“Wake up, girl. This is no time for rest, it is time for action.”

Vivi jolted awake in a cold sweat, practically digging her fingers into her comforter as she held it close to her body. She was comfortably seated in her bed, but just moments before… no.

Vivi tossed her comforter and blanket from off of her body, and got up from her bed. After sliding into her basic slippers, she walked the short distance across the hall to her restroom. There, she placed her hands on the counter, and simply gazed into the mirror. Right now, on this Tuesday morning, it was only 7:00–one hour before school started. But, after that dream she just had… Vivi didn’t know if she’d be able to go back to sleep even if she wanted to.

Instead, with shaking hands, Vivi turned her sink on, and splashed water onto her face. After doing this a couple of times, she looked back up into her mirror, and saw her face staring right back at her.

However, rather than a stressed, tired expression… her face in the mirror was wearing a wicked grin and cocked eyebrows. The same expression Vivi had been plagued with for the past few weeks.

Vivi immediately stumbled back and slammed her back against the nearby wall. But even as she stood there trembling in shock… the face in the mirror stayed completely still, as if it weren’t tied to Vivi anymore. Even though it looked exactly like her.

“Bwahahah!” The face in the mirror let out a wicked laugh, as she rose up a hand an rested her head on it. This hand looked like it belonged to Vivi too… what the hell?! “Really, girl, how many times are we going to do this song and dance? Do you really not get it yet?” The specter continued.

In the first few weeks of her “visions,” Vivi would have just slid down the wall, with her hands over her head, not responding to the face in the mirror. But now…

“G-Get what? What don’t I get?!” Vivi stood right back up, and stomped back over to her mirror. With her hands on the counter, she was feeling more confrontational than scared right now.

The specter in the mirror, however, seemed as nonchalant as one could be. With a cocky smirk, as she simply replied with:

“You don’t get that I am you.”

Vivi’s eyes narrowed as the face continued to speak. “You have been trying to be rid of me, but I am you. You cannot dispose of me, anymore than you can dispose of a bad habit or a preference for a certain food. These are qualities that make you you, just as I am.”

Vivi didn’t like the sound of these words at all… but she knew that this vision was at least partially right about what she was saying. Even though this face in mirror was wearing a prideful expression that betrayed what she was actually feeling… it at least had managed to copy her appearance to a T. Almost.

Vivi Park was a young Korean-American girl, who was 18 years of age. As such, she had an exceptionally youthful appearance… even if her face portrayed sure signs of stress that had been building up over the years. She had light brown skin, characteristic of someone of Korean descent. However, this skin was notably pale, perhaps due to a lack of quality time outdoors. Her almond eyes were of a soft hazel color, though they were framed underneath by noticeable bags. It seems as if these bags have only worsened in the past few weeks. Her face shape was exceptionally angular, having a sharp jaw and somewhat strong chin while still managing to maintain the face of a young girl.

This strong face of Vivi’s was framed by messy, black bangs. These bangs fell down to right above her eyes, but were stringy and parted enough that one can see her eyebrows underneath. Indeed, her hair seemed to be slightly unkempt from a lack of care, as her single, low ponytail that fell down to her shoulders was slightly messy as well.

While the face in the mirror had copied almost all of these attributes from Vivi… the one difference that stood out was that this specter looked remarkably less tired, more put-together, than Vivi did. The sinister face lacked noticeable bags under eyes, had neater hair, and had richer, less pale skin. Basically… she looked like Vivi, but invigorated.

However, Vivi’s thoughts remained on how this specter claimed that they were the same. “O-Oh yeah?! How about… this?!” The young girl said to the face in the mirror. With this, she grabbed hold of her own cheeks, and pulled them apart, in the typical, comical fashion. However… the face in the mirror didn’t change at all.

“Ifsh you’re me, how comesh you’re notsh changingsh too?” Vivi slurred out, with her cheeks still stretched out. She made a good point—why hadn’t the specter’s face changed?

“Because, I am—cut that out!” The apparition shouted as Vivi reluctantly let go of her cheeks. Regaining her smug demeanor, she continued, “Because, I am a hallucination, girl.”

“But, you just said you were me! Stick to one story!” Vivi stubbornly pointed into the mirror. It seemed as if she were bickering with one of her fellow peers at this point.

The face’s eyebrow rose, as she started to stroke her chin with one of her hands. This Vivi girl… she was certainly feeling much more confident in the face of this unknown specter, compared to when she had first emerged. And more importantly, Vivi was much more prone to actually listening what she had to say, rather than simply cowering in a corner and covering her ears.

These developments greatly intrigued the specter. They were a sign that, hopefully, it was time to set her plan in motion.

