Theatrical Regression Life

* * *

Everything is red.

The water entering through my nose, ears, and mouth was as cold as ice.

A pungent scent numbed my head. The water that entered through my nose and ears pierced my brain, while the water that entered through my mouth tied up my tongue. Those things blocking my esophagus soon filled my stomach and suffocated me.

Even amidst that, a transparent light of sleep could be seen. It shimmered like waves, swaying gently in the calm breeze, blooming like summer, yet painted with a red hue.

Turning my gaze away from it to look at the bottom where I was falling,

“….”

I couldn’t see the end.

Gulp.

A bubble of air from my body rises to the surface.

Though the thick lake water, reminiscent of blood, tormented my eyeballs, the red-drenched view couldn’t completely obscure the sight before me. It was like a sinkhole, filled to the brim with this crimson liquid.

And on that wall, obscured by the vines that were descending like branches, I could see what they were covering. Thick and tangled vines, some with thorns, were clumsily trying to hide those things from my sight, inadvertently scratching my eyes.

Long, towering pillars. Numerous entrances beside the pillars. Rectangular stones dividing the wall with geometric patterns….

At that moment, a greenish monster reaches out its hand.

Squelch.

“….”

It grabs my neck, crushes me, leading me to death.

‘…Ah.’

Suddenly,

It felt like I saw its face.

* * *

“…Ha.”

I’m going to vomit.

Lee Jaehun, who was desperately trying to hold back his coughs, jerked his body.

Even though he tried to stop the coughs from bursting out, it was futile, and water leaked from his nose and ears even as he covered his mouth with both hands. He could only pray that they wouldn’t make a loud noise.

In the end, unable to hold back the nausea, he had to leave the spot.

“Huk, ugh.”

Coughs flowed through the gap between his hands.

To avoid waking the sleeping group, his movements had to be cautious, and even though he tried to move his feet as quickly as possible, his stumbling legs had their limits.

Finally, Lee Jaehun could open his mouth after moving away from where they had settled.

Leaning against a tree, he hung his head down.

“…Kuk, ugh, eugh.”

Thud.

Large water droplets fell under his feet.

‘I might die like this.’

It felt disgusting to have foreign substances coming out of his throat, but more than that, he felt suffocated.

But perhaps it was because water had entered where it shouldn’t have. Lee Jaehun had to keep coughing up rough coughs until his lungs recovered. The stomach acid that came out with it burned his throat and mouth, but now he couldn’t stop.

It hurt differently from throwing up after overeating or drinking. The lungs, which had been still without his realizing, were injured from repeatedly expelling water, and that sharp pain pierced them. The feeling of it coming out of his nose and mouth again was always freshly painful.

It felt like he had vomited out all the water in his body, so much so that his stomach felt hollow. His throat stung as if scrubbed with sandpaper, and now that his nose and mouth were finally open, he gasped for air. While he had experienced pain before due to external factors, this intense bout of vomiting was a first, leaving his head spinning.

Having expelled all the lake water from his body, Lee Jaehun leaned against a tree and stretched out flat, as if pressing his forehead against it.

“….Cough!”

Immediately after, he coughed violently again.

“What the hell is going on?”

Although he felt like he had vomited everything out based on experience, he couldn’t understand why he kept coughing.

No matter how inferior his current body was compared to his past life, this situation was just ridiculous. Just because a little water got in, he was now wheezing like this. If his past life team members saw him, they would probably ridicule him rather than pity him.

And all this was because of that damn lucid dream.

“F***ing piece of s***…!”

In fact, recalling the last experience, Lee Jaehun had no intention of going into the lake. What excuse could he possibly make if he vomited blood-like lake water again while everyone was asleep, just like last time?

So he tried to die as safely as possible. Of course, there was the option of staying still until someone woke him up, but given that this was an otherworldly place, he was anxious that even if someone woke him up, he might not wake up. But squeezing his throat or dying in the water like last time would surely complicate things further.

In the end, the safest way was to be killed by the monster.

‘If I provoke it and attract its attention, then quietly wait for death…’.

There was no cleaner way to wake up from the dream.

Lee Jaehun believed that his plan was flawless and, with the guilt of overestimating his physical abilities, slammed into the bottom of the lake.

“Cough, cough, huuu….”

The strength of the slime monster was beyond his imagination.

‘That damn thing.’

Although tears came out physiologically due to the violent vomiting, he had no mental energy to wipe them away. Except for the occasional binge drinking, Lee Jaehun had been excellent at managing his diet in both his current and past lives, so this kind of injury hurt more than having his throat slit by the monster.

So, the type of death that Lee Jaehun from his past life detested most was poisoning.

‘I’m really going to die.’

In fact, he could endure any external injuries. Since he could see them with his own eyes, he could accurately assess their severity, and external wounds could be treated by himself.

But in the case of internal injuries, it was much more inefficient since he couldn’t cut open his stomach and sew it back together like he could with an external wound. The fact that internal injuries were much dirtier than external trauma was also a factor.

The conclusion was that this was all because of that damn lucid dream.

‘F***, that bastard dream…!’

Really. Seriously.

It wasn’t a joke; there was a high probability that it wasn’t just a dream. No matter how much the otherworld was influenced by the mind, there had to be a limit.

* * *

‘How can I even understand scratching my throat while sleeping? No matter how much I think about it, these dreams lately are too vivid and realistic.’

Bringing a dream into reality literally was just absurd.

