Chapter 72
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Lee Jaehun had caught the bug faster than expected. It might have been because he had already experienced it right after his regression or thanks to his memories from before. The bait he brought back was the kind of larva that likely tasted of blood and was expected to be used as bait for the algae monster.
The larva had white skin and a rather plump body. If the description from the novel was accurate, you could only tell it had blood inside by cutting it open. It didn’t look particularly different from the outside but gave off a faint scent of blood.
Rolling it around in his palm, Lee Jaehun thought to himself.
‘This thing is almost a cheat code as bait.’
It was often used by the main characters in the novel for hunting, and he figured there was no way monsters that tear people apart wouldn’t react to the scent of blood. Even ordinary fish react sensitively to blood, let alone creatures from the shadow world.
As he walked towards the small lake with a few others, Lee Jaehun glanced at Kwon Yeonhee next to him and grinned.
“You must be really hungry, Kwon Yeonhee.”
“…Please stop teasing me….”
“Oh come on, you really wanted to eat some meat, huh? Were you scared because it’s evening? Aww, how old is our little Yeonhee?”
“Hng, Mina-ssi….”
She was like a chick that hadn’t fully matured.
After some uniquely tormenting teasing, Kwon Yeonhee eventually pretended to cry and clung to Kang Mina, who hugged her with a sympathetic look. Despite only knowing each other for a few days, they seemed to have become quite close.
Caught between the victim and the perpetrator, Kang Mina looked back and forth between them, then hesitantly spoke up.
“…Please stop teasing Yeonhee-ssi, Director….”
“When did I tease her? Is being hungry something to be ashamed of?”
“It is! It’s embarrassing!”
“Oh, really? I didn’t know that.”
With a strangely shameless smile, Jung Inho asked with a peculiar grin.
“Sometimes I think you live to torment us, Director.”
“……”
“I’m just saying.”
“…Why does it feel so ominous when you say it?”
Even if he were the protagonist of a horror thriller, it wouldn’t be surprising. With a fluid tone and a neat smile, he seemed like someone you should really be wary of at night.
With a sincere smile, Jung Inho answered.
“Maybe it means you have a lot to feel guilty about.”
“If I say I don’t understand, are you going to stab me in the back?”
“I’ve always thought it might happen one day.”
“Why not just curse me instead?”
When Lee Jaehun spoke with a frown, Jung Inho paused briefly before smiling with his eyes.
“Who knows.”
“……”
His tone was so smooth it erased the brief silence.
In the face of his eerily dark gaze, Lee Jaehun clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘So unnecessarily suspicious.’
It seemed like Jung Inho was trying to figure out Lee Jaehun’s true intentions.
After all, there was a time when Lee Jaehun had deliberately caused a conflict to distance himself from the group. Jung Inho had quickly noticed and blocked his escape, ending the situation awkwardly for everyone. Now, with a similar crisis looming, Jung Inho’s mind must have been racing.
Was this fracture intended by Director Lee Jaehun, or was it an unforeseen mistake? If it was the former, the protagonist would have to persuade Director Lee Jaehyun. If it was the latter, he would have to pretend not to notice and work to lighten the mood.
Lee Jaehun, looking at Jung Inho, calmly raised his eyebrows and then turned his gaze away.
‘You should dig just enough.’
Ultimately, unless the fundamental issue with Director Lee Jaehun was resolved, it wasn’t something that could be easily smoothed over in any case. The protagonist was fully aware of this.
However, if he was determined to solve the immediate problem at hand, he would be curious about Director Lee Jaehun’s true intentions. If he was genuinely trying to distance himself from the group, the protagonist would feel a sense of loss.
“But this is our first time moving around in the evening like this. Will it be okay?” “That’s why I made a torch with the handkerchief Team Leader Kang gave us. The lighter had to sacrifice itself a bit.”
“I was surprised at how thorough you were.”
Given the current situation, it was likely seen as an unintended mistake. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be interacting so comfortably with the group.
“…As Deputy Jung said, it’s our first time moving around in the evening. We need to be thorough.”
“I don’t want to take too risky a path. Director, you just woke up today. If you hadn’t insisted so strongly, everyone would have stayed put….”
