Chapter 471:
Immediately after being eaten by the underworld.
“…and.”
“….”
Jaeheon Lee felt embarrassed.
‘Why are you with Jeong Eun-woo now?’
It’s not that there were no such cases, but it was something I wanted to avoid if possible. He couldn’t kill Lee Jae-hee in the other world and turn him into a mannequin, but entering the other world with Jung Eun-woo now meant that there would be problems killing Lee Jae-hee later.
‘…Jung Eun-woo, who has become a survivor of the secret world, will be able to see mannequins in the future, and this bastard is even Lee Jae-hee’s secretary. Even if I kill him in the secret world, I have no choice but to see that one day, my normal boss turns into a mannequin. Then, the setup that I worked hard to create that the perpetrator who abused Lee Jae-heon has already become a mannequin will at least not apply to Lee Jae-hee…’
Moreover, his nephew Jeong In-ho was also a problem. They both seem to be living their lives well on their own anyway. They don’t seem to have any motivation to find or meet each other. I decided that if possible, it would be better to just not meet each other for the rest of their lives so that there wouldn’t be any trouble.
‘But if we meet in a world where there are a lot of random thoughts… conflict will arise somehow. That will be a huge blow in the process of escaping from the other side of the world.’
It was in this hidden world that conflicts that did not exist among people who were on good terms arose. It was even weirder to think that there would be no friction between the uncle and nephew, who had complicated circumstances.
Lee Jae-heon thought about that and looked at Jeong Eun-woo in front of him.
“….”
I was looking at the blue world with murky eyes, as if I had lost my mind.
“…Are you adapting?”
Lee Jae-heon concluded Jung Eun-woo’s condition.
Although it is a calm reaction that is significantly different from other people’s, it is a symptom of panic that all beginners in the underworld experience.
However, as he lived as Lee Jae-hee’s secretary and at the same time was Jeong Eun-woo, a liaison in the ‘industry’, it didn’t seem like it would take long to get used to it. At first, it was much more comfortable to watch quietly like this rather than when In-ho Jeong and the other employees showed their frantic and angry behavior.
Isn’t that quite gentle?
‘Looking at things like this, it certainly doesn’t seem like he’s a very violent person.’
At least I feel reassured.
“….”
Jaeheon Lee quickly accepted reality.
It was heartbreaking to have to scrap the previously made plans, but denying the reality that was right in front of us was inefficient.
“You can’t get bitten anyway.”
It was closer to resignation.
‘…Yes, there are a lot of people who come to the underworld and cut up their co-workers with knives just because they are a little confused. Compared to those guys, you’re a noble person. It’s not like you can immediately return Jung Eun-woo, who you dragged along, so you have to face reality and revise your plan while you’re complaining.’
Jaeheon Lee made his decision.
Fortunately, even though Jung Eun-woo must have been confused as he was in an unfamiliar world, he was very calm and just understood the situation. This was proof that Lee Jae-heon would have no major problems using Jung Eun-woo, and was also a great comforting advantage.
Lee Jae-heon was unable to kill Lee Jae-hee, but instead gained a capable worker.
‘It is nonsense to deny companionship now. Even if Jeong Eun-woo came to the secret world, before escaping, if he turns the scapegoat to his mother or father rather than Lee Jae-hee, the problem of probability that he mentioned to Jeong In-ho and Ha Seong-yoon will be resolved.’
After organizing his thoughts, Lee Jae-heon took his gaze away from Jeong Eun-woo and looked elsewhere.
“…Huh….”
I saw a large cylindrical water tank located in the center of the theme zone.
“It’s been a long time since I got tired just by looking at it.”
Basically, no matter what you look at in the other world, mental fatigue accumulates, but Lee Jae-heon, who had accumulated similar experiences in his past life, was able to be slightly free from such fatigue compared to other survivors. But now that I saw the water tank, I was rapidly getting tired.
In reality, the water tank pipe was not that tall or large. The audience wasn’t as grand as the Colosseum it is now, and the whole world wasn’t as blue as if it were submerged under the sea. As I looked at the eyeless mermaids filling the long water tank, I felt as if an earthworm had bloomed in my brain.
It’s ticklish, disgusting and confusing. I have a headache.
“Tsk.”
However, Lee Jae-heon did not have time to sit idle like Jeong Eun-woo.
‘I’ve been preparing so hard for this attack, so I won’t have any regrets if I escape quickly. ‘Let’s kill them quickly and leave before any major damage occurs to the other survivors.’
Unless he had the will to escape quickly, there was no way Jaeheon Lee would have led the survivors to the aquarium or gone in and out of the aquarium alone to kill the final boss alone. It was an unexpected situation for Jung Eun-woo to participate as a new member of the secret world, but it was not very difficult.
“This guy is still out of his mind…”
Lee Jae-heon passed by Jeong Eun-woo, who was standing like a statue, and went down the stairs and approached the edge of the audience.
