"Abort it."
The words came out colder than I intended.
Anna's head snapped up, disbelief written all over her face.
"What?!"
"I said, abort it," I repeated, my emotions beginning to spiral.
"How can you say something like that?!" Anna snapped, anger creeping into her voice. Before I could respond, she continued, "I can't kill an innocent baby just because I was foolishly deceived by the General! And even if we tried escaping, where would we even go?"
She clenched her fists.
"The General has connections all across Asia, and my parents' influence stretches throughout Europe. We wouldn't get far. We're trapped."
"Miss Anna! Who's in there?!"
A bodyguard's voice suddenly came from outside, followed by the sound of the doorknob rattling.
"No one, Michael! I'm just on the phone!" Anna quickly responded.
The rattling stopped.
She turned back to me, panic flickering in her eyes.
"You need to leave. Quickly."
I looked at her one last time.
I wanted to pull her close and kiss her just once, maybe for the last time, but I stopped myself.
Too many emotions crashed into me at once.
Without saying a word, I turned and left.
The night streets were unusually quiet.
I wandered aimlessly for almost an hour, my thoughts consumed by everything that had happened before finally steeling my resolve.
If there was one thing I still had, it was money.
I found an ATM some distance away from Anna's family villa and inserted my card.
INSUFFICIENT FUNDS
I frowned.
"No way."
I tried a smaller amount.
INSUFFICIENT FUNDS
A bad feeling settled in my chest as I hurriedly checked the account balance.
$0.00
My heart nearly stopped.
I checked again.
Then again.
Still zero.
My knees weakened.
Every cent was gone.
The General.
That bastard.
I quietly stepped away from the ATM, already noticing a few suspicious glances from nearby pedestrians.
As I wandered through the empty streets, something dark slowly grew inside me.
I swore to every deity to ever exist that I would kill the General in the most gruesome way imaginable.
'I would make him beg for death, but that would be mercy.'
"Stop right there!!"
A police officer's shout snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Shit!"
I took off running.
Cold air rushed past me as I sprinted through the dimly lit streets. The officers were already falling behind, unable to match my speed, but that wasn't what worried me.
Since I'd been spotted here, they would eventually begin sealing off routes. And if that happened, I'd have to force my way through, making things far worse for myself.
I need to leave this place quickly.
"In here!"
A voice suddenly called out from a dark alley.
I paused.
The language sounded unfamiliar.
A figure stood inside the darkness, his face completely obscured. He gestured repeatedly for me to come closer.
I hesitated.
Everything about this screamed danger.
But the police were getting closer.
I looked back at the approaching officers, then at the mysterious figure again.
Strangely...
Something about him felt familiar.
Trustworthy.
Like I somehow knew him.
"I'm an idiot," I muttered before following him into the alley.
The man said something I couldn't understand.
"Sorry, I don't understand you."
Without responding, he suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward a wall swallowed in unnatural darkness.
I was about to yank my hand away
Then I froze.
His hand passed straight through the wall.
"What the actual fuck?!"
Everything I knew about reality nearly shattered.
Every instinct screamed at me to stay away from whatever that thing was.
"Where did he go?!" a police officer shouted nearby.
Right.
I was still being chased.
In my brief moment of distraction, the mysterious figure suddenly pulled me forward.
Cold darkness swallowed me whole
~~
~~
"Fuck!!"
I shot upright from the bed, breathing heavily.
My sudden outburst startled the figure sitting nearby.
The moment I saw him clearly, I froze.
"...The hell?"
He looked exactly like me.
Not similar.
Not close.
Exactly.
Like someone had copied and pasted my face onto another person.
The... thing—honestly, I had no idea what to call it—looked mildly annoyed by my reaction and gestured for me to calm down.
Without saying a word, he pulled out a chair and sat by a desk near the corner of the room.
Muttering something under his breath, he tapped a strange cube sitting on the table.
A soft white light suddenly filled the room.
The dim moonlit space brightened instantly.
He picked up a book, opened it, then took out a small bottle of ink and a brush.
Dipping the brush into the ink, he began writing.
I stared in silence.
What the hell is going on?
A few seconds later, he turned the book toward me.
"Calm down, you're making too much noise."
The words were written in Korean.
I blinked.
"The fuck?"
Ignoring my reaction, he resumed writing.
A few moments later, he showed me the next message.
"I know you are confused, but it's late. You should rest. Everything will be explained tomorrow."
Before I could even respond, he had already written again.
"Get some sleep. You'll need it."
I frowned.
There were way too many questions running through my head, but exhaustion was slowly catching up to me.
"Fine," I muttered reluctantly before laying back down.
The strange man muttered something again, and the glowing cube suddenly dimmed before shutting off completely.
Then he left the room.
I stared at the ceiling.
Everything felt unreal.
Anna.
The General.
The alley.
The impossible wall.
And now—
A clone?
