Episode 28
Lee Jae-heon had a strong desire for survival and wealth.
Because he was insatiable, he always compared himself to others, and being selfish, he wanted himself to be happy more than anyone else. I always wanted Jaeheon Lee to be on top of everyone.
However, he soon became an old villain in a novel about survival of the poor under the age of 19.
There were only a limited number of places where he could be devoured by the secret world, so he could have avoided that fate immediately, but Lee Jae-heon decided that there would be no meaning in that action. Since he is a third-rate villain in this world and the main character’s superior, he was bound to become entangled with them at some point.
Even if I avoided it, I wasn’t sure if I could avoid it, and if I couldn’t avoid it, I wanted to lead it in the desired direction as much as possible. It was because I could see that if I pretended not to know, one day I would die that ugly death I had read about in novels.
Lee Jae-heon, who read the story of this world, was convinced of that.
Therefore, we attempted to change it by giving it an unexpected image. The strategy was, ‘Actually, he wasn’t that bad of a guy!’ However, this failed because the setting ‘familiar with pain’ was created unintentionally.
Nevertheless, since the setting had already been created and what had been created could not be undone, Lee Jae-heon had to come up with a new story. He thought of the material he had and composed a new story.
The Lee Jae-heon of the past is fake. The real Lee Jae-heon is a mental patient who is accustomed to pain. However, there is altruism and basic ability to save people…
It was easy to create a setting, but difficult to create a setting that would not be detected.
However, by entering this novel, which is a survival of the 19-year-old impoverished people, there was a setting that the current Lee Jae-heon could create. It was possible to give the possibility that he became the psychopath he is now.
That’s why Jaeheon Lee made his own decision.
‘I am a survivor of the underworld.’
That’s it.
* * *
“…Survivor.”
Suddenly, In-ho Jeong remembered the time before Manager Jae-heon Lee was dragged away by the monster.
He told me that if I wanted to vent, I should vent to him. He said he would listen to my story if I told him, and that if I wanted, I could tell him what happened.
And…
‘It wasn’t such a great and secret story.’
“….”
‘I did it because I didn’t want to be treated like a crazy person.’
He said he didn’t want to be told he was crazy and didn’t want to suffer such ridiculous treatment, so he never told anyone.
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon responded to Jeong In-ho’s muttered muttering while touching his earlobe.
“It’s literally true. “The one who survived.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t think I’m asking because I have no idea at all.”
He removed his hand from his ear and immediately reached into his outerwear and took out a lighter. It was a sleek, silver-colored lighter that was shown at Lee Jae-heon’s request when we had just entered the park.
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon, who showed this to Jeong In-ho, spoke with his characteristic calm expression.
“I received this lighter as a gift from a friend.”
“You already said it.”
“Yes, and that friend is a survivor.”
“….”
The doctor repeated once again.
“That friend was a survivor of the underworld.”
There was no lie in those words.
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon was an extra who appeared as a key clue to this world.
When the novel begins and the main character, Jeong In-ho, is about to escape from the company, he discovers a body in a flower shop near the building. The hideous piece of meat that was completely torn and crushed and unrecognizable was none other than Dr. Ha Seong-yoon.
He was a ‘reversal element’ that did not appear very often in creative works.
I thought it was depicted just to show how disgusting and scary the world behind the novel was, but in fact, the death of Dr. Ha Seong-yoon was connected to a new clue in the latter part of the story.
He was the only person who knew the word ‘other side world’ even though he had never been consumed by this world.
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon had a friend who survived in the underworld, and through him he knew some, if not all, facts about this world.
“…The other side of the world?”
“Oh, that’s what they called me. “It’s the other side of the world.”
“Then… did you know from the beginning?”
There was a very shallow sense of betrayal in that voice.
It was not a feeling that came from a deep relationship.
It’s just that the other person was a human being like me, so there was something I believed in, and I really felt one-sidedly that I had been betrayed by that indefinable ‘something’.
Jeong In-ho’s expression calmly hardened, and Dr. Ha Seong-yoon smiled as he looked at him. It was a soft and calm smile that he usually wore.
Ha Seong-yoon continued speaking in a soft voice.
“I had a friend who was very powerful.”
“Are you the friend who gave me the lighter?”
“You were very kind with the gift. “He was a person with a good personality and lively personality, so I used to contact him often, but one day he stopped contacting me.”
“….”
“I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
The smile on his lips was still soft, but his eyes sank, scanning the floor out of the corner of his eye. It wasn’t just because I was in a bad or unpleasant mood, it was literally calm.
“Why doesn’t everyone do that when they grow up? “I was so busy making a living alone that I was gradually forgetting old relationships that were no longer being lost or gained…”
I had no choice but to forget.
