Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Confession at Dawn (1)
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I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.
The room was shrouded in darkness with the lights off, but faint light seeping in from the window outside cast a soft blue glow.
"...?"
Groping through my hazy consciousness, I thought. A faint medicinal smell pricked at my nose.
At first, I thought it was a hospital, but then I realized where I was. The Greenhouse Academy infirmary. Yeah, it had to be.
'I came here once before to visit Su-ho oppa when he was sick.'
But why was I here?
Propping myself up with questions swirling in my mind, I heard a rustle beside me.
"You're awake?"
"Huh?"
I turned my head the other way, and there was Su-ho oppa, sitting by the bed. He gazed at me, his back to the window tinged pale blue.
"Su-ho op... pa?"
"Yeah. It's me, Haneul."
"Why are you here? No, wait—why am I in the infirmary...? Uh... um..."
My mind was foggy, my thoughts a jumble. I had no memory of how I'd gotten here. Not just that—the past few days felt like fragments crudely stitched together with scissors.
I gathered my wits and slowly pieced my memories back together.
A few days ago, I'd been ambushed in the bathroom by someone who looked exactly like me.
When I came to, I was in some dark warehouse-like place. But I'd spent most of the time unconscious, so my memories of it were fuzzy.
And the next thing I remembered was a forest scene.
Right—I'd been forced to fight Su-ho oppa against my will by some unknown power. My body moved on its own, no matter how hard I tried to stop it, but it was useless. Somehow, oppa had managed to take me down. The details were hazy because of the manipulation, but that much was certain.
And then.
After that.
"Ah."
In that instant, a scene flashed in my mind.
'Haneul, you're a possessor too, huh.'
I remembered Su-ho oppa saying that right before I lost consciousness.
'I'm the same as you.'
I'd definitely heard it. No way I'd misheard. The shock of that moment was still vivid.
I stared at Su-ho oppa in astonishment. Reading something in my eyes, he smiled gently and asked in a soft tone.
"How much do you remember?"
"Oppa."
I didn't answer his question. Instead, I turned it back on him.
"Oppa, you're a possessor too?"
I finally asked, swallowing hard.
The suspicions had been there for a while.
Ahn Su-ho. An Academy Security Force guard who never appeared in the original story.
It'd be a lie to say I hadn't found it strange—oppa sticking his nose into everything from his dropout notice to every incident around the Academy.
But strange was all it was. I'd never suspected he was a possessor like me.
Why not? Looking back, it was because of a bias I held.
The bias that in possession stories, there's only one possessor.
When something as novel-like as possessing into a dropped webnovel actually happened to me, I rashly assumed this world's logic matched other novels. So I never even considered another possessor besides myself.
But.
"Yeah, that's right."
"J-just to confirm... you're saying you're a possessor, like... you know..."
"It's what you think. Novel title: Age of Superhumans. Author: Pleasure Heavenly Demon. Protagonist: Ryu Tae-hyun. Right?"
Mocking my carelessness, the second possessor had already existed in this world. Right here, so close.
"Ah... ahh..."
Hearing that, I couldn't think straight anymore.
My lips parted slightly, trembling. A whirlwind of emotions raced through my mind.
First, suspicion.
Then surprise.
Followed by joy. And relief.
Finally, overwhelming emotion made a warm tear roll down my cheek before I knew it.
"Haneul?"
"Y-yeah? Huh?"
Like a broken doll, I wiped at my tears with jerky movements. But once they started, I couldn't stop them.
One drop, two drops—they kept coming until my hands couldn't keep up. Dark stains bloomed one by one on the chest of my patient gown.
"Hic! H-hic!"
I gave up wiping them away. As I let my hands drop and sobbed, Su-ho oppa floundered with a panicked look.
He probably had no idea why I'd suddenly burst into tears.
I didn't even know myself.
"Haneul? What's wrong? You okay? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"No! Hic! No... that's not it..."
How could I explain something I didn't understand? I just shook my head vigorously. As I did, I wondered why I was bawling like this upon learning Su-ho oppa was a possessor.
