a human, so it erodes the spirit of the survivors.
“Many of the survivors were distracted by them and died.”
That is, as described in the novel.
“What should I do if I come out alive? When we come out there’s a monster and it wants us dead. I don’t know when I will enter the other world and people go crazy. “That’s when I started thinking about this.”
“….”
“Is there any need to live?”
Although he is still struggling to survive, Ha Seong-yoon’s friend in the original novel also seems to have died in this way.
“You end up dying.”
Jaeheon Lee had a thin smile on his face.
Jeong In-ho’s expression did not change despite his story. Smoothly curved lips and shallow curved eyes. However, the calm gaze that seemed to indicate that he was not happy at all was the face of ‘Jung In-ho’, whom Lee Jae-heon had seen all along.
‘…gross bastard.’
He is a guy who has no taste for teasing.
Jeong In-ho arrived at an old building and stopped in front of the door. Then he looked back at Lee Jae-heon and said.
“so.”
“hmm?”
“You want to die?”
No, that’s not it.
‘If possible, it’s better for me to live too.’
When people say they want to die, they usually mean ‘I want to live happily.’ But I don’t have the courage to do it and I don’t even have time to rub my butt, so I give up. Running away How sweet it is to be able to escape through death like this.
Therefore, Lee Jae-heon was born into a good family hoping for wealth and fame, and achieved the basic conditions for wealth and fame by taking a position as an old manager at a large corporation. What he needed more in his life now was survival and safety. In order to do that, I had to completely escape the other side of the world, and that’s why I desperately needed a protagonist.
“…Boss?”
“….”
“Manager.”
“well.”
Actually, even this is not certain.
‘Because it is not clear why the main character was able to escape from the secret world.’
Jeong In-ho is the only character who completely escapes the underworld, and the reason for this is never explained in the novel. When Lee Jae-heon asked the writer, he only said, ‘It’s because I wanted to,’ and didn’t even give a proper explanation.
However, this is reality, and the setting errors made by the author would have been replaced by reality. Therefore, the only hill that Lee Jae-heon could rely on to permanently escape from the underworld was the main character, Jeong In-ho.
“I…”
Then what should I answer?
Since ‘Lee Jae-heon’ wants to die, would it be better to answer that he also wants to die? Or silence? In fact, it wouldn’t have mattered which one. Since the main character already believes in ‘Lee Jae-heon’…
he spat it out with peace of mind.
“I want to live.”
The protagonist responded as if he couldn’t believe it at all.
“Is that so.”
“….”
Look.
“…I guess so.”
You believe in ‘Lee Jae-heon’.
* * *
“Would you like some coffee? “It’s a mix, though.”
“It’s okay… Just give me a place to sit.”
“Then please sit down in the chair. “I will sit on the bed.”
“It’s because the room is so small.”
As I grumbled and sat down, the protagonist also sat down on the bed. There was a small creaking sound, as if it was not a particularly good quality product. To be honest, it was not a very comfortable space for Lee Jae-heon, who was accustomed to living in a large and nice house.
But from now on, I had to keep my spirits up.
“…Then….”
‘Lee Jae-heon’ continued speaking with a characteristic expression.
“What should we talk about first?”
“…I have so many things on my mind that I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m in a similar situation.”
So, it is time to solidify the setting of ‘Lee Jae-heon’.
It wasn’t a very urgent task, but it was something that had to be done at some point. I went there first because I didn’t know what kind of accident might happen to Choi’s father and son, but at least this was something that only needed to be dealt with before the next move to the underworld was decided.
‘There’s so much going on in the underworld.’
If he had stayed sane, this trouble wouldn’t have happened, but unfortunately, Lee Jae-heon thought too easily about the heavy atmosphere of the other side of the world. There are too many accidents caused by people being distracted. I felt a little at ease thinking that I was now clearing away that karma.
As Jaeheon Lee hesitated, Inho Jeong spoke first.
“…Do you know what? “We all saw the manager die together.”
“He wasn’t dead… Or rather, we were all together? “And Mr. Hong Gyeong-jun’s team members?”
“They came rushing in, wondering what was going on. At the back was police officer Kim Yeon-woo. “I think it was because it was difficult to manage moving only part of it… Maybe that’s why the children were there too.”
“Huh.”
All the survivors saw that gorgeous tail.
“Of course, the adults covered the children’s eyes.”
“There’s a green algae monster right in front of you, but you don’t run away?”
“Not only was that green algae monster holding on to the manager, but probably because there was a final boss, other monsters didn’t come close. Even the vines stayed still.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“It’s a blessing in disguise.”
Jeong In-ho shrugged his shoulders. The face with a neat smile was extremely calm, but Lee Jae-heon realized that his eyes had become even darker.
“Even that misfortune was so great that no one at the time even thought about leaving the lake.”
The protagonist added that it was probably some kind of survival instinct.
“Actually, if you think about it, it was the safest space.”
“Why?”
“The green algae monster did not attack us because it was eating the manager, and other monsters could not approach us because of the green algae monster. “I think everyone was safe except for the manager.”
“I’m so glad that that body, which was almost a corpse, was useful.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or sincere. “Honestly, given the manager’s personality, I don’t think he would blame us, so… I don’t know.”
It was neither sarcastic nor sincere.
‘I just said this because I felt like I needed to say something.’
Jeong In-ho, who did not know Lee Jae-heon’s true intentions, continued speaking.
“So, I want to ask you, what did you see on the green algae monster?”
“…What did you see?”
“Don’t change your mind for no reason.”
No, I asked because I really didn’t know.
Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, the protagonist slowly blinked his eyes in front of Lee Jae-heon, who was trying hard to correct his distorted expression. The scene where the pitch-black eyes were hidden by the eyelids and then reappeared was clearly revealed.
“Looking at that monster… well, yeah.”
“…Oh wait….”
“Baby?”
“Fuck.”
Fuck.
“…Write a poem….”
Seeing Lee Jae-heon barely holding back the curses that were about to come out in succession, Jeong In-ho also looked very shaken. After a few seconds, his face contorted and he muttered.
“sorry.”
“That will have to do.”
Part of me wanted to make fun of him, so I spat out the words, but it seemed like he was also hurt. Lee Jae-heon, who heard the disgusting main character being called something like that, added even more.
Jaeheon Lee stuttered as he endured the pain of vomiting blood.
“So… why is that…”
“…isn’t that what the manager said while looking at that monster?”
“That’s true, but… why… like that…”
Lee Jae-heon said, gently wiping away the goosebumps that had appeared all the way to his neck.
“…I just saw someone I knew.”
In fact, it was just a green algae monster, but Lee Jae-heon did not complain about the setting that the main character created for himself. Perhaps, after seeing CEO Choi Jeong-man become a monster, he thought, ‘The green algae monster has the ability to hallucinate and appear as someone’s precious person.’
And at this point, it is time to reveal the past history of ‘Lee Jae-heon’.
“We first met in the other side of the world.”
“….”
“He was the person I liked. So….”
He continued speaking with an expression as if he was swallowing what he had worked so hard to write.
“…He’s dead now.”
I think your wife might be a little disappointed that her life was suddenly stolen from her to fix the accident I caused.
Can you look at this much?