Coughing so violently that breathing became almost impossible, Lee Jaehun, who had exhausted himself, leaned against a tree, staring blankly into space. His head really hurt.

It had been so long since he vomited so mindlessly….

“….”

“….”

What the hell.

“…Who’s there?”

Wasn’t that what I was going to say?

‘Who the hell is that again?’

A man in a black suit holding a lighter appeared between the trees.

In the hazy view, Lee Jaehun blinked several times, only then realizing that tears had formed due to the recent vomiting. After wiping his face clean, he finally saw the face of the person in front of him.

Lee Jaehun cautiously portrayed a guarded expression on his face while recalling the contents of the novel. Honestly, his head was throbbing so much that he couldn’t quite remember the storyline, but he could vaguely recall it.

An expressionless face in a black suit. A navy tie. Angular glasses unlike the protagonist’s. And pomade hair…

“Who exactly are you?”

Ah.

‘A detective.’

It was Detective Hong Kyungjun, who served as a contrast to the protagonist.

After the investigation team led by Team Leader Kang and Kwon Yeonhee returned, there was no time for proper conversation as they boiled water and filled the boat. Therefore, Lee Jaehun couldn’t tell whether the protagonist’s group had encountered the detective in front of him. He was almost certain mentally, but not verbally.

‘Well….’

What attitude should he take in the current situation?

Although he was already portraying a guarded expression due to the unfamiliar person, branding him as a potential criminal right from the start could disrupt future plans. Even if he didn’t want to do that to a stranger, the person in front of him was Detective Hong Kyungjun. As a character with a loose screw, it was best to be cautious.

As Lee Jaehun remained guarded, Detective Hong blinked and responded.

“Oh, excuse me. I’m Detective Hong Kyungjun.”

“….Police?”

“Yes. I was patrolling the area…”

How far did he come on patrol, exactly?

While grumbling inwardly, Lee Jaehun quietly pondered.

‘He met Constable Kim Yeonwoo.’

Although Detective Hong himself was unaware, he had a slight affinity for Constable Kim Yeonwoo. After all, she was someone who committed suicide due to the mental shock of her death, and even though it wasn’t solely because of that, he had some stake in it.

Even though he was in a daze, if such a guy had not come to see Constable Kim Yeonwoo and was leisurely patrolling, it meant that they had already met and sorted things out internally. He wasn’t the type to be thrown out without being sorted out internally first.

‘…Should I pretend to know?’

Since Constable Kim Yeonwoo was also a police officer and the other party introduced themselves as a police officer, it seemed like a good idea to pretend to know at this point. Pretending not to know and then later having Constable Kim Yeonwoo pretend not to know could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

However, the problem was that this wasn’t a connection created to be used in such a sudden situation.

‘It may not be effective to lower the level of vigilance unnecessarily.’

Anyway, the other party was just as wary of Lee Jaehun.

Of course, Lee Jaehun was only pretending to be wary, but Detective Hong, who didn’t know that fact, might think that they were both wary of each other. If an unexpected situation arose later and he couldn’t remember Constable Kim Yeonwoo due to his initial wariness, it could serve as a reasonable excuse.

Lee Jaehun inwardly nodded and decided not to pretend to know. It wasn’t so much a big problem as it was not a card made to be used in such a sudden situation.

“…I know what you were doing, but why did you call me?”

“In a situation like this, meeting a survivor for the first time can only be a relief. I heard a noise while patrolling nearby, and I found out that you were here.”

“Do you find it amusing to see someone vomiting?”

As expected, Lee Jaehun grimaced for no reason. If he saw someone vomiting violently, it would be strange not to be calm. He intended to push the setting that his mental state worsened along with his deteriorating physical condition.

And the other person responded.

“I wouldn’t say that. More importantly, you don’t seem to be in good shape.”

“Are you healthy?”

“I doubt it. I wouldn’t say someone vomiting blood is healthy.”

“….”

Huh.

Lee Jaehun hesitated to speak.

“…Saw…?”

“If seeing someone vomit blood as much as a small bottle of mineral water counts, then yes. I saw.”

“….”

So he saw, this guy.

‘That’s just great.’

Lee Jaehun’s face involuntarily stiffened.

Given the dark night and his significantly weakened mental state, Lee Jaehun naturally assumed that the other person couldn’t have clearly seen him. He thought that although the sound of vomiting might have been audible, what was being vomited wouldn’t have been visible.

‘And the smell of blood wouldn’t reach that far.’

But apparently, Detective Hong Kyungjun had senses sharper than imagined.

“I seem to have a good sense of smell, maybe because of some tough experiences. My eyesight isn’t that great, but it’s a common fact that something crimson coming out of a person’s mouth isn’t normal.”

“….”

“Of course… even at a glance, it doesn’t seem quite normal.”

Even though they weren’t standing close enough to see what was vomited, if he knew enough to know what it was, then this guy wasn’t just good at intuition; he could probably do anything biologically possible.

Feeling slightly baffled and overwhelmed, Lee Jaehun stammered, and Detective Hong continued.

“Did you try to hide it? My apologies for the lack of consideration.”

“…No….”

“But you shouldn’t hide pain, especially if you’re vomiting blood. Are you suffering from a chronic illness? Or have you suffered a major injury since coming to this world?”

“No, no. It’s okay.”

Lee Jaehun shook his head vigorously.

“I’m fine, so if you could just let me go on my way, I’d appreciate it.”

“Why is that?”

“Just… that would be best.”

In my state of mind, this bitch.

* * *