Theatrical Regression Life - Chapter 17

Manager Lee Jaehun was obviously not a good person.

* * *

He didn’t really have any regrets in life.

He was the third child of a family with a lot of money, a crony for a major corporation, and he was living as he pleased, doing all the things that most idiots would do.

Of course, there were times when he felt a sense of inferiority due to his dirty nature, but it was an undeniable fact that he was living a very good life when viewed objectively.

To be honest, he wouldn’t say that he had a good personality either in his previous life or in his current life, so this kind of kkondae life was quite to his taste.

However, the reason he willingly gave up his life was that the sudden recall of his past life created too many variables, and he was unsure.

‘I inherited my physical condition from my previous life.’

It’s obvious, since it’s an ability he didn’t have before.

Isn’t ‘Lee Jae-hun’ a character who will die in a hospital episode anyway?

There’s no reason to give him a set-up that he worked out or was in good physical condition.

He only survived in the park thanks to his lighter, but it was a different story in the monster-infested hospital.

However, by recalling his previous life, Lee Jaehun has received his previous life’s ability.

They weren’t exactly the same, of course, but from the perspective of this life, they were good enough to make him more valuable.

This means that while he may not be someone you’d want to get to know in private, he’s someone you’d want to work with in public.

However, the important thing here was that he had inherited his abilities from his previous life to an extent.

‘Before, I couldn’t even die at will.’

In the world of his previous life, there was a fixed lifespan.

If you died without fulfilling that lifespan, you immediately came back to life, and because of that, the value of life was absurdly low.

It was a very natural fact, at least for Lee Jaehun.

Given that he had inherited his tattered mental strength by recalling the memories of his previous life, he reasoned that it was possible that something other than his physical condition could have been transferred.

However, in this world, the concept of resurrection is not as natural as in the world of the previous life, so questions arise.

He thought it was a very plausible question.

Is death here the eternal end?

‘or….’

Will he come back to life in some form?

If it’s the former, he’ll die peacefully, but if it’s the latter, the story is different.

If it is the same as in the previous life, he will be resurrected in the same way that a dead body comes to life.

In that case, it would be very difficult if there were other people around, and Lee Jaehun’s existence, which could be resurrected, could be regarded as a tool to the party who gradually abandoned their humanity as they went into the second half.

Naturally, Lee Jaehun would not be happy with that situation.

He had already been treated like that in his previous life, and being treated like a tool meant that they were looking down on him in the first place, which hurt his pride.

In this case, Lee Jaehun’s resurrection means that there should be no one around to witness it.

‘Of course, there are many other possibilities….’

He had to worry about this, but it could be that he just dies normally.

Or the form of resurrection could be different from before, or changes could occur around him, not in him.

For this reason, Lee Jaehun has been acting in a way that can accommodate all possible cases.

‘First, act according to the setting.’

He didn’t know if he could die right away or not.

However, if he was to be resurrected like in his previous life, he had to lay the groundwork, keeping in mind that he would eventually survive to the end.

In that sense, the setting made by Lee Jaehun himself is quite plausible. It explains why he is familiar with this world.

It explains why he’s a psychopath who’s used to pain. It explains why he has such different common sense and values than everyone else…

If Lee Jaehun had to live on, his actions according to the above setting would add legitimacy to his actions in the future.

‘Next, keep a reasonable distance.’

To be honest, this failed.

At least it wasn’t to this extent when he was in the original world, but after entering the underworld, his mental strength was lowered, so he confused the common sense of the previous life and the present life.

For example, in the old world, it was only natural that the better guy got the most hits.

They valued efficiency, even if it meant putting the strongest person at the front of the line in a dangerous place, or tearing them limb from limb.

Of course, the person in charge could spit out swear words tens of thousands of times, but he couldn’t win over the majority.

But in this world, there was such a thing as polite gratitude.

In particular, thanks to the high value of life, the act of saving someone is very noble, and there is a tendency to view the person who did it more than a little fondly.

Even if it was the normally loathsome kkondae of a department head.

Lee Jaehun should have kept this in mind. The fact that people in this world are softer chicks than you can imagine, and that’s why they give favors to others very easily.

And finally the third.

“Ma-Manager.”

“…….”

“What can we do…?”

Pretend to be as altruistic as possible.

Lee Jaehun pursed his lips at the three pairs of gazes looking at him with shaking eyes.

“Whatever you do, prepare to run if you have to.”

“Yes yes. Yes….”

“Same goes for the students, can your legs hold up?”

When his gaze reached the two students, they nodded silently.

“… I can run.”

“I think so.”

“…Mmmph….”

Lee Jaehun swallowed a sigh at the sound of Kwon Yeon-hee’s muffled cry.

