The Rat in the House

“Um, Young Master.”

I had allowed Secretary Choi to visit under the pretext of checking the villa’s security system. However, seeing him lingering nearby made it impossible to shake the feeling that the security check was just a convenient excuse.

“When are you leaving?”

“Pardon?”

“It seems you’ve finished the security system inspection.”

To put it plainly: Why are you still hanging around?

If there was one good thing about becoming Baek Seohan, it was that I didn’t have to cater to annoying people. It was a stark contrast to my past life, where I bowed my head and said “Yes, yes” no matter how much of a b*stard my boss was.

Seohan, feeling uncomfortable with Secretary Choi’s presence, showed his distaste without filter. Though the secretary seemed momentarily flustered and hesitated, he still managed to say what he came for.

“About that… recently.”

Letting out a silent sigh, Seohan turned back to him. It was a silent pressure to speak up quickly if he had something to say.

“The eldest Young Master is very worried. He mentioned that your personal leisure activities have decreased significantly.”

A blatant gaze searched for Seohan’s intentions. Several unfamiliar terms popped up: the “Eldest Young Master” I’d never heard of, and “personal leisure activities.” At this point, the system should be stepping in. Seohan subtly cast his gaze downward.

[Info | ‘Baek Seohan’ usually enjoyed XXing and XXXing through XX…]

‘Please, just summarize it.’

[Editing =͟͟͞͞(•̀ω•́ ‧̣̥̇)…….] [Info | ‘Baek Seohan’ used to enjoy a promiscuous leisure life. (-｡-;)]

I reached two conclusions from that one piece of info. First, Secretary Choi didn’t have a shred of goodwill toward Baek Seohan’s well-being. Second, the same applied to the “Eldest Young Master” guy.

And in all likelihood… the two were in league.

Since possessing this body, I hadn’t paid much attention to family relations. Given Baek Seohan’s original personality, I figured getting along with family was a lost cause anyway, not to mention no one had contacted me until now. So, I just lived my life forgetting they existed.

Actually, a tight-knit family would have been more uncomfortable. After all, I had essentially stolen Baek Seohan’s body. Whether by luck or misfortune, the fact that the eldest brother was commenting on my “leisure activities” suggested their sibling bond was already in ruins.

Staring flatly at Secretary Choi, Seohan uttered just one sentence.

“I’ll consider it.”

“Young Master…”

“At this rate, people might think this is your leisure life, Secretary Choi, not mine.”

Judging by the way he shut his mouth, he seemed to catch the subtext to shut up. Seohan ignored him and walked straight ahead.

Even though I had only washed up and applied sunscreen, Baek Seohan’s skin was glowing. Thanks to that, just throwing on a light coat and pulling down a cap created quite an aura. It made me realize the saying “the clothes don’t make the man, the man makes the clothes” wasn’t for nothing.

“Y-Young Master?”

“You’re still here?”

Why on earth was this guy loitering in someone else’s house?

Irritation must have been visible in my eyes, as his face noticeably flinched. Yet, he stubbornly followed behind Seohan. A voice full of hesitation caught him.

“Young Master, where exactly are you…”

“I’m going to enjoy the leisure life your secretary-ship wished for so much.”

“Pardon? Oh, then.”

“Secretary Choi.”

Seohan, who hadn’t stopped walking while speaking, came to a dead halt. His gaze turned slowly to stare directly at him. His eyes, looking quite irritable, glistened.

“Is there a reason I have to report every place I go to you, Secretary?”

“…No. I-I’m sorry.”

“Get out of my house.”

Right now.

Eventually, after checking my mood, he scurried away. Seohan was only able to relax once he confirmed through the window that the man had left the premises.

‘Disgusting.’

Anyone could see the question wasn’t asked with pure intentions. As long as Secretary Choi seemed to have a connection with the ‘older brother’ who was clearly on bad terms with ‘Baek Seohan,’ it was obvious that telling him even the smallest detail was unwise.

I should keep Secretary Choi at a distance for the time being. With that thought, Seohan changed the password to the front door.

