Jay Doe was originally a fictional character I acted as. Acting means that even if I was pretending to be Jay Doe, it was ultimately no different from being Jack. Even if my appearance changed to Jay Doe, that didn’t change. At the time, Persona only changed my appearance.
I had created a new magic close to a skill, but I hadn’t given it a name then. I had no particular talent for naming, and since I couldn’t use it often due to the burden it placed on my body, I forgot to give it a name.
However, one day when I turned twenty. Everything changed from this day, which would have originally had nothing special about it.
When I transformed into Jay Doe’s appearance, a strong load came upon my body, but I couldn’t stop because I felt intense pleasure from directly intervening in the story. Moreover, if I didn’t do this, I would be sprawled out in lethargy, so Jay Doe was no different from medicine to me.
However, that ability had side effects. The more I used the ability, the more things I didn’t intend popped out. At first it was just a few words, but at some point I began having long conversations with others, and my actions began moving on their own.
In the end, I could only watch Jay’s actions as if trapped inside my body. It was momentary, but it felt like the control of my body had been stolen.
“Master, you’ve been a bit strange lately.”
Belly looked at me with concern and spoke.
Belly, who had turned 17, had grown remarkably. Having become an adult, I was only 171cm, but he had grown to nearly 2m. From the day I helped him shed his skin, he began growing rapidly like a beansprout, and grew this large.
“I’m fine.”
“Still… Belly is really worried to death.”
But no matter how big he got, he was still my adorable Belly. The sight of him grabbing my hand and rubbing it against his cheek was unbearably cute even though his bulk had become mountain-sized.
He had always been obedient to me and desired my affection even now after so much time had passed. I always granted his wishes. I thought it was a luxury to spare affection for an existence that might leave at any time.
Moreover, Belly’s affection for me was too sweet to refuse. That’s why I decided to give him everything I could without holding back, and I was doing so. Except for just one thing.
“It’s fine. It’s not like I’m dying.”
Of course, even if I were dying, I had no intention of stopping this. I couldn’t stop what had already happened, and I couldn’t prevent it. The act of using this ability to live in this world was no different from my reason for living.
Even if I wanted to stop it, Jay’s personality only became clearer. Sometimes settings that interfered with the story would pop out, which was quite inconvenient. I wondered where those settings came from.
Sometimes I felt déjà vu. Even Jay’s most recently problematic words were like that.
‘Sometimes what my parents say is too burdensome.’
I have no memories of parents. It was the same before and after possession. I don’t know what this is all about. If I didn’t solve this, it seemed I would have difficulty transforming into Jay Doe, so I eventually started experimenting.
To blend into the story, I needed flexible settings. I didn’t know if I acted directly, but Jay had started moving independently. When Jay Doe began activities, I had to helplessly watch. But fortunately, when I ended the ability, I could quickly return to myself.
The experiments were very slow. Even though I wanted to adjust quickly, the overload that occurred every time I used the ability was too severe. Just the time spent on experiments related to settings was several years. It took quite a long time to stabilize it after that too.
By the time I completed the ability, I was already twenty-six years old. It had taken a full six years to finish the experiments. Of course, the results of the experiments were so perfectly completed that the time wasn’t wasted.
Jay Doe’s personality was under my control but didn’t recognize me and moved according to set values. Since it was no different from creating a new character, I couldn’t help but be excited. With this, I couldn’t not give this ability a name.
“What name should I give it?”
As I pondered, what I was holding in my hand was a classic novel with a theater actor as the protagonist. The actor put on and took off masks during plays, and it seemed that’s how roles were expressed in the past. The name of that mask was Persona.
I too was doing something no different from theater, so the name Persona was just right for the ability. How did I come across this novel at this timing? It was practically god-given.
However, even with experiments, there were limits to changing settings. Some things changed easily, but some wouldn’t change no matter what I did. The most representative was personality.
Jay was always indecisive, kind, and weak to affection. Mysteriously, those settings were similar to Jay’s personality that I usually acted out.
