Chapter 164 |
“….”
Kang Mina blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing.
“…Ah, I think it’s okay to talk now.”
“…Yes? Ah, uh, yes.”
“It’s easier to approach than I thought, even though it’s quite timid.”
At his near-mumbling, she shook her head without realizing it.
‘No way.’
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Kang Mina still remembered Kwon Yeonhee bursting into tears and collapsing when she encountered that monster.
But Manager Lee Jaehun was stroking that monster as if it were nothing.
“…Are you alright?”
Such a question came out naturally in this situation.
“Are you poisoned or in pain…?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any problem with contact. My hand got a little wㅌt, but as you can see, it doesn’t seem hostile.”
“…….”
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“If I have to be specific, I feel a little nauseous.”
He continued speaking calmly.
“Still, it’s much better if we can avoid fighting. Thanks to all the monsters attacking us at the slightest eye contact, our team’s mental state isn’t that great either.”
“…Ah….”
“I don’t know about the others, but all I get is just motion sickness…. I didn’t think it would actually work, but if we can avoid combat this way, it’s a huge advantage for us.”
“…….”
“It’s a relief that I figured this out now.”
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Kang Mina’s hand holding the hammer trembled slightly.
‘…Ah, again.’
Once again, Manager Lee Jaehun sacrificed himself for the right path.
‘He used himself as a test subject.’
But Kang Mina couldn’t scold him like Jung Inho or Ha Sungyoon did.
In the end, all of his actions and broken promises that were beyond their common sense were for their sake. Since it was clear that they had received great help thanks to Manager Lee Jaehun stepping up, she shouldn’t get angry at him for the harm he suffered, regardless of her feelings.
“…Manager, even so….”
Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
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“You don’t know what side effects there might be. It could suddenly bite you, or what if that monster… gets too close to you, Manager? Like, follows you around.”
“Ah, right. Even if I’m fine, you guys would have a problem. It would be hard to ignore a monster right next to me.”
They were back to square one after a short detour.
Kang Mina was speechless at how he always ended up worrying about others, not himself, no matter what she said. She had felt it before, but Lee Jaehun truly didn’t know how to think about himself.
“…….”
At that moment, the faces of Jung Inho and Ha Sungyoon came to mind.
“…Yes, we. About that.”
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“…….”
“We are much weaker than you, Manager. Even if this contact was successful, we don’t know what the outcome will be. So, it could also harm us, the ones you lead….”
“That’s true.”
“…I wish you would stop.”
Even to her, it sounded like a selfish request, but unlike Kang Mina’s increasingly distorted face, Lee Jaehun remained calm.
“I’m sorry…. I’ll just figure out the limits and come back right away if you’re that worried.”
“…Yes.”
“There won’t be any major problems. Actually, there are some monsters that aren’t very dangerous as long as they’re not agitated, so even if they become attached to me after contact, there won’t be any harm. If a problem arises, I’ll handle it myself, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
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“I-If a problem arises, you have to let us know. So we can be prepared.”
“…….”
Only when she said that did Lee Jaehun finally look up at Kang Mina.
“…You’ve grown quite a bit.”
“…Yes?”
“No, it’s a compliment.”
A faint smile spread across his face, which had looked slightly surprised.
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“I like that you say what you want to say directly.”
“…Thank you?”
Kang Mina mumbled, not knowing what she was saying, and upon hearing the unexpected words of gratitude, Lee Jaehun turned his gaze back to the monster. The crude, dⁱrty, doll-like monster seemed to be delighted by his attention, constantly wagging its bent and stiff tail.
Kang Mina felt another wave of nausea at the sight of its deformed body part.
“…….”
I couldn’t do that.
‘It’s selfish.’
She wasn’t mature enough.
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Her two hands gripping the hammer trembled faintly.
Ever since she had the dream, her mind had been in turmoil. The memories swirling within her head gave her goosebumps, and the thought that they weren’t hers made it even more bizarre. They were traces of time that had nothing to do with the current Kang Mina, yet they flowed through someone who looked exactly like her.
‘…If what the Manager said is true, did Jung Inho also have the same dream?’
Manager Lee Jaehun told her to organize those dreams, memories, and traces and report them to him, but….
“Do you know this, Ms. Kang Mina?”
“…What is it?”
“This park. I heard that there were a lot of abandoned dogs in the real park, not the otherworld.”
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“…….”
“I haven’t seen it myself, but that’s what I heard.”
“But this isn’t really a dog, it’s just a monster.”
“It’s a monster that can evoke all the emotions we can think of about abandoned dogs.”
Kang Mina’s gaze landed on the black monster.
“…Aha….”
She understood where the dⁱsgʊstⁱng pity she felt for it came from.
“Somehow, I felt sorry for it….”
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A memory spread through her mind.
In the memory, Kang Mina was searching for someone with Ha Sungyoon. It was probably Manager Lee Jaehun. While running, filled with anxiety and the urgent need to find him, monsters swarmed them. Right after escaping from those monsters, Kang Mina encountered one of these abandoned dog monsters.
“I didn’t want to hit it or kill it.”
“…….”
“…I just watched it.”
It was a pitiful monster dying at the hands of a murderer.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have.”
