This Is a Damn Sweet Deal
I splashed ice-cold water across my face. Only after the freezing droplets slapped my cheeks did my breathing ease a little. I stared at the man in the mirror, water dripping from his chin. Han Seojun. I had actually possessed him. Of all people, the trash villain whose death was already written in the script.
“Haha…” A hollow laugh escaped me. The mess the original owner had made was now mine to clean up with my own hands. The routes weren’t identical, but they overlapped enough. In the original story, whenever Han Seojun caused trouble and was summoned by his father, Chairman Han Taegun, he lost more than half his position and funding inside the group. That was the beginning of his downfall route. Cut off from money, the fool would turn to illegal schemes, get caught by the protagonist and the traitors, and eventually hang himself in prison.
Still… “Honestly? This is a damn sweet deal.”
Because the original owner had made enemies everywhere, the patterns of betrayal were painfully obvious. Having watched Han Seojun’s ruin multiple times in the original game, I already knew every trap they had laid. If I knew exactly where the knives were hidden, flipping the script and crushing their necks instead was child’s play. With every route cleared, this level of risk was worth taking. After all, I had been reborn as the bloodline of the number-one chaebol family. If I survived this death game, I could spend the rest of my life sitting on a mountain of money.
I scrubbed my face dry with a towel and opened the door. Kim Manager, waiting outside, bowed.
“Let’s go.”
Third floor of the mansion. Outside the chairman’s office. The moment the heavy door opened, a sharp crash rang out. Crash! A teacup shattered at my feet.
“You insane bastard. You actually smashed someone’s head at the party?”
Behind the desk sat an old tiger—Han Taegun, Han Seojun’s father. The air in the vast study felt suffocating. His silent glare alone was enough to choke the breath from my lungs.
“Hoo.” If I cowered here, it was over. This was the most critical moment for my survival. A single mistake was unacceptable. It was time for a perfectly calculated performance.
“Are you hurt anywhere, sir?”
“What?”
“I was worried the shards might have hit you.”
In the original story, this was where the fool would drop to his knees and beg, claiming he was drunk. I couldn’t do that. I had to stand tall, as if I had done nothing wrong.
“Director Choi’s son. If I hadn’t smashed him, Father would have taken the hit to the back of the head.”
Han Taegun’s hand, reaching for the ashtray, froze.
“What nonsense is this?”
“That bastard was stirring up the directors yesterday to steal our M&A bid prices.”
It wasn’t a lie. In the mid-story of the original, Director Choi’s family had been preparing to strike at Han Seojun’s group. I had simply taken the future knowledge in my head and turned it into a card that could flip the current crisis in an instant—painting myself not as a drunken delinquent, but as a capable heir who had already sniffed out a traitor.
“Do you have proof?”
“Check Director Choi’s hidden accounts right now. He’s set up a paper company in Hong Kong. He was planning to leak the bid information and pocket the shares.”
I had to frame my actions not as drunken violence, but as “reasonable force” used to eliminate a traitor. The old man in front of me would never tolerate madness that brought no profit. Conversely, if it brought profit, he would allow any madness.
“So you cracked his skull as a warning?”
“Exactly. A warning not to act like a rat.”
I stepped up to the desk, placed both hands on it, and leaned forward.
“Don’t pay any settlement. Instead, threaten him with bid-rigging charges and make him spit out his prime real estate.”
Tap. Han Taegun set down his fountain pen.
“…Kim Manager.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
The secretary waiting outside answered immediately.
“Mobilize the audit team. Turn Director Choi’s life inside out. Check every suspicious trail in Hong Kong.”
After giving the order, the chairman looked at me again. The killing intent had vanished.
“I’ll cover this incident. However—”
“Yes.”
“You will handle the aftermath cleanly. If you drag any more filth into my sight, your head will roll.”
Hoo. It worked. The biggest immediate crisis had passed.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I bowed and left the office. The moment the door closed, the breath I had been holding burst out. Cold sweat soaked my back. The pressure of the number-one chaebol was on an entirely different level from reading about it. One wrong word and my head would have been the one shattered against that ashtray. My legs trembled, but I forced them steady. I couldn’t show weakness here.
I had just turned the corner toward my room when a sweet perfume scent brushed past my nose. Yoon Seoa. My stepsister, brought in by my stepmother. She stood leaning against the wall in a white silk slip and thin robe.
“Ah… Father was… very angry…?”
Her voice trembled with fear. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked up at me. To anyone watching, she was a pitiful prey shaking before a predator. I couldn’t be fooled. In the original story, Han Seojun had been bewitched by that frightened mask, convinced he completely dominated her. Every time she trembled, he drowned in superiority and played right into her hands without ever crossing the real line. He never realized until the end that her shaking was an act to exploit his temper for her own gain.
