Chapter 181

Having interest but not possessing.

I let out a hollow laugh.

“Chairman.”

“What?”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something, but I’m a person. There’s nothing to possess or not possess.”

Shin Tae-beom snorted.

“Until now, I’ve never failed to possess anything, be it an object or a person. Do you think I can’t possess you just because you’re a person?”

Shin Tae-beom said such an absurd thing with remarkable confidence.

“You might have been lucky enough to get everything, Chairman, but I belong to myself. No one can possess me or not possess me.”

“What if I give you a million dollars?”

“I refuse.”

Money I couldn’t take with me was useless. To begin with, I didn’t like the amount of a million dollars. It’s only about 10 billion won. Some might say, “What’s 10 billion won?”, but considering the profits I’ve already made from the hair growth formula and what I’ll make in the future, it was ridiculously small.

“What if I make you an executive in our company?”

“I’m a hunter, you know?”

At my words implying I already had a job, Shin Tae-beom shouted.

“Aren’t you a hunter who can’t even enter dungeons?”

“Who says I can’t enter dungeons! I go to dungeons alone just fine!”

“Since when was A-rank a dungeon!”

Wow. Look at this old man. How can he talk like that about A-rank dungeons to a D-rank? Wait. How does this old man know I go to A-rank dungeons?

I looked at Shin Tae-beom with suspicious eyes.

“Old man. Did you investigate me?”

Shin Tae-beom was unashamed.

“Yes!”

“Why are you so proud? You know that’s illegal, right? You’ll get sued for that.”

“Hmph. As if I care about such a fine.”

I sighed as I watched Shin Tae-beom snort.

Then I cleared up his misunderstanding.

“Chairman. I don’t know why you have such a misunderstanding, but to Shin Sooha, I’m just a useful purification tool, not an object of interest.”

“Hmph. Are you completely oblivious?”

For a moment, I felt a surge of anger.

I’ve spent years as an orphan, always watching out for others’ reactions, and he says I’m oblivious?

Despite my frowning, Shin Tae-beom continued without concern.

“If you were simply a useful purification tool, Sooha wouldn’t have put in so much effort.”

“It’s not like he’s trying to seduce a woman, what effort are you talking about?”

“Seduce a woman! Why would our Sooha need to seduce women! They’d fall for him just by looking at his face!”

Seemingly forgetting how he was cursing earlier, Shin Tae-beom started bragging about his grandson, and I reminded him of the original topic.

“Look, listen. Old man. There’s not much connection between Shin Sooha and me to say he’s putting in effort.”

“What do you mean there’s not? Didn’t you meet at the Crystal Dungeon and the Forest Dungeon? I heard you met in front of Sunset Guild too, is that all lies?”

“That was when Shin Sooha didn’t know about purification, and after that, we haven’t met except during purifications. If you investigated, you should already know all this, right?”

Shin Tae-beom, looking displeased, pointed at my ear.

“Those earrings, Sooha gave them to you, didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And that necklace must be from Sooha too.”

Shin Tae-beom’s finger now pointed at my neck.

A single necklace glittering at the tip of his finger.

The necklace I was wearing was given to me by Shin Sooha a few days ago, without a word.

I wondered what it was since he didn’t say anything, but like the earrings, it was an item that increased stamina, so I quickly put it on.

“I… guess so?”

“The ring on your pinky finger. Isn’t that from Sooha too?”

I looked down at my finger.

The silver ring with a ruby-like jewel was put on by Shin Sooha in the car on the way to this house.

It was also an item that increased stamina.

Seeing me unable to answer, Shin Tae-beom raised one corner of his mouth.

“Are you still going to say he has no interest?”

“Old man. I understand what you’re misunderstanding, but this is because I’m D-rank… no, C-rank, and he’s worried I might struggle in the Cradle. It’s not what you’re misunderstanding. And if you love your grandson so much, don’t you know what kind of person Shin Sooha is? Do you think that person would have interest in another human?”

At my words, Shin Tae-beom, who had been repeatedly refuting, closed his mouth this time. He too knew well what kind of personality and mind his grandson had.

“Old man. You must have watched him closely since he’s your beloved grandson. Shin Sooha has no interest in anything other than conquering dungeons.”

