Episode 524:
From the moment he opened the exchange product box, Jaeheon Lee instinctively knew how to use these dolls. I felt like knowledge was being stuck in my brain like a pin.
‘…I think that friend probably felt that way too.’
Did you say Park Da-hoon?
It couldn’t be seen clearly from that distance, but he managed to stare in this direction. To be precise, I think I sensed the doll itself that Jaeheon Lee was holding, which meant that this aquarium was doing something to the doll and us.
“…was there a lid on top?”
“What where? water tank?”
“I think I should give this doll to that friend.”
“….”
Song In-myeong frowned as he looked at the dolls modeled after Lee Jae-heon and Park Da-hoon.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I think about that.”
“Aren’t you being too cold?”
“Inmyeong, shall we find a way?”
“No…”
Song In-myeong asked while scratching his head.
“Which way.”
“A way to open that water tank and hand over the doll.”
“Ha… open the water tank… the doll…”
Song In-myeong, who was rolling his eyes as if recalling various cases, frowned.
“…If that were possible, wouldn’t Park Da-young and Jeong Eun-woo have had to go get diving certification? Climbing up to that high lid would be a problem, but getting into the tank, swimming, and opening the glass box… In fact, at that point, it would have been a doll, so all you would have to do is go to sleep and take out Park Da-hoon.”
“I don’t think this is such a simple world. It doesn’t feel like a space where the laws of physics apply. Since you said you are an artist, wouldn’t you like to change your ideas to suit the dungeon called the underworld? Writer Song In-myeong?”
“It really leaves me speechless.”
Song In-myeong, who was complaining, asked again.
“So what is the purpose of that doll in the first place? Looking at your face, I think I found out something, so I’m asking. The fish chick that I exchanged for just said that I was sure you would need it, right? “Is that really necessary?”
“You are a helpful employee. “Yes, I think it’s exactly what we need.”
“Then that’s good, but what’s the use?”
“Maybe…”
Lee Jae-heon laughed slightly.
“Change?”
I already wanted to awaken the siblings’ abilities.
I had a great opportunity to demonstrate first.
“….”
“Haha.”
Song In-myeong muttered as he saw Lee Jae-heon smiling carefree.
“This guy has become a sacrificial soldier again….”
At that point, wouldn’t Lee Jae-heon’s future hope be a corpse?
* * *
Seo Jang-hwa said with admiration.
“Honestly, I hate to say this… but I really fell in love with the underworld.”
“That’s a bold statement.”
“To be honest, she’s pretty.”
I don’t think it was like this in real life, but the aquarium in the other world was full of soft, dreamy colors, like a dark room with mood lighting. Even though there is no luminous body to shine the light.
In particular, the water scales fluttering here and there in the hallway made me think it was artistic.
“If an exhibition like this had existed in reality, it would have sold really well.”
“So, you were also an artist, right?”
“Come to think of it? Do you want to search?”
“Look at your muscles, I know you have arts and physical skills, but at least you don’t look like a Western painter. “No matter how closely you look at it, it’s probably a sculpture department.”
“Muscles save the world.”
“…suddenly…?”
Seo Jang-hwa, who had been talking nonsense, shrugged his shoulders and said.
“Anyway, since I am also an art student, I have many opportunities to go see exhibitions. When a professor or senior holds an exhibition, even if you are not interested, you have to go see it out of loyalty. The same goes for my classmates and juniors. Of course, I’m an undergraduate student who hasn’t even graduated yet, so I don’t have many contacts to hold an exhibition…”
“Do you think there are enough?”
“Vivian is poor compared to that little bear. That guy is secretly very popular, but he strangely treats his connections as property. “Because he had so many places to go, I also got to look around.”
“It’s an exhibition… It’s a culture that’s a bit unfamiliar to me.”
“I was just like you until I entered college, right? But after joining the department, I had to see exhibitions that professors wanted me to see, and I had to take care of various things, and as a result, I started to find places I wanted to go personally…”
Seo Jang-hwa, who had been giving a long explanation, looked around again and continued speaking.
“In that sense, honestly, the world behind the scenes is somewhat inspiring.”
The walls, with their subtle water scales, were flat like those in an art museum, but they were so dark that it was hard to tell whether they were black or dark blue. The fish tanks twisting into misshapen shapes here and there in the hallway illuminated by the night sky twinkled like stars.
