Chapter 25 : Chapter 25

You didn't report it to the chairwoman?

So, are you saying that the chairwoman doesn't know about my strange behavior over the past two days?

…Why?

Well, I mean, it's good for me if you didn't report it to the chairwoman.

I don't want to live my life in this body as if I'm locked up in a prison, unable to do anything.

That's why I purposely sneaked out and wandered around like this.

But that doesn't mean I wasn't prepared for the consequences.

I thought I'd have to face the chairwoman at some point, anyway.

I don't know what kind of character Yang Hye-in was in the original story.

Since there was no reason for her to appear unless it was in Ye Sara's route, it's not strange that I didn't see her before.

Even if she appeared, I don't know if there was a CG or if her name was even properly mentioned.

"Why is that?"

When I asked again, Yang Hye-in, who had been frozen, finally looked at me.

"..."

However, she still had a look of uncertainty, not knowing how to answer.

"I just… I just thought that was what I should do."

Yang Hye-in's response was surprising in many ways.

Up until now, she had been a maid who rarely showed emotions, the kind you often see in subcultures—cold and emotionless.

If Ye Sara's route was about rescuing a lady trapped in a cage, this maid would have been the first obstacle.

Ah, well, of course, I did sense that Yang Hye-in was somewhat worried about Ye Sara in her own way.

Whenever I said something absurd, she would look at me with concern in her eyes…

And when I first came into this body, she even went out of her way to cool down the food before feeding it to me.

And she did it naturally, as if she had done it many times before.

But I had thought that was just professionalism, not personal emotion.

Maybe there was a clause in her contract that Ye Sara's health had to be maintained at a minimum.

"So, are you saying you didn't report it because you felt like you 'just' shouldn't?"

When I asked, Yang Hye-in nodded.

There's no such thing as doing something 'just because'.

'Just because' is something people say when they've done something and don't really know why themselves, or when they don't want to tell the other person the real reason.

If you dig deeper, there's always a real reason hidden beneath that 'just because'.

Of course, until the other person tells you the real reason, 'just because' remains just that.

It's an absurd excuse, but it's one they're using to hide something awkward.

Even if I asked more here, it'd be hard to get an answer.

How did Ye Sara view Yang Hye-in?

If this were a typical possession novel and Ye Sara's memories flowed into me, things would be much easier right now.

It's a huge problem that I don't know what Yang Hye-in has done for Ye Sara over the past few years.

Although this problem won't explode immediately, the cracks will grow wider with time.

Since I'm not Ye Sara, I can't act or think the same way she did before.

No matter how hard I try.

Yang Hye-in wouldn't ask me why such a change happened, and I'm not close enough with Yoon Da-ho to exchange such concerns.

The kids I talk to at school formed relationships after entering, so there's no need to put on an act with them.

The real problem is the chairwoman.

The person presumed to have driven Ye Sara to this point…

I can't figure out the reason, but that person has been watching Ye Sara since she was very young.

She must be very sensitive to any changes in Ye Sara.

Especially since she's someone she managed so meticulously.

"But, Miss…"

While I was lost in thought, Yang Hye-in spoke.

A very faint, worried expression appeared on her face, though I couldn't tell if it was real or not.

"Even if I didn't report it, the chairwoman has many ways to find out what happened to you."

"…I suppose."

"And if she finds out about your recent behavior, she'll definitely take action."

"Wh…"

I almost asked what kind of action but quickly shut my mouth.

This was probably something Ye Sara already knew.

It's likely related to why she had to spend her middle school years in isolation.

And, honestly, it wasn't hard to guess.

We're talking about the chairwoman of a company with an absurd market cap of 360 trillion won.

The fact that she took over after Ye Sara's father, the former chairman, passed away means she's running the company as a family business without any major issues.

Of course, market cap is just the company's assets, and the chairwoman's personal wealth would be much smaller.

But considering that Ye Sara owns 5.7% of the company, it wouldn't be strange to think chairwoman Choi Na-kyung has a similar or even greater fortune.

…Hundreds of trillions of won is enough to persuade people to commit evil deeds.

…And it's more than enough to bury someone in society.

"I know."

Realizing that much, I quietly answered.

"When will the chairwoman visit again?"

At my question, Yang Hye-in blinked, somewhat flustered.

It wasn't a face you'd usually see on her sharp features.

This must be one of those 'things Ye Sara should've already known'.

But being the professional maid she was, Yang Hye-in quickly erased her expression and politely bowed her head slightly.

"The chairwoman visits the estate quarterly. Her next visit is on April 1st."

*

Good.

While I didn't get all the information, I did gain some certainty.

First, Ye Sara's isolation is because of Choi Na-kyung, the chairwoman of the Eugene Group.

It's probably because of her wealth.

To isolate Ye Sara, she likely did something terrible to the people around her, bribed them, or both.

In other words, Choi Na-kyung is probably a completely insane person.

