Episode 106
What should I say to someone who has been through so much pain that he has adapted?
It was the first time that Kwon Yeon-hee had seen someone who would attach the word ‘natural’ to all the pain they were going through. He would probably be the first and last person she would ever see in her life.
She grew up in a decent, if not very great, household. Her parents wanted Kwon Yeon-hee to grow up to be someone who could raise a child who had fallen before her, rather than becoming a saint of the century, and they wanted her to know that there is gray between black and white. Kwon Yeon-hee grew up to be just that kind of adult.
That’s why she couldn’t react properly when she witnessed something outside of what I knew, something outside of my proper world. Because to Kwon Yeon-hee, Lee Jae-heon was neither black, nor white, nor gray.
I couldn’t even tell if this thing could be called a human being.
“… … .”
Finally, she couldn’t hold back her doubts and blurted them out.
“…Why did it turn out like that?”
You probably didn’t have to do that.
You didn’t have to take the pain that was given for granted or treat yourself like an object. In fact, even ordinary, common people other than Lee Jae-heon have better common sense and lives than him, so why did you, a manager at a large corporation, act like that?
Even though it was because she had been to this world many times, Kwon Yeon-hee had a hard time accepting it.
“Who… Who said that the manager is bad? That it’s okay to die? Because the manager is stronger and hurts less, that’s why, it’s okay to get hurt like that… Is that so?”
“… … .”
“Why do you think that way? We, we. Everyone else can live like that, using you as a shield, but you… are the only one… in so much pain and suffering…”
I couldn’t understand it.
“…Who the hell said that…?”
Kwon Yeon-hee knew that Chief Lee Jae-heon lived in a pretty good family. He was a so-called royal family, with a decent family background and a family business. The old-fashioned and parachute-like appearance he usually showed was quite convincing against this background.
So, maybe Lee Jae-heon should have grown up like that. He should have looked at other people as objects or looked down on them, and slowly bowed down to those who were stronger than him. He should have become the ‘Chief Lee Jae-heon’ we originally knew. An arrogant and incompetent person in power.
But what he really saw as an object was himself, and Lee Jae-heon was neither arrogant nor incompetent. I couldn’t figure out why this person was so twisted.
“The manager is a human being.”
“…I know.”
“Are you sure you know…? You shouldn’t use the word ‘bitter’ to refer to people.”
“If you look at it that way, aren’t people also resources?”
“Then why don’t you do that to us? Why don’t you see us as tools? The manager could have just abandoned us, burdens, and run away on his own.”
“I’m enough for you… but you’re still weak. If you were just a little stronger or more mature, you might have done the same. You might have abandoned me and run away.”
“really?”
“… … .”
Lee Jae-heon did not answer.
“… That’s a lie.”
“… … .”
“You wouldn’t have run away alone.”
At her words, Lee Jae-heon’s face crumpled as if he was a little frustrated, but Kwon Yeon-hee was no longer fooled by that expression. He had already lost too much blood to be fooled by that kind of leather.
“Boss, people. They worry.”
“… Do you think I don’t know that?”
“I don’t think you know. It really breaks my heart to see you get hurt for us, stay there, and then come back bleeding.”
“You are so inefficient. Don’t you know how much of a gain it would be if you could just kill one person and save everyone else?”
“It’s not one, it’s one person. It’s not about efficiency, it’s about sacrifice. I don’t know what kind of people you’ve been living with in this world to be like this, but please come to your senses.”
“I’m always sane.”
“Then you’re crazy.”
“… … .”
“The people who were with you while this was happening got even crazier.”
Lee Jae-heon’s eyebrows furrowed even more at that, but Kwon Yeon-hee had no intention of taking back her words.
“What’s really strange is, why don’t you curse those people…? Why does the manager have to be the only one who gets hurt? Ever since you came here, you’ve been getting hurt and sick as if it were natural, but what did the people next to you say when they saw that? They said it was natural, that only the manager got hurt?”
“… I’ve never been the only one hurt, and it’s only natural that the person who can do it best should step forward…”
“It’s not natural at all. Since it’s not natural, if it hurts, tell me. If it hurts, get some rest. I saw you scratching your neck because you had a nightmare with my own eyes. Are you going to keep doing this?”
