Guess Who I Am
"Who am I, you ask?"
The unknown entity possessing Jeong Hui-min's body burst out laughing.
"Go on. Guess."
Could it be the System? It always appeared as a cube — had it borrowed a human body to show up today?
The moment I opened my mouth to ask, a voice reached me before I could even speak.
"I'm not the System."
The being in front of me smiled, as if it had read the thought right out of my head.
"If you're not the System, then who are you?"
He gave a short, amused huff.
"You could say I'm a possessor with a System, just like you. For now, I've borrowed this kid's body to come here."
A possessor?
So he'd used the System to slip into Jeong Hui-min's body, if only for a moment?
"So who are you, then."
"I don't think I'm obligated to tell you."
"Fuck, this isn't a joke."
A surge of anger boiled up so fast the curse slipped out before I could stop it. But the being in front of me only laughed, as if my reaction were the most entertaining thing he'd seen all day.
"Haha, don't be like that. I genuinely think you're impressive. You took Do Won-woo's fate — which should've been a complete wreck — and changed it this much. That's something, you know."
Why was it, though? Even as he called me impressive, there was a thread of mockery wound through the words.
"How'd you do it? Turning Do Won-woo — who was supposed to end as the villain — into first place."
"Because if I don't debut, I die."
"Ahaha! Right. So you're working yourself to death, huh?"
Watching him laugh in my face like that, my jaw clenched on its own.
"Is this funny to you? People living or dying? If you're a possessor too, you should know how fucked up this situation is."
His eyes went wide.
"I know, of course I know! But so what? You're going to debut anyway. It's not like your ranking's going to suddenly drop from first place."
Is he kidding me?
I closed my eyes, pressed the boiling anger back down, then opened my mouth again.
"You know as well as I do that this world makes that kind of thing happen easily. Someone in second place can get shoved out of the debut lineup overnight. Absurd shit like that actually happens."
He shrugged.
"I know, I know... but?"
"But what?"
"Won Ji-an already took on the misfortune in your place, so it's not like that misfortune's coming back to you."
What the hell is this guy?
He wasn't even the System, and yet he knew about me and Won Ji-an in this much detail.
"What the hell are you."
He propped his chin on his hand, the corner of his mouth lifting with interest.
"Curious?"
"......"
"If you're curious, that'll be fifty cents."
"You son of a bitch."
He burst into roaring laughter.
"Whoa, you're actually pissed."
He laughed so long he started coughing, choking on it, before he finally managed to stop.
"Anyway, even if he drops from second place all the way out of the debut lineup, that's his problem. It doesn't really hurt you, does it?"
"......"
"So why are you treating it like it's your problem? Pushing him as center, looking out for his parts — what do you even get out of that?"
This was a first. Since arriving in this world, I had never been this pissed off. Why? I'd never even met this guy before today, and yet looking at him made me furious. Furious enough to lose my mind.
"Why wouldn't it hurt me? If Won Ji-an dies, I—"
"Ahh, what, you mean like emotional damage? If that's the case, you're a lot more soft-hearted than I thought."
Ha...
One thing was certain: this bastard had a talent for getting under people's skin.
"Soft-hearted, huh... So I guess you'd be just fine if the people around you got hurt and died. If that's the case, then you're as much of a piece of trash as I figured."
The being in front of me burst out laughing again.
"What, did you just copy what I said to throw it back at me? Cute."
"Just get to the point. Who are you, and why did you show up in front of me."
He tilted his head.
"Just because?"
Is he messing with me.
"Ah, sorry. But I really did just show up. I just wanted to talk to you."
For a reason that small, he'd gone so far as to use the System's power to grace me with his presence?
"Yep!"
As if mocking me, the being in front of me flashed that distinctively bright, sunny smile.
"I'm not going to tell you who I am, though."
"...Ha. Fine."
I figured as much. Honestly, it was written all over his face that he wasn't going to give me a single thing I wanted.
Listening to him talk, even though he'd been smiling the whole time, the hostility toward me was considerable. I didn't know why. And even if he claimed he'd appeared just because he wanted to talk, there had to be another reason in the end.
If he has a System like I do, then there's definitely something connecting us...
"I can hear you thinking from here."
He stood up, brushing off his pants.
"Hey. You said earlier that you and Won Ji-an seemed alike."
Then the being in front of me shook his head.
"I don't think so."
"I don't care what you think."
