I Was Possessed By An Unknown Manga

“Miss! Are you okay?!”

It was none other than Mr. Meguro, the chief steward of the mansion on the island, who disembarked from the cruise ship, shouting in an urgent voice.

He was startled to find me standing next to the President, but then cleared his throat and said to her,

“We were worried when we lost contact after you went out on the yacht yesterday. Fortunately, you sent a distress signal not too late, so we came as soon as dawn broke.”

“It’s all thanks to my juniors, Minami and Shinji. They went to a high place to send a rescue signal.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t see those two around.”

“They should be back soon. It seems they stayed in the mountains overnight since it got too late.”

“Miss!”

Speak of the tiger and it appears—in a stunning twist of timing, the Vice President was running towards us from a distance.

“Are you okay?! Have you been injured anywhere?!”

As the Vice President asked that, leaning in close, the President pushed his face away with a look of disgust.

“I’m fine because Yu-seong was with me. But how about you two?”

Minami answered,

“We were fine. There was a cave halfway up the mountain.”

“That’s good to hear. You did well, Minami.”

“It was only what I had to do.”

While the two juniors exchanged compliments, Mr. Meguro, who had been watching from the side, approached and said,

“Let’s save the rest of the conversation for after we return. You must be tired from sleeping in an unfamiliar place, so I’ve hastily arranged a cruise ship.”

“Is that so?”

At Mr. Meguro’s suggestion, the President smiled and turned towards us.

“Then let’s return. All together.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

With the simultaneous response of the Vice President and me, the Student Council members’ brief adventure came to an end.

“We owe you a lot for this time!”

“Although it was a short period, it was an honor to serve you, Miss.”

“I’m also glad to have met someone as good as Mr. Meguro.”

The Student Council’s special intensive training camp, which lasted for 3 nights and 4 days, successfully came to an end today.

At first, I wondered what they meant by enhancing friendship, but now it seemed that a strong bond had formed among the Student Council members.

One thing that was certain was that we probably wouldn’t need to play in the sea anymore this year.

Including the time when Group D members went to the beach, we’ve had enough swimming on this island.

After thanking the mansion staff, who took great care of us for 3 nights and 4 days, the Student Council members, including myself, boarded the buggy.

It had been our means of transportation since the first day.

“Now it’s time to say goodbye to this one too.”

As I said that and patted the car, Minami also fiddled with the steering wheel, seemingly reluctant to part with it.

“Riding this makes me want to get my driver’s license quickly.”

“You’re addicted to driving.”

In response to the Vice President’s remark from the passenger seat, Minami retorted, “No, I’m not,” and pouted her lips.

Anyway, with everyone on board, we left the mansion’s yard and headed for the dock.

Vroom!

With the roaring engine, the scenery of the island passed by quickly.

From a distance, the sound of cicadas hanging in the trees could be heard.

As the day of departure arrived, I felt a fresh sense of sentimentality.

What was unimaginable last year had changed so much in just one year.

Compared to my overwhelmingly bleak school days and graduate school years, life now seemed to sparkle.

‘Is this what youth is?’

A season that was grey for someone was blue for another.

As the President, like me, quietly watched the receding scenery of the island, she suddenly turned her head and asked me,

“Was this trip a good memory for you?”

It was an unexpected question, but I answered without hesitation.

“Yes. I think it will be a good memory.”

The sweltering summer heat was slowly coming to an end.

Thursday of the fourth week of August.

It seemed like a belated rainy season, as it rained all day yesterday.

My mother complained about the laundry not drying, but I pretended not to notice and turned my head.

More than half of the laundry at our home was due to my exercise.

Anyway, it felt like summer vacation had just started at the end of July, but after experiencing several major events, it was already nearing its end.

With school reopening in just two weeks, I was hurriedly doing my summer vacation homework.

I had to start doing it bit by bit from now on to avoid cramming it all night before the end of vacation.

