+
A rooftop late at night.
After evacuating the injured Yi Ha-ryeong to the rooftop, Choi Taek left the area to finish exorcising the remaining evil spirits.
The useless Jeong Chan-yul was left alone with Yi Ha-ryeong.
They thought they would be safe because of the talisman Choi Taek had placed on the rooftop door, but an evil spirit that even Choi Taek hadn’t detected climbed up the railing and attacked Yi Ha-ryeong and Jeong Chan-yul.
As Yi Ha-ryeong forced herself up while clutching a sword in one hand, Jeong Chan-yul stopped her and used every single talisman he had purchased for a large sum of money.
Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time by Yi Ha-ryeong and Choi Taek’s side.
Jeong Chan-yul had become somewhat capable of mimicking how they used their weapons.
As an ordinary person without the ability to defeat ghosts, Jeong Chan-yul felt a burning pain the moment he gripped Yi Ha-ryeong’s sword, but he didn’t care.
In this moment, the most important thing to him wasn’t his own pain, but Yi Ha-ryeong’s safety.
With hands covered in talismans, Jeong Chan-yul rushed toward the ghost.
[Mr. Jeong Chan-yul! I told you to let go of that sword — !!]
[I told you I’m fine too! You’re the one who’s hurt!!]
A fierce wind scraped harshly against Jeong Chan-yul’s skin.
[Just stay still!]
Every time he took a step forward, a pain as if his body were being torn apart surged through him.
His entire body was covered in wounds.
Though he succeeded in the exorcism, blood soaked into the black suit he had worn.
He could no longer hold the sword with his bloodied, blistering hands from the burns.
Dropping the sword to the floor, Jeong Chan-yul approached Yi Ha-ryeong, who was staring at him while kneeling.
A furious Yi Ha-ryeong shouted with a voice that was completely cracked.
[Why did you step in, Mr. Jeong Chan-yul? If there’s nothing you can do, please just stay still. Look at your hands!]
Jeong Chan-yul looked at Yi Ha-ryeong, whose face was partially distorted with emotion, and spoke.
Unlike his usual playful self, his voice lacked strength.
[How can I… stay still… when the person… I think is the most… beautiful in the company… is hurt?]
[Jeong Chan-yul, seriously! You crazy bastard obsessed with women!!! It already hurts like hell, don’t make me laugh… Haa, I don’t know, I don’t know.]
In the end, unable to bear the pain any longer, Yi Ha-ryeong collapsed onto the floor.
Jeong Chan-yul also laid his body down on the cold rooftop floor, facing the fallen Yi Ha-ryeong.
He used one hand to cover his side, where blood continued to leak out.
He knew that if Yi Ha-ryeong discovered this wound as well, he would definitely get an earful.
Jeong Chan-yul thought to himself.
‘Am I dying like this?’
Darn it, since he was lucky enough to be born rich in this life, he had intended to live while enjoying everything he could.
Whenever a pain so intense it made it difficult to breathe pulsed through his head, he briefly regretted his choice, but seeing that Yi Ha-ryeong was alive made him feel like his choice wasn’t wrong.
As the two lay side by side on the floor, Jeong Chan-yul slightly raised his upper body and covered Yi Ha-ryeong’s eyes — which were glaring at him — with his necktie.
“What are you doing? Right now?”
“Mr. Yi Ha-ryeong, please don’t glare at me like that. My injuries hurt even more. Seriously.”
“If I had stepped in, it would have ended with only one person getting hurt. And how do you know I’m glaring? You’re covering everything with your tie.”
“Yes, yes. I understand, Miss Yi Ha-ryeong, who is lying down because she’s out of strength.”
“I am not.”
“Since your eyes are covered, may I say just one thing?”
“As if you ever needed my eyes covered to speak.”
“I really do like you, Yi Ha-ryeong.”
Yi Ha-ryeong’s lips, which had been grumbling incessantly, stopped.
“But I’m going to give up now. Loving you makes me hurt too much.”
Jeong Chan-yul had already felt it.
Yi Ha-ryeong didn’t like him, and she likely never would.
Rather than being a burden, it was better to give up so he wouldn’t be a weight on her anymore.
‘Let’s give up cleanly here.’
It wasn’t her fault; it was because he was weak.
“In my eyes, even an injured Yi Ha-ryeong is the most beautiful person in the world, but in your eyes, I’m not the most handsome guy. Right?”
“……That’s.”
“Ouch, don’t answer. My injuries hurt even more now.”
Jeong Chan-yul deliberately made a fuss, showing the side he had been hiding.
Though Yi Ha-ryeong, whose eyes were covered by the tie, couldn’t see the wound anyway.
“It hurts so much, so could I hold your hand just once, Yi Ha-ryeong?”
“……”
“Is holding a colleague’s hand too much — “
“Take it! Just take it, fine!”
With her eyes still covered by the necktie, Yi Ha-ryeong reached out. Jeong Chan-yul chose his hand that wasn’t stained with blood and held her hand tightly.
He would probably never say things like this to her again.
‘But in this moment, can’t I be happy too?’
Jeong Chan-yul slowly closed his eyes.
‘Yi Ha-ryeong, I really liked you.’
+
“Cut! Ah, that was seriously so good. The last scene was truly amazing. Let’s play that back. Both of you come over here and let’s monitor the footage!”
“Yes!”
“Okay.”
It was a good performance.
Sun Ji-yun was well-immersed, and I was honest with Jeong Chan-yul’s emotions.
While reading the script, I had once asked the writer.
I asked why Jeong Chan-yul’s love ultimately wouldn’t be fulfilled.
She replied that for Jeong Chan-yul to succeed in wooing Yi Ha-ryeong in this drama, at least thirty episodes would be needed.
