I Possessed a Promiscuous Guide 65

He was never called a genius, but still, he had managed to get into one of South Korea’s top universities without any help from private tutoring.

He had always been the pride of his friends, and not once had he been told he was bad at studying.

Even if he had skimmed the novel and forgotten the characters’ names, he could still remember the overall plot.

[I do not know why any of this happened. I just wanted to die—but then I ended up in your world. And suddenly, I wanted revenge. That was when I saw you, and all I could think was how desperately I wanted you to enter my body in my place.]

Then… this might not even be the world of the novel?

[It might not be.]

…Do you actually know anything?

[You have got quite the temper, huh?]

I am frustrated, that is all.

He was not trying to interrogate the other person, but the situation was suffocating.

[There is only one thing I know for sure—I was meant to die.]

And how do you know that?

[I just… do.]

……

Lee Haru dragged his hands through his hair in frustration. The conversation kept going in circles.

Everything the body’s original owner told him was fragmented, and none of it was useful at the moment.

So you stayed here because you wanted revenge? And you wanted me to find this ring because of that? …Then why pretend to be a ghost? Why not just show up in a dream and explain everything?

[That just kind of happened by accident.]

……

Ugh, he used to have a friend like this too…

It was disorienting. The personality he had glimpsed in his memories felt completely different from the one he was speaking to now.

Vague and aloof, like watered-down liquor—that easy going nature reminded him of himself, but now was not the time to bond over similarities.

What he needed was a solution.

So what am I supposed to do? What if Esper Kang Min shows up again and strangles me? I barely made it back from the brink of death just now…

Lee Haru wrinkled his nose. It was not even allergy season, but he felt like he might start crying.

Revenge only worked if you were alive to carry it out.

[That bastard will never kill you. So stop worrying.]

Are you sure?

[Absolutely.]

That firm, unwavering tone helped settle Lee Haru’s nerves. If anyone knew Kang Min better than he did, it was this person—and if he was this confident, then maybe it was safe to trust him.

Then what is Esper Kang Min’s problem? Why is he doing all this?

[Do you really think that bastard is actually Kang Min?]

…He is not?

No matter how he looked at him—front, side, upside down—he looked like Kang Min. And now he was hearing that he was not?

His brain, which had just begun to untangle itself, fell into chaos again.

[…He is not. I only figured it out after I died. I was completely blinded.]

Wait, are you saying Esper Kang Min has an identical twin?

[As if.]

Lee Haru tilted his head. If they were not twins, then was there someone else who looked exactly like Kang Min? Was that even possible?

Same face, same height, same build, same voice, same speech patterns—it had all been identical to Kang Min.

[Think about it. No one came to mind? You must have been confused too. The Kang Min in your memory and the one you actually met—they were not the same, were they?]

That is true…

He had been thrown into utter confusion for a while. It was only today that he had concluded Kang Min must have just been a shockingly good actor.

But judging by what this person was saying, the imposter had to be someone he had already met here.

Several names popped into his mind—Yu Je-hyun, Hong Seong-jun, and Jin Sung-joon.

It is definitely not Yu Je-hyun.

He had no real proof, but he was sure. Yu Je-hyun just did not have it in him to put on such an act.

Just thinking back to how he had acted in front of him—he had always been painfully sincere. Like a boy who had never experienced love before.

No way… is it Hong Seong-jun?

Jin Sung-joon barely had any interaction with him. The only time they had met was when Lee Haru was hospitalized.

Out of the three, only one had ever given off a shady vibe.

[That is right.]

But… how is that even possible? From the outside, he looked exactly like Esper Kang Min. Even his voice.

[That was the ability Hong Seong-jun had been hiding. Turns out he could do more than just partially alter his body.]

The voice that followed sounded tinged with bitterness.

Only then did Lee Haru remember—he had truly loved Kang Min.

He had probably not been like this before, but whenever he stood in front of Kang Min, he had always seemed small and timid.