“It wasn’t a nightmare.”
“Then what kind of dream did you have? Why were you scratching your neck? Why were you strangling like that? You were kicking your butt like you wanted to die right away, and you were vomiting blood. Then what are we supposed to think when we see that?”
“I really….”
“Ah, this guy is normal…? He doesn’t feel any pain at all? So I’ll just stick to him and endure, clinging to him like a tick, sucking his blood like a leech. I’ll sacrifice the person who can die the least painful death in order to survive, something like that… .”
“… … .”
“Do you think we would have thought that?”
Kwon Yeon-hee continued speaking while holding her hand tightly.
“I don’t know what the manager has heard or experienced to have such common sense, but I can guarantee you this one thing.”
“… … .”
“부장님 옆에 있었던 사람들 다 개새끼야.”
At that, Lee Jae-heon’s eyes twitched.
“Not to that extent… It wasn’t, it was just. They were just ordinary people.”
“Why are you defending me?”
“… … .”
“Why do you say that those people are good when you yourself are bad?”
“… That’s not what I meant.”
“But that’s the situation, sir.”
He couldn’t say anything in response to Kwon Yeon-hee’s words, and only moved his lips. After some time had passed, he carefully opened his mouth. His expression looked a little aggrieved.
“…If you were just as strong as me, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Then?”
“… … .”
“If we become as strong as you, sir, and if we don’t get sick… will you run away and abandon us?”
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“No, you’re just going to stick right next to me and eat everything I have?”
“That sounds good.”
“… … .”
“That sounds really… good.”
It’s not a lie, it’s true.
“I don’t know if he really meant it or not, but don’t forget it. I’ll tell everyone about it.”
“…Why are you doing that, really?”
“But, sir, if we become that strong, if we learn to do our part a little more than we do now.”
Kwon Yeon-hee muttered like that and remained silent for a while.
She has lived only in moderately good situations, not in major incidents, and has grown up in a moderately good family. She has a simple nature and has been friends with all kinds of people, but she has never crossed their lines. Even if they became friends, there was always a minimum level of goodness for Kwon Yeon-hee.
“…then.”
The feeling of having to cross that line,
“Manager, why are you so sick right now…?”
“… … .”
“Can you tell me?”
It was really weird.
“…Can I ask what happened that evening?”
* * *
“…Can I ask what happened that evening?”
Lee Jae-heon blinked at Kwon Yeon-hee’s question.
Lee Jae-heon was excited for a moment by the sight of a ignorant person slamming his colleague from his past life, but he calmed himself down after realizing that his physical and mental state were not good. In fact, the person Kwon Yeon-hee was slamming was not his colleague from his past life, but a virtual being.
“That, that day… that vine. After that thing took him away, the manager often didn’t look like a human being. No, this. Actually, I had that feeling before too…”
“… … .”
“It got worse. It wasn’t like this before, but you’re even more absent-minded. You even put your hand in the campfire last time. Even if you’re sleepy, that doesn’t make sense, right? So…”
“…so.”
“What’s the problem, sir?”
Anyway, that’s what I thought.
‘This is going round and round and coming back here.’
Anyway, I took a bite out of the bait that Lee Jae-heon had laid.
The strategy I initially intended to use, ‘Actually, he wasn’t as bad as I thought’, failed and I became a ‘survivor of the other world’, and in the process, I ended up feeling like a ‘terminal patient’ thanks to vomiting red water under the influence of a lucid dream…
‘I thought that was too improbable and the setting was too exaggerated, so I blamed it on the green algae monster.’
The purpose was to provide a reason why a gentleman who was normally working at the company suddenly started coughing up blood.
In fact, if it weren’t for this, Lee Jae-heon wouldn’t have tried to get the group to be on guard like this. Because of this one unexpected setting, the card of Officer Kim Yeon-woo was used too early, and as a result, Detective Hong Kyung-joon and others had to be dragged by the collar. It was a huge loss.
“… … .”
Of course, even if they hadn’t met the detective in the middle, there was a high probability that they wouldn’t have given up. Perhaps because they secured water early on, the survivors’ personalities were much more generous than in the original novel.
