Zero Lime Cola and the Possession Predicament
"Buy me a cola. Zero Lime."
"Phew, what a mess. For real." The thought I'd been harboring slipped out with a sigh before I could stop it. I still wasn't used to the voice coming out of my mouth.
"Wh-what's so messy?"
"Wasn't talking to you."
I opened my eyes and sat up—and bam, I was a girl. It all started with that webtoon I read the night I got fired from my job.
Getting canned from the company? Eh, whatever. It wasn't a job I loved anyway, and I was feeling burned out enough to need a break. Plus, unfair dismissal meant the government was gonna pay me unemployment benefits.
With unemployment checks rolling in, I figured I'd laze around sucking on that honey, so I asked friends and acquaintances for binge recs. That's when a buddy who used to be a scenario writer recommended a recently completed Korean webtoon.
You won't like Half Half Island anyway.
Dubbed Half Half Island, it was a super sweet pure-love story about a timid, plain high school boy protagonist and the school's top socialite beauty falling for each other. Love violence genre—what folks call a delinquent-nerd pure love tale.
No sweet potatoes, no ex-boyfriend drift, no childhood friend girl from abroad drift. A straight-up pure love story with nothing but the real deal, and the site reviews were glowing.
A few other friends had seen it too. Related chats popped up in the group now and then, but back when I was dying from overtime at that shithole, I'd just scrolled past. Turns out, besides the writer friend, 2-3 others had dipped into it.
These days, everything's itching to hit you with shock value right away. With assholes hiding tags just to pull a "surprise, it's yuri!" drift, a straight pure-love shot was rare as hell in reverse.
And immersion's key in these romcoms, right? That's why galge have name-input systems. Hearing the protagonist shared my name? Sold. I topped up coins on ToonToonia, the serialization site.
No girlfriend, no car, no job tomorrow—but severance and unemployment had my wallet fat. Rent and bills would slim it down soon enough, but future Ban Do-young could deal. Right now, I was in full indulgence mode.
Chicken delivery waiting at home, canned cola by my side, puffed-up dreams in my chest—I hit play on episode 1. Maybe 'cause that shithole boss worked me to the last day, my eyelids drooped right after clicking.
……
"Fucking bitches."
They should've said the heroine had my name, not the protagonist.
"B-Ban Do-young. Can you... move your legs now…?"
"Huh? You talking to me?"
"Who else is Ban Do-young here besides you…"
The real-world 'Ban Do-young' had become the main heroine of the pure-love webtoon Half Half Island. No sweet potatoes, no ex drift, no abroad childhood friend drift.
Just the pure-love ending with this nerd protagonist 'Do Ha-min'—the kid whose lap my bare legs were propped on right now.
That's why my eyelids weren't heavy anymore. My whole upper body was.
"I wanna move 'em, but my legs hurt from standing as punishment for being late. Lemme rest on your lap a bit longer, Do Ha-min."
"J-just a bit...? Till when?"
"Uh... lunch break?"
"Wh-what? It's second period now?"
"Kekeke. Look at that face. Go grab a cola from the canteen, and I'll move 'em. Zero Lime."
"...Hey, keep your promise?"
"Yeah yeah, now go!"
I kicked his waddling butt out the classroom door.
"Zero Lime. Mango flavor and you're dead."
What, can the main heroine bully the protagonist like this in a pure-love story? If the only ending is them together anyway, can't I tease and boss him around a little?