Chapter 154 |
In truth, Lee Jaehun’s suspicions were correct. For Jung Inho, to avoid repeating the same foolish mistakes as before, Owner Choi Jungman’s child had to be alive.
‘And if they’ve already been threatened by Song Inmyeong, that would be even better.’
That would make it much easier to ruin Song Inmyeong.
Detective Hong Kyungjun had a very stubborn side, but the difference between having a witness and not having one was significant. If the child and two other adults knew Song Inmyeong’s true nature, the suspicion directed at Jung Inho would quickly dissipate.
Around that time, Jung Inho felt a twisted sense of self-loathing.
“Mr. Inho, are you sure it was around here?”
“Yes, probably… I think I heard voices around here.”
He had wanted to be a good person, but in the end, when things got tough for him, he didn’t hesitate to wish suffering on others. Even though he knew encountering a murderer would be a nightmare in itself, he couldn’t change his mind. He wondered if he was any better than Song Inmyeong.
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He meant it.
Noh Yeonseok and Kang Mina nodded at Jung Inho’s murmur.
“Y-Yes. It’ll be much more dangerous when it gets dark…”
“You said there was a child…? I hope they’re not hurt.”
The two were genuinely worried about the safety of the other survivors.
Come to think of it, they had welcomed Owner Yoon Garam and Dr. Ha Sungyoon when they joined the group. A lot had happened, but from Kang Mina and Nih Yeonseok’s perspective, it hadn’t been that long. It wouldn’t be strange if they still held onto those feelings.
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Only Jung Inho, who had changed dozens of times, felt the urgency.
“We should pray they’re not hurt…”
A sudden wave of loneliness washed over him, as if he were the only one left in an empty world. Among these people who genuinely worried about the well-being of the survivors, only he, the changed Jung Inho, was calculating gains and losses. It was a strange and miserable thing.
Yet, he couldn’t help but hope.
‘If they’re dead, I’ll be the first one to break.’
Let alone Owner Choi Jungman. If Jung Inho saw the dead child, he wouldn’t be able to bear it and would either go mad or give up on Owner Choi Jungman. He wouldn’t be able to kill that once amiable man, whose eyes would be filled with murderous intent.
No, he just couldn’t.
“…W-Wait. Wait a minute.”
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“…….”
“Didn’t you hear something just now?”
The reason Jung Inho hadn’t given up on everything was the flimsy promise Manager Lee Jaehun had made to not dⁱㅌ. That was why he was still clinging on, forcing strength into his legs.
“…I heard it too. Me too, Mr. Inho. Mr. Inho…”
“…Yes.”
He blinked slowly and continued.
“That was the sound I heard.”
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It was a lie.
Jung Inho hadn’t actually heard the survivors’ voices. But he needed an excuse to go look for someone else, and since this world was full of surreal phenomena, he’d spun that lie, intending to make up a story later.
‘It’s a good thing Mr. Ha Sungyoon or the Manager corroborated my story.’
Remembering the bloodied man, Jung Inho quickened his pace.
“Ms. Kang Mina, can you check if there are any monsters nearby?”
“…If they come close, I can fend them off.”
“That’s reassuring. Yeonseok, can you assist Senior Associate Kang?”
“Oh, yes! Yes! I will.”
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Jung Inho felt a faint sense of unease at Kang Mina’s firm voice, but he dismissed it as insignificant. He was too exhausted to consider another variable in this situation.
Almost as if possessed, he pushed ahead and found two figures hidden within the parted bushes.
“…Ah.”
Thump.
His breath hitched.
“Sob, hic. Huuh…”
One was a familiar, yet strangely alive and breathing, child.
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“…W-Who are you?”
“…….”
The other was an adult man with an unfamiliar face, one that hadn’t been gruesomely mangled beyond recognition before.
A desperate breath escaped his lips.
* * *
The other one was never found.
* * *
“…….”
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“…So I searched around and asked some questions…”
Jung Inho, having laid out the whole situation, continued,
“They said one person had already been killed.”
“…Is that so?”
Lee Jaehun who had been unexpectedly dragged away as soon as the gathering party returned, wore a strange expression at the protagonist’s almost desperately thorough report. Various complex emotions swirled within him, but…
“That’s unfortunate.”
To be honest, he was a little bewildered.
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‘Wasn’t it supposed to return to a point where every survivor I knew was alive?’
That was the conclusion Lee Jaehun had drawn after observing the situation so far.
Wasn’t it supposed to revert to a point where all the survivors he knew and had seen were alive? Or to a point where he could save them all?
So, he had assumed that if a regression occurred, it would be to a time when all the survivors were alive. Of course, this was only his second regression, so there were so many possibilities he could consider…
“…….”
Wait a minute.
‘All survivors?’
And the body that had vanished as if deleted.
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A sudden sense of unease made him frown, but he couldn’t pinpoint the reason. Instinctively realizing this would take a while to figure out, Lee Jaehun continued as if nothing was amiss.
“Then, using their testimonies… we can take down the guy who supposedly killed me, right?”
Jung Inho, who had momentarily stiffened, calmly opened his mouth.
“…Logically, yes. As long as Detective Hong Kyungjun doesn’t stubbornly insist on his own way.”
“Stubborn? What are you talking about? We have witnesses.”
At Lee Jaehun’s question, feigning ignorance despite knowing the answer, Jung Inho replied with a maintained smile.
“That can’t be considered evidence. We need fingerprints, CCTV footage, or confirmation of the blood’s owner.”
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“Huh.”
