Angie entered the city, one that surpassed her knowledge and perception of a medieval-based society.
The streetlights illuminating various spots brightened the city even as dusk gradually descended, and the girl was greatly amazed to see the dimness of night giving way and lighting the city’s paths.
Meanwhile, the people walking through the city did so without any sign of haste. The numerous cars filling the roads were also thus a source of fear for her, something beyond her level of understanding.
Noisy students left their academies and headed home, while office workers who had left early wandered with a light boredom stiffening their expressions.
Amidst all this, Angie awkwardly made a face.
“I can’t understand a single word.”
As the girl stood there blankly trying to comprehend the words of the passersby, they would glance at her. Her striking golden eyes and sunset-red hair were extremely rare, if not nonexistent, in Korea.
Moreover, the armor she wore was quite impressive, causing people to comment as they passed.
“Is it a costume?”
“Must be some kind of event.”
Angie couldn’t understand even that and looked bewildered, furrowing her brows.
There was nothing she could understand, no readable letters. Not only was she illiterate, but the writing everywhere was in Korean, a language unfamiliar to her. It wasn’t even Imperial Tongue commonly used in Geladridion, so there was no way for her to guess by intuition. The girl wandered aimlessly among the bustling crowd before sitting down in a corner.
“I’m scared…”
Though her life wasn’t in danger, everything was incomprehensible. A creeping fear of the unknown swirled around her.
Her appearance drew attention—her sharp features resembled those of someone handsome, her vibrant hair and eye color catching the eye even in passing.
As more attention focused on her, eventually someone called the police. Not long after the report, a police car stopped, and two officers approached.
After Angie had been sitting dejectedly for some time, trying to make sense of the situation, the two officers spoke to her.
“Are you okay? You’ve been sitting here for quite a while. Did you lose your bag?”
The girl couldn’t understand the kind officer’s words and merely responded with a puzzled “Huh? What?”
The officers couldn’t understand her either. Unable to communicate, the male officer looked troubled, and the female officer standing beside him didn’t recognize the language Angie was speaking.
Finally, after much deliberation, the two officers relaxed slightly upon hearing Angie utter an ‘Ah’ and seeing her pull out a wallet.
Fortunately for the girl, the wallet contained not just a student ID but also a resident registration card. Upon seeing the address written on it, the officer guided Angie into the police car.
Even though they couldn’t communicate, the officers didn’t think she had handed over her wallet without reason.
Without resistance, Angie got into the police car and entrusted herself to it. The car, moving with slight vibrations, was a truly astonishing object to her.
The nighttime road, bathed in crimson hues from passing headlights, transformed into various colors every time the lights hit it.
As the painted road sped past Angie, she widened her eyes in amazement at the speed.
Clenching her hands neatly together, she rode the police car toward Aslan.
*
A short while later, the girl stopped with the two officers in front of a door marked with the incomprehensible number 605.
The doorbell rang, and the door opened.
In a language Angie couldn’t understand, the officers conversed with the boy on the other side of the door. After their exchange, the slightly ajar door finally opened wide.
The person revealed beyond the open door matched exactly the figure in the photo inside Angie’s wallet.
He appeared younger and softer, with black eyes—this was Aslan.
Seeing the girl’s face, Aslan’s eyes widened in surprise.
The wide eyes slowly closed. A faint, bitter smile grazed his lips, visible only to the girl standing before him, before his mouth finally opened.
“…So, this side was the dream, huh.”
It was a sentence only Angie could understand.
The imperial tongue Lee Hyun-woo had to learn and master to survive after falling into Geladridion.
Since the incomprehensible foreign language resembled what the girl had been speaking, the two officers exchanged standard pleasantries before leaving.
Once the officers had gone, Hyun-woo gave a wry smile.
“Come in.”
And he greeted her.
Only then did the girl confirm the boy in front of her was indeed Aslan.
With confirmation, the girl frozen with anxiety and fear of the unknown rushed forward and embraced him.
