“Crazy.”
‘Even if it’s interesting, still. Why am I dreaming about the novel’s content?’
Cold sweat ran down his spine. Only after his pounding heart slowly settled down did he feel belatedly embarrassed about being scared and even dry heaving over just a dream. Park Shinui swallowed a chuckle and slowly closed his eyes.
“…If I had known that person was Kang Taejun, I would have looked more closely.”
Park Shinui pulled the blanket up to his chin and tried to sleep again. Fortunately or unfortunately, no more dreams appeared that night.
The problem started the next day.
If he read the novel before falling asleep, he would inevitably dream. The scene of gates opening and monsters pouring out, the scene of Esper Kang Taejun sweeping them away mercilessly with overwhelming power unfolded vividly like an IMAX movie.
“Am I too tired these days…”
However, it wasn’t simply due to fatigue. The sensations and emotions felt in the dreams were terribly realistic, and even after waking up, the boundary between reality and dreams remained blurred for a long time.
In the recurring dreams, the characters from the novel shed their printed forms and became living, breathing entities, and Park Shinui gradually became fascinated by their lives. Unlike the boring and lonely reality, the dream world was a captivating world where he couldn’t take his eyes off for even a moment.
He was particularly concerned about the protagonist, Kang Taejun. As he saw the world from his perspective and shared secrets, a strange sense of solidarity formed that he was the only person in the world who understood and supported him most deeply.
One day, Park Shinui casually brought up the novel to the student he was teaching.
“Have you read this book?”
“Um…”
“Do you know this novel?”
“No, not at all. I’m crazy about fantasy novels, but I’ve never heard of a title like this.”
The answer he received was that they’d never heard of it. He took out the book and showed it directly, but the student only tilted their head in confusion. Feeling strange, he checked and found there was no information about the book anywhere on portal sites.
The vacant lot where the bookstore had been was as desolate as if it had been empty from the beginning. What exactly the story he had read and experienced over the past month was, even ghosts would cry out in frustration.
As the novel approached the latter half, Park Shinui’s heart became anxious. The conflict escalated steeply, the monsters became powerful, and the schemes of the forces envying Kang Taejun became despicable. Park Shinui, as an observer, knew all the schemes, but felt helpless at the fact that he couldn’t actually help with anything.
Like that, experiencing the novel as dreams without missing a single day, he finally reached the last chapter.
The ending left much to be desired in many ways. The forces trying to use Kang Taejun remained, and he ultimately couldn’t find a Guide. For an EX-grade Esper, a Guide wasn’t simply a companion. Without a Guide to lower his contamination level, his body crumbled bit by bit each time he used his abilities. Nevertheless, Kang Taejun didn’t rely on anyone and swallowed that pain alone. Even in the novel’s last chapter, he was still alone.
Park Shinui closed the last page and sat quietly in that spot for a while.
He had known all along while watching him in dreams that Kang Taejun was alone. He didn’t know how many times he had seen his back figure suppressing pain alone in an empty place after gates opened and battles ended. Each time, there was nothing he could do as a reader. Except watch.
Still, it was okay while the story continued. He thought it would change someday. He thought someone Kang Taejun could lean on would appear. But the novel ultimately didn’t fulfill that expectation.
‘…It’s regrettable.’
It wasn’t simple regret. It was the first time his heart remained this affected after reading a book. Park Shinui couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that uncomfortable feeling was. Just, a feeling that it shouldn’t have been that way. A sense that it still didn’t seem finished even though it was complete.
With no more story to continue, there was nothing Park Shinui could do. Even after reading to the end, an uncomfortable feeling remained in one corner of his heart. There was no way someone who had lived deeply immersed in the novel for a month could return to daily life as if nothing happened.
Dozing off at school increased noticeably, and since he couldn’t sleep deeply even when he slept, he was always struggling with fatigue.
The dreams after the novel was completed were merely reruns repeating scenes he had already seen. It was unavoidable in that there was no new content anymore, but that didn’t mean the dreams stopped either.
“Right. There was a side story.”
