Episode 601
Seo In-young.
“….”
“What do you think?”
I was scared of Jaeheon Lee.
“Uh…”
I felt pitiful at the same time.
“That’s me.”
“You can take your time and think about it.”
“sorry. “I’m a little scared…”
“That could be true.”
“….”
Jaeheon Lee was a strange person.
When Seo In-young first saw Lee Jae-heon, he was killing people.
Lee Jae-heon started out as a victim who was captured and harassed by the director of this party, and eventually became a murderer who killed and tortured several people. No one pointed it out.
But he…
‘He looked very tired at that time.’
He was clearly struggling with his own murder.
‘…I’m not the type of person who bullies people because I like it.’
Seo In-young still remembered the first time she treated Lee Jae-heon. Lee Dang’s director seemed shocked by the blood-splattering scene and didn’t notice, but Lee Jae-heon, right after killing the person, looked extremely tired, even though he didn’t appear to be in any particular pain.
People who are going to commit suicide tomorrow have eyes like that.
“….”
That’s why Seo In-young, even if it was presumptuous, sympathized with Lee Jae-heon.
At least I felt sorry for him because I knew he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to, but I was afraid of him because I didn’t know exactly what was going on.
In any case, a person in power who had the power to kill a person in an instant was naturally a scary person.
“….”
But now Jaeheon Lee speaks.
“…I went to those people on purpose… to protect others.”
“There are a lot of things that bother me.”
“…okay.”
The question has been resolved.
‘At that time, it was difficult to understand why I was treated like that by Seong Dae-young.’
Lee Jae-heon, whom I saw one day on the sea at night, easily took on the sturdy killers. The day after he killed them in an instant, he painstakingly tortured another person for hours. I was wondering why Lee Jae-heon was being bullied by just one person, Seong Dae-young.
Maybe Lee Jae-heon just didn’t want to kill Seong Dae-young.
‘Apart from the fact that I approached it because it was a target that needed to be killed…’
Murder itself is painful.
In the end, didn’t Lee Jae-heon even kill Song In-myeong and leave him alone?
‘Apart from his proficiency, he has a great aversion to murder.’
That day on the sea, Lee Jae-heon must have just had to show his brother something to the director of Lee Dang. Otherwise, there is no way a person with such a strong aversion to murder would have gone on such a rampage on a ship.
So I felt even more pitiful.
“….”
Among all of Lee Jae-heon’s judgments and actions, his safety was not a consideration.
“…”
Even though that person was also a fearsome killer…
I couldn’t help but sympathize with him.
“…Mr. Lee Jae-heon….”
Seo In-young continued speaking cautiously, as if she were dealing with a wild beast that seemed ready to bite her head off at any moment.
“Jaeheon Lee, what exactly do you want?”
“I guess what I said was difficult.”
“I know that. “You said you wanted to become friends with me.”
But that’s not what I’m asking.
“I’m asking a more fundamental question than that. So what I mean is….”
“….”
“….”
“Speak.”
“…I don’t know if I can ask.”
“it’s okay.”
Seo In-young asked.
“What kind of ending do you want?”
What do you ultimately want?
Did that really have to be the way to reach the desired goal? Is there a reason why you should do that? If so, what is it? What is the exact reason you approached me? What do you want?
“…No, I just… I thought Jaeheon Lee had a lot of questions about the industry, so I asked him that. Am I asking too sensitive a question? If so, I apologize for my rudeness. “I don’t know what to say… I don’t have any political sense or anything…”
“I won’t get angry, so calm down.”
“I guess it wasn’t an unpleasant question…?”
“I was taken aback because it was a pretty direct question.”
“….”
“But didn’t I tell you?”
Jaeheon Lee blinked his eyes slowly, like someone who looked sleepy.
And then he laughed.
“I wanted to become friends with teacher Seo In-young.”
“That…”
“Of course, I can’t say that I didn’t have other intentions, but my desire to become friends with the new doctor I met was truly sincere. “It doesn’t seem like he’s a bad person… Our employee Kwon Yeon-hee really likes that kind of teacher.”
“…Yeonhee has a very nice personality.”
“I also stopped by to say hello and thank you for taking care of the child I left at the water’s edge. “I apologize again if I burdened you or made you scared because I was anxious.”
“Oh no. “It was okay.”
Seo In-young felt relieved.
‘I don’t think he’s a bad person after all.’
It was somewhat strange to say that someone who committed murder was ‘not bad’, but to Seo In-young, who was familiar with the industry, Lee Jae-heon was a person of great character.
