Theatrical Regression Life

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“No fish sighted?”

Yoon Garam nodded in response to Lee Jaehun’s question.

“Yes, it wasn’t like they weren’t there at all. At least when I visited last week….”

“So, they were there.”

“They were, even in abundance.”

With a shrug, Yoon Garam continued. Despite his calm and faint smile, his reaction was not that of an ordinary person.

Lee Jaehun scanned Yoon Garam, Kang Mina, and No Yeonseok before pursing his lips.

“…I was thinking of trying my hand at fishing if there were any fish.”

Though he voiced his disappointment, there wasn’t much to be disappointed about in reality.

‘It’s not that they’re absent, just not visible.’

Even with better memory since recalling his past life, Lee Jaehun didn’t remember every detail of the novel he read out of loyalty. He mostly forgot specific settings or dialogues, but retained key information. The park stories were memorable, especially the small lake.

The park had two lakes. The larger one covered in algae was the habitat of an algae monster, while the small lake and its surroundings, irritatingly clear, resembled a place with mirror and glass properties.

Nevertheless, the strong manifestation of these properties was rare.

‘I just remember it as a setting the author threw in because they liked flashy things.’

“It was really beautiful though. Almost like a jewel.”

“The water was so clear and white. It was impressive.”

Although it appeared clear and white, it was actually reflecting the bright sky. Lee Jaehun suspected it might have been overly inserted due to personal preference but didn’t point it out. There was no need to seriously advise on a piece of writing praised by others.

“Anyway… so if you go at night, it’s supposed to be magnificent.”

“We should check it out later.”

“Oh, but it’s not possible now, you know? As Yeonhee-ssi said, the director is completely zombified….”

“Why is everyone treating me like that?”

Wondering why the gravel underneath was visible, Lee Jaehun had no clue. Since the novel progressed from the perspective of Deputy Jung Inho, things he didn’t know weren’t described. He didn’t know if there were any errors in the setting made by the author’s preference.

And the most important thing was, if you fully immersed yourself in that lake, you could see fish.

‘I think they said you can’t see anything if you only dip your feet or head…?’

Survivors easily found and caught bugs for sustenance. Thanks to that, their mental states deteriorated, and eventually, one of the survivors who couldn’t stand the discomfort dove into the small lake, discovering this information.

Of course, since the lake was deeper than imagined and home to monsters, a survivor who was just trying to take a bath almost drowned, which was not a pleasant fact. It happened to be a guy with a beer bottle who caused a commotion.

“He seemed like some manager.”

While Lee Jaehun pondered the original content, Team Leader Kang cautiously spoke up.

“And, well… it felt strange.”

The intern, Noh Yeonseok, vigorously nodded in agreement.

“Right. It felt excessively clean. Like, just like a jewel…?”

“It felt more like a pretty decoration than edible food.”

“You make a good metaphor, it was accurate.”

As they spoke, Yoon Garam seemed impressed by Team Leader Kang’s metaphor. Her smile disappeared as she spoke, probably due to the impact of Team Leader Kang’s metaphor.

Listening to them, Lee Jaehun furrowed his brows in thought.

‘…Was such a description included?’

Since the point of view owner was Deputy Jung Inho, expressions like ‘beautiful’ or ‘like a jewel’ weren’t used. The description of the small lake in the novel was oddly clean, and that was all.

However, given Team Leader Kang’s personality, she wouldn’t have made baseless remarks. Having developed a practical sense through the nagging of the old-fashioned director and disliking inconveniencing others due to her upbringing, she wouldn’t have brought up something irrelevant to bother the patient, Lee Jaehun. Even if she had to use ambiguous words, it meant she wanted to convey information to him somehow.

‘But there wasn’t any story about someone suffering visible harm due to the small lake in the novel.’

While there were descriptions of some almost drowning, from Lee Jaehun’s perspective, most of it was self-inflicted, and people actually died near the larger lake where the algae monster lived.

“Well… let’s keep it in mind for now.”

