Suppressing my immense discomfort, I reluctantly put a spoonful of porridge into my mouth.
Despite the steam rising from it, the porridge wasn’t all that hot.
It was moderately savory and thick, hitting my palate perfectly.
Even in this incredibly uncomfortable situation, the food went down much easier than expected.
Perhaps it was because my stomach had been empty for a considerable amount of time.
As I ate the porridge in a slight daze, I suddenly felt a gaze so intense it felt like it was drilling a hole straight through my face, prompting me to lift my head.
The moment our eyes met, I saw that the man’s pupils were as deep and pitch black as a black hole.
His glassy, shimmering gaze seemed to thoroughly scan every single inch of my body.
It felt exactly as if a snake were slithering across my bare skin.
‘…What is his actual deal?’
I couldn’t begin to fathom why on earth he was looking at me like that.
Continuing to receive such an excessively greedy and sinister gaze left me with an indescribable feeling.
It seemed I absolutely needed to find out the true identity of the man in front of me first.
“Um, excuse me.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
The moment I spoke, the man shifted his body closer as if he had been waiting for me to speak.
“I was just… wondering what I should call you…”
At my hesitant words, the man’s eyes curved perfectly into crescent shapes. He looked incredibly pleased.
“Yoon Seoho. Call me Seoho Hyung.”
“……Yoon Seoho?”
“Yeah, Yuan.”
‘This man is ‘the’ Yoon Seoho? The mental-type Esper with the absolutely rotten personality?’
I inhaled sharply, keeping my expression perfectly still.
Hearing that deeply familiar name, I could no longer deny reality.
I had truly been pulled into the very book I had read.
‘Someone please tell me this is a dream.’
For a brief second, the world felt like it was spinning into darkness, but I forced myself not to show a single hint of panic.
To think that I had transmigrated into an unknown character in a hopeless, miserable world with a guaranteed bad ending.
A sigh naturally threatened to escape my lips, and the corners of my mouth kept wanting to drop.
I stole a glance at Yoon Seoho, who still looked entirely pleased.
To think this guy was Yoon Seoho.
Among the four major Espers who appeared as central figures in ‘The World of Despair’, the one with the absolute worst personality was none other than Yoon Seoho.
It wasn’t as if he had suffered some tragic trauma during his birth or upbringing.
Although his parents had raised him under complete neglect, he had grown up in an incredibly wealthy environment without any particular hardships—yet Yoon Seoho was fundamentally defective.
Beyond simply being two-faced, he possessed zero respect for human life.
He thought lightly of everything and discarded things just as easily.
He used, abandoned, and disposed of human beings as if he were tossing away a cheap piece of paper.
The fact that he had established a religion and posed as a cult leader the moment he awakened as a mental Esper proved from the very beginning that he was completely out of his mind.
‘I think the book mentioned he created it out of pure boredom, just for fun.’
The actual purpose behind founding the cult was nothing grand.
He simply deluded people for his own amusement, and the moment he felt they were useless or getting in his way, he disposed of them without a second thought.
In other words, he committed murder casually.
I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since Yoon Seoho established his religion, but judging by the circumstances, I suspected we were still in the very early stages of the novel.
Transmigration typically occurs at the beginning of a story, and although the scenery outside looked bleak, the city infrastructure was still well-maintained.
Therefore, it didn’t seem like the world was on the immediate brink of total destruction just yet.
If I had transmigrated into the later half of the story, there was no way the city would look this intact.
“There’s still a little left, are you not going to eat more?”
“……Ah, yeah. I’m full now.”
I gave a nod at Yoon Seoho’s voice, which shattered my train of thought.
Although there was only a tiny bit of porridge left in the bowl, my appetite had vanished like a lie.
Finding myself trapped in the body of an unknown person with a dangerous novel character moving right in front of me, there was no way my appetite could survive.
“Then we’ll leave this here to be cleaned up automatically, and I’ll show you the layout of the house first.”
Naturally placing his hand back onto my shoulder, Yoon Seoho began to guide me around the residence.
The place was exceptionally spacious, and seeing that it spanned across two floors, it appeared to be a top-floor penthouse.
To own a penthouse at his age… as expected from the novel’s descriptions, Yoon Seoho was loaded with money.
Though, of course, it was likely his parents’ wealth.
Even while showing me around the house, Yoon Seoho never removed his hand from my shoulder.
His grip wasn’t painful, but it certainly didn’t feel pleasant either.
If only I knew his exact motive for approaching me, I would feel less unsettled, but the complete lack of answers kept my mind tightly tangled.
‘I need to know something to at least feel some relief.’
Whatever the reason for my entry into this book, the most critical task right now was determining my own position.
Exactly whose body had I transmigrated into?
Usually, the less important a character was, the more miserable their life turned out to be.
It would be a different story if the character had wealth or high status, but neither seemed to apply to me.
‘My luck is truly abysmal.’
It was glaringly obvious that I had transmigrated a beggar who didn’t possess a single cent to his name.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why I would be lying in a filthy alleyway in such a wretched, ailing state.
“This is the walk-in closet. Your clothes are hung up over on this side, so you can wear whatever you like.”
An entire row of clothes, all perfectly tailored to my size, was hanging along the clothing racks on one wall, though I had no idea when they had been prepared.
Yoon Seoho showed me expensive accessories and designer bags, endlessly chattering about how they all belonged to me.
I wondered if I should consider it a relief that he still seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
Watching his expressions closely, I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Um, there’s something I want to ask…”
“What is it?”
“Is my name really Yuan?”
“Yeah. Seo Yuan.”
The name ‘Seo Yuan’ was entirely unfamiliar to me from the novel.
While I hadn’t memorized every single sentence of the text, it was absolutely certain that no such character had ever been mentioned.
However, that didn’t mean I could blindly trust Yoon Seoho’s words either.
He could easily be lying to me with a hidden agenda.
