OIPM 3

Chapter: 3

“Ugh!”

The unpleasant, squishy sensation felt at my toes was disgusting. Only belatedly did I realize I had kicked the man right in his most vulnerable area.

Still, it didn’t matter. My goal from the beginning had been to punish this sexual harasser anyway.

“Actually, this is more efficient.”

As the saying goes, revenge should be returned in kind—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Of course, that was just my personal belief.

The man was now holding his crotch, tightly closing his legs.

It was obvious he was in pain, but I still didn’t feel satisfied.

“E-ena… Miss Ena, ngh, w-what are you doing…?”

“That’s what I should be asking. Why are you touching someone else’s—no, my body?”

“I am your biggest patron, after all. Shouldn’t I be allowed at least this much?”

Patron? What patronage?

While I tilted my head in confusion, the man continued indignantly.

“Do you know you’re especially prickly, Ena? Other actresses don’t act like this…”

“What does me being ‘prickly’ have to do with you sexually harassing me? And what, if I weren’t prickly, you’d be allowed to touch me? That’s ridiculous logic.”

“I-I just thought Ena was like my daughter…”

“Oh, that excuse again? If I’m like your daughter, does that mean you can just grope me? Why are you touching me however you want?”

I grabbed the bouquet I was holding and threw it at him.

“Get out. Now.”

Before I kick you again!

Seeing how threatening I looked, the man flinched and hurriedly stood up.

He didn’t even bother picking up the bouquet I had thrown, rushing instead toward the exit.

Even as he left, he kept glancing back at me with a lingering, regretful expression.

Still not getting it?

I quietly lifted my foot, showing him the shiny toe of my shoe.

His face turned pale, and he ran away like his tail was on fire.

“Sexual harassment? What a lunatic.”

I clapped my hands and brushed them off, then noticed the bouquet I had thrown earlier and the scattered flower petals on the floor.

“…I should clean this up first. I made the mess.”

After cleaning up the debris, I was left unsure of what to do next.

“Should I go back to the room I first woke up in?”

I looked at the man who had brought me here. Bill, I think his name was. Maybe I should ask him just in case.

“Excuse me.”

“Hiiik!”

The moment I spoke, Bill hiccupped and hurriedly covered his groin.

What’s with him? Why is he reacting like that…? Is it because I kicked that viscount earlier?

A dry laugh slipped out.

It’s not like I go around kicking just anyone, yet I was being treated like a danger.

“W-why did you call me?”

He was even stuttering now.

It was ridiculous, but I didn’t feel like explaining anything right now, nor did I have the energy to accommodate him. I just desperately needed rest.

“I’d like to go back now. Is that okay?”

“Y-yes! Of course!”

Bill nodded rapidly, still covering himself with his hands and keeping his legs tightly shut.

His gaze clearly screamed, “Please leave quickly.”

If I were honest, I felt the same.

The problem was that only a few hours had passed since I became Ena, and I had no idea how to get back to the room I first woke up in.

But I couldn’t exactly admit that I didn’t know where it was. So there was only one option.

“Sorry, could you help carry this back to my room? I moved around a bit and don’t have the strength left.”

I said this while shaking the bouquet I had used to chase the viscount away.

Even I thought the excuse was flimsy. I had just been swinging it around, and now I was saying I had no strength left.

What if he gets suspicious?

Unlike my worries, the man immediately replied, “I-I’ll carry it! I should!” and took the bouquet.

And as soon as we arrived at the destination, before I could even thank him, he fled with a pale face.

“Hahahahaha!”

I stared awkwardly at the red-haired woman in front of me, who was laughing as if the world were ending.

It had happened only a few minutes ago.

After kicking out the viscount and returning to my room with Bill’s help, I had finally tried to rest—lying down on the bed and stretching my legs out.

“Ena!”

The red-haired woman burst into my room and immediately asked,

“Is it true?”

“Pardon? About what?”

“That you kicked out Viscount Casaro and threw him out!”

“Oh… I guess so?”

“Eeeeh! That’s amazing!”

She leaned against the wall and began laughing hysterically.

How does she even know about that?

My confusion was immediately resolved.

“Even when I saw Bill going around pale as a ghost, I thought maybe it was true—but it actually happened!”

She burst into even louder laughter.

So it was Bill who spread it.

It was impressive how quickly word traveled in such a short time.

A person whose mouth was lighter than a feather—Bill was definitely that type.

‘I’ll deal with him later.’

But I never got the chance to blame Bill.

The woman kept laughing nonstop. I thought she might calm down after a while, but instead she only got louder and louder.

I wish she’d stop laughing already…

Too embarrassed to look at her, I stared at the floor while she even started hitting the wall.

“Hah, haha! Serves him right! He probably can’t even tell people he got rejected by a woman now! Good job, Ena.”

“Huh? What do you mean—”

“Kicking out Viscount Casaro! He’s been using patronage as an excuse to harass you for ages, hasn’t he? And today you finally threw him out! You even gave him a proper beating!”

“I-I see…”

“Come to think of it, you’ve been speaking formally this whole time. Are you going all in on that concept?”

