A Genius Writer Loved by an Actress 38
On the way home, I went out on time to the Geumsan Milky Way complex designated by the client. Even though it was a place I had passed many times, it was unfamiliar.
Is it night?
The empty streets with the dimly lit street lights, old apartments and dilapidated residential areas were somehow eerie.
“I wish I had a streetlight…”
It seemed to be pressed for a moment while waiting for the client. Even the air was stuffy, which made that feeling even more intense.
“Why doesn’t the bus come like this? When are you going to arrive?”
Time passed slowly.
It seemed like it had been waiting for a long time, so I looked at the watch and was surprised.
“It’s only four minutes. I think it’s been more than 40 minutes.”
I’ve heard of the theory of relativity that time goes faster when you do happy things, and slows down when you do hard things.
But it was the first time I felt as desperately as I do now.
“Oh, it’s gone. 374”
My mind calmed down a bit when an alarm came on the electronic display 3 minutes after the bus arrived.
After 3 minutes, number 374 came.
A woman got out of the open back door with a squeak. He quickly approached me and spoke to me.
“Have you ever applied for help?”
“yes. Right.”
“hello. I am Jaeho Yoon, the helper who will accompany you to your home.”
“hello.”
After briefly exchanging greetings and the client walking ahead, I silently followed.
thump.
thump.
The client passed the front road with the road and went deeper into the back road of the apartment complex. The road became more and more bleak.
Enough to know at once why I applied for the service to accompany people on their way home.
“The street lights are too dim. Some are on fire, some are broken.”
“I’ve already made several suggestions to the community center and the ward office…”
“It doesn’t seem to have improved.”
“yes.”
After a few small conversations to erase the loneliness, I found myself on a steep uphill road.
But the road was even more serious.
Heaps of dirt spilled all over the axle.
The thistles growing in clutter.
Street lights are annihilated.
There were only one or two lit street lamps glimmering like goblin.
Unbelievable.
“I can’t see it here…”
“When you turn on a street lamp, rogue youths come and wake you up again. put on and break put on and break I think the government officials are very tired because of the repetition.”
“Yes, but do you always get off work this late?”
“no. I’m going to do it as quickly as possible, but I had no choice but to work overtime today. There was a kidnapping case a few days ago…”
“A kidnapping?”
“yes. He said he was an ex-boyfriend… I was so creepy that I hired a helper today.”
“Hey, you did really well. You must use a helper at night like this.”
“I think I will have to move. I can’t keep living like this.”
“yes. That would be the best.”
The outskirts of a city that is undergoing slumping.
It was completely different at night than during the day.
‘Isn’t this the place where the five gods abduct people?’
Without realizing it, I was thinking of the red-eyed rabbit ‘Jung Joo-hak’.
to be damp
be remote
A feeling of anxiety and crime.
“I’m all here. Here it is.”
“Yes Yes.”
I was immersed in thought, and then woke up in shock at the words of the client.
The client who arrived in front of the house was holding out an envelope full of 10,000 won.
“Thank you for taking me home safely.”
“No, I was more grateful for running the errand.”
So the client said goodbye and went into the house.
I made sure she was going in, and took out my phone.
burned out street lamps,
broken light bulb,
ruined homestead.
half-broken shaft,
weeds growing in a mess,
Even the roadside trees that have not been pruned have become lush.
I captured the night scenery of the neighborhood one by one.
When I got home, I wrote after a long time.
I haven’t even gotten a clue about ‘Jung Ju-hak’ yet, but the story about the Five Mountain Gods that is the basis of it has been wriggling.
***
The next morning, I went to Sunkwang University’s Graduate School of Special Therapy to run the second errand.
It was an experiment on the effect of color on psychology, and there were a blue room and a red room for the participants to experience.
“Today’s experiment is simple. You can go into the blue room and the red room you see over there, and come out when you think about 20 minutes have passed. Any questions?”
A researcher wearing a white coat and holding a chart looked at the twenty or so participants. Since it was a relatively simple and risk-free experiment, there were no questions asked.
‘It’s really easy. Doing this and getting 40,000 won? I want to make it my lifelong job.’
I waited for the experiment to proceed quickly. Because time is gold
“Then let’s begin. I’ll go into the blue room first.”
“yes.”
The participants lined up in a single line and entered the blue room.
‘Maybe there is some kind of hidden challenge. You should open your eyes wide.’
I was a little nervous, but when I entered the blue room, my heart melted. Because it was really nice and comfortable.
Participants didze off or bruised quietly, and when they realized that 20 minutes had elapsed, they went out one by one.
The average was 24 minutes. Time for all participants to come out.
“good. I will enter the red room now.”
The participants rushed into the red room this time. Expecting it to be as easy as the blue room.
‘After this, what will be the third errand?’
My mind was only thinking about the next errand.
By the way
“Come out in 20 minutes.”
Read at noblemtl.com
Kick- clap-
As the researcher closed the door leaving his last words,
It didn’t take long to realize that I was mistaken in thinking that the red room would be easy too.
The red room was on a different level from the blue room.
red ceiling,
red floor,
red lights,
red wall,
A world where everything is red.
Slowly, tension was engraved on the faces of the participants.
what is it
This room reminded me of blood and death every moment.
‘Ah~ I can’t give money easily. To experience such horror for 40,000 won.’
I closed my eyes tightly. I just thought it would be better if I didn’t see it.
By the way
Even when I close my eyes, my eyes are red. Rather, I opened my eyes again with the feeling of fear growing more vivid.
