Chapter 150 |
Around the time the sky began to brighten and the people who would retrieve the fish traps woke up, Jung Inho naturally woke the rest of the group.
Rather than outright waking them, he made his presence known by talking loudly nearby or creating vibrations they could feel. It was a classic tactic, but since he was the protagonist, it seemed genuinely inconspicuous.
Then, he stared intently at Lee Jaehun with his dark eyes.
“…….”
“…Ah, do you have something to say?”
“Hmm.”
Lee Jaehun was speechless at the blatant prompt. Every time Jung Inho acted shamelessly like this, Lee Jaehun was reminded of his junior from his previous life, and the back of his neck ached. Why did the author make this guy the protagonist?
In the end, Lee Jaehun had to speak.
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If he was going to be pressed anyway, it was better to confess on his own terms.
At Lee Jaehun’s request, Jung Inho readily gathered everyone around. Suppressing his inner lament, Lee Jaehun told the story of ‘Lee Jaehun’ as Jung Inho wanted.
He recounted everything he had told them in the previous loop, but this time, he added something new.
‘This much personal information shouldn’t be a problem for the plot.’
He reasoned that since he was much more relaxed and composed than the last time, there should be a psychological difference. By appropriately mixing in events from his past life, he figured the perceptive protagonist and the doctor wouldn’t notice any significant discrepancies.
However, after he finished the story, a brief silence fell.
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“…….”
“…….”
“…Sob…”
“What’s wrong? Why are you like this?”
“Waaah…”
The reactions of his listeners startled Lee Jaehun.
“Manager…!”
Their responses were mainly divided into two categories: crying or laughing. Of course, the underlying base seemed to be a mixture of dumbfoundedness, shock, and surprise.
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“What, why, what’s going on?! What is this, really!”
Lee Jaehun gently dodged Kwon Yeonhee as she tried to cling to him, but feeling a little guilty about completely avoiding her small frame as she sobbed and whimpered, he eventually let her catch him. He didn’t particularly enjoy people clinging to him and crying, but it wasn’t unbearable.
However, the knowing looks from some of the group, including the protagonist, who dismissed his genuine alarm as acting, were quite annoying. While it was true that this was partly an act, the occasional misinterpretation of his genuine feelings as fake in situations like this left him with a strange sense of dejection. I’ve raised a litter of tiger cubs.
And surprisingly, the most dramatic reaction came from Intern Noh Yeonseok.
“…An elementary school student?”
“…Yeah.”
“An elementary school student?”
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“…Yeah.”
“Elementary…”
“Stop, that’s enough.”
He seemed a little broken.
‘Well, he was scared of me, wasn’t he?’
Noh Yeonseok was the one who felt the greatest dissonance between the boomer Manager Lee Jaehun and the ‘Lee Jaehun’ of the story. He was also the one with a sound enough mind to find it incomprehensible that someone would live with such a divided personality, and the mentally weakest, using all his meager strength just to maintain his sanity.
So, he had been avoiding Lee Jaehun, perceiving him as a monster, or keeping his mouth shut. But after hearing the story, the wall he had built against ‘Lee Jaehun’ seemed to have crumbled considerably. Lee Jaehun could almost guarantee it.
“W-W-Why are you telling us this now…!”
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“…….”
“No, wait, why are you saying it so casually, really! You said it so matter-of-factly that I almost accepted it naturally! Even at the oldest, an elementary school student is only in their early teens, right? You were just a kid!”
“Well, I was in the upper grades…”
“Maximum 13 years old! Minimum 11 years old!”
“Stop it. You don’t have to be so specific.”
A sense of déjà vu washed over Lee Jaehun.
‘Is it just me, or are their reactions even more intense than last time?’
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Of course, it probably wasn’t just him. There were differences in the time available and the context. It was true that the current Noh Yeonseok was different, just as ‘Lee Jaehun’ had changed.
He just wanted to scream.
‘It’s hard to make a living.’
Thus, Lee Jaehun mobilized all his acting skills and concluded his story with the concept of, ‘Sigh, I really didn’t want to talk about this, but my thoughts have changed a little, and I’m telling you this because it’s you guys.’
