Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Possessed
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I wasn't like this before.
At some point, the narcolepsy that came out of nowhere started messing with my daily life.
Falling asleep mid-meal, mid-work, mid-walk, mid-wash.
I ended up holing myself up in the house.
Going outside just meant randomly keeling over from sudden drowsiness and getting hurt—dozens of times.
I couldn't control the sleepiness, so I couldn't even hold down a job properly and got fired.
At this point, it felt like some kind of disability, but the country wouldn't certify it.
I went to doctors, tried treatments as best I could, but nothing really changed.
With no results from my efforts, the lethargy from the sleepiness only deepened.
Unable to work due to lethargy and drowsiness, the money I'd saved just kept draining away without piling up.
Today was the same.
"...Mm."
I lay on the bed and closed my eyes.
These days, lying down felt way more natural than standing.
Something was seriously wrong, but there weren't any real alternatives.
A buzz— I reached out and fiddled with my phone.
It was a notification that my favorite streamer had gone live.
Rie.
A streamer whose viewers hovered between 200 and 300.
She had a unique, appealing voice that drew a niche audience, but her streams lacked the real entertainment value to break out bigger.
That was perfect for me.
Boring enough to fall asleep to, but with a nice voice that kept my ears from feeling empty.
[Today's game is—!]
Ah, volume's a bit loud.
I turned it down with a finger swipe, and finally, it was comfortable.
I closed my eyes and drifted off to Rie's voice.
I have no idea what the hell is going on.
I went to sleep and woke up as a girl.
...I could sorta wrap my head around that much.
But what I couldn't understand at all was why I was here.
"......A forest."
And not just that—after walking straight in one direction for what felt like over three hours to get out, somehow I was looping right back to the same spot.
No, not somehow—I really was going in circles.
Halfway through, things started feeling off, so I'd carved a cross into a particularly big tree nearby, and it kept popping up in my vision.
"What the hell."
Too vivid for a simple nightmare.
Suddenly alone in some nameless forest so dense sunlight barely filtered through, and as a girl no less.
Unable to make sense of it, the absurdity outweighed any fear.
Or rather—how long had it been since I got dropped here? Not a short time, that's for sure.
No animals, not even a single bug or bird.
Trees, grass, flowing water.
Flowers, vines, rocks, stones.
"......This is creepy."
I'd been keeping quiet so far, worried about attracting beasts, but it felt like I was the only living thing here anyway.
I perched on a suitable rock.
The more I thought, the weirder it got.
Three hours trekking through the forest, and I wasn't tired.
No hunger either. Maybe because my body changed? Even the narcolepsy that always plagued me was gone—my mind was sharp.
Not even any need to relieve myself.
I reached toward the sky.
Long, slender arms.
I knew I'd become a girl since the chest was flat, but even for one, she was lanky.
From what I could tell, her height wasn't much different from my original.
My head was so cluttered with thoughts it couldn't process them all.
I sighed in frustration and flopped back on the rock.
My vision flipped.
Felt like my body was floating in the air.
Panicking in the bewildering situation, I could see my own body below.
...My body's down there, so how am I seeing it?
[What does she even look like? Gotta overhaul the whole thing.]
A voice from somewhere.
It sounded like she was talking to someone, and it was more familiar than I'd expect.
"Can you hear me? Hey!"
[First off, too tall, right? Shrink the height a bit...... Fedora? You idiots! I just want her cute!]
My words weren't getting through.
And 'you' plural? She's talking to a group?
Wait, shrink what?
I looked down at my body in shock, and just like she said, my height shrank dramatically.
From somewhere around 170cm down to almost 140cm.
"...Isn't this... a bit too small?"
Shrinking for real was shocking enough, but way too much.
Too young-looking.
Practically elementary school height.
[Body type's good like this... Nah, wait... Shrink it a tiny bit more?]
It actually got a smidge smaller.
I instantly realized this person's tastes were seriously twisted.
Treating a living person like a game character—the attitude was off-putting, but that wasn't the priority now.
"Can you hear me! There's someone here!"
