Chapter 130 |
Personal preferences aside, the availability of concentrated sugar was a welcome development.
“Wow, we won’t need to go to the lake for a while.”
“Are you telling me to starve to death?”
“That’s called being picky, fix it. You need to learn to enjoy a variety of flavors.”
Of course, Lee Jaehun didn’t know how nutrients were absorbed in this world. But sugar provided energy to the brain and could even lift one’s spirits. With water available, it seemed feasible to survive just within the pavilion.
Lee Jaehun looked at Jung Inho, who had covered his eyes with one hand and lowered his head, with a dubious expression.
“Do you hate it that much?”
“…Not everyone in the world likes sweet things, Manager…”
Read at Novelib.com
You never said that in the novel.
Perhaps he was complaining because, unlike the original storyline, he had some physical and mental leeway now. Without the current Lee Jaehun around, the protagonist had been too busy just shoving anything edible into his mouth. But then again the story hadn’t provided a detailed depiction of the eating process, so it was impossible to know exactly what kind of thoughts or feelings had accompanied it.
‘I didn’t expect him to hate it this much.’
In fact, whether it was his past life or his present life, Lee Jaehun had no way of knowing Jung Inho’s eating habits. The novel hadn’t provided such details, and Lee Jaehun in the present life had no interest in his subordinates. He simply hadn’t wanted to care about someone like Assistant Manager Jung Inho. Why bother with someone he disliked?
‘I just assumed he liked Americano since whenever someone bought drinks for everyone, his was always Americano.’
Of course, Lee Jaehun wasn’t going to let him off the hook.
Read at Novelib.com
“Open your mouth, you weirdo.”
“I’ll eat it later, later…! I can eat it myself!”
“Even Jang Seoah isn’t this picky.”
“Adults can be picky too!”
“You really have no sense of how precious food is, huh?”
Jung Inho was finally released after Ha Sungyoon held him from behind while Lee Jaehun shoved the fruit into his mouth.
If it had seemed like a severe trauma related to sweet food, Lee Jaehun wouldn’t have been so forceful, but it was clearly just picky eating, so he took a strong approach.
“Ugh…”
Read at Novelib.com
“Honestly.”
Looking at Jung Inho, Lee Jaehun was reminded of his children in his past life, screwing up their faces at the sight of bell peppers. This was pure pickiness.
Jung Inho, his face pale, muttered with a grimace,
“My tongue hurts.”
“M-Mr. Inho… want some water?”
“You didn’t stop them and now you act like this…”
Even as he grumbled, he didn’t refuse Kang Mina’s offer.
Read at Novelib.com
His usually unnervingly earnest smile was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a frown. His colleagues, Kang Mina and Intern Noh Yeonseok, seemed quite flustered. Though it seemed Noh Yeonseok was just following his crush.
‘Things are going well on that front too.’
Perhaps due to the circumstances, Kang Mina, who had been relentlessly shutting down Noh Yeonseok’s advances because he was a university student, seemed to be breaking down her iron wall. It was not that she was genuinely interested, but more like she’d finally accepted him as a potential partner, thinking, ‘Well, he’s an adult too’. They still had a long way to go.
But Noh Yeonseok seemed pleased, hovering around Kang Mina without being overly intrusive. Unconsciously, Lee Jaehun glanced at Ha Sungyoon and Yoon Garam.
“You know, right? If you feel short of breath or dizzy, tell me immediately.”
“Yes, I remember. But I’m really fine, so you don’t have to worry too much…”
“You always smile, Owner. So I worry, always.”
Hmm.
Read at Novelib.com
“…….”
Their interaction was decidedly dry, not quite romantic.
But that didn’t mean it was bland. Aside from the fact that they didn’t see each other as romantic partners, Yoon Garam was excessively respectful towards Dr. Ha Sungyoon.
Lee Jaehun could sense the longing and obsession in her eyes.
‘Even if he saved her from her trauma… it’s excessive.’
There had to be something more.
Ha Sungyoon’s past wasn’t detailed in the novel; Lee Jaehun could only glean his existence from Yoon Garam’s memories. Yet, he still didn’t understand why she treated Ha Sungyoon with such reverence.