She's been doing this crazy thing since Ye Sara was very young, just to torment one child.

Second, the chairwoman visits this estate once every quarter.

I don't know why.

Why would someone come here after ruining Ye Sara's personal relationships?

…Maybe she comes here to abuse her on purpose.

I arrived in this world on the night of January 1st.

If we assume Ye Sara met the chairwoman during the day, the bruises on her back would make sense.

She cuts her off from the world, visits regularly, and physically torments her to break her spirit.

It's probably something like that.

I can somewhat understand why the police left when they visited the hospital for domestic abuse.

If the assailant was the chairwoman of Eugene Group, it's not just a scandal but a weapon for her competitors.

The company's market cap is enormous.

Domestic companies don't even compare.

From the chairwoman's perspective, her competitors aren't even other companies, but the factions within her group fighting for control.

…Wait.

Then, was there no option to not go to the hospital in the first place?

If the chairwoman abused Ye Sara so severely and wanted to hide it, it would've made more sense to keep her locked up in the mansion.

In fact, I didn't have any major issues other than the bruises at that time.

If her health was in danger, wouldn't it have been better to call a doctor to the mansion and pay them handsomely?

...

I'll put this matter on hold.

I'll decide after gathering more information.

Anyway, I know for sure that the chairwoman's next visit is on April 1st, so I can see this as a sort of time limit.

If the chairwoman notices my existence, the time may be shortened even further.

And before that happens, I need to set up a minimum defense so she can't sever my relationships and isolate me from the world again.

This is the conclusion I've come to based on the information I got from Yang Hye-in.

So, what should I do now?

I have a few ideas, but they're still a bit vague.

I'll think about it more and refine them as I go.

What I need most urgently right now is Ye Sara's memories.

I could ask Yang Hye-in.

But the more I ask, the more suspicious she'll become.

She might not think someone else has entered this body, but she could easily suspect something like memory loss or a mental illness.

If she ends up reporting this to the chairwoman, I might be locked away before I can do anything.

So, I need to gather as much information as I can without asking others.

At the very least, the people around me need to think of me as a 'changed Ye Sara'.

"..."

With that in mind, I took out two of Ye Sara's most personal items that I had hidden deep in the drawer.

One was Ye Sara's delusion notebook, and the other was an unopened letter addressed to the chairwoman.

I hesitated for a while after laying them out on the bed, then sighed heavily and picked up the notebook first.

I felt guilty about it.

No one would want to show their delusion-filled teenage notebook to someone else.

But… considering the situation, it seems unlikely that Ye Sara will return to this body.

And besides, I need to survive first.

I steeled myself and opened Ye Sara's delusion notebook.

*

....

And soon after, I began to regret reading it.

It wasn't because the content of the delusions was mentally exhausting.

Rather, it was because I felt guilty about what I had initially thought.

I had dismissed it as a simple notebook filled with the careless scribbles of an immature teenager.

Well, to be fair, the first few pages were exactly that.

But Ye Sara hadn't just left those delusions as mere fantasies.

She wrote sentences, crossed them out, rewrote them, and polished them to ensure they didn't sound awkward or too childish.

She added descriptions of the characters' actions and appearances between the lines of dialogue.

And she refined those descriptions repeatedly to improve the quality.

The brief snippets of dialogue on the early pages turned into full scenes later on.

Then, those scenes turned into a storyline, and that storyline became the foundation for a plot, with the characters being rebuilt from scratch.

As I flipped through the thick notebook, I saw the same content rewritten multiple times.

Each rewrite strengthened the weak points of the story and sharpened the characters' portrayals.

By the time I reached the end of the notebook, there was a completed short story.

So, this wasn't just a delusion notebook.

It was a notebook filled with all the plans for a novel that Ye Sara had carefully crafted.

She had taken this seriously.

It was about a princess trapped in a castle, who one day is saved by a vampire.

…Honestly, I couldn't tell if it was well-written or not.

While I did enjoy novels, I wasn't knowledgeable enough to critique someone else's work.

But it was definitely an intriguing story.

Despite the ridiculous premise, both the princess and the vampire had their own backstories, and their actions had motivations.

Did Ye Sara write this as just a hobby?

Did she write it out of boredom, to pass the time?

I glanced at the bookshelf, sparsely filled with books.

Most of them were world literature series from various publishers.

They weren't from one uniform collection.

It seemed like Ye Sara had picked them up whenever she felt like it.

Did those books influence this story?

Was the princess in the story a character she had based on herself?

There was nothing directly written about Ye Sara's personal thoughts in the notebook.

It contained only the contents of her unnamed novel.

However…

"I didn't want to give up."

The princess says this to the vampire at the end, as they leave the castle together.

For some reason, I felt that this was what Ye Sara wanted to say.

"..."

I closed the notebook.

And this time, I picked up the envelope labeled "To Mother".

After hesitating again for a moment, I sighed softly and opened the envelope.

Then, I pulled out the letter inside and began to read its contents.