## Chapter 227 – 23. Loyalty
23. Loyalty
– Excellent. While your absolute knowledge and skill level still have room for improvement, your potential alone is nothing short of historic. Now, you have only one task left: completely sever ties with your past life and pledge absolute loyalty. Sincerely.
For hours, Seo Aram had been contemplating with her eyes closed.
About the life she would lead from now on.
A movie-like story of living a hellish life and then, by chance, catching Mu-yeol’s eye and becoming a Prestige member.
If she hadn’t experienced it herself, she wouldn’t have believed it.
‘Absolute loyalty…’
She vowed it over and over.
And she had spoken it aloud.
To her master, Mu-yeol.
So, there was no change of heart.
She had decided to be loyal, and she had vowed it, so that feeling and oath would go with her to the grave.
But even so, she couldn’t help but have some doubts about truly embodying the word ‘absolute.’
No matter how strong-willed and steely a person is, it’s hard to control their emotions to that extent.
Is it even possible?
In that sense, a mission like ‘severing ties with your past life’ might be an opportunity.
An opportunity to solidify her loyalty more firmly by directly comparing her previous desperate life with the life she now enjoys.
“We’ve arrived.”
At the driver’s words, Seo Aram opened her eyes.
It was time to return to her previous life, if only for a moment, from the dazzling and extravagant Prestige life she had been living for months.
‘It’s been a while…’
Opening the door and stepping outside, she saw a dilapidated apartment complex that couldn’t be called developed by any stretch of the imagination.
The other side of splendor unfolded across a narrow road.
If you just lifted your head and looked into the distance, you could see countless skyscrapers majestically standing, radiating extravagant and decadent light, but there was no such sign in this vicinity.
Crumpled iron plates, rusted and corroded railings, and protruding electrical wires cluttered the view, and the floor reflected the light like a gray swamp full of oil stains.
The exterior walls of the old apartment complex had long lost their original color, and cracks clinging like spiderwebs could be seen between irregularly peeled paint fragments.
Even the dim lights in the windows created an illusion like the empty eye sockets of a skull.
It looked like a huge abandoned house.
“Was it… this bad…?”
It was definitely a familiar place, but Seo Aram felt a sense of alienation.
Even when she lived here, she was aware that she was living a miserable life, but she didn’t feel this much disgust.
She just accepted it.
But not now.
She felt a strong aversion to even approaching it.
She felt nauseous.
She felt like she would start retching a couple of times and actually throw up what was inside.
She subconsciously tried to pinch her nose, but she remembered her purpose and lowered her hand.
“I can do it alone.”
“Yes.”
She steadfastly endured all the unpleasantness.
She walked across the dirty, stagnant water and headed to the space where she used to live.
‘I was paying the rent… so it should still be there.’
It was as she thought.
Her house, where she had somehow managed to survive in the ever-increasing mountain of debt, was still there, albeit shabby.
‘…’
However, one somewhat eerie thing was that there were several handprints on the door.
Unfamiliar fingerprints were also detected on the doorknob.
It wasn’t the landlord’s.
Someone had tried to break into her house.
The suspects that came to mind were….
‘…’
Quite a few.
So many that they weren’t worth remembering.
Beep.
She opened the door of her ‘home’ after a long time and went inside.
The musty air of the cramped house greeted her.
“I’m… home.”
.
.
There was nothing to pack.
There was nothing worth commemorating.
It was literally a clean up.
Shaking off regrets.
If there was anything of value, it would be the few framed photos she had taken with her mother when she was healthy.
“I guess I…. My mom and I were saved.”
While cleaning the house for about an hour, she was convinced once again.
Her past life was a struggle to get from hell to the abyss.
A life with no dreams or hopes, and an end that was already determined,
A life at the bottom where only despair and depravity remained. A bottom-of-the-barrel life that she had no choice but to walk, even though she could clearly see that end.
Even as she felt that result approaching moment by moment, she continued her daily life.
She worked several jobs a day.
