Episode 327:
Now that it has been revealed that Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon can share emotions and thoughts in situations where arbitrary conditions are met, Park Da-hoon’s face, who was maintaining the most complicated psychology recently, turned as red as a tomato.
“Oh, why are you doing this!”
Of course, Park Da-young, who was also at risk of having her privacy invaded, also made a loud noise.
“What the fuck are you doing, you idiot!”
And the thing about siblings is that if one raises their voice, the other can never lose, so they ended up grabbing each other by the hair and starting to growl. Lee Jae-heon thought that it was similar to rhinos fighting by banging their heads together.
“What the fuck are you being an asshole to your little brother!”
“You bastard, what kind of habits do you have when talking to your sister?”
Lee Jae-heon couldn’t hide his smile and clapped his hands at the feast of colorful swear words.
“It’s nice to see.”
“Oh, can I stop you?”
“Isn’t it true that children grow up fighting? President Yoon doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping it, but…”
“Children grow up fighting.”
“That is correct.”
Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon left, saying they would fight among themselves, and Yoon Gar-ram, who was looking at the empty Lee Jae-heon, quietly moved there. And as she noticed Lee Jae-heon’s attention, she secretly leaned her head on his shoulder, similar to the posture that Park Da-young leaned on Lee Jae-heon just moments ago.
“….”
“…Is that a bit like that?”
When Garam Yoon asked in embarrassment, Jaeheon Lee answered in a calm voice.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“thank you.”
She said with a low laugh.
“Actually, for Teacher Ha Seong-yoon… it’s not easy to do this.”
“He’s a busy guy.”
“I don’t have enough time and the people around me won’t leave me alone. And in real life, if you act like this, everyone looks at you strangely…”
“What is there to look at strangely in the other world?”
Jaeheon Lee looked at the siblings and laughed.
“It’s a place where even high school students with intact limbs fight while holding their hair.”
In his own way, he was satisfied with the current commotion.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t been sober.’
Although they said they were fighting while holding their hair, it was clearly visible that Park Da-young and Park Da-hoon had very little strength in their hands. In particular, Park Da-hoon’s shoulders trembled every time Park Da-young made a fuss, as if he felt sorry for his older sister. Park Da-young knew that her younger sister had not fully recovered yet, so she just made louder noises.
Kang Min-ah, who has a strong sense of responsibility, knew that kind of atmosphere, so she smiled and looked at the siblings without saying anything. In any case, the Park siblings seemed to have recovered, making them feel better.
“….”
But that doesn’t mean….
“…it’s not all okay yet, right?”
In response to Yoon Garam’s question, Jaeheon Lee nodded while looking at the siblings.
“I guess you learned mind reading.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have that ability. “I just asked because Dahun looked a little upset.”
“you’re right. “It’s just that I have time to pay attention to what other people think… It’s hard to say that I have fully recovered.”
In fact, an 18-year-old high school student with sound common sense killed people, including adults and the elderly who were close to him. He was a smart guy, so he recovered that much in a short period of time, but it was obvious that he was still confused on the inside.
‘He’s such a smart guy that he’s usually good at suppressing his emotions… This time, it’s his first time committing murder, so it’s going to be hard to suppress the negative thoughts that come from it. But that doesn’t mean his good head won’t stop working, so his condition will come and go from time to time.’
In the future, Park Da-hoon will repeatedly raise his voice and then become quiet again. Reasonably, I decided that I had nothing to lose, so I felt the feeling of liberation and comfort, but I would bother him because of the sparse of the self -confidence that ‘I finally killed a person.’
‘Well, I guess it’s okay to just pretend that there’s a person with bipolar disorder.’
Jaeheon Lee came to that conclusion.
“Please watch carefully in the future. “It’s going to be hard sometimes.”
“Well, rather than me…”
Yoon Garam’s eyes turned to Woo Wooyoung, who was wandering among the survivors.
“Wouldn’t Woo Joo-young be better?”
“Huh.”
“That person really recovered these days.”
