1.61 The First World : Ryan and Jihun (Part 44)-Back to the Beginning-12

He knows he is dreaming right now. As someone who can manipulate nightmares to kill people, how can Jihun be incapable of differentiating between a dream and a reality?

Nonetheless, he should be the one who confines others inside the dreamland and not the one who gets otherwise.

Jihun stares blankly at his blurry, turbid surrounding. He cannot see the things in front of him clearly as this place is without light and as dark as the night sky. On top of the pitch-black darkness, there is dense mist everywhere, further obstructing his sight.

Regardless he is alone or accompanied by something else, he wouldn't know, but his sixth senses had perceived nothing. It is safe to assume that he is alone here.

The air is chilling to the bone. There is a significant drop in temperature, and more puff of white breath becomes discernable to the naked eye.

His hands feel cold, and his body freezes. The pale, white skin appears sickly and bluish under this sudden drop in temperature. He fastens his clothes, wrapping them tightly around his body to resist the piercing coldness.

It is baffling, but this dream appeared more vivid and realistic than the one he made. He couldn't help but question himself, whether he was dreaming or not at this moment.

The stillness makes one feel uncomfortable. It is too quiet that you can hear a pin drop.

Suddenly, from somewhere, he hears water dripping onto the floor.

Plip-plop-plip-plop.

At first, it sounded far away from him. But, little by little, the sound became clear and louder than before, as if it moved closer toward him.

Plip-plop.

The sound comes from behind him, and Jihun feels a cold and icy touch on his neck.

Jihun turns around as he is expecting something to come out. Much to his disappointment, what greeted him back was only emptiness.

"..." He feels like he is a protagonist in a horror story. He is not a scaredy-cat who gets jumpy for nothing. Still, for him to feel fear is inevitable.

As if playing with him, the same thing happened again, and when he went to check, there was still nothing behind him. This series of actions happened thrice, and as it repeated for the fourth time, he decisively ignored it. After that, no matter what he hears, he mutes it out.

Probably sensing that he had lost interest in playing along with it, the sound soon fades out, and the long silence comes again.

Jihun didn't want to wait for the dust to settle, thus deciding to venture.

+++

Jihun walks without knowing his direction or destination. Regrettably, he only stumbles upon the same scenery, the white space filled with dense mist as far as his eyes can see. His frown deepens when looking at his monotonous surrounding.

How long has he been walking? Has it been ten minutes? Or fifteen minutes?

The surrounding is so similar that he feels at a loss, unsure whether this is the same place or a different one.

The weary and impatient Jihun decides to sit somewhere and take a rest.

He is sitting cross-legged, chin propped with his palm, with his frowns deepened.

What he experienced at the moment somehow resembled the torture he put on his victims. Was it a coincidence?

Jihun's body shuddered as a gush of cold breeze billowed toward him. His eyes squinted, observing his surrounding in silence. His eyes vigilantly look here and there, yet he finds nothing behind him except the disturbing feeling of being watched by someone.

Jihun's back promptly straightened up, his back muscle turned rigid, and his shoulders became tense as he felt a gentle pat on his back.

Jihun slowly let out a single stream of his power to probe around while maintaining his vigilance. His consciousness floated around, covering the area as far as possible.

It's too bad that he finds out nothing.

His nerve becomes tense as time ticks away, and the sensation of being watched like a hawk gradually increases. The gazes focused on him as if trying to drill a hole out of his body. Not only that, he

Frankly, he feels that someone is standing so close to him, only he cannot see him. He dared not to blink his eyes, afraid that something would appear from nowhere and attack him.

Jihun gets attacked by another gush of wind, only this time, it is more stormy than in the beginning, almost toppling him backward.

From the corner of his eyes, a buzzing light appeared out of nowhere and illuminated the dimly lit space. The light is too bright, almost blinding his eyes.

Soon, the wind faded, and the bright light disappeared, returning the chaotic space to normal.

What was left behind was a towering gate, tightly locked with a latch and chain.

Jihun, who is fearless, boldly strode forward. The gate's outstanding appearance, filled with intricate words and patterns, had intrigued him.

Before he can touch the gate, though, the latch explodes and drop onto the ground. Not stopping at that, a loud rattling sound reverberates inside this space, and he sees the chain unfolding itself.

Then, with a loud creak, followed by cold wind incessantly gushing out from inside, the sturdy gate opens up without anyone's help as if welcoming him.

For a moment, Jihun is unsure whether to enter or not. He is not blind. He knows something is amiss but to stop here and do nothing is not something he will do.

Jihun stepped into the gate, no longer looking behind. His silhouette soon disappeared, and the gate closed with a loud bang.

***

Jihun looked around him. He stood in the middle of a four-way intersection, congested with vehicles and crowded with people.

Strangely enough, these people's faces were blurry and undistinguishable, as if covered by mosaics, and he was unfamiliar with the place.

One or two people accidentally bumped into him, who stood there like a statue. They said nothing, not even a sorry. Those people were rushing while the traffic light remained green.

Jihun frowned. Where is this? How can he appear in this place?

He heard a warning bell, indicating that the traffic light would soon change to red, urging the pedestrians to hurry.

His feet started moving but, of course, without direction.

He passed one building after another; his movement was unhindered since the human population became sparse as he left the busy road.

Then, he saw a familiar silhouette standing not too far from him.

His heart thumped wildly, and his dull eyes became bright.

Amidst the sea of people whose faces were blurry and undistinguishable, he could recognize that person at a glance.

Ryan!

Jihun suppressed his excitement and walked toward him. His movement changed from calm to panic, from jogging to running, trying to match the other party's smooth movement.

The distance between them gradually shortened.

He stretched his right arm and finally managed to grasp Ryan's hand.

Realizing that someone had caught him, the owner of that hand stopped walking. He turned around, and his silky black hair fluttered, exposing a patch of pale, white skin, inexplicably showing the bright red mole underneath the neck. His beautiful emerald eyes glimmered under the sun, scowling at him.

"Let go."

***

Ryan turned around, his smooth forehead marred with creases, and his eyebrows frowned, expressing his displeasure.

"Let go." His emerald eyes flashed a very dangerous glint, and tinges of golden flecks swirled inside those limpid eyes, slowly changing the emerald color to dark green.

Jihun stared dumbfoundedly at the familiar face. A hint of doubt flashed across his eyes.

It is the same face and the same voice. But why did Jihun still think that something was wrong with Ryan?

Jihun's nostril twitched as he smelled a zesty, peppery scent coming from Ryan, unlike his usual soothing fragrance.

What is this suffocating smell? It felt so repulsive.

"Didn't you hear me? I said to let go of my hand." Ryan tried to shake off Jihun's hand from his wrist, but the man refused to comply. He tightened his grip instead and dragged Ryan closer to him.

"Are you Ryan?" One of Jihun's hands cupped Ryan's face, turning the man's chin around as if appraising an object's authenticity. The excitement in his heart faded, replaced by disappointment. There's no joy in his eyes. "You're not him, aren't you?" His thumb slid underneath, subconsciously touching and rubbing the bright, pink mole.

Ryan's body shivered in response as callous fingers touched his mole. Even so, Ryan said nothing, giving him an innocent look enough to fool anyone else but not him.

Ryan let Jihun's fingers fiddle around his neck; his expression was calm and unchanging even though his body couldn't help shuddering each time those fingers brushed against his skin, especially his mole. Sparks seemed to course along his body every time the man touched that place.

Jihun knew Ryan like the back of his hand. Regardless of how good his acting is, he will always know when Ryan lies to him.

"You're not him." Jihun scowled. "Who are you?"