I savored the surging emotions. I was crying. But it wasn't sadness. Right—this was tears of joy. The tension gripping my chest had snapped, filling me with relief and reassurance.
Yes. I was relieved.
Nearly four months alone in this unfamiliar world.
Encountering the first 'real person' while surviving solo here—I'd finally let my guard down.
-Squeeze.
Then Su-ho oppa gently hugged me. Without asking anything, he just stroked my back soothingly, pulling me close.
As if he understood everything I felt.
"Hic! Sniff! Waaaaah!"
In that warm embrace, I finally let out the sobs I'd been holding back. I buried my face deep in Su-ho oppa's chest, wailing loud enough to shake the infirmary.
I knew bawling like this was unseemly.
I always wanted to look pretty in front of oppa.
But right now. At least in this moment.
I wanted to let these bursting emotions flow, crying endlessly without resistance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Kang Haneul regained consciousness at dawn that day, after the incident had ended and she'd been brought to the infirmary. The sedative should have lasted until late afternoon, but activating her avatar ability mid-way had neutralized some of it, letting her wake early.
Ahn Su-ho hadn't anticipated that. He'd just stayed because he was worried after handing her over.
As a result, he was right there when she woke—and able to hold her with both arms when she started sobbing.
Ahn Su-ho silently stroked her back until her cries subsided.
As the first light of dawn touched the edge of the dim sky, Kang Haneul finally lifted her head from his chest.
Her eyes were puffy and red, her hair a tangled mess. Ahn Su-ho wordlessly combed it with his fingers.
-Squeeze.
Perhaps it felt good—Kang Haneul blushed faintly and leaned into him again.
Feeling playful, Ahn Su-ho deliberately twisted or tugged her hair with his fingers. She looked puzzled at first, but after it continued, she finally burst out laughing and raised her head.
"What are you doing, oppa?"
"Nothing. You're just cute."
"Sheesh."
She responded to the "cute" with an adorable huff, beaming brightly.
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah. I think so."
"Want something to drink? Water? Juice?"
"Water, please."
Ahn Su-ho handed her a bottle from the fridge, and she gulped it down. She'd cried so much her body was dehydrated.
"Haneul."
Ahn Su-ho spoke gently, facing her.
"You probably need time to sort out your thoughts. So I'll go first—how I've been living since coming to this world."
He'd already organized everything to say while she slept beside him.
And so Ahn Su-ho began his story. Starting from the day he was possessed and what happened in his original world, he recounted his actions calmly, like explaining a novel's plot.
"...You've really been through a lot."
After hearing it all, Kang Haneul said just that. No empty words—she knew better than anyone the pain of being thrown into an unfamiliar world.
"Guess it's my turn now?"
Forcing a bright smile, Kang Haneul opened up.
A story of her real life she'd never shared with anyone.
Not the character Kang Haneul from the novel, but the college student who got hit by a truck one winter day and possessed into this dropped Academy novel.
She started calmly, like Ahn Su-ho. But as emotions built, her words grew thick with the loneliness and hardship she'd endured.
It wasn't a long story. But it was heartbreaking and pitiful.
Unlike Ahn Su-ho, who'd devoured the original and countless webnovels, Kang Haneul was a casual reader. She couldn't actively steer the plot like him in this possession scenario.
She didn't even remember the full original. All she could do was flee the original's dangerous stage full of threats.
That was why she'd chosen to drop out initially. But after events unfolded, abandoning it led her to get swept up in the maliciously twisting incidents.
"..."
Ahn Su-ho listened with a heavy heart. Every word she uttered cut deep, revealing how she'd endured this world.
And when her story ended.
"That must've been so hard."
Those natural words made fresh tears roll down Kang Haneul's cheeks.
She nodded with a forced smile. Hard. Lonely.
"Sorry... for showing such an immature side..."
Watching her wipe tears with her fingertips, Ahn Su-ho felt an indescribable guilt. Because of her story just now.
Kang Haneul.
The girl with the same name as the novel character by coincidence—she was the college student hit by the truck right beside him the day he was possessed.
Hearing that, Ahn Su-ho instinctively sensed it.
