Episode 163
When Lee Jae-heon succeeded in challenging my stereotypes, Ha Seong-yoon was walking toward the statue, mentally preparing to tell Jeong In-ho the stories he knew. It took quite a while for him to get to the point.
After walking in silence for a while, Ha Seong-yoon finally started talking in earnest.
“… I think I told you before. My friend told me a story about this world.”
“Yes, I remember. You mentioned it just now.”
“I realized through some incident that what I wanted was in the other world.”
Ha Sung-yoon touched his earlobe again, and Jeong In-ho felt that it was like a button to urge or encourage himself.
“It’s difficult to tell you exactly what happened.”
I thought that might be the case. After all, Dr. Ha Seong-yoon was someone who always pretended not to know anything about their group, so for Jeong In-ho, who knew the previous time period, it was surprising and surprising that he brought up his story like this.
Ha Seong-yoon spoke as if sighing without looking at Jeong In-ho.
“Yes. To get to the point, I had to come to the other side of the world. I asked my friend for advice on what to do.”
“Did that friend tell you how to enter the other world?”
“It’s really amazing, but yes, he did. He knew how to get into the other world. He got into the other world the same way I did.”
“… … .”
“Just understand it.”
When Jeong In-ho looked at him after hearing an explanation that he didn’t quite understand, the smile that was always on his neat face had disappeared. Jeong In-ho thought that the strange fatigue that was on his face might be similar to that of Chief Lee Jae-heon.
“… You thought, what kind of nonsense is this?”
“Do you want to drop your humility?”
“Oh my goodness, how could that be? It’s hard to bear the condescension and hypocrisy of a friend who knows everything. I’ve seen that enough in hospitals.”
Ha Seong-yoon, who had been mumbling stupid things without answering, continued speaking.
“Understanding the other world is not like learning mathematical formulas or counting the number of fruits. Strictly speaking, it is closer to empathizing with the other person’s feelings.”
“Then, doctor, who did you sympathize with?”
“My friend and I, perhaps, are in another world.”
“…aha.”
“That’s what I think.”
Ha Sung-yoon’s eyes turned red once again. He looked like someone who had briefly immersed his eyes in a beautiful jewel or a terrible curse, and it was a strange gaze that Jeong In-ho had difficulty describing.
It was staring into space.
“Otherwise, there is no way that someone who has never been to the other world would be able to encounter them.”
“What do you mean by ‘they’?”
“It’s a monster.”
“… … .”
“Green algae, crows, dogs, and things that we see often in our daily lives, such as vines and flowers…”
He had been muttering like a madman, but he finally spoke.
“And people.”
“…Is that a monster too?”
“It did look like a mannequin.”
“What does that mean?”
“Honestly, the appearance itself looked close to a mannequin… It’s nothing special.”
Ha Sung-yoon, who had said that, opened his mouth while feeling the area around his vocal cords with one hand and tracing the path to the statue with both eyes. A hazy tone flowed out.
“It’s a ridiculous and horrible story, Mr. Jeong In-ho. Even if we leave the other world, we will eventually have to face monsters. We will have to struggle to avoid being killed by them.”
“…That’s a terrible story.”
“I talked to that friend every day. I tried to understand and step in, and that’s how it turned out. I’ve been trying hard to survive the monsters that pop up from time to time in reality. Thanks to that, I think it wasn’t hard to adapt when I was dropped here… .”
“… … .”
“However, until then, I had not operated on even a single patient.”
Jeong In-ho nodded without realizing it.
‘Because we’ll kill even patients who can be saved.’
I don’t know how or in what form I saw the monsters outside of the other world, but what I know for sure is that these monsters alone can drive people crazy. I couldn’t possibly enter the operating room where caution was required while seeing and touching such things.
Ha Seong-yoon glanced at Jeong In-ho, who nodded, and continued speaking.
“In the end, I moved to a place where there didn’t seem to be any major problems. For the time being, I decided to let go of major tasks and focus on examining patients or providing simple treatments.”
