### Chapter 348 – Hell of Gluttony (2)
—
– Kim Ari
“Another late night! Seriously, kid, I work late every other day and have never actually received proper overtime pay! Can you believe this nonsense?!”
“Busy here, step aside!”
Sorry, mister, but I can’t help you with that. I have no confidence in solving your problem.
Once the hotel notification popped up and I figured out what needed to be done, I started pondering which glutton’s story I should resolve.
The escape mission felt akin to that dream I had back in the maze.
I had to dive into the glutton’s memories, trapped in their horrendous past, and help them out of their predicaments.
Yet, just how horrible their story is for them and how easy it seems for an outsider are two different matters.
Take, for example, a business owner who’s harshly bullied by a multitude of unreasonable customers and a family that got brutally murdered by a sudden robber.
Normally, the latter is much worse, but when it comes to solving their issues, it’s a whole different ballgame.
How on Earth do you resolve an issue with a mass of unreasonable customers?
Should I go about beating a few up? Because even after that, there would just be more of those jerks to deal with!
Or should I just tell them to quit their business? That’d cut off their income!
What if I offered them money? But if I don’t have any from the story I’m stuck in, what then?
Just a little thought reveals that there’s no clear solution to that dilemma.
On the flip side, the latter can be handled by keeping my guard up and simply handing the robber over to the police once caught. Easy peasy.
So I sought out a simpler story to tackle.
“Don’t, don’t come any closer!”
“…”
“AAACK!”
“…”
“Please, save me!”
“Did you happen to encounter a murderer chasing you down a back alley? Now that’s a perfect story! What’s your name?”
Unlike the other gluttons, seething with rage, she was busy running away in fear at just the sound of my footsteps.
“Yes, yes?”
“Today, I’m gonna save you, so tell me, what’s your name?”
“… Yu Soyun.”
*
— Beep Beep!
Waking up to the jarring notification, I found myself in an office-like place surrounded by white walls, with a sheet full of Soyun’s schedule sitting in front of me.
Is this another standard setup for waking from a dream? I felt a bit out of it.
I absentmindedly flailed my arms in the air before realizing something.
Once again, the old blood’s power was sealed, just like in the dream within the maze.
The message was clear: no supernatural powers allowed, which honestly made me feel a bit relieved.
So, that must mean I won’t need them after all?
At that moment, a loud rattle echoed as a sturdy man entered from outside.
“Hey Ari, you awake?”
“…”
“Soyun said you were probably exhausted last night, so I left you alone for now. Time to get a move on, though, so gather up.”
“… Sure.”
*
Time passed, and I slowly grasped the situation.
The story’s main character, Yu Soyun, was once a reasonably famous celebrity.
Even in her twisted state as a glutton, she still seemed quite pretty; anyone could tell she had star potential when she was alive.
I was now Soyun’s manager, assistant, acquaintance, aspiring celebrity, confidant, mascot, and finally, her beloved pet—
In simple terms, I was that successful celebrity’s younger sibling, tagging along and getting occasional allowances while holding a minor role.
She had been napping in the office during the day, and the absence of other staff who hadn’t even thought to wake her up said a lot about her manager’s inefficiency.
It wasn’t a bad gig.
Being close to the victim, not doing anything particularly pressing while also holding enough clout to justify my presence—
That’s the optimal “problem solver” role set up by the hotel.
— Clunk!
The SUV door swung open, and Soyun hopped in.
“Can you believe that jerk PD? He’s at it again!”
“…”
“I told them I had dinner plans since last week! But does that stop them? What’s this guy trying to say? Having fun, are we? Hyung, what do you think?”
“Sounds like the PD’s not thrilled about you skipping the night shoot.”
And thus, Soyun and the driver, Lee Kanghyeok, raged in the front seats for a good while.
They spilled all the juicy deets about the PD’s gripes over Soyun’s absence from the night shoot, the bold junior who was eyeing her position, and the hot-headed senior actor who yelled at her for just one NG take.
…
There’s no way this mild grumbling is the traumatic memory she’s stuck with in this hell, right?
“Hey, isn’t Ari being a bit quiet over there?”
“Oh! Ari, did my swearing surprise you? Sorry! I deal with some really annoying people sometimes!”
“…”
Soyun’s schedule was packed, even late into the night.
DRAMA shoot by day, RADIO broadcast’s gotta get done by evening, and CF filming on top of that.
It was a perfect example of a successful celebrity’s life, which naturally piqued my curiosity.
What might happen in the future that made this point in her life not peak but the most horrifying time ever?
Is she gonna get jumped by a killer right after the show wraps up or what?
If unforeseen incidents are the issue, I should just stick close to her all day long!
Eventually, while Soyun was off doing her radio show, I turned to the driver-turned-bodyguard, Lee Kanghyeok.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“Is she facing any hard times lately?”
“Did she tell you about something?”
“Just a feeling.”
“…”
I could tell something was definitely up. There’s got to be something that turned Soyun’s life upside down!
“Haha… she told me not to say anything to you…”
“Hyung, I’m with her all the time. It’s impossible for me not to know something.”
“Just keep it between us, alright?”
*
What I got from the bodyguard’s tale was none other than a stalker.
This all started about seven months ago when the popular drama that Soyun starred in had finished airing.
