I Was Possessed By An Unknown Manga

After dinner, I found myself alone in my room.

Strictly speaking, I wasn’t entirely alone since Saya, who had possessed me, was with me.

“Hey, if you’re just going to read that book, can I borrow your phone?”

“Why do you need my phone?”

“There’s nothing much to do here, and I’m bored.”

“Alright.”

I complied with her request and tossed her the smartphone I took out of my pocket.

Despite being a ghost, she had no problem handling the smartphone and busily fiddled with it.

“What?! There’s no Wi-Fi here?!”

“We’re in the mountains.”

“Ugh…”

She grinded her teeth in frustration and started to fiddle with something else.

Since I only used my smartphone for games or watching videos, there was nothing risky for others to see.

It had been a while since Saya started fiddling with the phone on her own.

I turned my head, wondering what she was doing in silence, and was startled.

Because she was shedding transparent tears.

“Why are you crying?”

When I asked in surprise, she startled and shook her head.

“I wasn’t crying.”

Saya said that, feigned innocence, and handed back the smartphone she was holding.

Then she left the room, saying she’d step out for some fresh air.

It was obviously an escape, but I didn’t point it out.

After all, I did have that much kindness.

Instead, I turned on the smartphone she left behind and looked into the gallery that appeared in the recent apps.

What Saya saw was a group photo of the Group D members taken during a recent trip to the sea.

In the photo, Ryuji was smiling widely, making a V-sign with his fingers.

This guy… it seemed he had been sticking to the same pose since he was young.

Understanding why Saya burst into tears just from this, I put the smartphone in my pocket and looked down the corridor beyond the door she exited.

I wasn’t the one who could comfort her.

So, for now, all I could do was watch.

Swift Wind was a more sophisticated martial art than I thought.

Generally, ancient martial arts were considered less practical than those created in modern times.

There were various reasons for this, but perhaps it was because the nature of combat had completely changed since those times.

However, Swift Wind, an assassination technique created with a focus on one-hit kills, targets, and destroys the body’s vital points efficiently, so its practicality does not fall short even compared to modern martial arts.

It consisted of seven forms, all named after aspects of the wind.

The first form: Kamaitachi.

The second form: Hayate (Gale).

The third form: Arashi (Storm).

The fourth form: Tatsumaki (Whirlwind).

The fifth form: Oikaze (Tailwind).

The sixth form: Tsujikaze (Headwind).

The seventh form: Ryūnobori (Ascending Dragon).

It seemed like they were intentionally matched.

Because it was cooler that way.

Anyway, by the time I finished reading the book, it was already quite late, so I decided to go to bed.

I put the book I finished reading by my bedside and blew out the candle.

As the room darkened, Saya, floating in the air, asked,

“Going to sleep?”

“Yes, I should.”

“…Good night.”

Surprisingly, without any fuss, Saya said that and turned her back.

I wasn’t sure if ghosts sleep, but I had no time to worry about that.

Honestly, I was extremely tired.

I blinked my dim eyes and fell asleep before I knew it.

After a long time, I had a nightmare.

I couldn’t remember exactly what the dream was about, but it seemed to be related to a past life.

In a burning laboratory-like place, I, wandering alone, struggled in the flames.

I rolled on the floor in the unextinguishable flames, but the fire did not go out and only grew larger.

Eventually, I woke up to the vivid pain of being burned to the bone.

“Pant, pant.”

Even breathing was painful.

I clutched my chest, struggling to breathe properly.

It felt like I had swallowed a ball of fire; the inside of my stomach was unbearably hot.

I grabbed the kettle beside my bed and gulped down cold water.

Yet, the heat didn’t seem to dissipate.

I put down the kettle and wiped my face.

“*Sigh… *What’s going on?”

My body felt worse than ever before.

Since possessing Kim Yu-seong’s body, I had never experienced this and didn’t know how to react.

I tried to get out of bed to catch some air, but then I realized something was off.

“Huh?”

My clothes were oversized.

