Chapter 369

After the death of the monster in

Episode 369, Room 1201, the commotion settled down as if it had been waiting.

All survivors trapped in apartment building 119 were able to get out of the building, and those who fell into the sinkhole also escaped easily thanks to the monsters’ pursuit being cut off.

Although Lee Jae-heon’s condition was still not very good, it was much better than before, when he lost consciousness for several days.

Miraculously, not a single person died, and only then were the survivors gathered at the police station able to relax.

“Anyway, do you know what’s the funniest thing right now?”

“What.”

“Even after we went through that mess, we couldn’t return to reality.”

Kwon Yeon-hee smiled with a liberated face.

“Is this what living is like?...”

The other survivors laughed or sighed awkwardly at her words.

That’s right, they were still in the underworld.

“I was wondering if the uproar wasn’t the usual uproar.”

“It is true that it was a pain in the ass, but the monster itself was not particularly strong. “It was a structure where you could easily escape if you solved the puzzle correctly... Didn’t the ignition monster die with just one gesture from President Yoon?”

“That’s true, but...”

“I mean, didn’t you say that all monsters that allow you to return to reality are strong? “Of course the rules were a pain in the ass, but the monster itself was weak, so it’s understandable that it couldn’t return to reality.”

As Kwon Yeon-hee’s small shoulders slumped, Vivian scratched the back of her head and continued.

“Of course... yes, it was difficult. “But I think it’s definitely... a bit unreasonable for everyone to have overcome the risk of death but not be able to return to reality.”

“right?!”

Kwon Yeon-hee suddenly raised her head at Vivian’s agreement.

“Chased by a monster! I can’t even eat! I can’t even sleep! Didn’t someone say they were locked in some strange house for four days straight? If you can’t solve the puzzle, won’t you fall into the trap of burning to death? I can’t even eat! “I couldn’t even eat!”

“This is the third time I’ve heard of not being able to eat.”

“Besides, the manager even suffered burns!”

Lee Jae-heon, who was lying on a chair at the police station far away, opened his mouth. A cracked voice came out.

“Why did you suddenly include me?”

“The biggest victim of this accident is the manager?!”

“Oh, I treated you. “It would have been okay if I had treated it.”

“Oh my, the only manager who can’t live up to my expulsion doesn’t even listen to my employees!”

“I brought that in as a subordinate, really...”

Lee Jae-heon’s gaze was not kind when he looked at Kwon Yeon-hee, who had dragged him to the planning team through some kind of trick, but Kwon Yeon-hee, who had already finished analyzing the person named Manager Lee Jae-heon, was not afraid of him. He always said the worst, the highest, the lowest, and never properly scolded me.

Kwon Yeon-hee was frustrated that she could not escape reality, so she decided to go out even more shamelessly.

“The manager is a windbreaker!”

“...? What the hell, who told me that? Ha Seong-yoon?”

“It’s not me.”

“Then what is it? who is this. “No, in the first place, do you even know what ‘pungakjaengi’ means?”

“The manager is a tsundere...!”

“Don’t use jargon, don’t use it... I looked at that little thing and it started climbing up into the sky without even knowing it was high up.”

“The sky is not this tattered...!”

“Is this going to hit the manager?”

Even though he said that, the sight of him not being able to get up from the chair clearly showed that he was a patient, so no one defended Lee Jae-heon. Because it was true that he was in tatters.

Ha Seong-yoon said with a bright smile.

“I’m glad I prepared the medicine in advance. Lee Jae-heon’s treatment was completed as soon as he was rescued.”

“Ha Seong-yoon, are you saying this because you think it’s really fortunate?”

And in the process of treating Lee Jae-heon, what Ha Seong-yoon, Yoon Garam, and Lee Jae-heon were doing at the pharmacy was revealed. Hong Gyeong-jun, who found out about this, trembled with a sense of betrayal somewhere between ‘I knew it would happen’ and ‘No matter what, you?’ It was an incident in which Ha Seong-yoon’s image among survivors was classified as a dangerous molecule.

However, Ha Seong-yoon, who had strengthened his relationship with Yoon Gar-ram through the incident in Room 1201, only laughed shamelessly.

“Is there anything wrong with preparing when I have time and seeing results when I don’t?”