He wanted to become a doctor from a very young age and knew that he would have to work hard to get there. He entered a renowned medical school where everyone would know his name, became a surgeon, and showed off his many achievements both domestically and abroad.
However, human relationships are so mysterious that even if someone felt like I was a very close friend, I could not feel that way.
The relationship between Ha Seong-yoon and his friend was just that. If the person you used to communicate with frequently breaks off contact first, it’s a very shallow relationship in which you’ll never see each other again.
Nevertheless, the reason he meant the other person as ‘strong’ was simply because he took the friend’s sincerity into consideration. Just look at the effort they put in to contact us at least once a month.
“And about two or three years later, I got a call.”
This contact after a long time was quite special for Ha Seong-yoon, who was making a good living as a doctor, so he answered the call without any hesitation.
“If I hadn’t received it, I don’t know if he would still be alive.”
“…Why?”
“The guy was crazy. “In many different ways.”
After saying those words, Doctor Ha Seong-yoon pursed his lips for a moment.
“…something like that.”
“….”
I couldn’t understand what was ‘like that’, but Jeong In-ho didn’t say anything either.
His expression was quite calm and composed, unlike just now, when it was slightly distorted with inexplicable irritation and resentment.
Ha Seong-yoon, looking at Jeong In-ho’s almost expressionless face, opened his mouth again.
“That friend called this world the underworld. They say it is a world that contains the other side of people. He actually said that it was a word he found in another survivor’s records.”
“….”
“I wrote down everything he said.”
This was the reason why Jaeheon Lee called this place ‘the other side of the world.’
The word ‘backside world’ described in the novel first appeared in a note written by Doctor Ha Seong-yoon, and in fact, it was at that time that he was upgraded from a ‘horrible piece of meat’ to a ‘clue extra’.
By leaving a record of his friend, Dr. Ha Seong-yoon was able to be treated as a person rather than a mere device.
Therefore, the moment Lee Jae-heon saw Ha Seong-yoon at the flower shop just before he died, and seeing him looking overly calm for someone who just came back from the dead, he looked at Dr. Ha Seong-yoon, who said to me in a calm voice, ‘Please save me’ even though he had already been saved.
Jaeheon Lee, who read the novel, came to one realization.
“He kept telling me unbelievable stories, and I tried with the bare minimum of sincerity to understand them. After a day, two days, a week and a year passed like that….” “
….”
“I too was able to realize the other side of the world.”
This doctor knew about the underworld.
The moment Jaeheon Lee figured it out, he was sure what the doctor’s ‘misunderstanding’ towards me was. What position does this man have in the novel and how did he appear?
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon misunderstood him as someone with experience in the other world.
“So, when I first saw Director Jaeheon Lee, I was a little surprised. “It was very similar to the world I understood and the atmosphere of that friend.”
“…Why…”
“Of course, Mr. Jeong In-ho, you don’t understand it yet, so you won’t feel it. There’s just something about it. “There are some things that can be learned only by listening to the experiences of survivors for at least a year rather than explaining them in words.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Unfortunately, yes. “I thought Manager Lee Jae-heon would probably be in a similar situation.”
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon pointed to one arm with the hand holding the lighter.
“He cut himself on his arm, probably with a kitchen knife. “This was the first time I met the patient about that issue.”
“….”
“It was a pretty wound that looked like there was clearly an intention to cut it, but there was actually no intention. It was too correct to be considered self-harm committed out of simple impulse. “It would probably be less clean than if the chef sliced the meat with a sharp knife.”
“….”
“A good chef pays great attention to every single cut of his knife, right? But who would pour that much attention into their own arms? “Without use or purpose.”
Ha Seong-yoon said that, but in fact, Lee Jae-heon had intentions. The intention was to regain a sense of reality that had been lost thanks to experiencing an incredible event that reminded one of one’s past life.
Even in decisions and actions that seemed crazy or stupid to others, Jaeheon Lee had a valid basis and purpose.
It seems that I have inherited some of the abilities from my previous life, but if so, what are the limits? Are there any restrictions on how I can use this ability? Such physical and mental strength checks were merely basic health management methods that most people could do in the past life.
However, the problem was that it was completely unconvincing from the perspective of people in the world today.
“You can’t do that unless you’re a crazy person.”
Although it is becoming dull as time goes by, there were many strange things about Manager Lee Jae-heon.
His attitude and tone go back and forth between extremes to the point where you might suspect he has a dual personality. Even if he gets injured, he carelessly just puts a bandage on it. A person who recognizes pain well but does not attach much value to it.
After all, who would say Jaeheon Lee was normal after seeing him become an emergency patient less than a day later?
