"This must be some kind of joke, right?"
The young man couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Everywhere he looked, he encountered things that defied all logic: absurdly tall buildings, floating traffic lights at intersections, advertising screens scrolling through the air, and cars without wheels seemingly propelled by electromagnetic force.
"What is this place?" It was the only question he could think of. He tried to recall what had happened before he fell unconscious, but all he could remember was being hired for his dream job. Now, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.
"Sir!" he called out to a kind-faced elderly man walking past him.
The old man, dressed conservatively in gold-rimmed glasses, a green sweater, and cloth pants, looked at him with a mix of curiosity and discomfort.
"Can you tell me where we are?" he asked.
The old man recoiled from the pungent smell of Ji-Won Kim's clothes and pushed him away with an expression of disgust.
"Iugh, don’t come near me, you beggar," the old man said contemptuously, continuing his walk with a look of distaste.
"What, hey! What’s your problem?!" Ji-Won Kim shouted, angered by the old man’s rude response. He followed him, trying to demand an explanation.
"I don’t have any money, leave me alone!" the old man yelled, assuming the white-haired man was about to attack him.
The passersby reacted with a mix of alarm and judgment. Some hurried away to avoid trouble, while others stood by, unleashing their own prejudices.
"Hey, leave poor grandpa alone!"
"Get out of here, you junkie!"
"How pitiful."
"Don’t look at that man, Shelly, keep walking."
These were just some of the comments Ji-Won Kim heard around him, forcing him to stop and try to explain his situation.
"No one is going to mug him!" he protested, addressing the bystanders who had already judged him based on his shabby, smelly clothes.
"I just want to know what city I’m in..." he said, his frustration mounting as he realized that instead of receiving help, he was being met with suspicion and blame.
image [https://i.imgur.com/299rkcE.jpeg]
"Etheria."
A soft voice echoed beside him, immediately catching his attention.
When he turned to see who it was, he found a young woman, about 19, with green eyes and light brown hair. She wore a white hoodie, a skirt with striped high stockings, and white sneakers.
"Huh?" he mumbled, struggling to understand her.
"This city. This metropolis is called Etheria," she clarified with a neutral expression, as if still uncertain about his intentions despite answering his question.
He had never heard of such a city in any encyclopedia, world map, or geography class.
"On what continent?" he asked, hoping for a clue to place himself in the world.
"Anávasis," she replied, her tone implying that this should have been obvious.
Ji-Won Kim felt even more confused. Not recognizing every city was one thing, but not knowing the names of continents was another.
At that moment, he considered two possibilities: either he was dreaming or the woman in front of him was playing a cruel joke.
"Haha, yeah right, the metropolis of Etheria in Anávasis. How could I forget, right next to Mickey Mouse's house and the Digital World?" he scoffed, disbelief clear in his voice.
"No need to joke with me. I've had a terrible day already, believe me." He forced a smile, irritation, and frustration evident.
"It’s no joke. Are you on drugs?" the young woman asked, her expression a mix of confusion and concern.
Before Ji-Won Kim could respond, a shout drew everyone's attention.
"Officer, it's him! He’s the exhibitionist!"
The same woman who had seen him naked minutes before was now standing in the street with a police officer. His uniform resembled that of Korean officers but was colored white and emerald green.
Ji-Won Kim felt a glimmer of hope seeing the uniformed man approach. Surely, a law enforcement officer would understand his situation, help him navigate this ordeal, and assist him in reaching his embassy or wherever he needed to go.
"Don’t move! You’re under preventive arrest according to Etheria’s Public Safety Statute!" the officer shouted as he closed in on Ji-Won.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Wait, what?" Hearing those words made Ji-Won realize that the young woman’s claim might be true.
"Officer, it’s a misunderstanding! I’m not an exhibitionist. I was mugged and lost my clothes," Ji-Won pleaded, hoping to clarify before the officer reached him and grabbed his left arm firmly.
"Yeah, right. You’d better be quiet, filthy denizen from the other side," the officer said sternly.
