Chapter 101 |
“Right, your name. Mr. Jung Inho, was it?”
“…Yes, my name is Jung Inho.”
“Okay, I’m Choi Jungman. Things were so hectic earlier, that we didn’t get a chance to introduce ourselves.”
Since returning to the past, Jung Inho sometimes felt like he was in a dream.
“It’s nice to meet another person in a place like this.”
“I feel the same way.”
It was strange, watching a dead man move before his eyes.
The person he already knew, someone he had shared his name with, extended a hand, oblivious. The person who had promised to speak casually with him now used formal language and the wary look in the child’s eyes, once softened, had returned as she clung to the arms of an adult. Jung Inho could see all of it.
Read at Novelib.com
“Everyone seems so nice.”
Could this be a hallucination?
Could everything he was seeing, hearing, feeling with his whole body, just be a hallucination? Was it an illusion conjured by one of this world’s countless monsters to keep him trapped? Could it be that while he was asleep, everyone he could have saved dⁱㅌd?
“…It puts my mind at ease.”
“……”
“We heard you helped our youngest, too.”
Read at Novelib.com
He felt nauseous.
He felt like a clown on stage.
“Yeah, that’s right. It would have been disastrous if there had been some weird guy mixed in. You see that kind of thing a lot in movies, you know. People abandoning others just to save themselves…”
“……”
“If you’re thinking anything like that, don’t worry! When those things came at us earlier, we all rolled up our sleeves and fought back. We even went looking for other survivors nearby.”
“Thanks to you, I survived.”
“Ahem… It’s embarrassing to hear you say that… Hey, aren’t you thirsty? We have some water we brought from the lake. Just wait a minute.”
The man smiled, a genuinely kind smile that creased his chubby cheeks. He didn’t hesitate to offer the water he’d fetched from the distant lake, and no one questioned or criticized Owner Choi Jungman’s actions.
Read at Novelib.com
When Jung Inho accepted the water bottle, Choi Jungman let out another hearty laugh.
“What are you waiting for? Drink up.”
As expected, he was a good person.
“……”
He really was.
Everyone was good, Jung Inho was the one who ruined everything.
“…I’m sorry, I don’t know if it’s okay for me to drink this.”
Read at Novelib.com
“Don’t be so formal at a time like this. People have to help each other out, right?”
“Thank you.”
Of course, even considering that, it was true that the situation improved more than expected.
‘…The atmosphere is definitely different.’
The atmosphere among the people Jung Inho met before returning to the past was not like this. They were all startled by the slightest sound and visibly disappointed when resources dwindled. However, since there was a child in the group, most of them tried not to show it.
However, unless everyone was as easygoing as Firefighter Han Doyoon, conflict was inevitable. Even when Jung Inho, Yoon Garam, or Ha Sungyoon were present, a palpable distance often hung in the air. They didn’t have the capacity to accept other members of the group.
However, the current atmosphere was completely different.
“After you’re done… could you give some to the others over there? They must be thirsty.”
Read at Novelib.com
“Oh, yes.”
“Especially… Mr. Noh Yeonseok? He had a wound on his stomach.”
The man who introduced himself as Kim Kijung mumbled awkwardly with a sour expression. Although he clearly had no bad intentions, his expression and tone of voice did not seem to be pleasant. But to Jung Inho, who had seen him in the past, even this slightly relaxed face was a surprise.
Back then, he’d snapped at anyone who came near him.
“……”
“Thanks to whatever your manager did… he seems to be doing better now, but still. He seems too young to be going through all this. Since he’s an intern, he must be pretty young…”
“Thank you for your concern, Mr. Kim Kijung.”
Read at Novelib.com
“Well. Um, no. It’s nothing…”
At Jung Inho’s words, Conductor Kim Kijung awkwardly turned his head away. He seemed unfamiliar with expressions of gratitude, his gaze darting around. Yet, even in his tightly closed lips, Jung Inho could see traces of the past.
A chilling emptiness filled his chest.
‘I didn’t know he was someone capable of caring about others.’
Then, what were all the memories he had experienced and witnessed?
It was natural for people who were hurting and suffering to be sensitive, but he didn’t realize that. He was destined to vanish, remembering their initial hostility until his death. If all this was a dream, a hallucination, then it would have already happened.
If only they had a little bit of leeway. A small space to catch their breath. If only they had been afforded the bare minimum of what humans needed, they could have all been good people. They had already lived that way in society.
So, in the end, wasn’t it his fault for not being able to provide anything?
Read at Novelib.com
“Oh my, look at this guy getting all shy! Grandma, Grandma!”
“Don’t bother this old woman. What’s going on?”
“Look at this guy’s face, it’s as red as an apple! He’s so shy, huh?”
“W-W-What… What are you talking about? Ah, go away.”
