Chapter 239

Episode 239

Sure enough, the next morning, Lee Jae-heon grabbed Jeong In-ho by the collar.

“Forget it.”

“yes?”

“Forget it.”

“Then forget about it, Manager.”

“That’s a different story.”

“Oh really.”

Unlike Kang Min-ah, Noh Yeon-seok, and Kwon Yeon-hee, who were completely drunk and almost blown out, Jung In-ho and Lee Jae-heon were only heavily intoxicated, but their minds were quite intact. The two men struggled in pain, recalling the words they had said the previous day while under the influence of alcohol.

“Wouldn’t his memories evaporate if he hit the back of the head, In-ho Jeong?”

“No, please save me. “I want to leave evidence of what the manager said yesterday before I die.”

“You disgusting bastard.”

Their childish and petty fight, in which they were the first to stand up and complain, ended only when the other three chicks stood up. The two looked at Kwon Yeon-hee with expectant eyes, but Kwon Yeon-hee, who was completely drunk, had lost her memory of the previous day.

“…This might be a bit of a waste….”

“No, I’m trying to change my thinking. “With this, no one remembers what happened yesterday.”

“If we just keep quiet, this will never happen.”

“….”

“….”

If no one remembers it and those two don’t open their mouths, it can be treated as nothing and it won’t be recalled. Unusually, In-ho Jeong and Jae-heon Lee willingly held hands.

“But don’t forget it, Manager.”

“Are you kidding me? “Try grabbing me by the collar again?”

“Why is there such a thing as a drunken joke?”

There was a minor dispute for a while afterward, but it eventually came to an end when Lee Jae-heon went to work first. If everyone went to work together, the other employees would think it was strange, so since Jaeheon Lee usually went out at the same time, he went to work separately.

Jaeheon Lee sat down in his still empty office and sighed.

“…I’m going to die if I keep doing this….”

I’ll say it again, Jaeheon Lee’s drinking capacity was average. Yesterday, I purposely drank in moderation and survived for the longest time, but that didn’t make the pain in my head that felt like it was splitting go away. In fact, beer causes a worse hangover than Cheongju, such as soju.

As I was holding my throbbing head, an incident from yesterday suddenly came to mind.

“…Have you grown up enough?”

This was something I said while thinking of Jung In-ho, who I thought was a chick.

‘It seemed to be in better condition than I thought.’

As Lee Jae-heon remembers, Jeong In-ho in the original novel did not recover his mind even after returning to reality. As a chick, it was something that could not be helped.

Kang Min-ah, who had been a good co-worker in her own right, fell right before her eyes and saw her body torn to pieces. Noh Yeon-seok, who had protected her even though she was the youngest, and Kwon Yeon-hee, whom she had met in the other side of the world and had come to know, also died. When I return to reality, I have to go to work, but all I see is mannequins replacing my dead colleagues.

‘But perhaps because my colleagues are alive, I feel like I’ve grown… in some way.’

Unlike the main character in the novel, who just lived his life with a sense of responsibility, Jeong In-ho here was growing into a better state. Although the admiration for goodness remains, the obsession seems to have been abandoned.

“…It’s big.”

Anyway, it was a good thing for Lee Jae-heon. Haven’t I sacrificed my whole body in the hope of growing like this? It was enough to just be happy that the chick had evolved into a medium chick. As the main character grows, the day when you can freely rely on him will come sooner.

The only thing I think is still a problem for him.

‘…Aren’t I being too immersed in my role… unnecessarily?’

The point was that the main character and other characters around him were paying too much attention to the role of ‘Lee Jae-heon’. The word ‘over-immersion’ really suited me perfectly. In the sense that you are consuming mental power that you would not have needed to expend.

“Well… if it’s something you’re born with, it can’t be helped.”

There is a big cultural difference between Lee Jae-heon, who recalled memories of his past life, and ordinary people with an average mindset in this world. It is inevitable that this will cause some sense of separation or misunderstanding between us. We have no choice but to be careful not to become a variable in future plans…

“Ah, Manager.”

“…Team Leader Woo, you came early today too?”

“Haha, that’s right…”

Lee Jae-heon blinked at the sight of Team Leader Woo Soo-young opening the door and carefully coming in.

“Why does anything bother you?”

It is true that I used to go to work early, but I had never gone to work this early in the morning. If you still behave like this after seeing something like that yesterday, there is only one answer.

‘I guess he wants to talk to me.’

Under normal circumstances, I would at least ask employee Kwon Yeon-hee first, but there was a daily routine shown by Manager Lee Jae-heon and Team Leader Woo Soo-young. Team Leader Woo was always the first to see Jaeheon Lee’s face in the morning, so he might as well have been conscious of that and come to work early.

