Episode 93
Manager Lee Jae-heon said that, and he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood, so the people who were chatting quietly fell silent one by one. Unlike the content in the original novel, it was a reaction that could have been shown because humanity had not yet been abandoned.
Hong Gyeong-jun, who was looking at Lee Jae-heon, thought to himself.
‘…Of course, I still have a lot of questions….’
I also had to choose the time and place.
Perhaps the others were worried and said things one by one, but it was pointless if the listener was not pleased. Of course, Lee Jae-heon’s condition does not appear to be normal, but excessive consideration was unnecessary in this situation.
‘You never know when a monster might come again.’
However, if there is one good thing, it is that I now know the cause of the strange feeling I have been feeling.
‘Certainly, if you’ve been in and out of this world from a young age, you’d be crazy like this.’
Due to the nature of being a homicide detective, there were many instances of encountering psychopaths and sociopaths.
Contrary to the widespread prejudice in the world, psychopaths are rather stupid, so it is easy to catch them, but most criminals of the same type as sociopaths are very smart. This means that a detective needs to be smart enough to do his job.
In the process, there comes a time when the detective has no choice but to dissect the criminal’s thoughts. What is the intention, what is the purpose, and what are the emotions revealed through this path. What did he do because of that and what is the probability that he will do it next time? It’s disgusting to say it, but at first glance, it was similar to empathy.
And there were occasionally detectives who were ruined through such actions.
“….”
The shooter who taught Hong Gyeong-jun for a while also knew because he was broken in that way.
‘…If an unspecified number of people gather in a world like this, crimes will eventually occur.’
According to his own testimony, Lee Jae-heon was at least 11 years old and up to 13 years old. I don’t know how the most vulnerable child survived in this environment, but it would have been even stranger if he had been sane.
Moreover, he said that he has been here more than 4 times since then. Even Hong Gyeong-jun got a headache thinking about coming back here after he escaped, but there was no way he would have been fine just because he was young Lee Jae-heon. And yet, isn’t it said that he continued to survive for so many years?
I would have adapted. To this environment and its consequences.
‘You somehow didn’t commit a crime in real life.’
It was a fortunate thing because it meant that I could at least distinguish between what I could do and what I could not do. If Hong Kyung-jun had not seen Lee Jae-heon’s consideration for others, he would have definitely misunderstood him as the serial killer I was chasing.
Even if that is not the case, there may be a need to keep an eye on it, but there was a good reason for Lee Jae-heon’s ideals. Even he himself seems to be aware that he is not in his right mind…
‘As long as something doesn’t happen that breaks his self-control, there won’t be a problem.’
After thinking that far, Hong Gyeong-jun scratched the back of his neck and opened his mouth.
“…I have a lot of questions, but the situation is not that relaxed, so I’d like to ask just one more thing.”
“Of course.”
“What exactly is what you fed to Noh Yeon-seok?”
A sphere smaller than a typical grape.
That was what Hong Gyeongjun saw in passing, and that wasn’t everything. He glanced briefly at one of the tree roots and spoke again.
“If a moribund patient can come back to life as soon as it is ingested, it will be of great help in future work. “If there is no problem, I am curious about its identity, detailed effects, and how I can obtain it.”
Noh Yeon-seok seemed to be curious about this as well, so he glanced at Lee Jae-heon. Although he seemed to be dispirited again due to the excited shouting he had just made, it would be interesting to know the identity of the object that brought him back from death.
Hong Gyeong-jun, who was leisurely looking at Noh Yeon-seok, suddenly noticed something strange.
‘…are you feeling anxious?’
It’s not just a feeling about the previous low, but a more complex anxiety…
“First of all, it’s a cure.”
“…It’s not a refined medicine, right? Or did you prepare separately outside the park?”
“No, it’s true that I got it here. “It’s a kind of fruit that comes from cutting grass.”
“Fruits.”
Jaeheon Lee rolled his eyes with a calm expression and continued speaking.
“The effect is… a complete cure? We can treat all kinds of abnormalities that patients have. “With a few exceptions, most of them are fixed.”
“Then why didn’t Jaeheon Lee use it?”
Of course, Noh Yeon-seok was also not in good condition, but the man in front of him was even more serious. It is understandable that President Choi Jeong-man and others were wary of Lee Jae-heon for no reason.
“In fact, it almost looks like a corpse. “Is there a reason you didn’t write it?”
“…the person who collected it cannot use it.”
“…yes?”
“Anyway, it’s a treatment that is collected from the wild… but if you collect it yourself, it becomes poisonous if you eat it. “It means that you have to take something that someone else brought to you to get medicine.”