“Hmm… remain there.” The apparition instructed simply. Before Vivi could even let out a “huh,” the face in the mirror had completely disappeared. With widened eyes, Vivi placed her hands on the counter again, as she closely examined the mirror for herself. She would have been glad that her tormenting vision was gone… if it weren’t for the fact that she completely lacked a reflection now. Indeed, even with the specter gone, Vivi couldn’t see herself at all in the mirror.

Before she could question this, however, Vivi suddenly felt a presence behind her. She quickly turned around, and saw… herself.

Except, that it seemed like she was looking up at herself..?

On closer inspection, this supposed clone was lacking bags under her eyes, had neater hair… Vivi wanted to reject it, but right now, she was looking at the same specter she was talking to in the mirror. But this time, she had managed to copy her entire body—not just the part she could see in the mirror. Taking a step back, she scanned the apparition from head to toe, and saw that she was wearing the same white tank top, and the same basic grey sweatpants as she was wearing. She had even copied Vivi’s slippers!

“Y-You!!” Vivi quickly lunged forward in an attempt to slap the specter in front of her, square on the cheek. But of course… her hand went right through her.

While the apparition simply stood there with a comically exhausted expression… Vivi became absolutely sure of it—something was off! She had went straight for the face when she tried to slap her Doppelgänger—in traditional slapping fashion. But… she had to reach up with her hand far more than she had anticipated in order to do so. Indeed, the specter in front of her with actually taller than she was!

“Hah! You say that you’re me, but you don’t even know how tall I am?!” Vivi accused proudly, with a cocky smile. “I bet you can’t even—“

“I know exactly how tall you are, girl.” The specter rose her head as she glared down at Vivi. “You are five feet, and one twenty-fifth of an inch tall. And that is exactly the problem.”

Vivi’s haughty expression disappeared in an instant. That… sounded about right. She hadn’t measured her own height in years, but that was because she didn’t need to. She hadn’t grown since she was thirteen years old… and back then, she remembered that she measured in at a diminutive 5’0”.

“…So?! How is that a proble—“

“Silence, child.” The specter held her hand out in front of her, and Vivi immediately shut up. “Your school day begins in fifty minutes, yes? That means we do not have much time.”

Vivi was about to ask her Doppelgänger what she meant by that, but suddenly, the taller version of herself grabbed Vivi by the shoulders, and spun her around to face the mirror. Vivi was far too shocked to do anything about this—why couldn’t she touch her, but this “hallucination” could touch her?!

While they were both facing the mirror, the specter’s hands remained on her shoulders—kneading them just as an enthusiastic football coach would do to one of his players before a big game. Of course, only the specter made an appearance in the mirror, with Vivi still lacking a reflection.

Leaning down about the waist, the apparition lowered her head until her mouth was directly level with her smaller host’s ears. With her mouth uncomfortably close to Vivi’s left ear, she began, “Girl… I have watched you from afar during our time together. I have seen you struggle, stumble… be humiliated. And at the source of it all… that school of yours.”

Vivi’s eyes widened and she shifted her gaze down to the floor as her Doppelgänger spoke. W-What the hell was she saying?!

“But most of all, I can tell that you wish to change it all… uproot the current system, and replace it with one where you are on top. You may try to act indifferent on the outside, but that is truly how you feel on the inside, yes?”

The specter realized that she wasn’t going to get an answer from Vivi with these questions. With her hands slightly tightening around Vivi’s shoulders, she asked a final, blunt question.

“Girl… do you not wish to right the wrongs that have been done unto you?”

Vivi let out a sharp, quiet gasp as she looked back up into the mirror. Of course she wanted to right some wrongs! Who wouldn’t answer yes to that?! But it was that very vagueness of the question that concerned Vivi. She… she felt like she was getting into some serious shit right now!

However… Vivi’s mind quickly travelled to a particular incident that had transpired yesterday at her school. While every student was required to wear school uniforms, said uniforms lacked a set of shoes, which meant that students are free to wear whatever footwear they want. Over the past ten months, Vivi had been scraping up whatever money she could gain in order to buy herself a pair of fashionable, designer, pure-white sneakers she had long been infatuated with. She had managed to rake up the large asking price just two days ago. Yesterday was the first time Vivi wore the sneakers, prepared to proudly parade through the school halls with her expensive gear.

As soon as she walked through the front doors of the school, a girl bumped into her from behind.

This girl was carrying a mug of coffee. She dropped it, the lid became undone, and it spilled all over Vivi’s white shoes.

This girl just so happened to be the most popular kid at school. The queen bee. Perfect. Untouchable.

This girl ran off before Vivi could even say anything to her, leaving her and her coffee stained shoes behind.

As she ran off, Vivi could tell that she was holding her hands over her mouth.

She was laughing.

Snapping herself out of her memory and returning to the present, Vivi’s brows furrowed, and she stood up straight. With a determined tone, she let out, “Yes! I wanna get back at her!”