“We need to experience it once, don’t we? Lately, even the monsters and beasts don’t seem to be roaming around much. I thought, when else could we try this?”
“I understand what you mean.”
The protagonist tried to block Lee Jaehun’s retreat to get the promise he wanted, but he dropped an unexpected bomb. While the sharp gaze directed at Jung Inho had disappeared, the situation escalated, putting them at a disadvantage.
However, Director Lee Jaehun continued to treat the group as he always had. One reason he teased Kwon Yeonhee was that, despite seeming sudden, it would be seen as him intentionally lightening the mood after sensing the group’s somber atmosphere.
Given the image and effort he had built up so far, it wasn’t difficult to achieve.
“Director, the monsters being quiet… They won’t all attack at once, will they?”
Kang Mina’s question made Lee Jaehun blink.
“It’s possible.”
“……”
“I’m kidding, Team Leader Kang. You’re quite the scaredy-cat.”
“…It seems you really live to torment us, Director….”
Lee Jaehun wore an exaggeratedly playful expression at that comment.
“Well, to be honest, you’re not entirely wrong.”
“…Excuse me?”
“No, I mean, weirdly enough, when I see you all struggling, it warms my heart.”
“Ugh.”
A few people working near Director Lee Jaehun shivered.
Even the creepy protagonist froze with a smile, which Lee Jaehun found genuinely refreshing. At this point, there was no need to act.
“Especially you, Deputy Jung. You.”
“…Me? Why me….”
“Why do you even ask? Don’t you remember all the times you picked fights and looked at people with disdain?”
“……”
After a brief pause, Deputy Jung responded with a smile.
“Well, you could have been nicer to me.”
“Why should I?”
“You’re a really mean person.”
“I’m a pretty decent guy. You just haven’t seen my true harshness yet.”
“Ha ha….”
Lee Jaehun turned away from the weak laughter. He had no idea where Jung Inho’s thoughts were drifting again, but he wasn’t keen on dealing with that creepy gaze alone.
He looked at Team Leader Kang Mina and asked.
“Are we almost there?”
“Yes… Yes, we are. Just cross this bridge.”
“Oh, right.”
Lee Jaehun glanced at Kwon Yeonhee, who was still clinging to Team Leader Kang.
“It’s really dark now… Let’s just set the trap and leave quickly.”
“……”
These chicks.
Lee Jaehun sensed the faint trauma in the way the one who liked clinging to people was only holding onto the edge of their clothes, but he skillfully pretended not to notice and looked beyond the bridge.
It was a clear attempt to divert attention.
“…This is quite a sight.”
“Huh, what?”
“Look over there.”
He pointed at the small lake.
“Isn’t that something straight out of a movie?”
It was glowing in the darkness. Like the Milky Way.
‘…This world really is like a fantasy genre.’
The shadow world had places that could enthrall a person with awe.
When you see something massive and majestic for the first time, you can be overwhelmed by its grandeur. The shadow world was a place designed to erode a person’s mental strength in various ways.
The small lake, reflecting the sky of the shadow world devoid of stars, looked like it held a galaxy in the middle of a desert. It was as if an aurora, only seen at the poles of planets, had melted into the lake, with crystal-like pebbles carved with life scattered inside, and shimmering mist swirling gently above.
The soft glow was incomparable to any phosphorescence they had seen before, and unlike something crafted by human hands, it felt sacred, almost suffocating. The air pressed down on their lungs and hearts.
In Lee Jaehun’s world, this was often called murderous intent.
“……”
“……”
The group fell silent for a moment.
‘…Just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean it’s benign.’
Human thoughts contain both good and bad, and the shadow world, reflecting those thoughts, had a complex nature. The small lake was an example of that.
Beauty beyond measure can become overwhelming fear. Unseen mysteries become terror, and intensely unfamiliar experiences can drive people mad. Few could easily escape the influence of the shadow world, which destroyed common sense and filled the void with its own presence.
Of course, ‘few’ meant there were such people.
“…Do you think there are fish in a place like this?”
The protagonist was exactly ‘such a person’.
‘…Kang Mina is handling it quite well too.’
