"...Where am I?"
The ceiling was unfamiliar.
"I must have gotten electrocuted while exiting the capsule..."
As I tried to make sense of the situation, a flood of unfamiliar sensations overwhelmed me.
My hands had become as slender as those of a middle school student, and my short hair had grown to reach my waist.
Most importantly, my third leg was gone, replaced by a heavy, unfamiliar mass on my upper body.
"W-what is this?"
Information
Name: Yun Se-a
Age: 18
Alignment: Good, Lawful
Skills:
Psychokinesis (A)
Masterful control over telekinetic abilities.
Recovery (S)
No matter the wound, it can be perfectly healed. But the pain remains.
Blunted Senses (B)
Due to prolonged experimentation, you have a diminished sensitivity to pain.
Stats
Strength: C+
Defense: D
Magic Power: A+
Stamina: F
Agility: B+
Luck: A+
Status Window... Wait, my name is Yun Se-a?!
You have been transmigrated into this world.
Countless stories and connections will come to you.
To you, who loved this story, we offer ???.
Please, survive well.
"Just shows up, says that, and leaves?"
Seeing the blue window, it seemed I had been transmigrated. And into the game I had been playing just moments ago: [ Academy Swordmaster ].
In situations like this, one would typically expect to find the entity responsible for my transmigration—usually referred to as the developers or a god. But there was nothing.
Anyway, that so-called god would usually display messages through the Status Window, like, "If you want to return to your original world, do this and try your best," or "Hehe, if you don't complete the quests I give you (usually involving saving the world), you'll die ᄉᄀ."
"...Really, there's nothing here?"
This Status Window was completely empty.
Absolutely nothing.
Something kept flickering before my eyes, blurring my vision for no reason.
"Ugh... my head."
I tried to focus, but my vision kept blurring, so I squeezed my eyes shut.
The moment I closed my eyes, memories that shouldn't have existed in my mind flashed through my head.
Amidst the pitch-black screen, the scene abruptly shifted to a horrifying spectacle—one so brutal it seemed impossible for a young girl to have endured.
Thud!
"Aaaah! It hurts, Fa...ther!"
On an experimental table in an underground laboratory, a girl around ten years old lay with her limbs severed, blood gushing from the wounds. She screamed at the man in the white coat.
But the man, whom she called "Father," pressed a button to increase the intensity, his face expressionless. He then injected an unidentified substance into her neck.
"If you can't even endure this, then you're worthless to the Yuseong Group. Let's quickly inject the next experimental drug. If it hurts, tell me. I won't stop, but I'll listen."
Whirrrrrr!
"Uwaaaaaaah...!"
"Hmm... even with her lower body severed, her body regenerates rapidly. I should try increasing the concentration of the monster's blood."
The young girl never even had the chance to grow up bathed in her family's love. The reason was obvious:
For the daughter of a prestigious family, her skills were utterly pathetic.
All she possessed was a single skill called Natural Healing, which only enhanced her regenerative and healing abilities. This made her the perfect experimental subject for Yun Seong-ho, Yun Se-a's father, who was seeking test subjects.
As a result, she grew up being treated as barely a child in her own household, and she was never allowed to attend the social gatherings that the family regularly participated in for networking purposes.
So, Yun Se-a's image within her family was nothing more than that of a human test subject—nothing more, nothing less.
She knew the story of how Yun Se-a had been brainwashed by her father, how she had resisted to the very end, but how the experiments had ultimately broken her body and mind.
Before fleeing to the Academy, I had to spend every day on the experimental table. This was the Yuseong Group arc, a major storyline in the Academy Swordmaster series.
"Thanks to my beloved daughter, Se-a, I could conduct my experiments without anyone noticing. If I experimented on healthy humans, the government would detect the anomalies and launch an investigation. But with her, even if I severed her limbs, they would regenerate perfectly. What better experimental subject could there be?"
Yun Seong-ho, the boss of the Yuseong Group, revealed that Yun Se-a's Natural Recovery skill made her the perfect experimental subject. This allowed him to transplant monster blood and flesh into humans without being detected by anyone, including her own family.
But I never imagined it would be this bad.
The only sibling I had was my sister, Yun Seol-hwa, who was four years older. Like our father, she also showed signs of being twisted in some way.
Thwack!
"Ugh...?!"
"Weak! You collapse at the slightest sparring attempt. You're just tarnishing the Yuseong name. If you're going to live like this, why not just hang yourself?"
Yun Seol-hwa, Yun Se-a's sister, brutally trampled and abused her.
The reason? Yun Se-a was too weak to support their proud father, instead collapsing like a weakling and disgracing the family's honor.
Then, as if puberty had finally ended, or perhaps after accidentally witnessing Yun Seong-ho's experiments, she apologized and began treating Yun Se-a kindly again...
Yun Se-a's already shattered heart, like a broken window, could never be pieced back together. Yun Seol-hwa—no, Lee Seol-hwa—fled the house as if running from her guilt.
Lee Seol-hwa.