I held out my hand with the ring in front of Shin Tae-beom.

“These things? From Shin Sooha’s perspective, they’re like pebbles on the roadside. Throwing a few pebbles and not causing trouble in the Cradle is a benefit from Shin Sooha’s perspective. He has absolutely no interest like you’re thinking.”

I talked big to the old man, but it was true that Shin Sooha had an interest in me.

More precisely, in my situation.

However, that interest would disappear once I returned to my world and the original Seo Go-woon returned to this body, so I had to cut it off cleanly to prevent Shin Tae-beom from misunderstanding.

“You. Do you know how much trouble Sooha went through to get those? Just that necklace has an auction price of over 2 billion won.”

I opened my eyes wide.

2 billion won?

I put it on because it increased stamina, but it only increased it by about 100, yet it’s 2 billion won?!

“The ring is even more. The price of that ring was 5 billion won.”

“Crazy.”

Suddenly, my neck and fingers felt heavy.

“Both of them were obtained by Sooha participating in auctions personally, despite his busy schedule. Do you still say he has no interest in you?”

What on earth was Shin Sooha thinking, giving me things worth billions? No matter how intriguing my existence is, this is a bit much.

“About you and Sooha. Perhaps…”

As Shin Tae-beom’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me, I felt a chill down my spine.

I hurriedly exclaimed,

“Whatever you’re imagining, that’s absolutely not it!”

“What?! What’s lacking in our Sooha that you’re rejecting him?!”

‘Rejecting?’

I tilted my head at Shin Tae-beom’s voice, but soon goosebumps spread all over my body.

Don’t tell me. He’s linking me and Shin Sooha in that way?! Has this old geezer really gone senile?!

“Are you crazy?!”

“Is it really not true?!”

“No! I swear on my job as a detective!!”

Even with my firm answer, his narrowed eyes didn’t return to normal, as if he couldn’t dispel his suspicions.

“Who’s a detective? Don’t you know impersonating a public official is a serious crime?”

I had forgotten that Chairman Shin Tae-beom didn’t know my true identity. Right now, I wasn’t Detective Kim Hae-ah, but Hunter Seo Go-woon.

“No, that’s! Ah… Anyway, it’s really true!”

“Even if what you say is true, isn’t it a fact that he’s interested? You won’t deny that much, will you?”

I bit my lip, then sighed.

‘I didn’t intend to increase the number of people who know my secret.’

If the situation had come to this, I had no choice but to confess everything.

“The interest is true, but it’s not the kind of interest you’re thinking of, it’s something else.”

“Something else?”

And so followed a brief explanation of the situation that had occurred until now.

After finishing the story as I had told others, Shin Tae-beom said,

“It doesn’t seem so.”

Old man. Have you lived your whole life being deceived? Why are you so suspicious?

“It’s really not. And I’m going to return, I tell you.”

As I pounded my chest in frustration, Shin Tae-beom relaxed his face and said,

“It’s hard to believe, but I’ll try to believe you just this once.”

“Don’t just try to believe, it’s really true!”

‘Of all things to be suspicious about, to suspect that. I really hate it.’

As I was rubbing my arms, getting goosebumps just imagining it, Shin Tae-beom asked,

“You said your real name is Kim Hae-ah, and your job is a detective, right?”

“Yes.”

“Your parents?”

I shrugged.

“I don’t know. I was abandoned by the seaside. That’s why I’m Hae-ah. Sea child, Kim Hae-ah.”

As it happened, on the day I was abandoned, a typhoon had broken all the nearby CCTVs, so it was impossible to know who had left me, I said.

“Still, you’ve grown up well. Do you have many friends?”

“No. My life was too busy to make friends.”

“Then why do you want to go back?”

I tilted my head.

“What?”

“According to what you’ve said, this Kim Hae-ah is a lonely person with no family or friends. But here, don’t you have family and friends?”

“Well… that’s because they’re not mine.”

Right now, I was Seo Go-woon.

Taeju, who knew I was Kim Hae-ah, called me hyung in urgent situations, and people called me Seo Go-woon.

So all of this belonged to Seo Go-woon, not me.

“And I had someone I respected, so I wasn’t that lonely.”

