Episode 572
Jeong In-ho observed an unexpected situation.
“We will treat you….”
“We will treat you!”
“You can do it really well without making a fuss.”
“I could!”
Are you paying attention or not?
Choi Min-hong, who was next to him, followed Jang Seo-ah’s words as she slowly approached Lee Jae-heon. The faces looking up with eyes full of anticipation, holding a white handkerchief whose identity it belongs to, are quite lively.
Lee Jae-heon looked down at those kindergartners with his characteristic blank eyes.
“…You?”
It was an interrogative question, but I didn’t feel any special rejection. Jang Seo-ah, whose face quickly brightened at the clear voice, nodded her head.
“yes yes. “I’m good at it.”
“I’m sure I’ll do well too?”
“…are you doing well, too?”
“huh? huh.”
Jaeheon Lee was seen smiling slightly at the strange conversation between the kindergarten students.
“Then let me ask you a favor.”
“!”
“omg!”
Jaeheon Lee’s special lecture suddenly began like that.
“If you feel like the person is bleeding from deep inside, you need to put a bandage down to the depth of the wound. “The purpose of using a bandage is to completely prevent blood from coming out.”
“Then it doesn’t hurt too much…?”
“We need to prevent the patient from losing too much blood and becoming more dangerous by worrying about the pain. However, it may not be necessary for a wound that only lightly peels off the skin… but if the wound is deep enough to be close to a bone inside the body, it must be done.”
“Ugh….”
“Of course, there’s nothing to go to that extent now since the wound is on the inside of the neck. If you put a handkerchief into the hole, it will stop the bleeding, but then I won’t be able to breathe. I can’t suffocate to death just to stop the bleeding. yes?”
“ah.”
“So, should I just wrap the handkerchief around my neck for now? To be honest, this time, the purpose was more about tidying up than stopping the bleeding… The blood keeps leaking out of my neck and my clothes are getting wet, which is a bit uncomfortable.”
“We’ll do our best.”
Jaeheon Lee’s voice as he calmly gave instructions to the kindergarten students was quite kind.
‘…Are you just like your dad?’
For a moment, I was mistaken in thinking that Lee Jae-heon was married.
Of course, when Jeong In-ho remembered that Lee Jae-heon had been single until now due to his famous old man mentality, he shook his head and said that it was a stupid idea. Perhaps that kind of behavior occurred simply because Jaeheon Lee liked children.
‘Maybe there were children like that among other survivors before us.’
If you look at it that way, every time I see it, I think, ‘Where does that kind of skill in dealing with children come from?’ I wish I could, but I was still able to explain why Lee Jae-heon treats children so skillfully. You must have had experience comforting and comforting children in the other world.
“Well, that’s right. “You’re good at continuing the ends of the torn handkerchief.”
“I’m good at it?”
“Yes, I think so. “I’m good with my hands.”
Perhaps because there was an issue with the length of the handkerchief to use as is, Choi Min-hong and Jang Seo-ah were tying the ends of the handkerchief that Lee Jae-heon had torn long.
It seemed like Jaeheon Lee had taught me a knot that was difficult to untie.
“Now let’s connect Minhong and Seoah. “That’s right.”
“I’m done.”
“If you’ve made it this far, you’ve made all the bandages.”
“Bandages…”
“It would have been better if I had real bandages, but I don’t have one right now. If you don’t have a bandage to tightly cover the wound in the future, you can use fabric like this to make a bandage. Did you understand?”
“I understood.”
“Then I made a bandage. “What should I do next?”
Perhaps Jaeheon Lee wanted to teach kindergarten students how to survive.
“I need to wear a bandage…”
“That’s right. Shall Seo-ah and Min-hong take turns wrapping it around your neck?”
“And what if I mess up?”
“It’s okay if you mess up, because the uncle will teach you how.”
“Hehe…”
It seems like the kindergarten students are enjoying Lee Jae-heon’s lessons with pride…
“….”
I didn’t really expect it to turn out like this, but it was better than I expected.