“That guy is really… I must say he’s amazing.”
It was surprising that despite Lee Jae-heon’s old-fashioned behavior of telling me not to make a fuss and show off, I was able to do such productive activities in the end. When I looked at Yoon Garam, wondering when she had recovered like that, the owner of the flower shop, who was paying a lot of attention to Woo Sooyoung these days, smiled and opened his mouth.
“He really likes the manager.”
“….”
“Don’t make that face.”
“I’m not sure what kind of expression you’re talking about.”
“He had a look on his face that said, ‘Is this crazy?’”
“Oh, I apologize.”
“It’s okay, but I didn’t lie.”
“Aha… I see….”
“It’s true.”
Lee Jae-heon, who thought for a moment while covering his eyes, asked again.
“Can I ask why that conclusion was reached?”
“I want to apologize to the manager.”
“Only hukou come in here? “Why are you doing this, really?”
In the first place, Woo Joo-young had nothing to apologize to him.
“….”
There would not have been.
Maybe so…
Lee Jae-heon, who felt something uneasy and racked his brain, recalled how Woo Joo-young had talked about apples and such when they had a conversation the other day. At that time, Woo Joo-young had the face of a tough guy to the point where you wonder why he had forgotten that stupid remark until now.
“…Oh no… I think we had a similar conversation before.”
“Yes?”
“But it is also true that there is nothing to apologize for. “Why on earth did you think that?”
“I think you should ask Jooyoung directly about that.”
“That too.”
Garam Yoon, who learned all kinds of manners from Ha Seong-yoon, would never reveal other people’s personal affairs without permission. Of course, it would have been better if she was a cheap-mouthed chick, but since it meant that she was trustworthy in some way, Lee Jae-heon decided to be roughly satisfied.
“Hmm…”
he thought as he glanced at Woo Joo-young without being noticed.
‘Did we all just decide to go crazy together in the end?’
Since he seemed to have a lot on his mind these past few days, I assumed he would take care of himself, but in the end, Woo Joo-young’s conclusion seemed to be, ‘Let’s go to sleep and do our best for now.’
‘I wandered around for a while after coming to the other side of the world, but… that’s right. It must have been difficult in many ways for a model student who lived a healthy life, which is rare among many modern people, to just let go and take care of him just because he entered the secret world. I do understand.’
Of course, regardless of how understandable it was, it was still frustrating.
‘Oh my gosh, you idiot. ‘Why are you doing this because it will all be your loss later?’
I couldn’t help but feel even more frustrated because I had seen so many ugly people work so hard and then lose heart at their own failures.
“Look, Jooyoung is taking care of all the students.”
“…I think we’ve become a lot closer to each other since you call me by my first name.”
“I tried.”
Lee Jae-heon nodded at the sight of Yoon Garam smiling shyly.
“It’s a good thing to have friends…”
Especially in a world like this, you need mental support you can rely on. In particular, no matter how much of a monster Yoon Garam had become, he was someone who did not hesitate for a moment in burning Lee Jae-heon to death, so such an ordinary friend was even more important. If Garam Yoon can be influenced by Woo Wooyoung’s mediocrity.
‘We moved to the garden and talked often, and this is the result.’
Certainly, the atmosphere of the garden itself was loose, so the interactions between the survivors became more active, and thanks to this, the relationship between Yoon Garam and Woo Wooyoung seemed to have become much closer than in the last episode. It would be a similar situation to Kim Ki-jeong using Han Do-yoon as his mental support, so there was nothing bad about it.
“Then Garam and Team Leader Woo can take a look.”
“Oh, I guess so.”
“Looking at you, Woo Soo-young is good at calming down students… But he seems too impatient to do it alone, so it would be good if Garam joins him.”
“I like it too.”
It seemed like they were trying to build a relationship to the point where they could comfortably have conversations in real life. Even if it’s okay because they are all the same in the behind-the-scenes world, isn’t Woo Joo-young in real life a busy person who is the leader of Oh-seong’s team? It was visible that he was trying as much as possible to make the other person feel that he was not a burden.
