Episode 16: Money < The Peaceful Life of a Possessor < Too Much Money (4)

The reason she’d caught his eye among so many other side characters was simple. He loathed low-ranked Guides, but here he was, watching her, so desperate to succeed that she’d endure even the most ruthless situations—the author’s twisted cruelty was chilling. And now, by some twist of fate, she found herself in exactly the same predicament.

“Especially since I’m just… F-class!”

As an E-class character, the pain was described as if boiling oil had just barely splashed on her. Later, she’d climb to a respectable C-class, thanks to her talent. But for someone like her, with no talent whatsoever? Yeah, her future looked… bleak.

She hadn’t even been pushed here by a B-class Guide; she’d grabbed the shovel herself, dug her own grave, and lay down in it. No excuses.

Lost in thought, Sodam’s reverie shattered as she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“…Oh, you’re alone?”

“Usually, His Majesty Esper never does field work, but apparently, he went out today to help with a horde of strange C-class creatures. No rush, though—he made a strict promise about yesterday’s contract.”

“Yes, that’s right! Absolutely no rush. None at all!”

“Emphasizing it like that… Are you actually hoping to become his permanent Guide? Just because you did some intense Guiding and lent him a bit of clothing, don’t go getting lofty dreams. F-class just can’t handle that.”

“Haha, you never know. I might end up back here sooner than you think.”

‘Do you hate it? Well, so do I! Tomorrow, I have to wake up at 3 a.m. to make it here on time. Even the craziest black company wouldn’t go that far!’

Still, she wouldn’t dare voice these thoughts. Especially not the fact that she’d be coming here every day, bright and early, for the foreseeable future. Her paycheck was entirely in this woman’s hands.

Feigning a cheerful grin, Sodam laughed along with the B-class Guide’s mention of “false hopes.” She shrugged in response, her smirk clearly misunderstanding Sodam’s motives.

‘Oh, please misunderstand! If she thinks I’m just a hopeless Guide, maybe she’ll throw me a bit more cash for the pity.’

The two women exchanged polite, business-like smiles, but only for a moment. Sodam’s eyes darted around before she asked cautiously,

“Uh, when can I expect today’s pay to come through?”

“Haven’t you checked your phone? The moment Baek Juyul left the Guiding Room, it should’ve hit your account.”

“Oh, haha… I was so out of it after waking up that I didn’t check. Haha….”

Covering her embarrassment with a laugh, Sodam slyly pulled her phone from her pocket. It recognized her face and unlocked immediately, displaying an alert with a staggering amount that made her eyes widen.

[Deposit: 10,000,000 KRW.]
TL/N: Approx 7,400 USD if it was in my currency i would be rich asf.

When Sodam saw the amount deposited into her account from the Esper & Guide Association (account ending in 1999), her jaw practically hit the floor. She gawked at the screen, unable to even close her mouth.

“I-is this amount… right? This has to be a mistake!”

“I told you I’d double it.”

The Guide replied calmly.

“It was a rushed situation, and Esper Baek Juyul specifically said to make sure you were well compensated. Be grateful.”

“Grateful? I’m ready to become Baek Juyul’s biggest fan from now on. This is incredible…”

This time, Sodam’s smile was genuine, no longer the forced grin she’d been wearing before. After all, she had nearly been choked to death, and for a moment, she did think she might be the first Guide to die from her duty. But hey, she was alive, right?

It might sound ridiculous, but for 10 million won, plenty of people would probably line up to get choked out like a giraffe stretching its neck. Considering the debt looming over her—something so big that anyone who heard about it looked at her like she was a financial lost cause—this payout was almost enough to quiet her doubts, at least for a few blissful moments.

‘And if I count that hot pack Baek Juyul threw in, this deal was a complete win! The Guiding itself wasn’t even a minute, and honestly, I didn’t think anyone could be so damn good at… well, you know.’

Even with the sum doubled, it was a satisfying amount. Sure, she wouldn’t make this much Guiding every Esper, but at least her baseline was now set in the hundreds of thousands. One or two hours could easily rake in 50,000 to 100,000 won an hour.

As Sodam floated happily in her dreams of financial stability, a sudden, icy thought jolted her back to reality.

‘Wait, if Guides make this much, how much did the original Maeng Sodam borrow to make everyone look at me like I’m some bankrupt debtor? Are we talking, like, a billion won or something? No one would lend that much to an F-class, right? I mean, they’d have to be crazy.’

Not even ten hours passed before Sodam was faced with a truth she didn’t want to believe: the crazy one wasn’t the loan company—it was the body’s previous owner!

「Tiger Bank Loan Interest Payment Notice」

「Lion Loan Interest Payment Notice」

⦙

「Leopard Money Loan Interest Payment Notice」

“This crazy wench… Just how many places did she borrow from?”

Well, let’s back up a moment to how Sodam came to this realization. After wrapping up her chat with the B-class Guide, she practically floated home on the bliss of her unexpected windfall.

The hour-and-a-half commute wasn’t even a hassle, but reaching her doorstep exhausted was a struggle happiness alone couldn’t overcome. She managed a quick, sloppy face wash before collapsing straight into bed. Groggy from the deep sleep, she eventually glanced at her phone, only to feel her blood boil.

「02:18」

If it weren’t for the onslaught of relentless message alerts, she could have squeezed in at least another hour—no, even 30 more minutes would have been nice.

But any wishful thinking had to be set aside; the reality in front of her was too overwhelming. Even after some extra sleep, her voice was still hoarse from exhaustion.

“Wow, how many is this? One, two, three, four… six?”

As she counted each sketchy text message, the full amount of Sodam’s debt unfolded before her eyes. Reeling from the sight of those unbelievable numbers, she confirmed the final blow: her association debt shown clearly in her banking app.

The total, once everything was added up…

“This is insane! How on earth do I suddenly owe a billion won? All I did was go to sleep after a drink! I never even bad-mouthed Guide Maeng ‘Soda’!”

In all her years reading ‘Naesper’, she hadn’t once said anything bad about that Maeng side character who occasionally got mentioned. On the contrary, her only contribution had been leaving a playful comment along the lines of, “They keep bringing Maeng back, lol; what if Maeng’s secretly the mastermind?”

“…Was that the problem? Should I have just stayed quiet? But it was so frustrating!”

Despite her outburst, nothing magical happened to take her back to her world. Exhausted, she wiped a tear from her eye and headed to the bathroom. A cold splash of water to the face—classic but effective—might help her regain a sliver of composure.

As she shrugged off the heavy clothes clinging to her, something caught her eye.

“Oh, it’s real. It’s actually there. Should I be glad it’s smaller than I thought? …Guess Maeng Sodam really hated it—look at those scars over it.”

Just above the bend of her elbow, there it was: a small, circular mark branded into her arm. The crisscrossing knife scars above it added to the miserable effect. Looking at her forearm littered with jagged scars, she couldn’t help but think, ‘So it really isn’t the same body, huh.’ She was also bitter that these marks were of no use to her in this new life.

“Some people collect marks like badges and end up wooing the protagonist, and I’m stuck here with nothing but a nasty brand and knife wounds.”

Among Juyul’s harem, there was only one low-ranked, hardworking E-class supporting heroine named Han Daram. Her arm bore enough branded circles to create a rose pattern. After pushing herself to the limit and collapsing in front of Juyul, her story progressed to her becoming a full-blown heroine, and readers tended to find her endearing despite her troubles.

But if Sodam, with her F-class ranking, lack of talent, and mountain of debt, were thrown into that harem…

“Ugh, heroine? I’d be lucky if they don’t shout ‘Kill her before she becomes one.’”