96 – People in the dark (1)
Yoo-seok’s eyes are still frozen on the video screen.
Flash! Flash!
Exploding flash.
-I am Oh Dal-hyeok, a reporter at Channel A. Composer Kim Tae-hoon, is the reason why you suddenly announced your retirement has something to do with Yoo Ga-yeon’s Suic*de?
-Now I’m going to take a break, I want to put down the long road of composing and take a break to control my mind and challenge a new path.
-I have a question! You said it’s a new path, so you’re saying you’re switching to a different career?
-A new road? Are you saying you have other goals?
A man in the streaming video.
With a haggard face, his face is getting hit by the bursting flash light.
‘This reaction… !’
Yoseok’s body reacted.
It was exactly two body parts.
The reaction of the ear, such as shaking the eardrum,
A pain response that feels like tinnitus when a part of the head is crushed.
There were two.
‘That person is also a regressor. And it has two abilities. How could this be a coincidence?’
Yoo-seok’s eyes moved to Shi-woon.
Silently, his face is distorted as he gazes at the video.
‘Looks like someone you know. Does Siwoon Lee even know that he is a regressor?’
Yoo Seok-eun,
So that Shiun doesn’t notice,
I secretly fully felt the reaction of my body.
‘Head and ears. A regressor with two abilities.’
It became clear that the ability of the organ called the ear had developed.
The other ability is probably the head.
‘The brain is a place where many organs, including nerve cells, are concentrated. I need to know which part of the brain is developed.’
The following alarm sounds!
[Activate ‘Mind Eye’.]
[Please select a target to use your mind’s eye.]
‘The man in the suit with dark hair in the video.’
[Check target.]
[Use Mind Eye.]
[Analyzing the target through the mind’s eye.]
[Analysis completed. Indicate the result.]
The alarm sound stopped.
After that.
A spear floated above Yoo-seok’s head.
A window that can only be seen.
Category: Eternal Ripper
Number of forms: 2.
Abilities (1)
Name: Eardrum.
Location: In the ear canal, between the outer and middle ear.
Type: sensory system.
Conclusion: Hearing.
Abilities (2)
Name: Seahorse.
Location: Inner temporal lobe, under cerebral cortex.
Type: Limbic system.
Conclusion: Unknown.
‘I can’t tell?’
He immediately connected to the Internet through a linked program and searched for ‘hippocampus’.
-Function of the hippocampus: It is involved in learning and memory, and regulates emotional behavior and some movements. It also has a role in regulating the functions of the hypothalamus.
‘A function that involves and regulates some movements and emotions? Then, what abilities can be demonstrated with the underdeveloped hippocampus?’
It was not easily deduced.
If it is simply eyes and shoulders like Lee Si-woon in front, it is possible to infer.
With the development of shoulder muscles, it must be a power beyond the category of ordinary people and eyesight that surpasses that of beasts.
‘But his second ability is….’
It was impossible to reason.
Anyway, I found another regressor.
“……….”
Siwoon, who turned off the video, was speechless as if he was confused.
“Siwoon. Do you know that person?”
“A friend.”
Siwoon answered weakly. Yoo-seok couldn’t ask for more words that filled his throat.
I wanted to ask if he knew that he was a regressor, but if he did, Yoo-seok’s intentions could be penetrated.
‘Lee Si-woon and I are not yet at that level of relationship. Not yet.’
Drreuk-
“I’m sorry, but I think I should go first.
Siwoon said as he got up from his chair and walked to the clerk.
“82,000 Gold, thank you! Come again.”
After confirming that Siwoon had gone outside, Yooseok connected the program and uploaded a video.
-I won’t take any more questions, so let’s finish the interview.
The regressor in the video hurriedly got out of the conference room, and reporters took pictures of him until his last appearance.
-Taehun Kim, a famous composer, finished the press conference like this. The girl group High Tone’s Ga-yeon Yoo, who was running in the middle of the stock price, seems to be avoiding the question about Suic*de……
As soon as the man leaves, the video goes over and switches to the announcer’s face.
‘Celebrities appearing in the medium of TV are regressors….’
There are still many things to learn and a lot of truth to come up with.
‘The only thing that is certain is that the regressor will also come to the other world.’
As Yoo-seok knew.
Regressors are revealing their faces one by one.
And those regressors were trying to gather into one world by that ‘fate’.