She was wrapped in a protective embrace around two high school students, both of whom were larger than her, and they, too, were holding onto Kwon Yeon-hee’s hand as they listened to the monster’s footsteps.

Damn it, the situation didn’t go the way Lee Jaehun remembered in the novel, and the brother and sister, who should have had a conversation with the main character first, came to Lee Jaehun first.

He knew that his very presence was a variable, but the story had changed more drastically than he could have imagined.

He opened his mouth quietly, feeling the blood flowing from his arm and touching the pipe in his hand.

“…That monster, it looks like it feeds on blood.”

It was a fact that could be known if you recall the behavior of the monster that lingered by the corpse of Chief Kang or Intern Roh Yun-Seok.

Apart from digging up corpses with its fanged tentacles, the monster had no interest in human flesh.

What it wanted was blood. There was no doubt about that, as the creature ran its tongue over the blood that had been spilled to lure Deputy Jung who went to pick up the twigs.

“Seeing that it can’t find us right away, it must have poor eyesight or hearing. Maybe because of its size, it can’t run even if its stride is big.”

“…….”

“So, if one person holds it at bay… I think we can buy some time.”

At his words, the expressions of Kwon Yeon-hee and the students hardened.

“You want to use bait?”

“It can’t be helped. Do you want us all to die?”

“But… .”

The brother and sister shook their heads in fright, as if they thought one of them would be used as bait, but Kwon Yeon-hee stared at him with round eyes, wondering what she felt at Lee Jaehun’s proposal.

Yes, to put it bluntly, he needed to die once.

“…Manager?”

“Employee Kwon, do you understand everything I am saying? Yes?”

“No, wait, wait….”

“You don’t have to die here.”

He didn’t know if there was a resurrection or not, so he had to experience death himself to find out.

But he was still a human being and he wanted to live as much as he could.

The life of a boss was quite enjoyable as it was, and since his previous life had been so tiring, he wanted to enjoy this one as well, even if it meant having a dirty personality.

Nevertheless, in this world, that was simply impossible.

Therefore, for the correct course of action in the future, Lee Jaehun had to die once.

“I will stay.”

And the most convincing death was the death by such a monster.

“…what, what?”

“I can’t even run anyway. you know.”

Lee Jaehun blinked at his wobbly legs, and Kwon Yeon-hee and the brother and sister’s mouths were tightly shut.

As he ran away, Lee Jaehun broke his leg, not even his ankle.

It was a result of not being able to see the creeping vines approaching the ground because the day was too dark, and the bridge, which was already in bad condition, was completely broken after bumping into the green algae monster once.

The students who confirmed it seemed to have made up their minds on something, but Kwon Yeon-hee, not realizing that, raised a trembling voice toward Lee Jaehun.

“…Manager, manager. What’s wrong?”

“Employee Kwon takes the kids and runs away.”

“Yes? What? Manager, no….”

Employee Kwon shook her head, unable to wipe away the tears she had shed since Chief Kang’s death, while the brother and sister looked at them with confused eyes.

Lee Jaehun roughly understood the thoughts of the students.

‘Since they were the last in the group to join, they must have thought that they would also be used as bait.’

He felt an inexplicable satisfaction at the expectation that lacked even a hint of humanity.

As expected, It’s an efficient decision for a main character, and it was even sweeter because it was a situation where it would have been enough if they had gone to a different group.

Even if it wasn’t as psychotic as him, it was a judgment that he liked.

But Lee Jaehun had no such intention.

To be precise, he also thought that using students as bait would be efficient, but he just concluded that it would be foolish to act out of character in a situation where he might not be able to die right away.

However, that one death could be the last death, so it had to be a situation where it didn’t matter if he died.

“Can we just run away together? If I, if I help you….”

“You seem to be losing your mind, so to put it kindly, I can’t.”

But that failed to distance him, and the conversation got a little twisted.

“It’s not that I won’t, it’s that I can’t, Kwon Yeon-hee.”

So, inevitably, Lee Jaehun created a situation where he had to die.

Fortunately, thanks to his previous selflessness, Employee Kwon bought it.

If her perception of the kkondae department head was the same, it would have been awkward with each other because of the improbability, but since it was Lee Jaehun’s remarks after he had sacrificed for them so far, she understood his words without difficulty.

She, of course, didn’t want to accept his words because she was like that. She rebelled several times, but just as Lee Jaehun was aiming for, the situation was urgent.

The monster scanned the floor with its toothy vines like a hunter, narrowing its range, and eventually Employee Kwon had to be convinced.

Lee Jaehun looked at Kwon Yeon-hee, who held the students’ hands tightly with empty eyes.

