Episode 26
Lee Jae-heon basically hated people.
It wasn’t particularly ‘not good’, I just didn’t like it.
When people are nice, I hate them because I feel frustrated and I can’t sympathize with them. When people are bad, I hate them because I think they are the scum of society. I don’t like flexible people because they are sly, and I don’t like honest people because they are difficult to communicate with.
But is there anything similar to me?
In this case, it can be seen that the other person is criticizing me every day, regardless of whether it helps me or not. A representative example was Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho.
Of course, Lee Jae-heon, who likes the word ‘efficiency’, did not disparage the value of good things out of selfish interest, but he basically disliked people and did not pay more attention to them than necessary. That was the best.
If Lee Jae-heon judged me as someone who was not of great value, even the names I heard in front of him would go in one ear and out the other. Since I have to have a social life of my own, I’ve roughly learned some faces.
Lee Jae-heon, who had such a strong distrust of humans, usually tried to remain conscious as much as possible in front of strangers, but even in a situation like this, he had no time to take care of his sanity.
The biggest reason was that my body was in tatters.
If it were the existing world, it wouldn’t have been strange if you fainted as soon as you left the office, but the hidden world is a space that relies on thoughts and spirit no matter what.
The reason Lee Jae-heon was able to run and endure so far was because of his mental strength, which was literally on a different level, not because he had good physical strength or regenerative power. Of course, conditions may have been better than before due to the influence of my previous life.
Moreover, Lee Jae-heon had a bit of a blind faith in the novels he had read in his previous life. I feel that way myself, but at least when it comes to setting up the characters, of course there is an exception with Assistant Manager Jung In-ho, but even so, there has been nothing wrong so far.
Therefore, it was inevitable that I would feel at ease in the presence of a character who was so good-hearted that he even sacrificed his life.
The nerves that were on edge right after I remembered my past life. A brain that went crazy as soon as it was eaten by the underworld. A body that wouldn’t be strange even if it died right away. Moreover, he is a good person whom I met right after surviving being chased by a monster.
No matter how much Jaeheon Lee was, he was in such a state that he could no longer maintain consciousness.
Lee Jae-heon, who managed to escape from what could have been the worst situation, eventually lost his mind, and the ‘good person’ who witnessed it in front of him looked at him with a white face. Just like Lee Jae-heon’s desperate prediction.
Police officer Kim, with jet black short hair, spoke without being able to hide his shaking gaze.
“teacher? Teacher, please come to your senses.”
“….”
“You can’t do this here… No. What kind of situation is this….”
Tuk.
A trembling hand touched Lee Jae-heon’s shoulder, but he flinched at the feel of cold blood.
“….”
It was real blood.
Unlike what you see in movies, the blood is not dark, but rather bright red as it has just come out, but has cooled and settled in the early morning wind.
“…What kind of situation is this?”
He already knew that this was reality because he had seen it before his eyes, but the slippery feel and cool temperature of his fingertips suddenly made Policeman Kim feel nauseous.
Even though the only injury I had was a chafing from a fall while running, a strange dizzy feeling throbbed through my brain as if all the blood in my body was draining out through the soles of my feet.
I had an illusion that the blood, which was only a drop, was soon spreading all over my hand.
“…Mr. Ha, how do you do this? Seriously….”
Ugh.
My trembling hand was clenched with weakness.
There is literally no power. A feeling of maddening exhaustion spread throughout my body, making me feel itchy, and that itch was like the sensation of bugs crawling down my spine. Trooper Kim took a deep breath, trying to face the situation as best as he could.
Then she suddenly remembered what the man in front of her had just said.
‘Don’t die while helping others, but take care of yourself.’
“….”
Even though he was terrified by those words, Police Officer Kim was dumbfounded and chewed his lips.
“First of all….”
“….”
“Let’s move it first. Move it.”
Police Officer Kim tried to move his head as best as he could, but couldn’t get it to work so he let it out. First, all these dying people had to be moved.
We have just entered March. It was still cold, having just left winter, and the time when the sun wasn’t up made it even worse.
There was nothing to say, especially if it was dawn, the longest since the sun had left. It was crazy to leave a patient bleeding profusely like this in the middle of a jungle like this.
