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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjescus]
[Proofreader – Demon God]
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Chapter 12
Lee Jaehun stared at the thick blood dripping from his palm.
‘…Is this my blood?’
A strange sense of unreality washed over him, bringing a hazy drowsiness. However, Jaehun blinked his eyes slowly to dispel it.
With darkness settling in, there was no time for idle thoughts.
Sitting on a chair made of stone, he spoke to the doctor who was resting, showing his hand.
“As you can see, it looks torn. Can it be treated?”
“…No, why mention it now…”
The doctor mumbled in disbelief, then seemed to intuit that talking wouldn’t help and closed his mouth gracefully.
He simply pulled out something that looked like a bandage from inside his coat.
Seeing it, Jaehun greeted him as if relieved.
“Oh, it’s a bandage? That’s fortunate.”
“…”
“Is it not?”
Doctor Ha Seong-yoon’s face oddly wrinkled.
“Do you think I’m a psychopath, planning to sew people up like dolls with needles and thread right now?”
“…”
If he had sealed it with a stapler from the office, he could have become a real son of a bitch.
Deciding to keep quiet as a psychopath over the weekend, Jaehun realized that he didn’t have to act perfectly normal according to the settings he had laid out. However, he didn’t want to give off the vibe of being mentally ill so early, even though he hadn’t even started a proper fight.
The doctor seemed to be chewing on a faint dissatisfaction at Jaehun’s appearance.
“Surely, you don’t treat people like that normally…? Using unsterilized thread not only increases the risk of infection, but the pain during treatment would be severe. Medical thread exists for a reason. Or rather, why create a wound that requires stitching in the first place…”
“If you have complaints, let’s settle it with money. How much would it take?”
“It sounds quite laid-back.”
The prepared doctor spoke while holding his torn hand.
“Since there’s no anesthesia, we’ll proceed as is. Are you okay with that?”
“I’m okay.”
“…”
With a face full of discontent, he began stitching Jaehun’s hand.
Thin and smooth thread dug into the palm, but for some reason, drowsiness overwhelmed Jaehun, and he just blinked his eyes.
The doctor seemed to be very displeased with something.
“…Don’t they usually stitch wounds like this without anesthesia?”
Understanding Jaehun’s implied meaning to control his expression a bit, the doctor, after silently scrutinizing him for a moment, drew a faint smile on his face.
It was the same expression he had seen at the hospital over the weekend.
“Yes, that’s true. However, there are hardly any patients who accept it willingly.”
“There must be some.”
“At least they don’t accept it as casually as you.”
The doctor, having said that, seemed like he wanted to say something more. After pursing his lips as if contemplating, he smiled as if giving up.
“Well, it’s done.”
He smiled as if he had given up.
“I stitched it for a long time since it was torn in a complex way. I recommend not using that hand if possible; I only took simple measures.”
“I have a lot to do, though.”
“…”
When Jaehun pointed with his finger to indicate his companions looking around, the doctor seemed a bit annoyed.
It was evident from the crooked eyebrows despite the smiling face.
Ha Seong-yoon spoke in a lowered voice, “Living like that, you won’t last long, sir.”
“I suppose so.”
Jaehun casually brushed off the curse.
As it was a story that was not particularly surprising, there was a part of Jaehun’s reaction that was due to the fact that Ha Seong-yoon, the doctor, was ‘misunderstanding’ him. He quietly muttered to himself, realizing that life was tough.
“Thank you for the treatment. I hope you live a long life, Doctor.”
“…Can I take that as a joke?”
Suddenly finding it amusing, Jaehun let out a laugh.
“Take it however you want.”
* * *
Having found a suitable spot, now it was time to make a fire.
“Next, water. After that, we’ll have to build a shelter, I suppose.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Kwon, try to break the habit of just accepting things without understanding. Ask why, for some reason.”
The reason why making a fire became the top priority was simple.
In the wilderness, the presence of fire served a multitude of purposes.
