Riku's eyes fluttered open abruptly, a jolt of awareness piercing through the haze of sleep.
Beneath him, he felt the thrum of a steady vibration, a rhythmic pulse that seemed to resonate with the very fabric of his surroundings.
His temple pressed against a cold, unforgiving surface, prompting him to shift his gaze. As he turned slightly, he caught sight of a narrow window framed in dull metal.
Sucking in a deep breath, he leaned closer and peered beyond the glass.
His frown deepened as he took in the grim sight: he was encased within a dimly lit tunnel, the walls close enough that he could discern the rough, uneven texture of concrete plastered in shadowy hues.
The eerie glow of overhead lights flickered intermittently, casting a ghostly illumination that heightened his unease.
The sound of distant echoes bounced off the tunnel's confines, mingling with the vibration beneath him, creating an unsettling atmosphere that left him questioning how he had come to be here.
He quickly sat up, his heart racing as he took in his surroundings.
His eyes widened at the circular lettering surrounded by line-like symbols on the signs around him.
They certainly weren't in his own language… wait, was that Korean?
Riku leaned forward, instinctively squinting as he tried to decipher the signs on the far end of the train.
To his astonishment, everything came into sharp focus.
The once-blurred text that he used to come across on a daily basis became crystal clear, each character revealing itself with unexpected clarity.
That didn't make sense…
He had always been near-sighted, reliant on his glasses for anything beyond arm's length.
Yet here he was, reading fine print effortlessly.
An unsettling thought crossed his mind: since when did trains in his homeland display signage in Korean?
Confusion swirled within him, blending with a strange sense of excitement. The rhythmic clatter of the train on the tracks melded with his racing thoughts, enveloping him in a moment that felt surreal.
Once the novelty of the moment began to wear out, a soft frown began to cross his face once again.
The last thing he could even remember was sitting in his room in front of his computer monitor, reading that one Web Comic that everyone had been obsessed with.
He remembered clicking into a video, yet he couldn't even remember the contents of it.
"Wait a damn minute..."
Riku mumbled to himself, his fingers nervously fumbling in his pocket.
The material of the fabric beneath his touch was surprisingly sturdy and luxurious, much too expensive to belong to him.
He couldn't remember ever owning anything so fine or extravagant.
As he gradually pulled out a sleek, high-end smartphone, his eyes widened in disbelief.
The device gleamed under the dim light, a model he could never imagine affording on his own.
Gaze fixed on the immaculate glass display, Riku hesitated for a moment before sliding his finger across the screen to tap on the camera icon.
The camera opened, and as he switched to the front-facing view, the reflection staring back at him nearly sent his heart racing.
The eyes that gazed back were nothing like his own—they were beautifully upturned and elegantly slender, shimmering in a striking shade of amber that seemed to catch the light in a mesmerizing way.
His previous eyes, a downturned, dull, and murky shade that could easily be mistaken for black, had vanished without a trace.
To make matters even more confounding, his formerly tousled and dark hair had transformed into a sharply styled two-block haircut, each strand a glossy sandy light brown that framed his face in an unfamiliar yet striking manner.
Riku could hardly recognize himself, the person in the reflection seeming like a character from a fantastical story rather than the ordinary young man he used to be.
In fact, the face staring back at him in his reflection looked nearly identical to-…
Riku felt a surge of urgency as he fumbled to unlock the phone, his heart racing in disbelief that there wasn't even a passcode protecting it.
"The owner must feel incredibly secure about it not being stolen or something," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head in resignation as he let out a sigh.
With a swift motion, he navigated to the search bar, typing in the phrase: Hush Webtoon.
The last time he had scoured the internet for this title, a plethora of links and thumbnails had greeted him, each promising a glimpse into an intriguing world.
But this time… this time, the search yielded a chilling void; not a single trace of the webcomic existed, as if it had been completely wiped from reality.
Just as a wave of confusion washed over him, a deep, raspy cough sliced through the silence around him, pulling him abruptly from his thoughts.
"Ah, I apologize. I thought I was alo— huh?" The words trailed off, caught in his throat as his gaze fell upon the man standing beside him, a sense of dread washing over him in icy waves.
At first glance, the man appeared to embody the essence of a typical businessman—dressed meticulously in a tailored suit and a perfectly knotted tie.