Originally, there would have been a railing in front of the aquarium to ensure the safety of visitors, but this is a different world. It was just a cliff without any railings. Lee Jae-heon stopped at the non-falling line and looked at the aquarium and below.
Lee Jae-heon’s statement that it was a colosseum was not strange at all. The final theme zone, which was so transformed that it was difficult to imagine a real aquarium, was a structure specialized for viewing something. The seating arrangement allowed spectators to observe the aquarium no matter where they sat in the stands, and the glass of the aquarium was so clear that it seemed as if there were no walls, boasting an uncanny transparency.
“….”
The mermaids swimming inside, their tails swaying, had no eyes or noses. Those vague facial features definitely resemble a mannequin monster. Of course, they had pale, white skin and dazzlingly beautiful tails, but that actually created a sense of discomfort and nausea.
“Hmm.”
Lee Jae-heon muttered, covering his mouth.
“How was it done in the original novel?”
Since there is a high probability that the author touched my brain and the novel, the contents of the novel cannot be 100% trusted, but it can be used as an indicator.
Lee Jae-heon had just arrived in the other side of the world, calmed his pounding mind, and recalled the original content. This was something I remembered right before entering the other side of the world.
So…
‘…I guess I couldn’t sacrifice just one person, so I recklessly stole the key to the Sea Treasure Hall, ignored the rules, took out the trapped people, and then ran away from the aquarium.’
I had thought about it on my last visit too, but this aquarium had a strong tendency to have to sacrifice others in order to gain something.
Unlike now, it would have been unpleasant for the protagonist, who had only a handful of people in his party. It was also a time when I compulsively wanted to be good.
For reference, the standard way to kill the final boss also required someone’s sacrifice.
To be exact, a woman’s sacrifice.
‘I said that the final boss would be a woman who was trapped in a water tank and turned into a mermaid.’
In other words, the final boss is already inside that tank. However, if another female survivor is trapped and becomes a mermaid, the final boss changes to that direction.
“…one of those many mermaids is the final boss…”
An uncountable number of mermaids in an immeasurably large aquarium. Among the mermaids whose appearances were so similar that it was impossible to tell them apart from A and B, there was a final boss that Lee Jae-heon had to kill.
Even this final boss wasn’t ‘confirmed’.
‘They said that if the situation is deemed unfavorable, the final boss status will be transferred to another mermaid. In a situation where mobility is limited due to being underwater, it is almost impossible to specifically catch and kill a single mermaid, so it seems that the novel also judged that it would not be possible to kill the final boss unless someone was sacrificed….’ Lee Jae-
heon I looked at Jo Gwan intently.
‘Perhaps many of the mermaids in that large tank were survivors who fell into the underworld in the past.’
Identifying the final boss also requires a sacrifice, but even that will be a waste of money if you can’t kill the boss quickly. If you don’t kill the boss quickly, the survivor mermaid who becomes the final boss will pass the title to another mermaid and you will end up looking like those monsters.
Humans, who are not aquatic creatures, have a disadvantage in moving around inside the aquarium. However, the opponent is an aquatic creature and a monster, and when it becomes dangerous, he even passes the final boss title to another mermaid.
However, if one of the survivors becomes a mermaid as the representative, there is no need to worry about the final boss qualification being transferred as long as that person turns into a mermaid, and it is easy for the survivors to check who the final boss is. However, because it ultimately required sacrifice from the party, the main character in the original novel gave up on killing the final boss of this place and made escaping the aquarium his top priority.
Unless there is a rule, you have to defeat the final boss to leave the building, so the main character in the original story pushed the monsters away and escaped through the entrance instead of the closed exit. They escaped by catching the final boss in a location other than the aquarium.
‘The way back was a mess and I almost drowned several times… but seeing as the main character and his party were able to get out without dying, there’s nothing that I can’t adopt that method.’
However, Jaeheon Lee even used the trick of coming to the boss room in advance to easily kill the final boss as quickly as possible.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon, standing at the edge of the audience area, took in the entire theme zone.
“…I don’t think there’s any way to display it right inside the aquarium.”
The reason I came to the last theme zone where the final boss was in advance was to kill the final boss first by using a trick instead of solving the problem as expected.
A type of cheat that would not have been possible if it were a game. Jaeheon Lee glared at the square glass box inside the cylindrical water tank.
‘I thought there would be a gap somewhere I could go in, but the water tank was tighter than I imagined. It seems difficult to physically crawl into a glass box and face the final boss…’
Although I remember the story of the novel well, there was a big difference between what I read in writing and what I saw with my own eyes.
In the same context, Lee Jae-heon wondered if there might be a loophole that was not described in the text. Because the story was told from the point of view of a mentally unstable protagonist, there were some things that were untrustworthy.
However, there was no entrance to the aquarium. It was a glass container itself in the shape of a smooth cylinder with no gaps. It’s hard to see clearly because it’s far away, but the glass box inside that cylindrical water tank probably couldn’t be entered.