First and foremost, maintaining body temperature prevents it from dropping, and it illuminates the pitch-dark night.
It means securing both temperature and visibility. It also plays a role in warming up for safer consumption in cases where the water quality is questionable or when there are suspicions of parasites in food.
Of course, the parallel world was somewhat distorted to be called a completely wild environment, but in the sense that one had to be self-sufficient in many ways, it was not much different from the wilderness.
“Especially if monsters come out at night, it would be challenging without secured visibility.”
The faces of the group stiffened at Jaehun’s words.
“Well, that’s true. We don’t know where the monsters might be…”
“It’s really unsettling.”
“Should we set up traps…?”
At the words of Noh Yeonseok, the intern whose sources for information were unknown, Jaehun blinked his eyes.
Calling a flint, which wouldn’t be found in a place like this, a ‘rock’?
He had been pulling out ambiguous and miscellaneous knowledge since earlier, making it difficult to completely ignore him as it seemed not entirely useless.
Covering his mouth, Jaehun spoke with a sigh.
“Even if not traps, it would be good to create something like an alarm. If something comes close, it makes noise…”
“Ah, is that so?”
“The problem is, we don’t know what might be nearby.”
So, whether it’s traps or alarms, what they needed to do now was to make a fire.
“As you can see, the sun is setting.”
In the original world, during the sunset, the world would be tinted red as the glow settled, but in this parallel world, there was no such thing. The evening calmly engulfed everything in black without the usual play of colors.
In the novel, the protagonist was most tense during such evenings.
Unlike the previous world, where there was at least some ambient light during sunset, the parallel world had no light even from things like the moon and stars. Without lighting a fire in advance, there was no way to secure visibility.
Without luminescent objects, there was no natural light entering the eyes, so it was inevitable. The only reason he didn’t die right away, unlike in the novel, was because he usually carried a lighter. However, due to the small flame, most of the colleagues who came out with him from the company died.
After a day in the park, only the protagonist who had a lighter, the old-fashioned supervisor, and the two students who had attached themselves to the protagonist survived.
The next day, they would have to look for other main characters, but for immediate survival, they needed a big fire unlike in the novel. Since there were many people, two campfires would be enough.
Jaehun looked around and spoke.
“Well, first, let’s gather some dry grass. And some thin and thick branches.”
“Uh… Does it have to be that diverse? Can’t we just stick them to a tree?”
“Sigh…”
In response to the intern’s words, he sighed, wearing a somewhat annoyed expression.
“If you want to start a fire alone until the lighter fuel runs out, then go ahead.”
“I…I’m sorry.”
“If you want to get rid of the intern label, you better pick up on things, you know?”
Just like how the fire doesn’t immediately start when you put the lighter against the wood, there was a certain order of building a fire.
It was efficient to ignite sparks from dry paper or grass, transfer them to thin branches, and then to thicker branches.
“Of course, this kind of knowledge isn’t necessarily common sense.”
Jaehun looked at the humbled intern as if used to his sarcastic remarks.
He knows. The method of making a campfire is not common knowledge that everyone knows, and receiving sarcasm for not knowing such knowledge naturally leads to a sense of unfairness.
And that sense of unfairness would quickly turn into irritation or anger. Jaehun aimed for that point.
Originally, he disliked unnecessary waste. Whether it was physical strength, health, or emotions, he considered them all as a kind of resource. Therefore, causing shallow conflicts for no reason was not his intention.
But now, this level of sarcasm was necessary.
‘The distance has narrowed too much.’
While the relationship with the protagonist had to start from the worst and rise to a decent level, it wasn’t the same for the others.
Taking the lead in getting injured on their behalf seemed to have raised the favor of the group more than necessary.
Therefore, Jaehun deliberately attacked his weakness, the term ‘intern,’ to garner disfavor.
Not only the intern, Noh Yeonseok, but also Team Leader Kang, who was close to him, would have felt uncomfortable.
