Chapter 174 |
The protagonist’s mental state being broken was already a known fact.
‘That’s why he tried to escape at the end of this turn.’
Lee Jaehun predicted that whether the protagonist could end it in one go, or whether he would drag it out a couple more times before ending it, would be a major turning point in determining his future tendencies.
However, things didn’t go as planned. He intended to subtly manipulate the protagonist’s mental state and have him rejoin Hong Kyungjun’s team as soon as the internal matters were settled, but Jung Inho’s heart seemed to have already turned away from them. To make matters worse, even Moon Sangun, whom he had personally saved, didn’t seem to appeal to him anymore.
“What about Mr. Moon Sangun….”
“Ah, I…”
“You can stay here, or you can go to Detective Hong’s team. I will respect your opinion as much as possible, so please speak freely.”
Lee Jaehun was at a loss for words at the sight of Jung Inho smiling gently as he spoke.
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Well, who would want to go to a place where there was a murderer actively trying to kill them?
Moon Sangun probably had similar thoughts, as his expression wasn’t good. In the first place, unlike the creepy people on their side, he was an inflexible, principled man who wasn’t skilled at managing his facial expressions, so it couldn’t be helped. It was also funny that the protagonist was smiling nonchalantly while watching it all unfold before his eyes.
“…Can I stay here?”
“Of course.”
But the current situation wasn’t funny at all.
‘Look at that creepy b⋏st⋏rd, trying to abandon Moon Sangun.’
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No matter how he looked at it, the protagonist seemed to be abandoning Moon Sangun.
There were many reasons. Jung Inho’s mental state, having gone through two regressions, would be considerably distorted in many areas, and it was highly likely that his blind faith in good had become quite skeptical. He might have thought, ‘Do I really have to go this far?’
Furthermore, although it didn’t really fit, Jung Inho probably….
“Ah, Manager.”
“…Oh, yeah. Did you have a good talk?”
“Yes, I think we can go back now.”
Moon Sangun looked uncomfortable.
‘It’s a kind of personal interest.’
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Moon Sangun was innately good but inflexible, and Jung Inho was the exact opposite. Such a person, Moonsangun, was highly indecisive, so he hadn’t yet told them the truth about Song Inmyeong. He might have felt frustrated or annoyed that Moon Sangun wasn’t properly utilizing what he himself lacked. It wasn’t that Moon Sangun wouldn’t do it, but that he couldn’t, but it wasn’t really any of the protagonist’s business.
“Ahjussi, are you leaving?”
“Minhong.”
“Can’t we not go? Can’t we all stay together?”
“Well, let’s think about it later.”
“…….”
“Put your lips in.”
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Lee Jaehun poked Choi Minhong’s pouting lips as the child chirped near him. Sensing the protagonist watching him with dark eyes, he thought to himself,
‘Besides, he seems to think of Moon Sangun and Choi Minhong… as foreign substances that have gotten mixed in with the group.’
Weren’t they characters who hadn’t appeared during the two times Jung Inho had turned back time? It was natural for him to feel unfamiliar or repulsed by them, unlike the people he had become accustomed to. Originally, even in the novel, the protagonist abandoned everyone except his ‘group’ and left.
Looking at Choi Minhong returning to Owner Choi Jungman, Lee Jaehun asked Jung Inho,
“…Did you really talk to Minhong’s father?”
“Yes, I received his gratitude for helping Minhong.”
“Is that so? What about Mr. Hong Kyungjun?”
Jung Inho paused for a moment at those words, then answered with a painted smile.
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“I… had a good talk with him too.”
It was an expression that suggested he had definitely not had a good talk.
‘It’s a shame that I can’t point that out right now.’
Because he could sense Detective Hong Kyungjun keenly observing them and pretending not to.
‘He seems to be sensing something from the protagonist, but I can’t add fuel to the fire.’
Thinking about Hong Kyungjun, who was particularly powerless in the last loop, made him a little suspicious, but in any case, he was indeed a character with excellent intuition according to the setting. Judging by the way he seemed to have keenly noticed the change in the protagonist’s disposition and was sending strange glances, if Lee Jaehun were to act in any way to push Jung Inho away, Hong Kyungjun might use that as an excuse to drag ‘Lee Jaehun’ out of this place.
So Lee Jaehun had no choice but to give a very bland answer.
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“Okay, then that’s fine.”
Amidst this complicated situation, Lee Jaehun of the previous life even chimed in.
‘The idea is for me to offer myself as bait.’
To officially filter out Song Inmyeong.
Kang Mina probably didn’t smash Song Inmyeong’s head because she didn’t have the courage to kill someone directly, but Jung Inho and Ha Sungyoon thought differently. They didn’t want to kill a ‘somewhat bad-tempered college student,’ who was not a ‘murderer,’ and incur the misunderstanding of Detective Hong Kyungjun’s team. Otherwise, they would have killed Song Inmyeng long ago when he came to them.