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For some reason, the monster nestled in Lee Jaehun’s arms didn’t seem as dⁱsgʊstⁱng as before. No, it was dⁱsgʊstⁱng. Dⁱsgʊstⁱng like bugs crawling on her skin, yet she couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. She felt as if her aversion to it had lessened, which was ridiculous considering how she felt about herself.
‘Kang Mina’ had just watched it dⁱㅌ at the hands of Song Inmyeong.
“…….”
That wasn’t much different from when she was hanging off the cliff, clinging to Manager Lee Jaehun.
She blinked.
“…Can monsters cry?”
She recalled the bumpy teardrops, like dripping candle wax, falling from the button eyes.
“They can, although it’s rare.”
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“Have you seen it, Manager?”
“…I have.”
“Then, did you pity them?”
Lee Jaehun let out a hollow laugh. Or maybe it was a scoff.
“I can barely take care of myself, so how can I have time to pity anyone else?”
Yet his hand was still stroking the monster’s back.
“…I thought you’d say that.”
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He was such a contradictory person.
If you only listened to his words, he’d sound like the most selfish and terrible person in the world, but when you looked at the results, the most battered one was always Manager Lee Jaehun. Even now, his attempt was for their group, and wasn’t there pity hanging at his fingertips as he stroked the monster?
If Lee Jaehun didn’t truly pity the monster, he wouldn’t have been able to touch it. The abandoned dog monster wouldn’t have been nestled so comfortably in his arms.
“…….”
As always, Lee Jaehun provided only the right answers.
‘So I…’
All she had to do was protect him.
Yes, that was all.
“…Let’s go back now.”
“Is it time already?”
“Mr. Jung Inho is really scary when he’s angry.”
“Whoa, are you comparing the manager to an assistant manager now?”
“You don’t care anyway….”
Kang Mina gradually organized her thoughts.
Three days. That was the total amount of time Manager Lee Jaehun had given her. For three days, long or short depending on how you looked at it, Kang Mina had to organize her unbelievably horrific memories and report them to him.
“Doesn’t it look cute like this?”
“…Are you serious?”
“Was it a statement that deserved such a serious expression?”
But.
“It’s just too weird.”
You’re alive and moving right now.
“So stop it and let’s go, it’s already late.”
“Huh, really….”
In Kang Mina’s memories, Lee Jaehun was dead.
It was a cruel memory. The image of him leaning against a tree, with his eyes peacefully closed, like a toy carelessly broken by a child or meat butchered by an unskilled cook. Just thinking about it made her nauseous.
She instinctively felt a sense of foreboding.
“What if we encounter something dangerous while doing this?”
And,
That anxiety materialized.
“You’re right about that.”
“…….”
“Wow… Mister, did you just tame that monster? How did you do it? Doesn’t your hand hurt? My head hurts so much that I can’t stand it when I see those things.”
“…You….”
The murderer, who had been hiding in the bushes, spoke with an innocent smile.
“That’s really awesome.”
* * *
Song Inmyeong really didn’t like this world.
‘It’s a good place to kill someone, but this is a bit much.’
To be honest, the reason he killed people, while he couldn’t deny the thrill he got from the process, was ultimately to acquire materials to complete his work. This world, lacking proper tools and a workspace, made it difficult to process even when he found a suitable subject.
“My stomach is already churning from touching something I don’t even like….”
He frowned, recalling a man he met for the second time in the park.
“Why did that idiot have to cause a scene?”
The man had an extremely common appearance and was a bit slow-witted. Even considering how many cowardly people he’d seen, even Song Inmyeong, who had witnessed all sorts of things, had never seen an idiot hide behind a kindergartener just because a monster appeared.
Frankly, the man seemed mentally ill. Judging by the way he spoke, he lacked common sense, yet clung to a child, trembling in fear. Song Inmyeong usually used harsh language, calling even able-bodied people idiots, but that slowpoke seemed genuinely deficient.
Therefore, not only was the man far from his current theme, he also found the man personally annoying, so Song Inmyeong didn’t want to bother with him. The man was a moron who didn’t even have that kind of option.
“Where did the body go?”
He had to kill the man because, of all things, that guy had spread Song Inmyeong’s past deeds.
‘Well, whatever. A monster probably ate it.’
Song Inmyeong entered the park alone and immediately after that, he met a man named Moon Sangun who was exploring the park. Around the time he barely managed to find traces of Vivian and Seo Janghwa, he encountered that idiot and the kid. Right before meeting his ‘friends’, the idiot started flapping his lips unnecessarily.
Song Inmyeong, unwilling to lose his ‘friends’, quickly tried to kill them all, but missed because Seo Janghwa and Vivian were nearby. It was a fatal mistake, but there was no immediate problem.
“It’s still okay so far.”
In the end, he used a monster to kill the idiot a while ago. Since Song Inmyeong joined Detective Hong Kyungjun’s team before Moon Sangun and the kid, those two would still be wandering around the park.
‘How long can Moon Sangun, with no particular abilities, last with a small child in tow?’
Even if they survived, Song Inmyeong could just kill them. Of course, it was annoying to have to keep patrolling to find and kill them first, but still, it was better than messing things up…
“…….”
While patrolling, Song Inmyeong witnessed a very surprising sight.
“…What the?”
A man was reaching out to a dog-like monster.
What the hㅌll, what kind of crazy b⋏st⋏rd is that?