He talked about his past, the effects of the algae monster, and even matters outside the otherworld.
“…….”
“…What is it?”
“Ah, nothing.”
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Around that time, Lee Jaehun felt a strange sense of unease from Kang Mina.
‘…Is something really wrong?’
Come to think of it, Kang Mina’s lines, where she had talked about Lee Jaehun several times in the previous loop, had been omitted. Perhaps the unease he was feeling stemmed from that. However, since the circumstances were different from the previous loop, it was natural for there to be changes in the dialogue.
As he pondered the source of his unease, Kwon Yeonhee, who had been clinging to him and sobbing, spoke with an almost solemn expression.
“…Let’s exclude the Manager rom the gathering team today.”
“What?”
“Agreed.”
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“Hey, guys.”
What about my opinion?
Ignoring Jae-heon’s bewildered look, the group nodded amongst themselves.
He had half-expected this to happen, but Lee Jaehun couldn’t hide his dismay. Look at these ungrateful brats.
“I made that fish trap.”
“There should be one person to make it and another to retrieve it.”
“We can just go together. I can just watch from the sidelines.”
“Then why do you want to go with us?”
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“I can pick more glass apples, fetch water… There’s a lot to do while we’re there.”
“We can do that too, sir.”
“Seriously…”
Repeatedly interrupted, Lee Jaehun pressed his temples with one hand.
‘Well, he’s the one who talked about making a bed out of wood and tying me to it when we were making the fish trap…’
While he couldn’t entirely disagree, it was still annoying. From the chicks’ perspective, they were worried about Lee Jaehun, so they were acting this way, but that was a different story from what he was feeling.
He dreaded the loss of his value more than anything. Weren’t humans capable of abandoning each other at any moment in extreme situations? Memories faded quickly and lost their meaning, but even minor inconveniences were etched in one’s mind for a long time.
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Words like, ‘It wasn’t a big deal at the time’ held no value in the face of heightened human emotions. Knowing this all too well, Lee Jaehun found it difficult to fully accept the group’s goodwill.
“But…”
Just as he opened his mouth again, feeling somewhat disappointed—
“Manager.”
“…Huh?”
“Rest.”
“…….”
“We’ll be back.”
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The protagonist’s words left him speechless.
Judging by the way those creepy eyes had rolled back halfway, Lee Jaehun was certain that he shouldn’t push it any further. It was almost a survival instinct, even though this person wasn’t Detective Hong.
“…Alright.”
In the end, it was Jae-heon who yielded.
‘It can’t be helped.’
To kill the algae monster in one go this time, he had to carefully manage the mentally unstable protagonist. It was like trying to finish a 5km marathon while holding an uncooked pea with chopsticks, so he couldn’t push him too hard from the start. He might bounce right off.
“I’ll be sitting by the bonfire, staring into the flames, so go ahead and do your thing.”
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“Oh dear, are you upset?”
“Seriously, you…”
Besides, resting right now was the right thing to do.
“But your condition… isn’t it very bad?”
“…….”
He couldn’t argue with that.
In the previous loop, thanks to the protagonist taking on his pain, his mind was relatively clear, and his body felt much lighter. Of course, right before his death, thanks to the trash named Song Inmyeong, he’d been left in tatters, but even that was better than before he ate the fruit. That was why he was able to pretend to be a monster.
‘But I can’t say I’m fine now, even as a formality.’
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It was a known fact that after a period of reprieve from pain, the recurrence was twice as agonizing. When the pain was constant, he hadn’t thought much of it, but even a short break was enough to drive a person mad. There was a reason why even torturers incorporated short breaks to allow their subjects to rest.
Lee Jaehun’s current state was similar.
‘My body feels heavy.’
And it hurt.
“While we’re at it, I’ll wash the bandages again. Mr. Ha Sungyoon, could you take a look at Manager’s wounds later?”
“Of course. Sir, please stay by the fire as you said. Without any proper medicine, we have to rely on your natural healing ability as much as possible. I understand you want to help us, but sometimes rest is the best medicine.”
