Episode 97
If you felt threatened by Lee Jae-heon’s past life, the rule was not to interact with him.
In his past life, even if his head was cut off and his limbs were torn off, he could not die unless the time was right. Death that exists in the present world can be used for the purpose of avoidance, but no matter how painful and painful it is, in the previous world, one continued to live.
Therefore, those with occupations even slightly related to combat did not interact with their opponents if they felt threatened. Even the position that received such caution was accepted obediently, saying, ‘That can happen.’ This is because that distance was a courtesy to each other and a limit to protect their spirit.
And in Lee Jae-heon’s opinion, this life was not much different.
‘If we don’t get along, isn’t it natural to break up with each other?’
Literally, who would do that for someone’s benefit?
Of course, if you were working at the same job, you had no choice but to give a capitalist smile, but in the end, if you were friendly with the other person, it was common sense not to pretend to be friendly unless it was necessary.
‘I’m already so tired, so why waste my mental energy?’
Of course, there were more complicated human relationships in the meantime, but Lee Jae-heon, who had only recently recalled his past life, could not properly perceive such common sense. When comparing my past life and my current life, the most powerful one was by far the former, so my brain was eventually swallowed up by that common sense.
This was partly because the secret world was so confusing to people, but also because Jaeheon Lee was not in a good condition. Because it was not strange even if he died soon, all his mind moved only in the direction related to survival. And the common sense closest to that ‘survival’ was from my previous life.
As always, the solution I came up with by forcing my brain to work wasn’t very good.
therefore.
“Boss…!”
“….”
I never thought those chicks would come looking for him.
“…Why did you come…?”
Lee Jae-heon, who was about to ask, ‘Why did you come?’ mustered all the patience he had and closed his mouth.
I don’t know what it is, but anyway, it wasn’t good for the chick’s mentality to ask ‘Why on earth did you do that?’ to the people who came to see him. Anyway, there was no need to pour cold water on me for trying to do something.
Of course, that didn’t mean the doubts went away.
“How did you get here?”
When I asked as much as I could, Jeong In-ho, who was leading the two chicks, answered with a strangely stiff expression.
“…I don’t know if you said that, but thanks to the fact that you came and went while bleeding, it was easy to visit you.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
What I’m really curious about is not ‘how’ I found it.
I thought it would be a bit hurtful to ask outright why I came, so I deliberately turned the question around, and the main character answered straight up, wondering if he was doing that because he understood or because he didn’t understand. For Lee Jae-heon, who was already so tired, there was nothing more frustrating than this.
Finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore and asked.
“Then why did you come?”
Jaeheon Lee clearly knew that they felt fear of him.
That’s why he ran away with such a pale and tired face, and I thought that perhaps that would have given Lee Jae-heon some distance. I thought that if I did that much, I would be able to avoid it on my own.
The hidden world had the power to maximize people’s thoughts. From incorrect and wrong thoughts to thoughts such as worry and worry. Anyway, it magnifies all the negative mental elements of survivors and drives them crazy, so these chicks couldn’t have been much different.
Then, no matter how much I’ve done for them…
‘I guess it’s enough to forget it, right?’
The genre here is not a romantic comedy or a third-rate medieval drama, and you won’t fall in love or show loyalty with just a few words or actions.
Moreover, since he himself was fully aware that his actions would cause embarrassment or discomfort to others, there was no reason for the main character and his party to be considerate of the old villain Lee Jae-heon in such an extreme situation.
‘Even though the genre is 19+ impoverished survival.’
Lee Jae-heon was confident that they probably didn’t come because they were worried about me.
But anyway. Is that so? Even if you are not worried about Lee Jae-heon, you probably know its usefulness. Since he seemed to be familiar with this world several times, he probably came here thinking that he would have found his scattered companions on his own even in this darkness.
Lee Jae-heon, who thought about that far, opened his mouth with a much more relaxed mind.
“I’m sorry, but the only one next to me is our intern. Ah, Director Kang and the students….”
“No, no. Manager, wait a minute.”
“uh?”
“No, that…”
Employee Kwon Yeon-hee, who was hesitating, ran over and grabbed Lee Jae-heon’s hand before he could understand the situation. His hands were stained with so much blood that he couldn’t tell whose blood it was.
As Lee Jae-heon’s expression distorted in bewilderment, Kwon Yeon-hee timidly shouted.
“sorry…!”
I asked him sincerely.
“…What what?”
“I’m sorry for leaving you behind, Manager…! “Please hit me hard, I’m trash!”
“no.”
No, why is this like this?
‘…What the fuck is going on with my build-up?’
What happened that led to this situation?
I was dumbfounded and looked up to find President Garam Yoon apologizing with a sad look on his face, and Assistant Manager Inho Jeong next to him was looking at him with the eyes of an unknown winner.
Even if it was President Yoon, Lee Jae-heon felt like he was going out of his mind due to his subordinate’s extreme condition.
‘what…? What is it really? ‘What did I do wrong to be like this?’
If Lee Jae-heon’s efforts had paid off, the heartwarming situation it is now would not have been created.
He hoped they would be afraid of him and keep their distance. To be honest, it seemed like the ‘fear’ had definitely succeeded, and they even dispersed, so I thought there would be some kind of conflict. Then you will know that the distance between you will grow apart.
‘But what is this?’
Lee Jae-heon felt dizzy as he saw employee Kwon holding his hand and clinging to him as if he was almost crying. At this point, I felt betrayed, as if I had been stabbed in the back by a colleague I trusted.
In fact, neither Kwon Yeon-hee nor the rest of the group had very good mental strength. What could be done since they were the inhabitants of such a soft world, but it was also true that Lee Jae-heon had worked hard to train their mentality.
