Episode 2: Isn’t Possession Supposed to Be with an S-Class? (1)

About three years before So-dam decided on the final forbidden keyword for a possessor, “escape.”

A semi-basement room filled with a musty smell. The only light in the room came from the faint rays entering through a small window.

Something stirred on the bed visible below.

“Ugh…”

The source of the sound, So-dam, was groaning as she clutched her forehead and struggled to sit up.

“Ugh, I’m dying… If I keep drinking like this, I’m not a person but a dog, seriously.”

Muttering in a voice that sounded like it was on the verge of death, she steadied herself by gripping the bed as her vision swam. The slight movement caused the worn-out mattress to let out a painful creak.

Startled by the sharp, grating sound that pierced her ears, she looked around the dark surroundings with wide eyes.

“W-where am I? Did I get so drunk yesterday that I boarded a plane or something?”

Last night, So-dam had rekindled her long-avoided friendship with an old pal—alcohol. This was after a project she had spent years preparing was completely overturned due to media manipulation by a competitor.

She spent a long time pouring drinks, alternately crying her eyes out and barking like a dog. After upending the sixth green bottle at a 180-degree angle, everything went black. No matter how much she racked her brain, all she got was a headache, with no sign of the lost memories returning.

“This looks like someone’s home at a glance… But it’s definitely not my place.”

Crossing her arms and frowning in thought, So-dam soon tilted her head in puzzlement.

“I’m too unharmed for this to be a kidnapping, right? The room is small, but there are no bars or anything like that.”

What’s more, there was no sign of ropes or cable ties—things that typically come to mind when you think of a kidnapping—so she leaned more toward the idea that this wasn’t a kidnapping.

Instead, she felt a sense of warmth at the thoughtfulness of dressing her in a thick fleece hoodie, given the freezing weather.

“I mean, if they were going to do that, they could’ve at least turned up the heat. But I should be thankful that they saved a drunk person, even if just that.”

Just as she was about to leisurely get out of bed, her foot caught on a protruding bed frame, and she tumbled to the floor with a crash.

Her head and body were already aching, and now, with this new pain added, tears of physical pain blurred her vision.

“Sss… I don’t know about anything else, but by tomorrow I’m definitely going to be covered in bruises. This really hurts.”

So-dam, rubbing her throbbing knee, cautiously stood up this time. As she moved around the dimly lit room, waving her hands to feel her way, she stepped on something flat beneath her foot.

Pausing at the familiar yet unfamiliar texture, she hesitated before picking it up. With the faint light seeping through the narrow window, she examined the object and realized it was an ID card.

[Ability User Registration Card]

Name: Maeng So-dam (孟昭炎)
Category: Guide
Rank: F-Class
Issued: 3245. 4. 4.
Esper & Guide Association, Korea Branch

“A Guide’s ID? What is that? Are they talking about a tour guide? When did I ever get something like this…?”

She only furrowed her brow at this unfamiliar “Guide ID” for a moment before letting out an exasperated sigh as she slowly examined the card.

“Wait, 3245? What kind of nonsense is this? Did someone make this as a joke?”

She flicked the plastic card with a scoffing laugh, glaring at it.

“This isn’t even funny. What the heck is an Esper…?”

As So-dam began to grasp the situation, her expression stiffened.

“Wait a minute. If there are Espers, Guides, and even ranks….”

“Could it be that I’ve actually possessed a character in a book? For real? This can’t be happening!”

Staggering from the shock, So-dam grabbed onto the desk in front of her.

The old, rickety desk wobbled noisily, but in her heightened state of excitement, she didn’t even notice.

“Is this really real?”

*Slap!*

“Wow, it is real. That really hurt…”

Even one second before slapping her own cheek, So-dam had been doubtful, but now she mumbled to herself as if she could not be more certain. At the same time, the leg of the desk, which had been barely holding up under her weight, snapped with a sharp crack! The items piled on top of it came crashing down.

“Whoa!”

Fortunately, So-dam had pulled her hand away just in time when the desk gave its ominous creak, so she wasn’t hurt at all. However, the sight of the desk collapsing in a heap left her with a creeping sense of dread, as if it were foreshadowing her own future.

The scattered items on the floor only added to So-dam’s growing confusion.

“*If You Know This, You Too Can Be an S-Class Guide*, *Everything About Guiding*, *100 Days to Catch Up with Baek Ju-yul*… Baek Ju-yul? That Baek Ju-yul from Nasper?”