A while ago, while looking for volunteer work on my phone, Seohan had found a decent place. It was an activity caring for children for about three hours at an orphanage not too far away.

Seohan, who happened to like children, applied immediately. If I’m going to do it, I might as well do something I enjoy. After applying, today was the first day.

His steps forward were light. Even from the outside, it was clear he was in a good mood.

But that was as far as it went.

[WARNING! WARNING (ﾉ;≡ω≡)ﾉ!]

The blue system window popped up unbidden, blocking his view. The text was bolder than usual, as if emphasizing the warning.

‘What now?’

Seohan’s expression turned strange at the sight of a window he’d never seen before. What exactly was I supposed to be wary of? As if reading that thought, the word ‘WARNING’ vanished, and another sentence was rapidly written out.

[A hostile force is tailing you! －(゜Д゜;)-ン!]

“…….”

Seohan shut his mouth tight.

‘Hostile force? Really?’

It wasn’t a game. This system was a hybrid no matter how you looked at it.

Of course, that wasn’t the word to focus on, so Seohan quickly organized his thoughts. His gaze naturally gravitated toward the word ‘tailing.’

Was it a coincidence that Secretary Choi and Baek Seohan’s brother immediately came to mind?

[System updating…….] [Complete!] [Activating Mini-map.]

Despite not making any requests, the system proceeded with the update on its own. It had been so long since it was this helpful that it felt oddly foreign.

[System R’s feelings are hurt by the User’s comment… (›´-`‹ ).]

Seohan cleanly ignored the system’s remark. Pressing a glowing part of the window, a mini-map similar to those seen in games appeared at the bottom of his vision. There, he saw one green circle and three red circles.

‘Obviously…’

The red circles were the bad guys.

I didn’t know why they were tailing me, but it certainly wasn’t with good intentions, and Seohan lacked the ability to overpower them. In other words, using the mini-map to lose them was the best course of action for now.

‘Let’s head for the main road first.’

On the mini-map, there were also gray circles scattered among the green and red. Since they seemed to represent passing pedestrians, I had to head toward a large road with many gray circles to lose the tail.

Having found his direction, Seohan moved without hesitation. He ducked into a side alley and immediately came out onto a main street. After merging into the crowd, he checked the mini-map again.

The red circles were still following, but the distance had increased compared to before. Occasionally, they fumbled around after bumping into gray circles.

There was no way those chasing him with nothing but their bodies could compare to Seohan, who possessed a state-of-the-art mini-map showing the opponent’s location. After successfully losing the three of them in a few minutes, Seohan wore a proud smile.

He praised himself, thinking it wasn’t a bad performance for someone who had never been in a chase before.

[Info | ‘Baek Jaehyun’ often hired people to tail ‘Baek Seohan’ c( ‘o’)っ!]

As if handing over a reward for the successful escape, the system tossed him a piece of info. Seohan looked at it with narrowed eyes.

“……What a mess.”

From what Seohan knew, Baek Seohan’s older brother, ‘Baek Jaehyun,’ was the eldest son of the Baek family who managed the overall operations of the ‘Baekyoung Group.’ A quick internet search easily revealed that ‘Baek Seohan’ had stepped back from the front lines of corporate management.

There hadn’t been much noise regarding Baek Jaehyun taking over the company after the chairman’s death. However, despite already holding full power over the corporation, he still kept Baek Seohan in check.

Setting aside the unknown reasons, an older brother who tells his younger sibling, who already enjoys a promiscuous lifestyle, to “enjoy your leisure life more,” couldn’t possibly be normal.

[Mini-map trial version has ended!] [The next activation requires 0.5% Synchronization Rate (-ω-ゞ!)!]

Hey, you crook.

At the system’s blatant demand for synchronization rate, Seohan looked down at it with a dumbfounded face. In a situation where I hadn’t even gathered 15%, asking for 0.5% every time it’s activated—isn’t that like squeezing blood from a stone?

[The System has to make a living too ｡｡(ﾉ´д)ﾉ]

With that final remark, the system vanished as if fleeing. He tried calling out quietly several times, but there was no response.

‘Did it seriously just bail?’