First Day as the Elite Secretary
My family when I was young was fairly ordinary. My parents, who had me right after they came of age and got married, were clumsy but good people who cherished their child. We lived in a tiny one-room apartment—my father working at a small company, my mother juggling part-time jobs and childcare. It wasn’t a wealthy or leisurely life, but those days held no particularly bad memories. At least until I was hospitalized with an illness whose name I didn’t even know.
It was a curse. One misfortune piled on another, and darkness began to shadow my parents’ faces. Even if they scraped together every won they had, it wasn’t enough to cover my hospital bills. The longer I stayed, the more the debt grew.
“Hana, my pretty girl… I’m so sorry.”
My mother, who had always smiled so brightly, apologized for her own helplessness. She’d been swept up in youthful passion and love, had me despite lacking the means, and that was why we’d fallen into poverty—why she couldn’t save me when I got sick. That was what she believed.
The day she apologized was my elementary school graduation. Only then did I realize I had already been trapped in that hospital room for three years. My father had stopped visiting long before. My mother’s face grew darker with each passing day until her smile vanished completely. By the fourth year of my hospitalization, she no longer came at all.
I overheard the nurses whispering. Poor thing, she’s been abandoned. If she doesn’t get surgery soon, there’s no hope…
I had been abandoned, and I was dying. Even walking a few steps left me gasping. I no longer understood what it meant to be alive. I was in so much pain, yet no one came to see me. If this was how it would be, why had I been born at all?
Scared and hurting, I fell asleep wishing I could just die peacefully. Hundreds of times I thought it. But every time I woke coughing up blood, I would burst into tears, screaming that I didn’t want to die. Please save me. I miss Mom and Dad. The bitter memory of clinging to the nurses while sobbing. And in the corner of that memory, I recall a shadow standing in the hallway.
A girl smaller and younger than me, her eyes misty and clouded like fog, staring into my hospital room. She entered holding the hand of a woman in a suit, then walked up to me. She took my blood-soaked hand in hers and asked,
“Big sister… does it hurt a lot?”
……
It was half past five in the morning, a time when I should have still been asleep. Instead I began preparing for my duties as Yumekawa Harumu’s personal secretary.
I tied my longer, silkier hair into a neat style and looked in the mirror. Where there shouldn’t be anything on my chest, there were two heavy mounds. Between my legs, what should have been there was gone. I had prepared myself mentally, but the cognitive dissonance and self-loathing still crashed over my brain like a wave.
“Damn… these are fucking huge.”
Using Natsuki Hana’s mouth, I spat the Korean words and lifted one of the perky breasts with my hand. It was soft, warm, and squishy. Yet it didn’t excite me the way it would have in my own male body. Maybe I’d grown used to this body after just one night… Whatever. I should just get dressed. There wasn’t much time.
I stretched my stiff body, then pulled underwear from the carrier in the corner of the room. The moment I saw the bra and panties in my hand, a sigh escaped me automatically.
No. There’s nothing strange about this. Choi Woo-joo! Right now I am Natsuki Hana—a woman, not a man. It’s perfectly natural for a woman to wear women’s underwear. Probably…
I started with the easier piece—the panties. The sensation of fabric clinging to my groin felt unfamiliar, but not unbearable. The real problem was the bra. I lifted the large cups, big enough to support these massive breasts, and hooked it the way Hana’s body remembered. Even so, it sat a little crooked.
“I did it exactly like the memory… Guess possession isn’t perfect after all.”
For some reason, the possession granted by the text felt like a degraded version of Isabelle’s ability. The body’s memories didn’t flow naturally as I read them; they simply flashed into my mind, and even those flashes were incomplete. That was why I couldn’t even put on underwear properly.
With no other choice, I relied on what Noa and Isabelle had taught me last night and adjusted it. The feeling of perfect support around my chest. I turned this way and that in front of the mirror, checking for anything odd. It seemed fine, but the tight, squeezing pressure on my breasts was uncomfortable… Do all women with large chests deal with this? I suddenly felt deep respect for Hyemi-noona, Yunsol, and Luna. I wondered what kind of lives the three of them led with even bigger sizes than this.
Letting out yet another sigh, I picked up the shirt and skirt I had folded beside the bed. A sleeveless blouse suited for hot weather, a thin jacket that breathed well, and a short skirt. I put on the prepared summer office outfit piece by piece, then stood before the vanity and slipped on the glasses.
I erased Choi Woo-joo’s relaxed, casual aura from my eyes and filled them with Natsuki Hana’s intellect and dignity.
“Ahem. Ah… Good morning, Miss Harumu.”
I cleared my throat and practiced with a serious tone. If nothing else, I was confident I wouldn’t be caught in my speech or behavior. This body had devoted nearly its entire life to serving the Yumekawa family. Every habit was recorded in these limbs.
In fact, even Miss Harumu—the one I served—hadn’t noticed my true identity yesterday.
“Hoo… Good. It’s almost six. Time to wake the young lady.”
