Episode 616
The conversation between In-ho Jeong and Min-jun Park was not very serious or sharp.
“What kind of person was your former manager?”
That was just the question.
Park Min-jun widened his eyes as if Jung In-ho’s question was unexpected. Maybe Jung In-ho made that look even though he expected him to ask this question.
“Wow, that’s a very humble beginning.”
“Then did you think I would come all the way here and grab Park Min-jun by the collar?”
“I didn’t think it would be that stupid, but at the same time I did it just in case. The In-ho Jeong I know is not as skillful and efficient as me or Jae-heon Lee…” “
You two really look alike. “It’s so annoying to talk about.”
“For something like that, you smile very kindly. “It doesn’t suit me.”
“What should Park Min-jun do?”
I thought Jung In-ho was good at being rude, but Park Min-jun went one step further than that. Not many people would doubt the personality of Park Min-jun, who looks gentle and has a soft expression and tone of voice.
‘Except for detectives and Ha Seong-yoon, who are suspicious of others like they breathe.’
However, I had no intention of doing anything to drive out Park Min-jun.
At least for now.
“I just wanted to have a chat.”
“Conversation.”
“As you said earlier, you brought Park Min-jun. “Let’s talk.”
“If it were a conversation between bodies and weapons, it could be done that way.”
“Aren’t you too immersed in the underworld?”
“Rather than that, I’d like you to say that I grew up well.”
“You really have a knack for making people angry.”
Even as he said that, Jeong In-ho was not very angry.
‘In the end, this person’s situation is no different.’
Because I had already made that decision.
It wasn’t that Park Min-jun wasn’t dangerous. He was a survivor from the past who came back to life in someone else’s body to kill Jae-Heon Lee, and even helped ruin Jae-Heon Lee in the past. That ability and way of thinking were clearly dangerous.
But in the end, this person was just a survivor.
“What is it?”
“….”
“You have grown up wonderfully.”
When Jeong In-ho said with a grin, Park Min-jun looked with a straight face.
“Stop it.”
“How should I respond in order to be satisfied?”
“You won’t be satisfied no matter what In-ho Jeong says, so I’d like to ask your opinion on whether we should quit before we upset each other.”
“The way you talk is fun. “Is that real?”
“I really hate In-ho Jeong.”
“Well…”
That stiff tone was probably something Park Min-jun showed on purpose.
‘He didn’t seem like a person who couldn’t even hide that much, so he must have some kind of intention.’
It seemed like Park Min-jun was also preparing to talk.
Sure enough, Park Min-jun, who was blinking with an unsmiling face, soon opened his mouth.
“Are you asking about the former captain?”
“Now you’re blatantly calling me ‘Captain.’”
“Anyway, not only are there no ears around to listen, but to me, this title is much easier to use. “Every time I call him ‘Mr. Lee Jae-heon’ for no reason, I get goosebumps all over my body.”
“That much?”
“You could say it’s the power of words.”
The expression on Park Min-jun’s face had suddenly disappeared. It wasn’t a matter of having a straight face or anything like that, just an expressionless face that seemed to be Park Min-jun’s true self.
“I feel a sense of security every time I recognize the presence of the leader. “In order to continue to feel that sense of security, I deliberately called him ‘Captain’ even in private situations.”
“aha.”
“I guess the possessed people who came so far also called you that, didn’t they?”
“Possessed person… I don’t know. I don’t know exactly how many such people came, but the manager handled them all by himself. “The only thing that was good was that I was able to run over and tell them a little bit about the situation even when the work was almost finished.”
“Oh, I guess you really can’t be trusted.”
“You look exactly like the manager in attempting a provocation like that.”
“….”
Park Min-jun did not respond to those words. His face was so expressionless that I couldn’t tell what kind of emotion he was speechless about, but at least he didn’t seem to be in a very bad mood.
Jeong In-ho asked him.
“I guess you respect the manager.”
“…He is a worthy person.”
“For that matter, weren’t you being too harsh in the past?”
“You still sound comfortable.”
“Which part?”
