Luckily, Changmin had a good impulse. His keen reflex kicked in as he jumped off the staircase the moment the palm strike almost hit him, barely dodging.
He was the best kumdo practitioner in high school. Even though he didn't train hard enough during his last year in high school, it seemed he still got it.
Changmin rolled on the ground before stopping in a kind of fighting stance. Changmin's figure was tall and fit, thanks to his tenacity in building his muscles. He worked out regularly two times a week despite being busy with his study. Not only working out, but he also went to the dojang to train kumdo–Korean martial arts derived from Japanese kendo, every Thursday and Friday
"It seems my years of training were not in vain at all," Changmin said proudly as he patted his dusty clothes.
Changmin regained his composure quickly. Even though he had convinced himself that this was just a dream, it was hard for him not to be intimidated by the gaze of those glowing amber eyes. He held his head up, looked hesitant as his gaze fell upon the monsters with bone-like arms.
"How odd! Who have thought that a dream could be so realistic to this degree?!" Changmin exclaimed wryly then took a deep breath while retreating slowly.
The monsters didn't look like fierce beings such as dragons as they moved organized. After missing an attack to flatten Changmin, the other monsters took a route and tried to gank on him from three sides.
Eventually, Changmin lowered his guard down, again, it was because he knew all of this was just a dream. Although his legs were shaking, and his heart was beating so fast, Changmin's mind was clear as a day.
He could feel that his right knee was sore after landing on the concrete floor. His mind was in chaos, but he looked relishing the moment. He just wanted to wake up as soon as possible.
'This is frustrating! I just wanna die then awoken up, but why is my heart skipping on beats so fast?!'
As the monsters got closer and closer, Changmin rubbed his painful right knee. His face was cold, but when he saw a trace of blood on his palm, he shivered. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth as he stopped his foot from taking another step back.
"It is not real, right? How come I bleed—wait a minute, did I just... system!"
As his mind was becoming filled with agitation, Changmin lost his clear thought and shouted the 'keyword' he had read several times from fantasy novels.
Rather than playing video games, Changmin had been occasionally read some fantasy novels and comics. It has this typical prompt where the MCs transmigrated to another world, then with the help of a certain overpowered system, the MCs would become the strongest eventually.
Although there was apparent fear on his face, Changmin smiled as no voice sounded in his head, indicating that it was just his desperate imagination to think that he had transferred to another world full of monsters.
At this time, Changmin's gaze became steady. He had convinced his mind and heart, the only way to resolve his bewilderment was through death. So Changmin closed his eyes and spread out his hands, waiting for his fate in this dream world to come to an end. Even though his vision was closed, he still had the hearing to interpret his surroundings as the pounding footsteps of the monsters disappeared.
''They are getting ready, so better am I.' Biting his lips, Changmin tightened his eye muscles.
On the contrary, the monsters were staring down at Changmin emotionless. And then the monsters raised their huge hands in unison. As their growling voices echoed through the sky, they dropped palm strikes simultaneously towards the poor human, Lee Changmin.
"FUCK–" Changmin's last words cut as he died in the dream.
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Changmin opened his eyes. He sighed as he saw the familiar plain white ceiling. He had lived in an apartment in winter, three months back, as he recalled.
But the room was quite dim, it startled him a bit. He had never turned the light off when going to sleep. Realizing something was not right, Changmin got up and sat down hastily. His vision swept the entire room and realized that he was in a completely different apartment.
"This is bullshit! I should be waking up on a bus, right? So where the hell is this? What the fuck is going on?! Am I still dreaming?!" Changmin roared his frustration.
"How...arghh."
But suddenly, Changmin grabbed his head while groaning in pain. Countless pieces of memory simultaneously flooded his mind like movie clips in the first person point of view. Changmin writhed as the throbbing pain ached in his temples. He rolled over and fell on the wooden floor.
Changmin gritted his tooth and clenched his fist while he was in a prone position. Knowing the pain was not fading away, Changmin started to teared up. His complexion face got pale as he mustered up his guts.
"Arghh!" Changmin roared as he banged his head to the wooden floor. As a result, his vision blurred out as he began to lose consciousness. Changmin did not realize that the floor was shattered because he activated his magical power subconsciously.
The morning arrived.
The rising sun radiated a rosy hue across the wild blue yonder. The sunlight shone softly, giving warmth to the cities of Arcadia Province, bringing with it a flurry of early morning activity.
The lively streets were started as people bustle in with their motorcycles and cars. Not only private vehicles, but public transportation was also filled with passengers going to work and college.
In a medium-sized apartment, there was a youth who barely woke up. His eyes were dry and a bit itchy as he rubbed them to give a little comfort. His line of sight was blurred at first but gradually sharpened. He saw an air conditioner with a red light on the right side indicating it was working.
"So this is not a dream but bitter reality. In the end, here I am lying on the floor of my apartment." Changmin sighed deeply, trying to accept his new fate as his new memory had answered all his thoughts.
Stretching his body, Changmin yawned leisurely. He rubbed his throbbing temple for a moment to make sure everything was good. Then he straighten his back and sat up, still not realizing that the wooden floor beneath him was shattered.
He held onto the edge of the bedroom and tried to get up. He felt a little dizzy for a moment, but it was slowly dissipated as walked while staggering towards the bathroom.
After opening the door, he found a handwashing basin with a mirror attached to the wall above it. Changmin stepped in and reached out his hands to the tip of the porcelain sink. He opened the water faucet and washed his face. The water was cold, but he felt refreshed and genuinely delighted as if it was recollecting his mind.
When he lifted his head, staring at the mirror, Changmin felt awkward. His face looked familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. Is it the side effect because he retrieved memory from his new body? It was the only possibility Changmin should believe in, though he didn't mind it.
Jake Windfield was the name of the youth in the mirror. He was an orphan at the age of four as he lost his father in a car accident.
Jake was 17 years old, younger than him from the Earth, even when he use his international age to compare. He had black hair just like him, but it was thin, messy, and slightly tangled. Jake rarely styled his hair, he usually had a retro medium crop which didn't need much handling. Changmin understood that it was not a typical hairstyle for a Korean guy like him, but he kinda liked it.
Was it because of how he looked like a man who came out straight from a fantasy movie? Moreover, he had beautiful blue eyes now. Changmin shrugged as he gathered water on his cupped hands then splashed it onto his face. Then he blew the running water droplets that trying to enter his mouth.
"Okay, we need to talk," said Changmin to himself in the mirror. He looked tranquil as he gazed steadily.
"I don't know why I was transmigrated, but the fact that your mind did not wander around, I assume that you're dead, sorry for that. I know you had lost your father when you were a child. So I hope you meet him up there...." Changmin paused as his lips began to stutter. Even his body belonged to Jake Windfield, but he felt tightness in his chest as if Jake's father was also his. The intimacy was unreal.
Changmin took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down. Then he continued, "as for your body–especially your life, I will take over from now on. There is no longer Lee Changmin, I am you, I am Jake Windfield!" Unfazed, he continued, "...And I swear, I will fulfill your ambition to uncover the truth behind your father's death!"
As Jake clenched the tip of the sink, he felt a magnificent power surging within his body. Just when he was about to loosen his grip, the porcelain tip of the sink snapped.
"What the hell!?"
Jake closed the faucet hurriedly as the water started to flow out through the broken porcelain tip. Looking at his palm, Jake pondered deeply. A glimmer of knowledge appeared in his mind, it made Jake realize what kind of world he was in.