Episode 229
Lee Jae-heon quickly realized his brother’s intentions.
‘Are you suspicious?’
No, it would be closer to wanting to be sure.
Lee Jae-hyung was not a particularly great personality or a genius, but above all, he was a resourceful person. The fact that he cared about a subject that was not particularly interested in other people’s personalities was proof of this in itself. He was capable enough to protect his position as director against his older sister, who was not easy at all. A thunderbolt called ‘Lee Jae-heon’ fell in front of such a person.
‘You’ll want to gather as much information as possible.’
Aside from the embarrassment, what exactly is ‘Lee Jae-heon’? I wonder if I can afford it. Is there any benefit to be gained after enduring it? Or are there any losses if you don’t do that?
And the best material to understand such things was already in Lee Jae-hyung’s hands. This is the errand boy that Lee Jae-heon wrote about.
“I think this is the first time we’re seeing each other in person.”
“….”
“Is that so?”
Lee Jae-heon tilted his head at the sight of him drooping in silence.
“there is no answer.”
Is he already dead? The man’s body trembled as he muttered softly. It was said that he struggled a lot when he was first caught, but I don’t know if he was helped or if he just resigned himself to it, but he was quite calm. It seemed like he didn’t understand why Lee Jae-heon, who was just a customer, came into this room.
Lee Jae-heon spoke to him in a low voice.
“I was there just a few hours ago. Do you know?”
“….”
“Personally, I think it is the most vicious when tied up like that. One arm per armrest. Another one on the front chair leg. Wrap the neck slightly with a rope and secure it. The waist and body of the chair are also tied together. See, even the chairs are made to order.”
“…I…”
“I wasted no effort in torturing someone.”
At those words, the man’s body shook violently.
“You didn’t know? Did you think I just came in to look at you? “It can’t be.”
“I, I, I…”
“Brother, you should see what I do. “Kill you.”
Lee Jae-hyung may be watching all of Lee Jae-heon’s calm words and actions, but it was actually an opportunity for Lee Jae-heon. He had to take this opportunity into his own hands to make his brother look like a ‘crazy guy who can handle it’. Then how do you massage it?
‘You have to show a situation so horrific that it can be considered art.’
Lee Jae-heon smiled roundly, filled with embarrassment as he thought of the protagonist of this world.
“Neither of us can leave until then.”
I intentionally added the backstory to evoke a sense of homogeneity. There was no way that the heart of a trembling man who was so close to death could be relaxed, but it was better than keeping his mouth shut.
“What is your name.”
“….”
“Introduce me first? “You would know.”
“…I know, Lee Jae-heon… Manager.”
“Oh thank you for remembering.”
“….”
“What is our friend’s name?”
The errand boy answered, his eyes filled with confusion.
“…Kim Chan-hyuk….”
“Good, Mr. Chan-hyuk. It’s definitely not a situation where I would be happy to meet you, but I’m glad to see you as a comrade locked in the same room. “It’s all bullshit.”
The easiest way to recognize a person when you first meet him is to judge him based on his role. Just as Lee Jae-heon called him an errand boy the whole time, he must have also recognized Lee Jae-heon as a customer. This distant relationship broke down the first, thinnest, weakest wall by making public statements.
Lee Jae-heon let out a laugh and continued.
“You know what? I was called out today thinking I was going fishing. My brother said he would make spicy stew for me. “The thing I thought about the most when I came here was, ‘Oh, how much will that guy cheat on me?’”
“….”
“But don’t they give you a lot of medicine and tie you up in the middle of the room and harass you? I really don’t understand what this is going on. “I wonder if I did something wrong.”
Perhaps the errand boy also took medicine. When a person named Secretary Jeong put Lee Jae-heon, who was pretending to be asleep, in the car, he said, “I vomited after taking medicine,” so he must have had bad memories about sleeping pills. Not only was he tied up in the middle of the room, but he probably sympathized with a lot of what Jaeheon Lee said.
