Chapter 70

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Chapter 70

Lee Jaehun clearly wanted to gain the protagonist’s trust and join their group.

Even the supporting characters standing next to him couldn’t fully escape from the otherworld. How could a pathetic villain, neither on the protagonist’s side nor directly opposing him, but rather diagonally off, hope to achieve wealth and glory?

That’s why, as soon as he remembered his past life, he devised a plan. If he couldn’t avoid his fate, he had to make use of it as much as possible, and for Lee Jaehun, that meant using his current life that had been dragged into the novel.

The novel he had read was a grim 19+ survival story, but the creatures within were all mere chicks. From the perspective of the people from his previous world, the weak and fragile beings within the novel falling apart more than themselves was quite a shocking tale. Lee Jaehun had started reading the novel out of a sense of duty, but he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the process.

Given how weak and fragile they were, it was natural for Lee Jaehun to confidently plan his path forward. If he knew how things would unfold, what they consisted of, and ultimately what the result would be, it was impossible for them to escape from his grasp.

Lee Jaehun wanted to be recognized as part of the ‘protagonist’s group,’ and he thought this wouldn’t be too difficult. At the time, he thought so.

‘The problem is, I was too overconfident.’

He made a mistake.

He should have known how soft and fragile this world was, but he had applied his previous life’s values as they were, creating an unavoidable sense of discord. His delayed judgment due to a weakened mental state also played a part.

Thus, Lee Jaehun was remembered by the group as an overly self-sacrificing person. He was considerate but not straightforward, pretending not to be, but it wasn’t sincere. Disliking everything, he often clicked his tongue but couldn’t openly refute it. Even if he had refuted, it wouldn’t have made a difference and would only have damaged his image further.

Of course, up until now, Lee Jaehun had continuously wanted to be out of the group’s sight. After all, a group is a concept that arises when they are family or colleagues. The former is a relationship built on affection, while the latter is based on trust. Therefore, it was possible to have comrades you hated but could still trust to watch your back.

Lee Jaehun wanted just that level of affection and trust. He wanted to be remembered as a useful person who maintained the minimum line. The more trust, the better, but affection became a hindrance as it grew.

‘See, they won’t let me act freely.’

In other words, affection meant the suppression of freedom.

Therefore, in his previous world, affection was not such an important virtue.

Of course, for a lover sharing a heart or a family met every morning, affection was naturally necessary, but there was no need to pour that much devotion into a coworker. After all, the most important thing was none other than efficiency. He had to carry out the desired plan. He had to achieve the desired result.

To do that, he had to be able to throw suitable colleagues into the fire when necessary, and the thrown sacrifices shouldn’t despair, even if they got angry. It wasn’t such a big deal. Of course, if Lee Jaehun himself were thrown onto a thorny path, he would shiver. He didn’t want to be miserable or in pain. He hated the hard road.

Nevertheless, he stepped forward for the future investment, considering the residents of this world were unexpectedly like chicks. There was no noble determination or pitiful sacrifice.

‘Just,’

It was efficient.

Instead of putting the half-baked chicks in front and watching everyone fail, he thought he would lead them. However, they had different values.

Lee Jaehun found their excessively soft values utterly revolting. The group, with their excessive affection, devalued his worth under the pretext of worry and ethics.

He wanted to shout at them.

‘I’m not the bad one.’

He wanted to say.

He just had different values.

In his world, Lee Jaehun was simply an excellent member and a valuable being. But in this world, they denied that, and even his nonexistent pride was about to be crushed.

Moreover, there was a bigger problem.

‘If my activities are restricted, my plans will be disrupted.’

He had planned to leave the role of leader to the protagonist, but separately, he intended to orbit around and lead the group in his desired context. It meant he wanted to avoid responsibility and duty but still see the results he wanted.

But if things went this way, the group would scream at whatever he did. They would be saddened if he got hurt while catching a monster, and horrified if he became bait. They found such behavior entirely natural and valid, unlike Lee Jaehun.

