The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me - Chapter 151
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 151
It had been a really tough day.
As soon as my salary came in, it went straight to my mother’s surgery expenses, and I had a terrible fight with a junior colleague I knew well.
This time it was worse. I had spent all my money on my mother’s surgery, leaving me without even enough for this month’s rent.
‘Why did we fight again?’
The fact that I couldn’t even remember suggested it wasn’t anything too serious.
We often fought because our personalities didn’t match…
‘Obviously it was my fault again.’
Especially this time, I had been on edge from not sleeping properly for days.
It was probably my fault for being overly sensitive to what others said.
【Senior…】
I remembered that voice calling out to me so sadly.
‘I should apologize tomorrow.’
I hadn’t slept properly for days.
With my head in this state, I would surely make another mistake if I tried to do anything.
I should sleep first and deal with it after waking up…
That’s how I fell asleep. That was the end.
It was my last memory from Korea.
* * *
I had wondered how low rock bottom could be in life, but I never wanted to find out this way.
“My daughter, are you awake?”
I never dreamed I would be transported into a novel.
And into the body of a 10-year-old girl from a novel I didn’t even know existed.
I remembered it even though it was a novel I had read long ago because the title kept circling in my mind.
I think… when I was transported here, Roji wasn’t expelled from her body. Though I couldn’t think about such things at the time.
I was just dropped in this secluded place, feeling strange and afraid of the woman who called me her daughter.
It took considerable time before I could think rationally.
Whenever I acted strangely, the mother of this body’s owner was always by my side.
She always looked after her daughter with worry, trying her best to communicate somehow.
The woman’s efforts made me uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to accept them to adapt to this place.
It was only after a week of living with the woman that I learned her name.
I heard someone call her Selline.
Though my heart felt heavy and uncomfortable, I naturally acted like Selline’s daughter.
Selline couldn’t immediately tell that I wasn’t her real daughter and was just happy thinking her daughter had gotten better.
At that moment, I felt a strange emotion.
Rationally, it was right to act like ‘Roji,’ but something seemed to be going wrong.
It was probably a trace of guilt toward Selline.
All her emotions were directed toward her real daughter, after all.
Selline always sacrificed for me.
Roji’s house was poor – we only had two meals a day. Even those were watery soup and bread as hard as rocks.
The ridiculous thing was that Selline always gave even this food to me.
“Mama already ate and is full.”
The woman tried to reassure me with a gentle smile.
Of course, being only 10 years old in body, I couldn’t possibly fall for such a pathetic lie.
The house was always struggling with poverty.
I thought I was poor in Korea too… but this life, incomparably worse than the food, clothing, and shelter I enjoyed in Korea, brought me small bouts of depression.
But I didn’t show it.
“Mama will buy you something better for your next birthday.”
Watching the woman’s futile efforts for someone who wasn’t even her daughter, complaining was a luxury.
“I’m fine, Mama.”
“Mama loves you.”
“…”
Days when I received the woman’s infinite love were especially uncomfortable.
* * *
When a year passed, my situation didn’t improve but got worse. I was becoming increasingly anxious.
I had gotten somewhat used to poverty, but mentally I was cornered.
I believed the pain would dull with time. Reality wasn’t like that, and whenever that happened, I thought of things from Korea.
Was my mother lying in the hospital room okay?
I needed to pay for surgery, but being stuck here, I had no way to do anything about it, which was overwhelming.
Thinking about my mother naturally brought back memories of my last moments in Korea.
【Senior, you’re selfish.】
【Why don’t you understand my feelings?】
The voice of the junior colleague I fought with before parting also lingered.
‘Get it together. Crying won’t solve anything.’
Selline’s hands had calluses from hard work.
The woman had beautiful features, but her hands were the opposite of her appearance. Rough and coarse hands.
With those hands, she would touch me before leaving for work, returning late at night.
During that time, I went to the library to read books.
I mainly looked for books that could solve the unfortunate situation that had befallen me.
However, I couldn’t find a single book that could explain this situation.
I only kept realizing how bleak the situation was, sinking into depression.
“Look over there! The beggar kid is passing by!”
To make matters worse, Roji was bullied by the village children.
“Doesn’t it smell like something around here?”
“Yeah, where’s that beggar smell coming from?”
And the bullying that Roji had endured continued for me, who had possessed this body.
The children picked fights with me and tried their best to tear down my dignity.
If my reaction wasn’t satisfactory, violence followed.
Going outside required considerable preparation as violence was a daily occurrence.
I never once told Selline about this.
Even if I told her, she would just get upset without having the ability to solve it.
Most importantly, these children’s parents were the ones who pitied Selline and gave her various charity.
So I judged it was better not to provoke them as much as possible.
It was a cold judgment, but I wasn’t always rational.
Even if the opponents were young children, enduring verbal abuse and violence was an overwhelmingly difficult task.
I just tried to resign myself and silently endured this situation.
Of course, sometimes when I felt I couldn’t bear it anymore, I tried to resist.
“Let go of this! Stop it!”
I gave it my all, but the difference in strength was heartbreaking.
The more I did that, the more the kids who looked down on me trampled me.
“What are you guys doing right now!”
If a passing child hadn’t saved me that day, I might have been beaten to death.
That child fearlessly jumped into the situation and bravely drove away the kids who were beating me mercilessly.
Dark brown hair and red eyes.
The boy with distinct features opened his mouth worriedly after driving the children away.
“…Are you okay?”
The child extended his hand to me as if telling me to get up quickly.
“I’m called Dillen.”
I thought then that I would probably never forget this moment.
Indeed, even as I grew up, I thought about that moment over and over again.
It was a small memory that only I cherished, one that Dillen didn’t know about.
How could I forget the boy who gently brushed the dirt off my clothes.
* * *
After that, I often came to see Dillen.
Just as I recognized him, Dillen recognized me too.
When he spotted me, he would sometimes approach me first to talk, and sometimes save me from being bullied by other children.
From his clothing, he seemed like a child from a noble family, but I couldn’t understand why he appeared in this insignificant village without even a single guard.
I came to have frequent conversations with him.
“My mother is very sick. So I’m going to pray for her to get better.”
That was the reason Dillen appeared in this village.
He was passing through this village to head to the temple away from the manor.
“Father hates it when I pray. He says it’s shameful for the eldest son of the family to show weakness. That’s why I have to go secretly like this.”
“How admirable.”
“I’m admirable?”
It wasn’t even words that could be called praise, but Dillen was as happy as a child who had received great praise.
That sight was really strange.
“Hey. Do you want to come pray with me?”
Then Dillen unexpectedly made a suggestion to me.
“With you?”
“Yeah. With me.”
I was planning to go to the library today though.
“They give delicious food at the temple too.”
Dillen was young but smart. He even knew how to tempt people.
“Alright, let’s go.”
If I hadn’t followed Dillen that time, I wouldn’t have heard ‘that voice.’
At the temple I followed Dillen to without expectations, just to get bread, I heard something I shouldn’t have heard.
【You’re my senior, right?】
It was a miraculous moment I encountered for the first time since coming to This Place.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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