Chapter 1
『“—This is the end, Dokkaebi Princess.”』
A cold gaze looked down at me.
My body was growing colder, and he must have known I was racing toward death, but he seemed intent on cutting off my head himself, just in case there was even the slightest chance I might survive.
Ah— If only I had let go of even a little of my greed, I wouldn't have died at the hands of the man I loved….
“Ghk…. Ghh….”
I wanted to say something to him, but the blood filling my throat kept my voice from coming out.
I hated my wretched body, unable to utter even a single word—not even to say that I had loved him, that I had truly, truly loved him.
But I had brought this upon myself, so I suppose I should blame myself.
“I don't know how someone as perceptive as you came to become such a villain, but whatever the reason, you must be eradicated for killing countless innocent people. That is my duty as a Hunter.”
Blue sword energy coated his sharp blade.
To make sure he killed me for good.
“Farewell, Dokkaebi Princess. You loved Korea more than anyone, but in the end, you became evil—the most atrocious Hunter of all—.”』
Tremble, tremble.
My hands were shaking.
My eyes were shaking violently, too.
—Because I couldn't believe it.
“Why…. Why does my Dokkaebi Princess, ‘Yoo Seol-a,’ have to die so miserably!! You damn bastard of an author—!!”
The fact that ‘Yoo Seol-a,’ a character in the romance fantasy novel ‘She Is the Center.’ that I was reading, had been killed by the male protagonist in the latest episode.
It had all been a frame-up.
She was never a villain.
The male protagonist was so stupid that he believed the lies outright and set out to eliminate Yoo Seol-a as a villain who had killed countless innocent citizens.
But the people Yoo Seol-a killed were, without exception, human trash who had done the sort of things no person should ever do.
Yet the corrupt Korean Hunter Association, which had been profiting from them, made them out to be innocent citizens and deceived the male protagonist into chasing Yoo Seol-a.
Even while being pursued, Yoo Seol-a continued to punish countless villains for the sake of the Korea she loved.
Even when she was so badly injured she could barely move.
In the end, she was caught while slaughtering every last person at the Association who had made her out to be a villain, and she died in the latest episode.
—At the hands of the man she truly loved.
Knowing all of this, I was overcome with sorrow.
That's why—.
“Yoo Seol-a!! *Waaah!*”
Whoosh!
I flung the phone I was holding beside the bed, lay down, and cried myself to sleep thinking of Yoo Seol-a.
But why—.
“Why did I become my favorite character!?”
◈
“Miss, are you really all right?”
“I'm fine. I must have had a nightmare.”
“I heard a scream from your room all of a sudden, and my heart nearly stopped. Would you like me to stay with you tonight, just in case?”
“I'm all right now, so go get some sleep.”
“Yes…. But if you're having trouble sleeping alone, press that to call me anytime.”
The cute-looking woman with light brown hair and light green eyes, dressed in animal pajamas with cat ears, left the room.
“Phew—.”
Only then was I able to relax.
I had done my best to act like my favorite character, Yoo Seol-a, but I couldn't be sure I hadn't aroused that woman's suspicions.
That cute-looking woman was Yoo Seol-a's maid, who had cared for her ever since she was very young.
Of course, she wasn't just an ordinary maid; she was also a bodyguard, practically a human weapon trained in highly advanced combat techniques.
That was why I, now possessing Yoo Seol-a's body, absolutely couldn't let her discover who I was.
The instant she did, she'd label me an impostor and shoot me on the spot.
And then my favorite character would die too, so I absolutely couldn't let her find out.
First, I needed to think about the situation.
I was definitely possessing Yoo Seol-a's body.
And for now, I had no idea when I was.
The only clue that might let me figure out the date was a calendar somewhere.
Yoo Seol-a was a major supporting character in this story, but unlike the heroine, she hadn't been given much detailed coverage.
That was only natural for a supporting character, but the lack of information about the timeline was disappointing.
Still, the dates on the calendar told me when things were happening, so it wasn't hard to understand the story.
—So I had to find a calendar now.
The thought of rummaging through my favorite character's room, which the story had never shown, gave me a strange thrill, but I didn't want to commit such a sin.
I genuinely liked and cherished the character Yoo Seol-a with a pure heart.
So I couldn't go snooping through my favorite character's private things just yet.
I looked only for a calendar.
‘Found it.’
Before long, I found a calendar tucked behind a notebook that looked like a diary.
Flinch!
I was quite flustered when I checked the calendar.
‘April 2, 2031…? That's a whole year earlier than the date in the story…?’
After all, the date was a full year earlier than when the story took place.