The memories he had glimpsed were only fragments of what had happened between him and Kang Min—but in every one of them, not once had he looked genuinely happy.

[I never realized it, not even at the end… I was a fool. I could not even recognize the person I truly loved.]

There was a deep ache in Lee Haru’s chest at the sound of that bitter voice.

If the man were here in front of him, he might have reached out and gently ruffled his hair.

Instead, Haru offered the only comfort he could: sincerity.

The one at fault is the bastard who deceived you. He showed up looking exactly like Kang Min and spoke to you the same way—how could anyone be expected to tell the difference? Unless you had already known Esper Hong Seong-jun could perfectly copy someone else’s appearance, there is no way you could have seen through it.

Even Haru had only come to understand after hearing the truth directly. It was clear that no one had known about Hong Seong-jun’s hidden ability.

So now tell me—how do you want me to take revenge?

So far, the only request had been to take revenge—there had been no mention of how.

But if Hong Seong-jun truly could not kill him, just as the man claimed, then the possibilities for revenge were endless.

From what Haru could tell, Hong Seong-jun was clearly obsessed with the original owner of this body.

Why else would he disguise himself as the man he had once loved and linger nearby for so long?

Even now, he had kidnapped Haru and hidden him away in some unknown place—as if he did not want anyone else to ever find him.

[…I want him to be miserable. As much as I was. I want him to suffer, to writhe in pain, until he takes his own life.]

After a long silence, the answer finally came—and it made Haru hesitate.

He was not someone who could easily hate others, and the method being proposed felt cruel, almost inhuman.

That is… not going to be easy. Making someone like Hong Seong-jun truly suffer…

[I know it is a heavy request. But there is one way.]

What way?

[Pretend to love him. That’s what he wants more than anything.]

…What?

Love? That was just as impossible.

How was he supposed to fake being in love when he had never experienced it himself?

Lee Haru coughed awkwardly into his hand.

Even if the conversation was happening in his head, talking about himself so openly made him self-conscious.

But I have never even dated anyone… How am I supposed to pretend to be in love?

His only understanding of romance came from secondhand experience—reading about it in books.

His friends were all equally clueless, so he hasn’t exactly learned anything useful from them either.

[Wait, seriously? Never?]

…Yeah. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.

Admitting he had been single since birth felt humiliating enough.

To make matters worse, his first kiss—no, first brush of lips—had been with Yu Je-hyun.

As the memory surfaced, his face grew warm with embarrassment.

[Sounds to me like you are already in a relationship.]

Me?

[Yeah. With Yu Je-hyun.]

No way!

His voice shot up. Sure, Yu Je-hyun had been crossing his mind more and more lately—but that did not mean they were dating.

We never even said anything about being together! How does that count as a relationship?

[Wow, you are really that old-fashioned? You think people have to say, ‘Do you want to be my boyfriend?’ and hear ‘Yes, let’s date’ for it to be official?]

Bullseye.

[Seriously? That was your idea of a relationship? ‘Let’s start dating today!’ I used to think people who said that were a joke—but you actually are one?]

Maybe not exactly like that, but… still.

Shouldn’t there at least be a confession first?

Dating someone without even liking them—Haru found the idea baffling.

And his assumption that Yu Je-hyun might like him? That was just his own theory.

What if—just maybe—Yu Je-hyun had kissed him that day out of nothing more than curiosity? What if it was just about the texture of someone’s lips?

What makes you so sure about all this…?

The more he listened, the more ridiculous it all sounded.

Had this guy been silently watching him the entire time—following him around like some invisible ghost?

As Haru narrowed his eyes in suspicion, a casual voice replied.

[I peeked at a few of your memories. Not everything, but… you think about Yu Je-hyun a lot. And you kissed, right?]

It was not a kiss! Our lips just barely brushed for a second…

[No tongue? And you are still blushing over that? What kind of life have you lived that even that was your first real kiss…?]

Stop!

If he let this go on, the scolding would probably continue until his ears started bleeding.

Author: Levia