Lee Dohyun was a twenty one year old college student who had spent most of his time obsessing over fantasy worlds rather than living in his own.
It wasn't because his life was miserable nor was it because he was bullied or isolated or abandoned. In fact, if anyone asked, he would have admitted that he was lucky. His parents were supportive without being suffocating. His younger sister argued with him constantly but still sent him memes at midnight. He had friends he could call if he wanted to go out.
He just… didn't feel attached to reality as it felt too rigid and predictable.
There were no hidden ruins beneath the city or dungeons that appeared out of nowhere, no secret magic systems, no dragons sleeping under mountains.
Everyday followed the same quiet routine. Wake up. Brush his teeth. Go to class. Sit through lectures. Eat something cheap. Go home. Draw. Sleep.
Repeat the next day.
——-
That night, rain drops tapped against his apartment window while he hunched over his desk, shading a character concept. The character was from a long lived race who decided to spend his remaining time to explore a world he had shut himself away from
Dohyun paused, twirling his pen while thinking about where the character should head to next for her next adventure when suddenly, his stomach growled.
He glanced at the time.
11:37 PM.
He had run out of snacks, and if he was going to keep working, he needed something to eat.
He slipped on a hoodie, grabbed his wallet, an umbrella and headed out into the rain.
The streets were mostly empty at that hour with some cars passing by every few minutes.
He walked quickly, hands tucked into his sleeves, mind still half in the manhwa he was working on.
At an intersection, he stopped to wait for the light to turn green. While he stood there watching the signal, his mind drifted away from his novel to wondering what it would be like to wake up in another world.
As soon as the pedestrian lights turned green, Dohyun stepped off the curb his mind still elsewhere
When suddenly the sharp screech of tires tore through the rain
He turned his head only to see headlights rushing towards him, before his mind could process what had happened, the world around him went black.
——
When his consciousness returned, He wasn't greeted by pearly white gates nor was he greeted by flames like people had said. He did not see a god, there was no voice welcoming him.
There was only awareness.
If anything It felt like floating, but not in water. Like existing without weight or gravity. There was no ground to stand on nor was there a sky above him. He could not see anything but yet, he knew he was not blind.
He tried to move and realized he had no limbs.
Slowly his memories began flooding back
His apartment, the rain, the headlights and the impact
"I died..." Dohyun muttered to himself "Yet for some reason….. I don't feel anything"
After a moment he spoke again
"How long have I even been here?" He wondered "Days? Weeks? Months? Does time even exist in a place like this?"
Then something shifted.
It was like gravity suddenly returned.
He felt himself being drawn somewhere. Not upward, not downward, just elsewhere.
During this sensation flashes of images he didn't understand flooded his mind
The pressure was intense and soon after he felt a sensation like being forced through something too small.
Then—
Air tore into his lungs.
He gasped violently and jolted upright.
He blinked repeatedly, trying to force his vision to focus
Above him hung a canopy of dark blue fabric embroidered with gold thread. The bed beneath him was enormous, layered with silk sheets
His breathing was uneven, this was not his apartment or any place he was familiar with.
He sat still for several long seconds, waiting to wake up properly but he didn't.
His heart began to pound in his chest
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood but ended up staggering and crashing into a glass vase that fell and shattered.
His body felt balanced, healthy, strong but not entirely his.
Across the room stood a tall mirror bordered in gold.
He approached it slowly, his steps like a child learning how to walk
When he reached it, he stopped.
The reflection staring back at him was a complete stranger.
The face was sharper than his own had been, the jawline more defined, skin pale and unblemished. Crimson hair fell neatly around amber-colored eyes that seemed too vivid to be natural.
He raised a trembling hand, the stranger did the same.
He touched his cheek, the reflection matched him perfectly.
"What the hell," he whispered. "Who am I?"
The voice that came out was smooth and unfamiliar.
His breathing grew shallow.
He looked down at his hands again; longer fingers, faint calluses along the palm as if from sword practice. His pulse raced.
He grabbed his head in pain as the memories of the original owner came flooding back
He staggered backward slightly and caught himself against a desk. Papers lay scattered across its surface, stamped with a golden sun pierced by a blade.
His eyes narrowed towards the curtains and walked toward the window.
When he pulled the curtains aside, the breath left his lungs.
A sprawling capital city stretched beneath him. Stone towers rose proudly above clustered rooftops. Banners bearing the golden sun emblem fluttered in the wind. Far beyond the city walls, forests rolled toward distant mountains.
There were no skyscrapers. No traffic signals. Not a single trace of Modern life.
Slowly the realization hit him, this was not a dream stitched together from his obsession with the fantasy world.
His hands gripped the window frame tightly.
He had died and had somehow been transported here, his chest tightened even further as a new realization struck him.
If he was here, then Lee Dohyun was gone.
His family would mourn someone who would never return.
The weight of that truth settled heavily inside him causing him to slide against the wall and collapse to the ground.
He did not feel happy nor did he feel chosen, if anything he felt displaced.
When suddenly, someone knocked on his door three times.
He flinched instinctively.
A composed and respectful feminine voice spoke from the other side.
"Lord Caelus, is everything ok?"