Theatrical Regression Life

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“What’s going on? Why are you… Why are you crying all of a sudden?”

“…Sorry, I’m sorry…”

“No, what, why? No.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…”

“Why in the world…”

What the hell, why is this happening?

Lee Jaehun felt a shallow panic as the protagonist suddenly shed tears.

The words coming out of his mouth were all ‘no,’ a clear sign of how flustered he was. The protagonist’s unexpected vulnerability took his breath away.

“Why the hell are you crying?”

Was my speech really that touching?

No, right? No matter how I think about it, it wasn’t that much. I just thought it was enough to patch up the slightly shattered mental state. Did I misjudge?

Entering the OtherWorld, Lee Jaehun’s judgment was impaired to the point where he couldn’t trust his own decisions anymore.

Uncharacteristically, he couldn’t hide his surprise and swallowed a sigh.

“This is insane. Why are you crying, seriously?”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, I messed up…”

“Is being sorry now more regrettable?”

What Lee Jaehun missed in his state of diminished judgment in this OtherWorld was the fact that, before the regression, he died right in front of Deputy Jung Inho.

“I’m sorry…”

As creepy as it may sound, Jung Inho was a bright-eyed chick for Lee Jaehun.

The child’s death that should have been etched deep in his mind during the weekend’s traffic accident was thwarted by Lee Jaehun’s intervention, turning Jung Inho’s trauma into a mere half-hearted, happy ending.

Moreover, the death of Kang Mina hat he should have experienced firsthand, was also nullified by Lee Jaehun’s actions.

If she had died as the novel dictated, Jung Inho might have acquired a trauma about someone else’s death, but there would have been colleagues to share the burden.

Analyst Kwon Yeonhee, intern Noh Yeonseok, and the disliked superior, Director Lee Jaehun, would have shared the burden of these deaths.

However, Lee Jaehun’s death was not something that could happen.

Jung Inho, who had lost his mind in the parallel world, witnessed the corpses of Team Leader Kang Mina and Intern Noh Yeonseok as a price for his mental release.

The resentment that Lee Jaehun, the director who had managed them, would have shared eventually led to his tragic death, as he tried to protect them.

The anger and sorrow, now without a target, would turn towards oneself, and it was something the chick Jung Inho, managed by Lee Jaehun, could not handle.

It might have been easier to accept if someone had died in the weekend traffic accident or by the company’s monster instead.

Due to Lee Jaehun’s flawed judgment, who never placed a high value on his own life, Jung Inho witnessed his long and gruesome death, resulting in a heavy blow to his psyche.

It’s because of me.

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh, no. Why are you saying that?”

“Really, I’m sorry.”

Someone died because of me.

“I’m sorry…”

And yet, he resented this person.

The self-blame that he shouldn’t have experienced, thanks to Lee Jaehun’s intervention, took hold of Jung Inho.

* * *

In the unprecedented event of the protagonist crying, it briefly startled none other than Lee Jaehun. Despite the guy he had disdainfully called creepy, Jung Inho quickly regained composure.

While feeling a twinge of disgust again at this point, regardless, it was a good thing for Lee Jaehun, who was in an unpredictable situation.

Though it still seemed like the sound of ‘I’m sorry’ echoed in his ears, Lee Jaehun, thinking of the lurking green monster somewhere nearby, swallowed his fatigue.

“…Have you snapped out of it?”

“Yes, I apologize…”

“Enough of that apology. Anyway…”

Lee Jaehun, having vaguely guessed what the apology was for, exhaled like a sigh.

“Do you have any idea what might be lurking around here?”

Maybe my death was a bit shocking for them.

Thinking about that, Lee Jaehun blinked his eyes slowly.

Despite often wanting to backstab the old-fashioned boss, even he might have felt a bit guilty for dying right in front of them.

The protagonist was a chick in their own way.

Of course, Lee Jaehun’s judgment was a bit different from reality, but not knowing about Lee Jaehun’s thoughts, Deputy Jung Inho nodded approvingly.

“While picking up firewood, we also experienced a similar situation. Something approaching like this vine or…?”

“Do you hear any movement?”

“…Yes.”

Lee Jaehun took advantage of a brief silence to listen carefully.

Rustle.

“……”

A dull, thudding sound, a noise of something approaching from a distance.

“It’s probably the Algae monster.”

Naturally, he already knew what it was.

For some reason, unlike the pre-regression situation, the Algae monster didn’t come early, and as evidence, the six crushed vines they exploded were already there.

Although it felt unfair, considering that in the early stages of the park episode, it was the mischievous monsters who enjoyed the darkness, it was an unavoidable situation for Lee Jaehun, who had already shed blood abundantly from the company.

Before the regression, he had placed himself near the lake, thinking that he had to die at least once. However, for the current lee Jaehun, who couldn’t even die, there was no worse situation than this.

The Algae monster was slow but persistent. Although the tentacles it spewed were not very solid, the teeth attached to them were quite sturdy, as he recalled.

It was obviously impractical to charge at it barehanded.

Moreover, it could even ignite itself and explode, so to deal with it, he had to tie something heavy to his body and sink it into the lake.

That way, even if he couldn’t kill it outright, he could render it incapable of action.