‘No matter how you look at it, the effect is pretty good.’
The feeling of helplessness in the previous episode was reduced by the kindergarten students thinking that they were helping adults, and I felt that Lee Jae-heon’s mentality was gradually improving, perhaps because he likes children so much.
‘I don’t think the tone of speech is too clear anymore. Before, it really felt like a monster was talking, but now… it’s just as comfortable as usual, and it’s soft, probably because it’s talking to kids. It’s so different from when you talk to me or other adults.’
In fact, from the man’s perspective, it was a mixture of his usual tone while being healed by kindergarten students, but from Jeong In-ho’s perspective, looking at it, he couldn’t help but feel, ‘Oh, that person is coming to his senses now.’
‘Besides, if it’s like this…’
Jeong In-ho continued his thoughts.
‘We can also prevent kindergarteners from falling into strange places.’
In the first place, their lethargy was alleviated by treating Jae-heon Lee, so the fundamental cause of their escape was alleviated, and with Jae-heon Lee by their side to physically catch them, they could not easily run away.
“…I’m glad.”
Jeong In-ho’s eyes landed on Lee Jae-heon’s neck, which had a handkerchief wrapped around it.
Lee Jae-heon’s voice was a little hoarse, perhaps because he touched the gills close to the vocal cords, but no further changes occurred, perhaps thanks to restraint. It would probably remain that way for a while.
‘More than anything, it seemed like the mutation became faster and more severe as mental power declined.’
What I felt in the last episode was that this aquarium has mutated to focus on people with weak mental health. I don’t know what the exact conditions were, but that’s how Park Da-young started to mutate last time.
Since the mutation started in the eyes, people around her could easily notice the abnormality, and with Park Da-young’s active opinion, she was left alone in the ‘Amazon of the World’. My heart dropped not long after I left that place, so I thought maybe I was killed by another monster.
“….”
anyway.
‘If you look at it that way, Lee Jae-heon’s mutation can also be explained.’
And in the same context, if we keep him around children, we can expect Lee Jae-heon’s transformation to slow down.
‘Because I can see that I am being healed by the kids.’
Then, having Jaeheon Lee and kindergarten students together will definitely be of great help.
‘It’s the same for the kindergarten students and Jaeheon Lee himself…’
At that point, Inho Jeong quietly exhaled.
“….”
Now, I felt like I was finally coming to my senses.
“…I guess I’ve done everything I could at this level.”
Jeong In-ho muttered softly and walked away, leaving the three people alone.
Looking into the tank, Park Da-hoon seems to still be holding on to his senses, and Song In-myeong was confined inside the room as soon as he returned. It was safe to say that all problems that could be solved here were solved.
‘It’s not a solution, but anyway… it’s something that has been resolved. ‘You can rest assured for a while.’
Now all that needs to be resolved is the wetsuit team.
“I think they took care of it, so I’m not really worried.”
At this time, Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Gar-ram would have already entered the aquarium. In that case, Ha Seong-yoon, who moved his feet as quickly as possible, would have prevented Jeong Eun-woo from putting on the ring.
‘It would have been better if the existing wetsuit team had a returner for this episode, but that would be difficult.’
The existing wetsuit team, Han Do-yoon, Kim Ki-jeong, Park Da-young, Jeong Eun-woo, and Seo Jang-hwa, were the ones who died in the aquarium in the last episode. There was no way he was the winner this round.
‘As expected, there is a high probability that it is President Yoon.’
I was told about the regression by Ha Seong-yoon and I had just begun to feel a sense of responsibility for it, so I could have used that sense of responsibility to gain strength and become the final survivor.
‘It would be a great help if Mr. Garam Yoon could help me as a returnee.’
More than anything, it means that he returned at almost the same time as Ha Seong-yoon, and in that case, I thought it would have been much easier to run to stop Jeong Eun-woo. So I wasn’t worried about that issue.
“…If it doesn’t work….”
Wouldn’t it be better to go back one more time anyway?
“….”