Anyway, after finishing the settings for ‘Jay Doe’ to some extent, I wanted to enjoy a new story with it. It was such an intense desire. I felt like I would die if I didn’t do it right away. Impatience ran from my toes to the top of my head.
Unlike when I was incompetent in the past, I now had many assigned tasks. Rose had transferred many tasks and authority to me. In the old days there were many other candidates, but now there could be no Guild Master candidate other than me.
Rose made her attitude that clear, and I too proved my qualifications with ability. It meant that I was now in a position that received some respect. Those who used to sneer at Belly and me as pearls on a pig’s neck now fawned so much their hands and feet were worn out. That’s how great Glutton’s ability was.
They say there’s no eternal sun, and at some point Carl’s momentum also died. He even acted like a toothless tiger as if he had never shown his claws to me. It was puzzling, but there was nothing bad for me.
But on the other hand, it was boring like flat cola. Should I have stirred things up earlier to cause an incident? I felt so regretful that it seemed to have become tasteless because I couldn’t eat it quickly.
Originally, isn’t it interesting when content about fighting over a position has the hopeless candidate cause a disturbance? That was also the appeal and a cliché. For me, who had secretly expected that, it was boring.
Rose uncannily figured out my feelings and said casually,
“It’s better not to shed unnecessary blood.”
Was it because she’d watched me for so long? How did she know me so well? Rose would send health foods to me as I became gaunt from the Persona experiments. The house I moved into after turning twenty and becoming independent from the dormitory was a place Rose had arranged. It was full of things Rose had prepared.
Rose even forcibly made me rest from missions if I seemed too haggard. Then she would scold Belly harshly like a mother-in-law. The reason was that he hadn’t taken good care of me.
Though he might have felt wronged, Belly consistently ignored such Rose. Or rather, it seemed he didn’t react because he was concentrating on me.
Anyway, I wanted to find somewhere to use Persona somehow. However, as I said before, I was busy. The work pouring on me after completely returning from finishing the Persona experiments exceeded imagination.
Since it was all stories about information, to me it was no different from reading novels. They were enjoyable days, but I desperately wanted to escape from there. That’s when what entered my eyes was <The Crown of Lilies> that had been updated in Glutton.
The Crown of Lilies. It was Connubium’s nickname. I didn’t know the details of what kind of place it was either. It was kept very secret and was the worst place to infiltrate. Since it was a place where royalty and nobility went in the first place, security was thorough. Since employment of faculty was very rare, there was practically no related information.
The reason a novel related to such a place could be updated in Glutton was because Arbor’s guild member had infiltrated. Arbor had finally succeeded in placing an operative in Connubium.
Though I was the center of Glutton, since I received great help from Arbor’s information, it was often difficult to update without information that came up to the guild. Anyway, I was more interested in the students of that school than the infiltrated guild member.
The protagonists of novels mostly go through harsh growth processes. In all heroic epics, the protagonist is bound to face trials. Generally there’s a lot of loss regarding family, and these days it’s trendy for the family to be trash. If the protagonist is nobility or royalty, it’s even more so. Whether full-blooded or half-blooded, they would engage in bloody fights centered on power.
The students of that school met such conditions for protagonists. When reading the novel, they couldn’t be more pitiful. Since more details weren’t updated, I could only speculate, but guessing the next content wasn’t difficult. In the first place, the fates of those pushed out in succession disputes are generally similar.
The more I read <The Crown of Lilies>, the more convinced I became that the protagonist of this world would be there. After thinking that way, I wanted to go there even more. Even while working, I was anxious with thoughts about Connubium. I kept flinching as if ants were biting my feet.
After wriggling for several weeks like doing a butt dance, I finally decided to leave. And it was natural that Belly would accompany me on that entire journey.
Though it was a difficult place to infiltrate, there was already a guild member at that school. I sent him a message to vacate an appropriate teacher’s position. Since the infiltrated guy had good abilities, I thought he could do that much, and indeed, I soon received a reply that he had succeeded.
Having worked at the Information Guild for a long time, forging an identity was really easy. That’s how I was able to go to Connubium with an appropriate qualification. That was the whole story of how I could become a temporary professor under Jay Doe’s identity.