The protagonist probably faced a similar situation, but Jaehun judged that this level of investment was necessary.
Jaehun wanted to have no limitations in his actions.
However, as the other members of the group became more dependent on him, his movements became more difficult, and obstacles appeared in his free choices. He had to take action before it became even more challenging.
Roughly speaking, he believed he could overcome such situations within a day, even if he died.
Jaehun shrugged his shoulders and spoke.
“Well, no need to apologize.”
“Yes…”
“Understand that all this is just me thinking about our intern.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Yeah, I didn’t say those things out of spite.”
He played the role of a true old-fashioned boss to perfection until the end. Mocking as he pleased and then saying, ‘It’s all for your sake.’ If someone had a decent amount of self-esteem, they couldn’t help but get irritated.
Of course, since it was a brief mockery, it wouldn’t have caused too much distress.
In reality, this level of taunting was no different from what he heard at the company, and perhaps he mistakenly thought that he had become closer to the others in this parallel world, only to realize that nothing had changed. This might have made him feel worse than necessary.
Jaehun passed by the slightly dejected intern and turned his gaze towards the wooded area.
‘Let’s move before it gets more awkward.’
It was good timing to leave the spot under the pretext of bringing more people and firewood. Bringing the two students back would probably improve the atmosphere.
He hadn’t encountered anyone yet who was efficient enough to be hostile to a minor over running out of food.
With these thoughts in mind, Jaehun took a step forward.
“I’ll roughly gather the materials, so you guys handle the fire…”
“Manager.”
“…What?”
Without realizing it, he used formal language, and the creepy guy stared at him with pitch-black eyes.
“You’ve shed a lot of blood, and one of your legs is injured… Wouldn’t it be too much for you to go alone?”
Upon his words, the group’s gaze involuntarily shifted to Jaehun’s leg and shoulder.
The shirt on his shoulder, hastily wrapped and not yet seen by a doctor, was already soaked in black, and the leg that had been pierced by a monster was difficult to move, with burns on the ankle making proper movement even more challenging.
It was clear to Jaehun now that he looked more like someone lying down to rest rather than someone who could move.
Realizing this fact once again, Jaehun furrowed his brow in disbelief.
“Blood… I did shed a lot, but my bones aren’t injured.”
“But it must hurt.”
“…”
This guy.
‘Is he messing with my buildup right now…?’
Irritation surged within Jaehun, and he gritted his teeth inwardly.
Honestly, Jaehun never intended to appear as a mentally disturbed person who was so accustomed to pain.
Of course, he had created a background that made him somewhat accustomed to pain for the sake of the story’s setting.
However, a discomfort beyond a certain level could instill fear in the group, and for Jaehun, who wanted a level of favoritism slightly above average, the emotion of fear was not exactly pleasant.
The mistake he made earlier when facing the protagonist was a result of his mental strength being weakened by being swallowed up in this parallel world. Though he continued to forget common sense from both his past life and present life, he was careful in his own way and, above all, had a skill in deceiving the eyes of the other group members.
The power to create illusions, making them think they are seeing something else.
The group had become very accustomed to relying on Jaehun. Among them, he was the one with the best judgment, adept at dealing with monsters, and knowledgeable about what needed to be done. It must have been very convenient for them.
What Jaehun was wary of was not the closeness of the distance between the group and himself but the possibility of it becoming uncomfortably close. He deliberately allowed them to rely on him because he was not being used up by them.
Well, it’s difficult for Jaehun to act freely when he shows his psychological utility.
So, he had hoped to gain favor through the outward appearance of utility as a means. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to complicate things with such a cumbersome method of creating psychological distance.
But now, the protagonist was undermining the build-up Jaehun had created by highlighting all the things Jaehun had done for them without expecting anything in return.
“Now that I look, your hand is torn too. How long have you been in that state?”
“…”
He was pointing out the things Jaehun had tried to conceal.
Damn, what a disgustingly keen fellow.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjescus]
[Proofreader – Demon God]
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