Episode 88 Noh
Yeon-seok was, as people say, a ‘good-looking child.’
He grew up in a family where the phrase is best described as never having had a drop of water on one’s hands. My parents were quite patriarchal, and that was why they loved Noh Yeon-seok, their only son, so much.
To be honest, I wasn’t very happy with that kind of affection. He enjoyed cooking to relieve stress, but his parents were busy kicking him out, saying, ‘What kind of boy goes into the kitchen?’ There was even a time when I was forced to break up with my lover by saying something ridiculous. In fact, even if she had been in the opposite position, she would not have wanted to meet her parents-in-law who treated her so harshly.
However, Noh Yeon-seok’s family was not very wealthy. Although it is not a dangerous life, it is possible to receive a national scholarship at university. It was just that level of assumption.
Feeling frustrated in such a family, he prepared for independence from his high school days.
“Well, I came to apply for a housing subscription….”
“You mean to apply for a housing subscription? “I think you’re still a student, but you’re fast.”
“Ahaha….”
The first thing I prepared was a house subscription account.
Although I didn’t know anything in detail before preparing it, I at least knew that the earlier I prepared, the faster I would be able to buy my own home in the future. That’s what they say on the internet.
Once again, Noh Yeon-seok’s family was not very wealthy, so they could not afford to give up a studio apartment like some other families. However, since he was receiving an allowance of 100,000 won every month, he thought that it would not be difficult to find a house later if he put only 50,000 won a month in the bank account.
Noh Yeon-seok prepared for independence in this way, was able to achieve independence smoothly, and was able to attend one of the best universities in Korea, driven by the faint obsession and anxiety he had always felt.
“Hey crazy, I heard you went to Korea University?”
“My brother is like this.”
“It’s crazy, this kid just studied obnoxiously.”
After graduating from university, I invited my friends to my house. My middle school classmate and my high school classmate. Then, I gathered my new friends from college and drank and had fun until we could hear the birdsong the next day.
In it, Noh Yeon-seok was able to cook as much as he wanted in the kitchen. Some of his friends giggled and teased him about how noble his hobby was, but at least they didn’t deny the desire itself like his parents did. I was also impressed and surprised when I saw the dish presented like that. The whole process was amazing and joyful.
But Noh Yeon-seok did not stop there.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking at the internship announcement… Get away from me.”
“Ah, you’re doing something disgusting again, you crazy guy. “You are a freshman now. What kind of intern is an intern?”
“Why are you telling me how ugly you are?”
He has been preparing to become an intern since his freshman year.
There was no particular reason. It was just that the nervousness that I had lived with at the tips of my toes since I was a child rose again, and I was caught up in that compulsion and wanted to achieve something real.
So, a guy who had just entered college blindly tried to hire an intern, but failed every time, and one day he succeeded. Of course, even if he was hired as an intern, he was quickly fired as there are not many companies willing to formally hire underage college students, but that alone made Noh Yeon-seok feel proud.
“This is all experience and ability.”
And one day, the department chair called him over.
“I heard you’re preparing for an internship, is that true?”
“Uh… yes, that’s right.”
“School life.”
“I’m doing well…”
“Then I’m glad.”
After a fairly boring Q&A, what the department chair suggested was none other than a recommendation to participate in an intern recruitment process conducted by a large company. They say they are preparing such recruitment as part of a project they and the school are carrying out together.
Of course, there was no reason to refuse.
“I will do it. “I can prepare well.”
“Then I guess you know that.”
Noh Yeon-seok nodded immediately and the department chair was satisfied.
Noh Yeon-seok, who entered a big company for the first time, was in a daze. While working as an intern at a small company a couple of times, I saw a variety of people, but most people respected him to some extent because he was still a college student.
But it was not Manager Lee Jae-heon.
“You can’t even do this…? What are you here to do as an intern? “You came to have fun, huh?”
“I’m sorry.”
“The quality of the company is really dropping. Do you think they will look at you just because you have “Intern” after your name? Did you think you would do it? Of course, such a poor guy…”
I was just tired.
