Theatrical Regression Life - Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

Suddenly, a sense of reality, which had been distant, flooded in like a tide.

“This is driving me insane.”

Truly, it felt like he was on the verge of losing his mind.

Whether Yoon Garam burst into tears or Doctor Ha Sungyoon approached him with words, he felt an overwhelming sensation of reality rushing in like a sudden wave.

He was on the brink of losing himself, gripped by a nauseating feeling that could make him go mad at any moment.

It was akin to the seasickness of someone who had been on a boat for too long or the discomfort of someone not accustomed to a roller coaster.

The reality that came crashing down with a thud seemed to press even harder on his chest than just a moment ago, making him almost collapse in his seat without even being able to make a gasping sound.

Not even realizing what he was saying, Jung Inho grabbed the arm of Doctor Ha Sungyoon, who had approached.

It was a purely instinctive action, much like fleeing from a monster.

“…Mr. Jung Inho.”

“…I don’t know.”

“Mr. Jung Inho, you need to move. We’re not hearing any signs of life from over there.”

“I don’t know, I just don’t know.”

He raised his head in response to Doctor Ha Sungyoon’s words.

He didn’t need someone to tell him what he should do; he needed someone to take away this profound sense of reality that was tearing at his insides.

He wished for someone to snatch away this gut-wrenching feeling of reality that felt like it was scraping the depths of his being.

“I didn’t empty my seat for that. I, for no reason, did something foolish.”

“…Calm down, I understand that this is very confusing right now.”

“What good does knowing do? Damn it. I should have just stayed still, I should have…”

His breath caught.

Living life not just flat but loving the ordinary was not his style, yet he couldn’t seem to shake off the thought that things were getting bigger.

I had only witnessed a lump of flesh, that’s all.

Yes, I had only come face to face with a lump of flesh.

I wasn’t the monster that killed them, nor was I the one whose limbs were torn apart by the monster. I was just a lump of flesh, whether moving or not.

Since I didn’t even desire to see it, my stomach felt even more uneasy, and my legs shook.

Of course, Jung Inho himself didn’t know that.

But yes, that’s right. Even so, I have to find the next thing to do. I need to tell these people what I’m thinking. If I speak like the extras passing by in a movie, I might be able to step out of this play as well.

Although well aware that there was no such likelihood, he comforted himself with these groundless thoughts and slowly opened his mouth.

He once again organized the contents of his mental pockets.

Finding things odd becomes a weakness, and revealing weaknesses leads to losing in the battle of information.

“…Yeah, that’s right. So, um….”

He didn’t want to become the weaker one….

“…Let’s first find the other two.”

“……”

“Either Director Lee Jaehun or Employee Kwon Yeonhee, someone, someone must be… alive.”

Indeed, Jung Inho himself couldn’t fathom what the term ‘alive’ meant in this context. While surely Dr. Ha Sungyoon was contemplating the tasks after handling their bodies, Jung Inho’s emotions weren’t following suit.

Hoping desperately that they were alive, Jung Inho took a step forward.

“Ms. Yoon, please get up. It’s dangerous to be alone.”

“But Minah….”

“You can come back, and we can take care of her anytime. If you get seriously hurt, who will help Kang Minah?”

“……”

Tears streaming down, Yoon Garam, who couldn’t even muster a sound, seemed to have accepted Dr. Ha Sungyoon’s persuasion as he quietly rose from his seat.

Her pupils empty, unable to close her gasping mouth, she seemed not foolish enough to deny reality to the extent of shutting out her breath.

After all, Yoon Garam had only met these people not too long ago.

Ironically, Jung Inho, who should be the one crying, couldn’t shed a tear right now, and he found himself unreasonably angered by her fussiness, even though he had no answer for her. However, he couldn’t reveal that.

‘That’s the right reaction. I shouldn’t get angry. That would be foolish….’

Yes, crying over the death of someone you’ve just become close to – isn’t that a human response? Feeling jealousy or frustration and getting angry about it would rather indicate a lack of humanity.

Jung Inho sensed that he had reached his limit. His legs, which had been running for a while, were throbbing, and the hand that held the monkey wrench each time he attacked the monster was numb.

Already tired, witnessing the deaths of close friends made it hard to breathe, and it was natural to be irritable for no reason.

But as they checked the spot where they had captured the monster, his foggy mind suddenly became clear.

“Ah….”

There were only bloodstains left in their places; no bodies were visible.

“There are no bodies.”

“That’s right.”

“Then….”

If that’s the case,

Truly, if they were very lucky…

“…could they have escaped alive?”

Jung Inho felt that his voice had improved a bit. Of course, there might be a chance that the monster that eats people appeared and swallowed the two of them, but who knows.

Thinking about Kang Minah, the team leader, and Noh Yeonseok, the intern, who were left as corpses, the probability seemed low.

“Just a moment.”

Click!

In the dark surroundings, Dr. Ha Sungyoon, who was wandering around with a lighter, nodded with his head down.

