My Company Is Black

#014

The seventh iteration began. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve… and now thirteen. During this time, Jung Hwi-kyung had faced countless near-death experiences. Eight out of ten were near death from overwork, and about two were near accidental deaths.

However, none of these dangers could make Jung Hwi-kyung anxious. Even if rebar fell on his head, he wouldn’t ‘really’ die as long as he couldn’t escape the black company. The problem was being sick and tired to the point of death rather than being in danger of dying. The regression system didn’t erase this.

Whenever fatigue and mental instability persisted, Hwi-kyung clung to futile hope. If I endure a little longer in this black company… Maybe things will get better after an honorable retirement? There might really be a good workplace in the world…

And he failed repeatedly.

Hwi-kyung mechanically took certification exams and bought stocks. He did what he had to do. His life continued like a hamster wheel. Thanks to the twelfth iteration, he knew what would happen inside and outside the country for at least 10 years.

However, knowing more and being able to do more didn’t end the regression. A company that’s not a black company? How on earth do you find that? He resented the Bodhisattva grandmother who had put him in this situation. Is it okay to throw a good young man into hell like this? This was too absurd.

When he felt this sick, Hwi-kyung couldn’t stop the resentment and madness he had been suppressing. Jung Hwi-kyung had already lost his mind by the sixth iteration. Unable to die and forced to regress, he was just living diligently aiming for an honorable retirement.

Because that’s how it ends! Because that’s how I can escape!

“Jung Hwi-kyung?”

But Lee Gyo-ha wouldn’t know this fact. So he’d probably just ask foolish questions like why he likes the company so much. Hwi-kyung half-instinctively reached out and grabbed Gyo-ha. The world was spinning.

“I think it would be better if you were hospitalized after all.”

“I’m fine.”

“Can you say anything other than ‘I’m fine,’ Jung Hwi-kyung?”

Separate from his relentless investments, Hwi-kyung had lost his material desires long ago. Not only was he sick of people due to long-term sales activities, but he was also accustomed to taking on company work and didn’t know how to depend on others.

It had been a long time since he stopped caring about his own body. What’s the big deal about being overworked if you won’t die anyway? He was just trying to manage his fatigue because he was tired to the point of death.

Whenever everything felt futile, Hwi-kyung wanted to grab someone and cry his heart out. Hadn’t he royally messed up even the twelfth iteration that had shown some hope?

In the end, going back to the beginning erases everything. Like restarting a game, all accumulated data disappears, and there’s no one who remembers him or the wealth he had gathered.

So building relationships and living luxuriously was a waste of time. He should have tried harder in that time to escape the black company. Hwi-kyung’s grandmother would now die for the thirteenth time. Suffering the same pain each time he failed, apologizing to her grandson without knowing anything…

All of this was Hwi-kyung’s fault for making a careless wish.

Jung Hwi-kyung was generally okay, but sometimes he felt like he was going crazy. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and a small act of kindness had pushed his life into an abyss. A wish uttered jokingly had dragged him into the mire.

“Just… leave me alone.”

He wanted to grab Lee Gyo-ha and scream. I’m really in so much pain. But I can’t die from this, so I can’t erase it. Even now, I can see the system window asking if I want to regress. But if I move to the fourteenth iteration, I have to start everything from the beginning again!

But he couldn’t say such things. If he wasn’t going to regress immediately, he shouldn’t spout crazy talk to his workplace superior. Ironically, fear of the future had restored Hwi-kyung’s sanity countless times.

Hwi-kyung knew that Gyo-ha wasn’t a bad person. Although he was bothersome, compared to the horrible superiors he had dealt with before, Gyo-ha was just a drop in the ocean.

“Jung Hwi-kyung.”

“……”

“When you’re sick, lean on others a bit.”

“…Just.”

The words “leave me alone” didn’t make it out of his mouth. It was fortunate. Hwi-kyung was human too, and unpleasant words burst out whenever he got upset. However, the other party wasn’t a close friend or family, but an Executive Director of the company.

Getting irritated with someone who wasn’t close enough to throw tantrums at. It felt like forced regression was approaching rapidly. The regression system window had been making such suggestions generously ever since Hwi-kyung was diagnosed with a concussion.

Do you want to regress?

At first, he pressed ‘Y’ there without knowing better. Because it was too hard. He thought he could do better if he started over. But it was just living the life of an office worker endlessly, same old, same old.

Well, thanks to that, Jung Hwi-kyung became an excellent employee. Although he was often mentally unstable, it was unrelated to his work.

“Don’t.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’ll give you a few more days off. Paid leave.”

