Chapter 3: All for Money

I woke up in the bathtub.

“Huh.”

I shrieked. I flew into the blanket without wiping off the water. The electric pad had kept the blanket warm.

My stomach rumbled with hunger. What was the last time I ate? Maybe in the future.

‘I think I should go buy something to eat .’

But for now I wrapped myself in the blanket, and thought of the future.

My course of action was set.

I would live quietly so no one could notice my return. With this policy as Article 1, Paragraph 1, I would be prepared for all situations.

However, if I lived the same way as I did in the past, I would have to live a failed life again.

Therefore, it must become ‘Survive and succeed.’

And to change the future.

-‘Every single string of events are key.’

I had to get a good bank balance.

What you need most for this? Money.

-“Poverty is enough in a previous life.”

‘Finding romance’ only starts when you do not have to worry about being hungry and earning a living. Both love and happiness may need money.

‘First, let’s do it for that purpose.’

I organized my future plans step by step. Then…

-Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

***

The sound of an ordinary doorbell felt like thunder to me.

At the moment I was trying to wrap my head around the unbelievable idea of a past-life regression, I wasn’t ready to take on anything else..

I stared at the calendar.

March 23rd.

What happened on this day? However, no matter how much I thought about it, there was no memory that came to mind.

‘Because I came as a bonus, an accidental regressor.’

That was it. This day is meaningless to me but it must mean something to Taejin.

If so, the person outside ringing the doorbell can be someone who has nothing to do with this situation.

I couldn’t do anything about it… but…

‘What if…’

What if there is a devil outside, yelling at me since I came to the past without even signing a contract?

Would there even be an exorcist that can help me if such a day were to come?

All of my thoughts are riddled with my anxiety.

‘It could be the leaders of that sexual cult.’

I don’t know, but it was definitely one of the records in the diary. In three months, he has to kill three owners of Seonghyun.

‘It’s rotten. Come to think of it, if I can’t find them, I’m done too.’

My thoughts started spiralling down, making leaps and bounds on assumptions alone. The threads of fate seemed to be twisting and tangling despite my efforts. Along with that, the doorbell sounded like a devil’s laughter, and the door itself felt terrifying.

It was then.

“Ooh!”

I’d clenched my hands so tightly that the cut started to hurt again. I finally came to my senses, feeling the barely bleeding hand and the pain.

I’m afraid and foolish. I don’t know what to do.

I deliberately grabbed my hand more. The subtle pain steeled my heart.

‘This is not something to avoid.’

I got up with a blanket wrapped around me like a newborn.

I looked ridiculous…

I couldn’t solve this by hiding inside the house. I needed to think rationally.

If the person at the door was something supernatural like a demon or a ghoul, would it have rang the doorbell for such a long time? Wouldn’t it literally come in like a ghost and talk to you?

Let’s make a hundred concessions and say that it’s actually the Devil that is politely ringing the doorbell.

What can I do?

Would I stay hiding in fear like this my whole life?

If it was something supernatural, as a simple human, I had no way of dealing with it. I was suffering and worrying unnecessarily over something that could not be resolved.

Now is the time to humbly accept the impossible and focus on what is possible.

I took a deep breath and put on the clothes I had taken off earlier. I wore a white cotton T-shirt over gray cotton pants that I wore as pajamas; then wrapped my hands with tissue paper to hide the blood stain.

I looked at the clock. It is 7:14 am now.

To relax, I tried to think of a rather futile idea.

-‘You’re very diligent, aren’t you?’

Isn’t this a very hardworking devil? Is there a system that ranks the demons by evaluating them with sincerity?

If I call for an evaluation later, I should give it a high score as ‘Very satisfied.’

And I proudly called to the one who was still pressing on the doorbell.

“Who are you!?”

Whatever creature you may be, I will not avoid you. I will greet you by opening the door with my own hands. I made up my mind and will follow through with it.

“It’s youraunt. How are you?”

“…. I am…errr.. this….”

I had no choice but to laugh at the let down. Isn’t it so ridiculous that I was afraid, thinking that it was some supernatural entity?

As the tension I had built up faded, my hardened thoughts were relieved.