“….”
Even though I knew that, did I still collect it with the sole intention of healing others? It was not common to think of someone with such a tattered body.
He was truly a person who looked and acted differently.
“…Then what about the mental aspect that the fruit can treat?”
“That is also possible. The downside is that once picked, the fruit spoils if not consumed within a month. “In my experience, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced any side effects from eating healthy fruit.”
“Hmm, if you eat rotten fruit.”
“Rather than spoiling, it almost dries up. It looks unappetizing to anyone who sees it, so how can you know the effect? At least I’ve never eaten fruit in that state.”
“Except for Jae-heon Lee, were the others like that? Fruit…”
“….”
“…Ah.”
Hong Gyeong-jun blinked once as his expression calmed down.
“Excuse me.”
While trying to solve a question, I touched an unexpected place.
‘It looks like almost everyone is dead.’
Actually, if I recall Lee Jae-heon’s behavior from the last time we met, he seemed like he was always acting. The probability that the people around such a person would be fine was low.
If there had been someone who had escaped this world unharmed with Lee Jae-heon, it wouldn’t have been like this. They would keep in touch to build up a minimum bond, but the reactions of Noh Yeon-seok and other party members seemed unfamiliar with his duplicity. The thing is, there was no one who told me about what was going on in this world.
From the very beginning, it looked like it was rejecting the approach of others. To put it mildly, he seemed sensitive, but to put it bluntly, he seemed like an old man. Seeing as he didn’t even think about seeking counseling, it seems like this doesn’t happen unless you’re a fellow survivor, so there’s a high probability that no other survivor survived with you.
There was no need to provoke someone who was already so unstable.
“I apologize if you were offended, Jaeheon Lee.”
“…It wasn’t unpleasant.”
Then he added:
“It’s a topic I haven’t really thought about.”
“….”
Lee Jae-heon probably didn’t know that those words made him feel more subdued.
But his expression looked really calm. He didn’t seem angry at Hong Gyeong-jun’s insensitive questions, nor did he look sad for the people who left his side.
‘I thought he might be a dangerous person with low empathy skills, but…’
At least Lee Jae-heon would have been saddened by the death of a group member who is no longer by his side.
‘It’s even weirder if you’re injured that much.’
Hong Gyeong-jun unconsciously scanned Manager Lee Jae-heon’s entire body.
My shoulders are stained bright red. It wasn’t too much of a concern, but he was limping and neither of them looked very healthy. Both palms holding the pipe were soaked in blood, and one forearm was wrapped in bandages. It was probably not a small wound, but blood was visible outside the bandage.
‘But the rest of the party seems to be in pretty good condition.’
When she heard the story from Police Officer Kim, Lee Jae-heon’s condition did not seem to be much different from what she saw now. However, at that time, when Hong Gyeong-jun saw the rest of the group except for him, they seemed relatively fine.
In short, it means that Lee Jae-heon took care of all the injuries to other members of the group. He looked different from Hong Gyeong-jun’s group, who each had injuries on their legs, arms, sides, etc.
‘Besides, the neck…’
It was probably a wound he caused himself.
“The spoiled fruit… no one had ever eaten it. “There’s no need to take unnecessary risks when you might die from eating something right now.”
“…That is correct.”
Sometimes we came across strangled corpses. Then, the size of the criminal’s palm and fingerprints were examined using the traces left on the victim’s neck. Of course, it was not Hong Gyeong-jun’s role to examine the body like that, but he was still able to tell whether it was a woman or a man.
When Hong Gyeong-jun saw it, the wound on his neck was that of an adult man, and coincidentally, a palm just the same size was on Lee Jae-heon. If we even compare the bruise that appears to be a thumb mark, it is a wound inflicted by the person himself that cannot be removed or removed.
‘Is it because of stress?’
When I saw blood seeping through the bandage around his neck, it wasn’t just strangulation. Even if you think it was just a scratch with your fingernail, the wound was so severe that your face was distorted the first time you saw it.
A person who harms himself like that and protects others so close to self-harm could not have intentionally harmed someone. In particular, in the case of the criminal that Hong Gyeong-jun is chasing, Lee Jae-heon had to be removed from the line of suspicion if possible, as the ‘work’ felt a pleasure bordering on malice.
Rather, if there is a culprit among these, the thing that raises suspicion is….
“….”
After thinking that far, Hong Gyeong-jun consciously stopped his head from rolling. Since the most unnecessary thing for a detective is prejudice, he could not oppress strangers with just his intuition.