“Don’t you think there’s a problem with the process itself?”

“It’s a pity that I’m not in a state where I can feel such remorse.”

“I don’t know how anyone can feel sorry in this case.”

Even though it was revealed that crazy people had prepared drugs in advance without consulting them, the atmosphere within the survivors was actually not that bad. This was because Hong Gyeong-jun, who should have set the mood the most, surprisingly did not react more negatively to the deviations of Ha Seong-yoon and Yoon Gar-ram.

Ha Seong-yoon, who also knew this, narrowed his eyes and smiled at Hong Gyeong-jun and Jeong In-ho.

“Well, it’s nice to see that the two of you seem to be getting closer...”

“Are you sick?”

“The pharmacy is over there.”

“I can’t even make a joke like this.”

“...big cluck.”

Jaeheon Lee opened his eyes with a small coughing sound.

“....”

“....”

“...Ait-san, I’m surprised.”

A hoarse voice rings out from somewhere.

“What is it, Jeong In-ho?”

Jeong In-ho was quietly looking down at Lee Jae-heon.

“...Iknow, right.”

Why were you looking at this person?

Blinking his eyes slowly, Jeong In-ho glanced at his superior’s pale face.

Jaeheon Lee was always as white as a sheet of paper. I wasn’t saying that he was scared or that he looked in pain. It had a face with a soft bluish-gray glow, like a vampire or a monster with blue blood that lives in a dead body, as if it had no bright red blood from birth.

“Why...”

It was after I entered the secret world with Lee Jae-heon that I found out about it and looked into it so closely.

“....”

How can it be so compatible with the word ‘death’?

When I first found out about Lee Jae-heon’s true identity, I realized that all his nervous and forced appearances were just an act. Many survivors felt a strange sense of distance from Jaeheon Lee. Apart from the fact that he sacrificed his whole body to save us, it felt as if Lee Jae-heon was not human.

Lee Jae-heon never once resented it. Rather, he took it for granted and helped them feel distant from him so that they could take advantage of him.

“...Are you not going to say anything?”

“....”

“What are you doing standing there like a ghost?”

The deeply subdued voice, as if someone had just been strangled and then released, is annoying.

As I was staring blankly at Lee Jae-heon, he awkwardly stood up, probably worried about his condition. As Ha Seong-yoon said during the day, is it a result of the mind not adjusting to the recovered body? Perhaps the pain of the injury sustained in reality was still bothering him.

Lee Jae-heon, who raised his entire upper body, asked.

“...Mr. Jeong In-ho.”

“yes.”

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“yes.”

“Don’t do this in the middle of the night.”

I couldn’t stand it and spat out the words.

“It’s alive.”

live.

“....”

“He’s alive.”

Lee Jae-heon is alive and well in the vision that has become accustomed to the dark.

His hair is all disheveled, his eyes are puffy from lack of sleep, and he always smells of blood due to frequent bursting of wounds. It looks so lifeless that it’s funny to wonder if it’s really okay to call it ‘alive’.

Oh, I see.

“...I thought you were dead.”

In-ho Jeong was treating Jae-heon Lee as a dead person.

Maybe it was from the last episode when I voluntarily sacrificed my head to him. He was going to die, so I accepted the absurd idea that he was already dead as reality. Even though I was in a state of unconsciousness the entire time, it wasn’t until Jaeheon Lee was carried by Vivian that I became aware of these thoughts.

Skin completely crushed by burns, drops of blood dripping, heads that fell off as if they had lost consciousness, and pale skin. A body without any movement. The silence is terrible....

“This is a bit....”

“....”

“It’s unfamiliar.”

It was unfamiliar.

It was strange to see Lee Jae-heon, who I thought was a corpse, exhale.

He always hid in places unseen and accepted death. I’m not sure if it’s Lee Jae-heon’s last remaining pride or his unwillingness to cause trouble to the remaining survivors, but I don’t know. What more do I need to say? The most powerful thing that Jeong In-ho remembers about Lee Jae-heon was death.

“It’s unfamiliar.”

“okay?”

“...breathe....”

I knew that a faint warmth was lingering on the skin even without touching it.

“...It seems strange.”

The living Jaeheon Lee was embedded in my mind.

Even if I die soon, I will never forget this strange sight.

(Continued in the next part)