Chapter 60

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Chapter 60

They could be satisfied with that.

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Even though the park in the other world was much larger than the one in reality, the group occupying the center didn’t need much time to stroll around the small lake.

Still checking the bright sky, Lee Jaehun looked back at Park Dahoon and asked, “Is that useful?”

“…Uh, yes. Yes.”

In response to the call, the student looked at what he was holding.

It was nothing but a black plastic bag, a small one commonly used for items bought at convenience stores.

Unlike real apples, the glass apples were perfect spheres but similar in size. They were quite heavy, perhaps due to the juice and flesh inside, yet small in volume, igniting greed to take as many as possible at once.

In fact, except for a very few spaces in the other world, all areas triggered discomfort, fear, or disgust in the survivors. Even though a small lake might look pretty and glass apple trees beautiful, that was all.

‘There’s no reason to waste energy in a space that instinctively repels you.’

And the result was that black plastic bag.

“It’s fortunate there’s trash around.”

“It’s ironic to call environmental pollution fortunate… Yes, it is.”

“…And… there are no tears either.”

It was Kang Mina, Yoon Garam, then Park Dahoon who spoke in turn.

If someone had an outer garment, they would have used it like a cloth, but unfortunately, none of the current gatherers wore one. After all, who would have the mindset to grab an outer garment while fleeing from places like offices or flower shops, into the mess?

Of course, Park Dahoon had a school uniform jacket, but it was rejected because it was early March and the weather was chilly, and the wearer was a minor. Lee Jaehun, maintaining the image of a good adult, couldn’t force him.

After searching around the lake, they fortunately found a suitable-sized bag.

“It can hold more than I thought.”

“It’s not very light… but not heavy either? If needed, I can carry it.”

“Oh… no, I got it.”

Saying so, Park Dahoon straightened his waist as if he didn’t feel the weight at all.

There was no obvious pride or bragging on his face, but Kang Mina couldn’t help but smile subtly at the message conveyed by his posture. She might be thinking he’s cute or grown-up, maybe. I, too, hugged glass apples tightly with both hands while thinking that.

Amidst such heartwarming moments, Lee Jaehun inwardly swallowed a sigh.

‘Anyway, we’ll have to come back again soon.’

It was a natural thing to think about.

How long could resilient Koreans, who ate three meals a day, endure a soft fruit they had never seen before? He expected these apples, carried like this now, to spoil within two days.

Of course, if they adjusted their diet, they could last a week longer, but Lee Jaehun thought there was no need for that. Near the small lake, there were quite a few fruits other than glass apples, and there were fish in the lake too. Soon, they could make traps and put fruit slices or insects inside to catch some. That’s how they would supplement their protein.

‘It’s about time to eat meat.’

Besides, there was a flower garden on the right side of the side road and a cave inside it, and there might be a vegetable garden near the spring where Constable Kim or Detective Hong might be. Although the genre was a 19-rated survival story and the protagonist wasn’t highlighted much, surprisingly, the resources were quite abundant.

‘…This too.’

Lee Jaehun casually blinked at the foreign feeling in his pants pocket.

When he went to call Yoon Garam and the other team members after moving away from Jung Inho, he had picked this up. It was lucky to spot even one. Since it wasn’t too bulky, there wouldn’t be any immediate questioning.

‘Then… worry about the chicks dying should lessen now.’

But even picking like this every time was too much.

Especially when it came to items other than food obtained from nature, most of them had incredibly good effects but came with significant penalties if used incorrectly. So, it was usually better for the users to find items in buildings rather than rely on natural resources. Misusing them could end up saving one person while inadvertently causing harm to another.

So, once they got used to it, they should raid convenience stores and supermarkets someday. Since Lee Jaehun’s condition was stable, he even thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to visit a hospital.

“But the scent is really nice. It would be great to make an air freshener out of this….”

“The scenery was really beautiful too. Although there wasn’t anything I particularly wanted to keep, if only my phone had been safe, I would’ve wanted to take a picture.”

“Hmm… it tastes good too.”

“……”

Of course, these were stories from when the chicks were a little older.

‘Where am I going with these soft things?’

He felt a moment of regret, but after a brief sigh, Lee Jaehun grasped the pipe again.

As he scanned his surroundings intently, it was still daytime and somewhat noisy. It meant it wasn’t the time when the green monsters were most active, nor did it imply the appearance of monsters that animals couldn’t handle. Moreover, since Lee Jaehun had received treatment from a doctor and tried to conceal his scent as much as possible, the chances of being attacked by the green monsters were low.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

‘So, I can relax a little…’

In this foolish way, the exact memory of dying 886 times in a previous life was recalled. If ‘remembering’ was the right word, then it’s no wonder there’s a saying that if your mind isn’t right, your body suffers. In his ignorant days, Lee Jaehun was just like that, and even after experiencing death by the hands of the green monster himself, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

While pretending to survey the surroundings, Lee Jaehun suddenly remembered a certain detail from a novel.

