Episode 333
Lee Jae-heon cannot know everything in the world, but if there is a combustible monster burning the house in the background of an apartment, he can roughly guess what kind of thoughts are buried there.
‘I wonder if anyone has ever been burned alive.’
Although it is not an accurate guess, there may have been a similar type of incident.
As I keep saying, the hidden world is created by reflecting the thoughts of the real world, but the ‘thoughts’ here were not created by the thoughts of one or two ordinary people.
‘Either he is a perverted bastard like the art teacher at Eonhak High School, or he has such deep personal thoughts, or the vast majority of people have to pay attention to certain thoughts in order for them to be reflected in the underworld… If the key ring monster that Han Do-yoon dragged in was created, A rumor had spread within or near the apartment complex that a child had been burned alive.’
Misfortune, whether mine or someone else’s, is more memorable than happiness, and the more severe it is, the easier it is to be reflected in the other world. Lee Jae-heon thought that someone had died in this apartment complex and that the world would have been clicking their tongues about it but happily making it a topic of conversation. After all, it’s a good idea to make fun of other people’s misfortune.
And this apartment complex was quite luxurious.
‘If a fire accident occurred to the extent that one person was burned… residents cannot help but be concerned.’
Of course, the fire accident victim’s thoughts could have been as deep as those of the art teacher at Eonhak High School, but we could not be sure.
Jae-heon Lee said there was a high probability that the key ring monster was originally not as small as a key ring, but he guessed that the ignition monster was the trigger for this apartment complex.
“….”
“….”
If you ask me what on earth you are doing to even make such an assumption… well.
“Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“….”
“Are you ignoring me again?”
In fact, Jaeheon Lee’s plan really wasn’t much.
‘You just have to keep your wits about you.’
It was a story that included not only the main character but also other survivors. Of course, the main character will be the main character, but how effective would it be if you also fix the mentality of other survivors? It may be difficult to fix everything, but I thought I could do something to give me strength for a while.
However, I didn’t mean to just go out and die.
‘I’ve also learned something along the way.’
Let’s think about our teammates from a past life. Of course, there was no way those bastards would have degenerated to this point in the first place, but in any case, they were stimulated to work harder when Lee Jae-heon himself went out and looked after them. If you encouraged a little with a little bit of ‘I’m a lucky because you are aesthetic,’ I was good at it.
But they do that here?
‘It definitely won’t end with a collar.’
It doesn’t really matter if Lee Jae-heon gets caught by the collar, but if things proceed like that, it will eventually be difficult for the chicks to recover mentally. Even though the chicks in my previous life were soft, they would jump like a bouncy ball if you poked them, but the chicks here would almost explode if you poked them.
In short, careful intensity control was necessary.
‘We need to fix the parts that need to be fixed, encourage them when we need to encourage them… and provide them with the mental stamina to engage in active exploration as much as possible.’
‘Lee Jae-heon’ called Jeong In-ho in a dry voice.
“Hey, Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“Please speak.”
“Shall we eat some food and bruise?”
The good news was that the protagonist’s mentality was not as dire as expected.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Don’t be damned. “Dahun eats well on his own, so what’s the problem with you?”
“I am a problem child.”
“Stop saying whatever comes to mind.”
“….”
“I’m lost again.”
If you ask how you can judge that ‘it’s not as miserable as you think’ after looking at this situation, it’s because you are reacting to Lee Jae-heon’s own words in your own way.
‘I guess that’s why Lee Jae-heon’s existence became like an emergency alarm for Jeong In-ho.’
A person who is like a time bomb who has to react quickly. This means that in Jung In-ho’s subconscious, Lee Jae-heon was positioned as an unstable and dangerous seed who had to react immediately.
‘Honestly, I feel bad… but in some ways, it’s good news.’
This means that he has the ability to react to the outside world, even if unconsciously, and at the same time, it means that he can perceive a certain level of stimulation regarding the topic of ‘Lee Jae-heon’.
‘He’s not a stupid kid, so he’ll recover internally little by little on his own…’
At this level, it doesn’t look like ‘Jaeheon Lee’ will be completely unable to recover even if he gets slightly injured.
“….”
It might be a little bit annoying, but it was something that could be taken into consideration. Above all, if things go as planned, I don’t think I’ll ever be caught by the collar.
‘First of all, Jung In-ho is okay.’
Lee Jae-heon patted the top of Jeong In-ho’s head while he was dazed twice and then stood up. Since I had checked everything, there was no need to stay next to the mesmerized chick any longer.
‘Anyway, the only problem with that bastard is that he has lost motivation.’