Most people would probably judge him as crazy.
“Honestly, I’m not that good. I don’t harm myself and I take care of my health. “It’s not like manipulating a living person like a stuffed toy by threading rough silk thread through a thick iron needle.”
“….”
“Experienced people and survivors are completely different, and that’s why I thought Director Lee Jae-heon was a survivor of this world.”
“Because you’re crazy?”
“It was crazy on a different level and seemed very familiar with the underworld.”
Of course, that ‘familiarity’ was something Jaeheon Lee deliberately revealed.
He was not a naturally talented person, nor was he a genius recognized by anyone. However, because of that, Lee Jae-heon had to work harder and gain more experience to achieve his own desires.
So that you can anticipate as much as possible so that you can adequately deal with it.
Lee Jae-heon, who grew up like that, was a very meticulous person, so if he was going to act, he had to do it properly to be honest, and with his humble personality, he was a person who enjoyed unbelievable wealth and fame in his previous life. It was impossible to be an old villain in a novel and act sloppy when faced with the fate of death.
Of course, I’ve done a lot of stupid things, but my mind and body are in tatters and my mental strength has dropped to the bottom, so there’s nothing I can do.
If Lee Jae-heon was to blame for anything, he would have to blame either his poor experience of being possessed and reincarnated in the novel for the first time in his life, or his body that was not used to such mental attacks that felt like the whole world was wishing for his death. Or maybe he blames his own complacency for only thinking about his past life when the incident was right around the corner.
Therefore, Lee Jae-heon acted with the hidden title of ‘Survivor of the Underworld’, but at first he planned to exercise moderate restraint. If you stand out too much when you are not in your right mind, it will only create a sense of strangeness and you will not be able to achieve the results you want. So, until he left the company, he secretly led the group by giving only minimal advice.
However, the story changed after rescuing Dr. Ha Seong-yoon from the flower shop.
Ha Seong-yoon was an extra who provided important clues in the novel, and of course, in the original story, he died and became a piece of meat, but because of that, there was a benefit to be gained by saving him.
We have obtained a medium that acts as a so-called stepping stone that greatly reduces the sense of incongruity that may arise from attaching the setting of ‘survivor of the secret world’.
“You can call it evidence, but… your knowledge about survival is very good.”
“What if I just learned it personally?”
“You were too skilled for that. “Why doesn’t everyone who studies love through books become Casanova?”
The doctor’s lips twitched slightly as he spoke as if he were joking.
“Even if it were possible, why would Lee Jae-heon, the manager of one of Korea’s leading conglomerates? Was it really necessary to become so proficient in survival knowledge? Even if it was an area you were interested in, was there a need to fight? If so, why?”
“So, those are all skills you learned directly in the underworld?”
“Rather, there is no other way to explain it.”
Like the current situation, Lee Jae-heon was able to step forward because he had Dr. Ha Seong-yoon who would provide probability on his behalf. If I had shown off my survival skills alone without Dr. Ha Seong-yoon, I would have been caught by the suspicious Jeong In-ho right away.
However, when Dr. Ha Seong-yoon first saw Jae-heon Lee, he made a very funny ‘misunderstanding’, and the misunderstanding was further maximized during the second meeting, and thanks to this, he guessed a possibility that Jae-heon Lee did not have.
And because Ha Seong-yoon tolerated Director Lee Jae-heon’s sense of discomfort, Jeong In-ho, a fellow member of the group, also did not act hastily.
There is something called the rule of three in the world.
It is a rule that when three or more people come together, they become a group and have a lot of power, but two people have already added their strength to the proposition that ‘Director Lee Jae-heon is a survivor of the underworld.’
The moment Jeong In-ho, the suspicious and thoughtful protagonist, adds a hand, the story becomes unraveled with indescribable ease.
In-ho Jeong, who had already suspected that the variable named Jae-heon Lee was a number of thousands of cases, accepted without hesitation the proposition that Director Jae-heon Lee had planned and that Dr. Seong-yoon Ha had misunderstood and given probability.
That’s because this was a much more probable and reasonable proposition.
“After finishing the treatment, I found out that Director Lee Jae-heon’s family was so wealthy that I didn’t know why he stayed in the position of director. Mr. Jeong In-ho also said that the manager is an old man with a parachute and a golden spoon.”
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon touched his earlobe and continued speaking.
“But how could someone like that gain that experience in the middle of this city? Even if they were involved in illegal activities, people who have been at the bottom would do that. “No matter how worst we assume, Manager Lee Jae-heon would have been treated well even in that situation.”
“You know quite a bit of detail.”
“well. “It’s just my guess, but I thought it was a pretty credible hypothesis.”