The water in the tank continued to splash steadily, and each time the waves shyly glowed with blue light. The fish inside were sometimes bizarre, but there were also times when they fluttered like angels.
“Look, the hallways aren’t straight either. Like now, there are sections that spin round and round, or walls that suddenly become hollow. There are also small mounds… so that people never get bored.”
“Hearing those sentiments, I see that you, Janghwa, are an art student. “You wouldn’t know it just by looking at your muscles.”
“Are you saying that because you’re jealous of my muscles? “I know everything.”
Seo Jang-hwa, who was giggling, spoke in a slightly subdued voice.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many things like this, but even my paintings these days have a hidden world. The professor also asked if there was a reason why my drawing style suddenly changed… Well, I have a lot of work these days, so I don’t know what was the cause.”
“What does it mean to say that the world behind the scenes is revealed in a painting?”
“What should I say?”
Seo Janghwa muttered.
“It’s gross.”
“….”
“…dreamy and miserable.”
It was a voice like a sigh.
“I don’t even know what spirit I was painting that with.”
Although Seo Jang-hwa grew up in a shitty environment from a young age, that didn’t mean he could become an adult who was good at dealing with everything. Even for her, who is confident in her tenacity, the events of the past few months have been quite overwhelming.
There is an endless abyss in human society, but the dreamlike horror of the other world can never be experienced in reality. That fear was enough to completely change a person.
Even a person like Seo Jang-hwa could not avoid such changes.
“That’s what I thought. “I thought I would look for writers who, like me, suddenly changed their style one day.”
“…Do you want to check out writers who have been influenced by the underworld like you?”
“My dream is to become a writer, too. I have a desire to open my own exhibition and be evaluated and recognized. But if I draw the other side of the world in this way, it’s obvious that I’ll forget what kind of picture I was drawing.”
“….”
“I feel like my painting was stolen by the underworld… I’m really upset.”
As Seo Jang-hwa said that, his eyes still contained the corridors and tanks of the aquarium.
“I’m even more annoyed because the picture with the hidden world looks a lot better than I thought.”
Jeong In-ho nodded slightly.
“The world of art students is profound.”
“Even if you’re not an art student, aren’t we all similar…? I have my own daily life and know what kind of person I am, but after I came to my senses, I was tainted by this bastard called the underworld. “Isn’t it like living as a model student your whole life and then becoming a criminal because you have one wrong friend?”
“Aha….”
“After talking about it, it reminds me of Song In-myeong and makes me even more upset?”
Jeong In-ho asked as Seo Jang-hwa’s darkly muttering reaction was not as serious as he thought.
“I know this might sound strange to ask, but are you okay?”
“…what. “You made friends with Song In-myeong without knowing he was that kind of bastard, and then got stabbed in the back?”
“So to speak.”
“Shit, are you okay?”
“I don’t think so, but it doesn’t look as difficult as Bian.”
Seo Jang-hwa snorted at that.
“It wasn’t me who was bad, so there’s no reason for it to be difficult.”
“Oh…”
“Vivian, that bastard always has a lot of random thoughts. If you look at it from the outside, it doesn’t look like such an ignorant and idiotic bastard, but if you look at it from the side, you can hear the sound of its head rolling up to here. “He is having a harder time because he has suffered so much from Song In-myeong.”
“….”
Seo Jang-hwa asked.
“I just thought, ‘He too?’”
“…It’s surprising that you received some help from Song In-myeong, but it also sounds like you did the same.”
“That’s right, I got some help. Then we became friends.”
She said, opening her eyes upward as if recalling the past.
“Our house was such a mess.”
“…Um…”
As Jeong In-ho drooled over a seemingly sensitive topic, Seo Jang-hwa stabbed him in the side. It hurt a little.
“I just said it, so you listened without even thinking about it. Anyway, I was going to tell you about our situation at some point. Song In-myeong is closely intertwined with that bastard, so out of courtesy, you should say something.”
“I was going to say there was no need to talk if you were having a hard time, but you seemed to shut up on your own if you were having a hard time, so I’ll just listen.”
“This person is also secretly obnoxious…”
Seo Jang-hwa, who rolled his eyes, continued speaking again.