Since I had returned to the time when my body was in the best condition, it was not that I had any physical defects, but rather, as I moved to the garden, I was in a situation where I was more relaxed overall than when I was in the mountain behind. As long as the protagonist’s psychological problems were resolved, future exploration was likely to proceed without problems.
Lee Jae-heon, who became distant from Jeong In-ho, immediately went to see Ha Seong-yoon. Ha Seong-yoon, who was quietly watching the protagonist and his conversation, asked Jae-heon Lee.
“How are you feeling?”
“He was so ecstatic, man. “Just act like that.”
So how do you solve the protagonist’s psychological problems?
“Hmm, I feel a little unfair when you say that…”
“Huh.”
All you have to do is make Jung In-ho realize that there are exceptions to the ‘everyday life’ that he finds so boring.
‘The case may be a little different, but it seems like a kind of burnout has occurred, and seeing that it has not been resolved even after resting so far, it seems that other conditions other than rest are needed… In this case, it would be better to gradually increase the intensity of stimulation. ‘
First of all, you need to force yourself to interact with people and provide constant external stimulation. If it’s simple burnout, a lot of it can be resolved just by taking a break, but isn’t this a different world? This means that it is difficult to expect that resting in a place like this will produce efficient results.
It would be difficult for Jeong In-ho to solve that helplessness alone, so someone else had to help him.
“It’s so unfair to be unfair. “How much did you have to do to people in the last episode to get to that point?”
After thinking about it, ‘Lee Jae-heon’ made a bewildered expression and lightly scolded Ha Seong-yoon. Ha Seong-yoon, perhaps feeling something from his words, just let out a sheepish smile.
“Do you see it?”
“Ha Seong-yoon is a bit harsh towards Jeong In-ho.”
“I guess so.”
In order to provide appropriate external stimulation to In-ho Jeong, the environment had to change slightly.
“Don’t bother me too much. I’m already tired.”
First of all, Ha Seong-yoon.
‘He’s a master at whipping.’
Considering what Ha Sung-yoon has shown to Jung In-ho so far, I thought that Ha Sung-yoon might have been a large part of the reason why he suffered burnout.
‘In the past, while I was talking, I said that Jung In-ho might be the main character… After escaping from the park, Jung In-ho would have revealed his identity in real life, so he may have felt some resistance in that regard. The main character, Jeong In-ho, does not recognize that this is his patient.’
If we think about Ha Seong-yoon, who maintained a strange sense of distance from Jung In-ho when he first met him, regardless of what judgment he made, it could have just been an instinctive rejection.
Whatever the reason, Lee Jae-heon decided to first stop excessive whipping for Jeong In-ho, who was still out of his mind.
“If you leave it alone, it will recover on its own.”
“I haven’t done anything yet…?”
“I saw you make a disapproving expression a few times as you turned towards Mr. Jeong In-ho. “I don’t think the person concerned knows whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate, but please exercise restraint.”
“How can I control myself further here? “Aren’t you going to go back to reality?”
“Ha Seong-yoon must have felt that he had become very sensitive. “We have to go back to reality, but that person doesn’t necessarily have to be Jeong In-ho.”
At those words, Ha Seong-yoon looked at Lee Jae-heon with strange eyes.
“….”
“What eyes are those?”
“…If the subject is not Mr. Jeong In-ho, then who… No, I understand. “I understand what you mean.”
“….”
“I really understand.”
Lee Jae-heon thought to himself as he saw Ha Seong-yoon not feeling a great sense of crisis right now.
‘Well, there is no need to completely change Ha Seong-yoon’s attitude towards Jung In-ho.’
In Lee Jae-heon’s opinion, a whip like Ha Seong-yoon was needed to effectively control the protagonist. Jeong In-ho, who was an ordinary office worker until recently, is not yet crazy enough to run fast, so it would be much better to get help from a veteran who was already crazy.
‘But if I press it further when he’s in a state of fascination like he is now, it will only disillusion the protagonist.’
All he wants from Ha Seong-yoon is not to mistreat Jung In-ho ‘right away’. It would be good to punish him later when something happens, but since he needs a break enough to feel bored now, it would only have the opposite effect, so the intention was to postpone it until Jung In-ho came to his senses.
‘If it were normal, Ha Seong-yoon would have been able to control his strengths and weaknesses on his own… but Ha Seong-yoon is also out of his mind right now, so we can’t completely trust it. ‘If we only impose sanctions like this, things will go smoothly for now.’
Ha Seong-yoon smiled softly, as if he understood what Jae-heon Lee said.
“I agree that Mr. Inho Jeong needs a break. “I think I became impatient because I wanted to quickly return to reality.”
“If you’re too tired, you can leave everything to me and rest.”