In the act of holding hands even though they had to run away, Lee Jaehun could feel the traces of Chief Kang, but he soon erased it when he saw the main characters, the brother and sister.

He handed his lighter to the older student, the sister, who stared at him with a pale gaze.

“That bastard only comes here because it smells blood. Is Ms. Kwon Yeon-hee seriously injured right now?”

“…….”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. The student has a broken leg right now, but the monster is one. If we split in two, the bastard will go to the one that smells more blood. Do you understand?”

“… yes.”

“Well, thanks for understanding.”

Sigh,

Lee Jahun stood up, leaning against the tree on which he leaned, and continued.

“… I will be here.”

“Manager…”

“It takes a lot of time to remove the bandage anyway. Go now. It’s late.”

“…….”

Without further words, as he unwrapped the doctor’s bandage from the wound which had been put to stop the bleeding, the students forcefully led the absent-minded employee Kwon by the hand.

Maybe it was because they hadn’t met in a very long time, so leaving him was much easier than employee Kwon.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the siblings weren’t chicks either, they left with pale faces, but Lee Jaehun was greatly impressed by the fact that they had the capacity to lead at least Employee Kwon.

After all, they’d survived the park with their tricks. If he revives, he’ll make sure to take care of them well.

Lee Jaehun sighed as he saw his body bleeding again after removing the bandage and running his hands through the wound several times. The monster began approaching him as it had smelled blood.

As far as he was concerned, it was a pretty good situation.

‘I’m glad.’

Kwajik.

Numerous teeth pierced his neck.

He’d used his blood to lure Deputy Jung to his aid, but he’d given his neck to the monster so that Deputy wouldn’t have the foolish idea of saving him.

If he thinks that he can save him even after seeing this thing, he must have misunderstood Jung In-ho.

As he was blocking the monster that was trying to suffocate him with one arm, he heard a familiar voice through his foggy mind.

“…Manager.”

It was the main character, Deputy Jung In-ho.

“Hey.”

In other words, it means that the role of Lee Jaehun is over.

“Hey, Jung I… deputy.”

“…….”

“…Fu, ck. This, go, run away. Kids, this… .”

He kicked the pipe with his foot, which he had not been able to hand over to Employee Kwon before.

He thought he wouldn’t really be able to escape if he handed this over, so he kept it, but it was no longer useful to him.

Hey, what more could a dying man need?

“… Help, come.”

It would be enough if only the living survived well.

“…Manager….”

“Pah, hurry.”

“Wait, no, wait,”

“…….”

“Why… .”

Even though he is the ghastly Deputy Jung In-ho, perhaps his humanity is still intact, and he hesitates as if he has not yet grasped the situation, not moving.

In the second half of the novel, it would be ridiculous to do that, but now he was still a chick.

Tired of feeling that his words would be too long, Lee Jaehun offered his head to the monster.

“…Cheuk, kuk.”

“…….”

Grrr.

If you still don’t move, then you don’t deserve to be a fucking protagonist.

To be honest, he couldn’t remember what happened next.

He was so battered that he couldn’t even breathe properly, but just being conscious up to this point was an amazing thing.

However, he was able to instinctively detect that Deputy Jung In-ho had left safely as he had intended, so no one would watch Lee Jaehun’s death until the end.

Even if he came back to life right away, there would be no big risk as there was no one around.

Of course, if they meet again later, there might be a reaction like, ‘How the hell did you survive that situation?’.

‘That’s about it.’

Lee Jaehun also prepared an excuse for this.

He didn’t go looking for the party immediately after he was resurrected, so there was no problem even if he was resurrected on the spot.

If the party met again, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a new base because Boss Yoon was there, and the mental strength of the brother and sister who joined later was quite useful, so it would be helpful to the disgusting protagonist.

At least, in his opinion, it was the best result aside from his personal gain.

Lee Jaehun stared at the monster with its mouth open cruelly toward him with a blurry gaze.

‘This seems to have served as bait long enough….’

Pop.

He felt his body grow cold and his mind go blank, and then he let go of his hand.

As if the blood had drained away for a while, he could no longer feel any sensation in his hand.

His head was buzzing and his stomach was pounding, but Lee Jaehun glanced with difficulty at the spot where he had kicked the pipe for the last time.

The bright red bloodstained grass was empty, and it was clear that the main character had left with his pipe in the end.

“…….”

Disgusting bastard.

Now, it was his turn to die in peace.

* * *

… and come back to life.

“Huh.”

“Manager?”

“No, just thinking about something.”

Or, to be precise, he regressed.

It really is hard to live.

___________________________________________________

End Note:

He’s back in business baby!