Episode 492
Like most survivors, Park Da-young didn’t like Lee Jae-heon’s methods very much.
It’s natural. No matter how you package it, Lee Jae-heon’s method is to treat you like a tool and grind you down. Who would like that? It was a method that would tear apart even a simple acquaintance who only knew each other’s faces.
‘But since our positions have changed like this… my feelings about it have changed.’
Park Da-young felt a little embarrassed. She didn’t want to do it at all, but for some reason, she felt like she could understand Lee Jae-heon.
Perhaps because the average age was so young, the actual leader of this team was Park Da-young. Her choices determined the direction of the team, and her words and actions determined whether Song In-myung would cooperate or get angry.
‘This is so tiring.’
Park Da-young couldn’t give up the option of death, half wanting to put down her burden since she would come back to life anyway, and half judging that it was objectively right for her, the burden, to disappear.
Of course, Lee Jae-heon would always have considered death based on the latter judgment 100%… .
“… … .”
I forced myself to swallow my sigh.
‘I shouldn’t be thinking like this anymore.’
Like most children who have aspirations, Park Da-young also wanted to emulate Lee Jae-heon’s strength.
It’s not like I’m a zombie or anything, and it hasn’t even been a few weeks since I entered the other world, but I’m already having weak thoughts. My pride is a little hurt.
Park Da-hoon, who had been looking around here and there, asked her.
“…What are you thinking?”
“huh?”
“Because your expression isn’t good.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Park Da-young skillfully hid the truth within lies.
“I thought, ‘Oh, you’re really amazing.’ Look, I’m so tired just from hurting my leg, but you… You acted fine even though you were like a zombie, just like Seo-ah said.”
“He didn’t look particularly well though.”
“That too.”
Lee Jae-heon had a bad habit of pretending to be fine when he didn’t look fine at all.
And Park Da-young now sympathized with his feelings a little.
I did that because if I showed that I was really sick, the mood in the whole team would have worsened.
‘… I already knew why he did such a bad thing, but experiencing it firsthand made the burden more unimaginable… .’
Park Da-young’s condition was not at all okay at the moment, but Lee Jae-heon was worse. Imagine that he had injuries the size of Park Da-young’s legs all over his body. It was impossible to believe that saying he was okay was a lie.
So, the reason Jae-heon Lee said he was okay and acted normal was, firstly, because he had been brainwashed into thinking that was true, and secondly, because it was half for the sake of the team’s morale. The other survivors knew that too, but they were equally displeased.
We wish he had just said he was sick.
“… You’re really amazing, sir.”
Park Da-young respected Lee Jae-heon for that.
“Of course it’s a bad habit, but you still kept us going. You took care of the people who complained without saying a word that it was hard. You must have been a kindergarten teacher in your past life.”
“Oh, we’re kindergarteners?”
Park Da-young also let out a chuckle at Park Da-hoon’s empty laughter.
“Wouldn’t it seem similar to Mr. Solkka’s feelings? How would we look from the perspective of an old man in the other world? He’s already the one who calls us chicks.”
“The old man has a strange aesthetic sense.”
“Admit it. I’m worried that if this continues, Song In-myeong will also call me a chick.”
“Even words aren’t like that, really….”
As expected, there’s nothing better than gossiping when it comes to changing the subject of conversation.
Park Da-young naturally let out a sigh of relief as she belittled Song In-myeong.
‘If I get caught thinking like this, I’ll get in trouble.’
It was not that Park Da-young did not know that this was a bad idea. Even if she were to come back to life, suicide was not something to be done lightly. At least for the sake of those left behind.
But if he had seen and experienced too much death like the old man, if too much time had passed… I thought it was inevitable that he would become so numb.
As such, Lee Jae-heon was really considerate of us.
‘You knew that dying was the quicker and more effective option, but you still went along with it. I’m already this tired after just breaking my leg a few days ago, so how much more tired must you have been… .’
Now that I understand his position, I feel a little guilty.
‘…I shouldn’t say anything like that from now on.’
As someone who was left behind, Park Da-young had been persecuting Lee Jae-heon, but after experiencing it firsthand, she came to understand Lee Jae-heon’s efficiency and the weight of the sacrifice that came with it.
“… No, Mr. Song In-myeong, why are you taking so long to go order? Are you going to prepare the menu?”
“That… thing? What is it?”
When he blamed Song In-myeong once again, Choi Min-hong suddenly got up, perhaps because he was bored of waiting.
“I want to go.”
“? Where are we going?”
“… I want to go too… .”
“ah.”
Park Da-hoon translated Min Hong-eo.
“Are you going to look for Song In-myeong?”
“huh.”
“… Over there?”
His finger pointed to the cafe’s cash register, which was swarming with mannequins imitating customers. Although it was hard to see, it seemed like Song In-myeong was standing out among them.
“It’s there. I guess the line is too long so they’re still waiting?”
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here and it’s still…? Is it true that the store is full?”
“I’ll go and check it out. You never know what might happen.”
As Park Da-hoon got up with a strangely depressed face, perhaps due to a sense of guilt over not having found the medicine yet, Choi Min-hong grabbed his leg.
“me too.”
“No, please.”
“me too!”
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“We’re not going out to play….”
“It’s not fair!”
“You really are talking nonsense.”
When Park Da-hoon tried to push Choi Min-hong away, Park Da-young opened her mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be okay if we went together?”
“Are you crazy, sis?”
