CH 1: Waking Up in a Reality You Aren't Familiar with is Terrifying

Sung Jinwoo didn't know how or why he was here. His memory of how this happened is hazy and blurry. After staying still and immersing himself in the numbness of pain, Sung Jinwoo managed to gather his thoughts a little better, as his joints had a loud ringing of sickening cracks and the feeling of his spine re-twisting itself in a slithery wave of robustness, made him feel alive again. However, as soon as he stood up, just as quickly as it came, the previous feeling of revitalization disappeared, and he felt another agonizing headache that threatened to tear his mind apart.

He had memories of a boy that had the same name as him, and he looked and acted like his past self. His family members were the same as his, in terms of persona, looks, and way of speaking. Even the man of the house, this body's father looked exactly and talked like his father. He would've believed this was him in the past, but there was a terrifying difference between his past and this boy's past.

Seoul was the Seoul he knew, yet it wasn't at the same time. It wasn't his Seoul. There were no hunters, there were no gates, and there were no strange skills or abilities. This was Seoul before those horrific monsters invaded humanity's home. Earth.

Jinwoo's breath hitched. He felt like his world has crashed and burned. Is Jinah still the same? Is Jinho alive? His Jinho, not this guy's Jinho? What about his mom? Not this guy's mother but Hunter Sung Jinwoo's mother? Is she okay? Did the disease of Eternal Sleep revert? So many thoughts swirled in his mind in a large torrent of memories and dilemmas. Even though the situation turned out this way, he still wanted to believe this was all just a dream.

A bad, bad, dream that he wishes to wake up from and never dream of it again. He stood up as he instinctively sharpened his senses, and the all too mundane aroma of sweat and maple caramels that belonged to his teenage, E-Rank self's bedroom. The actuality of this place being real and not a dream, struck him hard. It was not the room, he came to be used to waking up in. The tangent smell of smoke and ash, along with the sweet scent of wine, grapes, and the frequent screams of souls that were burned and tortured in the essence of the inferno.

He wanted to laugh so badly. Like a cruel illusionist that bends reality to its will to trick its assembly of spectators to believe its false magic. When the fun and games end, the magician's once joyous crowd of admirers find out it's fake. He disappears into the setting sun, never to come to light again. It was the same with Jinwoo's cutthroat reality as his fate was being played around like a fiddle in the palms of a puppeteer that treats his life like it's their entertainment and he's nothing more than a marionette to fulfill their boredom.

If Hunters didn't exist, then his soldiers naturally don't either, and -. He had a sudden memory of a man, that collided and invaded his line of sanity. A man he grew to love and suffer with, as they lived and ruled the Dead together in the eternal abyssal darkness of hellfire, destruction, and melancholy sweetness. The man who he came to know as Kim Dokja.

His reader, Hyung, and his King were not found in the boy's memories. This led to another arsenal and loopholes of Jinwoo's utter despair. His lover…did not exist in this dimension he found himself thrust in.

No...

No.

NO!

He curled himself into a ball inside his soft and warm blanket that enclosed him as he wallowed in his grief. How? How could he ever live with the fact that the love of his life is in a faraway reality that isn't his? He couldn't handle it. He absolutely couldn't as the black-haired man, with starlight midnight eyes, has already etched itself into his mind.

His sly smiles, his silky voice, his pretty lips, his sassy comebacks, his undying loyalty to the people he loves, and lastly, the special nights where they could be together and be in each others' embrace without a care in the world.

How could he forget about that? How could he just move on from their relationship that lasted for millenniums? From the day they first met in the Dungeon, where Kim Dokja first nervously introduced himself as his aid, to the day where he traumatizes him with his 'death' in the Cartenon temple. The days and times where both were rejoiced as the heroes of Japan and nationally known to be the strongest duo S-Ranks. To the confession and sensual first kiss, then to their parting and Jinwoo's first, official experience with death and regression.

Then their reunion and his first meeting with the companions Kim Dokja talks with compassion and lovingness. As well as the inevitable rivalry between him and Kim Dokja's life and death companion, Yoo Joonghyuk. Jinwoo's tiring journey of seeking the approval of his companions and the many constellations that his reader considers as friends, allies, and family.

Till the shocking discovery of the both of them being partners for eternity in hell, because Jinwoo's predecessor, Ashborn is good friends with Dokja's adoptive father Hades. Their dating life grew from there and as another year passed they got married. Their partnership with one another solidifies it more. Even after the many years, where Jinwoo embarked on a journey to save otherworldliness and find lost souls to make them part of his shadow army, their bond never snapped. It only made it stronger, both emotionally and physically.

How…just how could he put the journey and suffering they had together in the past?

He asked himself this as the night sky turned to another, bright, shimmering sun of ever blinding happiness. When he woke up with swollen and red, puffy eyes, he had the conviction to confront this family of his. Although he was terrified of meeting the doppelganger selves of his family, he saw the positiveness of it. No wars. No sufferings. Just peace.

He smiled at that.

Besides, he's faced and fought worse than this, and perhaps. Perhaps, this life could be the tranquility and quietness, he battled and put his life on the line for and...maybe. Just maybe they could meet again.

'Hyung…I hope to meet you again. One day. I don't care how long it takes, but please. Let me see you once more, and hold you in my arms again.' He thought before pushing himself off the bed.