Realization

Their faces were too close.

Oh, he shouldn't think about that.

But her face was damn too close.

And if Heon wasn't afraid of the pointy-tipped knife currently only a hairbreadth away from the delicate skin of his neck, then he was sure as hell would slam his head on one of the earth pillars. Or, well, he could also try to kiss her.

'Focus, idiot!'

Surely, his teenage hormone couldn't pick a better time to announce itself. It was also not the best place to think about girls at all. For God's sake, he was stranded in another realm and was a captive held by a girl.

A beautiful one, at that.

"Hey!" The girl pushed the tip of her small knife further.

The cold startled him more, snapping him back to reality. Well, as close to reality as everything that happened to him since the train anyway.

"Speak now or I'll cut your vocal cord entirely."

He squeaked. Very unmanly. Embarrassing him further than it already was. "I don't know anything about Sunny."

"Yet, he healed you," she argued, eyes green eyes narrowed under her relatively long green bangs.

"He healed the villager's sickness too," he shot back, hoping she would see to reason.

"They didn't suffer a gaping hole from a spear through their chest. You were on the brink of death, yet he healed you," the girl said through clenched teeth.

If Heon didn't know any better, he'd say that she was afraid of driving her small knife to his neck. After all, she had thrown a spear – as she said before- through his chest. "Maybe you should ask him yourself."

That got her to pause. Heon knew she was contemplating things. She'd probably let him go if he could make it clear that he had nothing to do with Sunny. But where?

As far as he knew – and he didn't know much at the moment – this realm was nothing like his world.

Here, a manic boy like Sunny, who played with knives and healed people in seconds, roamed around freely. This girl in front of him, too, was dangerous with her spear. Who knows what else she could do with the magic that summons four earth pillars?

"Look, I just arrived here. I don't even know who Sunny actually is, let alone tell you all about him. I only met him once before he brought me to stay in his house," he told her the truth, not willing to gamble on his life again when he barely got a second chance to live. Again.

"Liar," she grounded out, finally drawing blood from his neck.

Heon wasn't sure if driving a knife to someone's neck was a favorite thing people in this world do. It certainly happened a lot here. First with Sunny, and now with this girl. Or, perhaps he was meeting with the wrong people since getting himself transported into this realm.

"How many times should I tell you? I just got here. I'm not of this world. If you must know, I didn't even know that magic existed before meeting Sunny. Just let me go. I have nothing to do with your manhunt."

The girl looked him up and down, repeated twice for good measure. Finally, she withdrew her knife but didn't put it away in her pocket. Wherever that was. "What's your name?"

"Heon Lightwalker," he would offer his hand if these four earth pillars didn't imprison him. "What's yours?"

"I'm the one asking. Not you."

Ah. So much for trying to be excellent.

"Where did you come from?"

"Sapporo."

"Where?"

He was about to explain that Sapporo was a city located in Hokkaido, Japan, and yes, he was a foreigner there too. But then. Idiot.

Of course, she didn't know.

That was the real world, while this was a dream come true. Precisely a dream of every fantasy novel and comic – and animation series – fan had. Something happened to him. Something that only the main character in those fantasy artworks experience.

Sunny's words rang in his head.

He was very much like the main character, destined to save the world from evil.

'It's not the time, Heon,' he scolded himself. "I don't care if you want to believe me or not, but I was transported here against my will, well, both exactly, but you get the picture."

She didn't look like she understood.

"Anyway. As I said, someone transported me here with his magic. I woke up in the forest and then met Sunny. And then, here we are."

"You think I'll believe that?"

"Sunny did."

"Sunny Graver is a nutjob. Don't put me on the same pedestal as that wanker. If you genuinely didn't know who he is, I suggest you stay away from him."

Heon gave her a hopeful look. "So, you'd let me go?"

"You wish."

"But why? I said I don't know anything about him." Except that Sunny was a manic boy who had no qualms about attacking someone but healed them a second later. Heon chose not to say that to the girl keeping him hostage.

"Somehow, he cares about you."

"So I'm a bait?" Heon guessed, not liking even the thought of it.

The green-haired girl smiled and tapped the earth pillar with her small knife. "Be a good boy and stay here, okay?"

As she stood up to her full height, he hastily asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going–"

"Nowhere."

Both Heon and the green-haired girl gasped at the new voice. In a blink, Sunny appeared near the closed door. He had shed his mask, showing his handsome face in a scowl. With his fiery red hair, those dark eyes looked even more menacing.

"You're going nowhere," and a smirk bloomed on his face, "Other than hell, that is."

The girl quickly took a stance, widening her feet and lowering her body. She brought her hands in front of her. The right one held a small knife, while the other was kept close to her. Heon couldn't see it, as he was still imprisoned by the four earth pillars behind her, but he knew she was preparing for a fight.

Without any more word exchange between them, Sunny brandished his own short sword and lurched towards the girl. A manic glee on his face.

Seeing that, Heon couldn't do anything other than scream hoarsely. "Please stop fighting!"

But they didn't hear him. No surprise there.

Instead, the clangs and clashes of the two sharp weapons were heard across the room. Heon didn't like it. Why did they want to fight so much?

Frustrated, Heon brought his hands to the earth pillars, trying to claw himself free. Which was useless. His short nail was no match to the hardened earth the green-haired girl summoned. He was just sitting there like a princess waiting for the knight in his shining armor to fight to save him from the dragon's clutch.

Then, much to his horror, Sunny's manic face appeared in his peripheral vision. However, not a second later, a slab of rock emerged from the floor, hitting him right on his stomach. He was thrown back to the door like a doll, destroying the wood in the process, and landed on his butt on the other side of the room.

The girl stood victorious, both hands held out in front of her.

Thunderous footsteps were heard.

"What happened here?!" Someone yelled.

"Oops?" The girl grimaced at the destruction around the room.