Episode 13: Money < The Peaceful Life of a Possessor < Too Much Money (1)

There was no way those guys could exist in this world. Sodam was confident that even if they brought every man in the country in front of her, she wouldn’t recognize them. With that conviction in mind, she looked up at him, and felt the pressure from the hand on her neck slowly easing.

Just as she let out a breath of relief, realizing she had narrowly escaped the threat, the grip tightened once more.

“Why, why, why?!”

Sshe cried out.

“Don’t relax just yet. Even if I don’t know about your real body, I can easily kill this one.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not true!”

“Do you think I’d believe anything coming out of your mouth? Know your place.”

If she hadn’t bitten her lip hard, she might have cursed him right then and there. Holding her tongue with effort, she bit down even harder, preventing any reckless words from slipping out, as Juyul slowly began to release her restraints.

Blood finally began to circulate in her thigh, which had been pinned under his knee, leaving a dull, numbing pain. Even her wrists, which she had thought would be fine, bore bright red marks like handcuffs. And her neck… She couldn’t check it now, but it probably looked worse than her wrists. It was a brutal treatment for someone with whom he had been so physically close today.

‘Crazy bastard, not even a beast would act like this!’

Juyul, now straightened up and smoothing out his rumpled clothes, looked down at Sodam, who was rubbing her wrists and thigh, and spoke coldly.

“From now on, we’ll Guide every day at this time. Don’t even think about hiding—monsters that kill people are always easy to spot.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not a monster!”

“Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m., right here. If you don’t show up, I’ll assume you’ve run away and hunt you down until I kill you.”

“…!”

This wasn’t a conversation. It was a notification, an order so one-sided that calling it anything else would be incorrect. The problem was that her situation left her no room to refuse. Refusing meant death, and even complying didn’t guarantee her safety. She was left with choices that she, no matter how many lives she’d lived, did not want to pick.

‘I’m not even sure if I really died in my previous life. They say it’s pretty common to die suddenly from drinking, but I don’t remember the moment I died.’

Yet, despite her racing thoughts, she refused to nod or give any verbal confirmation—out of sheer pride.

But Juyul didn’t care whether she answered or not. As he prepared to leave, his complete disregard for her response trampled on the last shred of her dignity. The brief spark of her fighting spirit was immediately extinguished by his next action.

At this moment, her mitochondria-like pride wasn’t the issue. What mattered was the terrifying possibility of what Juyul, standing there and rummaging around, might do next.

Sodam, gritting her teeth, grabbed the disheveled bed sheets and leaned forward, ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

‘What is he rummaging around for? A gun? Damn Baek Juyul, crazy bastard…’

Thud.

“…you crazy bastard.”

“What?”

“I’ll turn that into a three-syllable acrostic poem.”

“…Forget it. Just take this.”

Relieved at her quick thinking, which saved her in a pinch, Sodam’s attention shifted to the object he tossed toward her, which had landed perfectly beside her despite the distance.

It wasn’t round enough to be a grenade, nor was it the right color to be a lunchbox bomb. Frowning, unsure of what it could be, Sodam slowly moved toward it and asked cautiously.

“What… what is this?”

“You’ll know once you listen to it.”

“It’s not a bomb, is it?”

For a moment, as ridiculous as it sounded, Sodam wondered if the man who had just strangled her might be feeling a hint of guilt.

An uneasy silence filled the room, as both Sodam and Juyul fell silent—Sodam out of tension, and Juyul for reasons unknown. It wasn’t until Sodam had moved all the way to the edge of the bed that Juyul finally spoke.

“…Unfortunately, it’s not.”

Though Juyul said it wasn’t a bomb, Sodam cautiously pinched the very edge of the square, bright red object.

As soon as it was in her hand, Juyul stood up without hesitation, opened the door, and was about to leave when he paused mid-step. Clicking his tongue lightly, he glanced back at Sodam, who was still hanging her head low.

“That thing—you stick it on your skin. Wear your coat on the way out. Stop wearing those ragged clothes.”

Juyul’s final words were just as unpleasant as ever. It was hard to believe this was the same man who had strangled her not five minutes ago, now leaving so quietly.