“…I’m not that thoughtless. Anyway, I’ll try to keep my wits about me, so please get plenty of rest, too. “Don’t lose your energy just because you’re walking around here and there.”
“All right.”
“….”
Even though it was clearly a smiling face, it was as if I was hearing an auditory hallucination saying, ‘I don’t know.’
“No, I understand?”
“If you’re out of your mind, it’s easier for us to show it out loud.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“I don’t quite understand what this nonsense is saying.”
“If you’re out of your mind, it’s much easier for you if you don’t show it… Ayssi.”
Ha Seong-yoon smiled.
“rest.”
“Just a little more.”
“Haha….”
Fortunately, Ha Seong-yoon walked away obediently with that bright smile on his face.
‘Well, it might be a bit hard to stop him.’
Even this terrible doctor would have known that ‘Lee Jae-heon’s’ labor was necessary for us to return to reality. Since it was ‘Lee Jae-heon’ who brought these survivors together as a team in the first place, it was only ‘Lee Jae-heon’ who could stimulate them.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon was quite pleased with this change.
‘Soon we will be able to communicate quite well. ‘It’s a good change.’
Ha Seong-yoon, who always scolded ‘Lee Jae-heon’, was reasonably convinced and moved on, even though he revealed that he was overdoing things a bit. You may not think it’s a big deal, but if you think about Dr. Ha Seong-yoon, who cares so much about his patients, this was really encouraging.
‘If I just touch it a few times, I think I can handle that side as well…’
Lee Jae-heon, who was looking at Ha Seong-yoon’s back, exhaled.
“hmm.”
Let’s take this step by step.
Also known as ‘Survivor Team Burnout Escape Plan’. Due to the situation, Jae-heon Lee, who was separated from Ha Seong-yoon, chose the next hitter to organize the plan more precisely.
“Detective.”
“Yes, I just got there.”
“Was it a shopping mall this time?”
“It would be better for me or Kim Yeon-woo to take charge of that.”
“That’s right…”
The target is Hong Gyeong-jun, who has just finished his exploration.
‘In some ways, this side also has a similar problem as Jeong In-ho.’
The problem is that if ‘Lee Jae-heon’ goes out and goes out, he goes out and goes out there too.
“Was there anything unusual?”
“Yes, I talked to Kim Yeon-woo, but other than the occasional traces of monsters, there didn’t seem to be any major problems with the shopping mall. “I looked around mainly at things like triggers and escape monsters in the apartment complex you mentioned earlier.”
“Where did you go today?”
“This time, we conducted an overall broad and thin exploration. First of all, I already checked the area near the pharmacy last time…”
He sighed inwardly as he naturally reported the situation to ‘Lee Jae-heon.’
‘…I can’t help it. ‘For now, this is the only answer.’
Even though it was gross and annoying, I wanted to bring Hong Gyeong-jun back to his senses, but time was running out right now. However, it was obvious that if we did not leave the underworld as soon as possible, this depressed atmosphere would remain in the survivor team. So Jaeheon Lee found another way.
Instead of correcting Hong Gyeong-jun’s illusion that he sees ‘Lee Jae-heon’ as the dead shooter, it fixes the behavior of Detective Hong Gyeong-jun who is too dependent on him. You may wonder what the difference is, but for Lee Jae-heon, the person who is seen overlapping, it was an enormous difference.
‘Because there is a higher probability that you will see me and Sasu Ji in real life as well.’
When I was in the other world, I was trying to survive with ‘Lee Jae-heon’ and the shooter, but when I returned to reality, I would be embarrassed and say, ‘Why did I do that?’ just like before.
So, that was originally planned to be the case…
‘No, you can’t do it.’ ‘I don’t have time or leisure.’
Changing the formula ‘Lee Jae-heon = dead shooter’ was such a waste of effort and sincerity that would have gone into tearing out the delusion embedded in Hong Gyeong-jun’s mind. While I have time to fix that, I’ll go explore Unhak High School one more time. It’s bullshit, but I thought it would be much more effective to say, ‘Yes, I’m the reincarnation of your dead shooter’ and tell them not to do anything stupid.
Jaeheon Lee gave up on tightening Hong Gyeongjun’s missing screws.
“This is what I found out today.”
“…okay.”
What he wants right now is for Hong Gyeong-jun not to be ruined by the death of ‘Lee Jae-heon’.
‘That’s just one thing.’
And it wasn’t as difficult as I thought. What could be more difficult than overturning that damn way of thinking?
Sighing again, Lee Jae-heon imitated Hong Gyeong-jun’s likely gunner.
“Thank you for your effort.”
Looking back on the faces of my past life.
(Continued in the next part)
