Episode 240
This is what Lee Jae-heon thought as soon as he was eaten by the secret world.
‘I’m not fully healed yet.’
I couldn’t help but laugh.
‘Then I have to run around like this?’
First of all, if you want to go outside, you have to do your best to avoid the spider legs that are scattered around the company from the beginning, right? Do you do this without anything in your calf, side, or mental condition? I? really…?
Wow, making a living sucks.
“….”
“Chief? This can’t be possible….”
“What can I say?”
Jaeheon Lee sighed and said.
“Bring your tools.”
The choice of words was reminiscent of a gangster, but there was no other word to replace it. I heard that she had five hammers in her drawers. Now that the day has finally come, shouldn’t her hammers see the light of day too?
However, even with Lee Jae-heon’s words, Kang Min-ah could not respond right away.
“Oh, that…”
“…What are you going to do if you’re already out of your mind?”
“…Ah….”
Yes, there was another thing that I could immediately feel as soon as I entered the other side of the world.
“Come to your senses, Kang Min-ah.”
The air of the other world, which they are not at all familiar with, takes their breath away.
It felt as if I was whispering to him to die.
* * *
‘This is how it goes.’
At this point, it is almost meaningless to consider the story of the original novel, but let’s take a look. The story begins with the episode after the protagonist escapes to reality by returning to ‘Park → Hospital → Pharmacy → Park’.
I escaped back to reality and ran to the office just in case, but as expected, the people who died inside had turned into mannequins. While trying to get his mind together by often meeting Yoon Garam, who runs a business near his office, he runs into the Park siblings, who came here, and Azalea, who was sitting in the park. While they were adjusting to reality, on April 29th, the protagonist and his group were eaten by the other side of the world again.
‘The stage of the episode is a school.’
The time when they were eaten was around 10 am. The Park siblings, who were taking classes at school, were unable to escape from the school, and the main characters move to save the two students.
‘I think the rules there were a bit tricky…’
Lee Jae-heon glanced at the stopped analog clock.
“…About 1:20….”
“Yes?”
“I was talking to myself.”
He turned his gaze and looked at Jeong In-ho. Perhaps because he was the main character, Jung In-ho was comforting the confused Kang Min-ah. Lee Jae-heon raised his eyebrows as if he was surprised to see that.
“I think Mr. Jeong In-ho is worth holding on to.”
“Well, once before… Yeah, it’s okay. “It’s in better condition than the last time I visited.”
“That’s a good thing.”
Lee Jae-heon looked back at Kang Min-ah and asked.
“What about the hammer? “Aren’t you going to check?”
“Ah ah… yes. I’ll check it soon. wait a minute.”
“Mr. Jeong In-ho, please just check the bathroom.”
“Why is the bathroom…”
Jeong In-ho, who had been staring blankly at Kang Min-ah, who was slowly walking towards her and opening the desk drawer, looked at me in surprise, and Lee Jae-heon, who clicked his tongue inwardly, explained with a calm expression.
“I can’t see Yeonhee Kwon and Yeonseok Noh. Yeonhee Kwon went into the bathroom to talk to Team Leader Woo earlier, but Yeonseok Noh is not sure. “I think I need to look around and sort out the situation.”
“Ah…”
It was only then that he realized the absence of the two people and nodded. Although it was better than last time, the protagonist’s mental strength seemed to have clearly decreased. That means that your judgment has deteriorated. Still, he could be seen as having grown up by not blindly rushing to the old manager and asking questions like he did during his first visit.
Jeong In-ho, who was looking around, muttered in confusion.
“Now that I think about it, this time… no one came besides us.”
“All the people crazy enough to be brought here died during our last visit. “You probably haven’t already forgotten that it was replaced by a mannequin.”
“…I thought I would at least see that mannequin.”
“It can’t be. A mannequin transformed into a human becomes completely real. They can never return to the underworld again. “I will live like a human being for the rest of my life and then die in reality.”
“….”
After confirming that Jeong In-ho, who nodded silently, was heading to the bathroom, Lee Jae-heon turned his gaze to Kang Min-ah. She, who had been faithfully following the instructions to check the hammer, looked at Lee Jae-heon with a strange expression.
“Um… why is it in this condition?”
“What state are you talking about?”
“…I definitely put a good hammer in there…”
As Kang Min-ah seemed to be about to take the hammer out of the drawer, the sound of something crumbling and scattering was heard from beyond the partition. Jaeheon Lee knew what she was looking at just from that sound.
“Is it rotten?”
“Yes….”
“You can do that. This happens often. “Don’t worry too much.”
“Is it always like this? “If I prepare it in advance, it will rot…?”
“Not everything is like this in the first place.”
Lee Jae-heon walked towards Kang Min-ah and said while checking the hammer.
“If I were to define it, it is probability theory. If you look, the monitor is not working either. If you look carefully, you will find monitors that work well. In the same vein, no matter how many weapons you accumulate, there are times when they become useless and other times they remain the same.”
“What kind of luck game is that….”
“Where did you learn such a ridiculous word?”
I don’t think so, but I have a rather extreme personality. Lee Jae-heon looked at her with a sour expression at the strange words coming from Kang Min-ah, who was usually timid but calm and rational, and continued speaking.
“And the weapons collected in the name of ‘preparing for the other side of the world’ are more likely to end up in a useless state like this. I think it’s probably because it’s filled with thoughts related to this world…”
“What about La Reiter?”
“So, don’t I have a separate intention of ‘pleasing the superiors’? “In most cases, if it is an item that was used for other purposes, this will not happen to you.”
“Most of them…?”