Of course, the difference in rank between the manager and the intern was as big as heaven and earth, so they didn’t clash often, but even that was tiring and painful. Whenever I saw each other face to face, my heart sank without saying a word.
‘Who is this person who wants to come to the company?’
It was true. No one would have thought that it would actually happen.
The reason why I became so scared of Manager Lee Jae-heon was because he treated me quite well at first. There was a new intern in our department and they kindly introduced us to each other. The fall seemed to make me suffer even more mentally and physically.
Still, there were many people who comforted Noh Yeon-seok.
“Yeonseok… are you okay?”
“…Chief….”
“Chief, you won’t be coming in here for a while, so take it easy. “The manager seems to be in a bad mood today.”
The representative person was Chief Minah Kang.
Manager Kang Min-ah was kind and friendly, and her eyes, lips, and everything in general were round.
He was definitely not short, but if you looked at him carefully, he was so short that you wondered how he could be over 160 cm tall. If you ask me why I like it, I think I can tell it to you for an hour without lying.
To be honest, Noh Yeon-seok liked Kang Min-ah like that, not in a simple liking, but in a rational sense. Of course, since we were interns, it wasn’t that long since we met, so we just kept quiet. This was especially true because the other person didn’t seem to be particularly aware of him.
If I didn’t want to, I had no intention, no right, no space to push it. This would have been the same even if Kang Min-ah had been his classmate rather than his boss. Noh Yeon-seok has already learned with his whole body that if you convey your feelings, the results will only be good if the other person is in the same situation as you.
But when the greatest danger comes.
“…Ugh.”
He could not help Chief Kang Min-ah.
To be precise, I had no time to even think about ‘having to help’.
I felt sick. Everything in the world seemed to have been robbed of its color and instantly became colorless, and the sky was a pure white color that I had never seen before. A tingling sensation, like the feeling you get when looking at a fluorescent light for a long time, pierced my eyes.
My vision was distorted, as if the floor was still as it should be, and all the noises I heard were disgusting, like maggots crawling around. Unlike the pain I felt when I hit my finger with a hammer, there was a pain that made me want to tear the skin off with my nails.
There was no way that Noh Yeon-seok could help anyone.
“…all.”
“….”
“How are you hurt…?”
Other than just asking.
It was Noh Yeon-seok who had a huge crush on Kang Min-ah, but it was Manager Lee Jae-heon who saved her life. A person who clearly does not seem to have any affection or trust in us.
He had a calm expression even though blood was dripping from his shoulders and legs. It was the first face I saw after entering this company.
“It hurts so much.”
It was the first time I had heard of it.
“I’m not blaming you, so open your ears and listen carefully.”
“….”
“There were penetrating wounds on my left shoulder and right calf.”
At those words, the employees’ eyes turned to his shoulders and calves. Some people shivered at the sight of a living human being injured for the first time in their lives, while others were embarrassed by the unfamiliar appearance of Director Lee Jae-heon.
Or both.
“Up until now, I was running without even knowing I was in pain because my life was in danger, but as time passes, my mobility will decrease.”
Manager Lee Jae-heon, who said that, seemed like a different person.
The tone is obviously respectful, but it sounds like an order, and the content is more practical than before. The gaze towards us was so insensitive that it felt like we were looking at a machine.
“Do you understand?”
To the point where we are confused as to whether that person is a machine or whether we are machines.
Director Lee Jae-heon, who found the first aid kit as if he knew where it was and treated himself with skill, suddenly began speaking in a tired voice instead of the mechanical voice he had just heard.
“…I’m so tired I’m on the verge of going crazy, so let’s take a break.”
“….”
“Everyone’s muscles must have been shocked because they were suddenly running, or maybe they’re just relaxing. “I don’t know what else will come out in the future, but if you can run fast, there’s nothing wrong with it…” It
was then that Noh Yeon-seok realized that people can be a bit scared when they suddenly change.