“…There are signs of escape.”

“Where…! Where?”

Yoon Garam, who was staring at the ground with his head bowed, shouted with a louder voice.

“She immediately considered the possibility of a monster nearby and lowered her voice, but it was an undeniable fact that her condition had improved compared to earlier.”

As Yoon Garam staggered towards the area illuminated by Dr. Ha Sungyoon’s lighter, Jung Inho, who had momentarily held his breath as his heart thumped, also took a step.

He, too, needed hope that the situation would improve from now on.

When the two approached Dr. Ha Sungyoon, he pointed to the ground.

“Do you see the bloodstains here?”

“Bloodstains….”

“They lead inside from here.”

Normally, it might not have been a welcoming sight, but at least in the current situation, there couldn’t be anything more welcome than this.

Moreover, they were being kind enough to indicate where they should move.

For Jung Inho, who felt his heart sinking even a little, there were things now visible that weren’t apparent before, unlike earlier.

“…Covered by strange marks, but there are footprints.”

“Footprints?”

“Yes, so….”

Thank goodness.

“At least they weren’t dragged away.”

If they had been taken by the monster, there wouldn’t be such regular footprints.

Certainly, the two survivors must have moved their feet on their own to escape, and the traces left behind were probably not from the monster chasing them.

To Jung Inho’s speculation, Yoon Garam nodded in agreement.

“They could be alive, right?”

Her expression still looked precarious, but perhaps the thought that Employee Kwon Yeonhee might be alive made her look much better than before.

There was a glimmer of life in her eyes.

“We should move. Confirming the possibility is good, but the situation is not entirely safe….”

“Yes, we should go after them right away.”

Jung Inho nodded and once again moved his legs quickly.

The momentarily wobbly leg soon straightened out and swiftly ran, much like before.

He ran following the tracks, contemplating, ‘Neither of them was in good shape.’

Lee Jaehun moved surprisingly well, running despite his tattered body, and Employee Kwon appeared disadvantaged in physical condition due to her petite frame.

Even when they escaped from the company, Kwon Yeonhee, an employee, was right in front of Kang Minah, the team leader. She had a slow running speed, and her physical strength and agility were below average.

Considering she hadn’t been into regular exercise, her stamina might not be great either. So, if she was chased by the monster, it couldn’t be viewed optimistically.

Furthermore, there were other issues.

‘The visibility won’t be good.’

If you were to point out strange things in this world, there were more than one or two, but the immediate one that came to mind was the sky above. In a normal world, the transition from morning to night involved the sun setting, painting the sky with hues of red. However, in this world, the sky calmly lost its light without such a spectacle.

As there were no signs of the moon or stars in the sky, it meant that without additional light sources, visibility was impossible.

However, relying on the usual streetlights found in a distorted park like this seemed unlikely. In that case, the only remaining light source was the lighter they had.

However…

‘The people who were here only had one lighter.’

Jung Inho bit down on the inside of his cheek. He felt blood oozing, but he didn’t have the luxury to care about this level of pain.

Among their group, they had a total of three lighters, with Lee Jaehun, Ha Sungyoon, and Jung Inho himself each having one. With two leaving the group, naturally, they could only have one lighter to share among them.

The night had already fallen, and visibility was nonexistent.

Lee Jaehun, who had the lighter and could face the monster, had likely been rendered ineffective due to injuries.

That’s how Kang Minah, the team leader, and Noh Yeonseok, the intern, died.

“….Phew.”

Jung Inho took a breath, attempting to clear his mind.

Sadness, fear, anxiety…

Various negative and sticky emotions churned inside, but he didn’t have the luxury to surrender to them. If they delayed and stumbled upon another corpse, it would be a fact more akin to a calamity than anything else.

The night had become oppressively dark, making the surroundings almost invisible. Surprisingly, however, it wasn’t too difficult to follow the two of them.

It wasn’t just because of the bloodstains that seemed to have been shed by one of them.

Pointing to one side, Dr. Ha Sungyoon spoke, “Over there, right now…!”

He couldn’t finish his sentence due to his labored breathing, but that was enough.

Jung Inho could see a blaze rising from the direction he pointed. Yes, a fire.

“……”

…A fire?

‘Why?’

Jung Inho felt a chilling sensation running up his spine, a sensation that made his heart stop.

Surely, before the group split up, Director Lee Jaehun mentioned the limitations of creating a flame with a small lighter. To ignite something, you need to kindle sparks with dry paper, then transfer it to pieces of wood.

But creating such a large fire like this while running away from the monster?

‘Impossible.’

Jung Inho swallowed a breath that felt stuck in his throat.

If there had been a fire where they had just left, it might be plausible, but it seemed highly unlikely that they could create such a fire shortly after fleeing.

Especially considering Director Lee Jaehun’s lighter was likely a high-end model known to most smokers.

