Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 188

Yeon Sora possessed goddess-level beauty from the start. She was undervalued because of her personality, but even staying still, her appearance was on a different level from ordinary humans.

But fake-Sora…

“Sh-she looks like a princess!”

Even her personality got upgraded. She clearly looked the same, but elegance overflowed from her.

‘Is it because of her posture?’

Her back was straight, but not rigidly military—graceful like an orchid. The angle of her raised head, each motion of blinking and opening her eyes exuded refinement.

Even normally, watching Seong Hayul’s deportment made me think ‘As expected from a born-chaebol!’ but this elegance meeting Yeon Sora’s transcendent beauty created a synergy effect.

At this level, she could compete with Yoo Seoha unnie…

“Can’t you just keep being fake-Sora?”

“Is this really the time for jokes?”

“Ah, right!”

We’re currently being tailed by the mastermind.

If we disappear for 20 minutes then return with an upgraded Yeon Sora? Obviously they’d think the contents changed, right?

We had to hide the swap somehow.

“Boram! You brought cosmetics, right?”

“Yeah!”

As expected, my baby! She has the conviction to firmly maintain her preferences whether it’s war or whatever.

“Give all three of us full makeup! Makeover level!”

“O-okay!”

“You think that’ll work?”

“Even if it doesn’t work, we can at least make excuses.”

Rather than insisting unreasonably that ‘I haven’t changed!’ claiming ‘It’s makeup magic!’ has higher credibility.

This kind of thing surprisingly works in novels. You know how just removing glasses makes someone a beauty, or just wiping ash off the face makes someone a princess?

Of course, I don’t plan to rely only on makeup magic.

“Straighten your posture! Slouch your back! Move your hands carelessly like you’re annoyed!”

While Boram picked up her brush, I grabbed a whip and tried to shake off the refinement ingrained in Seong Hayul’s body, but this wasn’t easy either.

“Why can’t you do this!”

“I can’t help it! I’ve been taking posture correction lessons since I was 5!”

“Whew, this is hopeless.”

Downgrading Seong Hayul was impossible.

Then…

“Let’s just go with the Yeon Sora smile one-trick. Smile!”

Seong Hayul crossed her arms and smirked as practiced earlier, and I grabbed the back of my neck.

“Crazy! You! Why’s your smile like that too!”

“Why? Is it strange?”

“The direction’s opposite! You should be contemptuous of others, not sitting there despising yourself!”

How to define fake-Sora’s smile in one word?

Self-loathing.

I don’t even know where to start fixing this. The vacant pupils, twitching lips, wrinkles carved between her brows, completely stiff trapezius muscles…

“What’s so difficult? Just equip the ‘Forget everything, I might die today so I’ll do whatever I want!’ mentality!”

“I-I’m doing that….”

Seong Hayul’s expression froze stiff as a corpse. She was trying, but instinctive rejection produced a strange smile.

“Whew, then detach the Yeon Sora mentality and just smile normally.”

“Like this?”

“That’s too kind! That’s not a Yeon Sora smile!”

A kindly smiling Yeon Sora!

It’s like Mickey Mouse appearing without ears and gloves claiming he’s still Mickey.

At this rate, we’ll definitely get caught.

‘Whew, let’s stay calm.’

I know the cause of the problem.

Seong Hayul is a character who craves others’ approval. That’s why she instinctively rejects Yeon Sora’s I-don’t-give-a-damn mentality.

For someone whose top priority is receiving praise, ‘I’ll do whatever I like’ is polar opposite!

Then,

“……?”

My brain suddenly itched. A memory stored somewhere in my brain was frantically waving its hand saying ‘Over here!’

Seong Hayul, confidence, doing whatever I like…

“Ah!!!! I got it!!!”

I hastily opened my inventory and rummaged through the miscellaneous section.

After moving aside the duck I’d returned to Junhwi, clearing away the magic wrapping cloth and broken bracelet from Professor Ban, the item I was looking for finally appeared.

