Chapter Text
The room was dark, barely any light seeping through the window — save for the pale glow of a phone. There was a woman on the bed, phone in hand. Scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. You. You had come home, shed the weight of another dead-end day, and crawled into bed. A new chapter of your favourite manhwa was waiting.
This was your favourite manhwa right now — had been for months. On more than one occasion you’d slipped out of the office early, heart already halfway home, terrified of opening your phone and seeing a spoiler. The story was predictable, sure. But the way the leads looked at each other in the quiet moments? That got you every time. Each new chapter felt like exhaling.
As you reached the comments section, you scrolled through those too. Nothing else to do. Most were buzzing with excitement about the next chapter — theories, reactions, people losing their minds over a single panel.
You got up and started preparing for bed.
Later, tucked in and hovering at the edge of sleep, your phone buzzed on the nightstand. You ignored it. Then thought better of it — could be your boss, something work related, something that couldn’t wait until morning. You reached over and checked.
It wasn’t your boss. It was your manhwa app.
A new chapter. Tonight.
“Wasn’t it supposed to come out next week?” you murmured to yourself. But you were already opening it. Just this one chapter. Then sleep — you promised yourself that much.
As you started reading, everything seemed fine. The characters were as cliche and as sweet as you remembered. But as you neared the end of the chapter, something shifted.
The male lead wanted to introduce his new secretary to the female lead.
“Why would he do that? And why would she even want to know?” you muttered. Didn’t he already have a secretary? Where was this coming from?
You reached the next panel.
A knock at his office door. He calls them in. A woman enters — black pencil skirt, white blouse, professional. Pretty.
Familiar.
“This is my new secretary. (Y/N) — introduce yourself.”
”(Y/N)?” you whispered.
You knew your name wasn’t uncommon. Could be a coincidence. Except she looked strikingly like you — as if the author had looked directly at you and drawn you into the panels. Your name. Your face. Your hair texture. Your moles.
You glanced around your room instinctively, half expecting someone to be there.
The chapter ended right there.
You opened the comments section. Nothing. Not a single one. The chapter had just dropped minutes ago, yes — but there were always comments on new chapters. Always. Even seconds after release. You would know.
You set your phone down. Picked it up. Set it down again.
‘Coincidence,’ you told yourself. ‘A one in a billion coincidence. That’s all.’
You switched your phone off — just in case — and closed your eyes.
———————
Brightness bled through your eyelids.
‘Didn’t I turn off the lights before sleeping?’
You opened your eyes reluctantly, still half drowned in sleep — and stilled.
A glass field. A lush tree overhead, its shade cooling the air around you. A breeze rolled in softly and brushed against your legs. You looked down at yourself — a pale green sundress, delicate floral print, something you’d never owned in your life.
You sat up slowly and looked around.
High rise buildings shimmered in the far distance.
You got up from the soft grass and started walking toward a thin pathway cutting through the park — if that’s even what this was. It was massive. Insanely so.
You looked around, brows furrowed. Nothing looked familiar. No cramped buildings pressed together, no grey skyline, no smell of rain and exhaust that clung to your city like a second skin. Just open air and greenery stretching further than felt real.
Where are you?
You walked and walked until an exit finally came into view. As you got closer, you felt a buzz against your hip. You felt around and — the sundress had pockets. Inside, a phone. You unlocked it somehow already knowing the password and checked the notification.
Your boss.
Boss
I called you in late today due to some personal matters but due to a change of plans I won’t be in office for a couple of days. Take today off and tomorrow go to Leon, he’ll update you on your tasks. I’ll be in office the day after tomorrow.
You read the message feeling a bit relieved. Time to figure things out. Even if you didn’t know who your boss was, which company you worked for, or frankly anything at all.
You started heading home. Didn’t know where that was either. Somehow ended up there anyway.
You unlocked the apartment and stepped inside.
‘okay this is not a little place’ you thought, walking further in. The space was sleek and modern, open and airy. And scattered throughout — delicate pastel purple decorations. Your favourite colour.
You chose not to dwell on that.
Nothing had made sense since you opened your eyes anyway.
You wandered through until you reached the master bedroom. It was the most homely part of the apartment. Warm and familiar feeling. Very you coded.
You became aware of the weight of the sundress on your body. Pretty as it was, it was a bit much. You headed to the walk in closet to find something comfier —
And stopped.
Rows upon rows of the most beautiful clothing you’d ever seen. You stood at the entrance for a long moment, absolutely astounded.
‘these belong to me?’
You shuffled through slowly, almost feeling guilty for touching such fine pieces. Eventually you found a plain tee and sweatpants, grabbed them, and headed to the bathroom to change.
— — — — — —
You laid on the comfy bed and let everything catch up to you.
Last night. The chapter that came out of nowhere. The woman in the panels with your face, your name, your moles.
That was you. No doubt in your mind anymore.
But how? And why? Who had even uploaded that chapter?
You had just started to try and piece everything together but already your head was hurting.
You got up to get yourself a glass of water. As you passed through the living room you noticed a couple of magazines scattered across the table. You picked one up and —
Caelan.
You read his name again. And again.
He was on the cover. Standing like he owned the space around him, which judging by the headline, he practically did. His features were striking in a way that felt almost unrealistic. Too sharp. Too perfect.
Like someone had drawn him.
And someone had. He was the male lead of your favourite manhwa.
Identical to the Caelan you’d seen a thousand times across countless panels. Just — real. Painfully, unsettlingly real.
The billionaire who held the stock market in a chokehold.
You flipped through the pages slowly.
Greymont Capital’s fourth acquisition this quarter.
Caelan’s expanding reach — who’s next?
The man who doesn’t lose.
You knew all of this already. Had read about it countless times across panels. Greymont Capital — old money dressed in something colder. The kind of company that didn’t need to announce itself. It just owned things. Quietly. Completely. And Caelan ran it the same way he did everything else — without ever looking like he was trying.
In the manhwa he was untouchable. Every competitor who went up against him either folded or disappeared from the story entirely. The author never explained how. You always assumed that was intentional.
He wasn’t cruel exactly. Just — precise. The type of man who decided outcomes before the other person had even sat down.
This made everything painfully clear. You were inside your favourite manhwa. As some random background character who would never cross paths with these people.
Characters. People. Whatever they were now.
The only questions on your mind were how you would leave this world and most importantly — what were you even doing here?
No answers. Not yet anyway.
You trudged back to the bedroom with heavy feet and decided to sleep the feelings away. Completely forgetting why you’d even gone near the living room in the first place.