But it won’t be easy.

“Oh no. “It’s not like that…”

“No?”

“I just… have work to do.”

Team leader Woo Soo-young was a very clumsy person, but he was not a brave person. He was the type of person who hated turmoil and conflict and tried to move on as best as possible, but there was no way that Team Leader Woo Soo-young could have asked outright, ‘What did you do to employee Kwon Yeon-hee?’

Nevertheless, the reason she came to work so early was probably due to her unique ingenuity and coming forward. In that sense, he wasn’t a coward at all.

“…I wonder if it happened yesterday.”

“yesterday? “Ah, you mean the one where I was grabbed by the collar?”

“Ah… yes yes.”

In contrast to the smooth smile of a great member of society, Team Leader Woo Soo-young’s hands were shaking.

“I know it’s not my place to intervene, but I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help… haha.”

The nuance itself had a strong feeling of ‘I will take Manager Lee Jae-heon’s side’, but in reality, the intention was to find out what happened and minimize the damage to Kwon Yeon-hee as much as possible. Even in the novel, I had a hard time covering up mistakes that were not Jung In-ho’s mistakes.

Here, Jaeheon Lee thought for a moment.

“Huh, you’re asking me that? “Oh my…”

Will that gentleman also be dragged into the underworld someday?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t have any special intentions… I was just going to work, but something happened yesterday that came to mind, so I asked. Also, am I not good at getting things done? If you have anything to say, we will reflect it as much as possible and lead our planning team so that there is no disruption.”

Jaeheon Lee thought as he looked at the smiling face.

‘There are two types of people being dragged into the underworld.’

It can be divided into a kind of fixed member and a sub-member, and the former is closer to a standard-bearer, as I told President Choi Jeong-man before. When the number of survivors inside the side world approaches 0, new members are introduced, and these fixed members are dragged into the side world without exception every time until they die.

And what about sub members? I think this also has two major conditions.

‘Either he’s right next to the regular member, or he’s the most mentally ill of them all.’

To put it more simply, you either have contact with a regular member or you’re a crazy person among the general public. Or maybe both.

If you look at it that way, unless the planning team has one or two fixed members, there is a possibility that Team Leader Woo will be dragged into the underworld at some point. In the novel, Team Leader Woo Woo-young has never been taken to the underworld, so if he were to be taken, it would be in the former case. However, since the criteria for sub-members are still vague, the probability should not be considered low.

“Team Leader Woo, you know that’s all nonsense, right? huh? It’s about manager and employee work. The team leader just intervened without any respect…”

Lee Jae-heon, who was clicking his tongue and pretending to criticize while wasting time, came to a conclusion.

‘Okay, let’s build up.’

Humans do not know what will happen in the future, so they had to prepare for the future. Even if it seems useless now, it will all be useful once you build up the foreshadowing.

“…You don’t have to worry too much. “There is no big problem.”

When I spoke with an unusually calm expression on my face and my gaze down, Team Leader Woo was seen blinking, perhaps because he felt uncomfortable. He glanced at Woo Woo-young with the face of ‘Lee Jae-heon’ and was about to open his mouth again.

“good morning.”

“good morning…!”

In-ho Jeong and Yeon-hee Kwon quietly entered the office.

‘Good timing.’

Lee Jae-heon, who was inwardly delighted, returned to the old manager’s face and spoke.

“Well, you two stick together in a very creepy way.”

“That’s not it… we just met in front.”

“I guess you can say that. “Why don’t you sit down?”

As the chicks cooed effortlessly, the chicks, who made strange expressions for a moment, slowly sat back down. Team leader Woo Soo-young, who seemed to understand the situation for a moment, also noticed it and returned to his seat.

Lee Jae-heon thought as he looked at the strangely quiet office.

‘… I’m not feeling well lately.’

Since I was not feeling well, it may have been natural for me to be in bad condition, but it was slightly different from that. If I had to put it into words… I had an ominous feeling that was difficult to describe.

Like March 1st, when I was about to visit the other side of the world.

“….”

Oh no way.

How can I get to the other side of the world in my current state?

* * *

And as time passed, Friday arrived.

“Why did I start dating Kwon Yeon-hee?”

When Jeong In-ho approached with the intention of grabbing him by the collar and asked, Lee Jae-heon just smiled brightly.

“Then how did I transfer Yeonhee Kwon to planning?”

“No, I knew right away that you had no conscience, but I didn’t know you had it to this extent…!”

“I can’t thank you enough for moving it.”