‘No, but there are degrees.’
Did your mental power suddenly increase after receiving some insignificant criticism? There is no such thing as nonsense.
But it’s okay to just dismiss it as bullshit. Then why are these bastards so fine?
In Lee Jae-heon’s plan, there was no schedule for joining the group so quickly, and even if there was, he thought they would be afraid of me. In fact, the corpse-like body intentionally gave off a sense of discomfort, so considering the background at the time, it couldn’t have been scary.
‘I was confident that I could handle it when I reached Noh Yeon-seok, but what about this…’
At this point, wouldn’t 80% of the intended plan have become meaningless? It’s because I did something grandiose and outrageous. Aren’t we just acting like idiots when we let go of each other’s strength?
In panic, he slowly pulled out the hand that Kwon Yeon-hee was holding.
“…Uh…yeah, yeah. Because I understand….”
“Ugh, don’t go…!”
“No, no, I’m not going. “I’m not going. Where should I go? But let’s take our hands off.”
“Why why why huh. I don’t like it, don’t go. “Why are you doing that?”
“No, it’s this person.”
Lee Jae-heon barely managed to hold back what he was trying to scold and managed his facial expression, but he couldn’t hide even a drop of cold sweat. It was because of the intense gaze piercing my back.
‘I guess I’m the only one who’s embarrassed by this sudden drama.’
It was the gaze of Detective Hong Gyeong-jun, who had been put on the back burner due to a sudden new scandal.
Jaeheon Lee, who had just realized that 80% of his plan was ruined, was experiencing a very complex internal conflict. It wasn’t just because of the stinging gaze that seemed to pierce my back.
Why did my grandiose build-up collapse silently like a sand castle? Why am I being held by a woman outside of my family right now? Fuck, only my child’s mother can touch my hands. No, what should I say to Detective Hong? More than anything, why are the main character’s eyes like that?
‘No, no, I… How do I fix this?’
They say that the beginning of solving a problem is identifying the cause of the problem, but Jaeheon Lee couldn’t figure out where the problem came from. In short, it meant that there was no answer.
Lee Jae-heon, who thought he would solve the problem he was facing first, tried to withdraw his hand once again.
“Well… because my hands are very dirty.”
“Who said that, Manager, your hands are dirty!”
“….”
He was dumbfounded for a moment and stuttered.
“Who… Isn’t that true of anyone…?”
Are your eyes knotholes…?
‘Is it just eye decoration, Kwon Yeon-hee?’
I’m just saying it back to you. It’s burdensome to hold your hand, so please let me go. But I thought you would be embarrassed if I told you to let it go out loud, so I gave you an excuse, but this person is the real deal.
Lee Jae-heon took his hand away from Kwon Yeon-hee and took a step back. For some reason, Kwon Yeon-hee’s expression hardened and looked like she was crying, Yoon Gar-ram avoided eye contact, and Jeong In-ho raised his eyebrows, but it didn’t matter anyway. A person who suddenly holds someone else’s hand is even stranger.
Detective Hong Gyeong-jun’s voice reached his ears.
“Are you part of the group you mentioned?”
“…Yes.”
But when you say that, something is wrong…
‘Why are you suddenly acting friendly?’
To be honest, I was a bit embarrassed by this too. Aren’t we still seeing each other?
However, this reaction is somewhat understandable because Detective Hong Gyeong-jun is probably suspicious of Lee Jae-heon, Jeong In-ho, and others. In order to start a conversation with the suspect, it is necessary to establish a minimum level of rapport, such as making clear statements, so I guess I picked the person I was most familiar with out of all the suspects.
Nevertheless, I felt a little uncomfortable.
‘I want to open my face, but my attitude is too rigid for that.’
Detective Hong was born a rigid man, but grew up to be a man of flexibility. No matter how suspicious he was, his only basis was intuition, so he wouldn’t show it due to his personality, but his current expression showed a subtle wariness. Just at the level of dealing with a ‘stranger’.
In some ways, it is true that ‘strangers’ are true, but still a little. A little bit different from the one I saw in ‘Detective Hong Kyung-jun’ that I read…?
“Nice to meet you, I’m Detective Hong Gyeong-jun.”
“…I saw you once last time, right? “There were a lot of rude people back then. This is Jeong In-ho.”
“I’m glad you remembered.”
They started talking among themselves with Lee Jae-heon like that, so he got out from between them to cool his head. Since such confrontations were frequent in the original novel anyway, there was no need for Lee Jae-heon, a third-rate villain, to be involved.
After making his decision, he led Kwon Yeon-hee and approached President Yoon Gar-ram.
“Are you hurt anywhere, boss?”
“Not at all. “I’m actually worried about the manager, because he stayed alone and fought.”
“I stayed because it was worth doing.”
As he said that, Lee Jae-heon glanced at President Yoon Garam discreetly.
‘As expected… there’s no burn anywhere except for the scorch.’
Garam Yoon’s constitution is that he feels pleasure and fear at the same time when he sees a fire. And because she was in the other world, one of the abilities she had was ‘luck not to be burned by fire.’
At least Yoon Garam survives all the fire. Even if this person falls into a pit of fire, he can crawl out with difficulty, and even if he is trapped in an enclosed space, he finds a way to escape. In the park episode where fire-related topics were frequently mentioned, Yoon Garam was the survivor with the best chance of survival.
However, assuming there is no one around.
“…Anyway, I’m glad no one was seriously injured.”
If Garam Yoon wants someone to survive, there is a high probability that that person will be engulfed in fire and die.
It’s the perfect constitution to survive alone.