“Drink this.”

What I held out was a beverage bottle.

Seong Hayul immediately recognized this drink’s identity.

“Th-th-th-this, c-could it be….”

“What? You’re the one who gave it to me.”

The drink Seong Hayul had given me early in the semester. According to my speculation, this contained a ‘potion to be charmed only by Seong Hayul.’

“Y-y-y-you, do you know what th-this….”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t drink it, right?”

“Th-then, the antidote….”

“Antidote?”

Ah, right.

Even during the twin incident, every time I drank a potion I asked Seong Hayul to be my antidote.

When Seong Hayul drinks the ‘potion to be charmed only by Seong Hayul,’ a peculiar side effect occurs.

She becomes an extreme narcissist!

“No time, so hurry and drink.”

Even dog shit has its uses, they say.

As expected, once you pick something up, you shouldn’t throw anything away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Astaroth faced a troublesome situation.

[Now! It appeared again! The deck’s already been completely torn apart!]

The noisy alarm ringing in his ear.

It meant Yeon Sora was overturning the mastermind’s plans. Astaroth’s role was to approach closely and confirm detailed contents, but…

‘Of all times.’

Yeon Sora showed no intention of coming out of the women’s bathroom.

He could stretch a shadow through the door crack to eavesdrop, but approaching secretly was impossible because of Yeom Juwan and Ki Hyeonmin guarding the entrance.

If he suppressed them with force,

‘It’ll turn into a commotion.’

There was risk the practicals would be canceled. Yeon Sora absolutely had to be killed inside the 10th floor boss area. That way there’d be no future problems.

Just as he abandoned frontal assault and searched for another method,

[Um, this might be needless worry, but… you are checking properly, right?]

An unenthusiastic voice.

Astaroth felt a sense of déjà vu. Because there was exactly one time the ever-cautious prescient used that tone.

[I’m in the middle of important work right now, so I can’t respond. Don’t interfere.]

[Yes, just… the typhoon’s getting worse.]

‘I absolutely cannot return empty-handed.’

He had to obtain information by any means necessary.

The security guard’s body had too many access restrictions. He needed to switch to a cadet’s body.

Having decided thus, Astaroth wandered among the cadets searching for an appropriate sacrifice.

‘Tch, unfortunately there’s no one I’ve infected in advance.’

Astaroth’s shadow technique started with small contamination and expanded over time.

But none of those he’d worked on in advance were here. Though he didn’t know it, the contaminated cadets had their names written in Yeon Sora’s Death Note and been filtered out beforehand.

‘That one looks good.’

Astaroth in the security guard’s body approached one female cadet and bumped into her.

“Ow!”

“My apologies. Does it hurt?”

“N-no….”

Humans develop cracks even from well-intentioned lies. Astaroth could infiltrate those cracks and grasp and shake their inner anxieties.

‘…Solid.’

But this cadet didn’t waver.

Though he didn’t know it, the Avengers and other cadets here were full of courage, thinking of capturing terrorists and becoming heroes.

Crudely put, they were high on hero fantasies, and that overcame anxiety.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Eventually, Astaroth used his Authority to hold an impromptu trial before barely managing to bind one person’s shadow.

‘Damn, using fuel on something like this.’

The mastermind’s Authority required special fuel. Mainly made by refining Awakened souls, but since Yeon Sora’s possession there’d been virtually no casualties, leaving fuel absurdly insufficient.

Another method of manufacturing fuel was harvesting hope and such through grasshoppers, but Yeon Sora had intercepted that too.

With the intercepted fuel, Yeon Sora had unlocked the [I Was Taught to Watch the Good Stuff Big and Slow] skill, but the mastermind didn’t know this.

‘Two more times, is it….’

Astaroth had killed over a hundred subordinates to prepare fuel, but it wasn’t abundant.

Usable Authority remaining: twice.

[Um, if there’s no harvest at all, maybe just come back and discuss first….]

But better than returning empty-handed.

