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chapter 2
It wasn’t as if I remembered everything from my past life with perfect clarity.
In that life, I lived buried under assignments given by my professors. Honestly, part of the blame was mine—I had stuffed my schedule with an absurd number of courses just to rack up credits.
And then, unfortunately, I died without ever truly blooming in my young, flower-like age.
My previous life began with assignments and ended with assignments.
Still, it was better than being locked up all day, looked down upon for being a black cat, experimented on, and beaten.
At least in that life, I wasn’t experimented on—and I wasn’t alone.
Sadly, recalling my past life didn’t directly change anything around me.
In novels, when someone regains their past-life memories, their parents suddenly regret everything and shower them with affection, or the male lead suddenly appears out of nowhere.
But for me, nothing changed. I still couldn’t take a single step outside my room except when forced to run errands under the guise of chores. And even then, someone always followed from a distance. There was nothing I could really do.
My life genre didn’t magically shift into a warm parenting story or a romance.
Ah. Still, there was one change.
I realized that this world was inside a book.
And that book was a completely hopeless, joyless, heartless tragedy.
An unnecessarily long one at that.
The story was simple.
A heroine struggles through the slums, receives her grandmother’s hidden inheritance, buys land that just so happens to contain a mine, builds a trading company, becomes wildly successful—and then one day gets kidnapped by the insane male lead.
And in this book? The cute, innocent romance between the heroine and male lead? Completely nonexistent.
The logic? Also completely nonexistent.
Because the story threw logic into the trash, everything absurd happened through a chain of “coincidence” and “fate.” The author clearly thought the word “fate” could stitch together the holes where logic should’ve been.
There wasn’t even an explanation for why the male lead fell in love with the heroine.
Only his obsessive madness, the pointless events before they met, and descriptions of the background were emphasized.
…Honestly, it made me wonder if there was even love at all.
No matter how I thought about it, it was a bizarre book.
Was I really reading this just to see the male lead’s obsessive madness? Or was I just wasting time? I still didn’t know why I read it.
Anyway, what mattered was this: I was one of the people from the very beginning of the story—someone from the Simond family who would be slaughtered by the male lead before even meeting him.
Remembering my past life and realizing this world was inside a book was a huge shock for a twelve-year-old girl.
I cried all night that day.
And then I made a decision.
“I’m running away.”
I would escape one day before this cursed family was destroyed by the male lead.
I would run away, start a business, and live as a rich, unemployed person.
…That became the goal of my life that day.
“Now… when was it again that the male lead wiped out the Simond family?”
The book said he wiped them out in the middle of winter, but didn’t specify exactly when.
I walked aimlessly, staring at the ground. Each step sank into the soft snow, leaving footprints behind.
“Ah. Seeing snow makes me want bingsu.”
Looking at the pure white snow made me suddenly crave shaved ice.
Bingsu. Rice cake bingsu. Red bean bingsu.
Scoop up snow, add red beans, rice cakes, drizzle condensed milk…
Thud.
I kicked the snow, scattering it everywhere.
“Life is meaningless.”
Yeah. Life is pointless. So what if I remembered my past life? I couldn’t do anything with it.
“All I can do is run away right before that psycho wipes out my family.”
Thinking random thoughts, I trudged through the snow-covered mountain, searching for flowers.
But there wasn’t even grass visible—everything was buried under white snow.
The mountain looked like it was mocking me.
“Come find me~,” it seemed to say.
Find me? What is this, hide-and-seek?
If I called out like that here, it wouldn’t be a playful game—it would be a life-or-death chase with some wild beast.
And the end of “come find me” would likely be a scream.
“Perfect.”
The world really does look twisted.
But honestly, it made sense. Anyone would see the world as distorted if they were starving, freezing, and searching for flowers in a snow-covered mountain.
Then, something red caught my eye in the distance.
“…Huh? What’s that?”
I cautiously approached it.
Maybe it was a flower.
As I got closer, its identity became clearer.
“I found it!”
A beautiful red flower in full bloom.
It must have bloomed because the weather had been warm recently.
Lucky me.
I gently bit down on it and carried it in my mouth.
Being a cat, I couldn’t exactly hold it properly. You ever see a cat walk upright holding a flower? Exactly. If that existed, it would belong in a “Beastman Wonders” exhibit.
A cold wind sliced through my fur.
“Brr… cold.”
I shook myself.
The trees around me swayed violently in the winter wind.
Even the flower in my mouth shook helplessly.
It felt just like me.
A flower that bloomed briefly in harsh winter only to be trampled and burned soon after… and me, who would soon be killed by the male lead.
In the end, we were the same.
“I hope you live a better life in your next life.”
After silently mourning the flower, I carefully headed down the mountain.
I wanted to deliver it safely before giving it to Celestin.