Park Shinui, still unable to escape from the story, recalled the side story the bookstore said they would send after a month. However, even after the promised time passed, there was no sign of the side story arriving.
“Surely it won’t really end like this.”
Resenting the bookstore whose contact information he had no way of knowing, Park Shinui left the empty mailbox behind and headed out. His body was walking through reality, but his mind was precarious, floating above water.
Then one day. Park Shinui, who had dozed off on the subway with a dazed mind and missed his stop, was urgently running through an alley, late for his tutoring session. As he turned the corner, a car charged at him from the front at a terrifying speed.
Screeeeech!
It was also then, amidst the sharp tire friction sound, that strange letters entered Park Shinui’s eyes.
《When That Day Comes Side Story》
Honk!
At the ear-splitting horn sound, Park Shinui instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
The intense headlight brightness swallowed his vision white. The sensation of his body floating up, followed by a dull impact. His consciousness became distant as if his soul was leaving his body.
“Park Shinui-ssi.”
When he opened his eyes again at an unfamiliar person’s voice, the world had already changed.
***
“Wait.”
In a state where he hadn’t fully woken up, Park Shinui recognized someone’s voice. He frowned and slowly lifted his eyelids, but all he could see were bed sheets.
‘…What?’
Strangely, his entire body couldn’t move easily, as if pressed down by something. Sleep paralysis? Park Shinui forcefully put strength into his arms to raise his upper body, then immediately collapsed forward helplessly.
“Ugh…!”
And someone who didn’t miss that moment grabbed his nape and roughly pressed him down to the floor. Then they mounted on top of his waist, pressing down with heavy weight and clicked their tongue in displeasure.
At the sudden suppression, Park Shinui couldn’t even properly resist and ended up with his face buried in the bed. Thanks to that, his sleepiness flew away as if cold water had been poured on him.
“Urk…”
Park Shinui struggled to escape from the pressure crushing him. However, he couldn’t move at all, unable to tell where and how the other person was pressing.
“What, who…”
Park Shinui blinked his flustered eyes rapidly and instinctively pounded the floor urgently.
The person mounted on his body groped Park Shinui’s body without hesitation. The touch that stripped off his outer garment and rolled up his shirt was rough and resolute. In that process, for some reason, a strange heat continuously spread over his skin.
“Ugh, what is… what the hell are you doing…!”
Park Shinui, unable to grasp the situation at all, became confused in his head. A thief? No, what would there be to take in his studio apartment? At most, the only thing of value was one used computer.
“Wait, just a moment…!”
Park Shinui bit his lip and gathered his wits. With the single-minded determination to somehow escape this situation, he tried to crawl forward. However, unable to advance even a finger joint, he had to helplessly drop his head again. It seemed his body wouldn’t move as he wanted.
Lying face down and trembling, Park Shinui desperately tried to sort through the tangled thread of thoughts.
What on earth was happening? The feeling of his body not moving as he wanted. The exact same sensation as when he touched Kang Taejun at the Pair Bonding Ceremony.
Park Shinui’s eyes slowly widened.
Park Shinui, who was urgently scanning his surroundings to grasp the situation, discovered curtains fluttering in the dim room beyond and a velvet carpet he would absolutely never lay down, and frowned.
Come to think of it, the bedding touching his cheek seemed particularly soft too…
‘What? Am I still in a dream?’
Why? The question crossed his mind, but that wasn’t what was important right now. If this place wasn’t his studio apartment but Kang Taejun’s house, that was also a problem. It would mean someone had infiltrated Kang Taejun’s house.
“Hey! Kang Taejun!”
Without even having time to think more deeply, Park Shinui shouted and struggled with his body. Even so, it was nothing more than a ‘wriggle,’ but for now, that was the only resistance he could manage.
However, even at such a shout, the weight pressing down on his body didn’t seem to have any intention of backing off. They still carelessly touched Park Shinui’s body and tried to strip off his clothes.
“There’s a thief!”
Park Shinui, who became urgent, shouted once more and twisted his body.
It was also at that moment that the movements that had been moving freely without paying attention suddenly stopped.