From behind, the specter’s grin widened, and her eyes displayed a feeling of pure ecstasy. Vivi didn’t respond to her in an exactly formal way, but the pure determination behind her voice… she could take it a yes! “Are you sure, girl?!” The Doppelgänger asked, out of necessity.

“Yes, I’m sure! Make it happen!” Vivi was now practically yelling at the figure in the reflection of her mirror. Then, without a further word from the apparition, she felt a strange gust of air flow through her restroom. This gust caught her off guard… and prevented her from discerning any other changes happening around her.

After this wind subsided, Vivi shook of her Doppelgänger’s hands from her shoulders, and turned to look at it in the eye. “Hey, what the hell did you…”

Vivi’s voice trailed off as she immediately noticed that something had changed. She was looking this specter in the eye alright—directly into her eyes. At the same level. But it was just taller than her a few second ago…

Vivi looked down to see if her hallucinations was just suddenly squatting down or something… but she realized that the ground seemed further away from her than usual. With a concerned face, she momentarily looking back up at her specter, and then spun back around to look down at her counter. Indeed, her counter looked further away too, and when she placed her hands on it, it seemed like her arms stretched a little further down.

Spinning around once more to face her Doppelgänger, she asked simply, “You… you made me taller?”

The hallucination unleashed a haughty laugh before she responded with, “Yes, indeed I have. If you wish to thank me… you may refer to me as Misoon.” The specter now known as Misoon gazed at Vivi with a proud smile, anticipating praise from her host.

“…No, it’s not that.” Vivi replied in a dejected tone after a few seconds. “I mean… this is just kinda lame.”

Before she could even react, Vivi was immediately knocked out as Misoon’s flat hand came down harshly on the side of her neck.

“Okay, okay! I said I’m sorry, jeez!”

“How dare you think you can get away with just an apology?! You should be groveling before me! Grovel! Now!!”

Vivi was currently on her way to school. It would have a completely average trek for her… if it weren’t for the “hallucination” that was walking right beside her, yelling into her ear.

“I mean, it’s just that when you were on about me getting revenge, I thought you were gonna give me powers! Super strength or something! Not just make a few inches taller.” Indeed, the previously 5’0” Vivi was now 5’5”, just as her hallucination was. Vivi held up her hand to the specter walking beside her, and leaned her head away—as if that would stop her from shrieking at her.

“How disrespectful, human! You should be grateful that I, the great Misoon, shared with you even a fraction of my power!” The apparently great Misoon leaned in even closer as she saw Vivi’s attempts to withdraw from her.

She had just called her a human… now that was something that caught Vivi’s attention. More so than the simple height increase, anyways. “Human? What do you mean by that? You’re not human?” Vivi asked genuinely as she lowered her hand. It seemed as if she had put aside any notion of this specter being a simple hallucination, and settled on the possibility that she was possessed or the like. It seemed like this was a result of her intense vendetta against the students at her school… although the apparition’s promise to get back at them now seemed pretty hopeless.

“Hmph, indeed I am not! Maybe you will come to appreciate what you have been given if I explain who I am to you.” It seemed like Misoon had calmed down a bit, but was still clearly in a foul mood. “Are you ready, girl?”

“I feel like you’re gonna explain no matter what I sa—“

“So, girl,” Misoon began, immediately cutting Vivi off and proving her right. “I have merely resurrected my consciousness through you. I originally had my own body, and was first born about 2,700 years ago. I believe to you humans, that would place my date of birth in the 7th century BC. But to me, it was the era of the Gojoseon Kingdom of the Korean peninsula.”

Misoon cracked a smile as she saw that she had caught Vivi’s attention. She continued, “However, I had no parents, or no family at all. It was as if a child had simply emerged from thin air, right in the middle of the kingdom’s capital of Wanggeom. The unexplainable circumstances of my sudden appearance, as well as my being born in the capital… led the capital’s denizens to treat me as divine. To them, it was as if the gods themselves had delivered a gift right to their doorsteps. I was a good omen, a blessing.”

“I was quickly admitted into the royal palace, given my own room, and granted the treatment fitting of a divine child. The respect and reverence I received from others came second only to the royal family themselves—a fact that I was perfectly content with. However, everything changed when I turned eighteen years old.”

“Prior to my turning eighteen, I was a mere 5’0”, similar to how you once were. This was shorter than average, requiring me to look up at the countless palace denizens around me—even the lowly maids! However, the day after my eighteenth birthday, I noticed that something was amiss. I was now looking these maids directly in the eye. Everyone around me saw this as a simple growth spurt—just another addition to the list of things that I can be celebrated over. Even the royal family congratulated and praised me, believing that even if it were just a slight change, the gods had blessed me with a stature more befitting of a divine young woman.”

“The next day, I was looking down at them all.”

This time, Misoon let out a characteristically wicked laugh as Vivi’s eyes widened.