“Oh dear, look at you. What’s a young man got to be so embarrassed about, tsk…”
“These days, there’s no such thing as men and women for this kind of thing!”
“I’m teasing you because your reaction is so funny. You’re so serious.”
Read at Novelib.com
The elderly woman, walking slowly, met Jung Inho’s eyes.
“So, who’s this young fella?”
Her speech was a peculiar mix of dialect and standard Korean.
Behind her glasses, icy blue eyes, almost hidden by wrinkles, stared at him. They were the only cool colors found in the wooden dome filled with brown and yellow hues.
“……”
“You work under that corpse? That must be tough.”
“…Coprse… You’re talking about the Manager. I thought he only met Ms. Kim Yeonwoo but I guess you were there too. That night.”
“That night? It was past midnight, closer to dawn.”
Read at Novelib.com
She nodded towards Manager Lee Jaehun, who was talking with Firefighter Han Doyoon.
“I was the one who patched that boy up with handkerchiefs and scraps of cloth. It wasn’t much, just an old woman’s handiwork, nothing like a doctor’s. But he trusted that and ran off to find the other boy.”
“……”
“…Anyway, he found him. That’s a relief.”
Despite saying it was a relief, her gaze remained colorless.
‘…She’s the only one who hasn’t changed.’
That thought crossed his mind. Among all these people who had changed, subtly altered by his return to the past, only this old woman remained the same. She alone hadn’t changed one bit.
Read at Novelib.com
He couldn’t quite define the emotion he felt at that moment.
“This old woman’s going back ⁱnsⁱdㅌ. Don’t make a fuss and take care of yourselves. It’ll be a real headache if those b⋏st⋏rds come back.”
“Oh, of course. Please rest comfortably, we’ll take care of everything!”
“Yeah, none of you loudmouth youngsters seem all that reliable…”
As the old woman quietly returned to her seat and sat down again, Owner Choi Jungman awkwardly scratched the bridge of his nose and patted Conductor Kim Kijung on the back. It was a light, almost apologetic pat, uncharacteristic of his large frame.
“Uh, did I offend you…? I’m sorry, man.”
“Sigh, no, ugh.”
After sighing a few times, Kim Kijung subtly shifted away, his backside inching towards a new spot. The person who was dragged to that vacated spot was Vivian, one of the college students, and despite looking bewildered, he did not try to return to his original spot, seemingly unbothered by the change.
Read at Novelib.com
Without the usual reprimand like ‘Why are you swapping my seat without my permission?’, Student Vivian spoke.
“You were bothering Mr. Kim Kijung, Owner Choi.”
“W-When did I!”
Conductor Kim Kijung sighed at Choi Jungman’s indignant bluster.
“…You’re so frivolous, I can’t stand you, I just can’t…”
Then he meticulously wiped his hands with a pristine white handkerchief. Come to think of it, the Conductor Kim Kijung of the past had seemed almost obsessive about cleaning his hands, as if he had OCD. Now, he just wiped them off occasionally, another clear indication that things were different.
Lost in thought, Jung Inho suddenly turned his head at the sound of small footsteps.
Read at Novelib.com
“……”
“…Uh, um.”
A little child stood squarely in front of Manager Lee Jaehun.
“S-Seoah. Come here.”
“Noooo….”
“That mister is hurt right now… He can’t play with you, okay?”
The teacher kept glancing nervously at Manager Lee Jaehun, looking intimidated by him, though Jung Inho couldn’t say for sure what she was thinking. Then again, with someone who already had a harsh demeanor covered in blood, it must have been frightening for an ordinary kindergarten teacher.
But the little girl, Seoah, only shook her head at the teacher’s call.
Read at Novelib.com
“Noooo….”
“Seoah, later. We’ll do it later…”
“Zombie.”
“…What?”
At the Kindergarten Teacher Lee Yoonbyeol’s stunned question, the child replied with sparkling eyes.
“It’s my first time seeing a zombie mister.”
“……”
“…I-It’s my first time seeing it.”
The silence that followed probably wasn’t because of the child’s formal speech.
“…Pfft…”
Jung Inho covered his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut.
“…Are you laughing right now? Seriously?”
“Ah, heh. No… no. No, I’m sorry…”
“You dare show your teeth in front of your manager?”
“Ugh…”
As the laughter crept up slowly, creating a sensation like pounding punches to the pit of his stomach, Jung Inho, who had been merely shaking his shoulders, eventually let his head rest smoothly on the ground. For some reason, imagining the reactions of the other group members made him burst into an even more absurd laugh.
In contrast to Jung Inho who was holding back laughter, Kwon Yeonhee seemed to be on the verge of tears.
“…Manager…”
She looked at Lee Jaehun as if she were the one who had been wronged, but it was hard to understand what exactly she felt wronged or indignant about.