The story was originally set in 2032, when the heroine, the male protagonist, and Yoo Seol-a had only just become Hunters.
To become a Hunter, one had to awaken an ability, and people could awaken starting at age seventeen.
Not just anyone could awaken an ability; they had to possess mana beforehand, the source that allowed them to use their abilities.
According to the story, only 5% of humanity possessed mana, and of those, only 0.01% had an enormous amount. They were called S-rank Hunters.
One of them was Yoo Seol-a, whom I had possessed, known by the title Dokkaebi Princess.
But since this was a year earlier, Yoo Seol-a was still an ordinary person with an enormous amount of mana who hadn't awakened her ability yet.
Only then did I understand why the maid had been so worried about me—or, more precisely, Yoo Seol-a.
Yoo Seol-a came from a Hunter family, so they must have known how much mana she had since birth.
An immense amount of mana was also a sign of talent, so nothing could be allowed to happen to Yoo Seol-a.
Now I understood the way she'd acted earlier.
—That gaze, as if I were a baby who mustn't be handled carelessly.
I looked for a full-length mirror in the room.
I needed to get a sense of what Yoo Seol-a looked like at this point in time.
‘C-cute…!’
The sixteen-year-old Yoo Seol-a I saw in the mirror looked very different from the way she'd been described in the story.
She was described as ‘radiating cuteness—.’, but the Yoo Seol-a standing before me now was a rabbit through and through.
Her big red eyes, firmly pursed plump lips, and delicate features made her look every bit like a rabbit.
More than anything, seeing one of Yoo Seol-a's charms—her two-tone hair—with my own eyes made it all the more striking.
Her long hair, half white and half black, should have been mussed from just waking up, yet its bounce and shine were extraordinary.
—No matter how you looked at her, she was an adorable creature.
I stared in a daze, captivated by the sight of such a fragile girl, someone I truly wanted to protect.
Without even noticing time pass—.
◈
“Breakfast, miss.”
“I'll enjoy the meal, Yura.”
Ever since the young lady let out something like a scream that day, she'd seemed different.
Normally, whenever she trained alone, she'd push herself too hard and end up badly injured.
But ever since that day, she'd started thinking about ‘moderation,’ and only trained to the point where it wouldn't interfere with the next day's training.
I wondered what had changed her mind.
And most importantly—.
Clatter.
“Ah….”
“I'll bring you a new one.”
Her knife work, which had been so deft as she cut her meat, had become noticeably clumsy.
She dropped her knife on the floor about once per meal, and replacing it had become routine.
It was as if she'd become a different person.
Still, I wasn't suspicious.
Swish! Thwack!!
At least when she practiced martial arts, she was still the young lady I remembered.
“Huff…. Huff…. Phew—.”
“Here's a towel. Wipe off your sweat, miss.”
“Thanks, Yura.”
“Your form looks even better than yesterday. The angle and accuracy of your kicks, and even their power. Among your peers who are preparing to become Hunters, I don't think anyone can keep up with you.”
“Thanks for the compliment. But…. Among the countless aspiring Hunters, there has to be someone stronger than me. So I must never get conceited.”
“But you're an active Hunter recognized by the family, aren't you?”
“Yeah. …But that's your strength, Yura, not mine, isn't it?”
She's become so much more mature.
I'd always thought she was gradually maturing, having watched her from the side all this time, but lately she seemed more adult than most adults.
“My lovely young lady, keep growing and growing just like this. Keep growing.”
“Yeah. I will. Don't worry.”
◈
Acting exactly like my favorite character was truly difficult.
Yoo Seol-a's family was so prestigious that they mostly ate with forks and knives, and since I wasn't used to them, I dropped my knife at least once a day.
Still, fortunately, Yura, the maid, didn't suspect me, chalking it up to a bit of human clumsiness.
Next, Yoo Seol-a's training was a whole other ordeal.
Her training as an aspiring Hunter involved learning all kinds of martial arts, grueling physical conditioning, and weapons training with all sorts of arms.
They were incredibly intense for someone like me, who'd lived as an ordinary nobody before possessing her.
There was one upside, though.
Yoo Seol-a, the body's original owner, must have trained so much that as soon as I started, my body performed everything automatically.
Thanks to that, I could consider the risk of Yura finding out through my training gone.
If I made progress in training, there'd be nothing for her to suspect.
So, feeling very, very relieved, I planned to build up my strength to the level of the original Yoo Seol-a—or even beyond it—by the time the original story began a year later, but—.
“The head of the family requests your presence, miss.”
“Father…?”
Just as the crisis before me disappeared, a new one presented itself.