Read at Novelib.com
Of course, this wasn’t particularly important to Lee Jaehun.
“Ahjussi, doesn’t this taste like marzipan?”
“Marzipan… You mean that marzipan? Yeah, it’s similar.”
“Wow, good pronunciation. You speak English well, ahjussi.”
“Don’t judge intelligence based on pronunciation…”
He casually responded to Park Dayoung, who was sticking close to him like a chick seeking its nest, while thinking of Owner Yoon, who only offered a faint smile.
‘She seems to have awakened.’
It was a bit of a stretch to call it an ‘awakening’, and the process had been so quiet he hadn’t even noticed it happening, but he guessed Yoon Garam was confronting her trauma.
Read at Novelib.com
There were two signs of this change.
The plants around her had a high chance of catching fire, and everything except Yoon Garam had a high probability of burning to death.
“Still… drink some water while you eat. It’s too sweet.”
“You acted like you’d kill Mr. Jung Inho if he didn’t eat it earlier.”
“That’s because that guy was being a picky eater despite his age. How childish can he get?”
And the place most strongly imbued with her trauma was right here.
‘The city park.’
Read at Novelib.com
Yoon Garam had opened a flower shop because she found plɛasʊrɛ in her trauma.
Not satisfied with just flowers, she’d frequented the park in front of her shop, so the flower shop and this park were the places most saturated with her mental instability.
‘I don’t know if we can go back to the flower shop, so the immediate danger is this park.’
He couldn’t rule out the possibility that some of the monsters they’d encountered were born from Yoon Garam’s trauma. With her unusual constitution, she was unique even among the survivors.
Lee Jaehun assumed the tree roots connecting the flower shop and the park were related to this.
“…Dayoung.”
“Yes, yes.”
Giving a strange look to Park Dayoung, who was overly enthusiastic about his attention, Lee Jaehun tapped his lips with the lightbulb-like fruit and asked,
Read at Novelib.com
“Did you see anything strange before entering the park?”
“…Strange? Like a monster, or something? No, I didn’t encounter any monsters.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“…Hee hee.”
For some reason, Park Dayoung seemed even more pleased, but he decided to ignore it.
‘There’s no way these perceptive kids wouldn’t have noticed something like tree roots popping out.’
Phenomenon.
Read at Novelib.com
The protagonist called these occurrences ‘phenomena’. Changes in the otherworld environment or the appearance of monsters due to a survivor’s mental state. Come to think of it, the protagonist was quite fond of giving names to things.
And if the protagonist bothered to name them, it meant they occurred frequently. Owner Yoon Garam was the first among the protagonist’s group to trigger a phenomenon.
But this time, no phenomenon had occurred.
‘Was the difference really whether Ha Sungyoon was alive or not…?’
She cherished and relied on him that much. In the novel, Yoon Garam had said, ‘It was like I was the one who killed him’, and Lee Jaehun thought there was some truth to that. She had probably realized, instinctively, that she wanted Ha Sungyoon dead for her own primal plɛasʊrɛ.
But unlike the original story, the doctor was alive, and Yoon Garam was relatively stable. It was understandable that her awakening was delayed, as she couldn’t easily confront what she considered her flaw. However…
“…….”
“Aren’t you going to eat that? The doctor said you need to eat a lot.”
Read at Novelib.com
“…There’s nagging from all sides…”
Lee Jaehun frowned as he put the fruit in his mouth.
‘However, the question is what those tree roots were meant to signify.’
How much influence did Yoon Garam have on this park?
“…Oh, by the way.”
Park Dayoung ‘pretended’ to remember something and spoke.
“Ahjussi, this is about when we separated from you and waited in the tree with just Mina unnie.”
Read at Novelib.com
“Why are you leaving your brother out?”
“Because Park Dahoon and I are one.”
Starting with a joke, Park Dayoung stealthily glanced at Lee Jaehun. She exchanged glances with Park Dahoon, who was sitting at the side of the pavilion. Their gazes briefly landed on Dr. Ha Sungyoon before quickly darting away.
Lee Jaehun carefully observed their subtle fidgeting.
“…….”
“Park Dahoon said he saw a child and an adult.”
“A child and an adult.”
“The doctor said he only saw a child when we met him later.”