He felt very burdened by the group’s reactions. To explain it with modern logic, it was like being fussed over from all sides every ten steps, asking if his feet hurt. It was as if they were marveling at him just for knowing how to read and write, which, although childish, was not entirely unpleasant. However, the former was tiring. Honestly, he wondered why they were acting that way.

‘But it’s hard to show any different behavior.’

There was no plausible reason, and the loss outweighed the benefits.

‘If I want to shed this image, I have to resort to shock therapy…’

In this case, the group would suffer significant damage, so Lee Jaehun kept his mouth shut as much as possible. There was nothing to gain and no reason to break the group’s stable mentality.

However, around this troublesome time, a decent opportunity presented itself.

‘A detective, a survivor, and a monster.’

They handed Lee Jaehun a plausible pretext.

From the detective’s perspective, Lee Jaehun needed to solidify his image as a valuable madman. A reason was needed to merge the group of other survivors with theirs. And Lee Jaehun was inevitably deeply connected with the green algae monster.

‘Besides, it looked convincing on the surface too.’

The reason Lee Jaehun started acting strangely was after being captured by the green algae monster. Although the fundamental problem lay with Lee Jaehun himself, they wouldn’t think it had no connection with that incident.

In the first place, to gain trust without affection, he had to shake off the excessive love the group had for him. To push the group to mingle with other survivors, he had to step back from his current position. The green algae monster was the final boss anyway, and there were many mountains for them to overcome. Lee Jaehun decided to proceed this way.

He had already laid the groundwork for a crack.

‘It’ll give them quite a headache.’

It was a kind of bait.

They would realize that the insignificant comfort they had been feeling was built on ruins and would distance themselves from its source, ‘Director Lee Jaehun.’

Fear starts from the unknown and the incomprehensible. Lee Jaehun’s values were neither acknowledged nor understood by them. He didn’t believe that fear of death was worth having. For the group, the fear driven by survival instinct was literally an instinct. Someone who goes against that instinct cannot be understood.

For now, it’s just a light crack, but as time passes, their thoughts will deepen.

‘What kind of thoughts does he live with every day?’

‘Why does he do that?’

‘How can he do that?’

And the more they ponder these questions, the more they will feel an instinctive aversion.

After that, it would be simple. Aside from the protagonist, Jung Inho, the only one who could overcome such aversion and approach him would be Doctor Ha Sungyoon. By then, Lee Jaehun would be watching from a distance, adjusting things as needed.

‘Still, I won’t do anything too harsh out of guilt.’

After all, they were still chicks with a conscience.

There’s a big difference between relationships that were bad from the start and those that turned sour after being good. In Lee Jaehun’s case, it was like a relationship that had moved from negative to positive and back to negative, making the history much more complicated than others.

In the case of Lee Jaehun, who had been an overbearing boss, his relationship with them had been strikingly flat, but not anymore. He hadn’t harmed them to make their impression of him turn negative, so there was little chance of them harboring resentment. He had helped them without any ulterior motives, but they had come to reject him one-sidedly.

Everything was perfect then. Satisfactory. Receiving trust without affection, he would never fall out of the ‘protagonist’s group,’ nor could the group discard him first.

This meant Lee Jaehun’s right without duty and peaceful freedom.

‘Though the crack is still small, it won’t be difficult.’

So, just one thing.

‘Just one trigger is all it takes.’

And the material for that ‘trigger’ was not far from them.

There were many monsters here.

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The tense atmosphere that seemed ready to penetrate the mantle quickly dissipated.

In the end, what Lee Jaehun showed was only a sliver of the truth, and with just a drop of discomfort, he couldn’t shake off his existing image. Moreover, the person who created this atmosphere was acting like a recently awakened patient who didn’t know what was wrong, making it hard to question him further. Since Lee Jaehun, the source of the unease, was acting nonchalant, the others had no choice but to follow suit.

