Chapter Text
Part 1. Brace For The Storm
The world of Arcana was a magical yet frustrating place. It was a video game Lee Hoyeol was obsessed with in his middle school years, spending hours and hours after school grinding on his character.
Even though Arcana did not have Triple A game graphics, it had a unique, stylistic charm with its pixelated side-scrolling MMORPG experience. Many players loved Arcana’s exhaustive lore, varied gameplay style, and the plethora of classes to choose from. Not to mention, its beautiful pixel environments ranged from destitute war torn landscapes to whimsical mushroom forests.
It truly was its own fantasy world.
Ever since he was young, Hoyeol loved challenges. And what other challenge could there be to max out the notorious Demon Hunter class for his first game character!
Sure the quests were grueling (mostly consisting of collecting items for the villagers in the most damnable places on the map—who assigns 50 ores from the Blackshere cliffs with a time limit?) or the Demon Hunter basecamp being absolutely appalling in decor (the main training room was a bare dungeon akin to a concrete room—albeit with pixelated charm), but to young, imaginative Hoyeol, it was merely character development. For his own original character that was!
Cue Granfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, the perfect nobleman, stricken by grief and eternal rage after his whole family was slaughtered by a slew of demons. Swearing eternal vengeance on all of demonkind, Grandfell would embark on the rigorous adventure to become the strongest Demon Hunter in Arcana!
Grandfell was a dashing man, with long, luscious silver-white hair and a chiseled facial structure that contrasted with his deep set of dark eyes. He was tall, and extremely well built too. Truly a heart stopper perfected by an eager, chunni middle schooler.
Hoyeol had written all the notes on his lore, appearance, and even detailed his noble family tree down to the great grandfather on his worn down notebook with its fraying pages. At night, he’d sketch his favorite character secretly under his blanket, his trusted flashlight in hand, pencil flying like a mad man on the cheap paper. His sisters would complain of his maniac giggles echoing in the dead of the night when he should be sleeping. Curse the thin walls.
“Intern. Hey, your timers up.”
Hoyeol almost drops the Petri dish he was holding, noticing the ear screeching timer blaring from next to the heat block.
Ah. Right. He was at work, in this cramped lab, slaving away at a failing biotech company more concerned with profits and outcomes rather than their researchers.
Blinking away his tired eyes, Hoyeol graciously thanks his colleague before quickly shuffling to the machine to collect his samples.
Man, it’s been a while since I thought about Arcana. It’s a shame the game got discontinued after I stopped playing it those years ago.
Hoyeol sighs as he puts the microcentrifuge tubes on ice. Removing those sweaty latex gloves, he plops down on his desk chair to look over the plethora of files to review for their next meeting. God there were so many meetings.
I really should get enough sleep and stop daydreaming at work to cope. Ha, not like I’m a kid anymore.
Hoyeol chuckles wryly, already feeling the heaviness of the day. He checks his phone, looking at the time.
The wallpaper was a photo of his family– a nostalgic polaroid of his 16th birthday. He was surrounded by his loving, slightly oppressive, three older sisters and his mom and dad. Hoyeol had sweet vanilla cake smashed around his whole face too.
He smiles at the fond memory.
It would be a good day if he got off work at 6 pm. He was already missing his comfy bed.
Stepping out of the dilapidated concrete building, Hoyeol pulls his coat tighter around himself as the wind and cold rain pelts him from all directions.
Unfortunately, he was wearing his cotton work suit, which was far from a nice raincoat. There's barely any cars at this time too, which meant that there were no buses to take him home.
The thunder roars in the distance.
“Hah, why’s the weather all bi-polar all of a sudden? It was just warm yesterday!”
Hoyeol curses as another Herculean gust of wind cuts into his side. Gasping for breath, he decides to book it home, trying to run through the rain cutting like freezing knives into his skin. He can barely see because of his sopping bangs covering his eyes, so he relies on pure memory as he dashes through the streets.
The cold is biting, masking away any sensation from his face and fingers as the rain hammers down harder. His whole body is already soaked through too. The street lights flicker, barely visible in the chaos and darkness of the night.
Jumping over a large fallen branch, Hoyeol feels his heart sink. He takes a deep breath and keeps running, trying not to fall.
As Hoyeol nears the entrance to his neighborhood, he notices that the usual gentle stream has swelled into a raging river, threatening to overtake the small bridge.The water was rushing past the worn stones, the waves seemingly getting higher by the second.
Fuck. That was my shortest way home. I’m going to have to loop around, that’s another mile.
But before Hoyeol can back away further, the bridge breaks with a thunderous rumble, the stones tumbling into the furious waters. The river roars and Hoyeol falls as the flash flood instantly sweeps him off his feet.
He gasps as the freezing water hits him. Panicking, Hoyeol struggles as he desperately tries to get up, pushing against the current with no avail. He’s able to take a breath before the water pulls him under again. It drags him from the flooded road into the heart of the raging river below.
He gags and chokes and screams as the water fills his mouth. He instinctively tries to cough it out. The weight of the water was holding him down and the stones were cutting into his skin as his body becomes a ragdoll in nature’s mercy. His chest tightens further and his lung burns as he tries to draw air, but only chokes more.
But he was getting exhausted. There was only so much he could do.
His vision flickers and the ringing in his ears amplifies as the darkness starts to close in on him. The sharp pain that was stabbing throughout his stiffening body was fading into a dull numbness.
Distantly, Hoyeol hears a chanting of strange, angelic voices that sweeps over the cacophony of noises in his ears. In a last ditch effort, Hoyeol shoots his hand out towards the glowing ball of white light in his vision.
I wish I could’ve done more.
“Hey you. You’re finally awake.”