Read at Novelib.com
“Huh…”
“Was the dead child you saw… the same one he saw back then?”
At Park Dayoung’s question, Lee Jaehun darted his eyes a few times, blinked once, and answered pointedly.
“…Well.”
“…….”
“Maybe not.”
His gaze flicked towards Song Inmyeong before quickly returning to the fruit in his hand. He took a small bite.
Chewing the piece of fruit, Lee Jaehun muttered softly,
“…This texture is really weird.”
“Why? Isn’t the soft texture nice?”
“It’s like eating clay.”
He frowned at the translucent fruit he’d nibbled on.
Even real marzipan wasn’t this sweet. The texture was similar, though, making it feel like he was eating clay made of sugar. How could something that looked like a glass bead or a lightbulb be this sweet?
But if he started questioning that, he’d have to question every living and non-living thing in the otherworld, starting with the glass apples, so he silently popped the rest of the fruit into his mouth.
“I do enjoy sweet, but… this is excessively sweet. I understand what Assistant Manager Jung meant when he said his tongue hurt. I feel bad.”
“You don’t look sorry at all, ahjussi.”
“This is the adult world, chicks. When will you kids grow up?”
“I don’t want to grow up…”
“Suit yourselves.”
His gaze rested on Detective Hong Kyungjun, who was also frowning and covering his mouth.
“You’re still too young to be adults.”
He’d even engaged in a battle of wits with the protagonist, acting like an adult.
‘I wonder if the original story is getting too distorted because I interfered.’
Aside from the child’s corpse, the atmosphere among the survivors was too bright.
Especially the detective, who had been coercive and obsessive in the novel, was showing almost none of those traits. Hong Kyungjun should have been obsessively scrutinizing every move the survivors made, like a madman.
Furthermore, the university students, who had acted independently of the detective in the novel, had joined the group. Lee Jaehun couldn’t understand what had changed to make those independent students join Hong Kyungjun’s team.
“…Ahjussi.”
“Yeah?”
“We like you the most, ahjussi.”
“…….”
What’s with this kid, really?
“…You absolutely can’t dⁱㅌ… okay?”
Even after saying that, it seemed Park Dayoung didn’t really expect an answer. She simply got up and went to find her younger brother, Park Dahoon. As a result, the only one left sitting there, dumbfounded, was Lee Jaehun.
He muttered as if out of habit.
‘It’s hard to make a living.’
I’m going to dⁱㅌ, what are these chicks going to do with their mental states?
At this point, it wasn’t even about the plan anymore—honestly, he just wanted to dⁱㅌ once and take some break. Lee Jaehun knew that mental fortitude was crucial in the otherworld, but experiencing this wretched downfall firsthand with his own frail body was an entirely different kind of torment.
How could he describe it? It was like finishing a timed exam and being filled with regret, but since it was a self-administered practice test, he could retake it as many times as he wanted. With that opportunity right in front of him, he just wanted to give up.
The only reason he wasn’t immediately committing suicide was because of the protagonist’s ability to remember the regression.
‘I need to set things up so that he can see as far into the future as possible.’
So, Lee Jaehun had planned to go out and dⁱㅌ with the murderer, but now the chicks were a problem too. As expected of minors, they were overly fixated on one person’s life…
“…….”
Oh, wait a second.
“…Manager, is something wrong?”
“…I just realized something.”
Could it be that these b⋏st⋏rds would also become dysfunctional if he dⁱㅌd?
Seriously?
“Is that so?”
“…….”
Lee Jaehun was momentarily speechless. It was more than just a hunch; these b⋏st⋏rds were definitely chicks in adult bodies.
This was driving him crazy.
* * *
Around dawn, as everyone slept,
“Manager.”
“…….”
“I know you’re not asleep.”
The protagonist called out to Lee Jaehun.
He, who had been pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, frowned deeply at Jung Inho’s face, which was looking at him with an earnest smile. He’d heard some rustling and now saw that Ha Sungyoon and Kang Mina were also awake.
This was clearly a premeditated gathering orchestrated by the protagonist.
“…Huh.”
He had a headache.
So that’s why you so readily agreed to take the night watch, you creepy b⋏st⋏rd.