Episode 582
Park Da-young saw a mermaid in the water tank at Lee Jae-heon’s words.
“….”
The target was relatively clear.
It had very long, straight hair that seemed to almost reach its thighs. It was difficult to distinguish between the mermaid’s unique pale skin and the mysteriously colored tail, but that feature alone was enough to identify the person.
‘But…’
That thing spoke to me?
‘In the first place, is it going to be heard that you’re talking over there?’
Park Da-young’s question was common sense, but she also knew that common sense does not work well in the behind-the-scenes world. If I had to find a similar object to understand Lee Jae-heon’s words, I could think of the mermaid at the exam center where Jeong Eun-woo got his license.
“….”
Even though the mermaid had no mouth and could not speak, she was able to communicate with Jeong Eun-woo. Just by making eye contact.
‘If you think about it that way, you could think that the mermaid is sending some kind of telepathy. That’s true. That’s true, but…’
I felt strangely uneasy.
“….”
Park Da-young herself didn’t know why she felt that way. Is it because Lee Jae-heon’s remarks were too sudden?
Dayoung Park saw Jaeheon Lee.
“…Did that mermaid talk to you?”
“I guess so.”
“What do they say?”
“You are looking for me. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Why are you….”
Park Da-young, who had said that far, kept her mouth shut.
“….”
What Park Da-young saw was Lee Jae-heon’s neck wrapped in a handkerchief. So, to be precise, I was thinking of the tattered gills under a blood-stained handkerchief.
‘…Now that I think about it, only the old man has mutated.’
So is it true that only people who are mutated in that way can hear the final boss’s voice?
‘I’m not sure. There is no basis or object for comparison….’
At the same time, Jeong In-ho was also thinking similar thoughts.
“Could it be that the manager is the only one who has mutated and can hear the mermaid’s voice?”
“It’s not out of the question, but… I’m not sure.”
“I wish I had asked you before.”
Jeong In-ho sighed at Ha Seong-yoon’s seemingly calm reaction.
In the last episode, the people who mutated in that way included Lee Jae-heon, Jeong Eun-woo, and Park Da-young. However, neither of them was a returner this time, and neither had they ever had a conversation about the ‘mermaid’s voice’ in the previous episode.
‘In the first place, before I could talk about it with Jung Eun-woo, she disappeared while opening the treasure chest… and Da-young died in the Amazon area, where there were no mermaids nearby, right after she was transformed, so it was impossible to ask her.’
Therefore, there was no way to confirm Lee Jae-heon’s claim that ‘the final boss is talking to you.’ Even if you search through the information and records of the performance venue, you cannot know whether the story they want is there.
‘In the end, it was the previous survivors who left records of the performance hall.’
If they didn’t find out and deliberately left no records… no matter how hard they searched, they wouldn’t find the information they wanted.
“….”
“….”
So there was only one option left.
“…First of all, I understand what you are saying.”
Believing what Jaeheon Lee says.
‘Because that person has no reason to lie.’
Moreover, the current Lee Jae-heon was a person who did not have the spirit to lie. Even though it seemed like the conversation was going well right now, there was no way he had enough time to plan and act out a lie.
Above all, there is no way Lee Jae-heon would have given unfavorable information to the survivors.
“So, aren’t you saying that that mermaid with long hair over there is the final boss? Yes?”
“you’re right.”
“So what does that mermaid say to the manager?”
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“…but because the races have become similar?”
Choi Min-hong intervened in Jeong In-ho’s muttering.
“Are you a fish now too?”
Jang Seo-ah carefully covered Choi Min-hong’s mouth. Even though Minhong Choi had an expression of ‘Why are you doing this?’, he didn’t bother to shake off his beloved younger brother’s hand. Jang Seo-ah dragged Choi Min-hong in front of Do-yoon Han.
Han Do-yoon immediately understood what Seo-ah, a smart kindergarten student, wanted.
