Episode 007
“What the…?”
Sola stared at the laptop, mouth wide open, forgetting to even blink.
It looked just like a regular computer, with a plain blue desktop, a mouse cursor, and proper icons.
But then—
“Wait a sec. Is this… Wi-Fi?!”
There it was. A little pizza-slice-shaped icon on the taskbar. Yep, definitely Wi-Fi.
Her small hand moved the mouse.
Click click.
She double-clicked, and a browser popped up.
“Oh my gosh…!”
It actually worked.
The internet was fully up and running.
Even the annoying sound effects from the toy keyboard had vanished.
Sola picked up the laptop and checked it out from all angles.
There was a name sticker on the lid: [Geum Sola].
No way her parents, Seonghwan and Jihyun, had set something like this up. They might’ve bought her a toy laptop, sure—but hacking it to run a fake Windows? Not their style.
“This thing is seriously suspicious.”
The most suspicious thing of all? That pigeon emblem.
It showed up when the laptop booted and was also sitting there on the desktop.
“I’ve seen that before somewhere…”
Was whoever used that emblem the one who installed this so-called ‘WP system’?
“Welp, only one way to find out.”
With her heart pounding, Sola double-clicked the pigeon icon.
Click click!
[Please enter your password: |__________]
“…Of course.”
So much for the bold approach. The thing was password-protected.
“Alright, fine. Let’s go with the classic—0000.”
[Incorrect password. The system will lock after 3 failed attempts. (1/3)]
Sola quickly backed away from the keyboard.
No way she was messing this up.
Then suddenly—
“Hmm?”
A little pop-up appeared in the bottom corner.
A pigeon in a speech bubble.
“They really love pigeons, huh.”
She clicked it without much hope, expecting another password prompt.
But nope. To her surprise, a simple black chat window with white text popped up.
Right as she opened it—
[Joker: King! Finally! I’ve been worried sick since the accident. I couldn’t reach you at all. How are you?]
“This… this is it.”
Maybe she could learn more about this weird laptop and the WP system without needing a password after all.
Her heart pounded.
“Okay, calm down. Just… stay cool.”
‘King’ and ‘Joker’? Those nicknames alone were sketchy.
“No way I can just reply and blow my cover.”
Luckily, there were previous chat logs she could scroll up and read.
It started about a year ago, around March last year.
— 12 months ago —
[Me: Was this really the only laptop design available?]
[Joker: King! I’ve been waiting to hear from you. Looks like the possession went smoothly. Did the couple suspect anything?]
[Me: Not at all.]
[Joker: All that time observing Geum Sola really paid off.]
[Me: Of course it did. My plan always succeeds.]
— 11 months ago —
[Joker: King! Heard you’ve set up your faction inside the guild. Must’ve been tough using your powers in that tiny body.]
[Me: The body’s pretty decent. She’s an awakener. I’ll send a brainwashed one to you next week.]
— 10 months ago —
[Joker: King! Saw the succession news! Congrats!]
[Me: Just said a few words and the senile old man handed it over.]
[Joker: Wait… that wasn’t even brainwashing?!]
— 7 months ago —
[Joker: King! Saw the guild leader’s death in the news. Must’ve been rough at the funeral. Good thing the possession happened in time—you almost missed your inheritance.]
— 2 weeks ago —
[Joker: King! Did you check the webhard? Found a really good creature. Wanna come see?]
[Me: Next week. I’ll come then.]
[Joker: I’ll prepare everything.]
“What the hell is this…?”
Words like “possession,” “brainwashing,” and “creature” were flying around.
Especially that “possession” bit—it hit her like a brick.
“So… someone else was in Sola’s body before me?”
At this point, reality had been flipped upside down so many times she didn’t even care about pronunciation anymore.
Was intentional possession even a real thing?
Her hands were shaking as she scrolled down. That was the last message in the thread.
The chat cut off around the same time Sola had her accident—and Yuhwa’s soul entered her body.
That explained why she couldn’t remember anything from the past year.
And the conversation picked up right after that memory gap began.
“Brain… brainwashing, too…? What is even going on…”
Why were all these words so ridiculously hard for a little kid to say?
“How am I supposed to make sense of all this…”
She was still reeling from it all when another message popped up.
[Joker: And about Jo Yuhwa.]
The content was even weirder now.
Setting aside the fact that her name came up—
[Joker: She’s dead.]
“W-What the hell…?”
She couldn’t process it.
[Joker: Took care of the body. She tried to leak Center info, so I was going to handle her myself—but she died on her own, so that made things easier.]
“Why… why are they talking about Yuhwa…?”
Sola’s face went pale as she read and reread the messages.
Her hands on the desk trembled.
“I’m… dead?”
It was hard to tell how much of this was real, but having her darkest fear confirmed like this felt like a gut punch.
Honestly, thinking back… it was kind of a miracle she hadn’t died that day.
She’d been bleeding from the head, slammed around in violent rapids…
Still, because the body was alive, a tiny part of her had hoped maybe she was too.
Even though she had no one left. Even though she’d been betrayed.
Who really wants to die, anyway?
Sure, her life sucked—but this? Dying in secret, forgotten by everyone?
No one wants that.
Her thoughts spiraled—raw, messy emotions tangled up inside her chest.
Then another message popped up.
[Joker: Sorry for dragging you into Center business, King.]
“…Center?”
That word made her freeze.
It rolled around her tongue—familiar, bitter.
The only “Center” she knew that had anything to do with Jo Yuhwa was the Future Talent Development Center.
Realization hit hard.
Everything suddenly felt clearer.
“So that’s it…”
King. Joker. The Center. Jo Yuhwa’s death.
Putting it all together, it became obvious.
The person called “King” who had possessed Sola’s body… had ties to the Center and Jo Yuhwa.
Which meant that day in the forest wasn’t some random accident.
“…And what’s up with this damn pigeon?”
She needed to figure out what this shady program was, and fast.
Sola opened the browser and found the image search feature.
“Should’ve done this earlier.”
Why hadn’t she thought of this sooner?
The results came up in seconds.
[World Peace Foundation]
No wonder the emblem looked familiar.
The World Peace Foundation was one of the biggest and most well-known nonprofits in the country.
They were famous for helping people affected by dungeon incidents and had a super squeaky-clean image.
“…Ha.”
She let out a bitter laugh.
It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together now—why someone from the foundation would be involved in her death.
“Ryu Ji-seung…”
The guy at the center of it all. The one who pushed her into that river of hell.
He wasn’t just her senior.
He was the son of the World Peace Foundation’s chairman.