“……”

…Is it about time for the small fry to appear?

‘Well, it’s been some time.’

Lee Jaehun wiped his mouth with his empty hand, lost in thought.

The monsters that first appeared in the novel weren’t the green monsters they encountered initially. It was a fact he’d repeated several times, but that blue one was like the final boss of the park episode.

In this transformed park resembling a jungle or a forest, there weren’t only green monsters. There were fish-shaped monsters, bird-shaped monsters, insect-shaped monsters, and so on. Of course, if you saw them directly, they weren’t clearly identifiable as fish, birds, or insects, but anyway, there were monsters created from human thoughts.

And the most common miscellaneous monsters were none other than monsters reflecting the appearance of stray dogs.

‘It was described as a chimera made of a thousand elements.’

He couldn’t remember the exact description, but he could recall feeling a little queasy when he read it. Although he didn’t know the exact form, it probably wouldn’t feel good to see it up close.

The funny thing is… these monsters are created from pure human thoughts.

‘Yet the original minds of the stray dogs are nowhere to be found.’

Except for a few, all the monsters in this world originated from human thoughts.

If someone at the company hadn’t felt disgusted looking at severed spider legs or spider webs, spider monsters wouldn’t have appeared. Similarly, if people hadn’t pitied the stray dogs abandoned in the park, such monsters wouldn’t have existed in the other world.

Of course, advocating for the abandonment of four-legged lives isn’t right, but at the very least, there were such irrationalities in the other world. Even empathy and compassion, which humans should naturally possess, made the world the most disgusting and unpleasant place.

Consequently, the other world desired to torment and kill the survivors, who were foreign substances.

‘…It’s tough to survive.’

And one slightly worrying fact was that the activities of these stray dog monsters weren’t restricted to day or night, unlike the green monsters….

“…Deputy Jung, how much longer will it take?”

“Within a minute or two. We’re almost there, Director.”

“Thank you.”

He wasn’t particularly worried about the waiting.

‘Most of them are creatures that mainly launch mental attacks, and the condition of the current group is quite okay.’

He felt quite relaxed.

The stray dog monsters didn’t rush to bite or injure despite their appearance. Even if they did, it was mentioned that they wouldn’t usually attack unless humans got too close, and they’d only bite as a threat, rarely initiating an attack themselves. There were even instances where they remained still even if provoked.

They weren’t hostile; they just wandered around survivors or approached them in a friendly manner. However, the weak minds of the people in this world found the intimacy of such monsters extremely repulsive. The protagonist in the story likened it to feeling as if a cockroach had crawled out of their own entrails and greeted them with a smile.

‘…Suddenly craving nicotine.’

As a non-smoker in real life, he couldn’t understand why he was feeling the urge to smoke.

Anyway, even if he encountered them in a state where his mental state had deteriorated to the point of losing control, the current condition of the group was much better than he imagined. Since Lee Jaehun returned, they had been surprisingly harmonious, to the point where he wasn’t really worried at all.

‘The big ones can handle themselves.’

He chuckled inwardly.

Of course, although they had decided to treat them like five-year-olds, that was a separate issue. It wasn’t as if Lee Jaehun, a mental resilience specialist, would be significantly affected by the weakened mental strength of his companions.

And he marveled.

“Di, Director. Th-there was a monster, a monster just now.”

“…Ugh, g-gosh. Ew… eugh….”

He sighed simultaneously.

“…What now?”

He felt oddly sure about what had happened just by looking at them.

I messed up, you five-year-old chicks.

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‘Today, I was planning to start building a shelter…’

Well, in this case, calling it a shelter seems a bit off, doesn’t it? It’s not even for training…

‘No, no, wait. That’s not important right now.’

Lee Jaehun made an effort to calm his trembling hand trying to grab his back. He knew that blaming them for wanting to be mentally weak wouldn’t help; it might even backfire.

But it was regrettable. If the condition of the group was okay, he had planned to spend the time until nightfall building a roof. According to Lee Jaehun’s common sense, humans should live under a sturdy roof and within strong walls to feel mentally secure.

Of course, if they could stay in a building, they wouldn’t have to do this kind of manual labor, but unfortunately, they were just newly hatched chicks. What could these guys, who hadn’t even tried to catch a fish, do with the blood of monsters?

However, if we consider it that way, although the cases of Deputy Jung and Team Leader Kang, who have become accustomed to monster encounters, are not explained….

“…Team Leader Kang, shall we organize the situation first?”

Well, those guys are different cases.

“Ah, yes? Y-yes, sure.”

