Chapter 1
Kim Yu-seong
One day, I opened my eyes to see a white ceiling.
Next to me, a middle-aged couple with unfamiliar faces were holding my hand, sobbing. When our eyes met, they were startled and rushed out to call a doctor.
Right after waking up, everything was a blur, but once the doctor came and ran some tests, I was finally left alone in the hospital room to think calmly.
'What the hell is going on here?'
It seemed like I had undergone something you'd only see in novels or comics—possession.
There was no other way to explain my current situation.
From the context of the conversations so far, the body I'd possessed was named 'Kim Yu-seong,' a high school student living in Japan.
Apparently, two days ago, he left home to meet a friend, only to be hit by a car at a nearby crosswalk, falling into a coma.
If my soul had taken the place of this kid named Kim Yu-seong, it was nothing short of tragic.
He was at the age where he should be out playing, yet here he was, cut short.
I recalled the last memory before my possession.
Due to a wrong choice, I ended up as a graduate student in the sciences, unable to return home for days, living and working in the university lab. But due to someone's mistake, a fire broke out in the lab. I was there, trying to grab a hard drive with two years of research data, only to inhale a ton of toxic gas and pass out without escaping the building.
Perhaps, because I died in that lab, that's why I ended up possessing this boy, Kim Yu-seong?
I briefly rejoiced at escaping that miserable graduate life, but my excitement quickly subsided.
After all, I was now like a cuckoo bird, suddenly intruding into this boy's body.
I doubted whether I could adapt to this new life.
Gazing blankly at the ceiling, I picked up a small hand mirror from the bedside table.
A boy's face I'd never seen before was looking back at me through the mirror.
When I awkwardly smiled, the boy with his notably long bangs on one side smiled back.
Honestly, it felt surreal.
Maybe all this was just a dream?
I entertained that vague hope, but pinching my cheek brought sharp, real pain.
"Haah. What the fuck is this?"
I sighed deeply at this inexplicable situation, deciding to sleep on it and think later.
Two Days Later.
I was discharged from the hospital without any miraculous undoing of the possession.
Instead, Kim Yu-seong's memories began to flow naturally into my head as I dreamt.
Kim Yu-seong, a 15-year-old boy, was a typical middle school student about to take the entrance exam for high school.
Born to Korean parents who had immigrated to Japan, he was a second-generation Zainichi Korean, which subtly led to discrimination at school, shaping his introverted personality.
However, he had a few friends in class he got along with, and it seems he left home early on a weekend to hang out with them, only to meet with misfortune.
I returned home in the car driven by the middle-aged couple—Kim Yu-seong's parents—and agreed to go upstairs to rest as they suggested I must be tired.
Though it was my first time here, I acted as if I knew the place inside out, probably thanks to Kim Yu-seong's memories.
Quietly closing the door, I entered the room and felt dizzy at the sight before me.
Everywhere I looked, there were manga, manga, manga, manga.
The walls were adorned with bromide photos of scantily clad 2D characters, and the shelves were packed with anime DVDs and figures.
I didn't know how a kid in middle school year 3 had the money for all this, but one thing was clear: Kim Yu-seong was what you'd call a hardcore otaku.
I occasionally watched some manga or anime that people said were fun, but I was nowhere near this level of obsession, so I was just bewildered.
Since this would be where I'd live, I tidied up what I could and sat on the bed instead of a chair.
'What do I do now?'
I hadn't inherited all of Kim Yu-seong's memories, so acting carelessly was tough.
His parents were particularly the issue; if their son suddenly started acting like a different person after 15 years, it would raise huge red flags.
In other words, I needed a good excuse if I were to act according to my original personality.
Luckily, there was one perfect excuse for Kim Yu-seong.
'Chuunibyou'
A disease everyone supposedly gets at some point during their turbulent teenage years.
Fortunately, before my possession, Kim Yu-seong was deeply into chuunibyou, to the extent he grew his bangs long like his favorite manga character.
Though his shy nature kept him from showing it outside, his parents must've known their son was suffering from chuunibyou.
Now it's August.
In terms of school terms, it's just after the final exams, the start of summer break.
But there wasn't much time left.
Checking the smartphone calendar, school was starting again in two weeks.
Attempting an image change in such a short time would definitely raise suspicions not only with his parents but also with those who knew Kim Yu-seong.
'Then, I guess I'll have to play the chuunibyou for a while.'
After some thought, that's what I decided.
I'd reveal my true self once I got to high school.
For now, I needed to understand the tastes and hobbies Kim Yu-seong liked, so I turned my attention to the neatly arranged manga on the bookshelf.
From the titles, it seemed he read everything from fighting manga to fantasy, cooking, and romantic comedies.
Gulp.
Just by eyeballing, there seemed to be well over a hundred volumes.
If there was any homework for me this summer vacation, it was to become a perfect chuunibyou otaku.
It looked like it would be quite the ordeal.
Time passed incredibly fast in Kim Yu-seong's body as a third-year middle school student.
Physically, it was short.
August, September, October, November, December.
Excluding the third term and spring break, it was less than half a year.
For the high school entrance exam, I passed with ease without much studying.
Having been a science graduate student, middle school level math and science were child's play, and even subjects like Korean and history, which were Kim Yu-seong's favorites, weren't as hard as I feared.
My soul from the sciences combined with the body from the humanities, honestly, I scored ridiculously well compared to what I studied.
Anyway, thanks to thorough preparation and review during the summer break, neither his parents nor anyone else suspected that the person inside Kim Yu-seong had changed.
The chuunibyou act, once you get used to it, becomes second nature.
After reading all the manga and novels Kim Yu-seong had collected and memorizing typical chuunibyou behaviors from the internet, I naturally displayed them in daily life.
When I accidentally bumped my head on a convenience store door while looking at my phone and muttered, "Tch, must be a barrier," I even impressed myself.
"Here! Give me some beef skirt and hormone!"
"Sure!"
While lost in thought, I shouted to my father, who was working in the kitchen, for an additional order from table number three.
"Beef skirt and hormone for table number three!"
"Coming right up!"
Kim Yu-seong's parents ran a small Korean BBQ restaurant in Tokyo, specifically selling yakiniku as their main dish.
The place was small but had a decent number of regulars.
Despite his young age, Kim Yu-seong could afford all those goods because he helped out at his parents' shop whenever he had time and got paid for it.
During the busy lunch rush, I was dealing with non-stop customers, feeling the strain of hard labor when I noticed a boy and girl at one table.
The boy was tall, handsome like a celebrity, probably around my age.
The girl next to him looked a year or two younger, equally striking with clear features.
"Brother! Say 'ahh~' for me."
"Yui, people are watching."
"Oh come on~ What's wrong with a little sister feeding her brother?"
I stared blankly at the familiar-looking pair and realized.
If my memory serves, the boy's name is Sakamoto Ryuji.
The main character from the popular romantic comedy, 'Scramble Love,' which I had read about in online humor before possessing this body.
He looked slightly younger than in my memory, but that natural shaggy haircut, like he just stepped out of a host club, was unforgettable.
And thus, I naturally came to know.
This 'Kim Yu-seong' I possessed was living in a world inside a manga.