But then—
“KEEEEEEEEK!”
A piercing, horrifying scream echoed through the air.
“…What was that?”
It sounded like someone crying out in agony.
My fur stood on end.
This mountain was also home to wild beasts. If I was unlucky, I could easily run into a tiger, wolf, or wild boar and end up as their meal.
A bad feeling crept over me.
I quickly hid behind the nearest rock.
But it was already too late.
A heavy thudding sound shook the ground.
Peeking out, I saw a wild boar charging from a distance.
“…Just go away.”
Please.
“KWEHHEHEHEK!”
The sound got closer—more terrifying each second.
I held my breath behind the rock.
Then our eyes met.
The boar slowed.
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded.
It looked around as if searching for something.
The cold winter air brushed against my neck.
“No way…”
Before I could think further, the boar locked eyes with me.
Its lips curled upward in a grotesque smile.
Was it just my imagination, or did it look satisfied—like it had found its prey?
Looks like I was lunch today.
“…It’s just my imagination.”
It has to be.
But the feeling only got worse.
The boar turned toward me.
It was definitely targeting me.
“Sh*t.”
I bolted from behind the rock.
Running through the snowy mountain without stopping.
“Why?! Why me?!”
Aren’t boars supposed to have bad eyesight?
I dodged between trees, weaving through narrow gaps.
But I could feel it—its gaze locking onto me, charging in a straight line.
Branches blurred past.
Then—
THUD.
Something crashed into snow behind me.
“Kweeeek…”
I stopped and turned.
The boar lay motionless, having slammed into a thick tree.
“…Serves you right.”
Relief flooded me.
I poked its nose with snow just in case, then hurried down the mountain.
After that chaotic chase, I realized I had come much farther down than expected.
Soon, the Simond estate came into view.
“…Why is it so quiet?”
Too quiet.
No servants sneaking out through holes in the fence. No maids waiting to harass me. No animals.
Everything was eerily still.
Only the wind rustled the trees.
Something was wrong.
Still uneasy, I slipped through the small hole into the estate.
The servants usually struggled through it, but I passed easily.
Being a kitten had its perks.
“Ah!”
As I emerged, I bumped into a pair of black shoes.
My eyes widened.
Roll.
My body tumbled backward like a ball of fluff.
I scrambled up and shook myself.
But then—
A strange, overwhelming pressure filled the air.
Danger.
Instinct screamed it.
And then—
It wasn’t as if I remembered everything from my past life with perfect clarity.
In that life, I lived buried under assignments given by my professors. Honestly, part of the blame was mine—I had stuffed my schedule with an absurd number of courses just to rack up credits.
And then, unfortunately, I died without ever truly blooming in my young, flower-like age.
My previous life began with assignments and ended with assignments.
Still, it was better than being locked up all day, looked down upon for being a black cat, experimented on, and beaten.
At least in that life, I wasn’t experimented on—and I wasn’t alone.
Sadly, recalling my past life didn’t directly change anything around me.
In novels, when someone regains their past-life memories, their parents suddenly regret everything and shower them with affection, or the male lead suddenly appears out of nowhere.
But for me, nothing changed. I still couldn’t take a single step outside my room except when forced to run errands under the guise of chores. And even then, someone always followed from a distance. There was nothing I could really do.
My life genre didn’t magically shift into a warm parenting story or a romance.
Ah. Still, there was one change.
I realized that this world was inside a book.
And that book was a completely hopeless, joyless, heartless tragedy.
An unnecessarily long one at that.
The story was simple.
A heroine struggles through the slums, receives her grandmother’s hidden inheritance, buys land that just so happens to contain a mine, builds a trading company, becomes wildly successful—and then one day gets kidnapped by the insane male lead.
And in this book? The cute, innocent romance between the heroine and male lead? Completely nonexistent.
The logic? Also completely nonexistent.
Because the story threw logic into the trash, everything absurd happened through a chain of “coincidence” and “fate.” The author clearly thought the word “fate” could stitch together the holes where logic should’ve been.
There wasn’t even an explanation for why the male lead fell in love with the heroine.
Only his obsessive madness, the pointless events before they met, and descriptions of the background were emphasized.
…Honestly, it made me wonder if there was even love at all.
No matter how I thought about it, it was a bizarre book.
Was I really reading this just to see the male lead’s obsessive madness? Or was I just wasting time? I still didn’t know why I read it.
Anyway, what mattered was this: I was one of the people from the very beginning of the story—someone from the Simond family who would be slaughtered by the male lead before even meeting him.
Remembering my past life and realizing this world was inside a book was a huge shock for a twelve-year-old girl.
I cried all night that day.
And then I made a decision.
“I’m running away.”
I would escape one day before this cursed family was destroyed by the male lead.
I would run away, start a business, and live as a rich, unemployed person.
