“Wow. Mrs. Melinda. What will today’s dish be? Chopped steak? Or whole-roasted? I’m truly curious! Ohoho! Mrs. Melinda! It seems you’ve decided on a whole roast for today?”
The noisy uproar echoed around me.
An uncontrollable urge to kill that announcer first surges within me.
An unknown murderous intent, hunger, and thirst swirled inside my body.
‘Should I just kill them all…?’
I looked at myself—at Lee Yuji—standing before me.
Even as I watched myself trembling against the wall, it didn’t feel like me.
It just felt like appetizing prey…….
‘Get a grip!’
As expected, the biggest weakness of this skill is the inability to separate from the target’s consciousness.
That is my body. If that dies, it’s a disaster…….
‘Would it really be a disaster? I could find out if I just took one bite. Whether it’s a disaster or not… If I just tear off the left side of the head and eat it….’
…As if!
Even as I fought that thought, I kept ramming my original body—Lee Yuji—against the cage wall.
Each time, my body—devoid of a soul—shuddered in horrific pain.
It was a relief that I didn’t faint, perhaps because there was no soul present.
Even so, with trembling hands, my body grabbed hold of the Lamia’s stinger—right below the venom tip.
-During possession, you may issue simple behavioral commands to the ‘original body.’
That was the behavioral instruction I had given.
To hold onto the base of the Lamia’s stinger for ten minutes, no matter what.
‘Good.’
I looked at the time floating before my eyes.
09:02
Time remaining on the possession.
Being careful not to let my original body lose its grip on the stinger, I continued smashing it against the wall.
Every time my original body convulsed, the people outside the cage cheered.
“Wohoho! Mrs. Melinda is quite cruel today, isn’t she? To play with her food for so long without killing it! It seems Mrs. Melinda quite likes today’s ingredients!”
I heard the announcer hyping up the crowd.
But I could barely focus—I was too busy fighting the hunger rising within me.
08:21
‘Just one bite… It looks delicious. What’s the harm?’
Are you crazy? Get a grip!
By now, blood was trickling down from Lee Yuji’s nose.
The way her eyes remained wide open was somewhat…….
‘It does look tasty.’
Aaaaah! No!
05:18
“Mrs. Melinda, it’s about time to finish this….!”
The announcer kept urging me to devour myself—Lee Yuji.
Beside us, Ji Wongil had raised that pathetic item of his at some point.
Since the original body, Lee Yuji, looked in bad shape, he was probably going to break the promise.
He was trying to help me.
But he couldn’t.
Just a little longer…
02:10
Hiss!
I hissed at the original body without realizing it.
I just wanted to try it—wondering how many bites it would take to finish…
‘This is insane.’
01:00
Just as I reached the limit of my endurance.
Blood gushed from my original body’s mouth and nose.
“This won’t do! Mrs. Melinda. I want to support your cooking method, but today, we have guests waiting for their dish!”
The impatient announcer said.
Simultaneously, a long whip struck down from above, hitting me, the Lamia.
Kweeaaack!
A horrific scream burst from my mouth.
At that moment, I fired the Lamia’s venomous stinger.
Not at Lee Yuji, but toward the empty air.
* * *
After the match ended.
Ji Wongil and Lee Yuji were following behind people who claimed to be VIP guards.
Looking at Lee Yuji, who was a complete wreck, Ji Wongil’s mind was a mess.
Because of what he had just witnessed.
‘Remember two things.’
‘First. Don’t try to help me.’
‘Second. Don’t die.’
There was one reason he had complied when she said that.
Since she said she had become an HIB investigator, he figured she must have brought in some hidden item.
And if things got truly dire, she’d call for backup.
Yes. That’s what he’d thought.
He had never imagined she would endure so brutally.
To stay pressed against the cage wall—which caused agonizing pain through the whole body just by touching it—and wait until the Lamia’s patience ran out.
When Ji Won-gil had briefly touched the cage, he was on the verge of screaming for someone to just kill him.
Yet, even as the Lamia shoved Yuji against the wall repeatedly, waiting for her to pass out, Yuji didn’t budge.
Ten minutes?
It felt like an hour.
Listening to the jeers coming from the spectators, Ji Wongil agonized over whether to break his promise to Lee Yuji or keep it.
Then, at last, the announcer intervened.
Unable to bear the match becoming boring, he lashed the Lamia with a whip.
The Lamia will fire its stinger now. That was the moment he thought so.
And then he saw it.
He saw the stinger that Yu-ji was gripping tightly in her hand.
‘No way—’
A shiver ran through him.
Because he thought he understood the strategy Yuji had been aiming for.
The moment the Lamia was struck by the whip, Yuji caught the fired stinger in her hand.
It was possible because the Lamia had lost focus while overwhelming Yuji—and because the impatient announcer had lashed at her.
Of course, it was also possible because Yu-ji had endured the pain for that long without letting go of the stinger’s base.
In her hand now was a C-rank venomous stinger—the Lamia’s own weapon.
Yuji drove it straight into the Lamia’s eye.
Kweeaaack!
The Lamia’s scream echoed through the arena.
The strength left the Lamia’s tail that had been coiling around Lee Yuji. She fell to the ground.
Ji Wongil didn’t miss the timing and caught her.
Groaning, Yuji muttered faintly.
‘That hurt… more than I thought.’
“Lee Yuji. You’re really…”
Ji Wongil spoke softly as he looked at Lee Yu-ji, who had distinct traces of the nosebleed that had finally stopped.
“Now or then, you never change……”
“You mean I’m cool?”
Yuji said brightly.
“…Reckless.”
Ji Wongil tried to pull a handkerchief from his pocket.
But just then, the guards who had been walking ahead stopped before a heavy steel door. They entered a security code and opened it.
Then, a man dressed in a fine suit offered his hand to Lee Yuji and Ji Wongil.
“Miss Rosie and Mr. Philip. Today’s show was truly fantastic.”
That voice.
The announcer.
Lee Yuji recognized who he was.
In the novel, he had been around D-rank level as a hunter—but after becoming the MC of this cursed show, he had abandoned hunting entirely and devoted himself to running it.
The management said they would let the two who took down the Lamia meet the VIP before paying them.
‘Surely this isn’t the VIP….’
Lee Yuji scanned the room, smelling the metallic scent of blood on her lips.
The interior of this VIP suite, consisting of several rooms with luxurious carpets, was exactly as she had seen in the novel.
“I’m already looking forward to the next show.”
Just as Ji Wongil was about to reflexively pull his hand away at the announcer’s words, Lee Yuji grabbed the announcer’s hand firmly.
“If you mean the next show…….”
At that moment, one of the elegant doors in the VIP suite opened.
A man in a tailored suit stepped out.
Dandy casual suit.
He looked like the CEO of a major American IT corporation—at once relaxed and steeped in authority.
Yuji recognized him instantly.
“Today’s show was so exciting, the VIPs’ reactions were enthusiastic. If possible, I’d love for you to join us again next time, Miss Rosie. Of course, it’s entirely up to the lady. As you want!”
Kevin Choi.
That black-haired foreign b*stard.
His manner of speaking was exactly as obnoxious as in the novel.
Yuji looked into the eyes of the announcer, whose hand she was still holding. And she smiled. Very brightly.
Activating ‘The Most Beautiful Smile in the World (C)’!
…She used the Lamia skill she had received as a possession bonus on the announcer.
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My god how is this woman alive. How did she do things like this before awakening? I know she said she cleared out illegal dungeons but still! She was unawakened then, how is she not dead or crippled??