IBSBV Ch 8

Chapter 8

As soon as Eddie entered his bedroom, which was right next to the other, he stretched to ease his stiff body.

The day felt unusually long. It must have been because he hadn’t been able to sleep the night before.

Pressing his tired eyes, he was just about to collapse onto the bed when—knock, knock, knock. A knocking sound echoed through the room.

Who could it be? The butler?

If it were him, he would have announced himself after knocking. The same went for Bell, the maids, or the nanny.

‘The head chef wouldn’t come all the way here either.’

That left only the knights—Sover’s hunting dogs, who were here under the pretense of guarding Louis but were really just watching over him.

There was little chance anything serious would happen, but it never hurt to be careful. Eddie drew a small knife hidden inside the waistband of his trousers, tucking it discreetly into his sleeve. Then, keeping his footsteps light, he walked over and turned the doorknob.

“Hey there—”

His guess was right.

The one who greeted him with a smirk, waving his hand lazily, was a knight named Ted.

With hair as pale as water and eyes like molten gold, a sharp nose, and full lips, his overall features were strikingly fierce. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and well-built.

Eddie quickly scanned him.

He wore leather armor, but his waist was empty—he wasn’t carrying a sword.

Still, it was likely he had a weapon concealed somewhere. After all, he was that Sover’s right-hand man.

‘At least he’s alone.’

The dimly lit corridor was quiet. There were no other signs of movement.

If Ted tried anything, Eddie was confident he could take him down by himself. In the original novel, his death had been portrayed as rather anticlimactic, but as an assassin, his skills were exceptional. Taking down two or three trained knights was nothing to him.

“What do you want?”

“Ah, you didn’t come down to eat all day.”

Ted’s tone was indifferent, but he held a small basket in his hand.

“I got worried, you see. So I brought some bread and fruit. You’ll take it, won’t you?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Food isn’t about hunger. You eat to stay alive. This is the North. You should keep your stomach full. If you go hungry, you’ll lose body heat, and that’ll just make things harder for you.”

Eddie didn’t want to waste time arguing. Instead of refusing again, he simply took the basket. But the moment he did, Ted suddenly leaned in, pressing his lips near Eddie’s ear.

His breath was uncomfortably warm, and Eddie’s expression stiffened.

“You know, out of the four of us, I’m the one who reports directly to His Highness Sover. That includes keeping tabs on you.”

With the lazy air of a predator toying with its prey, he tilted his head slightly, flashing a slow, knowing smile.

Eddie’s gaze naturally locked with his. With the close proximity, their breaths mingled in the narrow space between them.

It was an incredibly annoying situation.

But Eddie didn’t back away. He wasn’t the type to be rattled by cheap provocations, and besides, the one trying to test him wasn’t worth the effort.

“What exactly were you doing in there all day with that lunatic?”

The questioning had begun.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, really? So you’re telling me that after refusing food for days, that half-mad doll suddenly decided to eat every meal today? Amazing. And this, after you went ahead and scrubbed that cursed mutt clean on your very first day?”

“So what’s the problem?”

“Nothing?”

Ted straightened, parroting Eddie’s answer back at him.

“How boring. No fun. So, Eddie Royson spent the entire day with a cursed dog. That same dog, who normally lashes out at everyone, suddenly wagged his tail like a long-lost pet reunited with its master and ate all his meals. No other suspicious activity. That’s all I should report, yeah? If there’s anything you’d rather His Highness not hear, now’s the time to tell me. You know, we’re in the same boat here—we should look out for each other, don’t you think?”

Ted’s fingers brushed lightly against Eddie’s chin.

It was obvious he was fishing for information. A rat acting like a king just because its master wasn’t around—how ridiculous.

Was this a power play? Or was he just feeling restless?

Eddie smirked, deliberately letting out a dry chuckle as he caught Ted’s wrist, pulling him in close.

Their breaths mingled again. Ted’s large frame tensed slightly, betraying a flicker of surprise.

“I don’t need your favors. Just go ahead and report exactly what you saw.”

Sover had ordered Louis to be treated as well as possible, only to be killed once his guard was completely lowered. And yesterday and today, Eddie’s actions had followed that command to the letter—there was nothing to be used against him.

“Don’t try anything with me. Don’t try to do anything to me. Or did His Highness order you to keep me on edge? That doesn’t sound like something he’d do.”

“Man, you’re not easy. I just wanted to try seducing a beauty.”

“If you have nothing more to say, I’d appreciate it if you left. I’m a bit tired, you see?”

“Ah, sure. We’ve got plenty of time to get closer later.”

Ted shrugged his shoulders and backed away without resistance. Just as he turned and was about to take a step—

“You must not have heard that showing your back to me is dangerous.”

“…What?”

“You should be more careful with your words. I’ll let today’s rudeness slide, but if I don’t like it next time, I might just bite.”

Though it seemed playful at a glance, the cold warning made Ted’s unguarded back tense for a moment. His golden eyes widened as they belatedly focused on Eddie.