“Student Dahoon, could you help Team Leader Kang with organizing the food we brought and heating up the water? People seem quite surprised, but warm water would be better than cold water.”

“I, I can heat the water.”

“No, Team Leader Kang, you should help with heating the water. Student Dahoon, you can help with organizing the fruit.”

At those words, Team Leader Kang, who had been momentarily dazed, immediately sprang into action, and Park Dayoung, who had been nervously looking around, approached her. Kang Mina looked at her as if she were embracing the student, and Park Dayoung rushed over to Team Leader Kang. Giving a light greeting to Lee Jaehun, she seemed to be in quite good shape compared to the interns or Kwon Yeonhee.

Leaving the minors in the hands of someone reasonably trustworthy, Lee Jaehun approached the doctor, who was watching the group being comforted by Jung Inho and Yoon Garam.

“What’s the situation?”

“I… I have a rough idea, but a monster stopped by for a moment.”

“What kind of monster?”

“Well, um….”

The doctor touched his earlobe and rolled his eyes.

“…A monster?”

“….”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant….”

It seemed that Doctor Ha Sungyoon wasn’t quite in his right mind.

His half-unconscious utterance of ‘monster’ was probably a colloquial insult commonly used by people in reality. Just as sometimes cruel or ruthless people might insult others by calling them monsters, it seemed like Doctor Ha Sungyoon unintentionally blurted out such words in a similar context.

Watching the doctor’s momentarily wandering gaze, Lee Jaehun thought to himself.

‘…Surprising, isn’t it?’

In the novel’s setting, individuals who are already mentally unstable are less affected by the influence of the otherworld.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say they are not aware of it. Just as one cannot distinguish objects in a completely dark room, survivors in a state that can’t be considered normal don’t experience much confusion from the otherworldly elements.

Therefore, Lee Jaehun didn’t hear the sound of wind emitted by the spider monster in the company corridor, and similarly, he thought Doctor Ha Sungyoon might be in a similar context. Especially for humans who understand the otherworld before being devoured, the likelihood of them being in their right mind is even lower. So, even though the monsters didn’t physically attack, he doubted they would be harmed when they were not attacked directly.

Considering this, Lee Jaehun could think of other possibilities.

‘However, when faced with the most fundamental traumas, the reaction becomes the opposite.’

If individuals encounter the most fundamental traumas, their response becomes the opposite. Since they undergo thousands of times more trauma than an average person, their reaction becomes different.

There might be a description in the novel that I can refer to, but I don’t know what specific trauma Doctor Ha Sungyoon might have personally. Just as he had anticipated before saving him, the doctor came to Lee Jaehun several times as a variable.

Fortunately, the doctor soon regained his composure and spoke.

“It looked like a doll. Except it wasn’t just a doll; it felt like cloth sewn onto the skin of a living dog. Its eyes were beads or buttons.”

“….”

“Actually… I don’t remember exactly what it looked like. They didn’t all look the same. They were all different.”

Listening for a moment, Lee Jaehun asked.

“Did it directly attack anyone?”

“If it did, would we be alive now? No, it seemed more like it was… wary of people.”

As the doctor said so, his voice became uncertain if his words were funny. It seemed he was puzzled by the fact that the monsters were wary of them.

Removing his hand from his ear, Doctor Ha Sungyoon blushed and continued speaking.

“No one was injured. We thought about running away, but when we backed off, it followed us even more. It seemed like it would run with us if we ran, so we just observed the situation….”

“And then?”

“Kwon Yeonhee was crying, and Noh Yeonseok was vomiting, so we decided to run.”

“I see.”

Not running away, but giving them space.

‘Because they like people.’

One of Lee Jaehun’s eyebrows twitched up and then settled down again.

Stray dog monsters don’t know that their appearance triggers a negative response in humans, but most of them have a tendency to like people. They retreat because they start to fear as they approach, showing negative reactions such as being scared or hesitant, but it wasn’t because they despised them. It made him think twice about whether to pity them, considering the character of those who cried or vomited without provocation. After all, not all stray dog monsters like people.

‘There were definitely stray dog monsters who harbored enmity toward survivors.’

Even if they didn’t show any preferences, some would attack aggressively or threaten when approached closely. And if they perceived the other party as prey through olfactory factors like the smell of blood, they would become even more aggressive. Just because the level of threat to life was lower than other monsters didn’t mean it was safe enough to exchange familiarity.

Even this fact, revealed later in the novel, was a danger in itself for the current group.

“So… objectively speaking, there wasn’t much damage.”

“…Got it.”

Passing the doctor, who seemed to have nothing more to say, Lee Jaehun’s gaze fell on Noh Yeonseok, the intern, who was drinking water, and Kwon Yeonhee, who was trembling.

“….”

He pursed his lips briefly and then controlled his expression.

It was time to act.

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