Episode 342
Ha Seong-yoon and Lee Jae-heon returned to the garden, and Jeong In-ho hovered around them for a while.
“….”
“…I’m going to wear it out like this.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“This person has eyes. “Please look away.”
“All right.”
Ha Seong-yoon was secretly impressed by Jeong In-ho’s immediate reaction.
‘I didn’t know I would come to my senses like this.’
In fact, it was a little different from when I came to my senses.
To be more precise, Jung In-ho was in a similar state to the state he was in after being punched in the back of the head and recognizing the pain. As it was an extremely instinctive and natural reaction, it would be a bit difficult to say that Jung In-ho had regained his sanity.
But it was surprising that he reacted in this way.
‘Meeting the plaster monster was the worst accident, but if something like this is compensation, it can be said to be compensation.’
Ha Seong-yoon sighed inwardly.
“I think it would be good to get proper treatment since the bone is broken and not anywhere else…”
“Ah… are you talking about me?”
“Then, apart from you, who else has a broken bone?”
Ha Seong-yoon barely suppressed the urge to click his tongue at the sight of Lee Jae-heon reacting quite sluggishly, perhaps because he was in pain, and asked Azalea, who had stepped into the middle of the commotion for the first time in a long time.
“Will it be as difficult as last time?”
“What should I do if you ask me about medicine when you don’t even know what it is?”
“…Well, I think you said that treatment is difficult if you don’t get that feeling.”
“I remember it well.”
“….”
Yoon Ga-ram patted the back of Ha Seong-yoon, who was speechless.
“Are you okay, mister?”
“…are you okay.”
Ha Seong-yoon continued speaking as if he was chewing.
“Jaeheon Lee, it won’t be okay.”
Unlike Lee Jae-heon, who devoted his entire body to protecting him, Ha Seong-yoon was relatively less injured, but his body and mind were not in good condition. Even though Ha Seong-yoon had not yet returned to reality, he already regretted his choice.
‘Did you drag me along for no reason? No matter how much the medicine was disappointing, Lee Jae-heon’s condition was not very good, so I sympathized with that crazy patient…’
Ha Seong-yoon knew the best method, but it did not always produce the best results. It was true that I needed plenty of supplies to explore Unhak High School in order to return to reality, but seeing my patient in such tatters before my eyes made me feel sick to my stomach.
Above all, Ha Seong-yoon is useless in the secret world, and Azalea’s ability, which is something to hope for, has not been able to solve the problem at the moment.
‘But the catch is that if you use that damned little fruit, you have to turn one survivor into a half-corpse.’
Regardless of ethics and morals, even in terms of efficiency….
“….”
Damn it, yes, even in terms of efficiency, it was too risky to bear the side effects of small fruits.
The survivors who were willing to shoulder Lee Jae-heon’s pain were generally the main force, and it was obvious that using other personnel would make the overall atmosphere heavier if one person fell.
Now the only way left here is…
“…pharmacy.”
I just use medicine from the pharmacy.
“….”
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, who made eye contact with Ha Seong-yoon, looked at him with slightly trembling eyes, and Ha Seong-yoon was able to read the clear meaning contained in those eyes. It meant, ‘Please don’t talk about the medicine hidden in the mountain behind.’
‘That frustrating patient.’
It was amazing that he was able to make a cool-headed decision for his future plans when it was not just someone else but his own arm that was broken in pieces, but at the same time, it was a pathetic judgment for a human being. It almost reminded me of the stupid patients who had pretended to be happy and just wanted to be discharged even if an arm or a leg had been blown off.
‘Of course, the purpose, process, and results are different from those of those people… but there is no difference in the fact that they are both stupid. ‘I’m a patient who doesn’t have any qualifications and I’m trying to figure out my body in vain.’
However, the surprising and unfortunate fact was that Ha Seong-yoon also agreed with Lee Jae-heon’s opinion to some extent.
“….”
“…I just said it was a pharmacy…?”
“…I guess I’ll have to go to the pharmacy to get it fixed.”
Ha Seong-yoon responded in time to the words of Kim Yeon-woo, who was snooping near them.
“You never know when you might have to fight a monster, and having a broken bone is a big loss. But it’s not like I have the ability to put the bone back together in a short period of time, and it seems like Azalea is having a hard time using her strength right now… so I guess there’s no other way than to get medicine from a pharmacy.”
Using the medicine hidden in the mountain behind it might not have been a bad idea, but if it was discovered that they had been collecting medicine separately in preparation for the expedition to Eonhak High School, Ha Seong-yoon would be caught by the collar, even if Lee Jae-heon didn’t know about it. There is no way to guarantee when the expedition to Eonhak High School will take place, and Ha Seong-yoon did not want to be caught by the collar and be even more stressed than he is now.
‘It’s not too late to proceed with such cleaning after returning to reality.’
It’s not that I’m scared of being criticized for sympathizing with Lee Jae-heon’s unethical ideas, but that I feel like if I receive more external stimulation, my mind will change and I’ll end up harassing the survivors. Isn’t Ha Seong-yoon a competent doctor who even has experience in murder? He shouldn’t have to go around killing people like Kang Min or Park Da-hoon in the last episode.
And if what they had been doing was discovered, there would be survivors who would feel aversion to the ‘exploration’ itself, regardless of how objectively effective the plan was. For Ha Seong-yoon, who wanted to return to reality as soon as possible, this was something he absolutely wanted to prevent.
“But the manager hurt his bones…”
“I think you’ll have to go to the pharmacy yourself.”
“I heard you sprained your foot. Are you okay?”
“It was because I was weak at the time, but my ankle itself wasn’t seriously injured. Besides, Lee Jae-heon himself looks really good.”