‘In the novel, they handled it that way, but…’

Lee Jaehun wiped his mouth with his hand as if covering it.

The method described in the novel could only be attempted around the end of the park episode. After all, he needed to prepare something heavy enough to wrap around his body.

In reality, he had no weapons to confront the Algae monster.

If he clashed with it barehanded, he would end up entangled in vines and share the same fate as the pre-regression Lee Jaehun. Besides, it was currently too dark to find a new weapon immediately.

Although a metal wrench or Lee Jaehun’s pipe might prove effective, there were only two of them, and it was overwhelming to protect the rest of the group.

The most plausible solution was to throw a decoy…

‘Perhaps the protagonist did that right after the regression. Throwing a decoy.’

Among the crawling monsters on the transformed park ground, there was a creature with bodily fluids resembling human blood.

In the novel, the protagonist realized that the caterpillar-like monster emitted a scent of blood. Gathering it and tossing it as bait was a method to manipulate the movement of the Algae monster.

It seemed likely that this was the approach the protagonist took right after the regression. Those creatures were repulsive but lacked aggression and had minimal mobility, making them easy to find by examining rotten wood.

In the early stages when there was no food, the group resorted to using these caterpillars as a meal.

Considering they ate it and didn’t die, Lee Jaehun thought it could serve as a protein source in desperate times.

Of course, Lee Jaehun had a different ‘decoy’ in mind, unrelated to what the protagonist had thought of. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use that method immediately because of the lack of materials.

“It seems there’s a somewhat larger monster around. Do you happen to know anything?”

“No.”

“All right then.”

Lee Jaehun completely ignored the protagonist, who had an obvious expression of ‘I know something.’

Probably, the protagonist made the opposite statement because there was no way to back up that claim.

Even if the protagonist knew something, Lee Jaehun had no reason to trust that information.

How would he know anything, and even if he did, the method of using the bait from the trees was currently unusable.

The number of monsters was fixed, and they didn’t resurrect immediately like game monsters.

‘Of course, they might revive when the world transforms again, but…’

That would likely take at least more than a week, probably closer to a month.

Considering the limited time during the regression, the protagonist must have been in a hurry.

Lee Jaehun didn’t know how the protagonist obtained information about the blood-tasting caterpillar, but judging from the time the green monsters were caught, the protagonist probably extracted and used them as soon as possible.

Finding a new caterpillar around here was almost impossible, even if he tore apart the trees.

Despite knowing this, Lee Jaehun didn’t seem to care about maintaining a composed expression. Perhaps he hoped Lee Jaehun would ask, but that was unlikely.

Lee Jaehun not only understood his own limited time but also recognized the urgency the protagonist faced. However, getting caught by that creature again and dying would be unjust, and even if they regressed, the likelihood of facing the same situation was high.

“…”

Bait.

Certainly, they needed bait.

“Should we go back for now?”

“Yes, it could be dangerous to stay away for too long.”

“Right, it’s risky.”

Lee Jaehun smoothly pretended to return to the group, shifting his feet as he pondered.

‘At this point, we can’t handle the green monsters.’

Whether the protagonist knew about it or not, the green monster was the final boss of the park episode. How could we, without any weapons or traps, manage such a creature?

The only viable option seemed to be using some kind of bait. The green monster was nocturnal, so as the day began to dawn, it would return to the lake, sleeping beneath the algae-covered surface.

Until then, they could hold out using bait. Once morning arrived, they could find a convincing weapon. The key was to discover a way to kill it.

Of course, finding that method in less than 24 hours would be challenging. They would have to find a new bait when the sun rose. But for now, they needed bait that emitted a strong scent of blood, something enticing enough to lure the green monster.

“…”

Is it here?

Lee Jaehun hid in the darkness and caught sight of the swaying vines. Unlike the seemingly ordinary monsters they had encountered so far, this one had tiny teeth densely packed along its length.

Lee Jaehun had vivid memories of being impaled by those teeth.

These toothed vines were part of the green monster’s body, and they didn’t easily break even after several strikes.

“…Deputy Jung.”

Lee Jaehun deliberately brushed against the vines and, passing by, opened his mouth.

“Yes?”

“Just in case.”

With a soft sound, the monster, searching for prey, quietly embedded its teeth into Lee Jaehun’s ankle.

The process was so quiet that, except for Lee Jaehun, no one could perceive it, not even the protagonist standing right there. Yet, the protagonist, as if sensing something, locked eyes with Lee Jaehun with a perplexed gaze.

“If we’re not here, who else will protect those people, you know?”

The hastily treated bandage on his burn, which had already lost its function, unraveled and fell to the floor with a small, muffled sound. In the meantime, the teeth that had dug in had already wrapped around his calf.

Only then did the protagonist spot the toothed vine beneath the darkness.

“…Director?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

“Just a moment, what…”

Squelch!

The vine that tasted blood tightened around his leg, giving a sensation similar to a large hand gripping a doll’s leg. Recognized as prey, Lee Jaehun felt the vine pulling tight.

The message in this situation was crystal clear.

With the most nonchalant expression he could muster, Lee Jaehun spoke,

“Don’t follow me.”

With those words, he was pulled away by the vine.

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