Left alone in the empty Guiding room, Sodam collapsed onto the bed, completely drained. She didn’t even notice the damp sheets mixed with all sorts of things lying right beside her head.

Staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, Sodam soon turned her gaze to the ‘something’ still clutched in her hand. When she finally realized what it was, she jolted upright, her body shaking violently. Her legs gave out beneath her as she collapsed, her face turning pale.

“This… this is that hot pack Juyul always wore in the original novel! That guy tried to kill me and then thought he could make it up with this? How is he the protagonist?”

The ‘something’ in her hand was, in fact, the hot pack that Juyul always wore on various parts of his body in *Nasper*.

The term “hot pack” might not sound like much, but for Juyul, who had to live with his powers as if he were constantly thrown into the Siberian wilderness, it was a literal lifeline.

Sodam figured, in his simplistic way of thinking, that since he had threatened her life, he had left behind his own lifeline as a peace offering. But the idea that he thought such a measly object could earn forgiveness was laughable.

If Juyul came crawling back, begging for forgiveness on his knees, she might open her heart a tiny bit—just enough to maybe forgive him 0.1%. But this single hot pack? Not even close to enough.

Staring at the red hot pack in disbelief and fury, Sodam muttered under her breath.

“Come to think of it, this thing is made from the byproducts of monsters found only in lava zones. It’s so rare that only two come out every ten years…”

Silence followed. Sodam gazed intently at the dangling hot pack in her hand before a blatant desire slipped from her lips.

“I wonder how much this could sell for…”

She had already abandoned the idea of using the hot pack herself. Though she didn’t know exactly how much debt “Maeng Sodam” owed, the original owner of this body, one thing was clear: debts should be paid off, even in small increments. If she had 1,000 won in her pocket, she’d use it to chip away at the debt. And if she could sell the hot pack for more than 10 million won?

Not only was the item itself valuable, but with the added premium of having been “used by Baek Juyul,” the price of this little item would skyrocket.

“With this, I could probably pay off all the debt, right? My heart’s racing…”

On the first day of her possession, Sodam had already scored an achievement worth bragging about for a rookie possessor.

It seemed that the phrase “a beast starved for Guiding,” which Juyul had mentioned, was something the previous Maeng Sodam—the original owner of this body—had said. That meant she was an incredibly nasty person.

The fact that the previous Maeng Sodam had left a will and committed suicide as a form of revenge was already a big red flag. Still, Sodam had briefly entertained the thought that the original owner might not have been such a bad person, especially considering the will’s content.

But now, seeing that Juyul hadn’t gone to such extremes with the original body’s owner, it was pretty much confirmed—the original Maeng Sodam had been the problem.

‘That explains why Juyul flipped out the moment he saw me. To him, I must be the biggest piece of trash he’s ever met.’

It was too soon to despair over the fact that Baek Juyul, the protagonist and king of kings, hated her.

Sure, right now he was dead set on killing her, suspecting her to be some parasitic monster. But once the female leads started showing up, Juyul would be too busy falling head over heels for them to even remember Sodam existed.

During that time, she could quietly slip out of the original plot, and her role would be over for good. She was sure it would end with a perfectly happy and safe conclusion.

‘If I could show him that I’ve reformed, pay off my debt, and live an honest life until then, it couldn’t hurt.’

Having come to this comfortable conclusion, Sodam nodded to herself and mumbled.

“Right, right. I’m definitely not doing this because I’m obsessed with money. It’s all to give him peace of mind. Hehe.”

At that moment, as she chuckled wickedly, something began to happen to the hot pack that had inadvertently been clenched in her fist. Like a patch, the hot pack stuck to her palm and the back of her hand, glowing a dark red as if it had found its rightful place. At the same time, a warm heat flowed through her veins, gently loosening her tense shoulders.

“Wow, it’s so warm. Now I get why he calls this his lifeline. It’s so…”

So comfortable…

Her stiff limbs suddenly lost all tension, melting into relaxation. Even though the hot pack was stuck to her palm, the heat spread throughout her entire body, as if she had just stepped into a hot bath after freezing in an icy wind. A smile slowly crept onto Sodam’s face as she indulged in the satisfying warmth.

As she floated in this blissful state, hazy resolutions flickered through her dimming vision.