“In the other world, the relationship between us and the captain was not that harsh. “He’s not willing to give himself up just because we’re harassing him.”
“….”
“They keep labeling us as bad guys, but that’s true. “You’re a bad bastard, but… you didn’t understand me when I said it wasn’t that special?”
Jeong In-ho laughed a little at Park Min-jun’s quiet question.
“You probably expect that we will treat you like that someday, too.”
“Don’t say no. Human beings are not great enough to resist temptation in the face of both a chance for survival and malicious suffering. “You don’t even look that noble.”
“I…”
Jeong In-ho recalled an incident from the past.
This is a story from a time when the world behind the scenes was not yet very familiar.
“I’ve heard it before.”
“What did you hear?”
“I heard auditory hallucinations from the manager.”
“….”
Park Min-jun seemed to stop.
“…hallucination?”
That probably seemed like surprising news to Park Min-jun.
“Does that person also have auditory hallucinations?”
“I think you just said that humans aren’t that great of a being. “The manager is also human in the end, so wouldn’t he at least have auditory hallucinations in difficult situations?”
“It must have been really hard.”
“Minjun Park and your colleagues created that situation.”
“Why are you so sure we’re the cause?”
“I heard a voice.”
Jeong In-ho continued speaking with a still smiling face.
“It was the voice of many people.”
“….”
“Do you know the small, round fruit among the medicines of the other world? It is a very cruel drug that can transfer all the injuries from one person to another…” “
I know. “I remember it’s a drug that isn’t used very often.”
“There were times when I heard the manager’s hallucinations instead, as if the mental burden was also shifting.”
“Oh… wait a minute.”
Minjun Park asked.
“Isn’t that person the kind of person who would volunteer to receive the benefits of such medicine?”
“You really know the manager very well.”
Jeong In-ho nodded.
“They force-fed me.”
Park Min-jun narrowed his eyes.
“You don’t have anything to say to me, do you?”
“Did you say we gave you some kind of poison? Rather, it was me who was hurting, but it breaks my heart when you react like a scoundrel like that. “Who is the real scoundrel that looks at me like this?”
“At least we never force-fed medicine.”
“It is better to somehow give medicine to someone than to leave them sick and dying. “You don’t seem to know much about Park Min-jun, but do you think they treat all hospital patients like that?”
“I wonder how the world works….”
“Well, anyway.”
In-ho Jeong continued the story.
“I heard at that time that someone was swearing at the manager, calling him a monster.”
“aha.”
“…The hatred was so obvious that I felt hurt for no reason, even though I knew the target wasn’t me. It wasn’t just one person, it was the voices of countless people criticizing it. The absolute amount of time I had the auditory hallucination itself wouldn’t have been that long…”
“I guess you’re exhausted?”
“Yes, it was difficult.”
Jeong In-ho’s eyes captured Park Min-joon.
“It must have been more difficult for you, manager.”
“….”
“Is there anything you can tell us about this auditory hallucination, Mr. Park Min-jun?”
“…Um….”
Park Min-jun answered surprisingly calmly.
“I’ll tell you in advance, I have never criticized you like that.”
“Then did you just stand by?”
“If you ask me that far, I guess I have no excuse. But what can I do to stop you from making such remarks towards the leader? “It was the captain who induced such criticism and hatred in the first place.”
“….”
“Of course, forced fate may have played a part, but you are a person who can overturn public opinion no matter what the circumstances. However, they neglected it and manipulated it because it was more efficient and natural.”
“What kind of efficiency are you talking about?”
“The act of attacking one person creates camaraderie in many people. Don’t you know that you become closer to someone when you gossip behind their back? “It was in that context.”
“What good is it that we come together like that?”
“In a world like that, you have to stick together to survive, and most survivors don’t have a harmonious atmosphere like you.”
Park Min-jun continued explaining as if he were an immature child.
“People always cherish their own things. If you are with your family, of course you have to protect them, and if you have friends, you will stick together with people you are close to, even if it is not better than your family. It might have been a good start, but it’s hard to hope for such things in a world like this… In the end, people who lose their composure become selfish. It’s easy to predict what the outcome will be. “No one will survive, physically or mentally.”