She looked at me with still-laughing eyes and suddenly put her arm around my shoulder.

I flinched at the sudden closeness, but she didn’t care and kept talking.

“You don’t need to do that with me. How many years have we known each other?”

I, I’m not—

I swallowed the words I wanted to say.

To me, this was someone I was meeting for the first time. I didn’t even know her name.

But I couldn’t exactly say that out loud either.

No one would believe I had amnesia now.

Let’s just pretend it’s a concept.

Yeah, that’s better.

I gently removed her arm from my shoulder and said,

“Sorry, but I don’t think I can do that. I want to get used to this concept quickly.”

“Oh my god… I’m getting chills. You know how awkward you sound right now? Can’t you just act like usual? I think that suits you better.”

She shivered dramatically, as if genuinely disgusted, though it was obvious she was teasing.

It didn’t offend me, but the problem was I didn’t know what “usual” even meant.

Because I didn’t know this woman at all.

While I stayed silent, unsure of what to say, she finally shrugged.

“Well, whatever. It’s your choice. And anyway, good job kicking out Viscount Casaro today! That was awesome!”

She gave me a thumbs-up.

Being praised made me feel a little embarrassed. Even though we had just met, she seemed like a good person.

“Still, kicking him like that might’ve been a bit much.”

“…Just kidding! Never mind!”

My face hardened, and she burst out laughing again, clearly enjoying teasing me.

After laughing for a while, she finally turned away, saying she couldn’t keep such fun news to herself.

“See you tomorrow, Ena!”

And just like when she first barged into my room, she left before I could stop her.

As she had confidently predicted, nothing I had worried about happened.

So I was able to continue living normally the next day… and the day after that.

Well, “normally” wasn’t exactly the right word. It was more like pretending to be normal.

I had suddenly died and become someone else—there was no way I could truly be fine.

But after several days, I was still Ena.

I had hoped I might find something in the room that explained why I had become Ena, but it was all pointless.

No will, no diary, not even a scribble. Nothing at all.

Even trying to subtly test whether Ena had acted strangely before me was useless—everyone just looked at me like they didn’t know anything.

Still, it wasn’t completely fruitless. I discovered something Ena originally didn’t have.

Her eyes, which changed to gold when exposed to light.

Originally, Ena’s eyes were only silver-gray; they were not supposed to turn gold.

When I first heard this, I was curious but didn’t think much of it.

So what if my eye color changes in a story I’ve possessed?

But others didn’t seem to think the same.

Beloca called in a healer when she noticed my eyes changing and had me examined. The result was that there was nothing wrong.

They advised visiting a temple if I was worried, but that wasn’t an option.

Even meeting a lower-ranking priest was expensive in this world.

And I had a rough idea of the cause anyway, so I ignored everyone’s concern and didn’t go to the temple.

It was probably because I had possessed this body.

If nothing was wrong, then I could just ignore it and live.

Since nothing else unusual happened, I had to desperately act like Ena.

Fortunately, everyone was busy with daily performances, so even if I acted a little strange, they didn’t pay much attention.

Living as Ena like that, I gradually learned about this world.

This was the “Chloe Troupe,” the only theater troupe in the capital.

I also learned the names of those who treated me familiarly—Rael and Beloca—and that all three of us were the same age, twenty-three.

Maybe because they were close to my previous age, I found it relatively easy to be around them. They were also inherently kind people.

Above all, living as Ena suited me surprisingly well. It made sense—I was working as the professional actress I had once dreamed of becoming.

Even though I wasn’t always the lead, I was always on stage due to a shortage of performers.

The fact that I could appear on stage regularly, regardless of the role, made me happy.

Moreover, the stage technology here was surprisingly advanced, comparable to modern times, thanks to something called sacred stones left behind after purifying monster cores.

Depending on how they were used, people with divine power could process them with rituals and use them in various ways.

The troupe used two types of sacred stones—ones that amplified voices like microphones, and ones that could record accompaniment music.

The environment was excellent, almost like modern entertainment technology. I didn’t know how the original Ena felt about it, but I liked it very much.

There were a few difficult things, though.

The difference in food culture meant I couldn’t eat the food I used to enjoy, and the lack of internet was frustrating.

I never realized I was such a smartphone addict.

I began to realize how precious it was to listen to music and watch videos freely—and how much I missed my parents and friends.

Sometimes I longed for my old life, but since I couldn’t go back, I tried my best to adapt.

Still, there was one thing I absolutely couldn’t adapt to—people who came looking for me after performances.

Some sincerely gave me flowers, praising my acting, but most were men like Viscount Casaro, who had the same bad hands.

They all tried to touch me, boasting about being my “patrons.”

Every time, I used the martial arts skills I had learned since childhood and treated their flower bouquets like wooden swords to deal with them without hesitation.

The men I struck would flee in panic, pale-faced.

Of course, very rarely, I did make mistakes.

But that was just a reflex from being harassed so often. For them, it must have been like getting struck by lightning out of nowhere.

When that happened, I apologized repeatedly and offered compensation.

But there were also strange people—people who, after being hit, actually asked me to hit them again as compensation.