Seeing it in person, she really was impressive. While secretly plotting to swallow Seojin Group whole. Depending on the route, she actually succeeded. She was so cunning that even her own father only noticed at the very last moment.
Seoa carefully approached and grabbed my collar.
“You must be tired… I-I can give you a massage in your room…”
If I fell for this obvious trick, she would stroke my ego while quietly extracting information to use against me. I peeled her hand off my collar.
Thud.
“Ah…”
Her eyes widened. The man who used to lose his mind at the sight of her skirt had just pushed her away. Panic flashed across her face.
“S-Seojun. Did I… do something wrong…?”
“Your perfume is too strong. Stop hovering around my room and go back to yours.”
Her lips parted, but I didn’t wait for an answer. I simply walked away. I could feel her gaze boring into my back. Her usual act had failed for the first time, so she was already calculating her next move. Fine. Let her scheme all she wanted. It wasn’t my concern right now.
“Hoo…”
Back in my room, I locked the door and collapsed onto the sofa, yanking off my tie. Dealing with exhausting people since morning had drained me. One was the old chairman. The other was an ambitious stepsister. Neither was easy, but…
“In the end, there’s no other way.”
I had considered grabbing some shares or cash and quietly fleeing overseas, but it was impossible. This idiot body’s owner had scattered too much garbage outside. The moment I put down the shield of being Seojin Group’s heir, the hyenas holding grudges would tear me apart without leaving a single bone. To survive, I had to become the biggest predator in this insane household. I had to crush the arrogant old tiger, the cunning stepsister sharpening her knife behind my back, and every relative eyeing my neck—then stand at the very top of the group. Only then would my perfect survival be guaranteed.
“Fuck. Nothing’s ever easy.”
I muttered while rubbing my face. Still, I had cleared the first crisis that could have taken my head today and cut off Yoon Seoa’s pace. First, I had to shed the shell of the foolish, debauched delinquent. I needed to steadily build my own strength and gather the cards to leash everyone else—while cleverly avoiding every dead-end route.
******
Meanwhile, in a small tearoom on the second floor of the mansion, Yoon Seoa stormed in and violently untied the sash of her silk robe. Madam Jang, who had been setting down a teacup on the sofa by the window, asked at the sight.
“Why do you look like that?”
“……”
“He’s changed.”
Madam Jang’s hand tightened around the teacup. Her daughter rarely lost composure over ordinary matters.
“What has?”
“Han Seojun. His usual tricks don’t work on him anymore.”
“He nearly got crushed by his father, so he’s just being cautious.”
“No.”
It wasn’t the blatant, lustful gaze that used to devour her skirt. Yoon Seoa recalled the chillingly calm face she had just seen and continued irritably.
“His eyes were different. They weren’t the stupid eyes I knew. It was like… he already knew everything.”
If that Han Seojun had started using his head and assessing the situation, the story changed. Calculations raced through Madam Jang’s mind.
“Then we’ll have to watch him more closely.”
“Should I assign someone?”
“No. You watch him yourself. Find out who he meets and what he’s hiding.”
“It won’t be easy.”
Only then did the impatience on Yoon Seoa’s face ease.
“Understood. I’ll look into him properly this time.”
It was a determined vow, tinged with pride, to treat him as a real opponent rather than a foolish pawn.
******
Knock. Knock.
At that moment, Kim Manager’s knock sounded from outside—the one I had told to wait.
“Come in.”
Kim Manager entered, unable to fully hide his flustered expression.
“What is it? Is Father calling me again?”
When I asked indifferently, Kim Manager carefully spoke while holding a tablet.
“It’s not that… You have a guest.”
“A guest? This early in the morning? Who?”
“The lady who was at the party last night.”
Last night’s party lady? Lee Soyul?
“Why the hell is she here?”
I had helped her yesterday, but she had glared at me like I was a disgusting insect. She was the one who fled the party to avoid getting involved. In the original story, Lee Soyul was busy avoiding me at this point. Yet she had come here of her own accord, straight into this tiger’s den of a chaebol mansion?
Kim Manager swallowed dryly and reported.
“She said she came to write the ‘contract’ you mentioned yesterday, Young Master.”
“…What?”
Wait. The devil’s slave contract the original Han Seojun had offered to tighten the noose around Lee Soyul’s neck? The vicious clauses that would bind her for life using her family’s debt as leverage. In the original, Lee Soyul avoided that contract by joining hands with the main protagonist and became a key figure in my downfall. That kind of contract only existed in my head—I hadn’t even created it yet.
“She said…”
Kim Manager glanced at my expression before continuing.
“If she can’t escape anyway, she’ll serve you directly by your side. She’s waiting in the living room right now.”
Insane. The original story’s main heroine had walked straight into the trash villain’s leash of her own free will.