Lee Jae-heon continued speaking, leaving Hong Gyeong-jun alone.
“More than anything, I didn’t let it get that bad. Usually, it all runs out before then. Because it was full of monsters, there were quite a few people who came to see Hwangcheon-gil…” “
It means there was a lot of need to use it.”
“…hmm.”
The answer stopped at an unexpected part.
Jaeheon Lee’s brow furrowed slightly. It was not a distortion caused by discomfort or nervousness, but a small, light frown that seemed to occur simply when thinking of something.
He wiped the corners of his mouth once and answered again.
“That wasn’t… it wasn’t. “There are some inconveniences in using it.”
“…? “Didn’t you say there are no side effects?”
“It is not a side effect of the fruit itself. Isn’t it…? is not it?”
It seems that Jaeheon Lee has not yet completely defined the ‘fruit’. So, no matter how many times he has visited this world, he may have only recently learned of the existence of the cure.
He muttered inwardly, reflecting on what Jaeheon Lee had said.
‘Pluck the grass… the fruit grass. Plant… not small but round. ‘Cure…’
Hong Gyeong-jun, who had finished pondering his thoughts, looked back at the roots of a tree on one side and said.
“…Is that the fruit you mentioned?”
“what.”
Lee Jae-heon’s face stiffened for a moment when he looked at the place where he glanced, and in that place there was a single plant with round, orange-colored fruits growing there. Overall, it resembled a lily of the valley.
Hong Gyeong-jun walked towards him, leaving Lee Jae-heon frozen.
“Looking at the reaction, I think it’s true, but once I put it all together…”
And.
“….”
“….”
Lee Jae-heon grabbed his arm.
“…Jaeheon Lee?”
Hong Gyeong-jun, raising one eyebrow, called out to him.
‘I thought you were going to change your mind a bit earlier.’
But is there a reason for that? For a moment, I thought, ‘Did he want to monopolize the cure on his own?’ But he used the cure in front of them and answered their questions faithfully.
The Lee Jae-heon that Hong Gyeong-jun understood would not do anything that would harm others.
And suddenly I realized.
“….”
Lee Jae-heon ‘will not do anything that will harm others.’
To put it conversely, it means that Hong Kyung-jun’s actions have put himself in danger.
“…That… I mean.”
“….”
“Did I get it wrong? I thought that herb was the cure that Lee Jae-heon mentioned, but if it was poisonous or something like that…” “
…that’s not true.”
“Then would you please say it in words? “Why did you stop me from going?”
“….”
“Why?”
Lee Jae-heon’s expression frowned, and the people around him began to tilt their heads accordingly. If the current flow of conversation continues, they also know that Lee Jae-heon has no reason to stop Hong Gyeong-jun.
Seeing him like that, Noh Yeon-seok approached him with an anxious expression.
“…Manager….”
“…Tsk.”
Lee Jae-heon, who completely turned his head away from Noh Yeon-seok, slowly opened his mouth.
“…there are side effects.”
“Didn’t you say there was nothing?”
“It’s not in that fruit, uh…”
Lee Jae-heon, who let go of Hong Gyeong-jun’s arm, looked quite embarrassed.
Although he was keeping his face stern so as not to reveal his true feelings, he seemed to know that he was not hiding it, and at the same time, it seemed like he was watching intern Noh Yeon-seok’s notice. It looked quite unexpected.
After hesitating a few times, he quickly sighed.
“…It hurts.”
“…yes?”
“The person who picked the fruit… felt a little sick instead of the patient.”
“….”
Looking at Hong Gyeong-jun’s wide-eyed gaze, Lee Jae-heon continued as if making an excuse.
“But it’s true that the fruit isn’t really poisonous. I’ve eaten it a few times. That grass itself isn’t that difficult to find if it’s in a place with a lot of trees. It is the most common and effective treatment among the treatments in this world, but…”
“….”
“That… the person who took that hurts a little. It doesn’t hurt when you pick it right away, but when you use the fruit, the pain of the person who ate the fruit comes to you. However, if something other than a human picks the fruit, it has no effect. Animals. So…”
The tone was low and calm, but the pace was fast. So Hong Gyeong-jun thought it was right that Lee Jae-heon was embarrassed. You could easily feel it just by looking at this person’s face.
At that point, I couldn’t stop wondering.
“…Hasn’t Lee Jae-heon already used it?”
“….”
He couldn’t answer.
“…ah.”
The reaction came from Noh Yeon-seok, who was standing behind Lee Jae-heon.
In an instant, his face turned pale.