‘Ugh, what is this? How can you survive 20 minutes like this? If I can’t stand it, will they give me a part-time job?’
Other participants were also greatly agitated.
Some weak female students wept bitterly, and some weak male students flirted.
Some women roamed the room and practiced Lamaze breathing, while some men memorized the Lord’s Prayer.
But those efforts didn’t last long.
The participants could not stand it any longer and were escaping one by one.
“Ouch~.”
“I can’t do it anymore.”
“What kind of experiment is this?”
“I only give you four thousand won. They are bad guys.”
As one person opened the door and ran out, a line formed behind him.
There were people who endured the thought that they could not get all the 40,000 won for a part-time job, but the fear of death surpassed the money.
My country was no exception.
‘I am sharp and anxious because I keep looking at red. It’s dizzy and cramped… I can’t stand it any longer. Let’s get out of here for the sake of our mental health.’
I gave up holding on for 20 minutes and walked to the door to escape.
But then,
Ahh!
A thought that comes to mind!
Wouldn’t this be the world that ‘Jeong Ju-hak’ with red eyes sees?
“right! This is the world that ‘Jeong Ju-hak’ sees.”
Jung Ju-Hak has been unable to see the world straight since he was born with red eyes. To him, the world is all red.
“Aha, aha, aha!”
The tangled thread surrounding Jeong Ju-hak was unraveling. When one was released, the rest scattered easily with the slightest breath.
I stopped escaping, took out my notebook, and sat down. And I started writing.
New narratives of ‘Jung Ju-hak’ poured like crazy.
Shut- Shut- Shut-
When Jeong Ju-hak wasn’t even a year old,
The mother makes a night escape with the uncle at the fruit shop next door. My father takes such a child to the orphanage.
Jung Joo-hak, who was weak physically and mentally, was a punching bag for other children at orphanages and schools.
“In this part, we are arranging the narrative of ‘Byung-soo’. Byeong-su’s mother also remarries, but her step-dad is a very nice person. It is said that Byung-soo was brought up with a lot of love.”
Swee-chuck- swag-
When he grows up, Joo-hak Jeong lives a miserable life with no dreams and no hopes to earn a living every day.
Then one day, a pharmaceutical company participates in a clinical trial. Be deceived by the word “high-margin part-timer”.
A pharmaceutical company injects an unidentified drug into Jeong Ju-hak and checks the progress.
However, after the experiment, Jeong Ju-hak’s hair and teeth fall out, and his skin wrinkles like a burn.
Even the eyes turn red, and the whole world looks like it’s burning red!
Feeling strange, Jung Ju-hak tries to contact the people who participated in the experiment with him, but finds that they have all died.
Jung Joo-hak was the only survivor of the experiment!
He goes to the pharmaceutical company and begs them to save him, but they kick Joo-Hak Jeong out saying that they never did such an experiment.
Amidst the pain of his bones being twisted and his marrow splitting, Jeong Ju-hak, filled with anger and hatred for the world, screams in devotion to evil in the middle of the street…
“Everybody die! You fucking bastards!”
That moment,
Everyone in the vicinity runs into the truck or bus, killing them instantly.
Jung Ju-hak realizes that he has extraordinary powers.
Shut- Shut- Shut-
everything was changing
The Jeongjuhak, which had been held so far, was disappearing and a new Jeongjuhak was being born.
The excitement of meeting Jeong Ju-hak knocked me out of my senses.
I forgot where I was and what I was doing. I did not know that I would completely fall for Jung Joo-hak and get out of it.
Then
rattle.
The door to the red room opened.
Two researchers in white coats gasped for me.
“It’s been over an hour. Are you okay?”
The researchers looked at me with very concerned faces.
“yes? eh, eh?”
When I woke up and looked around, I was alone in the red room.
‘Oh right.’
Only then did I realize that I was experimenting.
***
Rather than running the next errand, I went home first. Because I couldn’t hold back the rising inspiration in my heart.
Tadadak – Tadadak
Using the memo I had written as a reference, I wrote the 7th episode of Opal on my notebook. Ten fingers flew across the keyboard without resting even for a second.
“Good good. Perfect. Byung-soo, Ji-hyeon, and Jung Joo-hak. This is the story you wanted. No problem now.”
As I was writing this, I went out and looked at the clock, it was 5 o’clock.
“Gosh. It was a big deal.”
There are still two more errands left. I was going to write an errand and run an errand, but time flew by.
It was a pity in a situation where inspiration was exploding, but now I had to stop writing and go out to run errands.
Fortunately, the inspiration was very clear and I didn’t want to forget it.
“I started the mission at 11 o’clock yesterday, so I still have 6 hours to spare.”
I just opened the helper app.
I hope there are errands that can be completed easily without taking too much time.
[Fixing the fluorescent lamp]
‘It’s a fluorescent lamp, something I’ve done a lot when I’m making a barn or a greenhouse.’
Fixing the fluorescent lights, you win.
Pressing the button brought up details.
[Request] Golden Siesta 3307, Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu. Even if the fluorescent lamp is replaced with a new one, flickering costs 20,000 won (separate parts cost)]
‘It’s a problem with the ballast that it flickers even after replacing the fluorescent light. All I have to do is change the ballast, but most people don’t know about it.’
It was a perfect errand for me right now, so I quickly pressed the helper request.
Soon, an alarm sounded and a message saying that I had been selected as a helper appeared.
“let’s go.”
I grabbed long nose pliers, a screwdriver, and electrical tape from the clutter on the shoe rack and left the house.