[Look at that face... Hate to say it, but it doesn't look girly at all? No, forget girly—even for a guy, it's just ugly.]
I get it's not a likable look, but saying it right to my face hurts.
Plus, it's only weird because it's a girl's body with a guy's face slapped on.
I never thought my face was objectively ugly.
[Hold on... No clue where to start tweaking this.]
Was my voice not reaching?
Or was she ignoring me?
No idea what was happening, but watching my face get arbitrarily molded was grotesque and agonizing.
After a long while, she finished and eyed the result with a vague satisfaction. The voice, silent for a bit, rang out again.
[...Alright, this should do it, yeah?]
What the hell was her idea of 'this should do'?
I was a completely different person.
Staring at my body—now a cute girl around 140cm or late 130s—I had no clue how to react.
[But ending here feels lacking, so how about heterochromia as a special touch? Too edgelord...? Nah? Then purple eyes instead?]
My eyes turned purple, just as she said.
Personally, it felt less mystical and more eerie.
[Done decorating... Oh, and heads up—I ain't skipping story. I'll pick whatever I want from future choices too, so don't backseat game me or get banned.]
Story skip?
Choices?
Talking like it's a game—creepy as hell, but she kept going.
[Start as an orphan! Nobles with all the perks are boring.]
"What the fuck?"
Out of nowhere, orphan backstory.
I couldn't fully parse it, but it pissed me off enough to curse.
[Name... 'Rie'. Gotta have my nickname for immersion.]
......Rie?
My thoughts froze.
Then the jammed-up ideas started flowing.
Slow at first, then faster.
Rie, the streamer I watched.
Her streams weren't that fun, but great for background noise while dozing off.
Even solving the voice mystery didn't answer everything else.
But I could infer.
Story skips, choices, nicknames.
Stuff from games.
And arbitrarily customizing my body? That's character creation.
Putting it together...
Inside a game?
Did I become a character in the game Rie was playing?
Was this the character creation screen?
I tried steering my thoughts toward something more 'rational'—no way something this absurd happens—but it felt real.
Forcing logic here was just escapism, I sighed.
[Anyway, Ultimate Eternal Package gives a B-rank trait—what to pick?]
[Sword Talent, Cool-Headed, Charm, Bloodlust, Nobility, Charisma, Silver Tongue...... Nah, none of that good stuff! Games are no fun if easy! That's why orphan start, not noble.]
She's deciding my path right now, huh?
And rejecting the 'useful' ones?
Definitely not aware of me.
[Not super useful, but looks decent enough... what's around?]
After molding my body like this, if she had any conscience, she'd give a cheat trait at minimum—instead, this agonizing deliberation gave me a headache.
[This one?]
I had no idea what, but something seeped into my body.
[Let's start! Spent two hours on charmake and viewers all dipped...]
With that, my vision went black.
When I opened my eyes, no forest—a village somewhere.
"...Ugh."
Head's spinning.
Stench everywhere.
Vision blurry, ground heaving.
Tried pushing up off the ground, but something slimy stuck to my fingers.
"......Fuck."
Mud and muck.
Wiped it on the wall as best I could and looked around.
Shantytown straight out of a drawing.
Orphan start, and it's shit from the jump.
"Hey!"
The shout made me flinch instinctively.
Turning, a greasy Pig twice my size glared down at me.
"If you can't pay tribute again, I'll just sell you off as a sex slave—got it?"
Biting my lip under his threatening words and domineering gaze, I fiddled with my collar, head bowed.
What the hell is this.
It's bewildering.
And unfair.
Wanna demand what's going on.
But too scared to open my mouth.
Instinct told me.
That flabby mess had no muscle, but this frail body couldn't take him.
That's when it happened.
Talk.
Agree.
Refute.
Negotiate.
Attack.
...What is this?
[That guy's gross—can't I just attack?]
Hey... don't.
5. Attack. <
Time resumed.
Against my will, I grabbed a sharp rock and snuck up behind the guy threatening and walking away, smashing it into his head.
He staggered and turned, glaring at me.
"Oh shit... I'm fucked...."
This is really bad.