The steady heartbeat transmitted through his chest, the breath brushing lightly against her neck, accompanied sounds of sniffles and barely swallowed tears.
“Ugh, Angie?”
A mix of joy, unease, fear, and confusion reached Angie and permeated Hyun-woo’s mind. The emotions hit him sharply, causing him considerable disarray.
“What’s happening?”
As Hyun-woo thought, Angie answered.
“What about you? What happened? You’ve gotten so short… No muscles… How much have you suffered…?”
If his eyes had turned black, it must mean he endured unimaginable hardships. Angie’s thoughts echoed in Hyun-woo’s mind.
Thus, conversation became unnecessary. He frowned momentarily before lightly patting Angie’s back.
The woman’s body pressed against him was warm and soft, but this wasn’t the time for such impressions.
It didn’t take long for the real Angie to emerge. Hiding her slightly reddened eyes, she squinted and resumed her usual bravado.
Hyun-woo smiled softly at the girl and was about to speak, intending to tell her otherwise.
“What do you mean otherwise?”
His train of thought was interrupted because Angie understood first.
Hyun-woo pondered with a vague certainty.
Should he explain? Would it be alright? Could she even understand?
Even if she went berserk, could he handle it? These thoughts swirled in the girl’s mind too.
“Explain it to me. I’ll stay quiet.”
So the girl steeled her expression defiantly, placing her hands on her hips—a pose meant to convey harmlessness. Even this intention was transparent to Hyun-woo, yet he conflicted over this mental connection and its cause without fully comprehending it.
But the conflict didn’t last long. Since thoughts would be heard anyway, it rendered any meaning moot.
Lying would be pointless, and it was a grudge he had harbored for twelve years.
Content that couldn’t be shared with anyone, content that wouldn’t be understood even if spoken.
If he could articulate it with immense persuasive power, if he could unleash it…
It was rather an opportunity.
Hyun-woo closed his eyes briefly, smiled faintly, sighed, and pointed to the dining table.
“Go sit. I’ll bring you something to drink.”
Angie quietly sat down, and Hyun-woo opened the fridge habitually to fetch juice. He poured it into a glass and placed it in front of the girl as if it were routine.
Despite having grounds to suspect poison, the girl found the transparent glass intriguing and drank without hesitation. Drinking, she thought.
“It tastes good.”
Hyun-woo chuckled upon hearing the thought and waited until the girl put down her glass and was ready to listen.
When Angie set down her glass, Hyun-woo began.
“I’m not from Geladridion.”
“What’s Geladridion?”
At the sound of this question, Hyun-woo prepared to answer, and in both their minds, a map of Geladridion along with various histories flashed—an idle thought.
From amidst these, Hyun-woo retrieved a simple answer.
“The world where you lived, the one we were just in—it’s called Geladridion.”
“Okay.”
The girl sipped her juice, and Hyun-woo nodded in surprise at her calmness. She asked steadily.
“If you’re not from Geladridion, then what are you?”
“A person from here.”
More precisely, he added,
“The original world behind the dream you’re seeing right now.”
While the girl struggled to understand, she vaguely grasped the implications from Hyun-woo’s speculations flowing into her mind.
This world seemed like an illusion or a dream, or perhaps a fabricated reality.
Not fully comprehending the meaning, the girl still said, “I see.”
Accepting this, the boy continued.
“You probably noticed while coming here, but this world is different from Geladridion.”
Angie didn’t respond but recalled her impressions during the journey.
People were kind and followed their own order despite the language barrier.
Most importantly, they didn’t seem terrified or worried for their lives.
Unlike most people in Geladridion.
Everyone appeared busy with their own affairs and paths.
Seeing these impressions reflected in Angie’s mind, Hyun-woo nodded.
“Why do you think that is?”
“Uh… maybe because there are no monsters?”
“No. Even if there aren’t monsters, beasts as dangerous or humans worse than beasts exist in any world. It’s bound to be that way.”
