1 Am I Dreaming?

The night sky was full of dark, grayish clouds yonder. The moonlight slowly fell upon as the wind swept the clouds away. There was a quiet and peaceful sports park, Scania Park was the name. It was one of the biggest sports parks in the entire Roenith kingdom.

There were no activities, unlike a couple of hours ago when the sun was still radiating its orange-red glow. But, it was just a moment before a crashing sound rang out.

Badum!

It was so loud that it echoed throughout The Scania Park. Smoke erupted while dust billowed from the source of the impact. A youth with tangled hair was sitting on a staircase near the center of the sports park. He looked surprised as he regained his consciousness because of the banging sound before. His face was covered in sweat, gasping for breath as if he had woken up from a nightmare.

Lee Changmin–the youth's name, tried to slowly regain his composure. After a moment, The youth's vision swept the surroundings but none gave him an explanation. He was lost and clueless.

'Where am I? What is this place?'

Changmin tried to recollect his mind. The last thing he remembered was he had been on a bus. It was around 10.30 p.m. when he took the bus at the bus stop near the high school.

It was a common thing for a high school student like him to go home late in South Korea because of yaja. Yaja was an abbreviation for yaganjayulhakseu meaning "night-self learning". The government stated it was not an obligational activity for students but in reality, it was.

Therefore, Changmin was convinced that he had gone on his way home. Hence how did he end up in the middle of an unfamiliar place? His curiosity started to grow.

"It looks like a park, but where is this exactly? I don't get it. Moreover, why on earth did I end up here?" Changmin confused. He couldn't even retrieve if he had been gone to this park before.

Suddenly, a roar echoed, freezing Changmin's whole body instantly. The voice was deep and hoarse but as loud as a wolf's howl, filled with a fearful aura of intimidation.

"What kind of roar is that?" He stammered. "What the fuck is going on? Why am I hearing something? Am I dreaming?"

When Changmin was about to get up, his consciousness was startled by pounding footsteps. His mind couldn't digest what kind of footsteps made the ground shake. Changmin shuddered in fear, his legs trembled.

'Damn it, I can't even stand up! What is wrong with me?!' Feeling extremely anxious, Changmin took a few deep breaths, tried to calm his mind. In this kind of situation, he knew what he got the best was his brain.

'I had to analyze and observe the situation first before making a move.' Trying to ignore the pounding footsteps which getting closer, Changmin closed his eyes.

"The highest possibility, I was dreaming, yeah, most likely. It does make a lot of sense. But, If I have fallen asleep, why does the dream feel so real? I could even hear my breathing! How could this happen?" Changmin grumbled, starting to get annoyed by the fact that he knew nothing about the situation, and couldn't get the answer to his doubt.

He caught his breath slowly, trying to calm himself down once again. His intuition told him that whatever making that kind of footsteps must be not a friendly thing.

Crack!

Another banging sound echoed through Changmin's ears, followed by a creaking sound of a tree collapsing. In silence, Changmin was motionless against the wall of the staircase. He could even hear his heart thumping.

Changmin had never heard such a clear, yet, terrifying noise made by something. And the heavy footsteps sounded like it made by giants. Whatever it was, Changmin knew that he had to confirm it himself with his own eyes.

So Changmin took a step to the edge while keeping his back leaning against the wall. Changmin's head peeked out from behind the bottom of the staircase. His eyes widened when he saw several humanoid-like monsters that only appear in fantasy novels walking side by side.

The monsters were at least 5 meters tall, even though their legs were short. Their spines formed out on the back while their slender arms almost touched the ground. Drooling some kind of green liquid from their mouth, the gigantic creature marched towards Changmin.

"Holy shit! What kind of creature is that?!" Changmin shuddered in horror, his whole body throbbing as he sat back down as before. Despite being stricken with extreme fear, at least he validated that he indeed was dreaming. What else explanation to deny this kind of bizarre situation?

"How unlucky! Why do I have a nightmare when tomorrow is Sunday?!" Changmin muttered in despair, chuckling wryly as half of the weight on his shoulder had been lifted.

"Guess, I must be tired. Fine, I'll go to bed directly after coming home. But, for now, I have to wake up quickly! I don't know how long I have fallen asleep. What if I miss my stop? That would be fucked up!" He exclaimed while helping himself up.

Changmin seemed more confident and steadier, even though the monster was getting closer. Closing his eyes, Changmin raised his right hand and slapped his cheek. It was a remarkable slap from someone who did it to himself. But, nothing happened. Instead, Changmin screamed, rubbing his burning-painful cheek.

'Fuck! I thought this method worked just like in the movies. If I knew, I wouldn't slap that hard, damn it!'

Suddenly, Changmin's vision caught a shadow of a giant hand covering the lower part of the staircase where he stood. He looked up and roared as one of the monsters threw a palm strike towards him.

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Author's note: the plot will be slow-paced in the early chapters, most likely, as I'm still learning to adjust to the right pace, but for deeply narrating the world-building, I choose to do so.