# Chapter 106
Lee Hwan frowned as soon as he saw the word “sasaeng” in the comments. He had bad memories associated with that word. Painful memories of having his arm broken and having to jump from a high-rise penthouse.
What stimulated Lee Hwan again, as he was quietly about to press the back button, was a link someone had left in the middle of the comments.
Lee Hwan hesitated for a long time before clicking the link. An internet news page covered with ads immediately filled the screen.
[Breaking and Entering Attempt and Property Damage… ‘Shocking’ Misguided Fan Obsession]
Skimming through it, the article was about stalkers who claimed to be Taesung’s fans following him around and committing various misdeeds. Lee Hwan felt a pang of recognition as he continued reading the article and recalled his first day after regression.
No wonder the gaze directed at him had seemed so murderous. If he had known about this, he would have quietly left without provoking anyone.
Going back to the forum, the comment count was increasing in real-time, suggesting that people were enthusiastically fighting.
Lee Hwan found the fans’ quarrels interesting and watched silently, discovering that they would occasionally snap photos of Taesung when they encountered him and post them.
And they even used those to track his schedule and movements.
‘Hmm, this is a bit scary…’
But it also seemed potentially useful. Come to think of it, the post he was trying to view was also one where someone had photographed Taesung near Gate C-17.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.
‘Maybe… these people know Kang Taesung’s movements better than I do.’
Just in case, he typed “220” in the title search, and several posts containing Taesung’s photos from 2022 appeared in the list.
One, two—Taesung’s cold, sharp face in photos taken from various places felt especially welcome.
He needlessly touched the screen to enlarge them. In most photos, Taesung had his hair styled up, suggesting he had gone out for gate business.
Lee Hwan quickly saved a few particularly good photos and examined them carefully. These unexpected people might be quite helpful.
‘Didn’t they say it’s unauthorized photography? They took quite good shots…’
One photo was especially artistic—a sudden breeze had caused a few strands of his well-styled hair to fall, and sunlight filtered through tree leaves poured onto his face, making him slightly furrow his brow.
As he stared at it, entranced, he felt something stirring in his chest again. Only after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath did his aimlessly wavering heart settle down.
Calm down. He didn’t know why he needed to calm down, but slowly ruminating on those words, Lee Hwan opened his eyes again and examined the search results.
[220427 Pyeongtaek Esung-i Sighting Report with Photos]
He had reached a post he couldn’t read on his registration day due to insufficient rank. Lee Hwan opened that day’s post with a strange tension.
Title: 220427 Pyeongtaek Esung-i Sighting Report with Photos
(Photo)
(Photo)
(Photo)
…
Since the gate area prohibits civilian access and cameras might malfunction,
I rushed up a nearby peak and took these with zoom lolololol
After coming out of the gate, he kept looking somewhere with a pretty expression
Comments 12 ▼
[Hinki] Nearby… peak…?
[Yorang] Kang’s stamina is amazing…. I heard that the gates are always on mountain slopes, so even hunters need mountain-climbing club level skills
└ [FireAttributeLetsMarry] IKR lololol Can’t follow even if I wanted to. Why is he always in the mountains?
└ [Yorang] I heard it’s because 70% of our country is mountainous
└ [FireAttributeLetsMarry] Oh.
[Ttame] I don’t think Esung-i had been to that gate before, what’s this??
└ [Hinki] Is it new?
└ [Ttame] No it’s not, I live near there so I know it’s quite an old gate
└ [FireAttributeLetsMarry] Yeah what’s up with that, that wasn’t an Esung sighting area before
‘Sighting area…’
Did that refer to gates that Assault Team 1, especially the advance party, was responsible for? If so, these were certainly people who knew a lot, perhaps too much, making him wonder if this was acceptable.
Of course, since all gates were publicly purchased and managed, even ordinary people could figure out Naru’s gates if they were determined to investigate.
However, Taesung’s location in combat suit meant the advance party’s movements. Thinking about people across the country tracking Naru’s main gates and cleaning schedules gave him mixed feelings.
‘Should I consider this good… or bad…’
Moreover, there were also rare photos of him in casual clothes, with dates attached. Thanks to this, he could roughly track his movements, which left Lee Hwan with ambivalent feelings.
‘When my memory returns… I’ll have to shut down this site first.’
But until then, I’ll use it a bit. Lee Hwan casually checked the bus stops while the bus rattled along, then shifted his gaze back to his phone. For the first time, he cautiously pressed the write button in the bottom right corner of the site.
‘Title… Kang Taesung… no, Esung-i personal… is “personal” a bit strange?’