“Can doctors usually just change positions like that?”
“Haha, that’s an abuse of power. I’m ashamed to say this, but I borrowed the director’s help.”
The voice cracked very faintly.
“Because he is someone related to my parents.”
“… … .”
Jeong In-ho wondered if the ‘purpose’ that Ha Seong-yoon couldn’t speak of was somehow related to his parents. He wasn’t going to ask about it, but his doubts didn’t subside.
“Also, my reputation isn’t that bad… and I was qualified enough. I didn’t want to lose the feeling in my hands, so I couldn’t just leave the hospital. In a way, that would be disqualifying me from being a doctor.”
“It’s true that a doctor with a defect insisted on staying in the hospital.”
“But I was confident.”
“… … .”
Jeong In-ho kept his mouth shut at the young man’s obsession with the voice.
“I mean nothing to you if you’re not a doctor, Mr. Jeong In-ho.”
“…Is that so?”
Of course, I could understand. Maybe Jeong In-ho would have had no meaning if he wasn’t a ‘good person’.
“… Well, the conclusion is… I ended up in this other world. I also have a notebook with stories I heard from my friends. How about it? Would you like to take a look?”
“Ah, I’d like to take a closer look later. It seems like a game guidebook, so I think it’ll be helpful…”
“That’s true too.”
Ha Sung-yoon burst into laughter for once.
“I was convinced that there were things I wanted to know about here, and that I wouldn’t be able to find them just by dropping a body. How much difference would a guidebook like this or a small scalpel make? In fact, if you hadn’t helped me, I would have already died in the flower shop.”
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“… … .”
“So I asked my friend if there was something unrealistic that could help me achieve what I want.”
“So.”
“There was something like that.”
He muttered.
“There was something so ridiculous….”
There was a clear sense of skepticism in his voice.
Is this the voice of a natural scientist who witnessed a miracle of God? It seemed like a reaction like, ‘What have I been struggling for so long?’ Or maybe it was more like, ‘What kind of crazy world have I stepped into?’ It seemed like he was aware that it was crazy to enter the other world.
“Mr. Jeong In-ho, do you know about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?”
“… I know that it makes you know good and evil, and that eating it will lead to sin.”
“You know the gist of it.”
He added with a short laugh.
“God said, ‘You may freely eat fruit from any tree in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat fruit…’”
“… … .”
“On the day you eat it, you will surely die.”
“Did you memorize that too?”
As he looked at Ha Seong-yoon with a strange expression, he looked back at Jeong In-ho with his usual smile. Jeong In-ho suddenly felt his mood worsen at the cheerful emotion in his eyes.
“My family was Catholic. I mean, I’m religious.”
“Aha, indeed.”
“Before the tree of the knowledge of good and evil existed, there was no good and evil. There was no sin. Therefore, the sin that humans incurred after eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was none other than this.”
Ha Seong-yoon raised his head and looked up.
“It means that we have gone beyond His wisdom and have judged good and evil on our own, and our relationship with the most correct foundation has been ruined.”
“Please summarize.”
“I thought it was a story with a profound moral, didn’t I?”
“Because I am non-religious.”
“I thought so.”
Ha Seong-yoon lowered his gaze from the pure white sky and the leaves covering it. Jeong In-ho also looked up at that action, but in the end, he couldn’t find anything and just looked away in a bad mood.
Meanwhile, the doctor continued speaking.
“If you receive the ‘fruit of the tree of good and evil,’ you commit a sin. It is a sin of carelessly breaking the rules of this world, defining good and evil by your own standards, and destroying the foundation. Such a sin will be revealed in some form or another through the hands of the person who received the fruit of the tree of good and evil… .”
There was something uncomfortable about his face.
“I think the murders I committed could be seen as something along those lines. I judged him to be evil, and I committed a sin by committing murder, which is something a human being should not do.”
“Then what will change?”
“You can never go back to the way things were. That’s what I was told.”
“… … .”
