"Young master, where are you? It's already past 9 p.m." came an older woman's voice from the other side of the phone, calm but laced with concern.
"I'm on my way, Miss Cha. Don't worry, I'll be home in ten minutes. Bye," Jinhwan replied, then ended the call.
He kept one hand on the steering wheel, eyes focused on the road ahead. Streetlights cast a golden wash over the asphalt, and the city slipped past his windows, quiet buildings, blinking signals, the occasional flicker of a neon sign. The roads were mostly empty, with only a few cars sharing the lane this late.
Crack!!
A jagged tear split the air just ahead of him. The space itself shimmered and twisted, and in a flash, a glowing blue gate ripped open in the middle of the road, just meters away.
Jinhwan's eyes widened.
"Fuck!"
He slammed the brakes, tires screeching as the car jolted forward, but it was too close, too sudden. The gate pulsed, pulling inward like a living vortex.
He tried to steer away, but the pull of the gate was stronger than the wheels beneath him. In a flash of blue light, the front of the car was swallowed whole, and before he could react, the rest of it followed.
Silence.
The street was empty once more, as if nothing had happened.
Jinhwan was gone.
"Ashhh.. what the hell was that?"
Jinhwan's eyes shot open. His face was pressed against the airbag, the harsh chemical smell lingering in his nose. The impact had been sudden, violent. His head throbbed, spinning like the world itself had tilted.
Groaning, he moved his right hand and fumbled for the door handle. It creaked open slowly. He stepped out of the car, one hand on his forehead, massaging the pain as if that might ease the pressure behind his eyes.
His gaze swept the surroundings and froze.
All around him stretched dead land. The trees were brittle husks, stripped of their leaves, branches broken like shattered bones. The river nearby was dry, its cracked bed bleeding into the earth. The sky hung heavy with a crimson haze, thick and unnatural, casting a world without sunlight.
Only a few trees still stood, barely clinging to shape. The rest had long since fallen. This.. this used to be a forest. You could feel it, sense its history in the bones of the land. But now, it was just a graveyard of what once was.
Jinhwan's expression shifted. His brows furrowed, eyes narrowing with a creeping realisation.
He spun around, looking behind him, searching. But there was nothing. Just more of the same lifeless expanse.
That gate he came through. Gone. Vanished, as if it had never existed.
"No, no, no... fuck!"
He slammed his right hand on the car's rooftop, the metal groaning under the force.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a floating window shimmered into existence in front of him, like a 3D projection hanging midair. It was black with elegant golden borderlines, pulsing softly, almost like it was alive.
Golden letters began to etch themselves across the screen:
[Quest: Save the Princess]
[Reward: Whisperpouch – An item with infinite space. You can place anything inside it. It never fills.]
[Episode 23 End]