Theatrical Regression Life - Chapter 378
Episode 378
“What should I tell you first….”
Song In-myeong, an assistant who temporarily joined the team, told a story about an art teacher at Eonhak High School he knew.
“First of all, Jaeheon Lee seems to have noticed, but he is in the same business as me.”
“…What do you mean by a business in the same industry?”
“It means we are working in the same industry. Of course, our industry is not only filled with people who make art, nor are they chefs or farmers. There is no need for you to know this much in detail…”
It seems that it is divided into various fields, not just art.
It was a remark that showed that the ‘industry’ that Song In-myeong was talking about was more systematically organized than expected. Hong Gyeong-jun’s face, who had been following that ‘industry’, was already distorted.
“My real name is Seong Dae-young. Perhaps he uses a pseudonym as a teacher? Am I right?”
Maeng Na-eun, a student at Eonhak High School, nodded hesitantly at Song In-myeong’s words.
“…I knew it was Kim Jeong-un…”
“Really? That bastard is scary. “I remember they made a fake identity by frying the sponsor.”
In fact, Song In-myeong, who went to college under his real name while doing bloody things, may have been a crazy person outside the standard, but only two police officers tried to show a distorted face and no one pointed it out. The reactions seemed to be that there was nothing good about understanding the mindset of a serial killer.
Of course, Jaeheon Lee pretended not to be and listened with interest.
‘…Song In-myeong’s actions are so bold as to be foolish, but he is not a stupid person. Rather, it seems that he had the confidence and ability to conduct himself on his own even while going to college under his real name. However, Song In-myeong couldn’t have done everything on his own, so the person sponsoring that bastard must have paid a lot of attention… I think he was generous in his own way. If you put a guy like that out in the sun, there’s a good chance he’ll have a lot of influence…’
For some reason, Song In-myeong was strangely cooperative with the survivors, and even if it was the identity of a fellow businessman, he solved it without caring. Even though Song In-myeong’s life could also be in danger the moment he catches the art teacher. Lee Jae-heon happily accepted Song In-myeong’s eccentricity.
‘It’s like this, one by one, it’s piled up and interpreted.’
Song In-myeong is a character whose true feelings were not explained well in the original work. It looks like the writer wasn’t in the mood to describe the psychology of a serial killer, but thanks to that, Lee Jae-heon had to figure out the other person’s personality in this way. Because I didn’t know much about him other than that he was a ‘crazy bastard obsessed with ingredients’.
Fortunately, Song In-myeong did not try to hide himself due to his change of heart. Although it is not something that is revealed openly, it was a sufficient change for Lee Jae-heon.
“The author’s name is Pygmalion… It’s childish, but it’s really fitting.”
“…Isn’t Pygmalion the sculptor’s name? It’s a Greek myth about a man who sculpted a woman of his choice and poured love on her, ultimately bringing her to life… right?”
“As expected, you are so wise that you deserve to be ranked as my friend, Cha Seok.”
‘Lee Jae-heon’ frowned.
“Don’t play tricks. “Student Vivian, don’t give me constant answers either.”
“…Stop without even realizing it…”
I guess we’ve probably exchanged blows like this many times before. Vivian seemed disillusioned with her friend’s betrayal of friendship, but also confused by the familiar intimacy. Jaeheon Lee clicked his tongue and dragged Vivian behind him. If it were ‘Lee Jae-heon’, it would have been like that.
Song In-myeong, who was watching this closely, continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
“…Then I don’t know if you know this, but Pygmalion was a sculptor and a king at the same time. Because I suffer from misogyny, I created a statue of a woman I liked. “He prayed to Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, to give him a wife like him, and ended up turning the statue into a human being.”
“Seeing as you evaluated the author’s name as being well chosen, it seems like we have a lot in common.”
“That’s right, that bastard also hates women.”
Hong Gyeong-jun and Kim Yeon-woo’s expressions became even more rotten. In fact, in this soft world, hate crimes targeting a specific gender, whether male or female, frequently occurred. Lee Jae-heon, who recalled his past life, also found it to be one of the things that he found very unique.
Yeonwoo Kim muttered quietly.
“I feel sorry for the people who would have been sacrificed by such a cowardly and scoundrel.”
“The reaction is quite interesting, so I guess I should tell you why I don’t like it.”
Song In-myeong let out his characteristic languid laugh.
“She thinks real women are not beautiful. And I think I can make it more beautiful. To be honest, such a forced view of art doesn’t suit me, but… I think the technique itself is something to look at. “The ability to place a corpse in a plaster statue without decomposing it at all is quite admirable.”
“A detailed description…”
Kim Yeon-woo wrinkled her face as if considering the soft-hearted students and the general public who are not immune to crime, but Hong Gyeong-jun stopped her. His face was also frowning.
“You have to listen anyway. If the monsters of Unhak High School were born from the criminal’s thoughts, there is a high probability that the criminal’s method of crime is closely related to the rules of the underworld. “As we do not know who will enter Unhak High School, as many survivors as possible should know about the art teacher named Seong Dae-young.”
Hong Gyeong-jun, who said that, looked back at the other survivors.
“But I am not urging you to listen to this damn story or forcing you to enter a language school. “First of all, it would be a good idea to move Seo-ah and Min-hong, who will not be part of the exploration team, to another room, and also for those who are uncomfortable listening or who say they will not join the Unhak High School exploration team to leave for a while.”
“…I’ll take the kids with me. thank you.”
Lee Yun-byeol, who had been astonished since Song In-myeong appeared, entered another room, dragging Jang Seo-ah, who was clinging to her, and Choi Min-hong, who was staring intently at Song In-myeong. In fact, it was a natural decision since Lee Yun-byeol, who would take care of the kindergarten students, would remain outside even when the exploration of Eonhak High School began.