In the original story, she was merely described as an A-Rank Hero who aided the protagonist. No one could have imagined she was actually Yun Se-a's older sister, who had abused her since childhood.
Before Yun Se-a could even sort through her chaotic memories, she had turned seventeen, and disaster struck.
With her sister gone, Yun Seong-ho suddenly began force-feeding Yun Se-a, whom he now saw as a test subject, potent elixirs and monster corpses to make her stronger—a form of torture disguised as nourishment.
Then came the final human experiment.
How Yun Seong-ho obtained it remained a mystery, but he brought the eye of a slain S-Rank Monster and gouged out one of Yun Se-a's eyes as she lay strapped to the operating table.
Yun Seong-ho, without administering any anesthesia, shouted at Yun Se-a, who was screaming in agony, to shut up. Before her eye, gouged out by the effects of Natural Healing, could regenerate, he forcibly implanted the monster's eye into her socket.
Fortunately, no further experiments of such cruelty occurred after that... but the young Yun Se-a's heart had already been brutally shattered.
So, she was brainwashed from childhood, even amidst all that?
That's why, even as she screamed and writhed in pain, she couldn't refuse Yun Seong-ho's order to come down to the lab for experiments.
Even before knowing these details, Yun Se-a's story had been bleak. But now, having learned the full extent of her suffering... an indescribable, nauseating feeling began to rise within me.
"...This... this was Yun Se-a's story... no, my story."
My head... it's spinning.
Something glittered before my eyes, moving unpleasantly like a hypnotist's coin swinging back and forth, as if spewing something out...
"Get out of my way and scram...!!"
Irritated by its presence, I waved my hand dismissively, channeling my anger into the gesture. With a crack, something shattered.
This was Yun Se-a's ability: Psychokinesis (A).
Finally, some peace and quiet.
"...Finally, some peace and quiet."
I could see the mangled remains of some device, crushed beyond recognition.
So that was the problem all along.
"Looks like I guessed right."
Only then did my vision, which had been blurred, rapidly clear. Regaining my senses, I was able to grasp the situation in detail.
Judging by the room's decor, this was a single room in the Raon Academy dormitory, where Yun Se-a was staying.
I think I understand now. So, I've possessed her body before the original story even began?
"Hmm... this is quite an ambiguous situation. Truly an avant-garde predicament, one might say."
No, why is my speech constantly being corrected like this? It wasn't doing this just a moment ago.
"Hmph, this is... quite a troublesome situation, isn't it?"
First, my speech kept coming out strangely, as if being corrected by some unknown force.
In my mind, I was clearly articulating what I wanted to say, but somewhere along the way, something went wrong, and it came out in that peculiar young lady's tone. It was rather odd, to say the least.
This makes it sound like I'm just muttering nonsense to myself.
"Hmm... At least the meaning and nuance seem to be conveyed properly. That's reassuring."
Having confirmed the internal situation, all that remained was to assess the external circumstances.
So, what is that thing?
"Hmm... So, what exactly is that utterly repulsive object...?"
I slowly rose from the bed and gazed at the 'something' before me.
Indirect Brainwashing Device
This device continuously implants suggestions into the user's mind, ultimately conditioning them to obey the user's commands.
I stared at the fragment of the purple sphere inside the small elephant-shaped stone statue and scoffed.
So this is what they meant by "brainwashed since childhood." Figures.
The reason Yun Se-a moved to kill the protagonist remained unclear. One could simply say she was brainwashed by the Final Boss and acted accordingly, but was this fragment one of the underlying premises?
Isn't this the item Yun Se-a's father gave her as a gift?
"This statue... Ah, I remember now. It was something that bastard who calls himself my father tossed at me as a souvenir, wasn't it?"
The "Elephant Statue" was a favorability-boosting item given to Yun Se-a to increase her affection.
I knew that if I gave her this gift, she would say, "Heh, it looks just like the souvenir my father gave me."
Though the memory was as hazy as a shard of broken mirror, Yun Se-a had received this item as a gift from her father to commemorate her admission to the Academy. She had apparently kept it on her dormitory bed.
But knowing the truth, I knew Yun Se-a's father was nothing more than a cruel villain who had brutally abused her, using her for his own purposes.
Wait a minute... does this mean the brainwashing has been undone?
"But how am I supposed to overcome this obstacle...?"
No, I was just thinking! What am I supposed to do now that I've blurted it out?
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
[7:30]
While I was still pondering, I thought,
I need to go downstairs to get information.
"Let's go down for breakfast first."
Well, what else could I do? If I stayed cooped up in this room, I wouldn't get any information at all.
The only things I knew for sure were that this was Raon Academy's dormitory and that I had possessed the body of Yun Se-a, the student council president of Raon Academy.
Since I had never worn women's clothing before, I was worried about how to put on everything from the underwear to the skirt...
Memories imprinted on the body are the best!
"...These kinds of memories are really convenient. I like it."
Thanks to Yun Se-a's habitual memories imprinted on my body, I was able to go downstairs with ease.