“No, what… The kid is just bored. He’s so full of energy, so if we just tie him up, who knows what’ll happen later. It’s better to play with him before he causes an accident.”
“What are you talking about? Minhong is a puppy. Why would he get into trouble if you don’t play with him?”
“And I thought that the kids should get used to it in advance so that they can prepare for any emergency.”
“… … .”
Park Da-hoon’s face hardened at his older sister’s words.
“… What are you assuming right now?”
“I’m not assuming anything, I told you. What if, what if. What if. Huh? Do you know how much of a backstabber the underworld is?”
“So what did you assume?”
Park Da-young laughed awkwardly at her younger brother’s words.
“… We might die first… .”
“… … .”
“I don’t know if Song In-myeong and I will be left alone, or if it will be just them, but there is a possibility that it could happen. It might be a good idea to get used to it in advance.”
“you….”
Park Da-hoon asked with a frown on his face.
“Are you starting to look like your uncle?”
“Oh, really?”
“f*ck, seriously, f*ck. This is so annoying… .”
Park Da-hoon frowned and looked like he was about to cry, but he pursed his lips and grabbed Choi Min-hong’s hand. The boy, who had been watching the situation unfold with wide eyes, smiled brightly.
“Should I go too?”
“Let’s go, let’s go… Okay, I get it, let’s go together.”
“Hehehe, okay.”
“I really hope you like it.”
Although he tried to hide it in front of Choi Min-hong, who was only a kindergarten student, Park Da-hoon could not completely suppress his anger. The ominous feeling floating in the air and the awkwardness Park Da-young showed made him angry.
Just the fact that Park Da-young was preparing for death made Park Da-hoon lose his composure.
“hey.”
“Oh, what? No, shit, I’m glad you came. Can’t you stand in line instead?”
“Wouldn’t it be okay? Maybe the rule is not to get out of line?”
“Oh, that’s true. Then why are you here?”
“Minhong wants to see your house.”
“Are you crazy?”
No matter what Song In-myeong said, Park Da-hoon said to Choi Min-hong.
“Play without getting hurt.”
“huh.”
“I’ll look for some more medicine, hyung.”
Park Da-hoon felt anxious. He felt a sense of impatience that he couldn’t stay still. He wasn’t ready to accept the ‘what if’ that Park Da-young was talking about.
So we have to do something more. We have to do something to make things better than they are now.
“Be careful.”
“huh.”
“… Okay, be careful.”
Park Da-hoon left Choi Min-hong with Song In-myeong. Whether it was to be gentle to the child or there was such a rule, the mannequin monsters standing in line made room for Min-hong to go to Song In-myeong.
Park Da-hoon, who felt a little relieved by that sight, started walking again.
“… … .”
He muttered anxiously.
“… medicine, somewhere… .”
There must be some medicine somewhere.
The cafe was located at the intersection between theme zones, so the path that Park Da-hoon was walking along was all corridors. Corridors where the fish paintings on the walls came to life.
This place was filled with blue light and everything seemed alive and vibrant, but I couldn’t find anything that was actually alive. Even the fish tanks displayed in the hallway I had seen so far had to be moved a bit further forward to appear.
A hidden room, a barren corridor without a single flower in bloom, was imitating life.
It was disgusting.
‘please.’
Park Da-hoon became desperate.
Park Da-young’s leg, chewed by a monster, came to mind. In that state, she wouldn’t be able to crawl, let alone escape. No matter where I looked, I couldn’t find any medicine to fix her leg.
I touched the living, moving wall and looked into the corners, but I couldn’t find anything even remotely similar.
By that time, I was starting to feel wronged.
“Did I expect it to be that big?”
Even just one of those small, round fruits.
“Huh? Can’t you just give me one, for f*ck’s sake…?”
The tired curses were laced with tears.
I felt like a racehorse running on the wrong track.
“Isn’t this all too much?”
Now I can even laugh.
Park Da-young was already starting to resemble Lee Jae-heon, and although she wished she hadn’t, she seemed to understand him. That was the expression on her face. They were really vicious people who even converted their own deaths into numbers for the sake of efficient results.
I’m so afraid of death, but I guess you aren’t.
“This isn’t real… This isn’t real… .”
Park Da-hoon didn’t like the small, round, nameless fruit.
I still remember when Jae-heon Lee fed me fruit and locked me in the bathroom, and his blood splattered everywhere through the translucent bathroom door. It’s no longer a thing of the past, but it was a painful enough memory.
And yet, that one fruit was so desperately needed.
‘Please.’
Park Da-hoon couldn’t hold back his words and muttered again.
“… Everyone, really, too…”
Isn’t that cruel?
Park Da-hoon, who was walking with the alarm, stopped.
In a hallway where even the air is blue, next to paintings that imitate mountains, beyond a few fish tanks that have only just come into view.
I felt the presence of a large monster approaching from afar. I felt a slimy vibration.
Thump, thud. Kookung, churrrrrr… .
“… … .”
The monster chased its fleeing prey.
This world didn’t even give Park Da-hoon time to sacrifice himself for his older sister.
“…under….”
Am I the only one who’s stupid?
Am I so stupid that I don’t understand anything?
* * *
“…Do you know where Dahun went?”
Song In-myeong shrugged his shoulders and answered Park Da-young’s question.
“My part-time job?”
“You really are a cheapskate.”
“This shit keeps happening whenever it gets a chance.”
(Continued in the next episode)
