I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

Predecessor summoning, transfer procedures, contract preparation… There were more things I had to do than I thought. Thankfully, there was barely anything I had to handle myself.

First of all, the summoning of the predecessor turned out to be surprisingly easy.

I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but the owner of this mansion is registered under the name ‘Ye Sara’. Living her life almost giving up and without any particular ambition, Ye Sara has never actively utilized that right, but legally speaking, it’s true that I could kick out all the servants in this mansion without any major issues.

Of course, if I did that, it would be obvious that my life itself would come to a halt, so I’ll just hold off for now.

Anyway, for that reason, Yang Hye-in was able to surprisingly enter this mansion again easily.

However, separate from that fact, Yang Hye-in herself was reluctant to return to the mansion.

Well, I wouldn’t want to go back to the place where the chairwoman of our country’s… no, the world’s largest company directly fired me either.

The problem was that I couldn’t just leave Yang Hye-in alone.

As expected, the servants in the mansion began to avoid me as much as possible. Unlike before, when they’d just stay quiet even if I was right there, now they tried to avoid coming into my sight whenever I was outside.

I suppose they’ve realized that I’m no longer someone they can just ignore. While the chairwoman might have ordered the servants not to talk to me, I’ve been engaging them in conversation every time I saw them.

“Is there a manual for the servants?”

“Is there a notebook that my predecessor maid organized?”

“Is there anyone who can give me and Sohee a tour of the mansion?”

After diligently chatting with the servants all day on Sunday while dragging Sohee along, everyone seemed to get pale and were scrambling around to avoid me. Whenever I moved fast, they moved fast too. In frustration, I noted how much slower Ye Sara’s feet seemed compared to the servants’.

Alright, I found myself with another reason to train my stamina. One day, I’ll chase them down for real.

“Should I catch them?” Sohee asked, but I shook my head.

In the relationship of ‘giant and small’, the giant usually has the upper hand. That’s natural. Those who receive money and those who give it. It’s easy to deduce which side wields more power without much thought.

But, I remember the content of the original story.

Ye Sara was known for all sorts of malice not only in school but also in the mansion.

While it wasn’t a scene that directly came out, it was mentioned in the description about Ye Sara at the end. The brave servants exposed Ye Sara’s misdeeds in the mansion, and of course, that created ‘reason to punish Ye Sara’. As a result, the chairwoman ended up abandoning Ye Sara.

…Did she really abandon her?

When I played the game, it was obvious that Ye Sara’s side of the story was never properly presented. That’s why I didn’t have a clear understanding of what kind of life Ye Sara lived, but now it’s different.

Did the servants who were employed by the chairwoman and were under Ye Sara really speak out themselves?

Could the students who had been tightly held by the chairwoman and treated Ye Sara like a ghost—kids who had thoroughly experienced how the business world works since childhood—actually expose Ye Sara’s malice and help in socially burying her?

While the chairwoman tried to isolate Ye Sara from the world, it wasn’t simply because she hated her.

Was it merely to take away her wealth? No, if that were the case, she wouldn’t have dressed her in such ridiculous clothing and patted her head and touched her face.

…One possibility crossed my mind, but I’d decided to set it aside for now. There’s no answer to be had just by thinking about it right now. First and foremost, I need to figure out if I can find the true consciousness of Ye Sara in my head. And also, I’ll try to get an understanding of Choi Na-kyung’s thoughts.

So, I’ve decided to summon Yang Hye-in. Even if the chairwoman had put additional conditions on firing Yang Hye-in, it would just be a matter of hiring her back in my name. Statements like “Don’t think about working here” were simply threats in the end. No one in this country has the power to isolate someone that way.

Especially not someone who could pay a maid a salary of 500 million won. Even if they had more money than me.

Was it because I was using Sohee’s number instead of Ye Sara’s? Yang Hye-in surprisingly picked up the phone easily. Of course, she seemed somewhat taken aback upon hearing my voice right after picking up, but she didn’t hang up immediately.

As I seized the opportunity and asked her to return,
[But I…]
Yang Hye-in hesitated.

“If you don’t want to meet inside the mansion, we can at least talk outside. You can’t just leave without handing over responsibilities. You haven’t even done a proper handover to the next person.”

I’ve always hated “being busy” since my company days. And busy work usually occurs when a lot of things pile up at once. That was exactly the situation now.

In my previous life, as soon as I got a job, my senior spoiled me with various things, becoming very close to me. Then, just two months after I got used to the job, they inexplicably quit. They say they left just one resignation letter behind and vanished. After all, retirement pay just needs to go to the salary account. Or they could just contact the boss separately later.