So I had to go where there were people. To the people who can do something…
“…where on earth are you, detective?”
Why are you like this today?
Police officer Kim gritted his teeth and blushed from an unfamiliar feeling that was more than just fear and resentment. This was because my nervousness in front of an unfamiliar patient who did not know when he would die reached its peak.
Yeah, she didn’t even know who this person was. Not only the name and other personal information, but even the circumstances under which he appeared before me.
When I was patrolling around the area, I noticed the commotion and suddenly he appeared. Maybe it was natural that I didn’t know anything.
But he is a dying person, and he is cooling down in front of me, and even…
“….”
That is the person who helped me.
So I wanted to save it.
“Move and treat. Ah, treatment….”
“….”
“We have to start with treatment. “I learned all about first aid…”
Police officer Kim muttered and searched through her belongings, but her fingertips continued to touch the air.
Of course, there was no way for her to have appropriate treatment tools for someone who had fallen into a strange world bare-handed, and all the knowledge she had learned was about concepts that required such tools. At the very least, we had to create those tools.
In other words, Police Officer Kim had no way to immediately treat the man in front of him.
Her face turns white once again.
“…What do we do.”
“….”
“Ah… I’m sure I won’t die in the process.”
In the end, Police Officer Kim struggled to lift the emergency patient whose name he did not know and put him on his back.
She was too bold and ignorant to treat this person, so she would have to find someone else to do so. Even though it was scary, there was nothing that could be achieved by being in the same place.
Suddenly, Police Officer Kim felt that his back was being soaked with thick blood. Just like when a frozen piece of meat was thawed at room temperature, or unlike that, the more detailed texture, temperature, and smell penetrated her skin and made her shiver.
“Tap.”
“….”
The sound of blood dripping to the ground is heard.
In response, Police Officer Kim closed his eyes tightly once, as if he had seen something very scary, then let out a shaky breath and raised his eyelids. She muttered, remembering an old man not far away.
“…Do you at least know folk remedies?”
Police officer Kim walked with difficulty, muttering absurd things to himself.
It’s a job that requires physical strength and strength, so I’m not weak by any means, but it’s still not easy to carry around an adult man who has completely lost all his strength.
She stretched out her trembling legs, looking ahead with her vision just blurring white as the sky brightened.
Fighting.
“….”
The sound of blood dripping was heard again.
It was definitely a sound, but it passed as if it was pressing down on the deepest part of my ear, and a strange nauseating feeling that I could never get used to ate away at my brain. It was the most terrible noise in the world.
It was the most horrible feeling.
* * *
“Mina.”
“…ah.”
Kang Min-ah raised her head when she heard a voice calling her.
“Well… boss.”
Did you say Yoon Garam?
Kang Min-ah, who remembered the other person’s name, blinked a couple of times.
Although it is said to be a flower shop near the company, it was originally a place I didn’t visit often unless there was a special day.
President Garam Yoon, whom she had never met in person, was not a very friendly person to Kang Minah. It was also because of my very shy personality.
What should I say? Why did you talk to me? After carefully contemplating and licking his lips, President Yoon continued speaking with a smile.
“It’s nothing special, I just wanted to have a quick chat.”
“A story.”
“Because… there are times when just talking is a relief.”
After saying that, President Yoon sat down next to Kang Min-ah. As she, who had a long and thin physique, sat down, her head lowered as she gazed at the other person, and her short hair took on a dark brown color when reflected in the flickering bonfire. At first glance, it seemed to resemble the color of fire.
President Yoon, who was fiddling with the hem of his clothes that went over his wrists and lightly covered the back of his hands, turned his gaze from the bonfire and focused his eyes on Kang Min-ah again.
“I thought about talking to Kwon Yeon-hee, but she was busy talking to the kids.”
“Because Yeonhee… has a good personality.”
“I thought you were really friendly. That’s how I remembered it the last time I bought succulents. It was a succulent with unusual flowers…”
A soft voice continued.
What kind of people came and went while running a flower shop and what kind of flowers they wanted. Also, for what reason you made the bouquet and what happened as a result, etc. President Yoon continued speaking in his characteristic quiet voice.
In response to that soft voice, Kang Min-ah occasionally nodded, made a small exclamation, or showed a gesture of understanding. She realized that President Yoon was deliberately telling this story out of consideration for her.