At that moment, Ji-Won noticed that the only person who seemed sympathetic was the brown-haired girl.
"Wait, maybe what he’s saying is true. At least try to listen to him!" she urged, still irritated by the earlier rudeness but unhappy with the officer’s treatment.
"Haha, listen to someone like him? Good joke. This pervert is going straight to jail," the officer responded with a chuckle.
Ji-Won Kim’s panic surged. The prospect of going to jail was terrifying, and it seemed that newcomers to Etheria were not welcomed warmly.
"Wait! I didn’t do anything wrong!" Ji-Won protested, trying to make himself heard, but the police officer had no qualms about delivering a blunt punch to his stomach to silence him.
"Hey! What are you doing?" the girl shouted.
Ji-Won’s body recoiled from the impact. The blow had been severe, but strangely, he felt only a slight pressure and no real pain.
"No criminal ever thinks they’ve done anything wrong. It’s always the same story," the officer said to the girl with a smirk, clearly enjoying the situation. "Miss, don’t waste your time on someone from the other side."
"What a relief... ever since I saw him, I felt scared."
"How did someone from the other side end up here?"
"Just put him in jail so he can stop tainting the center with his presence."
These were just some of the murmurs in the background.
At that moment, Ji-Won realized that if he didn’t find a way to escape, he would end up locked in a cell for the rest of his life.
Driven by fear and desperation, Ji-Won Kim jerked his arm sharply, causing the officer to release him. Instantly, everyone watched as Ji-Won Kim’s forceful movement sent the officer flying a few feet backward.
"He attacked a police officer!"
Onlookers reacted with shouts and amazement.
“What the hell?” Both Ji-Won Kim and the brown-haired girl exclaimed when they saw his strength. They exchanged a glance, and Ji-Won immediately started running to escape.
“Don’t let him get away! Catch him!” shouted the police officer, who had barely recovered from the fall. Despite his urgent command, none of the citizens dared to block the fugitive’s path.
“What was that? Did I really push that man?” he wondered as he sprinted. His footsteps pounded the pavement like a hammer, and his stride was that of a professional sprinter. “Was I always this fast?”
The answer was no.
But now he was moving at speeds rivaling Olympic athletes, and he didn’t feel tired despite crossing several crosswalks.
This was an unfamiliar city to him, but somehow he managed to understand the letters of each advertisement.
"Shit, I don't even know where I'm going..." He thought, realizing that he was in a commercial area, maybe the center of the city, since it was very busy.
Suddenly, police sirens blared behind him.
The officer who had attacked him was now in a hovercar matching the colors of his uniform. “Stop, you criminal, or I’ll shoot!” he shouted through a megaphone.
Instinctive fear gripped him. Imagining being shot, he desperately scanned for an escape route and spotted an alley. Without hesitation, he darted into it, hoping to evade the police car.
“Damn it! Call all units! We’ve got a fugitive on the loose! He’s from the other side!” The officer’s voice was frustrated and angry, his hand still shaking from the exertion.
“Negative. Most units are stationed in the outer areas to protect the farms, while Adan Dray is tasked with defeating the B-Synchro,” a robotic voice responded, provoking the officer to slam his hand against the dashboard in frustration.
----------------------------------------
Several hundred miles from the city center, a strikingly handsome blond man in an elegant white suit and a black trench coat stood atop a massive 120-foot concrete wall reinforced with steel plates. Behind him, a picturesque rural landscape of vast farmlands stretched out into the distance.
Before him lay a surreal landscape: an imposing jungle filled with exotic trees and strange shapes, their glowing lights hinting at unseen creatures lurking in the darkness, creating an eerie atmosphere.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble, signaling the arrival of something immense.
“How long until it gets here?” he asked, though there was no one around to answer.
⌠Initiating Combat Support...
----------------------------------------
Calculating...
----------------------------------------
The Minotaur-level B Synchro is approaching at high speed through the underground.
----------------------------------------
Estimated arrival in 10 seconds...
----------------------------------------
Countdown initiated... 10... 9... 8...⌡
A translucent, emerald-green notification screen appeared in front of him, displaying a perfectly legible response in white text.
