Fucking Possession

,”Do you know that your possession is different from ordinary possessions?”

At Jin Shian’s question, I reflexively tried to shake my head, but stopped. I had been trying not to use my brain, comfortably thinking that Jin Shian would explain everything. Chastising myself for my stupidity, I paused to think. And then I found the answer.

,”…Inferiority complex towards Roel, huh.”

,”Right, most of the time, a normal guy who just plays novels or games at home suddenly gets possessed by a delinquent, or a major character or extra with tremendous talent, albeit with restrictions. But Ross?”

I took over Jin Shian’s words.

,”He was a consumable character, a lump of inferiority complex hastily thrown into the story.”

,”That’s right, originally, possession is a device for the author’s convenience. A device of plausibility to write a harem life where a guy with nothing gets to enjoy a honey-sucking life with one overpowered trait. Sometimes there are restrictions, but they’re not enough to get in the way of the story’s progress. It’s just giving a munchkin a slight handicap. But you have the penalty that Ross had, ‘inferiority complex towards Roel.’ It’s tripped you up more than once or twice.”

Jin Shian, with a strange smile, asked me.

,”What are our original personalities like?”

,”…A creepy bastard who likes to secretly peek into other people’s diaries.”

Jin Shian chuckled at my answer.

,”We’ve even watched others get hurt for fun. We’ve torn down other people’s novels, and out of immature jealousy, we wrote ‘The Hero’s Harem is Bound to Win,’ claiming we could write something better. We’re the kind of guy who enjoyed mixing truth and lies to deceive others for no reason.”

,”Are you suddenly trying to do some self-criticism? Then I should add that when I was a reader, I diligently left comments pretending to praise while subtly writing things that bothered you, causing you to discontinue your series.”

Jin Shian scoffed at my sarcasm.

,”The point is that your original personality is different from the personality you have after being possessed by Ross. What do you think is the reason for that?”

At Jin Shian’s question, I suddenly felt my consciousness becoming hazy. My personality has changed? That can’t be. I always lived as ‘Jin Shian’ in situations where I wasn’t affected by Ross’s inferiority complex.

,”Different?… I’m the same… except for Ross’s inferiority complex….”

For some reason, I couldn’t continue my words properly. Seeing my appearance, Jin Shian shrugged his shoulders with a knowing look.

,”Well, it seems impossible to even reason in that direction while under restriction. The answer is simple. After extracting unnecessary personality traits from Jin Shian’s data, I possessed Ross with it. Since the empty emotions weren’t overwritten, Ross’s original personality remained intact. That’s proof that we are a copy of Jin Shian’s data.”

I felt a faint pain near my heart. I wanted to doubt and deny Jin Shian’s words, but I felt that there was a high possibility that they were true. Suddenly, I felt like the floor beneath my feet was collapsing weakly.

My legs gave way, and I slumped onto the sofa, muttering blankly.

,”I’m just simple data…?”

Jin Shian tilted his head and looked at my face, then scratched his chin with an expression of incomprehension.

,”That’s, like, that shocking?”

I was even more creeped out by Jin Shian’s reaction. Shouldn’t it be normal to fall into despair when you realize that your existence is just infinitely shallow data?

,”I, isn’t it obvious? Everyone thinks they’re special. Even the most incompetent person wants to put themselves in the category of ordinary. But if I’m just a data copy… I, I have no reason to live… just….”

Jin Shian approached me, who couldn’t finish my sentence, and plopped down next to me.

,”The friends and relationships you had in your world, did they have no meaning for you to live?”

,”…What?”

,”They are also characters in a novel in a world created by copying the original world. According to you, are they beings with no reason to live? Were you just looking at them as moving letters in front of you?”

At Jin Shian’s words, I raised my hands and covered my face. I had never thought of it that way even once. The tears that Luna shed for me, the friendship of my friends, were all infinitely real to me. I have lived and fought until now for their stories, not just stories in a novel, but their stories of living today.

,”…No, absolutely not. I think everyone is real.”

,”Then it’s a contradiction to consider yourself a fake copy.”

I couldn’t say anything to Jin Shian’s sharp criticism. Jin Shian, with a bright smile, put his hand on my shoulder and said.

,”By the will of God, each and every one of us is real. Jin Shian and Ross. That’s us. The two are just one.”

I feel a sharp sense of discomfort piercing my chest. If I am Jin Shian and Ross… what is the Ross inside me that I saw?

I said in a deeply sunken voice.

,”I met the Ross inside me with Nelson’s help. The Ross inside me told me to become a hero. And that he would watch me with pleasure-“

,”Puhahaha!!!”

Jin Shian, who suddenly burst into laughter, grabbed his stomach and started stomping his feet like crazy. It wasn’t acting, it was a genuine burst of laughter. Jin Shian, who laughed for a long time with tears in his eyes, said to me with a voice that hadn’t lost its laughter, while I was frowning.