Thinking of that person, a smile unconsciously formed on my lips.

That person was the only one in my life who treated me the same as others when everyone else pitied and distrusted me.

“Hmm.”

Shin Tae-beom stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Thinking the questions were over, I looked back at Haegeum.

Haegeum, playing with the shark, looked truly happy.

‘Should I leave Haegeum here?’

No matter how big the aquarium in my room would be, it wouldn’t be bigger than this aquarium.

Since we had to stay here and prepare until we left for the Cradle anyway, it didn’t seem bad to put him in the aquarium.

I thought I should ask Haegeum when he came out, when Shin Tae-beom, who had been thinking for a while, said,

“I have a question.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

Maybe because he ran a global company, this old man was quite curious about many things.

“If your soul possessed Seo Go-woon, where is the original Seo Go-woon’s soul?”

“By my guess, I think she died. That’s why Taeju plans to ask for Seo Go-woon back with the Wish Orb in the Cradle after I return.”

“Isn’t that strange?”

Shin Tae-beom crossed his arms and legs as he looked at me.

“According to what you say, your soul entered the empty body after Seo Go-woon’s soul left.”

“That’s… right?”

Not understanding what was strange about it, I tilted my head, and Shin Tae-beom made an exasperated expression.

“If a new soul entered a body that became empty without a soul, doesn’t that mean your original body now has no soul?”

“Huh?”

I looked at Shin Tae-beom with a dumbfounded face. At some point, Shin Tae-beom had taken on a serious expression.

“Your… no, Kim Hae-ah’s body, is it really alive?”

***

Without even saying goodbye to Shin Tae-beom, I rushed out of the room.

Then I grabbed one of the passing people and asked,

“Where is Shin Sooha’s room?”

“It’s the room at the far right on the third floor.”

As soon as I heard the answer, I ran to the indicated room.

When creating Myeong-ah, after composing the body, I used a skill called soul injection to insert the soul.

That meant a soul was essential in composing a person.

But my soul was now inside Seo Go-woon’s body.

That meant my body was in an empty state without a soul.

Maybe God had put Seo Go-woon’s soul in my place, but that was problematic in its own way.

‘If the delinquent Seo Go-woon causes trouble with my body.’

Feeling dizzy at the thought, I shook it off and flung open the door the employee had pointed out.

“Shin Sooha!”

“Go-woon?”

Shin Sooha was wearing glasses and holding documents, apparently working on the sofa.

I ran to Shin Sooha and grabbed his hands.

“You can contact the Saint, right? How can I contact her? I need to talk to the Saint. Right now!”

Putting down his documents at my urgent cries, Shin Sooha said,

“I’m sorry, but the Saint is currently unreachable.”

“What?”

The Saint can’t be contacted?

“The Saint has entered a silent prayer to prepare for going to the Cradle, and will be living in the prayer room for a week without meeting anyone.”

I collapsed right there.

Only God and the Saint could answer me.

But I could only meet God through the Saint, and the Saint was in a state where she couldn’t be met due to silent prayer.

“This is driving me crazy.”

“What’s the matter?”

At Shin Sooha’s question, I said with a desperate face,

“My body.”

“Body?”

“You see.”

Suddenly, tears welled up in my eyes.

I rarely cried except when I was really sick.

Crying is something you do when there’s someone to comfort you, but for me who had nothing, crying was just a waste that drained my energy without any benefit.

But right now, I just wanted to cry my eyes out.

Seeing my tears, Shin Sooha raised me up and sat me on the sofa where he had been sitting, then put a cup of warm tea in my hands.

“What happened?”

I told him what Shin Tae-beom had said and my thoughts, with tears falling.

“That could be possible.”

“What if that delinquent bastard ruins my life? How did I become a detective? I became a detective by not sleeping when I should have, not eating when I should have, and if that bastard ruins it all.”

Except for the first time, I had never regretted being possessed as Seo Go-woon.

But now I regretted it.

Of all people, it had to be Seo Go-woon, so I had to worry even about the life I would return to.

‘Damn it. God, you bastard. I’ll really get you when I meet you.’

As I was grinding my teeth towards the God who had possessed me, Shin Sooha said,

“Do you have to go back?”