He glanced at Kang Mina, who flinched, came to her senses, and comforted Kwon Yeonhee by wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Kwon Yeonhee quickly regained her composure under Kang Mina’s reassuring gesture.
“……”
It was a competence he hadn’t seen before.
Lee Jaehun let out a short sigh. Though he was in better condition than the group, he still pretended to be influenced by past difficult memories.
“The water’s surface keeps rippling.”
“Trees do that too, swaying without a breeze.”
“Bubbles are rising to the surface.”
“……”
“Do you see the droplets jumping up?”
Jung Inho took off his glasses and rubbed his face before nodding and continuing.
“I’ll go check it out.”
“You’ll go alone?”
“It’s better to finish quickly.”
Considering the speed, it wasn’t a bad decision.
‘Everyone’s in such a bad state.’
No matter how fast his recovery, Lee Jaehun was still a patient.
‘The only reason I made it here is because I pushed myself once more… I’m not in normal condition.’
After three days of continuous sleep, the group was extremely sensitive to Lee Jaehun’s movements. However, when he insisted, they backed off. They couldn’t physically restrain him, and any subtle hints were ignored, so they half-gave up. But considering Lee Jaehun was still a patient, if they wanted to finish quickly and rest, it was best for Jung Inho, who was the most energetic and mobile, to take the lead.
Lee Jaehun, fixing his grip on the pipe, spoke in as natural a voice as possible to Kwon Yeonhee, who was staring blankly at Jung Inho as he walked toward the lake with sturdy vines and a trap.
“Kwon Yeonhee.”
“……”
“Kwon Yeonhee-ssi, are you ignoring me?”
“…No, it’s just….”
“That won’t hurt you.”
It was true.
‘The protagonist has deemed the small lake a neutral zone.’
Neither the water snake monster that lived here nor some of the other creatures that passed through ever attacked the protagonist’s group significantly. The small lake itself just remained still.
But hearing something and seeing it for oneself are different. One of the common mistakes novices made in the previous world was assuming the training environment was the same as the real field. Such people needed a reality check.
However, since losing a head here was not recoverable, he decided to calm the rookie as best as he could. It was almost like parenting, not too difficult.
He continued speaking in a soft but firm voice.
“Do you think a calm lake like that will swallow you up? Or jump at you?”
“……”
“You’ll be fine. You won’t die, get hurt, or feel pain. Just think of it as a disgustingly beautiful piece of trash.”
“…Director…”
The rookie asked.
“Are you not afraid of anything?”
A faint resentment towards an incomprehensible being.
“……”
Lee Jaehun read it and mumbled internally.
‘…This is giving me PTSD.’
To be honest, it wasn’t that he had no fears, but this world felt so much softer compared to his past life that it didn’t scare him.
He glanced to see the protagonist walking back from the lake. The sky was dark, and the air was cold; if he answered here, the creepy guy would inevitably hear. Lee Jaehun pondered what to say in this situation.
What should he say to maintain a coherent narrative? What words would satisfy both the supporting and main characters? How could he turn this into a successful act?
He decided.
“…No.”
It wasn’t true that he had no fears.
‘It’s also true.’
He was afraid of water.
Afraid of his trapped ankles. Afraid of windowless concrete rooms.
Afraid of blood, screams, and the sound of life fading away, and the certainty that he could never escape. Afraid of the burning throat from poison and the internal injuries that made him spit blood to breathe. Afraid of the repetitive life and the responsibility at its core.
He hated pain. Hated situations where he had to kill or be killed. Hated when something he knew changed and became irrevocable, shattered beyond recognition.
He let the fear naturally reveal itself, not holding back his words.
“There’s a lot I’m afraid of.”
“Then… why do you live like you’re not afraid of anything?”
“Because I have to survive.”
When he first recalled his past life, he instinctively felt he wanted to die.
“…If I feel like I’m going to die, I can’t just let myself die.”
He felt he couldn’t die.
No matter how many times he died in thousands of ways, he knew he would live through it again. The world had never permitted his death without accomplishing something.
“So….”
Listening to the approaching footsteps and looking at the rookie staring at him, he said.
“I’ll help you.”
“……”
“Until you can live.”
He acted accordingly.
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