With that said, Lee Jaehun hobbled towards the fire.

“Di, Director. Just let me do it if you say so…!”

“Enough, sitting here waiting for you all to arrive is already irritating enough.”

After briefly licking his lips, he placed the bottle of water near the fire. The water was so clean that it could be boiled directly without straining through cloth or any other method.

“Well, I’m a bit nervous about using a glass bottle.”

“Huh? Oh, is the glass bottle not suitable?”

“It’s not that… but… if the temperature rises suddenly, it might break. It doesn’t heat up as quickly as a can.”

Of course, since the glass bottle hadn’t been in a refrigerator or freezer, it might not get to that point. But in any case, if he had brought a can, he would have pierced holes in it and hung it somewhere or made a simple support to place it on the fire. However, it was difficult to drill holes in a glass bottle, it was heavy to hang, and making a support out of wood seemed risky as it might catch fire before the water boiled.

‘In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve tried to survive in the wild with such makeshift equipment, so I’m not sure if this is right… but…’

Of course, it wasn’t necessarily a bad choice.

“Well, once we have the proper equipment, it’ll be better. It’s easier to cook with a glass bottle than a can…. Plus, as long as we have a decent support, we can cook without worrying about the shape changing due to the heat.”

At the moment, most of the equipment they could make was made of wood, so with a decent support, they could cook without worry. In that case, the glass, which hardly caused accidents due to heat, was quite a good container.

Lee Jaehun placed the glass bottle on a wooden plank close to the fire so that it wouldn’t catch fire and then sat down. Since it contained a lot of water, it wouldn’t easily catch fire even if it was close to the flames.

“Alright.”

“Um, what’s this?”

“Because it might be difficult to retrieve the glass bottle later. I left this so you can pull it out later.”

Of course, it might be a bit cumbersome to do so.

If it were a small can, there would be no problem retrieving it from the fire. It wasn’t too heavy to lift and it would be hanging somewhere, so as long as the support was touched, it wouldn’t be difficult to get boiled water. However, the glass bottle that the collection team brought was not only elongated in shape but also quite heavy. The glass bottle, heated to the point of boiling, would be too hot to touch immediately, and since the glass was thick, it wouldn’t cool as quickly as a can. It wasn’t efficient to completely extinguish the fire and bring it over, so such a device was placed to retrieve it.

‘Of course, it’s hastily made, so I’m not sure how effective it’ll be.’

Lee Jaehun muttered lowly in exhaustion.

“…I’m just glad the ground is soft.”

Though they were inside a junglefied park, the ground was quite dry. Moreover, there were no big or small stones, just soft soil, so even if he pulled the bottle like this, there wouldn’t be any accidents of falling into the fire.

Looking at Lee Jaehun, who seemed tired, Jung Inho cautiously asked.

“So, Director, if it’s not boiling water, can’t we drink it?”

“…I was about to say that…”

You little brat, so disgusting and creepy.

“Now you’re openly treating me like an encyclopedia, huh?”

If you’re a chick, you should act like a chick so I can find you cute, but Deputy Jung, who was good at annoying Lee Jaehun to the point of irritation, was a creepy opponent to him. Even though his mind was wavering every time, if the conditions were right, he would regain his composure instantly. It didn’t seem very appealing to see him trying to extract anything that seemed to be there just by talking for a while.

But in a way, it was understandable and even wise judgment, so to avoid any further mental strain, Lee Jaehun casually replied.

“If this were some remote mountain, I might try drinking it once, but… since it’s here.”

“…Ah….”

“Didn’t they also mention that they didn’t see any fish?”

“Yes, they didn’t see any.”

“It would have been easier to estimate what was living there. It’s a shame.”

There are organisms living in the water that can be drunk. Confirming whether such creatures exist can determine if the water is drinkable, but this is the Otherworld. There wouldn’t be such common-sense creatures here.

However, Lee Jaehun already knew that the water was safe to drink.

