Chapter 9: {I Was Sold Out for Five Years}

Searching the Baekho Guild revealed that the information obtained was mostly about Baek Seo-jin's knight.

Even though he was only ten years old, he was hailed as a genius.

It was also mentioned that he was not arrogant and how polite he was.

Besides the knight who praised Baek Seo-jin, the knight about me was shown.

The content of the knight written with my name, Baek Seo-jun, was as follows.

This kind of article showed that they were mourning my death, and I searched for the articles from five years ago.

The articles after the day when Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong sold me to the villains were the same.

They portrayed themselves as tragic victims who lost their eldest son to the villains and used that to elevate themselves.

The poor couple who couldn't protect their eldest son from the villains and barely managed to save only their younger son received the sympathy of the entire nation.

Seomun Ye-jin, who was only ten years old at the time, hadn't seen that article and seemed not to recall the relationship between the Baekho Guild and me, but if I officially started activities, my existence would be known soon.

'It seems I shouldn't be active under the name Baek Seo-jun.'

If I use the name Baek Seo-jun, it will quickly reveal who I am.

"Really, it's disgusting."

Hearing me mutter while looking at the article, Seomun Ye-jin flinched.

It seemed like she was slightly surprised because my voice was filled with killing intent, but she didn't grab her phone or anything.

It wasn't her phone, and since it was her thing, she couldn't casually break it.

'After selling me to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠villains, they've been profiting by selling my name.'

The unfortunate couple who lost their beloved eldest son to the villains.

Anyone would sympathize with people who have such a story.

No one could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have imagined that these couple actually favored only their younger son and sold their eldest son to the villains.

That's why, when looking at the news article comments at the time, there was a lot of sympathy for Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong.

The comments supporting Baek Hyeong-won's Baekho Guild were seen.

If they were people from the Baekho Guild, they would naturally guess the truth.

They had been watching in real time how their parents treated me.

But their voices couldn't be publicized, and since the parents at the scene didn't speak the truth when selling me to the villains, it seemed they were blackmailed by the Baekho Guild.

Baek Hyeong-won probably threatened the mothers there to bury the truth.

If it became known that the guild leader of Baekho Guild who survived by selling his eldest son to the villains, the backlash would be enormous.

So, they pretended to be tragic parents who tried to confront the villains but couldn't do anything because their son was caught and lost their son to the villains as is.

That's how they used my name to raise the Baekho Guild's reputation.

Looking at the article comments, most people didn't doubt the lie of my well-off parents.

Instead, they saw them denouncing those who spoke the truth as malicious trolls, blocking them.

It seemed they had even mobilized a comment army for Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong.

'Really, they have various tricks.'

I didn't expect them to feel guilt after selling me.

And I didn't think they would commit such atrocities to profit from my name instead.

But even though everyone was guessing, I was angry.

Perhaps because I remember all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the memories of that day vividly?

I don't know. Honestly, I don't care.

What was important was that my desire for revenge burned even stronger.

'Yeah. Enjoy your happiness as much as you want. When your happiness reaches its peak, I'll make you fall into hell.'

Reaffirming revenge, I handed the phone back to Seomun Ye-jin.

"I checked it well."

"Yeah."

Seomun Ye-jin's eyes, who received the phone I handed back, contained the content about the article.

Since there was no need to hide it, I didn't care about her noticing it. But Seomun Ye-jin, after seeing the article, seemed to have realized my situation.

"Baek Seo-jun... Is this perhaps the story of Seo-jun-ssi?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Ah."

Seomun Ye-jin, who was reading the article, looked at me directly and asked.

"Is there any reason? Could you perhaps tell me?"

She had been about to ask if it was rude to me, but now she asked directly.

It might also be because I realized I had no intention of hiding anything, but the biggest reason was to avoid causing harm to me in advance.

"There's nothing to hide from the young lady, so I'll explain."

I told her the truth.

"Five years ago, my parents sold me to the villain So Gang-seok to save their favored second son. And I was taken away and subjected to various horrific torture-like biological experiments, and then thrown into the rift as an experiment subject to see if I would die or not."

Seomun Ye-jin's complexion paled after hearing the truth from me.

It seemed like there was a bad premonition, but even so, she was greatly surprised by my truth, which was worse than the worst she could imagine.

"I was a special constitution that doesn't die in the rift. So, inside the rift, I learned how to grow my power, and that's how I returned, stronger like this."

"Impossible..."

"And the content of the low-rated comments in the article comments is generally correct stories. It seems Baek Hyeong-won is covering his mouth, but it's quite a famous story in the Baekho Guild. They couldn't imagine that these well-off parents Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong would sell me to the villains."

After hearing my words, Seomun Ye-jin was silent for a moment.

- Seo-jun, this girl is crying.

Even without Lamia's words, I knew.

Because I could see Seomun Ye-jin's face shedding tears with my own two eyes.

"Sob! How, it's too much..."

Crying while saying that my parents' actions was too much, she suddenly grabbed my hand and said.

"Seo-jun-ssi."

Looking at me with a face full of tear marks, she called.

"Miss, why are you crying all of a sudden?"

"Because what Seo-jun-ssi... went through is too pitiful."

"Is it sympathy? You don't need to cry over this."

"Sob, my... my heart. Crying, being sad, it's all my heart..."

"Um, that's true."

I didn't deny her words.

As the heroine of the original work, her kind heart made her feel sorry for what I went through as if it were her own.

"Seo-jun-ssi, are you perhaps trying to hide your true identity now?"

She seemed to have a sharp side unexpectedly.

I only knew her from the original timeline ten years later, so I didn't know much about her at this time.

But now she guessed that I was trying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to move while hiding my identity.

"Why do you think that?"

"Just so. Not announcing your return publicly, and also staying at my house as a lodger... It seems there's something you want to do."

Hearing her words, I thought it was interesting.

'This young lady is more interesting than I thought.'

I had thought she wouldn't create a story connecting to Baek Seo-jin like in the original work.

But at this moment, I purely became interested in her.

"Yeah, that's exactly the guess. After making it so that my power can't recognize me as Baek Seo-jun, I need to use an alias for a while to do some things."

"If it's something to do?"

"What else? Hunting."

Hunting.

"Go to Somalia, hunt the SSS-class villain So Gang-seok. And secure the video containing the truth of that day that he has. The two things I plan to do first."

By doing so, it was to secure one of the cards to give hell to Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong who sold me well.

I told her what I planned to do.

It was also because I didn't think she would betray me, but this was just courtesy.

Although I thought it was meaningless sympathy, it was a small courtesy to the woman who was the first to feel sorry and cry for what I went through.