‘From the beginning, the killing was not something he enjoyed, but was more of an act to protect someone…’
If so, it could be evaluated as a sacrificial spirit.
‘…He is a person who struggles to protect what is his at all costs.’
Therefore, Seo In-young did not feel that Lee Jae-heon was a villain. It was a possible assessment because Seo In-young lives in a world that despises life.
“….”
“Then I’m glad.”
Aside from that, Jaeheon Lee was still scared.
That peculiar, strange feeling of pressure was difficult to shake off.
“…Should I help you with something?”
Jaeheon Lee answered the question without trying hard to shake.
“Looking for someone to kill.”
A tone as smooth as a well-aligned gear.
“…Wasn’t the target already decided? No, I mean, regarding the previous writers Song In-myeong and Sung Dae-young… the nuance was that they approached them after understanding the characters in advance…” “
Oh my. sorry. What was said was inaccurate.”
Jaeheon Lee’s gaze became clearer.
“I’m looking for someone to kill.”
“….”
“The target is set, but he is the finish line, and I don’t know who or how many more people I will have to kill in the process of running to him. “I don’t know about that…”
Lee Jae-heon was still smiling and his gaze was intense, but his voice, trailing off at the end of his words, had a vague and unrealistic aspect to it. That was a completely different problem from Lee Jae-heon’s clear tone.
He was laughing like a man who found so many things funny.
“So let’s get to know me.”
“I’ve already heard that many times.”
“Please become friends with me and tell me who I need to kill.”
“How could I do something like that…”
“Please protect my people.”
“….”
“Please save those poor people.”
ah.
Seo In-young realized something again.
“You’re a doctor, so you can do that, right?”
This was a command in the form of a plea.
“….”
What on earth does this feel like?
I had a strange feeling, so I pursed my lips and then barely managed to spit it out.
“…A doctor is someone who saves people.”
“He is a technician who eliminates the cause at the same time.”
“It’s a different story from that.”
“Do you show kindness to Professor Seo In-young when removing rotten organs? Even though that charred thing is killing your poor patient, do you feel sorry for it and keep it alive instead of removing it? Or do you take responsibility, take care of it, and raise it?”
“That can’t be possible, right?”
“So, you didn’t like employee Kwon Yeon-hee? “I would also understand if you were not so attached to our Yeonhee that you cried for a moment even when she died.”
“That’s not it, I just…”
“I’m not asking you to participate in the murder. “I know what an unreasonable request that is.”
Okay, okay.
‘Because Lee Jae-heon himself, who says this, has a strong aversion to murder.’
The reason Lee Jae-heon went out of his way to kill someone in the industry was solely to protect himself. He just really wanted to protect what was his ‘somehow’.
“….”
“Just tell me the risks.”
“…Danger.”
“We need a warning light.”
Jaeheon Lee was still smiling with a smooth face. The laughter tightened Seo In-young’s throat little by little.
Just like a long, thin snake.
“I’m not a complete industry person.”
“….”
“I also found out that my brothers were connected to the industry a few months ago at most. “And that was when the people I cared about got hurt and were in danger of dying… I looked around here and there and realized that I was being ostracized.”
“That’s… a shame.”
“It doesn’t matter. But I am ultimately an outsider, and although I can visit the industry and be its featured guest, I cannot become a member of it. “First of all, my brothers will stop it, and secondly, the industry will have its own communication, which means I won’t be able to hear their conversations.”
“That’s true, but…”
“I’m not a very good person. “He has a pretty dirty side and his obsession is that strong.”
“….”
“If there is a threat to my person… Even if I can’t pull out the root, I think I will feel better if I cut off the branches that are approaching.”
After a moment of silence, Jaeheon Lee continued.
“The first method I approached was Song In-myeong.”
“…yes.”
“That’s right, I tried to kill him but failed. That student was more friendly to me than I thought. Thanks to this, I was able to save my young friend Seo-ah and approach Seong Dae-young to deal with him. Song In-myeong was a friend who would pay the price as long as it was enough. It is said that it was not a waste to express it as a ‘means’…” “
….”
“But that was the problem.”
He laughed slightly.
“It’s not a problem if you take off my flesh, but my chicks don’t like it.”
“…What do you mean by flesh…”
“So I had to find another way. In the meantime, I ran into teacher Seo In-young. “And he is a competent doctor with ties to both this party and the industry.”
“No no… I understand.”
Seo In-young waved her hand.
“I understand and I know why you came to me. “Don’t you think you need information about dangerous people in the industry that I can give you?”
“…Yes.”
