The Transmigrator's Circumstances
"...Haaah."
Having arrived at the academy with time to spare, Lumia quickened her pace toward her classroom. But mid-stride, she stopped and turned her head.
There's still a little time left.
The academy kiosk had just opened its shutters, catching her eye.
Grumble...
As she stared at the little shop, her stomach let out a quiet protest. Waking up at dawn to visit Lee Se-ah's residence had forced her to skip breakfast. Of course, even if she had gotten up at her usual hour, finding time to sit down for a meal would have been out of the question.
"Good morning."
Approaching the counter with an affable smile, Lumia offered a polite greeting to the vendor.
"Well now, hello there, student. What can I get for you?"
Lumia's androgynous, charming features paired with that pleasant smile had always granted her an effortless upper hand in human relations, regardless of whether she was dealing with men or women.
"Could I get one of those cup-bap bowls, please?"
"Oh dear, you shouldn't eat too much of that instant junk. It's bad for your health."
"Haha, is that so?"
Even when the person across from her was just a kiosk vendor, her charm never failed.
Getting on her good side yields plenty of perks, after all.
Lumia already knew. In an upcoming scenario, having built a rapport with this kiosk lady would prove exceptionally useful. And even without that specific event, as the 'Protagonist,' befriending the campus vendor offered endless benefits.
For instance, tucked away in that corner over there...
Wearing a faint smile, Lumia shifted her gaze toward the side display rack.
"Huh?"
In that exact instant, something completely unforeseen entered her field of vision.
"This is..."
She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the sight remained unchanged. It wasn't the white mask she knew so intimately—the one she adored so obsessively that she engraved its design onto nearly every personal possession she owned. Yet resting atop the display counter was a black mask, identical in every way save for its color, bearing faint hairline fractures across its surface.
"E-Excuse me, ma'am. This..."
"Oh, that?"
Lumia struggled to maintain her composure, extending a trembling finger toward the item. The vendor scratched her head casually.
"Found it while sweeping the courtyard recently. Thought it looked rather neat, so I set it out as a decoration."
Hearing those words, Lumia's world began to spin.
The mask Trauma wore... The mask Kang Haneul had on... Directly kissed by Haneul's breath...
She could not let such an ultra-rare artifact slip through her fingers. She had to obtain it, no matter what it took. By sheer, miraculous stroke of luck, the vendor had picked it up before Association investigators could sweep the grounds. But if another student happened to recognize it, the window would slam shut forever. She would never be able to hold it, let alone display it proudly in her room.
"U-Um, ma'am."
"Yes?"
"Would it be all right... if I had that?"
Her voice quavered slightly as the desperate plea slipped past her lips.
"Now, hold on. I can't just give it away. What kind of merchant hands out merchandise for free?" The vendor wagged a playful finger, a shrewd grin spreading across her face. "Ten thousand won."
"...Pardon?"
"Give me ten thousand won, and it's yours, kiddo."
Lumia's expression tightened into a troubled grimace.
"Well, that's a bit..."
"Oh? Lumia-ssi?"
Was it a cruel twist of fate? In that very heartbeat, Ariel's voice chimed in from right behind her.
...Fuck.
There was no room left to negotiate. The decision had to be made now.
"H-Here's ten thousand won."
"O-Oh?"
"I can take it now, right?"
Feverishly yanking the banknote from her wallet, Lumia snatched the mask from the rack.
"S-Sure. Go right ahead...?"
Clutching the prize against her ribs, Lumia tucked it securely into her uniform, pressing it to her chest.
Kang Haneul is... inside me...
The moment the cold porcelain brushed against her skin, a shiver ran down her spine, her face melting into an expression of sheer ecstasy.
"Good morning!"
Yet that reverie lasted only a fleeting second.
"......Ah."
Still pressing the mask against her bosom, Lumia cast a glance toward the girl greeting her—and froze stiff.
".........."
Temporary Instructor Oh Ji-seok. Standing right beside Ariel, his gaze drilled into Lumia with piercing frost.
It was barely a fraction of a second. Almost immediately, his features smoothed into a gentle, approachable smile directed back at Ariel. But Lumia knew without a shadow of a doubt.
That man was none other than Kang Haneul.
The reason was simple: a figure named Oh Ji-seok was never supposed to exist at the academy at this point in the timeline, and beneath the plain glasses, his facial structure matched Trauma's original countenance far too precisely.
"Is there anything you'd like to eat?"
"Y-Yes? Um..."
He was asking Ariel so tenderly, an affectionate warmth softening his tone.
"I-It's fine! I'm really..."
"Egg cookies and a bag of Sweet Chips, please."
"I'm not really hungry right now—"
"And one of those rice bowls."
"Uh, well....."
With every item he rattled off, Ariel's protests grew fainter and more flustered.
"The cup-bap here is actually quite good. Have one."
"Th-Thank..."
"Here, take some snacks too."
"Thank youuu..."
In the end, Ariel lowered her head completely, a helpless murmur trailing off.
"Growing kids need to eat plenty."
Kang Haneul reached out, his hand resting atop her head in a gentle, reassuring stroke.
"........"
Wrapped in that strangely sweet, domestic atmosphere, the two turned and walked away from the kiosk.
"Student? So, are you buying that cup-bap or not?"
Lumia, who had watched the entire exchange in a daze, quietly reached into her pocket and checked her wallet.