‘Alas. I did, I did.’

Okay. Now I remember. The aunt who worked hard and rented her home for a living. Perhaps this was the time in my life when I saw my relatives the most often.

After my parents died, I received a lot of attention and love at this time.

Unfortunately… That’s not quite right . They were interested in a friend who was more capable than me.

***

‘I mean money.’

The amount was quite large.

My parents died in a car accident.

They died in a head-on collision caused by someone going in the opposite direction crossing over the median..

-‘What happened to the other driver that crashed into them?’

Unlike my parents who died after the accident, the other driver was alive, and conclusive evidence for who was at fault came from him.

That is his blood alcohol level of 0.136%.

It was a fatal traffic accident when a vehicle was hit while waiting at the traffic light.

However, it did not mean that the other party was uninsured or the household was difficult and ruined.

Fortunately, they also had plenty of insurance, and they were quite well off..

In addition to 100% of the negligence, my parents ran a small convenience store, so they signed up for business insurance as well as life insurance.

I had other basic insurances, and I was the beneficiary of all of this.

‘I remember.’

Somehow, between the ideas of having foresight dreams and past regressions, the regression seemed more likely.

How was I at this time?

I was a naive boy, who had just lost his parents, struggled with loneliness, and had a lot of money.

‘Even if I think about it, I was a colossalidiot.’

I laughed like that and opened the locked door. Then I saw my aunt dressed neatly. Looking at that face, I even recalled more things about her, like that she was running a small DVD kiosk.

“I came here knowing I was going to find you like this, boy.”

She said as she walked in, she had brought side dishes.

“The more I feel like this, the more I have to be energized. What if I am late for school ?”

They came inside and immediately started cleaning up.They even cleaned up the blankets with trash.

“Now, cheer up.”

My aunt tapped me firmly on my shoulder and cheered me up. With such comfort, I bit my lips.

Isn’t this a relative who borrowed money and then disappeared?

“It’s still hard, but don’t forget that you’re not always alone. Understand?”

A voice that screams softly.

How could she have spoken so well? How could I have guessed that a person like that would take advantage and turn her back later? They were the ones who perfectly comforted me and disappeared when their motives were fulfilled.

I remembered that in the past, I trusted them only because they were family. They visited and helped me every day when I was lonely.

‘Funny things.’

I shake my shoulders and lower my head even further.

All that. It was insanely fun to think of the ways all of the relatives would come to me.

How bothered was she, with visiting me each and every morning.

After receiving such dedication and attention, I had been helping them and my other relatives a lot because we were ‘family’.

Loan interest of tens of millions of won, deposit of tens of millions of won, hospital expenses of several million won, and so on.

How would you, as a family, reject their pleading requests, armed with stories of being in dire straits? What’s more, do I use my family members?

How do you do that to your family?

In their words, ‘Are we Strangers?’ Unfortunately, the precious money I received, from the death of my parents, I gave away to them.

In fact, it was a situation where billions of won were piled up; I really couldn’t fathom what having that much money meant, or what life would be like without it.

Moreover, a small part of me that wished they could fill the empty spaces of parents, also played a part.

And the result is that my life ended up in failure.

‘Because of her greed,my wife cheated on me, and I was in a position to live with a constant debt attached to my name.’

I wasted a lot of time in high school and college with my poorly accumulated money, and I made my studies the last priority. In the end, I graduated with very low grades.

Afterwards, even the accumulated money was given to relatives. Only when I reached a situation in which everything was ruined did I see the damage of spending recklessly.

However, society showed me the tough wall of the name Hakbeol.

And they turned away from me.

‘I’m really alone.’

It was less than four months after the money had run out.

It was only four months since it was recognized that there was no more sweet water to drop even if squeezed. It was the second month since I realized the wall of society.

After those two months, my money was gone and I was thrown back.

All my friends. Even my loving family threw me back.

That is why the current situation was just funny to me.

Those who came for the purpose of money. I know very well that there was no love for me.

But.

I also struggled so much while trying to make a living.

So what you need to do is treat them likewise.

There was a moment when I tried to laugh with them so cheerfully.

“Ugh!”