Actually, she wasn’t good at speaking, so she wouldn’t have been able to list insignificant things in an interesting way like President Yoon.
But….
“….”
Well.
Kang Min-ah just closed her lips and listened to the other person’s voice.
After talking for a while, silence fell between them as they looked at the bonfire. After a short silence, President Yoon hesitated and asked.
“Can I bring up the story about Manager Lee Jae-heon?”
“….”
He was a kind person.
Or is it cruel?
In this subdued silence, I wonder if asking for permission to use the word even though I know it will be offensive is really kind or meticulous.
Kang Min-ah suddenly felt extremely tired. It was a feeling of fatigue that was dragging down my ankles and windpipe.
She tried to say, ‘It’s okay,’ but then blinked once and said something else.
“…Our company has many floors.”
I thought it was a very unexpected introduction.
“I think it was probably the 45th floor or something. “I work on the 23rd floor.”
“It’s a very tall building.”
“So it was really hard to come down.”
“….”
“No… I was just at a loss.”
When I first fell into this colorless world and saw a vast black-and-white city beyond the glass wall. When I looked at the world, which clearly had color but was as pale as if it were not there, I felt out of breath and could not rest.
Kang Min-ah realized that it was an instinctive fear.
It was not a fear that could be gained because one knew something, but a threat that could be felt simply because one was alive.
At that moment, I remembered what floor I was on and once again felt terrible despair and despair.
“I needed to get out, I wanted to get out… but I didn’t think that would work. “I thought it was impossible.”
The funny thing is that I had that thought less than three minutes after coming to this world. Kang Min-ah thought that way without even knowing what was in this world.
My hair turned white from groundless fear.
“But you weren’t the manager.”
“….”
“He was fine by himself.”
Kang Min-ah came to her senses after seeing Manager Lee Jae-heon like that. It could have been so.
Originally, Kang Min-ah was very influenced by people around her.
When the people around me were scared, I was scared too, and when the people around me were upright, Kang Min-ah also took control. For her, Manager Lee Jae-heon’s calm appearance was a great help.
He ordered Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho to do something and pulled on a pipe sticking out from somewhere on the wall.
It was old and corroded and broke along the seams, and around that time, assistant manager Jeong In-ho brought something out of the bathroom.
A container containing snacks or tools.
In-ho Jeong was given a task to do by Manager Jae-heon Lee.
Seeing that, Kang Min-ah felt an inexplicable nervousness.
“I had no idea what was causing it.”
Jung In-ho took Kang Min-ah, who was looking at that scene, and Yeon-seok, who was still doing chores as an intern, and it was only when they stood in front of Manager Lee Jae-heon that they realized one thing.
Everyone except us was in a state where communication was impossible.
“For those of us who finally came to our senses, the manager decided the order.”
“If that’s the order of things, the one I saw when I came to the park…?”
“…I see, yes. that’s right. “It was already decided that way at the company….”
“….”
“I think I did it that way because I was used to it. “Because I tried it once.”
She continued speaking, looking at the burning flame.
“Because I tried it.”
Kang Min-ah got along quite well with Yeon-seok, who worked as an intern.
Although it may be because of her always being considerate towards the shy girl, No Yeon-seok himself also seemed to feel the closest to Kang Min-ah. Although it seemed like it wasn’t just intimacy.
Anyway, thanks to that, she found out that intern Noh Yeon-seok was working out.
“I do boxing, taekwondo… and running often. “I said I would quit going to the gym and go regularly.”
“….”
“I thought Yeonseok would be in the front. “I actually didn’t know how to do anything, but I wanted someone to do it for me.”
“Mina.”
“But the manager was at the front.”
He was at the front.
“…I really didn’t know that would happen.”
It was a decision decided by Director Lee Jae-heon himself, not anyone else.
I didn’t talk to Yeonseok often, and it wasn’t that well known that he worked out. Surprisingly, he knew what one intern’s hobby was. Director Lee Jae-heon pointed out that he is a person who is easy to handle on both ends of the spectrum.
For that reason, Kang Min-ah guessed that Manager Lee Jae-heon would place Yeon-seok at the front.
