Episode 356
The sinkhole in the center of the apartment building consisted of a large hole in the middle and a monster den on the wall that connected like an anthill.
Some of the survivors who stopped by here must have collapsed from exhaustion on the seemingly endless stairs. Some must have visited a house filled to the brim and had their skin peeled off by doll monsters. Some must have given up on life after struggling in this crazy hole that was so twisted that they couldn’t find their way out.
And, maybe, someone.
“Manager, manager… .”
His limbs must have been torn off by those pitch-black hands that look down into the bottomless pit.
“Please, oh, please.”
Hands that were as desperate as those of someone on the verge of starvation or drowning, stretching and shrinking in the bottomless sinkhole. Caught by hands that were as withered and emaciated as tree branches and jabbing their sharp fingers into the air.
I’ll die like that. Oh, I’ll die. The monsters won’t miss the prey that falls from the sky.
“Don’t let go of my hand….”
Kang Min-ah pleaded.
With desperate gestures and a face like that, she tried to hold on to Lee Jae-heon, comparable to the pitch-black hands lying on the floor. The pleas that Kang Min-ah kept repeating were not directed at Lee Jae-heon, but at herself.
For some reason, the other arm of Lee Jae-heon that Kang Min-ah wasn’t holding onto looked badly injured, so even Lee Jae-heon, who was experienced in dealing with things in the other world, seemed to have a hard time climbing up a steep cliff with that kind of hand. The others were busy dealing with the monsters pouring out of the door that Lee Jae-heon had been blocking, so the only sound they could hear was the sound of constant hitting from behind.
“Manager.”
So Kang Min-ah, I had to pull Lee Jae-heon up. I couldn’t let go of his hand. It might have been even more desperate because Kang Min-ah had already made Lee Jae-heon like this with one mistake, but nothing would change if she blamed herself. Adults have to take responsibility for their own mistakes.
“Manager, please….”
“… … .”
“…don’t let me go.”
The hand that was caught twitching as if it had been hurt by my words was so resentful of Kang Min-ah, who had to take responsibility for all of this. It was miserable.
“Say something.”
Lee Jae-heon didn’t open his mouth despite Kang Min-ah’s words.
Just little by little, Jaeheon Lee’s hand, which was being held, is slowly slipping away.
“… … .”
Kang Min-ah also knew how dire the situation was now.
While he was separated from Kim Yeon-woo, Lee Jae-heon was suffering from various injuries, and Kang Min-ah had survived four days with minimal food and rest, and had come here. It must have been an extraordinary act that could not have been done without Kang Min-ah holding on to Lee Jae-heon, a physically fit adult male, with one hand.
But, you know.
“You have no obligation to die.”
“… Kang Min-ah.”
“…Why do I have to keep seeing this situation…?”
There was no reason for Lee Jae-heon to be prepared to die like he was now. He had no right to hurt Kang Min-ah so deeply again.
Kang Min-ah always lived with a cliff behind her back.
That is the reason why Kang Min-ah, who had a hard time doing her part even in a reality where everything is determined by letters, was able to enter a large company called Ohsung, and it was the wisdom of life that allowed her to shrink her shoulders in fear but not run away. Kang Min-ah has always lived like this.
Because there is no place for adults to run away to.
“… Manager!!”
So even though I let go of your hand, I had no choice but to jump in eventually.
Kang Min-ah threw herself towards the falling Lee Jae-heon.
* * *
Becoming an adult isn’t something that can be solved simply by getting older.
Thoughts must be mature. The vessel must be broad, the distinction between public and private must be clear, and the more upright the humanity, the better. A true adult should be able to lightly take on all the responsibilities that the country, society, and relationships require.
Kang Min-ah, who wanted to grow up quickly due to the mistakes of her immature parents, was bound to be immature.
Her nature was pitiful. She was as curious as she was timid, but she was also not very active, and even though she was an adult, she was a fool who could not do anything skillfully.
Occasionally, he would show himself as someone who was dependable, but that was just the desperate struggle of a less mature fool who wanted to become an adult.
But I believed that if I just pretended to be mature, my personality would really change someday.
“Hey, you…!”
And when Kang Min-ah first encountered the other world, she was still pitiful.
He fell from a very, very high ledge and was saved just before he died.
“You f*cking idiot.”
“… Huh, euuh, ah… !”
“Run like a punk. Run, just run after those bastards!”
Her mind became dull in the heavy air of the other world, and her head became stiff when her life was threatened. She was limited to following whatever Jae-heon Lee, whom she had always considered an immature adult, shouted at her. No, it seems she couldn’t even follow that properly because she was crying in sorrow.
“Ugh, uh, euuh… .”
In the end, this was all that Kang Min-ah had to offer. Even when she wanted to accomplish something, she was too motivated, but the results were just so-so. She was not very generous, so she easily blamed others, and she was an ordinary, pitiful adult who could never be called a good adult. That was Kang Min-ah.