‘It’s a little unsettling that the murderer joined the detectives, which is different from the original story, but still.’
As long as it wasn’t unusable, it was fine. Lee Jae-heon raised it and used it later, so there was no reason to throw it away.
It seems that the atmosphere has improved beyond imagination just because a single water supply has been secured, but in any case, isn’t it all right as long as the result is right? Kwon Yeon-hee, who is in front of him, is also asking very appropriate questions about the bait that Lee Jae-heon needs to solve right away.
‘As expected, if you raise them all, they will be useful.’
Lee Jae-heon took advantage of the brief silence to listen.
“… … .”
Snoring was noticeably reduced.
He saw the dim shadows swaying behind the temple of Kwon Yeon-hee, and after confirming that they were not asleep, he slowly opened his mouth.
“…Isn’t it okay if I don’t know?”
Although he was going to tell her anyway, he made a face that said he didn’t want to say anything. If he told her right away, it would create a problem with Jaeheon Lee’s setting of keeping this fact a secret all this time.
“I’m really confident that I won’t cause any trouble. Even if I don’t know, I don’t think it will cause much harm to Kwon Yeon-hee or anyone else.”
“I hate that even more… Have you been listening to me up until now?”
“… … .”
“Well, the moment you tell me that, I have to listen to it unless you or I are going to die. I’m really sorry that I ran away because I was scared, but I think I should know this much.”
“…ha….”
You asked me to tell you.
Anyway, you know I did nothing wrong, right, guys?
* * *
A low sigh and the sound of hair being swept back.
“… … .”
“… Sir… .”
“fizzle.”
Jeong In-ho listened while placing his hand on the shoulder of the intern crouching down next to him.
According to Yoon Ga-ram, the place where the original pavilion was located was quite spacious, and those who had joined the place late volunteered to sleep near the entrance. Thanks to this, Jeong In-ho was able to quietly wake up President Yoon and Noh Yeon-seok.
Of course, there was one person who was not what Jeong In-ho wanted.
“…I’m keeping quiet.”
“…I know.”
It was detective Hong Kyung-jun.
As soon as employee Kwon Yeon-hee got up and went outside, Jeong In-ho followed her, so it was impossible to proceed with the work without Detective Hong Kyung-jun, who returned right after, knowing. Even if he was sleeping soundly, since he didn’t sleep much, he wouldn’t have been able to wake up the others without them knowing.
‘It might not be unhelpful, though.’
To be honest, he wasn’t someone I really liked, but I acknowledged Hong Kyung-joon’s abilities. For some reason, he seemed to have a low level of wariness toward Chief Lee Jae-heon, so if I could just tease him, it might help me catch him.
Yes, that’s exactly why I woke up the entire group just now. To catch Chief Lee Jae-heon by the ankle, who could die at any moment.
‘If you rush in like this, it’ll be difficult for that person to act as they please.’
Surprisingly, Noh Yeon-seok and Hong Kyung-joon seemed to know a little about Chief Lee Jae-heon’s past, so Jeong In-ho was able to act even more without hesitation. After all, if he had already told them that much, wouldn’t they be ready to hear the next story?
As Jeong In-ho waited quietly for the voice of Chief Lee Jae-heon, his characteristically low, mechanical voice came into his ears. It was a voice that seemed to have tried to erase all emotion.
“…To be honest, I don’t know exactly.”
“… So?”
“I don’t remember that day in detail.”
It was a fairly calm reaction for someone who had lost part of their memories, but Jeong In-ho noticed that the end of his voice was shaking. After all, he had been dragged away like that and had nightmares, so he probably couldn’t completely ignore the fear he felt at the time.
Lee Jae-heon, who hesitated several more times, showed a dry reaction that felt even more alien. It was as if he had cut off his own emotions.
If so, doesn’t that mean there was a need to erase the feelings?
“Sometimes, that’s what happens.”
Jeong In-ho bit his lip.
“I feel an impulse.”
“… … .”
“…I want to kill someone.”
Why did it have to be that person?
It seemed like everything in the world was hoping for Lee Jae-heon’s death.
