Chapter 1
Prologue
The sun was at its highest when Ryu Han-Bin made his way lazily for the computer by the window, stifling a yawn as he lounged on the chair. Buzzing sounds from outside indicated that the day was already in the afternoon hours. He glanced at the clock on the wall opposite to where he sat; noon—another morning lost like many others before today—sleeping the day away.
It seemed to him distant now, the way he did things as a military man: a completely different lifestyle to his current habits. Ironic how he had got little done these last three months since he had been discharged…
Back then, he fantasized about the days he would be out in the real world and all the amazing things he could do with his life, like going back to school and getting a degree. God! He hadn’t even attempted to brush up his English.
He pressed the power button on his PC and moved the mouse impatiently as he browsed the Internet. Nothing. Dull. Blah. Not even games seemed interesting enough to waste his time on…
It all happened fast. Black gushes of smoke, coming from beneath, enveloped him—leaving him speechless, emotionless, without time to react. First, the smoke wrapped his ankles, then moved upward to his legs and torso, seizing him up to his neck. “Uh” was all he had time to utter, still in disbelief whether he was awake or not. As darkness engulfed him, excruciating pain squeezed his head, paralyzing him. He screamed, “Ahhhhhh!”
The empty chair creaked slowly…
No indication, nothing, no sign that the man Ryu Han-Bin was even on planet Earth. As if he had never been…
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