Seeing the other person’s expression become strange, it was clear that he had not been able to properly communicate with the people on this ship since he was captured. It did not have the face of someone who knew how the situation was going.
“Where does Kim Chan-hyuk live?”
“…Hwaseong….”
“Gyeonggi-do? Is it true that if you live there, you spend 20% of your life on the subway? I’ve never really been to Mars. Is that your hometown? Since I was young…”
“…Yes.”
“What was Mars like when you were a child?”
Jaeheon Lee continued to ask easy questions so that the other person could feel that I was not difficult. Starting from questions that can be answered with a short answer, to questions that ultimately force you to recall your past. The goal was to gradually create an atmosphere in which the other person could come up with a smooth answer.
I wouldn’t say it was a good situation, but it was true that the atmosphere had improved a lot compared to when Lee Jae-heon first came in. Although hesitating, the messenger continued speaking.
“…There is cultural heritage. But… I don’t know…”
“Ah, you know. On the contrary, if you tell me that there is something like that near my house, I don’t go there often. But didn’t the school let you go? “If there were cultural heritage sites in the same area, I would have sent them there whenever I had time.”
“…I did that… when I was in elementary school. “I didn’t do that in middle school…”
“Oh, where did you go to middle school? “I heard that one of my subordinates spent his middle school days in Mars.”
“….”
The errand boy narrowed his eyes in contemplation and blurted out.
“I think it was during the snowy landscape… Maybe…”
“The name sounds good. “What about high school?”
“Uh… high school…? Danhwago…? “But only…”
His face looked as if he didn’t know why he had to answer like this, but the answer came out steadily. Although the staff on the ship were so dejected that he died, Lee Jae-heon was of a higher rank than them, so he seemed to be thinking that if he listened to them carefully, he might be able to save his life.
I couldn’t allow myself to have such hopeful delusions.
“Are you still living on Mars with your family? Together?”
As long as I was an errand boy, it would never be a harmonious family, so I pretended not to notice the pain and poked the other person, and the other person’s face clearly hardened. Rather than being angry, it was a feeling similar to emptiness or resignation.
“…Isolated.”
“Uh… I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that….”
“…because he didn’t understand me….”
“….”
“Always cursing… and getting angry….”
I didn’t even ask. I started telling stories. It was a good sign.
“I wonder how good I have been. You kicked me out… I…”
“…Kicked me out? “Your family?”
“My parents. I only like hyung, hyung. “My brother did more wrong.”
“Why is my brother…”
“That bastard always hates me… and pushes me away…”
My hands and feet tied to the chair were shaking. Still, if he even worked as an errand boy, it means his head wasn’t completely out of whack, but the fear that he might die soon and the sense of disconnection from not knowing what was going on outside seemed to have crushed his rationality and made him lose his mind. Seeing how he got heated up so easily.
“I am. I am… a really smart person. I got good grades and didn’t have any accidents. But still, my older brother ignores me… and criticizes me behind my back and ridicules me in front of my parents.”
“Ah….”
“I’m better. It was a person. Be a better person… do better, whatever. More, more…”
And it was easy for those who were lacking to slip through the cracks.
“…I really don’t know why those guys called older brothers bully my younger brother so much.”
“….”
“Is that how you left home and entered the errand center? This was my first time asking Chanhyuk Kim, but he seemed to have a neat skill in gathering information…” “
…That was just….”
“I was impressed. “The information I was curious about was neatly organized.”
Create a designated enemy and show a friendly attitude so that the enemy is considered an ally. Judging from the way he spoke, it seemed like he had a sense of entitlement or inferiority complex in terms of ability, but there was no way such a one-dimensional compliment wouldn’t work now that his reason was clouded and his emotions were heated.
The other person was silent, but anyone could see that it was an affirmative silence.
“Thanks to you, I also met good people.”
“…Thank you….”
“I really liked it and the information was just as you gave me…”
the errand boy asked in a trembling voice.