I was confident that this too was my own belief.
‘If you look at it that way, it would be safe to say that the problems before the regression were roughly resolved.’
Jeong In-ho, who felt quite at ease with his trust in his colleagues, spent time checking on the survivors at the concert hall from time to time. They waited for Ha Seong-yoon, a fixed regressor, because it seemed like he would probably come straight to the concert hall.
And after a while, Jeong In-ho couldn’t help but slightly wrinkle his face as he saw the wetsuit team enter the concert hall.
“….”
A man with brown hair whom I had never seen before was among the group.
“…?”
What is that?
I thought it was quite rude towards people.
* * *
“Hello, my name is Park Min-jun.”
Park Min-jun, an unfamiliar survivor, introduces himself with a shy yet quite confident smile.
“….”
“….”
Ha Seong-yoon and Jeong In-ho exchanged glances.
‘As you can see, I don’t think I’m in my right mind.’
‘It looks quite like that.’
I don’t know how often this person named Park Min-jun visited the secret world, but looking at the situation, it seems like he went there almost alone. Considering that, Park Min-jun had quite a bright side.
In this crazy world, the only people who make facial expressions like that are crazy people.
“Hmm…”
Of course, Jeong In-ho, who was also a crazy guy, had no intention of having negative thoughts.
“Nice to meet you, Park Min-jun. “My name is Jeong In-ho.”
“Ah, nice to meet you.”
“You met Ha Seong-yoon at the entrance to the aquarium?”
“Yes, I saw you going in… It’s embarrassing, but I was secretly watching you two.”
“aha.”
“Ha, but I really didn’t have any bad feelings. It seemed like he was looking for a way in, but he didn’t have the courage to start talking, so he hesitated…” “
….”
Jeong In-ho felt a strange sense of uneasiness.
‘…Why?’
There was no contradiction in the situation described by Park Min-jun.
If it really was like that, the question of ‘Why didn’t we ever see that kind of person in the last episode?’ will be resolved. This happened because we didn’t notice Park Min-jun’s existence first.
Still, it felt strangely musty. Jeong In-ho unconsciously twisted the corner of his lips in a feeling of reluctance that was difficult to explain in words. He somehow came to a conclusion.
‘Are you not happy with the variable?’
It probably looked like that.
“You don’t have to explain it that way.”
Of course, I couldn’t show off that it was unpleasant.
“I completely understand. “You came looking for a friend?”
“Yes, I came because I thought he might be here…”
Park Min-jun smiled with a shy face.
“I guess he’s not here since I didn’t see him on the way to the concert hall.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Or maybe I already went to the aquarium… It’s been a while since I broke up with that friend, so I’m not sure how things are going. “Maybe you didn’t come here in the first place.”
…I think it’s more likely that I haven’t seen him since he’s already dead.
Jeong In-ho skillfully swallowed up the cruel assumptions.
“If you didn’t see it on the way here, you may have already left the aquarium, as Park Min-jun said, or you may not have come in at all.”
“I guess so, right?”
“Maybe you heard the story when you came with other people, but… I introduced myself, and the two friends here are Minhong and Seoah. “I’m a kindergarten student.”
Jeong In-ho, who introduced the children who had quietly approached him as if he was amazed by the new face, turned his head and looked toward the aquarium.
“The person in that glass box is a friend named Park Da-hoon…”
Next was Lee Jae-heon.
“The person right next to the fish tank is Jaeheon Lee. “You are a manager at the same company as me. You may not feel comfortable introducing yourself because you are a bit distracted right now, so let’s take some time to figure it out.”
“….”
“…Mr. Park Min-jun?”
Park Min-jun, who was staring at Lee Jae-heon, covered his mouth.
“…Isn’t this a city corpse?”
“ah.”
“Ah…”
An awkward silence fell between the survivors along with simultaneous exclamations.
Jeong In-ho slowly shook his head.
“…Not yet.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, that’s not really wrong…”
It looks like a corpse, after all.
That’s right….
(continued in the next part)
