After that day, after going through a few more procedures, Wol Young truly became my disciple.

The dharma name he received was ‘Ha Hyun’, just as I had thought when I first heard his name.

‘Now it feels like things have returned to their normal orbit.’

It was strange, but it really felt that way.

If until now it felt like things were slightly off track, now it feels like at least the basic framework is in place, should I say?

As one extreme progresses, it seems all the characters I know have appeared. Thinking about it, that’s not entirely wrong either.

Anyway, even after Wol Young, no, Ha Hyun became my disciple, time continued to flow.

Unlike when I entered, Ha Hyun took a separate test, and since the sect leader confirmed the results, there wasn’t talk behind his back like in my case.

Even I went down the mountain with Ha Hyun, so it seemed they were even more restrained in mentioning it. Both about Ha Hyun and about me.

‘Yes, that’s why we went down there.’

It was a satisfactory result in many ways.

……And Ha Hyun peacefully began his basic training. It wasn’t much different from what I did when I first entered, but the starting difficulty was a bit higher than mine.

Moreover, as expected of a protagonist, from the speed at which his stamina built up to the degree he understood the mental techniques, everything progressed subtly faster than me. Though it was partly due to his originally being healthy and having good stamina.

So before spring even came, when the plum blossoms planted inside the mountain gate were just starting to bud. Ha Hyun was able to hold a wooden sword for the first time.

Seeing that, I thought this.

‘Was Ha Hyun’s original talent on par with my possession benefits?’

Indeed, the protagonist.

Yes, I decided to just think of him as the protagonist.

And in fact, apart from the talent issue, originally at this age, a difference of one or two years was quite significant. My body is thirteen and Ha Hyun is fifteen, so it’s not particularly surprising that he’s better than me.

I didn’t pay much attention to his excellence and continued to refine the Six Harmonies Sword and steadily practice the Jade Lady Sword and Seven Plum Blossom Sword.

An unremarkable master-disciple relationship, a peaceful daily life.

The most important part was fulfilled, so there was no need to turn my attention elsewhere.

‘I’ve done everything I needed to do.’

I managed to recover from the ruined first impression, and helped him pass the entrance test without getting hurt. Isn’t this enough?

However, unlike how I thought and lived, for a while the adults strangely watched my reactions. I could understand why. They probably saw Ha Hyun standing out as soon as he arrived, and the time Master spent on him increased.

‘They seem to be worried whether I might be jealous of Ha Hyun, or if I think I’ve lost Master’s attention.’

Well, it was a reasonable enough concern. In fact, the original ‘Ha Heun’ really did act that way.

‘Even with so many adults paying attention, she ended up hating her disciple to the end.’

Was it because she had already become neurotic by then?

Anyway, since I wasn’t ‘Ha Heun’, I pretended not to know what they were worried about and just steadily did what I needed to do. After some time passed like that, the adults who had been watching me naturally smiled contentedly and withdrew their gazes.

As the seasons changed, it was suddenly spring.

The magnificently blooming plum blossoms gradually dropped their petals to the ground, the trees became covered with green leaves, and the weather noticeably began to warm up.

It was exactly one year since I had come to Hwa Mountain.

During training, Master briefly left his seat.

He said it wouldn’t take long and we could rest until he returned, but there was one thing bothering me about the sword path I was drawing, so I didn’t sit down and continued to mull over that part a bit more.

At that time, Ha Hyun, who was sitting nearby watching me, suddenly spoke up and called out to me.

“Senior disciple.”

“Yes.”

Lowering the sword I had raised to eye level, I turned to look at Ha Hyun. He had a somewhat strange expression, half admiring and half horrified.

Ha Hyun muttered as if to himself.

“Senior disciple… you really do nothing but train all the time.”

Hmm, that’s random. Why call someone over just to say nonsense.

“What else is there to do at the top of Hwa Mountain?”

I asked blankly in return.

“You saw on the way up, this is a high and treacherous rocky mountain.”

“……That’s true.”

Taking advantage of the gap created by Ha Hyun speaking to me, I set down the wooden sword for a moment.

Leaning the wooden sword against my leg so it wouldn’t fall, I retied my slightly disheveled hair and added:

“Since we’ve picked up swords, it’s good to work hard and get better at it, right?”

“But most people don’t work as hard as senior disciple for such a vague reason.”

That’s true.