“Just a word of caution. Go get some sleep and have sweet dreams.”

Eddie met his gaze directly and waved lightly. At the sharp-edged joke, Ted smirked, lifting one corner of his mouth.

His lack of emotional control made it clear—he was the type Eddie could easily use. If he wanted to keep an eye on Sover’s movements, he could do it through him.

Leaving Ted behind, Eddie returned to his room, shutting the door before running a rough hand through his tousled hair. Then he realized something was wrong and spread his palms out.

“…What the hell.”

That morning, while sorting through the things Sover had given him from his magic pouch, he had gotten distracted by a sword and ended up cutting himself. But now, the wound was completely gone, without a trace. It had still been there before he went to comfort Louis.

How was that possible?

‘What’s with today?’

Sometimes, when things were too absurd, not even a scoff would come out.

Tsk. Clicking his tongue in frustration, Eddie decided to just get some sleep and headed for the bed.

Hm?

Then, his eyes landed on a neatly placed book on the bedding. He had noticed it in passing that morning without much thought, but now, his hand unconsciously reached for it.

The hardcover was a deep navy blue, with no title or markings—probably not a book, but a journal.

Was it okay to read it? That thought crossed his mind for a moment, but since it had been left in his room, he figured it should be fine. Settling comfortably on the bed, Eddie flipped open the cover.

The first page was clean. No, rather than clean, it was completely blank.

Just in case, he turned to the next page, then the next, but they were all the same. If it was a journal, it had never been used.

Losing interest immediately, he tossed it aside and lay down.

He was exhausted, yet strangely, sleep didn’t come right away. After tossing and turning a few times, his gaze drifted back to the journal—or whatever it was.

“Maybe I should write something.”

Muttering to himself, Eddie reached for it.

The moment his fingertips touched the navy cover again, a sudden wave of nausea hit, and his vision flickered violently. Without a chance to resist, his consciousness was dragged under, as if sinking into deep water.

 

***

 

When he awoke, he had returned to ‘reality.’

Right back into the middle of that wretched life he had once believed to be his past life.

Damn it… This couldn’t be real. He tried to blink in disbelief, but his eyelids wouldn’t move.

Had he returned? Or not?

No matter how much effort he put into his body, nothing moved as he intended. That was when Eddie finally realized—this was just an extension of the strange phenomena he had experienced all day.

He hadn’t returned. He had entered.

A fragment of the past. Something like possession, but not quite.

Suppressing his turmoil, he focused on analyzing the situation. Through the eyes of his former body, the one that had once truly belonged to him—Jung Suhyun—he took in what was before him.

He was looking at a wall clock.

10:20.

After checking the time several times, Jung Suhyun finally moved, heading straight for the refrigerator. He opened the door and pulled out a carton of expired milk, drinking from it.

He remembered that milk.

The neighbor used to throw out their leftover milk. Sometimes, if they missed the right time, the expired ones would be tossed into a black garbage bag and quietly disposed of in the early hours of the morning.

Jung Suhyun had picked those up and drank them whenever he was starving. Later, when the neighbor found out, they started putting bread or snacks in the bag as well. They kept it up until they had to move, saying they had found a new job.

‘Even the wall clock and the refrigerator are so old.’

He wasn’t sure exactly when this was, but judging by the yellowed furniture, it must have been a long time ago.

‘How old was I then?’

Jung Suhyun had awakened as a Guide when he was nineteen. The moment his test results came out, his parents had acted as if they had won the lottery, changing everything in an instant.

The first thing they did was go to an institution run by the Association and take out a loan, using their child’s future as collateral.

Next, they threw out all the old furniture and replaced it with new ones.

Determined to erase every trace of their squalid poverty, they wouldn’t even glance at clearance items at the supermarket. They piled their cart with goods without comparing prices, and if any stocked-up food was even a minute past its expiration date, they discarded it without hesitation.

The only thing that had changed was that Jung Suhyun had become a Guide. But his parents, lost in the grand delusion that they had entered high society, squandered money like nouveau riche, putting on airs.

Meanwhile, he never got to touch a single cent. He had to work tirelessly without rest. Having been subjected to abuse for so long, he knew he was being treated unfairly, yet he couldn’t fight back.

Like a fool.

‘Judging by the surroundings, I must be fifteen or sixteen. That time, huh?’

After carefully rinsing out the milk carton, he stepped into a small room and sat down in front of an old desk. Then, he turned on the computer.

Eddie was caught off guard.

In the early mornings, he had delivered newspapers, and after school, he had taken on odd jobs given by the woman upstairs, scraping together enough money to finally buy that computer.

But only his older brother had been allowed to use it. Even though it was his, he couldn’t claim any rights to it. His selfish and stubborn brother never shared anything he considered his own.

The moment he so much as touched it, kicks and punches would immediately follow. Knowing that, Jung Suhyun had never even gone near the computer.

That’s how it had always been…