Episode 3:
The insanely cruel novel begins with the main character, Jeong In-ho, witnessing a car accident.
It was very one-sided. It was a one-sided and violent incident in which a pitch-black car suddenly grabbed a child, crushing him and crushing him, leaving the child’s mother watching and screaming.
As the day was just beginning to warm up, there were quite a few people near the ice cream discount store, which had been quiet for a while.
There were certainly people who saw the car approaching, and there were probably people on the street who could have caught the child if they had stretched out their hands.
Maybe it was.
However, the poor child was torn apart by the driver, who had not come to his senses even before hitting the small thing, and the child’s mother was in despair, not even able to scream, and all this was seen by people as scary, surprising, and also interesting.
The protagonist, who was just out for a morning walk, sees the scene that neither the perpetrator nor the victim could survive.
It was an incident that engraved such an ironic image of a universal human being deep into my subconscious.
The next day, the protagonist is consumed by a world filled with such human thoughts.
* * *
‘Even if you pretend it wasn’t, that incident must have been some kind of trauma.’
Trauma is not a big deal. Whether you experienced it yourself or not, if it’s stuck in your head and you can’t go away and it’s so painful that it drives you crazy, it’s a trauma.
The incident witnessed by the protagonist was also like that.
The main character, Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho, liked good people.
Even though we know that we cannot live with only goodness in the world, we still have envy for it.
Because it was a kind of respect and an ideal, there was a basic expectation of human beings.
However, for Jeong In-ho, the incident of that day, which clearly showed his humanity, remained as a trauma that he was not even aware of.
He does not learn this fact until late in the novel.
And that trauma was intercepted by a villain named Lee Jae-heon.
‘This is the funny thing.’
The point is that it was intercepted rather than destroyed.
“Who wants to get rid of it?”
The hidden world reflects the existing world and human thoughts.
In other words, the stronger a person’s thoughts are, the more likely he or she is to be active in the underworld.
In that sense, the above trauma could be used as a weapon in the underworld.
Lee Jae-heon intervened in Deputy Jeong In-ho’s trauma and left an impression on him, but he had no intention of weakening the power of the main character who gave him his life.
Who would be crazy enough to do something like that?
So even though we could have caught the child sooner, we didn’t do it, and even though we could have given more proper treatment, we didn’t do that.
Even though I could have prevented the accident from happening in the first place, I just took advantage of this opportunity to intervene to improve my quality of life.
However, the presence of the villain Lee Jae-heon would have increased to that extent to the main character.
“….”
Although it feels uneasy because it seems to have grown in a strange direction.
“…I’m sure you’ll think there’s something strange….”
Lee Jae-heon muttered and rubbed his chin.
Not only did I get a taste of the feeling of disconnection that I had experienced today, but I also noticed that I was used to pain, so I thought about everything I could think of.
But will Director Lee Jae-heon, who has lived his whole life as a comfortable old man, ever get used to pain?
If there was one, no matter how much I think about it, the only thing that comes to mind is something illegal, and if that were the case, my plans could have been slightly disrupted.
Of course, since I saw him save two people today, he won’t be outright hostile, but he will at least show contempt or caution.
However, the reason Lee Jae-heon was not sure was that the main character even faked it to find out about his mental abnormality.
At the time, Jeong In-ho did not seem to harbor any particular hostility towards him. Of course, it wasn’t a look of contempt.
‘Puzzling and uncomfortable. ‘Embarrassed…’
or a mixture of other emotions, the gaze was so brief that Jaeheon Lee had no way of knowing how the protagonist felt about him.
He sat on the bed and stared into space, muttering softly.
“…Did the plan go a bit wrong?”
What he was aiming for was, ‘Actually, he wasn’t that bad of a guy!’ It was a strategy.
Why aren’t there people like that in creative works?
They continued to show a bad side, but there was some believable reason or there was a past.
Or, people who are impressed by the main character’s group and help their side, or sacrifice themselves in the end.
In this case, it doesn’t mean that the villain in question isn’t trash, but isn’t human psychology only based on reason and practicality?
What Jaeheon Lee was aiming for was that type of villain.
However, in that plan, there was no such thing as ‘familiar with pain’.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, who was staring into space, slowly blinked his eyes.
‘What about probability?’
This was the problem. There is no reason for ‘Lee Jae-heon’ to be accustomed to pain.
Although he was born with a silver spoon and had two older brothers, he did not live at a significant disadvantage. Rather, I wish they would have taken care of me because I was the youngest.
Of course, there was no abuse at home, and since I have my own subject, I have never been involved in anything so outrageous.
Lee Jae-heon was just a common piece of trash, but it was just a case of meeting the family a little too well.
Even though he had a dirty personality, there was no possibility of him becoming a psychopath accustomed to pain.
And the main character will also be well aware of that.
“So you must have faked something like that…”
I saw the old manager, whom I always loathed, carelessly saving a person, and I also witnessed him not caring about the injuries at all. The former was what Jaeheon Lee was aiming for, but the latter was not.
Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho was probably confused. That type of person has secret beliefs, but is unable to adapt to the fact that the person defined by those beliefs differs from his or her own thoughts. The reason why the incident I saw today remained a trauma was the same.