That was the kind of relationship she envisioned for Yi Ha-ryeong and Jeong Chan-yul.
Since the thoughts of the writer who created “The Exorcist” were the foundation of the drama, I shouldn’t interfere with that, but at the same time, as Jeong Chan-yul, I couldn’t help but feel sad at those words.
So, I read the script over and over again.
This time, I focused on Yi Ha-ryeong’s lines.
How the way she spoke to Jeong Chan-yul changed, when it changed, and when her actions shifted significantly enough to be meaningful.
The writer’s delicate script clearly contained all those moments.
Yi Ha-ryeong was definitely warming up to Jeong Chan-yul.
Whether that was as a friend, a colleague, or in some other sense, I couldn’t be sure.
If so, the important point here was:
Was Jeong Chan-yul the type of person to push his feelings of love for all thirty episodes?
Or was he the type to quickly organize his emotions and return to being a lighthearted man?
The Jeong Chan-yul I imagined wasn’t someone who would force his feelings no matter what.
He was the only person in his family who remembered to observe the anniversary of his deceased parents every year.
He was the person who visited his grandfather, whom no one would seek out if he weren’t the chairman, every time under the pretext of wanting a single word of praise.
He was a person who properly understood the privileges and obligations he enjoyed.
If he truly knew how to love, and if he had fallen for Yi Ha-ryeong to the point of following her to her department, he would no longer think of Sun Ji-yun lightly.
Jeong Chan-yul loved her sincerely.
The Jeong Chan-yul within the twelve episodes knew he couldn’t woo her and was someone who would willingly give her up for her sake, as his feelings burdened her.
At the very least, within this drama, the character most familiar with giving up was Jeong Chan-yul.
I got up from the floor, following Yi Ha-ryeong, who had stood up first for the monitoring.
That was when it happened.
[**A Reverse Quest penalty has occurred.**]
“……Huh?”
[**Reproducing 5% of the pain at the time of your death.**]
‘Is now the most appropriate time — !’
At the same time, I felt as if my body were sinking downward.
“Yeo-hu — !!”
“Jun Yeo — !!”
In the moment I fell through the collapsing floor, I saw Sun Ji-yun and the other staff members rushing toward me simultaneously.
Before I could even grasp the exact facts of the situation, a massive impact struck my head.
A terrible pain echoed through my waist, shoulders, and head all at once, but perhaps because the pain was too great, I lost consciousness before I could even properly understand what was happening.
***
When I regained consciousness, it was definitely not in the old building where we had been filming.
As I came to, I saw a vascular catheter piercing my arm and felt a bandage tightening around my head.
As I tried to slowly lift my body and pulled back the blanket, Brother Gido, who had just returned to the hospital room, threw down the convenience store bag he was holding and rushed over.
The grip of his hug was so strong it felt like I was being suffocated.
“Yeo-hu, do you remember me? Is your memory okay? Where, where else does it hurt?”
“That…”
“Of course! You can’t speak!! They said you hit your head first, and now your head is…!! Just wait, Yeo-hu. I’ll go get the doctor right now!”
“It’s not that.”
“Yeo-hu, can you talk!”
“I remember everything. But… why am I here?”
According to the explanation, it seemed the rooftop floor had suddenly collapsed due to the building’s deterioration, and I had fallen to the floor below and lost consciousness.
Fortunately, it hadn’t completely given way, so I hadn’t fallen any further than that.
‘This is what the system mentioned.’
[**A Reverse Quest penalty has occurred.**]
[**Reproducing 5% of the pain at the time of your death.**]
5% of the pain at the time of death.
It hurt that much, and that was only 5%?
“How many hours have I been here?”
Brother Gido said while sniffing.
“You rascal, if it had only been a few hours, would I be worried about your memory? You’ve been lying here for 2 days.”
“2 days? Then what about the schedule…?”
“Who do you think I am!! Of course, I adjusted it. The production team for ‘The Exorcist’ admitted it was their fault, so they pushed all your filming dates back. Since you had already filmed a lot of your scenes in advance, they said the later schedule is relaxed. The filming was almost at its end anyway, so they said the schedule is fine.”
In times like this, there’s nothing more fortunate than being a rookie without many advertising contracts.
Brother Gido scanned my body a few more times from different angles before speaking.
“I need to check your condition first, so I’ll go get the doctor and the nurse. Just stay lying down.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
After he left, I lay in bed and quietly recalled the pain I had felt just before fainting.
If 5% is this much, won’t I just kick the bucket later while it’s just trying to graze me?
[**The system does not kill the regressor!**]
‘How shameless.’
But there was no point in trying to find out more about how much it would hurt.
In a situation where my memories weren’t even complete, believing I could control the ratio would be close to arrogance.
The only relief was that this penalty didn’t look strange in the eyes of others.
It wasn’t like I was vomiting blood or suddenly losing consciousness for no reason.
‘Besides, it’s quite good at disguising it as an accident…’
[**Ahem!**]
Fine.
What was the point of praising the system for something like this?
The reason this penalty even appeared was because the system threw a tantrum when I rejected the Main Quest it proposed.
‘If it’s a Main Quest, will there be no such penalties at all?’
I’ll have to check a few things on the bulletin board later.
Before long, the medical staff called by Brother Gido examined my condition and delivered a diagnosis that I was surprisingly healthy.
“Really? That’s a relief, such a relief! Yeo-hu!”
Brother Gido was genuinely happy, as if it were his own business.
‘The results coming out this healthy must also be…’
It was probably the system’s influence.
That night, I logged onto the [**Regressor Bulletin Board**] for the first time in a while.
All sorts of posts had been uploaded.
“It’s hard for a regressor to make a living too.”