At least, rather than the story of ‘Director Lee Jae-heon, an old man, suddenly remembered his past life and induced 90% of the situations so far that were swallowed up by the secret world.’ What crazy person in the world would act out even the most trivial actions?
At this point, facts that did not exist could be created.
“…is it.”
Jeong In-ho was eventually convinced by Ha Seong-yoon’s misunderstanding and Lee Jae-heon’s plan.
‘Maybe that’s why he was so anxious not to die…’
It was a thought that would have been a bit absurd if the person involved had heard it.
However, in Jeong In-ho’s opinion, Lee Jae-heon was nothing more or less than ‘an altruistic psychopath and a person who wanted to commit suicide.’ It seemed like it would be a shame to just die, so it seemed like he wanted to sacrifice his life and leave behind productive results, but no matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem like an old-fashioned, parachute-rich manager of a large company.
Of course, Jaeheon Lee had no intention of being seen as mentally ill like this.
He simply created the past of a ‘survivor of the other side of the world’ in order to add probability to a setting that was created unintentionally, and in the meantime, he judged that he could build up a little more probability by using doctor Ha Seong-yoon, who knows the other side of the world, as a medium.
Thanks to this, I had the advantage of being able to explicitly use my knowledge and abilities from my previous life.
However, it was a perspective and misunderstanding that arose because his common sense in his past life and his current life were too different, and it was a bit embarrassing for Lee Jae-heon, who went from being an ‘ordinary psychopath’ to a ‘nonsensical psychopath.’ In the end, Lee Jae-heon was recognized by Jeong In-ho as a person who wanted to commit suicide and did not know when he would die.
Once again, it was an idea that would have been quite absurd if the person involved had heard it.
It’s true that he’s been caught up in the underworld, making particularly stupid decisions, and that he doesn’t have much dramatic ability, so he’s a bit rough on his body, but he’s a person who has a stronger desire for survival and wealth than anyone else in the group.
However, Lee Jae-heon, the person who would have corrected that judgment, was in a state of distraught as he was not present, and the story continued without correcting the distorted information that seemed to be correct.
“So, I was thinking that Director Lee Jae-heon would come back alive. “It’s really a subjective judgment.”
“It wasn’t much different from what I thought.”
“No. ‘I hope so’ and ‘I think so’ are clearly different, Jeong In-ho.”
“….”
“Contrary to what you said, you seem to have a pretty good relationship with the manager. No, I don’t think it’s a lie to say I don’t like it…”
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon asked with his signature smile.
“It looks like you received great help from the manager.”
“….”
Jeong In-ho laughed at those words.
Help.
“…I feel a bit unfair if that’s what helped me.”
I died as a bait to make it easier for myself, so how can that be helpful?
Jeong In-ho remembered how he returned to the past and how he died just before that. It was truly a miserable and devastating experience.
Leaving behind Director Lee Jae-heon, who was dying after being captured by a green algae monster, he went to employee Kwon Yeon-hee, but for some reason she was screaming with her whole body on fire, and two students in school uniforms were seen running away as if running away from a little further away.
Even though he tried to gather his wits and shake off the fire on Kwon Yeon-hee’s body, it did not go out and he was unable to prevent her death.
President Garam Yoon, who witnessed the deaths of four people in an instant, acted as if he had lost his mind, and Doctor Seongyoon Ha demanded that we do something productive even in the meantime.
Jeong In-ho seemed to be possessed and tried to find a way to survive the green algae monster to protect the remaining group, but even that had its limits. There weren’t enough blood-spewing larvae to save everyone.
In the end, I ran away here and there, met other survivors, suffered among those people, and was caught in a monster’s trap. Immediately after that, the whole world turned black with the sound of glass breaking.
After fending off the monsters in a frantic attempt to protect the group, relying only on the light of that small lighter, it was already morning and there was no one alive around them.
But I couldn’t remember very well. Or maybe I didn’t want to recall the details. It looked like that.
So maybe he killed Inho Jeong. Okay, maybe that’s true.
In the end, I was the only one to survive, but eventually I died because I didn’t have the courage to hold on. He was driven to death by someone who wasn’t even a monster, so if you describe it as help, what would Jung In-ho be before he died?
He continued speaking with his usual sincere expression on his face.
“Thank you for chatting with us. “Take a good rest, and I’m going to look for you tomorrow. Would you like to join me? I’d like you to give me a little more information about this world.”
“…Jung In-ho seems quite crazy too. Is there any problem?”
“I have always had no problems, Mr. Ha Seong-yoon.”
Jeong In-ho wanted to survive somehow, but he did not want to survive alone.
“There is no problem.”
That was truly terrible.
It was terrible.