Maybe she was dragged here because of him.
She'd read Age of Superhumans too, and shared the character's name.
But that was it.
Unlike him, she hadn't left long comments or keyboard battles on forums. Just a normal reader who dropped it midway. No reason to anger the author into possession.
Even her possession method matched another comment that day: the reincarnation truck.
It could all be coincidence, but Ahn Su-ho could only think her possession was his fault.
'Wait, then... what about the rebar and the robber...?'
He recalled: before possessing, he'd seen someone impaled by rebar at a construction site across the street.
The robber too—swinging a knife everywhere, brushing past him. Maybe he'd already stabbed someone before reaching Ahn Su-ho.
'So at least two more possessors out there?'
He couldn't dismiss it—not with another possessor right in front of him.
Then.
"Anyway, it's surprising. I never thought oppa was a real person, not a character..."
Kang Haneul spoke with a sense of relief. Snapping Ahn Su-ho from his thoughts.
"You thought the same, right? Figured I was a novel character?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"Of course. In possession stories, there's usually only one possessor. No one expects more. Right?"
Ahn Su-ho's lips twitched awkwardly. Should he tell her there might be two more? He hesitated.
But then.
"That's why I was so confused, thinking you were a character."
Kang Haneul said with resolute eyes, as if she'd made up her mind.
"Confused?"
"This world's a novel world, so everything's fake, right? But it feels so real—I kept getting confused. What if this world is real? What if all these people are real?"
A dilemma Ahn Su-ho had faced early on. Coincidentally, they'd both pondered it around the same time. Maybe natural for fellow possessors.
"So I worried how to treat you. But now I know you're real—no more hesitation."
But Kang Haneul reached a different conclusion. Unlike Ahn Su-ho, who'd started accepting this as another real world, she still saw it as a novel—people as characters.
"Su-ho oppa."
Feeling a subtle disconnect from that difference, Ahn Su-ho heard her continue.
"I like you, oppa."
Kang Haneul's cheeks flushed red. But without averting her gaze despite the embarrassment, she pressed on desperately.
"I mean, I like you as a man—not as a brother! I-I love you romantically..."
Back when she'd gotten drunk in Ahn Su-ho's room and almost confessed.
She'd held back, thinking him a mere character. Loving a fake being felt wrong.
But knowing he was real like her, no more hesitation—as she said. So she confessed her true feelings.
She liked him.
She loved him.
-Thump.
Hearing it, Ahn Su-ho felt indescribable happiness. She liked him. He'd sensed it vaguely, but now it was certain.
"Will you accept my feelings...?"
But that question brought a brief doubt.
Do I really love Kang Haneul?
He definitely liked her. But was it love? Maybe just sibling-like affection or protectiveness. That lazy thought crossed his mind.
'No. I've already decided.'
He shook it off. The answer was set. The conclusion drawn.
To him, Kang Haneul was precious.
He'd saved her life multiple times. At first for quests. Later, personal feelings took over. Yesterday's rage at Stephanie and Kali was surely an extension of that. And that feeling was love. He believed it without doubt. His heart's reaction to her confession proved it.
She was the reason he accepted this false world as real. How could she not be lovable?
"Hearing you say that makes me so happy."
"Huh? That means..."
"Haneul. Thanks for confessing first. I like you too. I love you as a woman."
A plain answer, no flowery words.
"...!"
Yet Kang Haneul's ears turned red, her joy silent but ecstatic. She smiled broadly, as if owning the world, melting in bliss.
But Ahn Su-ho couldn't just bask in her happiness.
He had more to say.
About Ji Ye-won.
Another woman who loomed large in his heart, like Kang Haneul. He hesitated to tell her.
But he had to.
Even if it made him a trashy scumbag.
"Haneul."
"Yeah?"
"I'm truly grateful for your confession. But before accepting it, there's something I need to say first."
He'd decided. He had to say it.
"Y-yes...? What... what is it?"
"It's about Ji Ye-won."
Even that preface made her uneasy.
The purely happy look on Kang Haneul's face darkened with shadow.