“……”

“I’ll talk to the HR team leader.”

“No…”

“At least get inpatient treatment over the weekend.”

Do you want to regress?

Gyo-ha looked at the system window that appeared in front of Hwi-kyung.

Is this perhaps a demon? The thought came naturally. Come to think of it, the system window wasn’t always on the regressor’s side. In dozens of web novels he had read, the system window was an enemy force to the regressor.

This regression system wasn’t favorable to Jung Hwi-kyung. That’s what Lee Gyo-ha concluded. Otherwise, there’s no way Jung Hwi-kyung would be in such a deranged state.

He thought he was a neat office worker, but looking at him like this, Hwi-kyung seemed a bit unstable. Well, if anyone repeated the same life thirteen times, they’d naturally go crazy. Even Lee Gyo-ha, with his easygoing nature, had felt tremendous boredom.

So Gyo-ha had to prevent Hwi-kyung from choosing ‘Y’ to that question by any means necessary.

“Do you…”

“Yes?”

“Always treat employees like this?”

“……”

“Really…”

This is annoying…

Those words were barely audible. It was thanks to Hwi-kyung reflexively maintaining his social skills even in his worst physical state. However, Gyo-ha, who was close to Hwi-kyung, heard it all.

Is this a temporary secretary or a master regressor… Gyo-ha just wanted to abandon Hwi-kyung, but he couldn’t. If he hadn’t forcibly dragged him on the business trip, it wouldn’t have come to this.

And if Jung Hwi-kyung regressed, he would have to start over from the beginning too. That absolutely couldn’t happen. You might think, what’s one more time in graduate school after going more than ten times already… but Gyo-ha was suddenly frightened by Hwi-kyung’s vulnerable state.

You can’t break down, can you? Because you’re the regressor… You’re the protagonist.

This was a kind of strategic help. That’s what Gyo-ha thought as he watched Hwi-kyung being admitted to the hospital under his guidance. So please, get your act together.

Gyo-ha’s future depended on Hwi-kyung’s regression. Gyo-ha firmly held onto Hwi-kyung’s arm.

* * *

As mentioned before, Lee Gyo-ha had been a hopeless romantic since childhood.

‘I want to experience a fated love.’

The expression ‘hopeless romantic’ came from his brother Lee Sung-ha’s mouth. However, Lee Gyo-ha himself didn’t particularly correct his brother’s harsh words. It was an undeniable truth that he pursued ideals over reality.

Gyo-ha liked mingling with others and enjoyed casual relationships. Because he knew how to fully utilize his natural gifts, he didn’t have any more desires beyond that. This carefree attitude didn’t change even after repeating life several times. It was just Gyo-ha’s nature to enjoy life to the fullest.

It would have been a troublesome nature if he hadn’t been born into a wealthy family, but fortunately or unfortunately, Gyo-ha was rich enough to live idly for his entire life. He must have saved the country in his previous life.

Chairman Lee Baek-gyeong loved his youngest son the most. It was certainly unfair that Gyo-ha, who lived with an attitude of not caring either way, monopolized the love, surpassing the children who were desperate for recognition.

But human emotions aren’t something that can be controlled at will. The chairman’s favoritism towards his youngest son was the same in every iteration. Lee Gyo-ha knew that even if he killed someone, his father would cover it up at least once.

So he became more arrogant as time passed. Having no desire for power, he acted as if nothing mattered to him. You could see this in how he ignored the chairman’s words to return to Korea and stayed buried in America.

‘Fated love?’

Living without a future like that, Gyo-ha also had a romantic disposition. He had dreamed of a fated love since childhood.

This disposition didn’t change even after he grew up. While Gyo-ha often enjoyed casual relationships, he still thought that someday a princess on a white horse would appear. Princess! You’ve come to save me!

But unfortunately or fortunately, no princess on a white horse appeared during Lee Gyo-ha’s long life. It was natural. Why would heaven bestow a fated partner on Gyo-ha? What’s so special about him?

For this reason, Gyo-ha stopped expecting an amazing love at some point. The little boy who said “I want to experience a fated love” at seven years old, knowing nothing, had become a jaded adult.

But who did I say that to?

The question didn’t linger long. It was because he had just woken up from a brief sleep. Gyo-ha couldn’t even remember what dream he had just before. He just vaguely recognized that he had had an unpleasant dream.

Something, a very long time ago… a nagging feeling that he had wished for something. But he couldn’t dwell long on a feeling without substance. It’s extremely rare for a twenty-nine-year-old to remember a nonsensical wish they made at seven years old.