Following the schedule still lingering in my mind, I adjusted my glasses and stepped into the hallway. For now, I had to maintain this possession without being discovered until I met Isabelle in Japan tomorrow. Until then, my role was to support Miss Harumu while digging up as much information as possible about the Japanese branch and the Yumekawa family. Once the mission began it could get dangerous, so Isabelle would protect me without revealing herself.
My original body—Choi Woo-joo’s—was safe inside the Chamber of Desire under Noa’s watch. But if this vessel, Natsuki Hana’s body that now held my soul, were to die, I had no idea what would happen. I needed to uncover the Japanese branch’s and the Yumekawa family’s goals without putting my life at risk, then release the possession and return to my real body as quickly as possible.
I had to. I absolutely had to…
……
I stood in front of Miss Harumu’s room with my finger on the doorbell, then pressed my palm to my forehead. The dream I’d had this morning hadn’t belonged to me—it had been young Natsuki Hana’s memory. A dream of contracting an unknown disease, being abandoned by her parents, and trembling in fear of death at a tender age. Even though I, Choi Woo-joo, had never experienced it myself, the disgust and dread had seeped into my very soul.
This was the most terrifying side effect of the Possession text. The longer I stayed possessed, the more my soul blended with the body’s memories. Eventually I would forget that I was Choi Woo-joo and live as Natsuki Hana. The unpleasantness and terror I felt this morning were just fragments of that side effect…
Ding-dong—
“Miss, it’s Hana. It’s time to wake up now.”
I pushed my worries aside for the moment and pressed the doorbell to call for her. An absurdly dangerous side effect was tightening around my throat, but I had to find out. I had to understand the inexplicable pull I felt toward the woman named Yumekawa Harumu and whatever lay behind it. My instincts told me that if I didn’t uncover it, the result would be the same no matter what I did.
Still… I felt like I had sensed this feeling somewhere before. When was it? It was similar to a sensation I’d felt in the past, yet somehow different…
“…Mmm… Hana? Is it morning already…?”
A sleepy voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Beyond the sliding door that had just opened, the young lady rubbed her still-drowsy eyes.
“Yes. You must have breakfast, get ready, and then return to Japan.”
“…Yeah. We’re going home today…? Harumu… home…”
“…Miss?”
Something was off. Today’s Harumu was the complete opposite of the mature atmosphere she had given off last night. She buried her face in the pillow she was hugging tightly and whined like a child.
“…Mommy’s going to be mad because Harumu didn’t do good… I’m scared to go home. C-can’t we stay here just one more day, Hana…? I want to stay in the room…”
Today’s young lady is in her childish state.
A memory from Hana flashed through my mind. This was the young Harumu created by the continuous “education.” A childish version who threw tantrums and craved affection. What I had only vaguely suspected had now become clear.
Yumekawa Harumu had a dual personality. She usually maintained her mature persona through medication, but the drugs were so potent she couldn’t take them continuously. As a result, this childish Harumu appeared from time to time. She became as fragile as a fearful, tearful little girl, but the “education” still had to continue. Conversation with this personality was strictly forbidden. I must never indulge her whining. Instead, I had to scold her firmly, mention “Mother,” and force her to obey. That was the established policy for Harumu’s training.
……
“Miss Natsuki, breakfast is ready. The young lady…”
I turned away from the teary-eyed girl, adjusted my glasses, and faced the female employee who had appeared at the end of the hallway without me noticing.
“She is still in bed, exhausted from yesterday’s coming-of-age ceremony. While I attend to her, go prepare the breakfast she will eat and bring it here.”
“Pardon? But the young lady is supposed to dine with the Korean branch executives…”
“The young lady is unable to rise due to fatigue from the ceremony. Explain the situation to the Korean branch executives and have them send the meal.”
“But Lady Kaede’s instructions were…”
“I will take full responsibility. Must the young lady wait any longer?”
“I’m sorry! I’ll prepare it immediately…”
When I turned back with a sharp, domineering glare, the intimidated employee scurried away down the corridor. The oppressive, arrogant charisma of Natsuki Hana was truly immense. Even I felt a little intimidated, yet it didn’t seem to show on my face… Not bad. I suppressed the satisfied smirk that threatened to rise and calmed my emotions. At that moment, Miss Harumu gently tugged at my sleeve, and my gaze naturally dropped.
“…H-Hana… then you’ll get scolded by Mommy…!”
“It’s all right, Miss. There’s no need to worry.”
I placed a hand on the trembling Harumu’s shoulder, pulled her into a light embrace, and patted her back. Even I didn’t fully understand why I was shielding her or indulging her childish behavior. It was something the real Natsuki Hana would never have done—an inefficient action that increased the risk of suspicion.
But something about the Harumu I had first met in my own body had come to mind, and I acted without thinking. The way she had asked a complete stranger to hug her just once. The desperate trembling in her hands and the sadness in her eyes had surfaced, and before I knew it…
Of course, this seemed like a bigger problem than I expected, and I was worried about the consequences, but… ah, whatever.
“This morning, please rest comfortably with me in the room. However, by noon when the sun is at its highest, we must return to Japan.”
“…Okay. Thank you, Hana… Harumu will keep her promise…”
I simply couldn’t leave this child alone. This was clearly not Natsuki Hana’s emotion, but Choi Woo-joo’s.