There was no concept of personal time. She devoted all her time to making money, and when she felt like she couldn’t take it anymore, she would take a very short break and then go back to work.
But even then, after paying for her mother’s medical bills, she was actually in the red. Every time, she had to borrow money from loan sharks at ridiculously high interest rates. Otherwise, she couldn’t even afford her mother’s hospitalization fees, let alone her treatment.
By the middle of this year, she had already reached her limit.
She could no longer endure by taking out more loans.
Those who had been lending her money because of her body began to put subtle pressure on her, and some even openly demanded her body or suggested prostitution.
If it hadn’t been for Mu-yeol, she would have been caught by loan sharks and selling her body by now.
Whether voluntarily or involuntarily.
Even then, she would have been living a dark life, not even knowing if she could restore her mother or even keep her alive.
It was truly hell and the abyss.
‘You saved me and my mom. So…. I have to repay you.’
She carefully took the photo frame and left the house again.
There was no more lingering feeling, no regrets, and no lingering thoughts.
Whether she lived a life of good treatment under Go Mu-yeol,
Whether she became a cold-shouldered, mediocre secretary,
Or whether she lived as his exclusive fucktoy, spreading her legs for him,
At least it would be better than this bottom-of-the-barrel, stuck-in-the-sewer life.
All that remained was conviction.
Coming back outside, she sensed something was wrong.
Subtle breathing sounds and vulgar laughter, 끊기다 이어지는 천박한 웃음소리, could be heard from afar.
She had heard them a few times before.
Whenever she heard those sounds, the previously listless her would shudder with disgust and try to get away as quickly as possible.
There was nothing else she could do.
“Well, well, long time no see?”
“You’ve gotten a lot prettier, haven’t you?”
Monsters soaked in filthy lust revealed themselves.
Shabby shirts, emaciated bodies, and eyes stained with cheap desires, devoid of fear or dread.
They slowly approached her.
It was all too clear what their intentions were.
They must want to possess this body.
‘Well, there are no loan sharks anymore…’
Even before, they had been giving her lewd looks.
However, they couldn’t touch her because the loan sharks were protecting her.
It wasn’t exactly for her sake. They were only protecting her in order to preserve her ‘product value.’ They were convinced that Seo Aram would fetch a very high price in the entertainment industry.
If such a valuable product was damaged by these dirty beggars living in this dirty place, the loss would be just as great.
But that loan shark is no longer here.
He was all wiped out by Chief Han, who was ordered by Go Mu-yeol.
“Where have you been? I’m tired of waiting….”
The monsters, who seemed to stink even from 100 meters away, approached, drooling.
Even as she watched them, Seo Aram remained calm.
“I’m not coming here anymore. Never again.”
“What?”
“So I’ll give you a hot farewell.”
She took out a gun and aimed it at the forehead of the guy who was closest to her.
“Mu-,”
Taang – !
“—!!”
The bullet pierced the man’s forehead, and he collapsed helplessly.
“Wh, what…!”
The others were flustered.
But Seo Aram didn’t let them off.
By the time she heard the sound of the empty shell hitting the floor, she had already identified everyone’s location.
Taang – !
Tang – !
Taang – !
And immediately fired in quick succession.
With movements that showed no hesitation, each one fell with each shot, and the surroundings were quickly cleared.
Not a single shot missed.
Just like the conviction she felt now.
+++
The special ward of the City of Prestige.
The eyes of the patient who occupied the large room alone trembled.
She had not regained consciousness for a long, long time, but now she was finally about to open her eyes.
The sensor that detected it sent a call.
Doctors and nurses rushed in to check her condition.
“All values are within acceptable range!”
“…Is it finally happening!”
The trembling eyes finally began to open.
She frowned and strained, slowly lifting her eyelids to greet the light.
“Ah… euh….”
Her lips also moved.
“Wh…ere…?”
And she regained consciousness, albeit hazily.
“Contact him immediately!”
“Yes!!”
That day,
Seo Aram gained faith.