,”You ridiculously pure bastard. A guy born from lies gets tricked by such paltry lies! You know what my catchphrase is, right? The one who gets tricked is the idiot! You idiotic bastard. Pukeukeu!!!”

,”That’s a lie…?”

I took a deep breath, trying to suppress my anger at Jin Shian’s expression of looking at me as if to say, ‘Should I tell you?’ with a joyful expression.

,”…Please explain in detail. Jin Shian-sensei.”

,”Keukeu, you stupid bastard. You’re good at flattering. Well, it’s no fun to give you the answer right away, so I’ll give you a hint. Think back to what Roel said in the first world on the verge of destruction that you went to.”

At Jin Shian’s hint, I thought back to what Roel, who was trying to kill me, had said. And soon I was able to find the answer.

,”…Roel said I was a mixed soul.”

,”That’s right, we, Ross and Jin Shian, have become a soul mixed into one. We left the basic soul framework of Ross, who maintains the body, and filled the rest with Jin Shian! That’s why the setting of Roel ‘always wins against his younger brother’ continues for us who are possessed!”

,”Then the Ross I saw….”

Jin Shian jumped up from the sofa and spread his hands wide with an exaggerated gesture. And he shouted in a loud voice like a musical actor.

,”That was just a safety device created by the Saintess! In case you meet the essence trapped inside you, it’s a gaslighting attempt to make you a hero!”

I feel like my heart is falling to the floor. The fact that a Saintess I’ve never even met did that to me… I couldn’t believe it. If she possessed me into Ross and subtly manipulated me to walk the path of a hero, then she’s no different from the final mastermind.

,”Wait… the essence trapped inside me? What does that mean?”

Jin Shian tilted his head at my question.

,”Huh? Don’t you understand yet? What did you think the other you who saved your life was? A nine-tailed fox, a ghost? Why don’t you shout Manhae! to the sky. Keukeukeu.”

,”Shut up and explain properly!”

Jin Shian chuckled at my annoyance.

,”Why do you think all Rosses have an inferiority complex about Roel? Most of them either don’t exist from the beginning, or even if they do have an inferiority complex, they resolve it within three months.”

,”That’s impossible. Inferiority complex is Ross’s basic setting, isn’t it?”

Jin Shian shrugged his shoulders at my question with a ‘so what?’ expression.

,”Who knows? It’s natural for Ross’s plausibility to change if we’re possessed. I told you, it’s natural to enjoy a honey-sucking life after being possessed. Just like all Rosses have their own unique abilities, they all start with different innate abilities. I didn’t have any inferiority complex from the beginning. In fact, most of us realize on the first day of possession that we can’t beat Roel with force and transfer to the Magic Department before enrollment. Since my lovely childhood friend Ellie is also in the Magic Department, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. There are very few Rosses who stay in the Combat Department. There are fewer than those who transferred to the Magic Engineering Department or the Alchemy Department.”

I couldn’t believe Jin Shian’s words that he didn’t have an inferiority complex about Roel from the beginning. I had such a hard time because of that inferiority complex. If I really am the last Ross, then there’s no need to leave the penalty of inferiority complex, which didn’t exist for the previous Rosses, right?

When I asked him about that, Jin Shian smiled joyfully.

,”Pukeukeu, you stupid bastard. How many times do I have to say it? You’re the worst Ross among us. Don’t you understand what that means?”

,”…Didn’t you mean that my growth is the slowest?”

When I said it as if I was blaming myself, Jin Shian nodded.

,”That’s also true. The reason I called you the worst Ross is because you had the worst start among us. Your innate magic power, physical abilities, even your relationship with your parents who supported you to some extent out of pity, were all the worst, and on top of that, you had an inferiority complex towards Roel! You’re the absolute worst Ross.”

I bit my lip at Jin Shian’s voice, which seemed to be teasing me.

,”Shibal! You said I’m the last Ross, the hope! Then you should have made me have the best start! I crawled through the bottom for so long! I wanted to stab myself in the neck with a spear. Why the hell did you make me like that?”

The beginning of my possession was really difficult. The contempt of my parents, the disappointed eyes of the people who looked at me with expectations for my brother, the moment I was knocked out by Lacar in one hit… It was a moment when really depressing days continued. It was the first time since entering the academy that I desperately hoped that morning wouldn’t come.

There were many times when I woke up in bed and wondered if I should just drop out. At that time, I really wanted to give up everything. It was already very depressing just to be possessed into a novel I wrote for no reason.

But despite my valid anger, Jin Shian shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant face. And then he answered as if it were obvious.

,”That’s because of causality. God read the fate of all the Rosses up to now for the final game and decided to go for broke.”