Well, according to the manager’s words, Noh Yeon-seok was just an intern who had to pretend to crawl, and he seemed to be the strongest among us, so there was a sufficient logical basis. Kang Min-ah couldn’t bear to step forward because the future situation in which she would be pushed out as a scapegoat was so obvious.
However, it was Manager Lee Jae-heon himself who was in charge at the front, and intern Noh Yeon-seok was at the back.
It was such perfect dedication and logic that I couldn’t think of anything to refute.
“You are truly amazing. “How could you, in this blue world… see things like that and still decide to take the lead?”
“….”
“I will never understand even if I live forever. Even if you understand, you won’t be able to do that.”
She was just afraid.
I was terrified and had no way of knowing what was going to happen, so I was just consumed with fear. That’s how it is now, and it probably will be that way in the future.
After thinking like that, Kang Min-ah’s voice suddenly ate me.
“…I was just trying to come to my senses.”
I didn’t know anything or do anything properly.
Kang Min-ah knew herself well. She was not strong, physically fit, brave, or clever enough to endure all this.
Isn’t he just an ambiguous servant who can’t even do the task perfectly even if it’s half-heartedly ordered?
But even so, she knew shame and realized that she would have to rely on her companions.
I didn’t want to die or get sick, so I realized that in the end, I would have to get help from someone, but that would require someone’s sacrifice on my behalf. She was the idiot who couldn’t pay the price for herself without the pain of others.
Nevertheless, Manager Lee Jae-heon gave me a job to do.
“I told them to draw a line on the wall with a pen.”
“….”
“Did I tell you to leave a trace because the company is twisted like a maze? “I guess so.”
It wasn’t a big deal, but strangely enough, I found comfort in it.
“The manager always said this. The reason I’m getting angry now is for your sake. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have any interest in you…” “
…You’re so old-fashioned.”
“That’s right, after I got scolded like that, I always went to the bathroom and cried. But….”
“….”
“Yes, because it happens like this. “After things turned out like this, it was comforting.”
Oh, you won’t abandon me.
“No matter how useless I am… I won’t be abandoned.”
That was comfort.
Manager Lee Jae-heon gave her an insignificant task, which meant that he wanted to entrust the work to her somehow.
Kang Min-ah sensed that he would not abandon us due to his rough consideration without saying a single word.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the process of leaving the company wasn’t scary at all, but still.
“Because you saved my life.”
“…You saved my life?”
“I almost died, but you saved me.”
Kang Min-ah still remembered that time.
It was as if I had been drinking, my vision was shaking here and there, my head was very hot, my limbs were limp, and it was difficult for me, but in the end, there was a time when I had to run if I wanted to survive.
I was so out of it. However, she wanted to live, so she ran, but in the end, due to her distracted mind, Kang Min-ah almost fell from the railing inside the building.
“Then I looked down.”
It would have been better if I hadn’t seen it.
Below were monsters gathered together like baby birds waiting for food.
“To eat me, to chew me up and swallow me.”
“….”
“They were gathered together as if I was prey.”
“Monsters.”
“It was so gross and scary and I just… hated it. “There wasn’t even a scream.”
at that time.
Manager Lee Jae-heon grabbed me by the collar and pulled me up.
It wouldn’t have been easy to catch her because her body was already half way over, but he grabbed her by the collar, lifted her up, and threw her into the hallway.
Kang Min-ah couldn’t come to her senses because it happened so quickly, but Manager Lee Jae-heon shouted at her.
“I told you to run.”
So I ran.
Since I had no time to think, I ran as ordered.
“I found out later that you were hurt. While he was stopping to grab me, the monster… stabbed me in the leg. “It was a wound that occurred back then.”
“….”
“You kept getting hurt after that. I don’t know why, but there was a wound on his arm, and he also got a burn on his ankle while stopping by the flower shop. “There’s something so outrageous and funny about how he got hurt while trying to save someone else.”
“…That…”
“But you were still alive.”
Kang Min-ah, who was looking at the bonfire, soon turned her gaze to stare at Yoon Gar-ram. Her eyes, which were fluttering with emotion, had already calmed down.
It was confidence and greed at the same time.
“…So you’re probably alive.”
To be exact, it was a confidence driven by greed.
There was no way Director Lee Jae-heon would die.