After checking Woo Woo-young wandering around, Yoon Garam turned to Lee Jae-heon and asked.
“Then what about you…?”
“there.”
“ah.”
Garam Yoon looked at the direction Jaeheon Lee pointed and immediately nodded.
“go for it.”
“That’s right…”
The place his finger was pointing was none other than where Kang Min-ah and Jung In-ho were.
In fact, there was no problem more serious than that.
* * *
When the condition of the search team that stopped for a moment just before entering the language school began to deteriorate in an instant. Unlike other survivors who were only worried without knowing why, Kang Min-ah realized that they had returned.
Park Da-hoon, who was presumed to be the last survivor, was lying on the floor retching, and Ha Seong-yoon looked around at the survivors several times, as if he couldn’t believe what he saw. Even Jeong In-ho seemed completely lost, unable to react and just looked confused.
“….”
The moment Kang Min-ah confirmed that, it felt like her heart was dropping.
‘Oh, I failed.’
I also felt ominous.
‘What did I do wrong…?’
It was a vague impression without any basis. Anyway, she was one of the exploration team members, so she must have done something, and I don’t want to think about it that way, but Kang Min-ah could have done something wrong and another exploration team member could have died.
Actually, that alone was terrible.
‘If I wasn’t helpful but only a nuisance…’
Kang Min-ah knew very well that I wasn’t a very outstanding person. She was not as quick-witted as Jeong In-ho, nor was she strong enough to protect everyone like Lee Jae-heon, nor was she always rational and unable to make appropriate decisions like Ha Seong-yoon.
I just do it when someone asks me to do something within my capabilities. Kang Min-ah was a person who was more accustomed to following someone who did that, rather than leading everyone and giving directions. It was natural to fulfill one’s responsibilities as an adult, but becoming a good adult was not as easy as it sounds.
That’s why I wanted to do at least the minimum responsibilities well.
“Mr. In-ho….”
“….”
“Mr. In-ho, are you okay?”
“no.”
“….”
I suddenly felt lost when I saw Jeong In-ho looking at me.
“It’s not okay.”
“Ah…”
Jeong In-ho was clearly wary of himself.
Later, after hearing the story from Ha Seong-yoon, I learned that Jung In-ho is currently wary of not only Kang Min-ah but also others, but it was because of Jung In-ho’s gaze that Kang Min-ah began to doubt herself in the last episode. And it was Ha Seong-yoon’s fault that that doubt turned into certainty.
Ha Seong-yoon comforted Kang Min-ah, who was anxious, with a soft smile like he always did.
“So don’t worry, you’re probably just confused right now. “I think it would be best for Kang Min-ah to rest as much as possible without feeling pressured.”
“….”
“…Kang Min-ah?”
“…yes.”
Ha Seong-yoon was more suspicious of Kang Min-ah’s condition than Jeong In-ho.
I wanted to ask what on earth happened last episode, but I wasn’t in a situation where I could get an answer. Kang Min-ah guessed that because of her previous self, ‘Kang Min-ah’ must have done something really stupid. Otherwise, there was no way the returnees would have been strangely wary of themselves.
“…Ah…”
Even though she wanted to apologize, she didn’t know what mistake she had made and wasn’t even clear on who she should apologize to. A twisted level of guilt suddenly struck Kang Min-ah, and it was an ambiguous and awkward feeling that was difficult to shake off.
After that, I tried to talk to Jeong In-ho several times, but he, who always had a smiling face, sat blankly for a long time and could not even give a proper answer.
“….”
When I was wondering what to do.
“Chief Kang.”
“…Boss.”
“Do you have some time to talk?”
“….”
“It looks like you have a lot to say.”
First, Woo Joo-young. Then Lee Jae-heon, who had been looking at Park Da-hoon and Park Da-young, approached her.
For Kang Min-ah, it was something she was thankful for.
(Continued in the next part)