“…Alright, stop nagging…”
Lee Jaehun averted his gaze and made a troubled expression.
Although his mind was relatively clear now, having just returned from the previous loop, it hadn’t been in great shape right before the regression. He suspected it was due to Ha Sungyoon and Lee Yoonbyeol’s mental burdens shifting onto him.
Nevertheless, his condition was better than before he ate the fruit, and it seemed he had retained some of its benefits after the regression. He couldn’t clearly recall the extent of the mental strain he’d felt at this point in the previous loop, but judging by how well his mind was working, the situation wasn’t bad for now.
Yes, ‘for now’.
“Ahjussi, um, do you want to eat this?”
“…I’m fine.”
“The doctor said sugar is good for the body…”
“D⋏mn it, just give it here.”
“Yay.”
Lee Jaehun took a bite of the perfectly segmented glass apple offered by Park Dayoung and sighed.
‘I have a feeling that even this will get worse soon.’
It was ironic that he was reconsidering his earlier thoughts, but it was surprising even to him that his mind was working this well, considering how much Song Inmyeong had tormented him before the regression. Perhaps because he wasn’t ⁱnsⁱdㅌ the building, it wasn’t as intensely painful, but he had faced his trauma head-on.
If it wasn’t the influence of his pre-regression experience, then perhaps something was affecting him post-regression.
‘Some kind of awakened state, perhaps?’
Even in games, characters sometimes became briefly invulnerable after resurrecting. He thought it might be something similar.
In conclusion, resting while he could was a wise decision in many ways. It seemed that the protagonist’s mental state improved the more Lee Jaehun rested.
“Manager, please rest then.”
“How many times do I have to say that I understand?”
“And don’t go anywhere.”
“…….”
“…Don’t go anywhere.”
“I’m not going, I’m not going. I have nowhere to go…”
Startled by the intensity of the repeated pleas, Lee Jaehun quickly spoke.
“That’s good to hear.”
“…Hmm…”
Lee Jaehun was somewhat unnerved by the earnest smile.
Honestly, even Jung Inho himself seemed uncomfortable with having to look after Manager Lee Jaehun’s well-being, but his desperation showed how deeply the previous loop had affected him. To override his physiological aversion and act this concerned…
‘He seems to think of me as a talisman or something.’
The effect was probably something like, ‘Negates casualties when carried.’ In other words, he seemed to be harboring the foolish notion that ‘as long as Lee Jaehun is alive, no one will dⁱㅌ’. If the protagonist wasn’t in such a fragile state, Lee Jaehun would have wanted to smack him upside the head for such a delusion.
Hey, I’m human too. I can’t save everyone just by being alive. Feeling a little wronged but unable to voice his complaints, Lee Jaehun watched the departing gathering team with a forlorn gaze.
“…Why is Student Park Dahoon included?”
“Um, well, I volunteered… I thought it wouldn’t be too dangerous in the morning…”
“Oh… Okay. If you volunteered, I have nothing to say.”
At his words, the sturdy 18-year-old student tried to hide his delight. Realizing his blunder, Lee Jaehun quickly plastered a natural, faint look of concern on his face and continued.
“This will be a helpful experience for you in the future, so it can’t be helped… But never stand in the front. Let the adults handle that kind of thing. Got it?”
“…But, still…”
Such a love-starved chick. He needed to hear these things directly to feel reassured.
“It’s okay. See that creepy guy in black over there? If a monster appears, just hide behind him. Use him as a shield.”
“…Manager?”
“Surely our Assistant Manager Jung wouldn’t put an 18-year-old in danger, would he? Right?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
After a brief exchange, lighter than last time but still tinged with a heavier atmosphere, they finally set off. Lee Jaehun figured they would take longer than the previous timeline, not only retrieving the fish traps but also picking fruit, fetching water, and washing bandages.
Feeling stares boring into the back of his head, Lee Jaehun blinked slowly.
“…….”
“…Do you, um, want to rest?”
“…Yeah.”
Now, he had to deal with the bomb he’d dropped.
No one would hear a backstory like that and not have any questions.