“Both my parents were in debt. It was like that from the moment I was born, and the two of us got into a bit of a fight, and then my father changed and I would have already figured out the situation if I had one child, so I thought I would be an only child for the rest of my life… After I remarried, I had a younger brother who was two years younger than me. He gave birth. “Aren’t you tired of it?”
“….”
“When I was 8 years old? The police came and said my mother was dead. I think I was robbed. Since I usually stay out a lot, I thought it was like that this time too, but it turned out that I couldn’t come back because I was dead. “I borrowed money from some strange place, and even if I gave up my inheritance, the debt wouldn’t go away.”
Seo Jang-hwa’s voice rang through the hallway.
“Then my stepdad sold me to a den of strange men. Well, I was so strong and quirky that I didn’t do anything strange… but now that I think about it, it must have been a den of gangsters. “After holding on for a while, I secretly ran away and when I returned home, my younger brother was dead.”
“Oh my.”
“He was tied up by his father and beaten to death. Was it in the bathroom? He often did that when I was there, but I didn’t know he would hit it until it died. “I was so naive back then.”
It was a pretty cruel story.
“That guy was drunk and was hitting the body, and even though I wanted to report it, I couldn’t do it for fear of getting caught by the gangsters again. “I heard it while I was doing chores, and they said they had connections with some police officers… Even if I report it, if the police who are on the same side as the gangsters receive the report, I won’t be the only one who gets screwed.”
Seo Jang-hwa, who was folding his fingers, finished calculating and continued speaking.
“Maybe you were 14 at the time?”
“What about school?”
“I found out later that he was listed as missing. Anyway, that’s why I couldn’t report it, so I hid in the alley because I felt like I was going crazy…”
Seo Jang-hwa said in a very calm and calm voice.
“Song In-myeong helped me at that time.”
“…I see.”
“He reported it on my behalf and put him in a human prison, and as a result, we sometimes ran into him on the street. “Even if I had to report it, it would have been okay if we broke up, but he kept coming to me.”
“….”
“I didn’t even ask about the circumstances. That bastard was busy showing off to me by bringing a picture he had drawn at home. At first, I wondered what the hell was going on with this idiot, but not for a day or two, but for years… I wondered who else would handle that idiot if not me…”
Seo Jang-hwa’s story came to an end.
“I said so. This is it. We don’t owe each other financially, we don’t have a complicated legal relationship, we just stayed together for a while… “That’s how it was.”
“….”
“But he was a good friend.”
A loud clicking sound was heard.
“It’s so fucking annoying.”
“…It’s not the boots’ fault, so don’t worry too much.”
“Why would it be my fault? “It’s because of Song In-myeong, you trash bastard.”
Seo Jang-hwa’s face was wrinkled with irritation and contempt.
“I’m just saying that if Song In-myeong hadn’t been such a bastard, we would have been really good friends. “To be honest, it’s a bit of an excuse.”
“What an excuse…?”
“When I was at the park, I think I was a little annoyed that you guys were suspicious of Song In-myeong.”
“Ah…”
“I apologize.”
She made eye contact with Jeong In-ho.
“I’m sorry for raising a wrong friend.”
“That’s because it’s not your fault.”
“I think so too. “The only fault I have is that I was deceived by that bastard.”
Jeong In-ho muttered as he saw Seo Jang-hwa grumbling and moving his feet.
And then spit it out.
“I had similar parents.”
“…oh.”
“People treated me like a monster, but one day I suddenly died. “Honestly, I felt a little sad that he died without being able to take revenge on himself.”
“Is it okay for you to tell me?”
“I just feel like my mouth is a little lighter…”
He laughed softly.
“I was very young at the time, so I almost had to go to an orphanage, but thanks to my uncle who came to pick me up before that, I was able to avoid going.”
“…Is it someone I can’t meet right now?”
“The day I became an adult, he suddenly disappeared.”
“Hey.”
Seo Janghwa wrinkled his face.
“Why are all the adults around us like this?”
“i think so too.”
“You guys have no sense of responsibility at all. “We have to search everything.”
“Oh, that’s cool…”
The two of them joined forces, exposing each other’s old relationships. They consoled themselves for the fact that none of the writers who reached out from the abyss were sane, and their friendship was strengthened.
However, In-ho Jeong could not have imagined that he would meet the ‘man who extended his hand’ 10 minutes later.
(Continued in the next part)