“It really depends on luck… but if you collect a lot of them, a few of them may survive. That’s why I didn’t say anything when Kang Min-ah collected the hammers.”
“Then tell me to save up more…”
“Oh, is it possible to do that when Chief Kang has social standing? “Isn’t it strange how people around you look when you put five hammers in a drawer?”
“But isn’t it inevitable for survival?”
“It’s not wrong, Chief Kang. “We should go back to reality and eat well and live well.”
Kang Min-ah pursed her lips at those words.
“…It can happen this time too, right?”
“Say the obvious.”
“Then… that’s enough.”
Kang Min-ah slowly inhaled and exhaled and then nodded. The strangely childish appearance that had appeared just a moment ago gradually disappeared and she was back to her usual Kang Min-ah. She would whine again once she encountered the monster, but Lee Jae-heon secretly applauded her growth.
As if she had finished organizing her miscellaneous thoughts, Kang Min-ah lifted the only intact hammer among them.
“…I just remembered, but I can’t see Yeonseok. Yeonhee too.”
“What I said earlier went in one ear and went out the other.”
“Huh? “What did you say?”
“I sent Deputy Jeong to check on that….”
“Oh, I see. Sorry, I didn’t hear you. “I guess I was out of my mind.”
“It’s okay if you come to your senses now.”
Lee Jae-heon, who said that, looked into the quiet office and said.
“But Noh Yeon-seok may not have come this time.”
“…Is it the curb? why? “We came together last time.”
“Survivor has fixed members and sub members. Sub members may or may not enter the underworld, provided they are not mannequined. This means that he is an ambiguous talent who may or may not meet the cutoff point for the underworld.”
“Uh…”
“Furthermore, unlike Yeon-hee Kwon, Yeon-seok Noh was in this office, but he suddenly disappeared when he entered the secret world. “There is a high probability that he was cut during this visit to the underworld.”
So, I was curious how it came to flow last time.
A sub member is either in contact with a fixed member or is near a fixed member and has the qualities of a psychopath. Which one was Noh Yeon-seok, who had a healthy mind and a healthier body, and was pale all the time he was wandering around the underworld?
Lee Jae-heon, who thought for a moment, looked back at Kang Min-ah.
“Were you in contact with Noh Yeon-seok when you were first devoured by the underworld?”
“yes…?”
“It’s nothing special. At that moment, our bodies collided or we held hands…”
“Not really…? iced coffee. Is that it?”
“What is it?”
“It was a situation where I was handed a document that Yeonseok had printed out. Did your fingers lightly touch it at that time? I think so. “I remember it because Yeonseok was so surprised.”
“….”
Fluttering… through the documents…
Lee Jae-heon was slowly starting to feel sorry for Noh Yeon-seok. From the looks of it, Kang Min-ah is like something out of a romance comic, saying, ‘Ahh…! Rather than feeling like, ‘My fingers crashed together!’, I thought, ‘What? ‘Why is he like that?’ I think I remember it that way. When will Noh Yeon-seok be classified as a romantic interest?
“…okay.”
“Why do you look like that…?”
“Why does Kang Min-ah have such a bitter expression?”
“Oh, this is….”
Kang Min-ah, who was confused for a moment, answered in a slightly calm voice.
“…It’s a little selfish, but I thought we would always hang out together. Of course, I know that Yeon-seok had a hard time last time, and I know that he was hurt a lot, but… this… the human heart is really like that.”
“…Noh Yeon-seok is probably sad that he can’t be with us.”
“What nonsense are you saying?”
Hey, it’s true. Just take my word for it.
‘He’s really a grown adult.’
This person even has serious romantic feelings.
Kang Min-ah is not a person without sense, so she must have properly recognized Noh Yeon-seok’s feelings, but what is the reason for the reaction of ‘Oh, but he’s a bit…’? Maybe it was because my mind was shaken, but even such a trivial topic made me feel frustrated.
‘It seems like Jeong In-ho has already given up.’
The wise protagonist had already gotten out of this sluggish stock. If there is anyone who seriously supports Noh Yeon-seok, it would be Park Da-hoon. I don’t know what an intern who receives love and support from a minor in high school will be like as an adult.
“…Then… Kang Min-ah is most likely to be a regular member. Last time, Noh Yeon-seok came in contact with Kang Min-ah and was eaten together… or maybe he was mentally trapped at the time. “This time, he didn’t come into contact with any of the regular members and his mental state wasn’t bad, so he probably wasn’t eaten up by the underworld.”
“Am I a permanent member?”
“I think so. The same goes for me and Jeong In-ho. However, I don’t know much about Kwon Yeon-hee yet…”
As I was muttering that, the office door opened and Jeong In-ho came in.
“That manager.”
“Is there a problem.”
“Can you help me?”
“…help?”
“yes.”
The main character, with a strangely shocked expression, continued speaking.
“First of all, Kwon Yeon-hee’s condition is bad…”
“First of all?”
“In addition, Team Leader Woo Soo-young’s condition is not very good. “Kwon Yeon-hee, who was confused and talking gibberish, was so shocked that she calmed down for a moment and was crying so hard.”
“….”
“…I think the team leader was also dragged in.”
For a moment, Jaeheon Lee recalled a thought I had a while ago.
okay. I thought, ‘Team Leader Woo may get eaten by the underworld at least once, so let’s lay a foreshadowing in advance.’ So, it seems like only yesterday that I made a bitter expression in front of that guy, as if it were fall. Actually, it wasn’t that long ago.
And in the world, these things are called ‘flags’.
“…Huh.”
I’m taking this back.