Another reason why Ha Seong-yoon hides his past activities.
“I’m really fine.”
“Chief…”
“Ah, are you really okay? “Your arm doesn’t need to be repaired.”
This was because my heart sank at the sight of Lee Jae-heon’s weak appearance, desperately appealing to Kang Min-ah, which was hard to see in the past.
‘I’m crazy.’
A doctor who is swayed by a patient’s emotions can never be called a good doctor. In that sense, what can we say about Ha Seong-yoon, who is of no use to the underworld and even plunges his patients into an abyss of pain without compensation? He was as pathetic and stupid as the trash he left behind at the hospital when he came to the underworld. Damn it.
‘If I had just rolled my eyes and said the damn thing, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but I didn’t even have the spirit to act like that…’ The disgust I usually felt disappeared and only the
patient with a less mature ego remained. Even Ha Seong-yoon had no way of holding on. If we may forget, the snake cubs scurrying nearby also played a role. Considering Lee Jae-heon, who had a bad day both in the secret world and in reality, it was not strange to take a step back.
“….”
Suddenly a thought occurred to me.
‘…Have Jaeheon Lee’s former colleagues also changed in this way?’
Lee Jae-heon was a man who would not tell his story unless he was grabbed by the collar and interrogated, and while he was acting, he was a trustworthy yet obnoxious character. Instinctively, I knew that Lee Jae-heon was a tired and difficult person, but as time went by, I was driven by individual emotions and circumstances, and I may have started to criticize Lee Jae-heon, the only person I could trust and rely on.
It was an obvious story. This is a story about colleagues who relied on each other and were sincere in the past, but reach their limits or become blinded by momentary greed and end up bleeding.
‘…If you think about it that way, I too…’
At first glance, wanting to return to reality as soon as possible because he doesn’t want to do something worse may be an altruistic goal, but the process by which Ha Seong-yoon went along with Lee Jae-heon’s plan until now was not a good thing. When I look at the tattered human in front of me, I feel like I have a conscience that I didn’t have before, so what more can I say?
“Ha Seong-yoon.”
“…Yes, patient.”
“So you’re not a patient… um.”
“I guess you don’t have anything to say right now, right?”
“Oh really. “Don’t make fun of me, just listen to me.”
“What were you trying to say?”
“Are you going to come with me?”
“….”
Ha Seong-yoon touched his earlobe for a moment and opened his mouth.
“Are you asking if you would like to go to the pharmacy with me?”
“If Ha Seong-yoon goes with us, many people will feel reassured…” “
…I understand.”
Ha Seong-yoon tried to draw a smile.
“Let me think about it.”
“yes.”
“It would be better to leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
After saying that, Ha Seong-yoon moved his feet and headed toward the makeshift building. Some of the survivors seemed taken aback by the sight of Ha Seong-yoon leaving after saying what he wanted to say, but most of them said, ‘I guess I’m very tired.’ Thanks to that atmosphere, Ha Seong-yoon was able to enter the simple building safely.
Inside that simple building was Jang Seo-ah, looking up at me with round eyes.
“…Doctor.”
“Did I wake you up?”
“no.”
Anyone could see that he had woken up because of Ha Seong-yoon, and he was a child who was really good at lying.
“I’m sorry.”
Ha Seong-yoon stroked the child’s head a few times with his hand and then laid him down again. Choi Min-hong, who usually accompanied her, was busy looking at the scarecrow monster in the garden, but it seemed that Jang Seo-ah wasn’t that crazy. I couldn’t tell if it was fortunate or unfortunate.
But in the past, I think I could definitely say that it would be fortunate.
“Sleep more.”
“…Who was hurt?”
“It will be fixed soon.”
The child blinked a few times and asked.
“Zombie guy?”
“…zombie.”
“Zombie… he’s hurt.”
“Well, that’s right. “You’re smart.”
Jang Seo-ah sometimes called Lee Jae-heon a zombie.
“Will you fix it soon?”
“It will happen because you want it.”
“….”
The child, who was purring his lips, nodded.
“thank god.”
Even in this world, he was an innocent child.
“…yes.”
Even though he was hurt a lot by adults, he was still pure and innocent.
Choi Min-hong and Jang Seo-ah both had extraordinary qualities that allowed them to easily enter the underworld, but that did not mean they were the same type of children.
Unlike Choi Min-hong, who was insensitive to external stimuli and showed sadism without awareness, Jang Seo-ah was a case of giving up on many things, which was unusual for a child.
‘I think I may have been abused as a child.’
Although Lee Jae-heon, who investigated the past of the survivors, never spoke about him or shared any information related to Jang Seo-ah, he was able to vaguely guess Jang Seo-ah’s situation from the reaction he unknowingly revealed to the child.
In fact, even if it wasn’t Lee Jae-heon, it wasn’t a very difficult situation to predict. I heard that there are some crazy parents who are particularly obsessed with the beauty of their children. Dyed hair with a strangely beautiful color and a hair tie so tight that I feel like it hurts every time I see it for the first time in a long time. The kindergarten child was definitely adorable when viewed as a doll, but when viewed as a real child, one couldn’t help but feel a sense of discomfort. Perhaps because Jang Seo-ah grew up with such parents, she was extremely quiet and observant.
‘As if she was worrying about what to do to be praised…’
Jang Seo-ah watched the adults’ notice without being noticed, as if only then would her existence be permitted. And I only showed what I thought was the prettiest and cutest look.
Ha Seong-yoon felt a sense of déjà vu due to the child’s resignation that was probably underlying it all.
“…Is there any pain?”
“No thank you.”
“okay.”
Maybe Lee Jae-heon’s childhood wasn’t like this.
While being granted the meaning of existence like this…
(continued in the next episode)