That’s why Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho looked at Lee Jae-heon.
Lee Jae-heon’s appearance of casually saving people has already been resolved by what he said earlier, so the only thing he could ask about was the wound.
And Lee Jae-heon was not aware of the wound until the main character spoke.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, who was blinking while covering his mouth, stood up. His steps stopped in front of a richly decorated liquor display case and he scanned the empty spaces where not-so-expensive liquors were listed.
Among them, I took out a high-alcohol liquor and poured it into a small glass.
“There’s nothing I can do about it.”
If there is no possibility, shouldn’t we make it?
Lee Jae-heon nodded inwardly as he carefully reviewed the contents of the novel that he remembered.
After swallowing only a sip of the liquor, my throat felt sore as if it had been burned with bright red fire.
An angry feeling instantly tore through his intestines.
The familiar feeling of sleep begins to eat away at my brain.
‘It’s not like there aren’t a lot of settings that can be created.’
The protagonist and Lee Jae-heon were of different levels in many ways and did not know what had happened between them.
Of course, this meant that private matters or personal past history could not be known.
However, Jaeheon Lee needed probability regarding today’s events.
The setting of ‘a stupid and trashy old manager, but surprisingly a useful person’ was shattered by the fact that he was ‘familiar with pain’, and although he may not have figured out the main character yet, there had to be a plausible setting for Lee Jae-heon.
Page scripts that were pieced together at the moment because there was no time to spare were not his taste.
Above all, the protagonist of this world was very perceptive.
He is sincere but sly, smiling but not happy, and sloppy but extremely scheming.
He must have vaguely noticed Lee Jae-heon’s acting.
‘In other words, you think that either the past me or the current me is a lie.’
That’s because Jung In-ho also lived like that.
There was no need to say more about how Lee Jae-heon looked when he acted like this, as he was different on the outside and the inside and lived a life compromising with reality.
And of course, if one of the two had to be false, the suitable one was Lee Jae-heon from before.
At least the current Lee Jae-heon will be more useful than a worthless villain who is used for cider.
So 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. He had never experienced any hardship before as he had a golden spoon and a parachute. It had to be that way.
Creating a setting was easy, but creating a setting that wouldn’t be detected was difficult.
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.
Of course, it would take some effort to convince the main character of the setting, but…
“This is about it.”
It wasn’t that difficult to live a better life than before.
* * *
“Manager, did you go home safely yesterday?”
“Ah, Assistant Manager Jeong.”
Lee Jae-heon blinked as he looked at the protagonist asking how he was doing with a shy expression.
‘As expected, the main character of the novel.’
The career I had been bragging about like I was breathing is not going anywhere.
From the looks of it, it looks like he couldn’t organize all the images of Lee Jae-heon he saw yesterday in his mind, so he tried to recall them today, but considering the exterior he usually wore, it wasn’t a bad approach.
This line is suitable for Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho, who is sincere and kind, but is an ordinary employee.
Lee Jae-heon answered with a frown, as he always did.
“It was so painful to get in that I almost died.”
Although it didn’t suit him at all, he was also quite confident in being shy.
I mix basic belittlement and rudeness with people lower in rank than me, and I also have a bad habit of answering with annoyance no matter what they ask.
Even when riding the KTX, the old manager who just complains even after asking the most basic questions is unlikable.
However, this kind of behavior that encouraged unfavorable feelings was a very natural thing for Lee Jae-heon in the past, and even though he was reminded of his past life, the vibe that came from being out of time did not disappear.
He spoke very naturally, acting like his old self.
“More than that, did you post what I told you to post last week? “I think I said until today.”
This was a line that also appeared in the novel.
The protagonist, who was unconsciously traumatized yesterday, becomes disillusioned with the manager who urges him to file documents the next day.
Anyone who heard the order to produce the results without even giving them a few days to do it, even though it was not a task they had to do, and it had only been a short time since receiving it, would have been annoyed.
Isn’t the tone saying that of course they worked even on weekends when they should have been resting?
Of course, the protagonist, who is good at hiding his true feelings, answers with a blank expression or a bit of embarrassment.
“Ah, the cleanup is almost done. “I will send you an email as soon as I get to my seat.”
“…okay? “Then that’s it.”
Lee Jae-heon’s expression hardened, half puzzled that he finished the work quickly and half dissatisfied with losing someone to brag about.
The main character in the novel feels the familiar disillusionment once again.
However, because of yesterday’s incident, the aspect of the novel has changed.
“By the way, Manager.”
“….”
“Is your wrist okay?”
This guy is really acting like he’s not doing anything like that, but he’s crazy.
‘I expected it, but it’s just as expected, which makes me even more annoyed.’
Jaeheon Lee clicked his tongue inwardly.
The main character doesn’t know about the current main character, but Lee Jae-heon knew the current main character.
Thinking back to the image of Assistant Manager Jeong In-ho that he had seen and the novels he had read in his previous life, it was not very difficult to draw that human image.
Jeong In-ho was basically a good person, but he had a dark side.