‘We wouldn’t be outnumbered, and if we did it quickly in the evening, there wouldn’t be a problem.’
But even if they did that, it would eventually be revealed that someone killed Song Inmyeong. Especially since Detective Hong Kyungjun, who was quick to catch criminals, treated people as suspects even without clear evidence.
‘For now, Song Inmyeong seems to be managing his image, so I guess he’s also being considered as a suspect….’
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In the end, it would negatively affect the protagonist’s mental strength. Even if it was just being one of the suspects, one of which including Song Inmyeong, the stress would be immense.
“Then, shall we go back?”
“…I don’t mind, but….”
Jung Inho didn’t want to be with Hong Kyungjun and his group any longer. He disliked Moon Sangun. He needed an excuse to eliminate Song Inmyeong. ‘Lee Jaehun’ had briefly mentioned to him a plan to use himself as bait, and he wanted to protect what was within his line.
So, if he were in the protagonist’s shoes right now….
“…….”
He would want to use Moon Sangun as bait.
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He would insert Moon Sangun into Lee Jaehun’s plan instead of ‘Lee Jaehun.’
***
The fact that Jung Inho would kill Song Inmyeong remained unchanged.
‘There’s no way I can leave him alive.’
Detective Hong Kyungjun said that humans had no right to punish other humans, and also argued that if there were sins to be paid for in hㅌll after death, the set punishment should be carried out in this world as well. He said that they should live and suffer the consequences of their evil deeds for a long time.
But, well. Jung Inho didn’t have the confidence to keep Song Inmyeong alive to that extent. How miserable would it be to see Song Inmyeong, perfectly alive and moving, in reality, not in the otherworld? That b⋏st⋏rd would continue to search for and scheme for another victim, imagining all sorts of murders in his dⁱsgʊstⁱng head.
“Student Song Inmyeong.”
That was why, just this once, he found the courage to grab that dⁱrty hand.
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Jung Inho slipped away, saying he was going to scout the area, and Song Inmyeong had probably come here with a similar excuse. Under the shadows cast by the once-bright sky now stained gray, the two figures gathered there were barely visible.
Observing Jung Inho’s face hidden in the shade of a tree, Song Inmyeong shrugged and said,
“I thought I was mistaken.”
“Can we talk for a bit?”
“What should I say…. I’m different from you, you glared at me with those eyes. I thought you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“I think we can exchange what we each want from each other.”
“But this isn’t so bad either.”
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Song Inmyeong, with his languidly drooping eyes narrowed, asked,
“Who is it?”
“Moon Sangun.”
“I thought so.”
He was destined to dⁱㅌ anyway.
Even though he had saved a man who was supposed to dⁱㅌ, Jung Inho was being subjected to absurd suspicions, wasn’t he? The return on investment wasn’t good, so he couldn’t help but feel skeptical. Jung Inho unconsciously covered up the awkwardness he felt towards Moon Sangun.
Song Inmyeong was wearing a languid smile, as if he was pleased with something.
“This is what you call a win-win.”
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“…I like that you understand quickly.”
So, wouldn’t it be better to get rid of everything before it gets worse than it is now?
“That person, he’s quite bothersome to me as well.”
Both Song Inmyeong and Moon Sangun.
Jung Inho’s eyes curved in a familiar way.
‘It doesn’t necessarily mean he has to dⁱㅌ, but using him as bait would be fine.’
He wanted to see Hong Kyungjun despairing at his own foolish choices. He wanted to see him blaming himself. He wanted Detective Hong Kyungjun, who had so needlessly cast suspicions and tried to manipulate others as he pleased, to realize his own mistakes and tremble like him. He wanted him to savor the consequences of his wrong choices, step by step, and suffer as much as he did.
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So, he needed to know what kind of person Song Inmyeong was, and for that, as Manager Lee Jaehun had said before, he needed ‘bait.’ In other words, he needed Song Inmyeong to commit murder right in front of that frustrating Detective Hong Kyungjun, and a victim for him to target.
“I….”
That victim was none other than Moon Sangun.
A person who should have dⁱㅌd anyway.
“I don’t think I made a particularly bad choice.”
To do that, he first had to make the misunderstanding that Song Inmyeong had a reality.
“To solve a problem, you have to put in the person who can do it best.”
“So?”
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“That’s the most efficient way. If you can save the rest by sacrificing one… Isn’t that the best choice?”
He recited exactly what Lee Jaehun used to say.
‘This alone is enough to make me trash.’
When the man who was dying said those words himself, he was furious, but when those words came out of someone else’s mouth, it felt even more wretched. Jung Inho had to wonder if his lips, which were curving into a smile, were trembling.
If that was the case, just how many cruel things had Lee Jaehun been saying to himself all this time? Even Jung Inho himself, who was talking to thin air, felt dizzy.
“That person doesn’t dⁱㅌ easily, anyway.”
Jung Inho was a little startled by those words that had slipped out unconsciously.
‘When did I hear that?’
It must have started when he loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt.