‘If it wasn’t, the novel would have ended within the first volume.’

They even searched through the protagonist.

The protagonist and his companions obtained drinking water and washed themselves in the small lake, and they even caught fish they didn’t know existed to fill their stomachs. Although it wasn’t emphasized due to the circumstances, the lake was relatively harmless.

However, what bothers them is the reaction of Team Leader Kang and the water team. Even if the intern’s judgment was somewhat lacking due to being new, the judgments of Yoon Garam and Kang Mina, who also played the role of the main character, wouldn’t have been entirely in vain.

And to add…

‘It’s mediocre.’

The content of the novel was mediocre.

The 19+ gritty survival novel unfolds from the protagonist’s point of view. That means that every description in the story was made under the judgment of Jung Inho, whose mental state bordered on breaking down as soon as he was devoured in the Otherworld. It made Lee Jaehun wonder just how composed Deputy Jung was. So, even if there were more devices in the park that Lee Jaehun didn’t know about, it wouldn’t be so strange.

‘But it’s not like I remember every detail.’

But if the opinions about the small lake were like that, Lee Jaehun felt like he should visit it at least once later.

Anyway, the conclusion was that they didn’t know how safe the water in that small lake really was….

“……”

“……”

“If I just took a sip…”

“Stop.”

“Come on, seriously…”

“Stop it.”

“……”

Damn, these chicks.

“Even though I said I’d check it myself for any poison, why the hell are you stopping me?”

“Is that really the question you want to ask? Really?”

“……”

With a regretful smile from the doctor, Lee Jaehun tried to recall common sense from his current life and commented.

“…If you don’t die after drinking it, then it’s fine, right?”

“You could end up being someone who can’t die and has to live like that,Director.”

“Why are you saying that?”

In the end, Lee Jaehun had the bottle of lake water snatched from his hand, and despite his intentions not to drink it without the group’s consent, his reason was overwhelmed. These chicks are treating him like he’s a five-year-old kid now.

Being dragged along by Jung Inho, Lee Jaehun felt a mix of amazement and frustration as he asked,

“Do you really not trust me like that…? Is this how you treat a director?”

“So, you’re usually pretty good at this.”

“What’s really bothering you, Deputy Jung?”

“Oh, I’ve done everything wrong.”

“Stop with the fake laughter and tell me.”

At that, Deputy Jung became genuinely expressionless, and Lee Jaehun grabbed him by the nape of his neck. He vowed to someday grab this creepy guy by the collar and shut him up.

As Lee Jaehun struggled to take deep breaths, a small voice came from him.

“…So, what do you know that makes you confident enough to drink it?”

“……”

Confirming that there was no one around listening to their conversation, Lee Jaehun glanced elsewhere, waiting for Jung Inho’s response without attracting attention. To an outsider, it might have seemed like Lee Jaehun was hearing things that only he could hear.

That’s why he’s so creepy, that’s why.

“…I’m not completely clueless.”

Lee Jaehun adjusted his tone of voice to match the protagonist’s rhythm. It was the tired yet mechanical voice of the ‘real Lee Jaehun’ who didn’t act, which he had captured.

“I won’t die just because I drink it, from what I know.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s not because I’m sure… Well, the taste is quite decent.”

It was described in the story as resembling the taste of premium bottled water. It was that absurdly expensive luxury water made by melting glaciers on some distant mountainside. It was so absurd that he remembered it.

Lee Jaehun spoke, covering his mouth with his hand.

“It’s similar to the taste of carbonated water without the fizz, a bit salty too.”

“You’ve tried it, then.”

“……”

He ignored the protagonist’s question. Perhaps because Lee Jaehun didn’t share any stories about his life in the Otherworld himself, it was clear to everyone that Jung Inho was trying to extract information from him.

Meanwhile, Deputy Jung gave Lee Jaehun a sincere smile and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think treating yourself like a lab rat is a good habit, Director.”

“…I’ll handle my own business.”

He was definitely a creepy guy, anyway.

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