“Shall we play with Minhong hyung?”
“So, is it a fish?”
“Ugh, so you’re going to play with him? “I think Seo-ah wants to play.”
“What are you playing?”
“Playing as a firefighter~”
“Wow!”
Only after successfully diverting Choi Min-hong’s attention were the adults able to return to the discussion.
“Minhong’s choice of words was a bit subtle, but I think Inho Jeong’s guess may be correct. “There may be sounds that can only be heard if you become a monster.”
Park Da-young muttered in response to Ha Seong-yoon’s words.
“Like a dolphin…?”
“I think it might be a similar feeling.”
Kim Ki-jeong frowned vaguely at that.
“Then why can’t I hear…”
“Isn’t that because they don’t really communicate at the same frequency as dolphins? “Mr. Kim Ki-jeong can’t hear what Da-hoon and I are doing telepathically.”
“I wish I could have heard that, but it’s a shame.”
“…No, more than that, Mr. Kim Ki-jeong, can you even hear the sound of dolphins? “You can hear the frequency too, right?”
“I was just wondering if I could hear it… I heard a similar sound coming from the treasure chest.”
“I tore it.”
It looked close to an ultrasonic detector.
Garam Yoon, who was quietly listening to the conversation between the two, blinked.
“I can’t hear anything either…”
“? Are you a monster?”
“Can you please stop talking to me, Student Song In-myeong?”
“You’re not a monster, so why do you say such things?”
“I didn’t think I could hear it because I was half a monster…”
“…?”
Song In-myeong tilted his head with a subtle expression.
‘Do you usually say things like that?’
In the movie, the extras around you say things like, ‘You’re a monster just like them, so why can’t you do it?!’
“hmm.”
However, Song In-myeong soon swallowed those doubts. This was because Seo Jang-hwa, who was still burning in his eyes, would punish him if he continued to flutter his mouth any longer. Even if that wasn’t the case, it seemed like it would be better for the other regressors to keep their mouths shut before they directly cut Song In-myeong.
Although the topic was thrown around here and there, there was one conclusion.
“If I had to be honest, that mermaid would be the final boss.”
“I guess so.”
There were no reasons that other people could notice, and there were many reasons that only Lee Jae-heon could cite. The story that only Lee Jae-heon, who had undergone mutation, could hear the final boss’s voice sounded quite reasonable.
At that point, Eunwoo Jeong opened his mouth.
“Come to think of it, the mermaid at the exam center where you get your license said that. “There is a boss.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I heard someone say something like there is a monster who is treated as the owner of this aquarium. “They say that the boss changes often, but a mermaid with no mouth once said that this boss is a very beautiful person.”
Kim Ki-jeong frowned again, as if he was offended. Perhaps the part about ‘a mermaid without a mouth speaks’ felt quite disgusting. Park Da-young, who saw the mermaid in person, deeply sympathized with Kim Ki-jeong’s feelings and patted him on the back.
Jeong Eun-woo, naturally ignoring the sight of the survivors, nodded.
“I was thinking that it was probably referring to the final boss, but if you think about it that way, I can understand to some extent why only the final boss can talk to Director Lee Jae-heon. Since he is the ‘boss’ of this aquarium, he may have the ability to communicate with his subordinates.”
“…So you’re also being treated as a monster?”
“I think that’s probably true.”
Jung Eun-woo smiled neatly and answered Park Da-young’s awkward question.
“According to writer Song In-myeong, the gift shop also has a separate fish employee in charge of guidance and calculations. The mermaid at the certification exam site also said ‘boss’, so if you think about it that way… the monsters in this aquarium seem to have some kind of working life.”
“….”
“In the case of Manager Lee Jae-heon, he has gills on his neck, and even if you search the whole world, it would be difficult to find a person with gills on his neck. I don’t know if there are actually people like that, but even if there were, it’s not a universal human trait. Therefore, Director Lee Jae-heon, who has gills in the other world, does not meet the universal standards of human beings…”
“This is getting longer, so why?”