The girl murmured, “Hmm,” and set down her empty glass. Hyun-woo looked at her and continued.
“It’s because of the deity.”
Hyun-woo added,
“Maybe you felt it while traveling with me—the greed and terrifying nature of the deity makes Geladridion a place hard to survive.”
“…Yeah, seems like it. So? Why are you telling me this?”
The innocent question indicated she didn’t fully grasp the meaning despite hearing Aslan’s thoughts.
Aslan paused to think before answering.
“On the contrary, this world isn’t like that, and that’s what I wanted to say.”
Hyun-woo showed his thin arms, unlike Aslan’s, which bore the muscular build from daily battles against monsters, humans, and priests for survival.
“A child can remain a child and doesn’t need to be a warrior. It’s a world where one doesn’t need to become malicious to survive. Though not absolute, generally, it’s a world where there’s no need to fight for survival. That’s why I’m like this.”
An unwarlike body. A body that didn’t need to fight. Such was Hyun-woo, who fell into Geladridion and fought to survive. Understanding this, Angie looked around.
“So, is this a dream?”
Aslan’s world. Difficult to believe, hard to understand, but the girl trusted Aslan. Based on this trust, she repeated the phrase she’d heard at the door.
Aslan clearly understood the meaning behind the question and bitterly smiled.
Behind that smile, Aslan’s fleeting wish swirled in the girl’s mind.
Hyun-woo wished that even if Angie’s existence itself was a dream, this moment could be reality.
Reading this conflicted, pure wish, Angie’s pupils trembled as she held her gaze.
Though hurt, the girl remained silent, closing her lips without saying anything.
“…Probably a dream.”
Hyun-woo answered after reading the entire process, lowering his eyes with an apologetic emotion.
“If not, Angie, there’s no way you’d be here.”
Angie quietly closed her lips and then spoke.
“So, what should we do?”
Hyun-woo raised his head, and the girl looked at him intently.
“I don’t know how this dream came to be or what this world is. But it doesn’t feel right to stay here.”
It was a statement based on a vague intuition. Angie continued.
“If I want to leave, what should I do?”
Truthfully, she didn’t want to go. But both Hyun-woo and she knew she had to. One can’t keep dreaming forever.
So, after a brief silence, he answered.
“I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“Do what I did before falling into Geladridion.”
“Huh, what will you do?”
Before answering the curious Angie, a gurgling sound echoed between them.
Hearing the sound, Angie blushed and scratched the back of her head.
“Damn, embarrassing.”
Hyun-woo chuckled lightly, picked up the wallet Angie had brought, and stood up. The familiar texture and shape of the wallet.
“Let’s go out and eat something, then think. I’ll explain then.”
The girl happily rose at the mention of food and followed Hyun-woo toward the entrance. Just as Aslan followed the girl toward the entrance,
“…Hyun-woo, where are you going?”
A man’s voice was heard.
It was a deep voice, somewhat similar to Aslan’s. Aslan stopped at the sound, inhaling deeply.
Hyun-woo found the voice disturbingly familiar because it sounded like his father, who had already passed away.
Hyun-woo managed to respond.
“I’m going out to have dinner with a friend.”
“Is that so? Do you need money? You should eat somewhere decent…”
“Ah…no, I’m fine. I’ll…be back.”
Hyun-woo clenched his lips tightly, squeezed his eyes shut, answered, and stepped outside.
Angie followed him outside and noticed Aslan closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Through their connected minds, Angie belatedly realized the truth.
The voice they had just heard belonged to Hyun-woo’s father.
A firefighter, a man who had already died.
Dead voices carry no sound.
Yet, they had unmistakably just heard the voice of the dead.
Realizing this vividly, Hyun-woo covered his face with his palm and groaned.
“Damn…”
Hyun-woo laughed bitterly, struggling to regain composure amid sorrow and terrible bewilderment.
Clearly, this dream was no ordinary dream.