When the feeling of being bound became unbearably hateful, when he felt such an overwhelming compulsion that he thought he might go crazy and rolled up his sleeves—
it must have begun then.
He was certain he heard hallucinations.
“He doesn’t dⁱㅌ easily?”
“…Like a monster.”
His breath hitched.
Ah, I see.
“He’s strong and doesn’t dⁱㅌ easily, so it was a natural choice.”
So you lived hearing these words.
‘And I’m imitating that?’
He felt nauseous.
The voices of the auditory hallucinations, which Lee Jaehun had to constantly endure, which had only been vaguely felt until now, came back to him in detail. They, without form, rebuked him, constantly spewing malice towards Jung Inho, or rather, Lee Jaehun. It was malice that was perfectly understandable to them.
“But… I was the one who brough Mr. Moon Sangun here and took care of him, but he keeps having strange thoughts.”
“Wow, maybe I shouldn’t have messed with him?”
“Thanks to you, things got a bit complicated. I really liked how things were before…”
“But it couldn’t be helped, right? You were glaring at me so hard back then. If you attack first, shouldn’t I be allowed to strike back?”
“Calling it an attack is a bit embarrassing. How could I ever do something like that?”
“Your way of talking is hilarious, ahjussi.”
Song Inmyeong chuckled and said,
“Back then, you had a look that wanted to kill me.”
“…….”
“You’ve killed someone before, haven’t you?”
He couldn’t answer.
“Is this some kind of camaraderie? Ahjussi, you seem quite sharp, but I’ve never seen a face like yours in this field before… You seem quite skilled, it’s strange.”
Song Inmyeong, who had been muttering to himself for a while, asked,
“Are you being sponsored by someone?”
“…Sponsored?”
“I guess not yet. Forget it.”
Suddenly, a wave of disgust washed over him.
‘Someone sponsors this kind of b⋏st⋏rd?’
Thinking that far, he buried the thought again. He already had enough headaches; he didn’t have the luxury to think about things outside the otherworld.
“Anyway, ahjussi, all I have to do is get rid of Moon Sangun, right?”
“Yes, I think we’ll be fine as long as we get along like this… but Mr. Moon Sangun keeps trying to approach Manager Lee Jaehun. I was going to get rid of him before he stirs up any strange winds, and I happened to run into Student Song Inmyeong.”
“Why not kill him yourself?”
“I don’t have the right tools, and I don’t have the time.”
“Well, he does seem to rely on you…. Hmm, alright.”
Song Inmyeong gently scratched his lips and said,
“He was a dangerous element I had to get rid of anyway.”
“I knew that when I made the offer.”
“Well, Moon Sangun must have told them, right? That noona doesn’t seem to want to open her mouth first…. Is she also one of your kind?”
“That’s not it.”
“Okay, it’s just you and me for now.”
Being lumped together with the madman in front of him felt worse than he had imagined. The sight of the trash who drove him to become a murderer, took Kang Mina hostage to kill Lee Jaehun, and ruined his people even in death, grinning cheerfully….
“I don’t entirely trust you, but it’s mutually beneficial.”
“That’s right.”
“I hope I won’t have to stab you in the back.”
With those words, Song Inmyeong abruptly left.
“…….”
Only Jung Inho, left alone, felt a terrible disgust.
‘…My head hurts.’
He swallowed a sigh.
It went without saying that Song Inmyeong didn’t agree so readily because he trusted Jung Inho. As he had said earlier, he was suspicious, but if the offer was genuine, it was mutually beneficial, so he just pretended to agree. It was like holding each other’s identities hostage, so it wasn’t like there was no insurance.
If Song Inmyeong felt that things were going wrong, he would immediately come to kill Jung Inho, or he would reveal his ‘identity’ to others. Since he could easily deal with him anyway — and since it had been a long time since he’d seen a comrade — he was merely pretending to believe him out of curiosity. At least, that was how it looked to Jung Inho.
Staring blankly into the air for a moment, he muttered,
“I hope it works out.”
If not, he could just dⁱㅌ again.
Jung Inho, swallowing the rest of his words, heavily moved his feet, which felt rooted to the ground. He had excused himself under the pretense of patrolling the area, so he had to return after a suitable amount of time….
“Mr. Jung Inho.”
“…….”
“…Mr. Jung Inho, look at me.”
He blinked at the voice he shouldn’t have heard.
“Manager.”
He had said he wasn’t feeling well, and seeing him approach, gently rubbing his temples as if he had a headache, Jung Inho almost stumbled backward.
His pale face, filled with awkward and clumsy concern, was directed towards him. For some reason, it was difficult to meet his gaze.
Jung Inho forced his lips to part, but—
“…Why are you suddenly here…?”
“Are you alright?”
Suddenly,
He was speechless.
“I’m asking because you don’t look alright, right now.”
He couldn’t answer.
“…….”
There was no way he could answer…
Even in the midst of all this, the fact that he was being comforted by that voice disgusted him.