The gathering place of the other world.
* * *
Inside a convenience store in the present world.
Two men in uniforms have sleepy eyes.
“Hoo, time doesn’t go as f*ck. How long will this Jung Jae-hoon have to hide his color while doing something like this barcode or stamping? Shall I try YouTube too?”
A man with dyed yellow hair and tattoos visible under his sleeves that covered his wrists mumbled.
“YouTube? What are you talking about all of a sudden, Jaehoon-ah?”
“If you watch YouTube, kids who used to fight a bit are making money by solving rumors in the past. It’s funny to see them.”
“Well, Jaehoon, you were a classmate in middle and high school, so if you solve the story, you will get a lot of views.”
A man named Jaehun was flattered by his friend’s words.
Although he is now a 24-year-old man who is tied to part-time work, back in his school days.
He was famous for his Iljin.
He made the school he attended, the school next door, and the whole area tremble with one fist.
Alumni, of course, juniors and seniors couldn’t even meet eyes in front of him in the past.
It is still a nostalgic past.
“Sir, it reminds me of the old days. My alumni who used to lean on me in the past went to a 4-year college and put their weight on their shoulders. And drink and smoke. Things I never smoked when I was in middle school or high school.”
“hehehe, Jaehun. Originally, the idiots who were the best when they were young are big-headed and bald, and it’s scary that they dance too late.”
“Sir. If those bastards were standing in front of me right now, they wouldn’t even be able to talk.”
He was still caught up in the past and was an immature youth living in the age of wild people.
“Welcome-“
“Welcome……… Uh?”
Jaehoon’s eyes widened as he greeted the customer.
The widened eyes stopped at the customer who had just entered and inspected the goods.
– Huh? That kid is a kid I know.
-A kid you know? Jaehun?
The two stare at the customer and whisper.
-Ande went to the same school as me in middle school and high school. He’s the one who didn’t even yell at me. I ran errands for bread, so I ran to the store like a shuttle! He was a running kid. But that guy became a hunter.
-Huh, Hunter? Wow, this bastard from Bread Shuttle has turned his life around.
-Daehyeok-ah, that bastard, when he sees me when he checks out things, he trembles. I’ll show you one more time. That Jung Jae-hoon is still being eaten.
Jaehun rolled up his sleeves to show off his tattoo and waited for his customer to come to the counter.
He was fed up with seeing the people who were once under him grow in size one by one and live in society.
‘Became a Hunter? Anyway, the guy who trembled at me. Give me a break, and if I stay in touch with him, at least the bean curd will run out.’
If you have a Hunter as a friend, you will build a network.
But what if you leave the hunter as a stick? I’m sure there will be good things or something that will fall.
Tak-
Guests who put down food and drinks in front of the counter table look like they are waiting to pay.
‘Recognize me and look at me laying down on my eyes, come on. Well, that’s how it should be.’
-Jaehoon-ah, show me quickly. Killing the Hunter Ki-pak! Kick kick.
Beep! Beep!
Jaehoon looked straight at his customer as he stamped the barcode on the item.
Customers, as if not conscious of such glances, keep their eyes on the object that is being stamped on the barcode.
“Isn’t that Lee Si-woon from Gwangyeonjung or Daeyeongo? Hey, you know me, right?”
Jaehun asked with his voice leveled.
I want to see the reaction of that hunter who is about to shrink.
“……….”
The customer glanced at Jaehoon and turned his attention to the food he had purchased.
Looks like he’s not interested.
“Hey, won’t you answer me?”
A guest who gave attention to Jae-hoon only after speaking with a deeper voice.
I look at Jaehoon quietly.
“Hey, you know me, right? I am Daeyeongo Jeong Jae-hoon! Do you want to say hello to me?”
Once upon a time, when I said, ‘I am Daeyeongo Jeong Jae-hoon!’, Everyone would start with their necks shrinking. That was his past, and it probably hasn’t changed even now.
“You don’t know? Bastard. You said you were a hunter? I heard the news.”
Jaehoon glared at the customer with arrogant eyes. The customer’s lips moved.
“Lee Si-woon is correct, but I don’t know who you are. Don’t talk to me and do the calculations.”
“What?”
The eyes of Jaehoon were alive.
An unexpected reaction from a guest? No, this was an unacceptable, rude reaction.