Sometimes I had delusions like that. How great it would be if one day that old manager turns into a true and genuine leader. How funny would that be? There was a time when I was giggling as if I was crying, thinking of a direction that seemed like something out of a cartoon.
However, in reality, Director Lee Jae-heon was much more rigid and more fearful than in my delusions, and was much more colorless than the world that had changed in this way. It seemed harder and colder than the bright blue iron door of the morgue I visited as a child.
Could it be that someone replaced Director Lee Jae-heon?
Couldn’t this world have changed and been replaced along with it?
Is there even a little bit of the Manager Lee Jae-heon I knew left in that?
Even though I knew that he had helped many employees, including intern Noh Yeon-seok, I inadvertently felt that fear. It was a small fear that anyone would feel if a smiling person made a straight face right in front of them.
I knew that this was a truly ungrateful feeling and I was trying to shake it off somehow.
Director Lee Jae-heon said.
“…Because I also have limits.”
From those words… Noh Yeon-seok felt the pain that Manager Jae-heon Lee was trying so hard to hide.
That person was clearly sick too. Those big injuries on my shoulders and calves are painful, just like everyone else, and just like Noh Yeon-seok, this world is disgusting. However, maybe he didn’t show it like that on purpose to help them.
Suddenly, Noh Yeon-seok felt like Manager Jae-heon Lee was saying that. That he originally existed and that he was a human being like me.
However,
“….”
I just couldn’t believe it.
* * *
Lee Jae-heon clicked his tongue as he watched the wound progressing in an instant.
‘It’s hot, it’s hot.’
Of course, it was a good thing for a chick that it didn’t die at all, but it was disappointing as it was. It would have been better if another group had been injured.
Unfortunately, the seriously injured person was old, so we had no choice but to heal him. If you hear someone say ‘please save me’ to your face and you don’t even react, you’re just an asshole. And Lee Jae-heon had no intention of remaining a one-dimensional villain like in the novel.
Still, it was true that there was some regret.
‘It was just a waste of material to use on this bastard…’
The herb that Jaeheon Lee used on intern Yeonseok Noh was one of the herbs he had picked up in advance while picking glass apples near Mirror Lake.
The round fruit of the plant cures most medical conditions, but except for the fruit, the rest is so toxic that it is described as a poisonous plant in the middle of the novel. Even though the effect was incredible, the reason I didn’t realize it was a medicinal herb until late in the game was because it can be found so often in this park.
‘Because there are usually only a small number of seriously effective items.’
Moreover, this herb had one drawback.
‘…It hurts a little.’
The problem was that the person who first picked the herb would bear all the ailments of the person who ate the fruit.
Of course, this did not mean that the patient’s injuries would be moved. I just randomly felt pain that was a few times that much, and there were no physical wounds left on my body.
However, it must have been quite a burdensome setting for the chicks of this soft world to handle. Even in the second half of the story, no one except the main character picked this herb. Even the main character refrained from activities for about a day after writing it.
‘How dumbfounded I was when I saw that.’
Honestly, I wanted to ask the author if this was a setting error. The only penalty for the person who picked the herb is phantom pain and insanity, no matter how soft and fluffy the world is. Does this make sense?
Lee Jae-heon stroked his smooth side a few times, then immediately took his hand away when he noticed that the intern’s eyes were on it.
“…I’m glad you’re okay.”
I didn’t want to ruin the plan now.
“Can you stand up?”
“…Yes, you can.”
“Then let’s say that.”
He shifted his gaze from Noh Yeon-seok and saw a man staring at him.
A character who seems to have taken only the social skills out of the main character, who wears a suit that ordinary detectives rarely wear. This is the best sweet potato of this 19-year-old impoverished survivor.
“It’s been a while, detective.”
“…Yes, I see.”
It was Detective Hong Gyeong-jun.
“It’s been a while, Jaeheon Lee.”
I can feel a faint sense of wariness within him.
Although it was unfortunate that he could not build adequate trust as he had hoped, Lee Jae-heon was satisfied with the fear he saw on their faces.
enough.