The name Baek Ju-yul wasn’t exactly common, but at first glance, one might think there was just another successful person with the same name. However, in a world where “Espers” and “Guides” exist, if the name Baek Ju-yul comes up, there’s only one answer.

It meant that So-dam had been transported into the world of the web novel she had collected every volume of, including the side stories—“I’m the Only SSS-Class Esper”, also known as “Nasper”!

“This is crazy, this world has gone completely mad.”

Clutching her spinning head with both hands, she muttered in a groan, then glared at the Guide ID she still held tightly.

“If there were a character with the same name as me, I’d know for sure. Especially if she’s an F-class Guide involved with Baek Ju-yul—there couldn’t be more than two or three of them…”

In reality, So-dam had more than enough information to identify her “body’s owner.”

An F-class Guide. An uncommon surname. A body that hurt too much to blame on a hangover. And… the pills scattered around the bed.

As she pieced together the clues one by one, the blood drained from So-dam’s face.

“Could it be that I’m *that* Guide Maeng? …Is it really me?”

Guide Maeng.

It was such an unusual surname that she might have encountered it only once in her life. It was as if the author had chosen that surname specifically to make sure this important extra wouldn’t be forgotten.

So-dam had no trouble remembering “Guide Maeng” not only because of the author’s intention but also because the surname was the same as hers. But she never imagined that she would have the same name as that extra character.

“I’m still alive, though. I don’t have any plans to die.”

Her hands frantically patted her face and body. And with good reason—because in the original *Nasper*, the moment this “Guide Maeng” extra became important was after her death.

Her death triggered a series of tragic events that were the main storyline of *Nasper* and the rollercoaster life of the protagonist, Baek Ju-yul.

In other words, as long as the character Maeng So-dam was alive, none of that would happen.

“So just by being alive, I’m already destroying the original story… But aren’t possessors supposed to avoid doing that?”

As she continuously wiped her dry cheeks, a sudden flash of insight crossed So-dam’s mind.

“No, the original story doesn’t concern me. The biggest issue in possession stories is that the possessor sticks close to the protagonist, right? So, all I have to do is… not stick around them!”

Even if So-dam’s presence disrupted the original storyline, what mattered most now, since this world had become her reality, was her own safety.

If she stayed near the protagonist, who always threw himself into the thick of things, narrowly escaping death time and again, her own life would surely be in constant danger.

With a much clearer expression, So-dam lightly nodded and muttered to herself.

“From now on, my goal is to get as far away from Baek Ju-yul as possible, and as quickly as possible. …Hmph. This should be easy.”

In the original story, Baek Ju-yul treated F-class Guides like disposable batteries until an S-class Guide, one suited to him, finally appeared.

If the association that cared so much for Ju-yul hadn’t forced those Guides to sign confidentiality agreements under threat, it would have caused an uproar long ago. The problem was that Maeng So-dam was one of those disposable batteries.

Ignoring any such agreements, she had planned her revenge by staging a suicide attempt and using the media to blow it up.

She had only intended to make a “gesture” by taking just enough pills to make it believable. But the problem was that her body, weakened by excessive Guiding, couldn’t withstand even that amount, and she ended up collapsing.

In a way, it could be seen as a perfect revenge—escaping to a place where the association’s notorious retribution couldn’t reach her. But…

“What’s the point of revenge if the person who’s supposed to enjoy it dies? You should’ve just forgotten about it and moved on, Maeng So-dam, instead of dreaming of glory.”

Asking these questions to the original Maeng So-dam, who had already disappeared, only resulted in suffocating silence.

Even though she was bundled up in a thick hoodie and several layers of thermal wear, she was shivering so much that she kept rubbing her arms. To resolve the sudden question that had popped into her mind, she picked up her phone again.

“…No matter how I look at it, it’s August. So why is it so cold? Is this world’s Korea like Alaska or something?”

Grinding her chattering teeth together, she frantically checked her phone. The first thing she saw was the temperature on a weather app… 32 degrees Celsius.

In a cramped room like this, where heating or air conditioning seemed irrelevant, it should have been sweltering hot. But the cold, so sharp it made her skin tingle, had no reasonable explanation.

“Ugh, this is driving me crazy. I should’ve at least grabbed a comforter!”

So-dam sighed as she wrapped herself in the blanket she had kicked off earlier.

Her breath, escaping through her clenched teeth, was uncomfortably cold. So cold, in fact, that tiny droplets formed on her lips, which had been just warm enough.

“Could all of this be because I Guided Baek Ju-yul? Is it because he uses ice powers?”