But I didn’t have anything particular to explain about that, so I just pretended not to know and turned back to Ha Hyun, asking:

“Really?”

He stared at me intently with his elbow on his knee and chin resting on his palm, then asked:

“Yes, that’s right. Or do you have something you want to do once you become skilled? Like a goal?”

“……A goal?”

I was momentarily at a loss for words at the unexpected question. It was a question that made me feel somewhat strange. Perhaps because it reminded me of memories from not long after I had possessed this body.

‘Suddenly entering someone else’s body and being thrown into an unfamiliar world, how could I have had time to set any grand goals?’

If I had to say, maybe ‘becoming a decent adult’?

This could be considered a goal if forced. Since the fate of this body’s original owner was to drive Master into a qi deviation and self-destruct at age 18, I’ve been trying to grow up properly to avoid that path at all costs.

“Just, becoming a decent adult?”

“Hmm.”

I answered vaguely, following the flow of my thoughts. However, Ha Hyun surprisingly didn’t seem to take that goal lightly. He had a momentarily sunken look as if mulling over what I said, then nodded with a slight smile.

“I see. That’s certainly not an easy thing to do either.”

“That’s right……”

What you’re thinking and what I’m thinking are probably a bit different.

Swallowing those words, I picked up the wooden sword I had leaned against my leg again. I could see Master returning from over there, so I could naturally end the conversation.

“Right. I need to keep going to become a decent adult. Master is coming, let’s get up.”

“Understood.”

As I watched Ha Hyun obediently stand up, I paused at a thought that flashed through my mind.

‘Come to think of it……’

Focusing on becoming a decent adult, managing relationships, paying attention to the disciple entrance exam, and immersing myself in training, I had hardly thought about where ‘the original owner of this body’ was.

Looking back now, I realized that for the past year, except for when I first opened my eyes, I had essentially not even thought about the issue of searching for their whereabouts.

‘……Even though I thought I should look into ways to return it if the original owner wanted it.’

I had forgotten all about that.

Late at night, although I should have long been asleep by now, sleep eluded me especially tonight.

It’s probably because I belatedly realized that every time something big happened, I thought ‘in the original’, ‘the original Ha Heun’, but never deeply considered where that being actually was.

It seemed like the story finally got back on its normal track after the disciple came, and all the characters I knew had appeared.

Now that it feels like all the urgent fires have been put out, do I finally have room to think about other aspects?

No, maybe this is an excuse too.

‘In fact, I’ve become too accustomed to living in this body, I’ve grown attached to this life……”

So have I been unconsciously avoiding the possibility of having to return everything at some point?

I sighed deeply and tossed and turned under the blanket. I know self-reproach like this isn’t helpful right now. Knowing but still being unable to stop is probably the limit of being human.

What happened to the original owner of the body?

Perhaps, just as I am in this body, is ‘Ha Heun’ in my body?

But that body has likely died with high probability.

Or perhaps because I entered this body, did the original owner naturally disappear……?

“Ah.”

This really won’t do. I threw off the blanket and sat up.

It’s true that I’m an unauthorized occupant, but it really wasn’t intentional. I don’t even know why I’m in this body, you know?

Inwardly shouting excuses to no one in particular, I grabbed my head and finally calmed down after a while. For now, I decided to set aside possibilities like natural disappearance. It was too much to handle.

Let’s try to think a bit more positively.

I’ve seen this kind of possession trope in novels a few times. Based on that experience…

‘Maybe they’re actually still remaining somewhere inside, asleep? So we could talk separately, or something like that.’

I admit it’s an absurd imagination.

But from the start, me taking over someone else’s perfectly fine body is already an extraordinary thing, so more absurd things could happen too.

Come to think of it, this ‘untitled wuxia novel’ wasn’t particularly orthodox wuxia to begin with.

Starting with the personality of Ha Hyun, who I’m assuming is the protagonist. He doesn’t have the typical righteous and meddlesome personality of common wuxia protagonists.

He’s not the type to recklessly destroy everything either, and while he has some walls, he has decent enough social skills to show outwardly.

No, anyway.

Plus, there are clearly things like magic that can control others here. If a Taoist can randomly encounter such magic on the street, then the existence of magic is already widely known…

‘Oh?’

That’s right. There’s magic.

I paused and gripped the blanket tightly.

‘Maybe there’s magic that can find the body’s owner? Like a technique to call back the soul that matches the body?’