“Even so for me, what is Ms. Kwon Yeon-hee’s crime?”

“That’s your own karma.”

“Really, your conscience, your luck, your character….”

“Why are you becoming more and more like Hong Kyung-jun?”

At those words, the expression disappeared from Jeong In-ho’s face.

“Please take back that statement.”

“Don’t suddenly look so straight because it’s disgusting.”

“If you cancel, I will stop.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“I’ll be satisfied with that.”

As Lee Jae-heon shrugged his shoulders with an expression of ‘what should I do?’, Jeong In-ho sighed deeply and said.

“After hearing the rumors around us, Team Leader Woo is very worried about Kwon Yeon-hee. “There was that collar incident last time… The manager is under the misunderstanding that in order to harass me, he also harassed Kwon Yeon-hee, with whom I had a fling, and ended up getting grabbed by the collar.”

“You clearly understood the examiner’s intention. As expected, Team Leader Woo is a person of outstanding ability. “We must continue to use it in the future.”

“I just want to tell you that it’s not something you should be happy about… I’m sure the manager doesn’t feel like the current situation is particularly detrimental. I know.”

“Is there by any chance a sex scandal involving Kwon Yeon-hee going around?”

“yes…? “Of course not.”

“Then that’s right. “It doesn’t feel like a loss at all.”

“….”

Jeong In-ho looked at Lee Jae-heon with a sad smile, a look between regret and contempt.

“Can’t you get that irreverent look away? “It’s very easy to be a manager now.”

“I didn’t want to have a relationship where people would feel this easily…”

“Why does Assistant Manager Jeong feel sad? “Think about it from my perspective as well.”

“I really didn’t want to be in a relationship like this…”

“Don’t emphasize it over and over again.”

Jaeheon Lee shrugged his shoulders with a calm expression.

“It hasn’t been a day or two since my image went to hell. “There is no need to worry.”

“We care as much as the manager doesn’t care. “How can we not care when Kwon Yeon-hee and I have become victims of the manager’s vicious tactics?”

Seeing that Jeong In-ho’s expression was quite colorful as he said that, it seemed like he was living quite well these days. If I were to exaggerate a bit, I think my face looked better than before experiencing the secret world.

‘I guess I should say that he has become more like a person…’

In any case, it was something that should be praised as an elder.

“More than that, what was the text message you sent last night?”

“Nothing happened, right? “There shouldn’t have been anything strange.”

“Well, the content was intuitive, but…”

[When entering the other side of the world, gather at the park entrance next to the main gate of Oseong Tower]

[If difficult, make smoke to request a signal]

[※Be careful because there is a monster that sees the light and approaches※]

Floating on the cell phone screen Jeong In-ho looked at the floating letters and made a shocked expression.

“Isn’t it too unexpected?”

“You must have been in a bad mood because you suddenly brought up the story of the behind-the-scenes world.”

“…There will be that too.”

“Still, I thought I should get ready soon.”

Lee Jae-heon said with the most calm face he could make.

“I’ve lasted this long.”

There was no set time for a rider to revisit the secret world, but there was a rule that was not a rule that the ups and downs were severe enough to be taken away even after at least a few hours. Since I wasn’t resting from reality for a day or two, I thought it would be a good idea to catch them at this point since many other survivors would have been released.

“…okay.”

The protagonist, who returned with a calm face, nodded.

“That is correct.”

“If you feel anxious, prepare a baseball bat under your desk. If you are unlucky, it may not be in its perfect form when you go to the other side, but it is better than nothing.”

“Hmm… But Kang Min-a kept at least five hammers in the drawer.”

“Huh.”

After lunch, Jeong In-ho and Lee Jae-heon, who had been talking in the empty bathroom, quietly returned to their seats and continued their work, as if they had never had a good conversation before. In particular, Jaeheon Lee had a lot of work behind him because he had been resting for a long time. As a manager, there are limits to what you can pass on to your subordinates.

The sound of employees talking quietly in a quiet office. The crackling sound of typing as many people work. The sound of someone drinking coffee or an energy drink to relieve fatigue…

Clink!

“….”

The sound of glass breaking.

“Oh, sorry…”

“….”

“…Uh.”

Kang Min-ah’s voice, which was apologizing in an embarrassed voice, calms down.

The sight of white dust piling up on monitors of fairly good models and the sudden, terrible silence that had descended on me indicated that the office, which had been full of employees just a moment ago, was now empty. I was out of breath, my head was buzzing, and my mind was dizzy. The atmosphere of confusion fills the office instead of the employees who have disappeared.

A world with color but difficult to see.

“…Huh.”

It was a side world.

I was once again devoured by the underworld.