‘I heard that I could rescue the survivor displayed in the box with the key I got from the Sea Treasure Museum, so I wondered if it had a lock on it, but since there doesn’t seem to be a part that opens, I guess the key hole opens only when you pick up the key or bring it close to it.’
Because of this, it seemed difficult to physically enter the aquarium. The same goes for inside a glass box.
“…breaking the water tank pipe…”
is not possible. At least not already.
‘If you damage the aquarium’s property, you will become food like the main character in a novel.’
Unlike the ‘exhibit’, which is displayed as soon as you finish viewing the aquarium, mannequin staff rush in and process the ‘food’ through a manual process.
So, as long as I can escape from the mannequins, there may not be much damage, but I already have no desire to be mistreated by the mannequin monsters.
‘In addition, apart from the fact that it is difficult to break the water tank pipe, there is also the problem that the penalty is large if you kill more than three mermaids that are not the final boss.’
The survivor most responsible for killing three or more strange mermaids is brainwashed into thinking that he or she is a mermaid and must live in the water, which increases the chance of drowning and even causes the final boss he was looking for to run away to another tank. I don’t know where I could escape to in this large aquarium.
Jaeheon Lee clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘The upper body is human, but they are weak monsters that suffocate to death when they come out of the water, so it is not a method to be used carelessly.’
Because the reader already knew the problems that the main character in the novel once experienced, it was easy to plan and discard routes here and there.
Although it does make Lee Jae-heon feel uncomfortable that there is no advantage as expected in the situation where he came to the final boss’s doorstep using cheat keys.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon muttered quietly after thinking for five more minutes.
“…I guess investigation is the answer for now.”
Perhaps because it is a world managed by Mana, there seems to be no answer to the secret world, but if you look closely, there are hints and exits.
Is this similar to how the underworld is well-decorated by theme? In the novel, there might be something inside this aquarium that the main character couldn’t figure out.
‘If I were to search every nook and cranny and suddenly meet the conditions and be put on display, I would welcome it…’
No one in the group would be worried about the injury or death of ‘Jae-Heon Lee’. From the time they crawled into the final boss’s nest, Jae-Heon Lee was already there. Several deaths were planned. This is because only when you die can you identify the final boss.
Inside the cylindrical mermaid tank, there was a square glass box. Survivors who meet the conditions and are put on display are locked inside a glass box and must watch the water slowly rising inside. If another survivor does not save the box, it will be filled with water, and from then on, the glass walls of the box will no longer prevent mermaids from entering.
The mermaid, the final boss, rushes in with numerous mermaids when the water in the glass box fills up and the survivors become defenseless, and she is the first to show her teeth.
‘If it’s a man, I’ll eat it, and if it’s a woman, I’ll turn it into a mermaid.’
In short, only when a survivor trapped in a glass box is about to die can he find out who the final boss is.
That’s why Jaeheon Lee had no qualms about being locked in a glass box. Until the other survivors died or came to this aquarium, Lee Jae-heon planned to consume himself as efficiently as possible and devise a strategy.
“…Is it time for that guy to come to his senses?”
Lee Jae-heon climbed the stairs and approached Jeong Eun-woo again, stepping away from the edge of the audience.
‘Still, I like the fact that unlike the previous theme zones, there are no attack devices, perhaps because this is where the final boss stays. I’m not suffocating because it’s so full of water, there are no crazy fish eating me, and I don’t see any mannequins that drive me crazy…’ Still, I
waited near Jung Eun-woo just in case, and it wasn’t long before Jung Eun-woo seemed to have come to his senses and met Lee Jae-heon. We made eye contact.
“…were you waiting for me by any chance?”
Could it be that he was so out of his mind that he couldn’t even understand what was happening right in front of him?
I hope that the unexpected presence of Jeong Eun-woo does not cause a change in the strategy that Jae-heon Lee plans and executes, and I hope that it is as valuable as the plan he discarded. Jaeheon Lee answered.
“…a little bit.”
“Have you been waiting long?”
“It must have been about 10 minutes.”
“Oh my god, 10 minutes.”
That was the story until Jeong Eun-woo came to his senses.
* * *
Meanwhile, the ‘Friends by the Stream’ theme zone.
“Here… where was this…”
“? Can’t you read the writing? “It’s called ‘Friends by the Stream.’”
“Wow, thank you so much for letting me know.”
“Why are you so picky?”
Song In-myeong snorted as if he understood.
“Are you afraid I might kill you? “Don’t worry~ I have my own tastes too.”
“Wow, that was really curious information.”
Park Da-young stretched out her words with a look of extreme disgust, and Park Da-hoon closed his eyes tightly, protecting the two innocent children from the sturdy pervert. Unfortunately or fortunately, the strong kindergarten students were confidently looking at the aquarium on the back of the world.
It was a truly unexpected combination, but it was clear that it was a mess.
(Continued in the next part)