Anyway, being cooped up in my room doing homework from morning until evening was giving me a headache.

Being the top student in my grade, solving the problems wasn’t hard, but the sheer volume was the issue.

No matter what, sitting at a desk for hours solving problems would make anyone’s body ache.

“*Phew. *That’s enough for today.”

After completing about half of my math homework, I closed the book and stood up to stretch.

Having sat at the desk for nearly half a day, my muscles felt quite stiff.

I should go for a light jog before dinner.

I neatly placed the dumbbells I used while studying in one corner of the room and changed into light training clothes.

Thinking about exercising my body after straining my brain almost made me whistle.

I stopped by the restaurant on the first floor to tell my parents I was going out for exercise and not to look for me, then jogged for about 30 minutes on my usual route.

My brain, starved of oxygen in the room, felt rejuvenated upon meeting the fresh air, as if all the fatigue had disappeared.

“This is why I exercise.”

It was always refreshing and thrilling.

After completing the exercise, I stopped by the convenience store on the way home to buy chicken breast as a snack.

The frozen chicken breast I always ate was not bad, but the convenience store chicken breast was tasty too.

Beep!

“Kim Yu-seong, it’s been a while.”

“Senior Fuma?”

At the familiar voice from the cash register, I was startled and looked up.

There was Senior Fuma, standing in front of the POS machine, wearing the distinctive blue-striped uniform of Lawson convenience store.

“You haven’t been at the gym lately; something must have happened?”

Senior Fuma said this while scanning the barcode of the chicken breast and handed it to me.

“Are you working part-time here now?”

Senior Fuma nodded.

“The place I worked at before didn’t have much waste, you see.”

“…You’re working hard.”

The reason was so realistically pragmatic that I couldn’t help but look at her with sympathy.

“So, about my question?”

“Oh, that’s because I changed my workout time. Recently, I’ve been exercising more during the day than in the evening.”

“I see. I thought you were avoiding me because I was a burden.”

“If you had asked the gym manager or Kazu, they would have told you right away, wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t like those two. If I ask them about you, they’ll just start teasing right away.”

“…Ah.”

Certainly, they do tend to do that.

Both were more interested in others’ love lives than their own.

“By the way, a kid named Ryuji came to the café recently. Did you introduce him?”

“Oh, yes. He came?”

“He came asking about the underworld, mentioning your name. At first, I tried to send him away nicely, but my sister became interested when she heard he had a powerful guardian spirit attached to him.”

“Guardian spirit?”

Could he be talking about Mahes, that Egyptian ghost?

“They said it was a soul with a level of power rare to see these days. I heard they even conversed directly.”

“You don’t seem to know much about it?”

“He came on a weekday, and I wasn’t there. I work part-time on weekends.”

Certainly, if that was the case, it couldn’t be helped.

As I nodded and asked her to warm up the slightly opened chicken breast in the microwave, Senior Fuma took it back, frowning as if it was a bother, but diligently nonetheless.

“By the way, Yu-seong, as the vacation is almost over, when are you planning to visit our village?”

I paused in the middle of putting away my wallet.

“Ah.”

“Don’t tell me you forgot the promise?”

“No, it’s just… I’ve been too busy with recent events…”

The more I talked, the sharper Senior Fuma’s gaze became.

Eventually, I gave up on making excuses.

“I’m sorry. Honestly, I forgot.”

“Sigh… Really….“

Senior Fuma shook her head as if it was a headache, holding the warmed chicken breast, and said,

“Well, strike while the iron is hot. How about this weekend? I think I can take a day or two off from my part-time job.”

“This weekend?”

I quickly thought it over.

Fortunately, I had no other plans.

“It seems possible.”

Relieved, Senior Fuma handed over the chicken breast and said,

“If you had said no, I would have held this as hostage.”

Taking protein hostage in front of someone who just finished exercising—what an evil idea.

I was once again reminded that Senior Fuma was a ninja without blood or tears.