"You son of a bitch!"
*Cheek slap*
He had just stepped out from the portal gate when his cheek got slapped hard in a flash moment. Val was still gathering his senses about what was going on there when Luna was snatched from his arm.
"Mmmh—!" cried Luna when she was being pulled from Val.
"Val, you need to explain this," ordered Lucien with a stern and demanding look.
"Explain what?" sneered Val with a peeved expression. He tried to ignore the throbbing pain on his cheek before continuing, "Explain about this broken thing behind me suddenly getting activated and throwing us into another realm? Is that what you want me to explain, oldest brother?"
"You liar. There is no chance our house portal gate is broken." Isabella popped out from behind Lucien while giving an arrogant expression. She must be above the clouds for thinking that she ensnared him.
"You even brought my little baby with you! You … what a wicked influence you are! I can't believe it!" Lysandra, Luna's mother also Freud's fourth wife, wailed and hugged Luna as if she were the biggest victim here. "You're lucky your Father wasn't here because he had things to do in the main capital, but I still want to get you punished!"
"Punish me then. What stopping you?" provoked Val with a dim malicious grin and walked ahead toward Lysandra who was get intimidated and reflex stepped backward.
"Y-You…!"
"What? Feel scared of me now?"
"Val… enough." A stretched-out arm blocked him from taking another step and made Val turn to look at the man. "You do realize doing all of this only makes your reputation go bad, don't you?"
Lucien cast a threatening glance at Val as if telling him that doing a foolish thing might lead to his own demise.
"I will deal with you later after Father has come back from the capital. Until then, you're under strict orders not to go anywhere or your punishment will be more severe."
Thwack!
"Don't touch me," daunted Val while throwing an intimidating look toward Lucien and all people there who disparaged him so much and tried to place Val as the villain here. He walked out from the underground basement and headed straight toward his room.
'Screw them all. All I need is just sleep and sleep.'
Val entered his room, he jumping straight onto his bed and letting out an exaggerated breath.
"Haaaah—at least I'm free now! Woohoo!" shouted him to the empty ceiling and made his voice echo there. Val rolled to the side back and forth, celebrating his successful attempt to survive the original Val's fate.
However, the euphoria lasted for less than a minute before his face returned to its normal state. Now, Val was staring blankly at the ceilings.
"Now… what?"
At first, Val thought that he needed to survive and avoid the novel plot whatever it took.
He achieved what he wanted—avoiding Val's original fate who died at the hands of the novel main protagonist. However, Val was not that happy even though he knew he was completely free now.
"That's no good." He touched his chest and felt empty there. It might be because the real Val's life vanished when he met Ryland, and now it just his body and Kang Hyunwoo's soul who was not fully immersed in Val's body. "I need to find a new purpose for this life, to fill the emptiness inside me."
---
Drip.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"Mmh," mumbled Val, feeling disturbed and somehow cold.
Drip.
Drip. Drip.
The sound of water dripping in the kitchen sink woke him up in a confused state. The scene around him was familiar.
"What… what is this?"
It was his apartment. Val—no, Kang Hyunwoo was back in his old and cold apartment. Did it mean that Val's role had ended, and Hyunwoo was sent back because his role had been fulfilled?
Or… was all of that just inside his head?
Still in his puzzled expression, Hyunwoo looked at the clock on his apartment wall; the needle was pointing at 1 am, which meant Hyunwoo fell asleep after his long day of work.
Unhindered, he unlocked his phone in a swift gesture and opened the novel "A Divine Tale of A Hero." He scrolled through until he arrived at the last chapter… still no update. Their fans also wrote so many hate comments about how the author had the heart to abandon this masterpiece.
Hyunwoo closed the novel and sighed as realization hit his head.
"That was just my dream…"
Hyunwoo murmured again in a weak voice, "I haven't even said goodbye to Luna; she was the only one I trusted in that house—slap!" He slapped his own cheek, leaving a red mark.
"What are you talking about now, Hyunwoo? It was just your dream! None of them is true!"
"Yes, none of them is true!"
"What the—" Hyunwoo jumped to the side with a freaked-out face when a strange voice answered from nowhere. He was living alone.
Alone.
And all his neighbors were old people or families; obviously, that would not match with the high-pitched voice he heard just now.
Besides, it was a female voice.
"Who—who are you?" He picked up anything beside him, a television remote, and pointed it to the empty air while surveying all the corners, just in case he had an intruder. "I… I have a weapon! If you do not come out on three counts, I will attack you!"
…
There was no answer.
Hyunwoo gulped his saliva hard and walked forward. He needed to check all the rooms. What was this? He just came back from a nightmare, and now he was facing a real nightmare?
"Hmm… that's no good… I don't want you to be here. You need to come back." The strange voice now whispered right on Hyunwoo's back neck, making that man shiver from the tickling sensation as well as the fear.
"Who are you?" asked Hyunwoo once again.
"Find me, and you shall know the answer."
"What?" He raised an eyebrow out of confusion. "What are you talking about? And how the hell can I find you?"
"You will find the way. I will be waiting for you."
"But—"
"Now, go back to your real world."
"Wait!"
Shiiiiiing—!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh—!"
Just when Hyunwoo wanted to protest, a blinding light came upon him and made the man close his eyes to protect them. However, after that, he was sucked into an endless hole and fell to the bottom pit.