He had just realized that on this site, there was another rank between the board administrator and regular members. This became clearer after checking the information of other members several times.
When he checked the rank requirements last time, only the method to become a regular member was shown. It was the same when he checked again. However, after searching for a long time, he discovered that the higher-ranked users all tended to write many information posts about Taesung.
Given that the site had a private messaging function, he thought there might be some connection between these people.
Title: Small Tidbits About Esung-i That I Think Only I Know
Esung-i once fell while running away from a praying mantis when he was five.
When he’s satisfied, his right corner of the mouth lifts a bit higher when smiling.
When lost in thought, he slowly taps the table with his index finger.
He was homeschooled. Liked math. (Still good at mental calculations)
Likes onion popcorn.
Doesn’t like peach-flavored drinks. (Says they taste like beef jerky(?))
Doesn’t whistle, but whistles well when asked to.
Expected to stop appearing in Geoje Island from the end of this year.
Sorry if others already know these.
Comments 0 ▼
If he wrote things that casual fans wouldn’t know, maybe one of them would show interest. With that thought, he listed things that were surprising or seemed cute, but honestly, he had no idea how it would turn out.
Still, since he clearly showed his connection to Taesung, if by chance someone messaged him, he might be able to use that as a stepping stone to contact those who knew his schedule.
Lee Hwan shoved his phone back into his pocket and headed home, hopping off the bus that had conveniently stopped. Though he had escaped from Building D and delivered the drug to Jade, there was still a mountain of things to do.
He had taken photos of various parts of the laboratory and important documents, so he needed to organize those first. Then he’d need to find a way to tip off the Journalist Association.
Assuming the basement intrusion would be discovered, he also needed to quickly organize his surroundings and prepare to flee. Before that, he’d have to deal with Kang Dongha’s outburst, since he had hit him while drinking and run away. That is, if he remembered.
After escaping from Building D, his feelings toward Dongha had changed from wariness and disgust to a milder form of irritation. Even though many people had suffered because of him, and it was a tragedy he had brought upon himself, witnessing someone’s final moments was quite emotionally jarring.
Besides, it was thanks to his death that the regression skill stone had come to him.
‘Rather than thinking about saving the world, it seems like he was grasping at straws, hoping someone would somehow go back to the past…’
In this world, even if he dies, let him die peacefully. Lee Hwan made a rough resolution.
* * *
The regression skill definitely seemed to drain one’s energy. Lee Hwan felt increasingly sluggish and fatigued.
The fortunate thing was that it didn’t cause any serious illness or disability. The day after delivering the drug, Jade informed him through an unexpected text that he had nutritional deficiency.
Lee Hwan had already suspected this, but he felt wronged. Considering how much he had been eating, his nutrition should have been overflowing, with oil dripping from his skin. He shouldn’t have deteriorated like this after eating like others for just a month or two.
Half-doubtfully, he gulped down high-calorie shakes three or four times a day and found his body temporarily improving. But that was short-lived. By evening, when he hadn’t eaten anything, his eyes would begin to close on their own.
‘What is this, really.’
How should he explain this? It was like using a smartphone with 6% battery at maximum output while connected to a 5-watt charger.
Having used up 94% already, at some point the last 1% would drop with a blink, and his body would enter power-saving mode.
‘Ugh, already getting tired of this.’
Lee Hwan shuddered as he paused drinking the thick beverage. The shake wasn’t inedible, but it wasn’t particularly enjoyable either. The thought of drinking this for the rest of his life, even if things went well, made life seem joyless.
Still, after repeating this for three days, today his nails finally started to look glossy. His hair had become like dog fur lately—how much would he need to drink for that to return to normal?
‘Now if only my sleep pattern would improve.’
Separate from nutrition, Lee Hwan increasingly couldn’t fall into deep sleep. There were too many things to worry about.
When he lay down to sleep, the research building came to mind. The horrific scenes inside and memories seen through fragments of causality confused his mind.
When would they notice the missing drug? Despite leaving not a single fingerprint or hair in the basement, he couldn’t avoid CCTV.
He had gone down dressed like Kang Dongha to only show his back, but that wasn’t to frame him—it was to avoid getting caught if someone was monitoring the surveillance screens in real-time.
Since they hadn’t anticipated the drug being taken, they hadn’t prepared for it. If the security team came with that recording, Dongha would naturally throw him under the bus.
And what about the Journalist Association? He had sent an email saying he had something to say about unethical experiments, but there was no reply. He didn’t know if there were too many whistleblowers like him, causing delays, but with each passing day, he grew more anxious.