Next, Owner Yoon Garam gave an awkward smile.
“He… he does look a bit like a zombie, yeah.”
“…I-I didn’t say anything.”
“Seriously, you guys…”
“I said I didn’t say anything! Ow, ow…!”
In the end, simply for the crime of sitting next to Yoon Garam, No Yeonseok took a hit to the forehead.
Looking up, Jung Inho saw Noh Yeonseok covering his forehead with one hand with an aggrieved expression. He didn’t seem genuinely upset though—perhaps he enjoyed this relaxed atmosphere as much as everyone else.
Ignoring the reactions of the others, Manager Lee Jaehun looked at the little girl, Seoah, with a perplexed expression. The look on his face was truly peculiar.
“…So… what’s our little friend’s name?”
“My name is Jang Seoah. I’m 6 years old. I’ll be one year older next month.”
“Oh, yeah. I see…”
After receiving this typical childlike information overload, Lee Jaehun’s expression became even more peculiar. He was probably trying to hide his discomfort, but to Jung Inho, it was obvious.
‘He said he was single, so I guess he hasn’t been around children much.’
But contrary to such thoughts, a gentle smile spread across Manager Lee Jaehun’s face.
“…Did you call me a zombie because I look like this? Because of the red?”
“…Yes… And you look dead. But you’re alive.”
“Seoah is a very observant and brave young lady. Aren’t you scared of this ahjussi right now? I must smell like blood.”
“No, I’m not scared at all. Really.”
“Oh my, you’re a brave one. Thank you for not being scared of me.”
A gentle tone of voice and softly curved eyes. Lips slightly upturned in a natural smile, accompanied by a warm gaze. Movements. Gestures that maintained eye contact from a comfortable, non-intrusive distance…
Jung Inho was so startled that he sat up from his lying position.
“……?”
The change was so amazing that the haziness that had been clouding his mind vanished.
“…Uh…”
“? Uh? Uh, um?”
“…Is this a dream?”
Kwon Yeonhee, Noh Yeonseok, and Yoon Garam spoke in turn, and unsurprisingly, the reactions of the others weren’t much different from Jung Inho’s. They were shocked by this unprecedented, unimaginable side of Manager Lee Jaehun. At this point, it was almost terrifying.
Lee Jaehun, who usually would have snapped at them for their reactions, continued to speak to Seoah, the only child among the survivors, in the same gentle manner.
“But this is the first time you’ve met this ahjussi, right? This ahjussi was a little surprised when Seoah, whom he had never met before, called him a zombie, Seoah. If it had been someone else, they might have been hurt.”
“Uh…”
“And look behind you for a moment. Your teacher was very surprised when you approached a stranger without saying anything. If you had told your teacher that you wanted to do something, she would have thought about it and probably let you. Right? She cares about you a lot and helps you a lot.”
“…Yes…”
“Seoah, you have good manners and are very brave, so I think you must be considerate of other people’s feelings too. What do you think? Are you a considerate friend, Seoah?”
“I… I’m considerate. I got an award for it, and I know how to clean.”
“You clean at home too? Wow, you’re so diligent. So, next time you want to greet a stranger, what should you do first? Can our kind Seoah tell me?”
“Um…”
Jang Seoah looked up at her teacher, Lee Yoonbyeol, who was blinking in surprise, then, she toddled over to her, tugged at her pants, and mumbled.
“…I want… to say hello to that ahjussi.”
“…Huh? Huh? Huh, I see.”
“He doesn’t seem like a bad person.”
“S-Seoah, you shouldn’t say things like that in front of people…”
Teacher Lee Yoonbyeol, holding the child in her arms, hesitated for a moment, then gently patted Seoah’s head and said.
“Let’s do it later, okay? That ahjussi is very hurt right now.”
“…Uh…”
This time, the child seemed taken aback.
“Oh, I didn’t know he was hurt. I’m sorry, ahjussi.”
“…Oh… I see.”
“I thought it was makeup… I didn’t know. I really didn’t know…”
The child cowered and hid behind her teacher’s legs. She probably thought she hadmade a terrible mistake and couldn’t bear to face him. Avoiding responsibility was not a good thing, but considering the circumstances, Jung Inho couldn’t help but wear a wry expression.
As Teacher Lee Yoonbyeol awkwardly bowed and retreated with Seoah in her arms, and as Manager Lee Jaehun waved gently at the child, a brief silence fell over the group.
“……”
“…Manager, do you have kids at home…”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kwon Yeonhee, who had asked the question, promptly shut her mouth. She seemed like the type to pick up on gossip, so it was unlikely she didn’t know that Manager Lee Jaehun was single.
Manager Lee Jaehun, who was single, was so good with kids…
“……”
“…Then why are you so good with kids?”
“Let’s drop it.”
“Yes, sir.”