The yukata, which had fit me perfectly, was now oddly large.

Stagger!

Due to tripping over the hem, I fell forward and realized something as I instinctively braced myself with my hands.

It wasn’t that the clothes had gotten bigger; my body had shrunk.

“Umm… What’s going on? At this hour…”

Stirred by the noise, Saya, who was sleeping while floating in the air, rubbed her eyes and sat up.

When our eyes met, she stared blankly before frowning and asking,

“Who are you?”

“…I’m Kim Yu-seong.”

Then, Saya’s eyes widened in shock.

“No way! The guy I know is a much bigger lump than this!”

Although what she said wasn’t wrong, it felt offensive.

Thinking so, I picked myself up from my fall.

“How did you end up like this?”

“I don’t know either. It might be a side effect of the medicine I took when we fought.”

With nothing I could do right now, I thought it best to go to sleep and reconsider in the morning.

And then morning came.

Senior Fuma, having belatedly understood the situation, muttered in astonishment.

“No way. There was such a side effect in the new drug I developed?”

“Since that’s the case, I’d like to return to my original body as soon as possible.”

I said so, moving my shrunken body around.

The Ghost Pill.

Certainly, when I took it last time, it only caused a few days of weakness, but this new drug showed completely absurd side effects.

Ignoring all physical laws, my body’s age had reverted to the past.

I looked younger than when I first possessed this body, around the age of a late elementary to early middle school student.

“Umm… perhaps we’ve made a discovery of the century. A drug that rejuvenates people. Honestly, it’s unprecedented.”

I found it astonishing too.

I was neither a detective with a child’s body nor an adult’s mind, but it seemed like my body’s time had reversed due to mistakenly taking a drug.

But that was one thing, and this was another.

The muscles I had worked years to build had evaporated overnight.

Frankly, it was hard to accept this reality while being sane.

If someone knew my old appearance, the probability they wouldn’t believe I’m Kim Yu-seong was high.

After all, my current body was incredibly small.

“I did change the composition of the Ghost Pill a bit, but it’s not much different from the original. If it’s a temporary side effect, there’s a chance you’ll return to your original body in a few days. Until then, I guess you’ll just have to endure the inconvenience.”

“What if I don’t return to my original form?”

“Then, I’ll take responsibility and take care of you.”

“…It seems like a condition where only Senior Fuma benefits.”

“Surely not.”

“Ha, it can’t be helped. For now, we just have to wait and see.”

I sighed deeply, fiddling with my hands that had become incredibly smaller compared to before.

It was during the spring break of my third year in middle school that I started going to the gym regularly and escaped the perennial fate of being a weakling.

There was a huge disparity between my original, well-built body and this past, frail version of myself.

After fiddling with the rolled-up sleeves multiple times, I asked Senior Fuma.

“Could you please bring me some new clothes for now?”

“Understood. I’ll bring them.”

Senior Fuma, as she rose from her seat, asked as if something had just occurred to her.

“By the way, how is your progress with learning ‘Swift Wind’?”

I nodded.

“I started by memorizing the contents of the book. It’s hard to fully master the techniques in three days, so I’m trying to thoroughly understand the theory first.”

“Can you really memorize it like that?”

“It seems to be working.”

I wasn’t sure about the old me, but it seemed feasible in Kim Yu-seong’s body.

It wasn’t without reason that I was the top student in my grade.

Even if I couldn’t memorize everything, I could take photos in advance as a backup.

“Indeed, you’re remarkable even when shrunken.”

Hearing that, I shrugged my shoulders with a proud expression, prompting Senior Fuma to gaze at me for a moment before suddenly patting my head.

“…What are you doing?”

“Oh, just because you look cute.”

I was momentarily lost for words.

‘Cute’ was a term I hadn’t heard in many years.

With an embarrassed expression, I touched the spot where Senior Fuma had just patted and, said in an awkward voice,

“Let’s have breakfast for now.”

Senior Fuma nodded with a warm smile.

“I’ll prepare it right away.”