Possession

Regression. Going back in time, to your own childhood days. Possession. Taking over someone else's body. Reincarnation. Being born into the world all over again.

Tropes that anyone who loves novels or comics has run into at least once. And I'd wager everybody ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠has daydreamed about it at least once, too.

Me, I wanted to be possessed into a world of my choosing. To start over from the very beginning and buy Bitcoin. To begin life again as a prodigy, armed with everything I'd learned so far. Some people say they'd rather turn into a girl and coast through life on easy mode — honestly, I never understood that one.

And yes, I'd devoured my share of Hoebinghwan stories. Trading a future already lived for a better one. Weighing whether to stand by and watch the future you know, or change it. Atoning for your own mistakes and living a better life.

Take the superhero manhwa I Possessed a World Destined for Destruction — Doomed World for short. The story of a protagonist who possesses Lee Yuri, the strongest hero alive, and battles through every hardship and adversity imaginable to save the world. The early chapters charged ahead at a crisp, satisfying pace. By the midpoint, the villains the protagonist had failed to stop came back even stronger, feeding readers an endless diet of sweet potatoes — that teeth-grinding, knot-in-your-stomach kind of frustration. And then the finale introduced world-ending villains, and everything spiraled into pure, unfiltered chaos.

Driven out of my mind by the absurd developments, I fired off a 5,700-character protest comment at the author.

And the reply that came back:

Oh. I'd completely forgotten. The cliché where posting a novel-length protest comment on an author's work gets you possessed into that author's novel.

My vision went blurry. I bit down on my tongue, trying to cling to consciousness, but the power of a cliché was not something a mere human could withstand. Right there in front of the monitor, I blacked out.

What a beautiful day. The birds are singing. Ah, right — those are skeleton lines, the stale recycled opener every clichéd story starts with. And with that, I woke from sleep.

An unfamiliar ceiling. I sat up and looked around: not my room, but a space kept immaculately tidy, with a small bear plushie and a black cat sleeping on the floor.

Carefully climbing down from the bed, I became aware of how low my line of sight sat. Ah... no way. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠My gaze was low to the ground, my steps short. On unfamiliar legs, I arrived at the bathroom and inspected myself in the mirror hanging there.

"Come on, this isn't right..."

If you're going to have me possess someone, at least put me in a man's body. What came out of my throat was a girlish, singsong voice. The girl staring back at me looked like she was cosplaying Gothic Lolita — and in Doomed World, there was exactly one character who dressed in Gothic Lolita.

Yu Sia. The worst villain of them all — villain name, Lunatique. The one who killed more heroes than anyone else, left the protagonist with a permanent wound, and met her end with her heart pierced through by the fully awakened protagonist. And yet a certain subset of readers championed her. That was the villain I'd been possessed into.

Let's think this through. If I acted out the story exactly as written, my death was a foregone conclusion — and naturally, I had no intention of dying. So instead of standing by and watching the future I already knew, I would build a future I could survive. Even if the timeline warped out of shape, my own life came first.

I studied the reflection again. She really is tiny, though. Now I understood why she was popular with a certain slice of the readership. Small in stature, dressed in Gothic Lolita — she looked like a living doll. Dainty hands, slight frame, practically engineered to trip every protective instinct a person had. If only she weren't my body.

After washing my face, I returned to the bedroom. There was something I needed to do first.

A villain named Lunatique fought using Moon Power. And according to one strange bit of lore, her abilities worked not only at night but in the morning as well. The story claimed there were limits, yet it never once showed her fighting by daylight — in the manhwa she was simply yanking and shoving objects all over the place.

I stretched my hand toward a glass cup sitting on the table. ...Nothing's happening. Do I need to focus? I put strength into my hand. Come here... come to me... The glass didn't budge. Is the glass too heavy?

I reached for the bear plushie instead. Come here... A twitch — the faintest hint of movement. Come here..! The bear plushie floated up into the air and settled into my arms.

"Getting this power to work even once is a pain..."

Looking closely at the plushie in my arms, I saw it was an Asiatic black bear — the kind with a half-moon of white on its chest. Hold on... a half-moon chest bear? Now that I thought about it, the thing did seem to give off some strange, curious energy. Still hugging it to my chest, I reached for the glass and concentrated. Clunk. The glass rose into the air and landed in my hand. Something clicked.