None of this made sense.
Still, my body was exhausted.
And strangely enough...
This bed felt amazing.
The first genuinely comfortable thing I'd experienced in what felt like forever.
Before I realized it, sleep overtook me.
~~
"Haaaa..."
I stretched lazily, letting out a yawn.
For the first time in days, maybe weeks, I actually felt rested.
I sat up and looked around.
The room was roughly two hundred square feet.
A wooden desk stood near a wide-open window, cluttered with books. Across the room sat a large wardrobe with elegant carvings etched into the wood.
At the far end stood another doorway covered by a curtain, hiding whatever lay beyond.
Bright white light streamed through the window, illuminating the polished wooden floor.
The curtains swayed gently with the wind.
Then a scent hit me.
Something delicious.
My stomach growled immediately.
"...Damn."
I was just about to get out of bed when the door suddenly opened.
My clone walked in carrying the same calm expression as before.
Or rather
My face.
Still weird.
He walked to the desk, opened the same book from last night, took out the brush and ink, and began writing.
A few seconds later, he turned the book toward me.
"Hey, it's bright now. Go freshen up. The bathroom is the last room down the hall."
"Alright," I said, rubbing my neck, "but you said you'd explain everything this morning."
He nodded and started writing again.
"I will explain during breakfast, but I'm still cooking. You should wash up before I finish."
"Ah... alright."
He grabbed the book and left the room.
I followed shortly after.
At the hallway, we split up.
He headed downstairs.
I followed the directions to the bathroom.
As I walked, I couldn't help but notice something strange.
Everything here, the walls, the floors, the ceilings, everything was wood.
Polished wood.
"It's like living inside some expensive cabin," I muttered.
Eventually, I arrived at the bathroom.
And immediately paused.
"...This wasn't what I expected."
In the center sat a Japanese-style bath filled with water.
Beside it stood a small stool carrying an ugly-looking bar of soap and a towel.
I quickly took off my clothes and stepped into the bath.
"FUCK!"
The water was freezing.
No
Freezing was an understatement.
Another few degrees lower and it'd probably turn into ice.
I gritted my teeth and endured it.
After a moment, I grabbed the soap, dipped it in the water, and started scrubbing myself.
The soap smelled strange.
Didn't feel normal either.
But it worked.
A few minutes later, I was done.
Cold wind drifted through a small window near the ceiling, making me shiver as I quickly dried myself.
Tying the towel around my waist, I glanced outside.
And paused.
The moon hung high in the sky.
A full moon.
Bright.
Far brighter than normal.
But there were no stars.
Not a single one.
"...That's weird."
I frowned.
"It's still night?"
I was certain I'd slept an entire night.
Then another thought struck me.
"Wait..."
I didn't remember the moon being full yesterday.
A strange feeling settled in my chest.
Something wasn't right.
Something was very wrong
Still feeling uneasy, I left the bathroom and returned to the room.
Waiting on the bed was a neatly folded set of clothes: a plain black shirt and brown pants. Simple, but strangely old-looking. If anything, they looked medieval.
Okay... something definitely isn't right here.
A few minutes later, fully dressed, I stepped out and headed downstairs.
The moment I arrived, I saw my clone arranging plates on the table. Before I could announce my presence, his head suddenly snapped toward me with eerie precision.
My steps slowed.
The fuck?
The unsettling feeling faded a little when he gave me a small smile and gestured for me to sit.
Trying not to overthink it, I pulled out a chair and sat down.
He disappeared into the kitchen and returned moments later carrying a steaming wooden bowl.
THUD
The bowl landed in front of me alongside a wooden spoon.
The smell alone made my stomach growl.
Without wasting time, I grabbed the spoon and took a bite.
"...Damn."
Then another.
And another.
"This is good," I muttered, before quickly correcting myself. "No, this is really good."
The pottage was packed with meat, vegetables, and ingredients I didn't recognize, yet somehow everything blended perfectly. It was warm, rich, and oddly comforting.
My clone looked strangely pleased by my reaction.
After nearly finishing half the bowl, I finally remembered something important.
I cleared my throat.
"You said you'd explain what's going on."
He nodded and immediately began writing.
A few moments later, he turned the book toward me.
"You can ask me anything."
"Great," I said, leaning forward slightly. "First question. Where am I?"
He wrote again.
"Not in the human realm."
I frowned.
"What does that even mean?"
He calmly resumed writing.
"You are no longer on Earth."
I stared at the words.
Once.
Twice.
Then again.
"...What?"
He continued eating like he hadn't just said the craziest thing imaginable.
"No, wait," I said, shaking my head. "How is that even possible?"
He paused briefly before writing again.
"Do you really want me to explain how it is possible? The explanation is long."
I opened my mouth, then stopped.
Honestly, no.
I wasn't mentally prepared for whatever insanity that explanation involved.
"...No. Forget that."
I exhaled slowly.