…That became the goal of my life that day.
“Now… when was it again that the male lead wiped out the Simond family?”
The book said he wiped them out in the middle of winter, but didn’t specify exactly when.
I walked aimlessly, staring at the ground. Each step sank into the soft snow, leaving footprints behind.
“Ah. Seeing snow makes me want bingsu.”
Looking at the pure white snow made me suddenly crave shaved ice.
Bingsu. Rice cake bingsu. Red bean bingsu.
Scoop up snow, add red beans, rice cakes, drizzle condensed milk…
Thud.
I kicked the snow, scattering it everywhere.
“Life is meaningless.”
Yeah. Life is pointless. So what if I remembered my past life? I couldn’t do anything with it.
“All I can do is run away right before that psycho wipes out my family.”
Thinking random thoughts, I trudged through the snow-covered mountain, searching for flowers.
But there wasn’t even grass visible—everything was buried under white snow.
The mountain looked like it was mocking me.
“Come find me~,” it seemed to say.
Find me? What is this, hide-and-seek?
If I called out like that here, it wouldn’t be a playful game—it would be a life-or-death chase with some wild beast.
And the end of “come find me” would likely be a scream.
“Perfect.”
The world really does look twisted.
But honestly, it made sense. Anyone would see the world as distorted if they were starving, freezing, and searching for flowers in a snow-covered mountain.
Then, something red caught my eye in the distance.
“…Huh? What’s that?”
I cautiously approached it.
Maybe it was a flower.
As I got closer, its identity became clearer.
“I found it!”
A beautiful red flower in full bloom.
It must have bloomed because the weather had been warm recently.
Lucky me.
I gently bit down on it and carried it in my mouth.
Being a cat, I couldn’t exactly hold it properly. You ever see a cat walk upright holding a flower? Exactly. If that existed, it would belong in a “Beastman Wonders” exhibit.
A cold wind sliced through my fur.
“Brr… cold.”
I shook myself.
The trees around me swayed violently in the winter wind.
Even the flower in my mouth shook helplessly.
It felt just like me.
A flower that bloomed briefly in harsh winter only to be trampled and burned soon after… and me, who would soon be killed by the male lead.
In the end, we were the same.
“I hope you live a better life in your next life.”
After silently mourning the flower, I carefully headed down the mountain.
I wanted to deliver it safely before giving it to Celestin.
But then—
“KEEEEEEEEK!”
A piercing, horrifying scream echoed through the air.
“…What was that?”
It sounded like someone crying out in agony.
My fur stood on end.
This mountain was also home to wild beasts. If I was unlucky, I could easily run into a tiger, wolf, or wild boar and end up as their meal.
A bad feeling crept over me.
I quickly hid behind the nearest rock.
But it was already too late.
A heavy thudding sound shook the ground.
Peeking out, I saw a wild boar charging from a distance.
“…Just go away.”
Please.
“KWEHHEHEHEK!”
The sound got closer—more terrifying each second.
I held my breath behind the rock.
Then our eyes met.
The boar slowed.
Thump. Thump.
My heart pounded.
It looked around as if searching for something.
The cold winter air brushed against my neck.
“No way…”
Before I could think further, the boar locked eyes with me.
Its lips curled upward in a grotesque smile.
Was it just my imagination, or did it look satisfied—like it had found its prey?
Looks like I was lunch today.
“…It’s just my imagination.”
It has to be.
But the feeling only got worse.
The boar turned toward me.
It was definitely targeting me.
“Sh*t.”
I bolted from behind the rock.
Running through the snowy mountain without stopping.
“Why?! Why me?!”
Aren’t boars supposed to have bad eyesight?
I dodged between trees, weaving through narrow gaps.
But I could feel it—its gaze locking onto me, charging in a straight line.
Branches blurred past.
Then—
THUD.
Something crashed into snow behind me.
“Kweeeek…”
I stopped and turned.
The boar lay motionless, having slammed into a thick tree.
“…Serves you right.”
Relief flooded me.
I poked its nose with snow just in case, then hurried down the mountain.
After that chaotic chase, I realized I had come much farther down than expected.
Soon, the Simond estate came into view.
“…Why is it so quiet?”
Too quiet.
No servants sneaking out through holes in the fence. No maids waiting to harass me. No animals.
Everything was eerily still.
Only the wind rustled the trees.
Something was wrong.
Still uneasy, I slipped through the small hole into the estate.
The servants usually struggled through it, but I passed easily.
Being a kitten had its perks.
“Ah!”
As I emerged, I bumped into a pair of black shoes.
My eyes widened.
Roll.
My body tumbled backward like a ball of fluff.
I scrambled up and shook myself.
But then—
A strange, overwhelming pressure filled the air.
Danger.
Instinct screamed it.
And then—