"...Never mind."
Naturally, the wallet was completely empty. The ten thousand won she had just surrendered was her entire remaining budget. Thanks to that impulse purchase, she would be surviving on tap water for the rest of the day.
"Goodbye."
"........?"
Leaving the bewildered vendor behind, Lumia took a solitary step forward, her eyes locked straight ahead.
"Ah, right. I accidentally bought two meal tickets again..."
"...Pardon?"
Kang Haneul's gaze was fixed entirely on Ariel.
Should I just kill them all?
Lumia came to a dead halt, the vicious thought surfacing in her mind. She wanted nothing more than to slaughter every single woman fluttering around Kang Haneul right this second and drag him away from this place. She wanted to lay bare every secret she harbored and flee somewhere far, far away with him. As long as she could be by Kang Haneul's side, whether she lived as a hero, a villain, or an eldritch grotesque didn't matter in the slightest.
Sure, she would have to constantly prune away any little pests that dared crawl toward Sunbae. But if that was the only price, she would happily disguise her true nature forever, lingering quietly at his side until the world met its end.
No. I can't.
Shaking her head vigorously, she resumed walking.
If I do that, Sunbae will be sad.
Every time she saw Ariel clinging so closely to Kang Haneul, murderous impulses surged up her throat like bile. Yet she clamped down on her lip until it bled, forcing the savagery back down.
I don't ever want to see Sunbae cry.
Suppressing her innate, twisted nature, Lumia quietly trailed after them.
How do I steal Sunbae back?
Her thoughts whirred at frantic speed.
How can I get him to wrap his hands around my throat and hack me to pieces again?
Under normal circumstances, the mere idea of being choked or mutilated would disgust her to no end. But if the one doing it was Kang Haneul, that changed everything. Regardless of her innate inclinations, if it was Kang Haneul's hands doing the tearing, she would endure it gladly, endlessly.
Because...
Having Kang Haneul become her ultimate arch-nemesis,
And allowing him to thoroughly trample her, violate her, obsess over her, and finally slaughter her—
That was the one and only path to saving his life.
I have to find the route before it's too late.
Having discarded even her basic instincts for the sake of her beloved, she stared fixedly at Kang Haneul's receding back, turning scenario after scenario over in her mind.
How do I force the narrative back onto the proper track?
She clutched her hollow, growling stomach, ignoring the dull ache from the tight chest binders constricting her torso.
...Where on earth did everything go so wrong?
Tightening her grip on the mask hidden against her chest, her mind drifted back to the very day her soul had crossed into this world.
When she had closed her eyes back then, she was certain her life was simply over.
"...Really?"
Yet when she opened them again, she had become a white-haired girl.
"I really became Lumia?"
It was utterly unbelievable. She had slipped into the skin of a pivotal figure from her absolute favorite work. Even better, it was Lumia—a character she had always felt a strange kinship with due to their strikingly similar looks.
"Ha, haha..."
Once the reality of the situation sank in, uncontrollable laughter bubbled up from her chest.
"Haha! Hahaha....."
Trauma, her ultimate favorite character of all time. The fleeting wish she had harbored at the brink of death—a desperate yearning to meet him in the flesh—had manifested into reality. What was more, judging by her current stature and physical development, she had transmigrated several years before the original story began.
In other words, long before Kang Haneul ever became Trauma.
"This is perfection."
All those private fantasies she had spun alone in the dark. The countless 'What If' fanfictions penned by fans across the globe. The official side stories that explored divergent timelines.
What if Trauma had never become a villain?
What if a single person had reached out and held his hand?
What if he had crossed paths with the protagonist or 'her' just a little earlier?
Here was the golden opportunity to bring the most heated discussions from the community forums into living, breathing reality.
"Should I kidnap Kang Haneul first? Elope together? No, maybe I should butcher all those worthless bitches to clear the field..."
Muttering aloud in giddy anticipation, her eyes gleamed with wild excitement.
"...No, calm down."
Taking a deep breath, she collapsed back onto the bed.
"You have to treasure your favorite. You can't do things like that."
She had no idea how this miracle had occurred, but since the chance had been granted, she resolved to suppress her violent nature just this once. This was a miraculous chance to 'save' her idol and weave a pure, unadulterated romance. If she could simply erase that agonizing, pitch-black past from his destiny, and if she could become the one irreplaceable person in his world...
Perhaps living an ordinary life, caressing a gently swollen belly while drifting off to sleep nestled against his chest, wouldn't be half bad. Provided, of course, that no wretched females dared wag their tails in his direction.
"Right. First, I need to assess the current state of affairs..."
Wearing a radiant smile, the girl who would henceforth answer to the name Lumia pushed herself up from the mattress.
Bzzzzz—!
"......?"
Right at that moment, the smartphone resting in her uniform pocket began to vibrate insistently.
"Hello?"
After a brief hesitation, she answered the call, keeping her voice light and cheerful to gather information.
"Lumia. I have news to report."
"Justia is dead."
"...What?"
The exact moment her soul had slipped into this vessel...
Was none other than the day Justia fell from grace.
"Kang Haneul was apprehended at the scene under emergency arrest. Hurry over here immediately—"
And the very day Kang Haneul was taken into custody for the murder of the woman he loved.
"...Fuck."
Confronted with transmigration timing so utterly, astoundingly cursed, all that spilled from her lips was a hollow, venomous swear.