AEPOB 07

Chapter 07

As I lay sprawled on the living room sofa resting, the refreshing scent of apple pie filled the entire house.

For the record, I had been banned from the kitchen for the time being because both of my palms were injured.

As I smelled the apple, I thought of Kiki, who had run away from me in an instant.

‘His wound looked pretty deep, is he okay? I heard he’s close with Father, so why did he run away?’

The more I thought about that boy, the more he was full of things I couldn’t understand.

I heard clattering sounds from the kitchen. It seemed dinner would be ready soon, so I headed there.

“Bell, perfect timing.”

Father greeted me as he placed the apple pie he’d taken out of the oven on a large plate.

“Sit here and wait just a moment. It’s almost ready.”

He seemed about to set down the forks and knives, but the table was already perfectly set.

With nothing else to do, I sat quietly on the chair and watched my father.

From transferring the finished dishes to the plates to plating, his movements were smooth and effortless.

Soon, Father placed steaming mushroom soup on the table, and the meal preparation was complete.

Dinner began as Father took his seat across from me.

“How is it?”

“It’s really delicious!”

Father was incredibly skilled with his hands.

Just from what I’d observed over the past few days—medicine preparation, cooking, even braiding hair.

He had even wrapped the bandages on my hands so neatly that they didn’t get in the way of daily activities.

Although his overly gentle nature was sometimes a flaw.

I raised both thumbs and offered my sincere praise.

Seeing Father’s satisfied expression, it seemed the gesture carried the same meaning here.

“Bell, I’ve thought for a long time that it would be nice if you and Kiki got along. But that’s not something I can force.”

“Yes.”

I looked up from focusing on my food. I put down my cutlery and listened attentively to my father’s words.

“Is there a reason you suddenly changed your mind after keeping your distance from Kiki for years?”

My father’s eyes were trembling slightly.

To me, it was natural that my behavior would change since the person inside had changed, but to him, it must have been confusing.

But seeing him trying to understand his changed daughter at a child’s level, he was clearly a kind-hearted person.

So this time, I decided to speak honestly without holding back.

“Actually… I don’t really remember much about Kiki. But seeing him help me today, I thought he seemed like a good kid.”

“That’s right. Kiki is a good kid.”

A moment later, my father suddenly put down his juice glass and clapped his hands.

“Ah! If Kiki is feeling better tomorrow, how about we have breakfast together? If you spend more time together, it’ll be easier to become close.”

Already, my father was coming up with ideas one by one, his eyes sparkling.

It seemed Abeli wasn’t naturally very sociable either.

He seemed even more excited that I had finally expressed a desire to make a friend.

It didn’t seem bad for me either, so I nodded in agreement.

I had planned to be careful about friendships for a while, but since things had turned out this way, there was no helping it.

I had to stay here for 10 years anyway, so making friends my age wasn’t a bad choice.

‘Besides… there’s no way the male lead would be in this rural backwater.’

In most novels, the male lead stands out in appearance even without special management.

I couldn’t see his face because of his hair, but Kiki was far too shabby to be the male lead.

And no matter how dangerous the situation, someone who so readily saves someone they’re not on good terms with couldn’t possibly be the cold, obsessive type.

With that conclusion, I finished my meal.

‘…I can’t sleep.’

Today has been one hell of a long day.

Time passed, and it was now deep into the night.

I stared at the ceiling with a deep frown. I had counted enough sheep to build and stock an entire ranch by now.

Still, sleep just wouldn’t come.

‘With all the things that happened today, shouldn’t sleep at least come easily!’

After failing again to fall asleep by counting sheep, I got up from the bed.

At this point, I might as well settle today’s mission rewards.

I went to my desk and laid out paper and a pen.

Preparation complete.

I sat down on the desk chair, gripped the pen in my hand, and only then called up the dialogue window.

‘Dialogue window.’

**[Mission Success!]**

**’Save the person in crisis.’** Mission successful. A reward has been granted. Would you like to check it now?

—Reward: Hint about the original story (1/3)

[Y/N]

The last message I had put off appeared again.

I called out without hesitation in my mind.

‘Yes.’

The moment I chose it, the dialogue window displayed the hint in a stream.

**[Revealing the ‘Hint’ about the original story.]**

**[Title: (Conditions for disclosure not met, Condition: ?)]**

**#Obsession #Angst #Revenge #Reunion**

The first hint was the ‘keywords’ about the original story.

After roughly scanning the keywords, I slammed the pen down on the desk.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

Frustration surged.

I felt embarrassed for having hurriedly moved my hand to copy down just four keywords.

‘How am I supposed to work with hints like this about the original story?’

Moreover, those keywords were the usual staples of the stories I used to enjoy.

At that moment, the door burst open.

Having heard my frustrated shout, my father rushed into the room.

“Bell! Is something wrong?”

His voice was urgent, and I felt unnecessarily sorry.

“A bug suddenly appeared and startled me… I’m fine now.”

Even though I said I was fine, Father made me stand up and carefully examined me for a while.

Only after confirming with his own eyes that I was unharmed did he return to normal.

“Are you really okay?”

“Of course.”

“Bell, if anything happens, you must tell me. Promise! Okay?”

“Yes!”

At my definite answer, Father smiled and stroked my head.

He seemed so startled that his gestures were a bit rough—more like ruffling than stroking.

*Click.*

Soon, I heard the door close.

I roughly fixed my messy hair and sat back down at the desk. Then I carefully examined the dialogue window in front of me.

No matter how I looked at it, the system didn’t seem friendly toward me.

“You should at least help me deduce something about the original story.”

I grumbled in frustration. Then the dialogue window changed.

**[The disclosure conditions have not yet been met, so no further hints can be revealed. However, the revealed hints can be viewed at any time.]**

‘Are you mocking me right now?’

**[I have never tried to mock the Possessor.]**

The dialogue window’s nonchalant attitude was infuriating when I was about to die from pent-up anger.

Suppressing the rising irritation, I asked the dialogue window again.

‘Show me the hint again.’

**[Title: (Conditions for disclosure not met, Condition: ?)]**

**#Obsession #Angst #Revenge #Reunion**

‘What exactly are these disclosure conditions?’

Again, the dialogue window remained silent for a long time.

It was utterly capricious.

I guessed that the title would only be revealed once the conditions corresponding to the question mark were met…

Surely it wasn’t planning to reveal those later through missions too.

Ugh, my head. Let’s think about that later.

I pressed my forehead and examined the keywords first.

‘I already knew it was an obsession story. If it’s angst…’

Before possession, I had devoured most web novels with the obsession keyword.

As a result, I had reached a level where ordinary obsession stories didn’t excite me much.

Then I encountered spicy, angst-filled novels.

After that, I was struck by a fresh shock and immediately fell into that world.

I swung my legs back and forth absentmindedly, then adjusted my posture.

Even if I didn’t know the title, I knew the intensity well.

The dangerous and thrilling covers of the works I’d read flashed through my mind.

Summarizing the works in my library, the original was likely an adult-rated obsession-angst story.

‘Ha, if I had known that the result of temporary stress relief would be getting possessed into an obsession-angst story, I would never, ever have read them!’

I tried to think positively, telling myself that since I was an extra, I could just live carefully.

But seeing the 10-year final mission ‘Preserve the Original Story!’ appear from the start, I could guess that the future wouldn’t be smooth.

I buried my face in my hands and began contemplating my pathetic life.

‘I’m so unlucky.’

As I was venting my resentment toward the creator of this possession world I’d never even met, the vanished dialogue window reappeared.

**[Possessor, do you want to get more hints about the original story?]**