Astaroth quickened his steps.

“Yeon Sora! What’s going on!”

“Whoa!”

“Oh my god! Crazy!”

While securing a new body, Yeon Sora had already emerged outside. Cadets gathered around her. Pushing through the crowd to approach Yeon Sora, Astaroth—

“……!”

Had to stop in his tracks. Because Yeon Sora’s appearance was too different from usual.

Beauty far exceeding human limits. Truly the incarnation of beauty. It was difficult to take his eyes off her haughty yet elegant overflowing bearing.

However, the mastermind possessed mental fortitude stronger than ordinary humans.

‘Did she put on makeup?’

This was the conclusion after observing with cold eyes.

Vivid lines drawn on her eyes, rosy blush on both cheeks, plump lips glistening moistly.

Yeon Sora had been doing makeup for over 20 minutes. She even wore all sorts of accessories dangling—earrings, necklaces, bracelets.

“Yeon Sora! You’ve transcended the human realm!”

“So pretty! But why did you suddenly dress up like this? Especially today?”

“S-Sora said so! When terror incidents happen, journalists come for coverage so we need to look pretty!”

An absurd explanation, but—

“True, didn’t they say the Drone Eye filming permit couldn’t be extended?”

“If we don’t do this much, there won’t be any video footage.”

“Shame, it’d be nice to film directly….”

For Yeon Sora specifically, it worked.

On the day a terror incident was announced, no one questioned a classmate who appeared with sudden makeup.

“Ah, my legs hurt….”

“Sit here!”

“Not that cheap thing, here! This one has special cushioning so it’s comfortable!”

At Yeon Sora’s single word, numerous cadets competed pulling out folding chairs from their inventories. After examining them one by one, Yeon Sora chose and sat on a chair with purple cushioning.

Her attitude was utterly confident. No trace of gratitude. An attitude of ‘I’m honoring you by sitting in your chair.’

Han Boram stood beside seated Yeon Sora like a faithful handmaiden, while Yeom Juwan and Ki Hyeonmin took positions left and right before her like guard warriors.

And Yeon Sora…

Smiiirk.

Smiled.

As if she alone in the world was a noble existence.

As if they should know it was an honor just to receive her. This was a smile only Yeon Sora could produce.

[Now! It changed drastically again! About to be shipwrecked!]

The alarm sounded again.

It was a signal that current actions were ruining the mastermind’s plans. Astaroth concentrated his mind again and analyzed this situation.

‘Not a mental-type attack.’

Cadets were swarming to Yeon Sora like bees, but if launching a large-scale mental attack, rippling waves should occur in the mana—there were no such signs.

‘Could it be… a honey trap?’

All cadets here were 17-year-old teenagers, and Yeon Sora’s beauty right now transcended human categories.

A strategy to dominate all cadets and use them as hands and feet with face alone was absurd, but… with Yeon Sora it was possible.

While the mastermind briefly fell into confusion,

“Is Sora shooting flame spears today too?”

“Isn’t Yeon Sora catching Cetos too?”

Numerous cadets regardless of gender were pouring out questions. They weren’t genuinely curious. They just wanted to exchange words with Yeon Sora somehow.

“Don’t say ridiculous things. Cetos is a sea-attribute monster, right? It even corresponds to the Cetus constellation, so it’s large-scale water attribute—compatibility with flame is way too bad.”

“……”

“……”

Astaroth felt like he’d been hit in the head with a hammer.

The entire school knew Yeon Sora barely escaped failure in written subjects.

But now, she was smoothly explaining all of the 10th floor’s settings like flowing water.

That wasn’t all.

“Listen carefully.”

Yeon Sora stood up abruptly.

Elegance and confidence flowing from her entire body.

Dignity only rulers could produce.

Truly a monarch’s aura.

“Today, our enemy isn’t monsters but humans.”

She continued speaking as if giving a speech before a great war. As if following these words would grant boundless glory and brilliance. The cadets had eyes ready to pick up and treasure every word without missing a syllable.