“So, you can gain the ability to know what you want, but… you won’t even know if it’s true or false.”
“… Are you losing your judgment?”
“If we really have to be specific, it could be similar to schizophrenia.”
Even after saying scary words, Ha Seong-yoon’s face remained the same.
“To summarize, it is said that when you obtain the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you inherit one of the five senses in some way. Whatever it is, the person who receives the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil cannot control that ability, and the ability also tells me ‘what I want’ without fail.”
“… … .”
“Did I say that I changed my eyes? Then I would have to constantly accept two or more perspectives at the same time. But I can’t completely trust this world, so I would constantly doubt and worry. In the midst of my blurred judgment, I wouldn’t be able to tell what is true and what is false.”
“… Then what if you don’t commit a crime? If you don’t kill Song In-myeong, or anyone else, then your judgment might not decline to the level of schizophrenia, right?”
“I think you misunderstood. Just eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was enough of a sin. What I meant by ‘that sin is revealed in some form’ was… that sin gives rise to another sin.”
“… … .”
“Of course, if you commit the sin of ‘eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ and do nothing, your mind will not become more damaged, but I don’t know. Humans tend to commit sins without even knowing it while they are alive. Especially in this underworld, it is impossible to distinguish what is and is not a sin. In the end, you will go crazy and commit another sin. It is unavoidable.”
“… Then isn’t that actually a bad thing?”
“no.”
The voice was firm.
Ha Sung-yoon’s bright red gaze, just like the ‘Ha Sung-yoon’ of the previous time, stared at Jeong In-ho. The gentle smile did not disappear.
“If I just abandon myself, didn’t I tell you? I will gain the right and power to destroy the foundation of the world and its relationships that no one can touch.”
“… How important is that?”
“At least I can get what I want.”
“… … .”
“If possible….”
He hums.
“I want to stop this world.”
“…here.”
“The name ‘The Tree of Good and Evil’ comes from the history of this world. I heard it from a friend, and my friend heard it from another survivor who is already dead. Hasn’t the other world been constantly changing along with reality? It is filled with unrealistic beings and concepts… .”
“What is the conclusion?”
“Is there a God here?”
“… … .”
“If there is a god,”
It was a voice filled with hatred.
“Why did you have to kill my people like that?”
Jeong In-ho instinctively realized that the ‘people’ he had mentioned were Ha Seong-yoon’s unspeakable purpose. It was a guess based on intuition without any basis.
Of course, Jeong In-ho doesn’t know exactly what the purpose is, but still… .
‘I have a lot to tell you, sir.’
That was all I could feel.
I didn’t want to waste my energy empathizing with others anymore.
“… If I receive the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and start to go crazy, I’m sorry, but you guys have to handle it.”
“You are becoming more and more shameless as the days go by.”
“No matter how shameless I am, how can I be more shameless than my long-time patient? Oh my, how can I do something like that in front of a doctor who is in perfect health?”
“I have nothing to say about him.”
“It won’t be as bad as you think. Whether I do this or not, I’ll eventually go crazy if I can’t make a living as a doctor, and if that’s going to happen anyway, I should at least increase the things I can hold in my hands.”
Pure white,
Only after arriving at the pure white space did Jeong In-ho frown.
“… I am confident that I can help you.”
Ha Seong-yoon had already arrived in front of the statue.
Jeong In-ho thought that Ha Seong-yoon would not stop even if he stepped forward. Even if he could, he didn’t have enough stamina left. It was also because he was half convinced by his words. If he was going to go crazy anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go crazy while gaining something?
Ha Seong-yoon, who was looking at the sparkling statue, opened his mouth without looking back.
“… Do you know that?”
“What is it?”
“This statue is a sham. The real body is in a small lake. The monster hated humans so much that it couldn’t even bear to look at their faces… .”
“… … .”
“So they say he ran into the water.”
I felt uncomfortable.
He seemed like he had no idea what he was talking about.
“Isn’t it fun?”
Jeong In-ho couldn’t understand what those words meant.