"No, no. Listen. Anyone can see you two are different. When the misfortune came back to you, you received a Transfer Right from Won Ji-an."
He went on.
"If you used that Transfer Right, you had to have known that someone else would become unfortunate in your place. Right?"
"......"
"But even knowing that, you used the Transfer Right Won Ji-an gave you without a second thought. Why? So you could live."
He took a step closer, staring straight into my eyes.
"But Won Ji-an is different from you. He destroyed the Transfer Right. That alone tells you everything, doesn't it? He's the kind of kid who can't make someone else unfortunate just to save himself."
I knew that. I knew Won Ji-an was that kind of person. And because I knew, hearing these words right in front of me was almost unbearable.
"So what are you trying to say."
After a brief silence, he answered.
He smiled as he said it.
"You're the kind of guy who'd fling your misfortune in every direction, as long as you get to be happy — no matter what happens to anyone else. For someone like you to think you resemble Won Ji-an... in a way, that's an insult to him."
No words came out. All that escaped instead was a faint breath.
I knew it too. That I was the kind of person who played at being a hypocrite, and in the end always made the choice that saved myself.
But was that wrong?
"So I should've just quietly hugged my misfortune and died, is that it."
The words slipped out before I knew it.
"I don't think every choice I've made so far has been the right one. Not everything I've done was justified."
"......"
"But I'm just a person. I'm not some cool protagonist from a goddamn movie or drama. I can't be the kind of saint who sacrifices himself and dies for everyone else."
And so I looked the being in front of me straight in the eye and said the next words.
Hearing that, he raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.
"You want to live? You want to live even if it means making someone else unfortunate?"
"Yeah. I want to live. You can curse me out and point fingers all you want. I don't care if you call me a hypocrite. I just don't want to die miserably in this life, too."
At that, the being in front of me let out a small laugh, as if something about it was funny.
"Ha... alright."
Then he whispered, quietly.
Not long after the words ended, the focus returned to Jeong Hui-min's eyes.
"...Huh?"
Jeong Hui-min looked around, his face saying he had no idea what had just happened.
"What? Did I doze off? I think I blacked out all of a sudden..."
I patted Jeong Hui-min's shoulder without a word, then turned away.
"Let's go."
"Huh?"
"Just... let's get back to the dorm. It's late."
My head was getting complicated again. Tonight, too, the thoughts would chase each other in an endless chain.
Sleep wouldn't come. After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, I opened my eyes.
Who was he. Someone who had a System like me, who held hostility toward me, who knew everything.
The only explanation is that the System told him about my relationship with Won Ji-an.
My head hurt.
Whoever had appeared in front of me today hadn't come purely to talk. There was another purpose, and that being might have received a quest to harm me.
The same way I received a quest to kick Yoon Hyeon-min out of the debut lineup.
It was a System that handed out quests telling you to shove anyone aside if it was for your own sake. If he believed that my disappearance was the optimal future for himself, then from his perspective, there was no reason to leave me alone.
I, too, had dumped misfortune onto someone else so that I could live.
But it was also true that it felt unfair.
I'd just wanted to live. And yet every choice I'd made because I wanted to live got reduced to a verdict on my humanity. Of course, there was nothing I could do about it. They were all things I had done.
...Who is he.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure out who that person was. There hadn't been any real clues, honestly. I'd tried to deduce who he was from his speech and what he said throughout the conversation, but there wasn't enough information. More than anything, there was no one around me who talked in that kind of infuriating way.
Yoon Hyeon-min?
Yoon Hyeon-min was a strong candidate as someone who'd hold hostility toward me right now, but somehow I didn't think it was him.
Someone around me hiding their identity? Or maybe someone I've never even met? Or maybe it really is Yoon Hyeon-min...
Confused by this suddenly appearing being, my thoughts wouldn't stop.
What's certain is that he's not an easy opponent.
He had a System, he even had the ability to enter someone else's body, and he knew the details of Won Ji-an's and my situation. Not someone I could take lightly. And above all, because he was hiding his identity, it would be hard for me to respond or counterattack.
I need to keep my head on straight.
I'd thought all I had to do was debut. But to survive in this world, there was more than one or two things I'd have to face.
Anyway, for now, saving Won Ji-an is the top priority.
I forcibly stopped the unending stream of thoughts and closed my eyes.
Tomorrow was the day of the main stage. I had to pull it off, no matter what.