“Terrorists are likely to choose guerrilla tactics. They’re trying to stimulate fear that they could pop up anywhere anytime, so you absolutely can’t waver. Stay by Ki Hyeonmin no matter what.”

“Even when fleeing, you absolutely can’t scatter. The 10th floor is a city setting. Street widths are narrow. Some people might panic and flee down side paths planning to rejoin later, but the enemy is targeting that too. Scattering is all a trap. Everyone can’t get separated from Ki Hyeonmin.”

“Terrorists don’t only exist inside buildings. You must consider the possibility they’re hiding on rooftops too. If the enemy already occupies high ground we’re unconditionally disadvantaged, so Ki Hyeonmin has to check first, and—”

Each word flowing from her mouth was shock itself to the mastermind.

Yeon Sora… was intelligent.

All the stupidity until now had been acting.

Then why did she suddenly stop acting?

Why did she throw off the mask?

There was only one answer.

* * *

“Did you learn anything?”

The prescient greeted Astaroth, who briefly returned to his original body, with bitter eyes.

“Don’t tell me… empty-handed again?”

“…No.”

“But your expression looks terrible….”

“Just shut up for a moment!”

His body trembled without him realizing.

When someone innately clever devises a brilliant strategy.

When a clown hiding their identity devises a brilliant strategy.

These two are distinctly different.

“All of this… might be a game Yeon Sora set up.”

“What do you mean….”

“Yeon Sora is an extremely intelligent enemy!”

“What?”

“Yeon Sora has been pretending to be stupid all this time to induce complacency! And right now, she’s thrown off the mask! Do you know what this means?”

“Um, could you explain so I can understand….”

“It means from today on, there’s no need to act anymore! She’s been targeting me from the start!”

Astaroth’s reason was gradually clouding.

Saying Yeon Sora was intelligent meant overturning all previously known common sense.

He’d planned to cause a massacre on the 10th floor and pin it on terrorists.

But… was that truly his own judgment?

“Yeon Sora is also connected to Ha Seonwoo! The terror incident might be a trap Yeon Sora deliberately set!”

The reasoning wasn’t wrong.

But the person who designed that game was Gyeon Junhwi.

The real Yeon Sora was playing the role of thinking ‘My babies will solve it splendidly somehow’ then going ‘Ooh! Amazing!’ and jumping on the bandwagon.

“Yeon Sora completely grasped all our attack methods! Using guerrilla raids to scatter cadets, create fear, and eliminate them one by one step by step….”

“That’s obviously natural given the 10th floor terrain….”

“It’s not at that level! She was commanding cadets like an army!”

This was coincidence.

A coincidence brought by Yeon Sora’s behavior of picking up anything and everything.

Thanks to that, potion side effects occurred, and Seong Hayul was exploding with mysterious charisma.

The real Yeon Sora was right now shouting ‘Ooh! Fake-Sora is smart! Amazing!’

But there was only one person visible in the mastermind’s eyes.

Yeon Sora.

Gyeon Junhwi’s intellect, Seong Hayul’s charisma, and Yeon Sora’s stupid mask combined to birth an unprecedented strategist of unfathomable depth.

‘I must defeat Yeon Sora somehow!’

Astaroth gnawed his nails while reviewing the information he’d acquired. Soon he discovered overlapping parts.

— Ki Hyeonmin and Yeom Juwan first….

— If Ki Hyeonmin checks….

— Then when Ki Hyeonmin and Yeom Juwan send a signal….

Yeon Sora planned to utilize Ki Hyeonmin and Yeom Juwan as scouts. Every strategy started with Ki Hyeonmin, showing absolute faith in his abilities.

‘He is talented.’

Ki Hyeonmin was a talent who showed the most amazing potential in academy history. Even the mastermind acknowledged this.

However, no matter how talented, one couldn’t surpass real combat experience. At best he was just a freshman.

His lips curled up involuntarily.

“I found Yeon Sora’s weakness.”