“Moreover, we couldn’t even find the body of the person Song Inmyeong supposedly killed. Hopefully, I just missed it while rushing around, but strangely, only the bloodstains remained…”
“…….”
“He might become a prime suspect, but they won’t outright treat him as the culprit. That’s what I think.”
Jung Inho’s lips twisted for a moment.
“He’s a very noble man, isn’t he?”
Lee Jaehun understood the implied insult directed at Detective Hong Kyungjun.
‘Is this guy going to kill him himself if he finds a good enough excuse?’
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From what he’d heard, it seemed Jung Inho had killed before, albeit out of necessity. Still, there was a big difference between someone who had blood on their hands and someone who didn’t. Jung Inho’s aversion to killing seemed considerably lowered, so Lee Jaehun wondered if he might even kill an innocent person if he lost control.
As Lee Jaehun watched him with a strange feeling, Jung Inho continued.
“Besides, in this world, mental strength plays a significant role. It even creates hallucinations, so the Detective will argue that someone can’t be branded a murderer based solely on someone else’s memory.”
“…That’s, well…”
“In a way, he could be considered crazy. He’s stubbornly fixated on rules.”
Well, Lee Jaehun knew this from the novel.
‘Hearing it like this, I can vividly understand why the protagonist was pissed off.’
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They definitely had clashing personalities. Jung Inho admired goodness, and here was Hong Kyungjun, in a position Jung Inho could never reach, not performing righteous acts. Jung Inho would be feeling a sense of deprivation and inferiority, along with an indescribable sense of betrayal.
But Hong Kyungjun had his own sense of justice. It wasn’t explicitly described in the novel, but that was what Lee Jaehun felt. And perhaps his mental state had deteriorated under the influence of this other world. The novel mentioned Hong Kyungjun wasn’t so narrow-minded in reality.
‘The bottom line is, those two will never see eye to eye.’
He couldn’t help but sigh. When would these bright yellow chicks grow up?
“…Then…”
Lee Jaehun, his mind dulled by exhaustion, blurted out his thoughts.
“Should we try using bait? I’ll approach him and try to manipulate him. That guy will react when he meets a victim who remembers his face, and in that moment, I can sneak up on him, provoke him, and make him confess…”
“No.”
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“…….”
“Absolutely not.”
Only after hearing the sharply hardened voice did Lee Jaehun come to his senses.
“…I misspoke.”
“Don’t do it. Don’t do anything. Just stay put.”
“I said I misspoke. It was just a thought…”
“The fact that you’re even having such thoughts is the problem.”
“Hmm…”
This time, Lee Jaehun had nothing to say. He knew his death had a significant impact on the protagonist’s mental state, yet he still poked at it… Wait a minute.
Honestly, it was unfair.
‘D⋏mn it, I was just tired and my words slipped.’
More importantly, how could he change his way of thinking? He had lived his entire previous life with this mindset, and in this life, he wasn’t exactly a typical, socially well-adjusted individual. Even if he was scolded to change his thoughts, how much could he really change? They should be thankful he didn’t voice every thought.
“Oh, come on, I can just control myself. Control myself.”
“It’s not about controlling yourself, it’s about not even thinking about it in the first place, Manager.”
“I said I understand, you b⋏st⋏rd…!”
But then this thought occurred to him.
‘Isn’t that a pretty good plan, considering I just came up with it?’
If Jung Inho had heard this thought, he would have not only grabbed Lee Jaehun by the collar, but also punched him in the face, knocked him unconscious, and tied him to a tree. Unfortunately, Lee Jaehun was unaware of this. It was a decent plan, too good to discard just to appease the protagonist.
Detective Hong Kyungjun wouldn’t be able to deny it if a murder occurred right in front of him, and since an innocent person shouldn’t dⁱㅌ in the process, the experienced instructor, Lee Jaehun, would step in as the ‘victim’. Since Song Inmyeong targeting Lee Jaehun was already a given, wouldn’t it be possible to subtly watch for the right timing and trigger the event?
‘Then, even if Song Inmyeong suddenly dⁱㅌs, we won’t have to worry too much…’
Lee Jaehun, contemplating becoming the perpetrator of that ‘sudden death’, carefully tucked his thoughts away and said calmly,
“Don’t worry, I really won’t do anything. I’ll follow Mr. Jung Inho’s lead.”
“…I don’t trust you…”
“What do you want me to do…? I can’t help getting caught up in things against my will, but I won’t do anything intentionally. I promise.”
Of course, it was Lee Jaehun’s responsibility to make it seem that way.
‘If you don’t get caught, it’s the truth.’
In the first place, he didn’t understand the excessive worry. While it was true that Lee Jaehun was responsible for the current situation, 70% of it was unintentional, which made it even more perplexing.
Nodding inwardly, he stroked his neck and spoke again.
“More importantly, shouldn’t we go back? It’ll look strange to the others if we keep talking by ourselves.”
“…That’s true.”
The protagonist readily agreed, and Lee Jaehun, relieved by this, led him back to their original spot. Familiar faces were gathered around the bonfire, which wasn’t far away.
Lee Jaehun made eye contact with an unfamiliar face and casually spoke.
“How are you feeling? Have you calmed down a bit?”
“…Uh… well…”
The man with scholarly features, holding a sleeping child in his arms like Teacher Lee Yoonbyeol had done, moved his lips. He slowly uttered in a raspy voice,
“…Yes, thank you.”
“…….”
“As I said before, my name is Moon Sangun.”
His name was Moon Sangun.
Incidentally, following Kim Yeonwoo and Han Doyoon, he was the third most sunfish-like person in the group.