To ignite it, first, you had to open the lid, then rotate the wheel on the side. Like most high-end lighters, it probably had some safety features, and it wouldn’t be easy to set fire to combustible materials with such a cumbersome lighter.

In Jung Inho’s rapidly thinking mind, he recalled the vine that Director Lee Jaehun had wrapped around his ankle when they ventured out of the flower shop with the two people next to me.

It quickly spiraled up and melted around his ankle.

“Ah…”

Jung Inho’s mind raced.

The vine, shaped like a plant, burning in red and blue hues. The monster with the flipped skin of the vine was witnessed in the flower shop. A flower shop connected to the park. They cultivate plants.

Plants. Park. And the monster that made the remaining four members of the group witness blood in this park.

Could the monster be in the form of a plant? What caused this fire? If so, then, therefore…

“……”

In a certain area of the park, filled with trees ablaze in vibrant colors, Jung Inho eventually stopped his feet.

He felt a sensation like his heart was being squeezed.

“Ah…”

“Ah, ugh….”

“……”

He could no longer move.

“Director Lee.”

Director Lee Jaehun entered his field of vision.

The monster, covered in vines resembling human intestines, pierced Director Lee Jaehun’s throat with tooth-filled vines pulled from its body, savoring his blood.

It burned with a profound color, like a spark ignited after pouring strong liquor.

“Director…”

“Ugh, agh.”

“……”

Director Lee Jaehun was in a more dire state than Jung Inho had anticipated.

Perhaps due to confronting the monster head-on, he was halfway burned, blackened by the burns. Using one arm, he managed to fend off the monster’s numerous teeth protruding from its face.

Moreover, his left eye was inexplicably empty, dripping bright red blood.

His already stiffened leg was twisted into an unnatural shape, rendering it unable to function. Meanwhile, one side of his head, as if bursting from the impact of an unyielding club, was pressed down.

Even in this state, numerous teeth resembling fishing hooks burrowed into his throat.

“Cough, kgh. Gulp….”

“……”

“Uh, huu.”

Gagging, Director Lee Jaehun spat out blood.

He made eye contact with me.

“Hey, ah.”

His sluggish voice was torn into countless branches.

“Hey, Jung, Dep….uty.”

“……”

“Shi…t. This…run. The kids, this…”

Thunk!

He struck the fallen pipe with his twisted leg.

The pipe was covered in crimson blood, whether from the monster or a human was indiscernible. It had been hollowed out and, despite no longer rolling, moved closer to us with Lee Jaehun’s feeble kicks.

Confirming this, he once again retched, spewing blood and chapping his lips.

“Come, help…”

At that moment, Intuition struck Jung Inho.

Ah.

“……”

It’s not a plea to save yourself.

Rather than begging for his own survival, he was asking for help for someone who was not present at this moment.

It wasn’t a request to spare him, but a plea to aid those who had fled, leaving him behind to die.

In the end, he had no intention of surviving.

“Director…”

“Fas…Faster.”

“Just a moment, no, wait.”

“……”

“Why….”

Jaehun no longer uttered words, or perhaps he couldn’t.

He only continued to vomit blood steadily from his mouth while gripping the strange, toothed vines that dug into his throat with both hands.

And then.

“Cough cough, agghh.”

He forcefully squeezed it to prevent it from escaping his throat.

The monster paid no attention to us, its vines deeply embedded in Jaehun’s body. Naturally, he couldn’t breathe properly.

Gulping, a nauseating and brutal sound enveloped us, compelling us to step back.

The flames clinging to his shirt ignited the fabric and scorched his skin. Despite the fire melding with the darkened flesh, Jaehun did not release the vines choking his neck.

Thud! Thunk!

Perhaps the blood that had guided us so far flowed again.

“Ah…”

The arm gripping the vines, the wounds on that arm Jung Inho had seen them even on weekends.

Through the burned shirt, he could see the long scar that had been concealed. The wrist showed traces of glass shards, like someone had deliberately gouged into it.

The wound on the arm seemed too clean to be a mere scratch, and the wrist had uneven, coagulated blood.

“….”

Only then could Jung Inho stare into the eyes of Director Jaehun. Though they were ordinary amber eyes, they held a gaze resembling gray.

Calm and composed, they seemed more like the eyes of an inanimate object than a living person.

Yes, he had known this for quite some time.

“Let’s move.”

“…What are you doing? I should help you!”

“It’s pointless.”

He didn’t want to live.

“…Pointless…”

Since he didn’t want to live, he probably had that kind of gaze despite the inflicted wounds.

Inho moved his foot with shallow breaths.

His gaze was directed at the pipe in front of him, not Director Jaehun. He strained his lips, bowed his waist, and grasped the pipe with effort.

The pipe Director Jaehun had rolled was covered with various organic remains, and thick blood had stained it a deep crimson.

Swallowing hard against the slippery sensation, Jung Inho, once again, bit into the flesh inside his mouth and gripped the pipe.

As they locked eyes again,

“….”

…he was smiling.

Son of a b****.

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