“Don’t talk and count? Hey, did you grow up just because you became a Hunter?”
The eyes of the customer staying at the barcode machine went up and stopped at Jaehoon’s.
A small spark flew when our eyes met.
‘This, this bastard?’
This guy doesn’t avert his eyes. No, he was the one who had the frightened eyes in front of him.
Jaehun’s eyes glance down and down to the customer’s shoulder, chest, and body.
The solid body of real fighting muscles that pierced the skeleton disproved that he was a hunter.
Looking at that body, Jaehoon’s eyes relaxed, but he woke up again and looked at the customer.
“Well, you don’t know, so why do you keep talking? Please put the items in an envelope.”
……… I was about to laugh at the words of a guest who seemed to have forgotten the past.
“What, what? Hey, Siwoon Lee.”
“You don’t know who you are, do you? Can a part-timer keep talking badly to customers? How much?”
“………… It is 12,500 won.”
“Please wrap it in an envelope. How do you carry all of this by hand?”
“Including the price of the envelope, I entered 12550 won…… “
Moment. Jae-hoon, who is choking on his unknown inner strength, comes out of his mouth with thoughts and other words.
Jae-hoon put food in an envelope with trembling gestures and handed it out to Si-woon.
“Good job.”
Tak.
Looking at the back of a customer snatching an envelope and walking out the door.
“Goodbye.”
I say hello without realizing it.
From noble mtl dot com
“f*ck. Oh, that sucks.”
Jaehoon’s eyes were fixed on a customer going down to the subway station with an envelope through the glass wall of the convenience store.
“Did you taste that bastard? The bastard who couldn’t even breathe in front of me in the past. Shall we go and suffocate? Huh?”
Looking at the customer across the wall, he glared at the customer with murderous intent.
The customer turned his head around. Jaehoon and his eyes meet.
Moment. Jaehoon, whose pupils were shaken. And the customer turns again and enters the convenience store.
‘What, what? Did you hear me swear?’
It is said that hunters develop their five senses.
It is said that they catch sounds that others cannot hear. Jae-hoon clenched his fist at the customer who came into the convenience store and walked towards him.
‘Huh, what if it’s a Hunter? Do you want to come and ask? I’ll crush you with my old strength.’
Chin-
A moment of silence between two men facing each other in front of a display stand.
……… Broke, the guest said,
“Oh, I forgot to buy cigarettes, give me a pack of Parliament Lights.”
“……… Yes, it is 4,500 won.”
The look in the eyes of a customer who received a cigarette changes.
“Ah! Now I remember who you are, are you the ‘guy’ who used to be good at soccer?”
Jaehoon’s mouth bloomed at the customer recognizing him.
“Now I know! Oh boy You said you were a hunter? I hear you, it’s been a while?”
“Yes, I heard that the hourly wage has increased recently? You have a lot of trouble working part-time at a convenience store, please do your best.”
“…… Uh, uh goodbye… , no goodbye.”
The customer left as if he had no time to chat.
Jae-hun speaks proudly to his friend next to him.
“Did you see it? Even if I say ‘sh*t’, you can’t say anything? No matter how much you are a hunter now, the past is so important. Did you see huh?”
“……… Yes, I saw it.”
My friend looks at Jae-hoon pathetically. Jaehoon’s eyes turned to the customer going down to the subway stop.
“Bastard, he must have heard that I cursed and came back to argue with him, but he must have been scared and left again, ha. After all, hunters or whatever, you can’t instinctively forget your past ranks, did you see?”
“……….”
A friend who looks pathetically at Jaehoon who is proud.
‘Ha, the past doesn’t matter anymore. To think that a guy who did well in the past became so ugly in front of a guy who did well.’
Friends. In his eyes, Jae-hoon seemed like an immature person who was proud of having known a great man called Hunter.
That was all.
* * *
Scenes pass through the swaying subway window.
‘Why? Taehoon Kim?’
Siwoon was puzzled as he blankly gazed at the scenery.
First Life.
And the results of what I saw in my second life.
Kim Tae-hun never mentioned retirement no matter what hardships he went through.
‘He had a really strong mentality.’
That’s right.
Because he was Taehoon, who did what he had to do calmly no matter what happened.
Now. On the way to meet him.
‘The only thing I could understand after living up to the third round of life is that human nature does not change.’
At that time. A thought flashes! Bloomed
‘No way?’