“Wait, girl! It’s just now getting good!” Misoon continued, taking Vivi’s reaction as excitement. Feeling encouraged, it seemed like the specter’s mood had improved. However, just as she began talking again

with a “For you see—” Misoon was abruptly cut off as Vivi harshly shushed her.

“Shut up!!” Vivi said under her breath, as she moved her finger away from her mouth. She hadn’t quite yet made her way onto campus, but she was beginning to converge with an increasing amount of other students who were also on their way to school. “I don’t know if these people can hear you or not!” This concern of Vivi’s is the reason why her eyes had widened as Misoon spoke—she wasn’t really interested in her story at all.

“Of course they cannot hear me! I am bound to you, remember?” Misoon replied honestly. “But more importantly, do not cut me off again! You little… if you had not made me expend my energy earlier, I would beat you senseless!”

Misoon was referring to when Vivi had “provoked” into her knocking her out back at her house, by calling her increased height lame. The hasty Misoon had attacked Vivi in a fit of anger… but then realized that she now had to get this unconscious girl to school, which is the place she would set her plan in motion. As such, Misoon had temporarily took control of Vivi’s unconscious body, and got her dressed, as well as equipping her with her school gear. This is why Vivi was talking towards her school with her uniform and backpack, even though she didn’t remember getting ready at all.

This uniform consisted of a basic, white button-up shirt, with sleeves that stopped just before the girl’s elbows. This shirt was coupled with a basic blue skirt that fell down to a typical wearer’s knees. However, Vivi tended to wear this skirt in a high-waisted manner, which drew it up a bit higher in her legs. The skirt’s blue matched the color of the uniform’s tie, which fell down to just below Vivi’s chest. Right now, Vivi was donning a basic black backpack, and as for her shoes… she was wearing a pair of worn-out, faded converse—the same pair she had been wearing for ages. It seemed as if she was forced back to this pair after her brand new shoes were completely ruined yesterday…

Of course, the apparition of Misoon had managed to completely copy Vivi’s shirt, skirt, tie, backpack, and shoes. The whole ordeal of taking control of Vivi’s body and getting her ready for school greatly wore Misoon out—she wouldn’t be able to take control of her again for a good amount of time. These were both facts that Misoon told Vivi, in hopes of making the girl feel sorry for her actions. Of course, Vivi felt anything but.

“Okay, b-but still, stop talking to me!” Vivi replied to Misoon. “I don’t want people thinking that I’m talking to myself!”

“Bah! Who cares what these humans think?! And besides… I believe that you’re doing a rather poor job of that so far!” With a smirk, Misoon pointed at a group of about four or five students, who were side-eyeing Vivi from a distance. It seemed like a few of them were laughing… a now blushing Vivi quickly shielded her face with her hands, and picked up her walking speed to distance herself from this group.

Misoon laughed cruelly at Vivi’s clear embarrassment. However, just as quickly as she had started her laughter… she immediately ceased. It seemed like something had caught her eye….

“Halt, girl.” Misoon held her arm out in front of Vivi, stopping them both in their tracks. “Who is that?” As she spoke, she pointed at a student who was walking by himself, on the opposite side of the street.

“…Dunno, just some guy.” Vivi shrugged her shoulders as she glanced at the person Misoon was referring to. “He’s—“

“He’s perfect!” Misoon shouted far too loudly, jolting Vivi from her casual stride. But as she took a closer look at the seemingly normal student, she couldn’t figure out what Misoon considered to be “perfect” about him. He looked exceptionally… lame. Like the common, textbook example of a “nerd.” He was a white kid who’s pale face was framed by thick-rimmed, black glasses. His brown hair was messy and slightly matted, and fell down over his eyes. He wore the typical male variant of the school uniform—the same white shirt and blue tie that Vivi wore, but with brown khakis instead. And as for his shoes… he was wearing old Nikes. To top it all off, he was obviously slouching, his back bent forward a couple of degrees as he gazed down at his phone. Overall, not a single shred of confidence was emitted from the boy.

That last bit is exactly what Misoon told Vivi, as excitedly as a child with a new toy.

“I mean, yeah, I agree. But what does that matter? That just means I don’t wanna go near him.” Vivi spoke back to Misoon. It seemed like she had relapsed into talking aloud to her Doppelgänger, and was eliciting more stares from surrounding students.

“You wish to become even more powerful, yes? To shine more brightly?! That student is the key! And for precisely those very reasons!” Misoon’s gaze become notably more serious and her smile became more sinister. “Child… you must always target the weakest links first!”

A chill ran down Vivi’s spine. She really didn’t like the sound of that… “What do you mean? You gonna kill him?!” She asked nervously.

“Don’t be a fool, girl. His death would defeat his purpose.” Misoon’s voice suddenly came deathly serious as she continued to speak. “Just make sure that you keep track of him throughout the entire day! After the school day ends… that is when we will make our move!”