~Chapter 2~
“Wait… something went wrong, right?”
That “Huh?” wasn’t something you say easily.
It was like when you add melted butter into beaten eggs while baking, but the eggs suddenly cook instead.
A sigh that just comes out automatically when something goes wrong.
As expected, Omok started panicking noisily.
It stared at the smartphone like it wanted to crawl into the screen, then flapped its little wings and flew around in circles.
“How big of a mistake is it for you to act like this?”
I grabbed Omok, who was flying around like crazy.
It fit perfectly in my hands, its wings drooping weakly as it lost energy.
“Th-th-the manager is going to kill me…!”
“That big of a mistake?”
Tears started to gather in Omok’s round eyes, and I couldn’t tell if the words about dying were a joke or not.
‘Where did that confident Omok go from earlier?’
At first, I was anxious and angry, not knowing what mistake it had made.
But now, seeing those fat chicken-like tears falling, I couldn’t bring myself to scold it.
“Anyone can make mistakes while working. You’ve been doing well, right? Won’t they let one mistake go?”
“Han Yuna, you’re my very first customer…”
“Oh… so you’re a rookie? Then of course mistakes are natural.”
“B-but… no guide in the company’s history has ever made this kind of mistake!”
“…Then maybe it’s time to look for a new job.”
If the mistake was that serious, then yes, time to change jobs.
People say if a job doesn’t suit you, it’s best to quit early.
That way, it’s better for both you and your coworkers.
“That’s impossible! This is my dream job!”
“…Hmm.”
A dream job? My old coworker used to say such companies don’t exist.
“Then first of all, you need to put me back in the right place.”
“What?”
“You said I should’ve possessed a book I already read.”
“W-well, yes…”
“Then do a re-possession and fix the mistake. That way you can make up for it, right?”
What’s this? Why is it rolling its eyes?
Omok avoided my gaze, pretending not to hear me, even when I poked it with my finger.
‘This kind of intentional, repeated ignoring makes me anxious, Omok.’
At first, I was moved by its tears, but now I couldn’t let it slide.
I closed my hand tightly around it.
“Kyuuup!”
“If you made a mistake, you need to fix it!”
“Kkkyuuu, please calm down, customer!”
“Would you be calm if you possessed the wrong world with no idea what’s happening?!”
If I really got the wrong possession, then that’s something I can’t accept! Bring me the supervisor!
Even if it was a novel I had read, I still couldn’t predict the ending.
And since I possessed a character, who knows what kind of variables could happen.
Not only that, but my “special reward” depended on reaching the ending.
If I failed, I’d go back to being a comatose body in reality.
So no matter what, I had to survive and reach the ending.
“What about my reward! My special reward!”
“Kkyuuup! If this keeps up, I’ll explode! I-I’ll call the manager!”
Finally.
The words about calling its direct manager made me calm down a little.
I loosened my grip, and Omok escaped, flying up to the chandelier.
“P-please wait just a moment!”
Knowing I was angry, Omok moved quickly now.
Beep, beep, beep!
The sound of buttons echoed, so out of place in this frozen medieval-style room.
It must’ve been messaging its manager on KakaoTalk.
‘But wait, what if someone comes in now?’
I glanced at the smartphone, totally out of place in this world, and suddenly felt nervous.
If someone walked in, and saw me talking with a strange round creature holding a smartphone the size of its body?
In a noble lady’s room?
They’d call me a witch and burn me at the stake.
“Tell them to come right now. If someone barges in and sees this, I’ll be on the express train to the bad ending.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. While I’m explaining the service, time doesn’t move here.”
I looked around. Sure enough, the clock’s second hand was frozen, and even the birds in the sky outside were stopped.
“…It’s true.”
“See? Even if I made a huge mistake, at least—”
“Omok!!!”
BAM!
Something flew straight into Omok mid-sentence, knocking it out cold.
It was a slightly bigger brown-feathered bird.
“…A sparrow?”
I didn’t know much about birds. It just looked like a big sparrow.
But the bird turned to glare at me, offended.
“I’m not a sparrow! I’m a kestrel!”
“Oh, so a kestrel.”
No wonder it was feistier than a sparrow.
A small body, but still part of the falcon family—it had some charisma.
But right now, I was the customer.
“The important thing is, Omok said something went wrong during my possession.”
“Correct. First, let me introduce myself. I’m Jjorongi, the team leader of the Special Possession Service.”
The kestrel bowed politely and handed me a business card.
It was the size of a human’s card.
How do these birds keep pulling out objects as big as themselves?
Are they secretly related to Dorae*mon?
“Please just call me Team Leader Jjo.”
“Alright, Team Leader Jjo.”
Whether you’re a blue robot cat or a kestrel, the point is—you’re the one in charge.
“Can’t you just reassign me to another novel I actually read?”
“That’s impossible. The moment you woke up in Amelie Garnet’s body, the service officially began.”
Such a clean, cold answer.
Omok dodged the question earlier, but Jjorongi answered directly, like a stiff employee.
Of course, it was no help to me.
“Then compared to other possessors, I’m starting with a huge penalty!”
“T-That’s why, as team leader, I’ll give you compensation!”
“Good. And that compensation better be something useful.”
Otherwise… I just might fry you.
I whispered that last part, but both Omok and Jjorongi flinched at the same time. They heard me.
“Of course. First, since you don’t know the original story, I’ll explain. But let’s start with your character.”
“Good. Tell me about me first.”
“Understood. The body you possessed is Amelie Florel Garnet, the villainess of the original novel Lysa’s Sword.”
I nodded calmly.
Villainess possession? A common cliché. I had expected this.
“The heroine is, as the title suggests, Lysa, Amelie’s friend.”
“Typical setting.”
“And the male lead is—”
Jjorongi paused, pulled out a tablet, and flipped through the screen.
“Oh! You already met him just now.”
“…Wait. Don’t tell me?”
“Yes. The man who just stormed out of this room was the male lead, Richard Biender.”
“…So he already hates me.”
I recalled the hateful glare he gave me before slamming the door.
‘Come to think of it, he mentioned the name Lysa back then too.’
So Richard already despised Amelie because of her past misdeeds.
Even before I possessed her.
Great. This is already tangled.
“Don’t worry too much! There are other villains besides Amelie!”
Omok tried to console me.
“…That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
Not really.
“The desk drawer has a diary with more detailed information about all the characters, including Amelie.”
“Fine. I’ll look later. But what about my compensation?”
“Well, looking at your past data, you worked in a café and met lots of people, right?”
“Yeah, customers increased while I was there.”
“You listened well, reacted kindly, and even gave advice, right?”
“…True.”
It wasn’t advice, really.
I was more like an emotional trash can, listening to endless love problems and silly complaints.
I even got stress bald spots because of it.
“So, as compensation, we’ll give you the ability to see people’s worries.”
“…That’s your idea of a reward?”
These bird creatures really came here to kill me twice.