He became persistent only in beliefs that were not his own, and yesterday Jaeheon Lee acted in direct conflict with the justice established by those beliefs.
The main character was probably really curious as to what this bastard was doing.
However, like the main character, perhaps even more so, Lee Jae-heon’s skin was extremely tough.
After breaking up with him like that yesterday, he seemed calm even when I asked him how he was the next day, so he must have decided that he wouldn’t be able to get the information he wanted by just scratching the surface as he had been doing so far.
So, if you want to know what to do, you have to poke at the other person’s weakness to get the reaction you want.
And judging from his reaction yesterday, Jaeheon Lee may have seemed like he wanted to hide the fact that he was ‘familiar with pain’ from others.
Lee Jae-heon blinked at the sight of the main character waiting for his answer with pitch-black eyes.
‘Anyway, you annoying bastard.’
No matter how ugly it was, it was really unlucky to openly attack someone’s weak point.
Probably, even if this bastard Jung In-ho had been born in the same world as my previous life, he would have eaten well and lived well.
And the reactions Jaeheon Lee could give to such questions were limited. You can either hide it like you have done up until now, or show it however you want.
Lee Jae-heon also decided on the answer to that question last night.
“Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“….”
“Let’s keep the line.”
If you were going to get caught anyway, it was only right to show it to some extent in advance.
“You’ve been doing well so far, why are you doing this?”
Lee Jae-heon suddenly found this situation funny and burst into laughter.
They were soon going to be eaten by the underworld.
Of course, I don’t know who the main character is now, but that was the situation. They’ll do all kinds of things to survive in this secret world.
Is it funny that they are having such a war of nerves without knowing what will happen to them in the future, or is it funny that they are putting on a play like this even though they know everything?
In the meantime, I couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of me acting without letting go of reason until the end, determined to survive.
Of course it was only for a moment.
“Deputy Jeong needs to be promoted quickly. “Do you think you have time to argue with the manager?”
“…No, I just asked because I was worried…”
“If that’s sincere, Assistant Manager Jeong needs to be more delicate. Are people so clueless that they can even live a social life? Just be careful, okay?”
After finishing his usual tirade, Lee Jae-heon left the hallway and went to his proper place.
It wasn’t that there were no people listening to their conversation, but it seemed like a conversation between an ordinary old man and a poor employee, so there shouldn’t have been a big problem.
Above all, Lee Jae-heon couldn’t afford to get into a war of nerves with the main character right now.
‘In another two hours.’
There are only a few hours left until you are eaten by the underworld.
Lee Jae-heon, who knew that he would fall into a world similar to that time due to memories of struggling to survive in his past life, was quite psychologically anxious.
That doesn’t mean you’ve lost your mind or reason.
For him in his past life, being threatened for his survival was something that happened every time, and he couldn’t just scream in fear every time, so he learned how to think calmly.
Wouldn’t it be much different now that I’m reincarnated in the world of the novel?
I just didn’t want to waste my energy in a situation where I was on the verge of death.
If the other person had not been the main character of this world, Lee Jae-heon would have pretended not to know what was going on.
Jaeheon Lee sat down and turned on the monitor as usual.
“….”
He slowly blinked his eyes at the sudden feeling of unreality.
The past life he just remembered seemed strangely realistic.
Maybe it was because I was possessed by the book I read at the time, or maybe it was my original personality.
Even though I was rolling fast, my head felt dizzy.
I checked the work I had to do today with my hands, but not in my head.
Jaeheon Lee obligingly played with the mouse and stared at the white window on the screen, then placed his free hand over his mouth as if covering it.
Anxiety and nervousness combine with the vague sense of reality as if floating in the air, slowing down perception.
“Manager, would you like some coffee?”
“Oh yeah.”
I nod roughly and take my time.
For Lee Jae-heon, who did not work particularly hard, work hours at the company were boring.
It’s probably because I passed on tasks that I should have done originally to other employees.
The main character was also a common victim of such an old manager.
If this were the case, I would have reported the work done by the employees as if I had done it myself.
Since the work that the manager had to do had already been completed and there was nothing to do in the remaining time, Lee Jae-heon was just sitting in his chair with a listless feeling.
* * *
30 minutes 1 hour. And then 2 hours passed.
“….”
A faint tingling sensation passes through my hands and feet, as if they had been eaten by electricity.
“…What is it?”
“The computer turned off. “Is it a power outage?”
“Where am I?”
Lee Jae-heon blinked at the desk covered in dust, like something you would see in a collapsed building.
There is no electricity. Of course, the computer would not work and the automatic doors on the first floor would have stopped for the same reason. The elevators and escalators would also have stopped.
The old and broken building looks as if it has been neglected for over 10 years, and it even has a strange feel to it.
Jaeheon Lee approached the window and checked outside.
“…Huh.”
I let out a familiar sigh.
A world where black and white has descended on the world, or where color seems to have been taken away.
A silence that feels like seeing the world decades later, when all the people have disappeared.
“….”
And the strangeness.
Jaeheon Lee’s eyes met pitch black eyes staring at me.
“…What’s going on, Manager?”
“…well.”
They were eaten by the underworld.