Kanghyeok mentioned that due to her rising fame, a bunch of weirdos started flocking around her; sounds like a reasonable theory.
At first, it was just messages.
“Hey, you’re heading to ABS broadcasting now, right? Heard you like sandwiches? There’s a place nearby that sells a killer one.”
That kind of stuff started coming in consistently.
On the surface, it looked like a harmless foodie recommendation, but it was sent from a number only people close to her would know.
Also, they seemed to know exactly where she was going every single time.
“Did you get in touch with the police about it?”
“Of course! But they told me it was just a sandwich recommendation or whatever.”
“…”
“Do you know how ridiculous those cops are? They won’t lift a finger until that creep pulls a knife on her or something!”
“Tell me more.”
In the end, Soyun changed her number and, worried about data leaks, switched out most of her staff for a select few she trusted.
This particular staff member happened to be a distant relative she regards as a sister.
From what I gathered while Kanghyeok explained, he likely had similar reasoning for sticking around.
Despite those precautions, nothing changed.
The stalker figured out her new number and resumed sending more bizarre texts.
And I got the feeling the messages escalated based on Kanghyeok’s enraged silence, likely twisting into inappropriate territory.
As weeks went by, Soyun began to lose hope.
She gave in, saying this was just the fate of a celebrity.
“Was that the end of it?”
“Not quite, that was the beginning.”
About two months ago, while her manager and bodyguard were out, something peculiar happened.
“Seems like that wasn’t a coincidence,” I ventured.
“It feels like someone timed it perfectly for when they were away…”
Late one night, as Soyun was heading home, someone wearing all black appeared noisily behind her.
“What did they say?”
“Didn’t catch it all. She was too busy panicking and running away to quite hear.”
“Hmm…”
“From what little she could gather, they said something like, ‘Don’t be greedy beyond your means.’”
That was indeed a pretty weird line.
“What does that even mean?”
“No clue. She said it made no sense. Honestly, how much sense can stuff spouted by a stalker make?”
“Fair point. Was that it? The stalker’s threat two months ago?”
“…”
“Something else, I suppose. Go on.”
“Soyun should be coming back soon. Maybe I’ll call it a day—”
I slyly poked Kanghyeok in the neck and shoulder.
“Wha—Ari! What’s this all of a sudden?”
“Spill it!”
“… This happened three days ago. Ari, remember when she pulled a no-show for the morning shoot?”
“Yes.”
“She totally ghosted everyone. Around lunchtime, she came in dripping in sweat, looking distressed. You know how hardworking she is—so everyone was worried to bits.”
“…”
“She had someone else there in her home overnight besides her. In her solitary home, she heard sounds of someone moving out of sight.”
“Couldn’t she call someone?”
“Oddly enough, she said her phone wouldn’t respond no matter how she smashed the buttons.”
“Then how’d she manage to leave?”
“She finally got the sound to go away come morning.”
“Even though the sound stopped at dawn, she must’ve been too terrified to come out until lunch?”
“Exactly.”
“Checked all the CCTV footage and whatnot?”
“Of course! I went there with staff to directly confirm, and oddly enough, nothing showed up on the CCTV. Just her trembling alone in her room.”
“Hmm.”
Considering various possibilities, Kanghyeok carefully asked,
“Ari, am I just spouting nonsense here?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“When she shared this with the company, most didn’t believe her. The CEO, who usually swallows every word she says, didn’t buy it this time. Said maybe she was just drunk.”
“…”
“That response hurt her a lot. That’s why she asked me not to share it with you.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe whatever she says. No questions asked.”
At this point, I realized that as Soyun continued to be terrorized by this stalker, swapping out people in her life, Kanghyeok’s loyalty was something extraordinary.
For someone to actually affirm such eerie tales, that speaks volumes about their trust.
But still…
“This is just a bit strange.”
“Ari, if you don’t believe it, don’t even fake it. Don’t put her in more pain—“
“Hyung, I do believe her.”
“R-Really?”
“I believe something troubling has fallen upon Soyun, or rather, Sister Soyun. But…”
“But?”
“What she’s faced can be divided into three key parts, right? First, the text stalking with someone gaining her number and schedule. Second, a terrifying face-to-face encounter two months ago. Third, the bizarre home invasion three days back.”
“You speak pretty well for yourself, huh? That’s right.”
“Could all this be the doing of one single entity?”
“What do you mean?”
“The nature of these encounters is too different. The first set of texts is something any famous person would have to deal with, isn’t it?”
“True.”
“How did that stalker get her number? If it’s not something she kept secret, it’s bound to slip through the cracks.”
“…”
“Or her schedule—obsessive fans might know even better than she does.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“The second one seems quasi-supernatural. Someone shows up while her guard is down and speaks bizarrely; doesn’t it make sense they’re at least a manifested being?”
“The other person does indeed sound human,” he replied.
“The last one feels like an urban legend come to life. Something that doesn’t show up on CCTV constantly!?”
“… You got a point there. Up till now, we thought it was all the work of that pesky stalker.”
At that moment, Kanghyeok’s phone rang.
“Uh, Soyun’s wrapping up her radio gig. Gonna pick her up.”
“Alright, go ahead.”
Leaning back against the plush seat of the Porsche Cayenne, I began to map out our next moves.
—
I’ll keep the stories rolling!
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