"So where exactly am I?"
He wrote again.
"This is the Shadow Realm."
Then continued.
"A realm of eternal night, struggle, and mythic beings."
I frowned.
So the moon thing wasn't my imagination.
"...Then what are you?"
He took slightly longer this time.
"I am you."
"...Excuse me?"
He continued writing.
"I am your shadow."
That somehow made things even more confusing.
"Please explain in actual human words."
For the first time, he looked mildly amused before resuming.
"Shadows are the residents of this realm."
"We are connected to humans."
"Not copies."
"Not reflections."
"We share the same soul."
I blinked slowly.
He continued.
"Humans possess the larger portion."
"When humans die..."
He paused briefly before finishing.
"We lose our minds and become monsters."
A slight chill ran through me.
"...That's disturbing."
He simply nodded.
I stayed quiet for a moment, trying to process everything.
Shadow Realm.
Shared souls.
Monsters.
Eternal night.
Honestly, my brain felt close to shutting down.
Eventually, another question came to mind.
"Then why bring me here?"
His expression turned serious as he began writing again.
"Because you would have died."
He continued.
"From everything I observed, if you had been caught..."
"You would not have survived."
My jaw tightened.
The police.
The General.
Everything that happened.
Yeah.
He was probably right.
Still, something caught my attention.
I narrowed my eyes.
"Wait."
He looked up.
"You said observed."
I pointed at him.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
A faint smile appeared on his face as he began writing again.
"I have been watching you for the past nine years."
I nearly choked.
"...What?"
He continued.
"Along the way, I learned Korean to understand you better."
"Though, due to certain reasons..."
"I cannot speak it."
I stared at him for a long moment.
My brain genuinely stopped working for a second.
"...You've been watching me for nine years?"
He nodded casually.
Like that was somehow normal.
Before I could say anything else, he had already started writing again.
"Eat first."
"The food is getting cold."
I looked at the book.
Then at him.
Then back at the food.
"...Right."
We continued eating in silence.
Though unlike him, my mind was anything but quiet.
~~
After finishing our meal and cleaning the table, my clone suddenly began writing again.
He turned the book toward me.
"We cannot continue like this."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
He resumed writing.
"You are human."
"This realm is not suitable for humans."
"If things continue this way, you will die."
My expression stiffened.
Before I could respond, he continued.
"Also..."
He paused briefly.
"Bringing you here broke several laws."
"The punishment is death."
I blinked.
"...You're joking."
He shook his head.
The serious look on his face made my stomach sink.
"So we're both screwed?"
He nodded once, then immediately started writing again.
"But there is a solution."
I straightened slightly.
"Okay... what's the solution?"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You'll see."
Something about that answer immediately made me uneasy.
"...I don't like the sound of that."
Ignoring my concern, he stood up and walked toward the center of the living room.
Then he started drawing.
Using some kind of dark powder, he carefully traced two massive circles onto the wooden floor. Strange symbols slowly filled the inside, lines twisting into shapes I couldn't understand.
The longer he worked, the more unsettling it looked.
Eventually, he placed several dark crystals around both circles before turning toward me and writing again.
"This is the solution."
I looked at the ritual circles.
Then at him.
Then back at the circles.
"...Nope."
He blinked.
"I'm not going anywhere near that."
He frowned and quickly began writing again.
"It's either this or death."
Then he added:
"And I believe you still have reasons to live."
He paused briefly before writing one final word.
"Revenge."
My expression darkened.
The General.
Anna.
Everything he had taken from me.
The rage I'd been suppressing stirred again.
I clenched my fists.
"...You're right."
I looked back at the circles.
"Let's do it."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Good."
Then he wrote again.
"Take off your clothes."
I stared at him.
"...Excuse me?"
He pointed toward the ritual circle before continuing.
"The ritual requires it."
I sighed.
"At this point, why not?"
Honestly, after everything I'd experienced since yesterday, this barely ranked among the weirdest things that had happened.
We both removed our clothes and entered separate circles.
Mine on the right.
His on the left.
The wooden floor felt strangely cold beneath me.
My clone sat cross-legged and suddenly began chanting in that strange language again.
The moment the words left his mouth, the circles lit up.
A faint glow spread across the symbols.
Then it grew brighter.
And brighter.
Dark energy swirled around the room as the air grew heavy.
Oppressive.
The chanting intensified.
The crystals surrounding the circles began glowing.
Then light exploded outward.
"AAAAARGHHH!!"
Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
It felt like every part of my body was being torn apart, melted, then stitched back together.
I screamed.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I physically couldn't stop.
And I wasn't the only one.
My clone was screaming too.
It felt like something was digging deep into my existence.
Changing it.
Twisting it.
Rebuilding it.
Time lost meaning.
Seconds felt like hours.
Hours felt like days.
Then slowly, the light faded.
The pain weakened.
And darkness swallowed me whole.