Lee Jae-heon blinked as if he didn’t know why Seo In-young was suddenly reacting like this. Seo In-young felt queasy inside as she looked somewhat carefree.
Seo In-young, who felt nervous for no reason, spoke quickly.
“But you just said flesh. Could it be that the price given to Song In-myeong was actually a piece of flesh….”
“There was no problem.”
“There is no problem…!”
“If you feel sorry for me, Seo In-young.”
Authoritative tone.
“You can help me.”
“….”
“It may sound like a threat, but I’ll just tell you the objective situation. If teacher Seo In-young cannot help, I will visit Song In-myeong again. “Because it is a much more efficient, convenient, and faster option than trying to find new friends with whom you can communicate.”
Lee Jae-heon continued speaking in a detached and bored manner as if the story was not his own.
“Student Inmyeong Song is a friend who definitely gives and takes. What student Song In-myeong wants from me can be anything that makes up me, and I don’t value anything that makes up me. “I don’t feel burdened at all exchanging gifts with Song In-myeong.”
“…What on earth are you exchanging?…”
“That’s the information-generating body.”
“You can’t do that. This is not it. “How can you say something like that is a gift?”
“No, sir.”
“….”
“I decide whether to do it or not.”
Lee Jae-heon’s gaze was intense and his lips were thinly torn.
“I did it because I wanted to. I killed people because I wanted to, got into the industry, and now I’m looking for people to kill again. “I did it because I didn’t like the industry that was constantly trying to harm me.”
“…there might have been a more moderate way.”
“Not moderate enough?”
“This is the way Jaeheon Lee keeps getting hurt. “It’s a way that no one is happy.”
“Why is no one happy? “I don’t know what you heard earlier.”
He was arrogant.
“You said I wanted it.”
Jaeheon Lee was a person who was satisfied with his life. He says he is happy this way.
“Nothing else matters.”
lie.
“…I heard the chicks… are sad.”
It’s a lie.
‘Didn’t he admit it to himself that those people’s worries were big and heavy enough to be a hindrance to him?’
Why are you trying to act like nothing happened when you’ve already said that?
You will get hurt in the end too.
“If the people you care about are like that, Jaeheon Lee will never be satisfied…”
“That’s why I came to see Inyoung Seo.”
“Would you say that is the best respect Jaeheon Lee can show?”
“Yes, that’s right. “The greatest consideration I could show was to look for the lesser evil rather than the worst.”
“But…”
“I don’t want to be swayed any further than that.”
Jaeheon Lee was a giving person.
He will never look back at his wounds.
“….”
“….”
A moment later.
Jaeheon Lee continued.
“…I’m not trying to get you to do something like a spy.”
“…sure?”
“It was about getting really close.”
“That’s it.”
“Isn’t it natural to tell people you’re close to danger?”
“Isn’t this friendship too dark on the inside?”
“Even if it starts out dirty, if you mix things up, you can come up with a good work.”
“That’s a strange thing to say…”
“Doctor.”
“….”
“Let’s have a conversation.”
Jaeheon Lee got up from his chair and placed his hand on Seo Inyoung’s desk.
“okay.”
“….”
“I mean conversation.”
He said, looking down at Seo In-young as if he were going to eat her.
“I am very interested in Seo In-young’s mouth.”
“….”
“Now… look.”
At a very slow pace.
Jaeheon Lee extends his hand as if showing off.
“….”
“From this mouth.”
A hand large enough to cover Seo In-young’s face approached his lower abdomen…
and his thumb tapped.
“Go out.”
My index finger taps the corner of my eye.
“incoming.”
On the cheeks and jawbone.
“With all those words….”
Talk.
Talk.
Talk.
“….”
“….”
At one point, slow, sharp fingers, as if a spider’s legs were touching them.
And before I knew it, I was holding Seo In-young’s lower crown.
“…very interested.”
Hiccup.
Seo In-young’s stiff shoulders trembled.
“Am I scared?”
“…Ah, turn it off. No.”
“I see.”
“I’m not like that, I just…”
“Should you say it while looking at me?”
I couldn’t bear to make eye contact.
I did it because I was convinced that if I didn’t do that, something would be seriously damaged.
“Seo In-young.”
“I understand everything, so stop now….”
“Now.”
You’re smiling.
“….”
“….”
Lips curved under the covered palm.
“….”
Seo In-young slowly raised her head and met Lee Jae-heon’s gaze.
I saw him narrow his eyes.
“yes.”
* * *
Favor and fear can coexist.
We call it ‘awe.’
(Continued in the next part)