If they had been close friends with him for a long time, things might have been different. But they had only spoken a few times, and he was their boss. Even those who were close enough to discuss the recent topic found it difficult to ask directly.

Naturally, Director Lee Jaehun casually deflected the mood, and the group couldn’t bring up the subject again. Adding in the immediate tasks at hand, it was easy to lift the dampened mood.

Of course, it was just a temporary fix.

“Wow, who built this wall?”

“I built it with Yeonseok….”

“This will collapse easily.”

Lee Jaehun spoke casually, reinforcing the sloppy wall by placing appropriately sized stones between the gaps. He didn’t want to demolish and rebuild what the ‘chicks’ had worked hard to construct.

Aside from feeling a bit hungry and thirsty, Lee Jaehun felt unusually fine for someone who had slept for three days straight. His condition, which even the doctor found surprising, gradually eased the awkwardness among the group as they worked together.

“Ahjussi, Ahjussi! Does this fit just right?”

“…Oh, good. Put it there.”

What was surprising was how normal the Park siblings seemed.

‘Just like in the novel, these two have unbreakable spirits.’

It seemed they had decided that the ‘Ahjussi’ they were sticking to this time wouldn’t die right away. Indeed, those who acted like lunatics usually survived longer.

Though they seemed unphased by the atmosphere, their faces were quite unexpected. In the novel, the siblings had pretended to be timid and stayed out of trouble, so they must be doing fairly well now.

‘They value the benefits of sticking to someone more than the person’s mental state.’

They had a very convenient mindset.

In other words, they didn’t care if the person they relied on was a madman as long as they remained safe. They were excellent among the young chicks.

“But you just woke up. Shouldn’t you rest more?”

“My clothes are dirty, but my wounds are much better… Besides, I slept for three days. I almost died of hunger, but now that I’ve eaten, moving around is better.”

“Judging by the doctor’s expression, that doesn’t seem right….”

“Ignore him.”

Honestly, it was impressive. Even in his past life, such people would crawl out of the fire pretending not to notice and stick close again.

They were all like disgusting little chicks.

‘Well, it would be strange if they got intimidated now.’

In the novel, they survived with only wit and quick thinking. It would be odd if they shrank back from the slight discomfort Lee Jaehun showed.

Although it was annoying that they didn’t get swept up in the atmosphere as planned, he found some solace in discovering two resilient sprouts. It was also his fault for not accounting for their mental fortitude, even though he knew about it.

“Hey, hey… Where should I put this?”

“Just hand it over, and take the rest to the firewood pile.”

“Ugh, so bossy….”

“Hey, I shared my food with you, didn’t I?”

“Thanks for that.”

Lee Jaehun greeted Park Dayoung, who brought various-sized stones wrapped in her school jacket, and her younger brother Park Dahoon, who, despite being tired, still held onto his firewood.

“Thanks for helping out, but it’s dangerous for you two to be alone. Always tell an adult where you’re going. Got it?”

“…But everyone’s busy….”

“If adults are too busy to look after kids, what kind of adults are they? If you get hurt, that doctor’s stress level will go up.”

The siblings nodded seriously, alternating their gaze between the frowning Ha Sungyoon and Lee Jaehun.

“We’ll be careful.”

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me like that…. Anyway, don’t feel bad.”

“Love you, ahjussi.”

“Heh.”

Even though they wouldn’t be fazed by immediate execution, he said this to maintain his image.

‘Sudden personality changes would break the character.’

He had always been gentle with minors, so if his demeanor suddenly changed because of a bit of unease, even the chicks would find it odd. He aimed to change his image, not reveal his act.

Dusting off the dirt-covered jacket and handing it back to Park Dayoung, Lee Jaehun spoke, noticing Kang Mina’s curious gaze.

“The wall is done, so let’s set some traps.”

“…Where are you going?”

“Why is Team Leader Kang acting like this too?”

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