I ran more experiments. With the plushie set aside, my power refused to work on anything else, no matter how hard I tried; with it in hand, everything succeeded on the first attempt. In other words, without the Asiatic black bear plushie, I couldn't use my abilities in the morning. So this is the restriction, huh... I'd always wondered why she never fought in daylight in the original story. Turns out she just didn't want to go into battle hugging a teddy bear. She did hate being treated like a kid, after all. Of course, since I would need this power in the daytime too, I intended to keep it hugged to my chest around the clock.

She had other abilities as well, but against inanimate objects they meant nothing. What I need is a test subject... I looked at the black cat curled into a ball, asleep on the floor. Alive, and no one would say a word if I experimented on it. The perfect test subject. I reached my hand toward the cat. ... Get a grip. I pulled my hand back. Still — using an innocent animal for experiments just felt wrong, no matter how I looked at it.

Haa... then there was really only one answer left. A living body no one would scold me for experimenting on: my own. If I wanted to learn what my powers could do, the surest way was to feel them firsthand. I placed a hand on my shoulder.

Hallucination — one of Lunatique's abilities, officially recorded as a Rank 2 Threat Ability. In Doomed World, her hallucinations were said to have driven entire teams of heroes to wipe each other out. I activated it.

I came to. What... was that just now?

Not my memory — Yu Sia's, the memory of the original owner of this body. A piece of Yu Sia's past that even Doomed World had never shown. Try as I might to see more, the hallucination wouldn't answer, as though it had no intention of showing me any more than that.

Come to think of it — if I've possessed Yu Sia's body, where is Yu Sia's soul? The basic convention of possession stories is that the original owner is already dead by the time you arrive. But Yu Sia hadn't died. If she died at all, it would be much later, heart pierced through.

So if she's not dead, and her soul hasn't gone anywhere... then is she still inside this body?

A sudden chill swept across my shoulder. I turned my head — and there was a hand resting on it.

"Ooh, so you noticed. How does it feel, having Yu Sia's body, Oppa?"

The voice had come from right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beside my ear. I whipped around, startled — but there was no one there.

"Aww, don't get so scared... it makes Yu Sia sad. After all, Yu Sia's the one who had her body stolen by you, Oppa."

The voice again, right at my ear. Goosebumps prickled up my skin.

"You're not planning on showing me your face?"

At that, Yu Sia twirled once in the air, came down to stand on the floor, and clasped her hands together with a smile.

"If you want to look at me, Oppa, I'll let you look all you want."

I could feel her. How? Weren't ghosts supposed to be intangible — beings with no substance, incapable of physical contact? The feel of her palms was vivid; I could even sense her warmth. It felt like touching an ordinary person. Her face drew closer still.

"Strange, isn't it? Well, you're far stranger, Oppa. What on earth is this 'Doomed World' supposed to be? How do you know Yu Sia so well, when Yu Sia doesn't know you at all? So why won't you tell Yu Sia your name?"

My heart was pounding. My breathing quickened, my pupils trembled. It felt like being coiled in a serpent's body — no matter how I struggled, I couldn't slip free. A sweet voice rang in my ear.

"Hm? Oppa? You won't tell me?"

Keep it together... there's a saying, isn't there — even a man dragged into a tiger's den survives if he keeps his wits about him... Three long, deep breaths, and my heart finally settled.

"I'm Siwoo... Kim Siwoo."

Yu Sia gazed at me, smiling. "Siwoo... Kim Siwoo Oppa..." She rolled the name around in her mouth a few times, then closed her eyes — and leaned in so close that our lips were nearly touching. Her eyes opened. She stared at me with eyes utterly devoid of life.

"Liar. That isn't your name, Oppa. Why would you lie? Yu Sia hates liars more than anything."

The room went dark in an instant. Her hand caressed my cheek. Cold. The warmth from moments ago was gone — not a trace of it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left in her fingers.

"Then Yu Sia will show you first. And after that, you'll show Yu Sia too, right? Got it?"

My vision blurred. Ah, not again... I really should start counting how many times a day I can pass out.