The high school students stayed in their seats, wondering how crazy their school’s art teacher was, and Kim Ki-jeong was shaking and fidgeting until he didn’t stand up. As a result, except for Lee Yun-byeol and the kindergarten student, all survivors remained.
“….”
“…Why why? Oh, shall I go too?”
Lee Jae-heon looked at Munsan-gun, who was talking carefree, with a strange look.
“Are you okay?”
Do you remember that Song In-myeong almost got killed by that bastard?
“yes? That’s okay. Because I’m a teacher too… If you were wondering whether or not you could participate in this expedition, it would be a good thing if you knew in advance how to deal with it. Thank you for your concern.”
“I’m really worried.”
“Jaeheon Lee is really kind. Still, I think it would be right for me to join the investigation team since we all went through a big problem this time and I didn’t do anything. Of course, it may not be helpful, but I don’t know much about schools and their curriculum, so I wanted to be of some help. Would it be okay?”
“oh.”
Jaeheon Lee nodded his head.
‘It really doesn’t suit me.’
Song In-myeong was scanning Munsan-gun with strangely sparkling eyes, as if he had different thoughts from Lee Jae-heon. Yes, Song In-myeong, who killed all kinds of people, must have felt special about Munsan-gun, which pretends nothing happened even though Song In-myeong died by his own hands and came back to life.
‘We must be careful not to let Song In-myeong’s sadism be directed towards Munsan-gun.’
Of course, he could have intentionally touched someone other than Jae-heon Lee first to see his reaction, but looking at what he was doing now, it seemed like if he was going to touch him first, it would be Jae-heon Lee. Lee Jae-heon, who was thinking about controlling Song In-myeong’s interest with moderate care, looked at Song In-myeong.
The serial killer who made eye contact with him laughed.
“You’re so weak that you ran away like this…”
“Stop talking nonsense and get back to the point.”
“Okay, let’s do that.”
Song In-myeong nodded.
“It looks like you’re curious about how he works, is that correct?”
“To be precise, I need to know his work method, lifestyle habits, and his view on art.”
“Lifestyle habits? I don’t know much about that. His view of art was too narrow, his working methods were old-fashioned, and he was openly old-fashioned, so he didn’t suit me well. “We weren’t close enough to know his habits.”
“…Then you can just tell me what you know.”
Lee Jae-heon, who had inwardly flinched at the word ‘old man’, urged him calmly, and Song In-myeong, who was groaning as if he was worried, opened his mouth about a minute later.
“First of all, the way we work is… to put it simply, we stuff the preserved corpse into a plaster statue made to our liking. The higher the synchronization between the plaster statue and the corpse, the more he loved it. “It is said that life and death are contained within the plaster at the same time… I think so.”
“Over there.”
“huh?”
“Uh…”
The friends around him made a fuss when Kim Hee-chan bravely raised his hand. Ask, are you crazy? Still, aren’t you curious? You guys really turned around, etc. Kim Hee-chan quietly lowered his hand, leaving his quietly whispering friends behind, and asked Song In-myeong.
“…Have you ever seen that bastard kissing a plaster statue?”
Ha Seong-yoon and Jeong In-ho flinched for a moment. It was a bad memory from the previous episode when Kim Hee-chan confessed what a crazy pervert the art teacher was. Song In-myeong, who did not notice the signs of the returnees, opened his eyes wide and said.
“uh? Is it like that at his school too? “Are you crazy?”
“….”
“You look really bad. However, since you have already agreed to cooperate, if you give me the answer, yes. I always live like that. That’s one of the reasons it doesn’t suit me. I view my work as an object, not as a romantic object. “I think he’s a little crazy.”
In other words, the art teacher viewed the plaster statue with the corpse in it as an object of love.
‘Is that industry full of perverts?…’ It
was a way of thinking that was difficult to understand for Lee Jae-heon, who pursues an extremely universal image of beauty.
Baby are you watching? Why do perverts like this exist in a world created by a beauty like you? Don’t you think that an idiot dating a plaster statue is crossing a line?
Song In-myeong burst out laughing at Lee Jae-heon’s subtle expression.
“Isn’t this enough to say everything about the art museum? I mainly do works targeting women, and the works I make like that are my romantic partners until I get sick of them. Well, sometimes men go in, but this is really rare. And when you make a man into a work of art, you don’t see him as a romantic partner… you see it as a real work of art. Or maybe family or friends? Even if the taste is only aimed at women, when they see an ingredient that they can’t afford to miss, men also make it into a work of art.”
“…So, if there is a monster with the ego of an art teacher and a female survivor stands out, there is a high probability that she will be the first to die?”
“ah…? No, I won’t kill you. When dealing with materials that I don’t like, I kill them right away… but if I like them, I usually lock them in a plaster statue and wait for them to die. By the time he is locked up like that, he has already been treated harshly in one way or another, so he will die soon…”
Song In-myeong continued speaking, not paying attention to the sound of Hong Gyeong-jun sighing.
“So, do you think this will help?”
“what.”
“I don’t like that bastard digging in the water.”
“…the water?”
“They are afraid that high humidity will ruin their work. It seems like he himself has bad memories of water, but whatever. “Isn’t this helpful information?”
“….”
“I did well, mister.”
Well done, kid.
‘Even if the other chicks weren’t watching, I would have patted them on the head. How good is it to listen to what the fuck says? ‘I do pretty things like this.’
Thanks to this, Jaeheon Lee gained confidence.
I am confident that I can kill the final boss of Eonhak High School.
(Continued in the next part)