Looking back, that senior must have been considering escaping from the company from the start. I don’t know whether they went to another company or just wanted to quit because the work was too hard, but thanks to that, I ended up taking over all the work that my senior had been doing for me without a proper handover.

Though I managed to handle it with two months of hard-won experience, that period was truly exhausting. Who enjoys involuntary overtime?

Of course, it’s not entirely accurate to say that this situation is the same. The maids coming in after Yang Hye-in would have completed their training by then.

…But the maid I wanted to use was Sohee.

“Even if you don’t want to decide, at least do a proper handover before you return. For that period, I’ll calculate and pay you correctly.”

[…….]
“Shall I come to find you? I can go out and grab a taxi right now.”

[…No, I’ll head back to the mansion as quickly as possible.]

“Alright, then.”

[Thank you, miss.]

What’s with the thank you? You’re getting paid to work after all.

Thus, the handover issue was resolved by summoning the predecessor, and I was able to wrap it up around Sunday evening. Yang Hye-in said that she would start the handover from Monday since she had to pack her things again. I decided to also squeeze in the transfer procedures and contract preparation while I was at it.

Well.

Why.

What.

It would definitely be more efficient for Yang Hye-in to handle it. If it couldn’t be helped, I could always give an additional fee related to that work.

People often say that not everything in the world can be solved with money, but usually, the reason they can’t be solved is simply due to a lack of funds.

And I had enough funds that, in general, I wouldn’t run out while doing most things.

Speaking of which, I think I heard that the World Health Organization or Elon Musk’s wealth could solve global hunger with just a small percentage of it.

Should I invest a small percentage as well? If it enhances my public image, it would serve as a great shield later, even if I have to bite the bullet afterward. I may not want to solve global hunger entirely, but isn’t it possible to visibly address some domestic issues?

Alright, let’s add this to the checklist.

The second thing I needed to do was find a maid uniform that fits Sohee.

Of course, I had no idea where the maid uniforms were located.

Since this has happened, I decided to familiarize myself with the mansion’s layout before Monday.

*

“After school today, the predecessor should arrive, so by tonight, you should be able to officially become a maid.”

“Then, from then on, do I have to speak in maid talk?”

Seeing Sohee’s face slightly redden at my words, I made a surprised expression.

Uh… Does she have some kind of fantasy about being a maid?

“…It would probably be better to do that in front of the other servants. When it’s just the two of us, feel free to speak normally. No, actually, it would feel a bit uncomfortable if you don’t. ”

“Really?”

After thinking for a moment at my words, Sohee nodded.

“Okay, then. Let’s meet in the evening.”

Since her transfer procedures haven’t been completed yet, Sohee is going to her own school today. She will likely join the same school as me in the near future.

I had already found a maid uniform yesterday. As I expected, most of the mansion was empty. In fact, it was so big that just walking around and opening doors could easily pass an hour, so if most of it were occupied, I would have been surprised.

Thanks to that, I could find all the places the servants used and the storage areas too. In a place that looked like an outfit store’s storage, the uniforms for the servants were neatly hung according to work type and size.

It seems having a lot of money really shows. Instead of just hiring and procuring servant outfits, they had everything made and stored in advance. Even with almost no personnel changes.

“Alright, let’s meet in the evening.”

I said my goodbye and headed towards the car. Sohee had to walk to school, so she left a bit earlier today. Thankfully, perhaps due to the mess I had stirred yesterday, the servants seemed a bit pleased when I said I’d be heading out earlier than usual.

Well, I’m not particularly sad about it.

I waved at Sohee, who for some reason looked positively cheerful, and got into the car.

*

It felt a bit awkward when no one greeted me after I got out of the car. Maybe they thought I would say something, but as soon as I stepped out, the car just zoomed off.

With no particular ties to the driver, I simply walked towards the school gate.

There were quite a few kids heading to school at the same time as me, but perhaps due to the trouble I had been causing at school lately, they walked a good distance away from me. As a result, a round space seemed to form around me, like some sort of barrier.

Since it wasn’t yet time for Ha Neul to arrive, I decided to just walk alone. Probably because I was alone, it seemed easier for the surrounding kids to ignore me, as they barely glanced in my direction.

…That’s right. They weren’t glancing at ‘me’.

Rather, they were stealing glances behind me somewhere.

With looks as if they were examining some strange person.

“……”

I turned around to see what was going on, only to catch a brief glimpse of blue hair disappearing behind a nearby tree.

“……”

As I stared intently, wondering what was going on, a lead committee member peeking out from behind a tree met my gaze and immediately dove back behind the tree.

…Are they hiding over there?

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