“I’d better get ready, then,” he said with a smile, shrugging off his trench coat and jacket and letting them fall to the ground.
⌠3...2...1...⌡
As the countdown on the screen reached zero, the ground erupted, releasing a colossal creature resembling a 98-foot red crocodile.
The beast immediately lunged at the wall, poised to tear it apart with its powerful claws, which were coated in a sharp, glowing green mineral covering its entire body.
As the creature descended slowly upon him, the man remained unfazed, a confident smile on his lips as his deep red eyes locked onto the colossus.
“How small you are...”
he muttered just before a blinding flash of light erupted, dazzling any creature that witnessed it.
----------------------------------------
Back to the chase...
At high speed, Ji-Won Kim darted through the alley and emerged onto another street.
He didn’t hear any sirens, but saw two officers in the distance who, upon spotting him, quickly drew strange weapons that fired electric spheres.
The sounds of gunfire triggered panic among bystanders, who screamed as they scattered. Fortunately, none of the shots hit Ji-Won.
"Crazy bastards..." he muttered as he crossed the street into another alley, hoping to escape the bustling center.
He figured he might be able to evade the police if he could distance himself from the crowded area and reduce the attention he was drawing.
Ji-Won sprinted away from the officers for almost 30 minutes, navigating intersections, streets, and even dodging cars by running red lights.
Panting heavily, he was relieved when he could no longer hear his pursuers.
He had now reached what appeared to be a slum, with modest apartment buildings and occasional passersby who looked somewhat like him.
"This must be the other side," he thought, finally allowing himself to stop running and lean against the wall of an alley.
"What the hell was that? I attacked that cop and now I can run a marathon without breaking a sweat..." he wondered, dropping to the ground to catch his breath, still bewildered by the events of the past few hours.
Fear enveloped him. This was the first time he had been shot at, and he was still unsure of where he was.
No, he did know, thanks to the brown-haired girl and the police officer. But...
"How... How did I get here?" he whispered, staring at the ground.
Overwhelmed by questions, panic, and exhaustion, he almost cried, but the tears stayed in as the loud rumble of thunder signaled the start of a light rain.
"Just what I need right now!" he snorted in frustration and pulled up the hood of his hoodie to shield himself from the rain.
As the rain fell, a puddle formed in front of him. In its mirror-like surface, a strange silhouette began to emerge, a young man with white hair, honey-colored eyes, and Western features.
"Wait..."
He approached the puddle, rubbed his eyes to clear the reflection, and realized it was his own face staring back at him.
"What the fuck... Who is that? Is that me?" he gasped, unable to believe his eyes. He made various facial expressions to confirm the truth.
His face and his entire body was different from the day before.
Since waking up in the alley, he had sensed something was off, but he never expected anything like this.
Ji-Won Kim was now in a body with a completely new face and different capabilities.
"What's going on?" he asked in surprise, recalling the sticker he had found on his arm when he woke up.
"Nova..."
That was likely the name of this body, but what had happened to him? Was he really in a world with different continents and cities? Even though the technology and clothing were similar, everything felt fundamentally different.
"What happened to me?" he wondered, trying to grasp the magnitude of his situation.
Then he remembered something crucial: the moment when a blinding light had clouded his vision, and he had woken up naked in the alley.
"I see..." He smiled wryly. "My life was finally starting to go well, and it ended like this..." A small laugh escaped him, feeling like the cruel joke of a capricious god.
"Alone, in an unknown world..."
An icy sensation gripped his chest, not from the rain, but from the new emotion he was experiencing. A sharp pain seared through his heart, making him realize he would never see the people from his past life again.
He felt like a coward, afraid of losing everything, just like those who never dared to take risks.
"In the end, I'm just a coward... Even now, I regret leaving that restaurant."
Sitting in the alley, he felt the cold, loneliness, fear, and pain.
He finally broke down in tears, sobbing for a few minutes before exhaustion overcame him and he drifted into a restless sleep.
At that moment, a dark silhouette approached through the rain.