“….”
“Then shouldn’t we unite the survivors, even if it means sacrificing one person?”
“As a result, one person was broken. Even if the manager was going to do such a crazy thing, I shouldn’t have let it go. “I should have been forced to move back.”
“Obviously, you just said you didn’t want that. “I also thought that was more correct.”
He continued speaking in a calm tone, as if it was no big deal.
“Most of the owners of the voice that the captain heard… were not people who were close to the person. “It was a relationship that could easily be described as a ‘group,’ but it was difficult to evaluate them as complete ‘colleagues.’”
Jeong In-ho listened intently to Lee Jae-heon’s past history, which he heard for the first time. Park Min-jun glanced at Jeong In-ho sitting on the bed as if he knew that, and then sat down on the desk chair and faced him.
“What gender was the voice?”
“It was heard regardless of gender.”
“Didn’t you hear a somewhat younger voice?”
“….”
Jeong In-ho raised his eyebrows.
“…I don’t have the ability to determine age by voice.”
“….”
“You look at people very rudely.”
Jaeheon Lee often gave me that look that said, ‘You’re so useless.’ To be honest, I was a little annoyed. It made me wonder if there was a need to prove in such a sleazy way that the two of them had been together for a long time.
Anyway, I felt like I knew roughly what Minjun Park wanted to say.
“I think the younger friends have criticized the manager.”
Park Min-jun calmly affirmed.
“you’re right.”
“I don’t know how to react.”
“You just have to listen. You guys call them ghost police… can you recall? “A police officer who committed suicide after teaching various techniques to the captain.”
“Yes, I know who it is.”
“This is the story after that person died.”
Personally, I was curious about what happened between Lee Jae-heon and the ghost police, but Jung In-ho listened to Park Min-jun without stopping. I instinctively felt that the story coming out now would have a deeper content.
Park Min-jun, seeing Jung In-ho like that, slowly opened his mouth.
“Captain… “Well, there were three people I cared for like my own children.”
“Three people?”
“There were two women and one man. They were children under the age of twenty…”
“They were just Dayoung and Dahun.”
“There was a little misunderstanding between those people.”
“….”
“Should I say it was a misunderstanding…? Anyway, you didn’t mean to do that at all, but you did hurt those friends a lot. “It would have been possible to recover somehow if the captain had made an excuse, but he didn’t even try.”
Jeong In-ho rested his chin and listened to Park Min-jun’s story. It was a story that really could have happened to Lee Jae-heon, so I put aside the thought that Park Min-jun might be lying.
“Did I ask what kind of person the former captain was?”
“That’s true, but…”
“It’s not related to what I’m talking about, so just listen.”
“….”
“He was a very terrible person.”
Park Min-jun, who said that, immediately added.
“I’m not criticizing him, he was just objectively that kind of person. Rushing to kill an enemy until he has no teeth left, just because he is confident that he will not die easily, is not something an ordinary person can do.”
“…one tooth?”
“…Didn’t you know that you have the ability to regenerate?”
“I know that, but you fought until only one tooth remained? No. Fight until you have no teeth left? “Isn’t that an exaggeration?”
“It’s not an exaggeration. “You know why I say it’s terrible, right?”
Park Min-jun continued speaking with an expressionless face.
“He was a person with such great energy. Everything had to go according to his will, and if there was someone who went against his will, he would pretend to accept it and gently coax him to do as he pleased. He was the kind of person who had to fight for three days and nights to see the result before letting go of someone who was against him… that kind of person. ”
“Incredible.”
“At some point, such a person could not die and came to live.”
“….”
“He killed a precious person with his own hands.”
Those words reminded Jeong In-ho of a conversation he had with Lee Jae-heon in the past.
‘…You said there was someone you loved.’
It also means that the person is already dead.
“….”
Jeong In-ho blinked slowly.
The pastoral was frustrating.
(Continued in the next part)