Everything about him screamed professionalism. Yet, that was before Riku dared to examine his face.
As he turned to confront the man fully, horror gripped him as the chilling reality struck: the man had no face at all.
Where features should have been, there was simply a flat, blank canvas of skin, marred only by a weathered mouth that seemed to have borne witness to countless unspeakable things.
Riku's breath quickened, his instincts screaming at him to flee.
"Oh, it's absolutely no problem at all!" the man replied, his voice smooth but laced with a peculiar undertone.
A chilling smile spread across his lips, casting an unsettling shadow over his otherwise nonexistent features.
As the train rattled to a stop, the air seemed to grow thick with a sense of discomfort.
The strange man, his face devoid of features, stepped off the train with an almost gliding grace, leaving Riku behind in the dimly lit compartment, enveloped in an uneasy ambience.
The faint click of the train's brakes echoed in the stillness, amplifying Riku's sense of isolation as he watched the mysterious figure dissolve into shadows on the platform, leaving him to ponder the predicament that had just crossed his path.
"What the actual fuck…?" Riku leaned heavily against the cool, rough surface of the wall, urging himself to steady his breath as his hand pressed against his forehead.
A wave of dizziness washed over him, leaving him momentarily disoriented and struggling to grasp the surreal nature of his surroundings.
The scene was not only bewildering, but also tinged with an unsettling familiarity that he couldn't quite place.
Despite the obvious language barrier—each word from the prior stranger spilling forth in an incomprehensible tongue—Riku found himself able to decipher the man's response with surprising clarity.
It was as if the very essence of meaning transcended spoken words, weaving a thread that connected their thoughts.
To his astonishment, he also realized that the language escaping his own lips was not his native tongue, but rather an unfamiliar dialect that felt as fluid and instinctual as his mother tongue.
This revelation sent a jolt of confusion through him, and he couldn't help but wonder how this phenomenon was even possible.
As his mind raced, a strange display flickered to life before his eyes.
The colors swirled and danced on the screen, illuminating his face in a soft glow.
Riku's eyes widened in disbelief as he absorbed the ephemeral text that materialized, the contents speaking directly to his core with absolute clarity:
Didn't I warn you that the journey ahead wouldn't be a smooth one? You weren't planning on disappointing me, were you?
Don't make me regret ever being impressed with you.
Riku's lips parted slightly as he instinctively took a few steps back, his heart racing with confusion. The train's doors, ominously ajar, seemed to mock his alarm.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar beep, followed by a soft clicking noise as a new wave of words materialized on the shimmering holographic display before him:
I'm sure you've caught on already, but I specifically chose you to take my place. I've grown quite bored of that dreary place.
Now, if you wish to reclaim your previous life, I strongly advise you to adhere to my instructions with utmost precision.
Exit the train station.
Before Riku could wrap his head around the bizarre situation, the hologram transformed into a floating timer, its numbers gleaming ominously as it began to count down from 58 seconds.
"Hey, wait a damn minute! Is it even possible to leave that quickly!?" Frantically, Riku shoved the phone into his pocket, adrenaline surging through his veins.
He stumbled back to his seat, grabbing the peculiar backpack that had inexplicably accompanied him.
He didn't want to risk leaving behind something that could be important.
Slinging it over one shoulder, he caught sight of the train starting to lurch forward, the doors ominously inching toward closure. Panic surged within him, and in one fluid motion, he lunged forward, diving through the narrowing gap of the train doors.
The force of his leap sent him skidding along the platform, palms scraping against the rough surface as pain shot through his body.
Groaning softly from the impact, he scrambled to his feet, the throbbing ache in his legs igniting as he propelled himself into a desperate run.
His heart raced as he sprinted up the moving escalator, the relentless countdown timer looming just behind him, a harbinger of the ticking clock and the urgency of his escape.
"6 seconds left? Fuck!" Riku burst through the door, panic gripping him as he propelled himself forward, stumbling onto the cold, unforgiving sidewalk.
"Challenge completed!" echoed a mechanical voice, its tone devoid of emotion.
Riku gasped for air, his chest heaving from the exertion of the escape.
"Are you going to at least give me some bandages…?" he muttered, his voice laced with frustration as he stared at the holographic display that flickered in front of him.
The shimmering image dissolved into thin air, leaving Riku feeling even more exasperated.
"I suppose I should've expected that,"