That’s why Lee Jae-heon seemed really great.
“… Over there, manager.”
“What is it?”
“thank you.”
“… … .”
He was an adult.
“No problem.”
He was a broad-minded person who didn’t think much of it, even if he got hurt or made a bloody sacrifice on behalf of someone. He felt a sense of alienation because he was completely different from the ‘Chief Lee Jae-heon’ who was usually narrow-minded and immature, but at the time, everything was fine.
Kang Min-ah was a pitiful adult, so she wanted to lean on adults when she felt afraid.
“why?”
“…yes?”
“Why are you worried?”
but.
“Is there a reason for that?”
Unfortunately.
“… That’s right. It hurts when you get hurt.”
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
Lee Jae-heon was not a normal ‘adult’.
When they first headed to the park and entered, Kang Min-ah was quietly listening to the conversations of others with her mouth shut. In the other world, Lee Jae-heon often squeaked, but while acting quite smoothly, he continuously revealed strange common sense to them. That strange reaction was often seen when talking to Jeong In-ho or Ha Seong-yoon.
“Okay, this was the most efficient.”
That efficiency. That rationality. And sacrifice.
It was a ridiculous statement by Jae-heon Lee, who had been crazy for a long time, trying to make his own selfish sacrifice sound good. Now I have a rough idea why Jae-heon Lee would say such crazy things, but when I first heard it, I wondered if that bastard was really human.
Yes, isn’t Lee Jae-heon a monster? A strange way of thinking and a skilled fighting style. As Kang Min-ah, who knew ‘Chief Lee Jae-heon’, the hypothesis that he was swapped with a monster on his way to the other world felt much more plausible.
“… Uh, uh…”
To be exact, that’s what it means.
“… Ms. Kang Min-ah.”
“Manager…!”
When he was being chased by a crazy bastard named Song In-myeong after saving Ha Seong-yoon, he lost the strength in his legs and fell off a cliff.
“ah.”
Even when I lost my sense of reason due to the all too familiar feeling of falling.
“Kang Min-ah!”
“… … .”
Lee Jae-heon did not give up on Kang Min-ah in the end.
And so, when Lee Jae-heon died in agony, when the cool-headed lost their senses, when the affectionate became mad, and when the innocent or innocent people died, Kang Min-ah thought of Lee Jae-heon. If he hadn’t shown such bloody affection even while going mad, she wouldn’t have held on to the dead man so tightly.
But even if she inherited memories from memories, even if ‘Kang Min-ah’ turned into Kang Min-ah, her essence remained the same. A pitiful and immature adult. An incompetent person who relied on a crazy adult as support and let him fall off a cliff. And then a s*ut who struggled desperately to avoid falling into the pit of guilt.
“… … .”
Kang Min-ah had to be completed.
“… I have to take responsibility… .”
However, it is still unfinished.
Kang Min-ah silently stroked her hammer.
Depression sets in. It paralyzes the mind and scatters the thoughts. As I struggle through the strange comfort and silence of the garden, I find myself damp with a strange sense of defeat and guilt.
Kang Min-ah often repeated.
“Because I’m an adult.”
Even I, who am like that, am an adult, and I have to become an adult. It’s so strange.
“Because I’m an adult… .”
I have to do my part. Take responsibility. I can do it.
“… … .”
When the cliff appears, Kang Min-ah will get up again.
Whatever the intention, the process, or the result, that much was certain.
* * *
“… Manager.”
Water fell from Kang Min-ah’s eyes, which were dark blue and covered with hair.
“I, I… .”
“…okay.”
“…I told you I could do it.”
Actually, I think I said something like that, but I also don’t think I did. Anyway, the important thing is that Kang Min-ah ended up falling off the cliff again.
So, I caught Lee Jae-heon.
“Ms. Kang Min-ah, hold on tight! You can go up!”
“Wow, shit, this is crazy, I never thought I’d end up doing something you’d only see in the movies….”
“We’re good at pitz! Oh my goodness! Tear it up, tear it down!”
Kim Yeon-woo grabs Kang Min-ah’s leg who is holding on to Lee Jae-heon, and Vivian grabs Kim Yeon-woo’s leg and pulls him up with all her might. Pom-pits is tearing apart the stuffed animal monsters that he barely managed to kill so that they have no chance of resurrecting. And Kwon Yeon-hee is cheering them on.
ah,
It makes me laugh.
“You did well, this time…?”
Lee Jae-heon answered the vague and vague question.
“You always did a good job.”
“… … .”
“… I survived thanks to you.”
He chuckled.
“right?”
I started crying again, and I was so busy laughing and crying that I didn’t notice anything.
Kang Min-ah overcame the cliff.
(Continued in the next episode)