“Those people… are…”
“… Yes.”
“Kill…? “Are you… scared?”
“….”
I blinked and consciously looked outward. After showing signs of contemplation for a moment, he nodded his head slightly awkwardly and apologetically. So that it can be seen as a gap between normal and abnormal people.
“…If possible.”
The flow of Lee Jae-heon’s conversation so far was extremely normal, but the situation was quite the opposite. The errand boy, who felt a sense of disconnection so strong that it dulled his sense of reality, must have been unable to bear the question and asked. It was understandable that it was strange because the crazy guy seemed like a normal person.
The moment Lee Jae-heon answered, hope disappeared from the errand boy’s eyes. In the end, he realized that the crazy man in front of him was going to take his life.
“…I’m just sorry that we met like this.”
“…Why….”
“….”
“Why why why… Why on earth…”
I just finished denying, ‘It can’t be that bad.’
“I did a good job… they said I did a good job…! I’m good at my job. why! “What did I do wrong?”
“….”
“Why are you killing me? Everyone else does the same thing. They are all the same. It’s not just me. I? why? Why why? Why, why, why do you have to do that? I’m not particularly bad, huh? Why don’t they kill those bastards! “Shouldn’t those bastards be killed too!”
I am angry at others and everything around me who will enjoy life even after I die.
“Please look at me just once. yes? I’ll do really well. I’ll do better. I’ll do better. I can do well. Just once. I’ll do anything if you save me just once. I can really do everything you ask me to do. Please….”
“….”
“Then can we do it a little later? me. I’m not ready yet. Just give me some time… okay? Then again and again. Please… save me…”
Trying to postpone the situation somehow, I try to negotiate everything possible.
“How did I get to this point… I built it up to this point… why did I…” “
….”
“…what on earth have I been living for….”
And about the things I have to leave behind. Feeling depressed about it.
Jaeheon Lee opened his mouth.
“…You look tired.”
“….”
“You must be very tired. But there is no need to repeat the process. “You’re already exhausted… and you’ve done a lot.”
He got up from his seat and slowly approached the messenger tied to the chair and made eye contact. The hazy gaze that was staring into space turned towards Lee Jae-heon as if possessed.
“I will put the information you provided to good use. thank you.”
“…I…”
“You might be sad to leave behind what you’ve built up so far, but… Kim Chan-hyuk.”
“What do I mean….”
“Kim Chan-hyuk is a lonely person.”
Jaeheon Lee quietly recited in a heavy voice.
“Abandoned by my parents, framed by my older brother… I left home, grew up alone, and ended up here. Still, don’t you know? Everyone on this floor faces death like this. I don’t deny that Mr. Kim Chan-hyuk is unlucky, but….”
“….”
“I can give you a very small help.”
The errand boy who was looking at him muttered softly.
“…Lee Jae-heon….”
“Yes, that’s my name.”
“…Jaeheon Lee.”
“Please speak.”
“Lee Jae-heon…”
He muttered as if he was going crazy, and tears fell.
“It’s scary.”
“You know what? “You’re just afraid of being forgotten.”
“I’m scared….”
“Such fear comes equally to everyone.”
Lee Jae-heon slowly stretched out his hand and lazily stroked his head. It was like petting an obedient dog, but the messenger didn’t notice it at all. It meant that the brilliant mind that was good at gathering information as an errand boy had stopped functioning.
Those with deficiencies are blind to those who fill their deficiencies.
“But I will remember Mr. Kim Chan-hyuk.”
“….”
“You won’t be scared at all.”
The hand comes down from the head and goes down to the neck tied with a rope. The hand, placed in a place where the errand boy could not see, was holding a short, thin skewer that seemed to shine bright white. The errand boy, who was staring blankly at Lee Jae-heon, shivered at the cold touch, but did not cry any more.
Jaeheon Lee smiled without avoiding his gaze.
“…Let’s talk with me.”
The messenger remained alive for another three hours.