“I wanted to say that even if you only have gills, you are already in the category of a monster rather than a human, so Manager Lee Jae-heon, who has become a monster, may also be treated as an employee of this aquarium. “It is also natural for the boss and subordinates to be able to have a conversation.”
Jaeheon Lee said with a grin.
“You’re a monster, so you don’t have to talk too much.”
“Mister, please.”
“In the case of President Yoon, he didn’t say anything, but I don’t understand why he reacts so negatively to what I say. “Why?”
“The monster you talk about and the monster Garam talks about have different connotations…” While
Garam Yoon truly feels like ‘I call you a monster because I am a monster’ without any regrets, Jaeheon Lee says ‘I am a monster and therefore useless and dangerous. I had a strong feeling that it was okay to kill him. For no reason, it makes the listener feel very uncomfortable.
“Do you understand?”
“I will be careful. But this time, I also meant the former.”
Park Da-young, who was trying to move on naturally, opened her eyes brightly.
“‘Just this time’?”
“….”
“That guy is really….”
“Haha.”
Seo Jang-hwa patted Park Da-young’s trembling back, unable to even grab her tattered collar. Meanwhile, the story progressed further, and after fully accepting Lee Jae-heon’s words, plans were being made.
“Then, now that we know that the mermaid is the final boss, isn’t it okay to try defeating it?”
“No matter what, it’s a bit… I’m dying from exhaustion. Can’t we just let Dahun escape and leave here?”
“But no one knows whether the final boss will be the same even when you leave the aquarium and come back.”
Han Do-yoon, who was playing with kindergarten students, also joined in.
“But I’m also worried about what will happen to Lee Jae-heon’s gills.”
“Mr. Han Do-yoon?”
“No, think about it. Lee Jae-heon has already started to mutate, and if we don’t rip off his gills like that, he will gradually become a monster… I wonder if everything will be okay if he goes outside the aquarium.”
“….”
“In the first place, isn’t there a contradiction whether a human with gills breathes outside the water or inside the water? “Perhaps the mutation has progressed to a lesser extent now, or it may be possible to breathe simply because it is an aquarium.”
Han Do-yoon shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m sure you don’t plan on leaving Lee Jae-heon here alone, everyone.”
Seo Jang-hwa frowned at those words.
“It was the opposite until 5 seconds ago.”
“No matter how fast my stance change was, 5 seconds ago was severe. “Wasn’t it about five minutes ago?”
“It’s either that or that.”
“Oh my god, so you’re going to abandon Lee Jae-heon?”
“Why do you say that?”
Park Min-jun thought to himself as he saw the opposing opinions being persuaded by Do-yoon Han’s words.
‘Hogunga?’
Of course, Park Min-jun was of the opinion that it would be great if he went out with the captain or escaped, but he could roughly understand the opposing opinion.
‘It’s going to be hard, but it would be much better to leave the aquarium than to die trying to catch the final boss.’
However, I am only being persuaded by the words, ‘I’m not going to leave Lee Jae-heon alone.’
‘Wouldn’t it be okay to just leave it…? I am not a person who will die easily just because that person curses me to die. Moreover, if we are turning into monsters, the survivors who know nothing will be anxious because we don’t know when they will attack us… Wouldn’t it be easier to die?’
That’s how Park Min-jun came to a conclusion.
‘Certainly chicks are chicks.’
My thoughts were not rational. Even though he was suffering to the point of death, he ended up acting like he couldn’t win because he was worried about others. It was a very unreasonable attitude for him to be swayed by his emotions.
“….”
And the South Korean detective thought, guessing Park Min-jun’s true intentions.
‘That bastard…’
He was such an efficient guy that it warmed my heart, but he was also obnoxious enough to make me want to make his cheeks look bigger.
Have you already forgotten how long the back end is?
(Continued in the next part)
