You shoot up in your seat, and you stare at the surrounding.
You're in your room, sitting at your desk.
You were hit by a truck what do you mean you're at your desk?
In front of you is your laptop, on chapter 165 of the Solo Leveling manhwa.
You had a dream.
A long dream that you saw Sung Jinwoo, met Sung Jinwoo, dated him, loved him, protect him... and let him die and then delete you.
You stretch, and you stare outside the window.
Your phone tells you it's the same year, that it's two days before work starts up again.
Conveniently, it's two days before you got hit by the truck.
Huh... I thought that time would've at least progressed forward.
You laugh, and tears roll out of your eyes.
It was comical. You got hit by a classic white truck, opened your eyes in a manhwa, and lived there.
No family, no support except for that limitless credit card in your inventory.
Yet you were stubborn enough to survive through all of that.
...
How funny.
And in the end, you were still helpless.
You didn't belong there.
You were an outsider.
You stare at your laptop again.
The light novel, the manhwa, and the wiki were all pulled up.
Right. You could try and shift. But even if you did, you would only be a viewer. Or technically you could return to Jinwoo but it never worked.
You stare at the notes scrambled on your desk, and all of them were shifting methods.
You never succeeded.
Staring at the newest chapter of the manhwa, you find that Jinwoo got his happy ending with Haein just as you had read.
You smile.
That was how it was supposed to be.
You reach to close your laptop. You need some rest after all of that.
Your phone buzzes.
[Notification: Solo leveling updated new chapter]
Wasn't the light novel already completed? I'm not complaining though.
You open your laptop, and you race to see what the new chapter was about.
In an alternate timeline, Jinwoo never moved on, was never able to feel love. A portion of his past was carved away, and his ability to love disappeared with it.
The hunter helped the world, became friends with everyone in his past, and spent the rest of his days wandering the soul of the earth.
Y/n L/n, the unprecedented part of the story, the player two that stuck by Jinwoo through thick and thin, and eventually deleted by the system.
Y/n L/n, the piece of the monarch's past that had been cruelly ripped away from him.
Jinwoo spent the rest of his days of eternity wandering through the earth.
Hoping to find a way to remember his past.
Hoping that somehow, he would be able to remember those warm hands full of affection.
The words that never let him go a day without laughing.
The hugs, crashes, wild comments.
The harsh words spewed out when he was hurt.
The shield that protected him from any excess harm.
His hands remember their body, his heart remembers their love, he remembered everything about them except for their name. Their features.
But you all know, that once upon a time, there was a character named Y/n L/n who rewrote the entire novel.
The creator of the system, the very life that created and helped the world lose a little less people.
Then one day, Jinwoo finds something.
A scrapbook.
Tucked in a tree in a location that he visited plenty of times.
Pictures of him in action, memes of him found online, articles with his name and descriptions.
Comments, thrist jokes, quoted memes.
Finally at the bottom,
Sincerely signed by Y/n L/n
Then Jinwoo remembers something.
"I gained the ability called shifting. You close your eyes, and you imagine, imagine hard about the person that you love, and you'll leave your body and become one with their universe." They laugh. "But it's only in name. Some people can do it, some people can't. I can't... so the universe hit me with a truck instead. That's how I ended up here!"
Searching his files with frantic hands, he tries to find the ability.
The system is gone.
Just like Y/n.
Jinwoo closes his eyes, thinks hard, writes it down.
Nothing works.
Jinwoo tries, but he keeps failing.
His ability is there, he just can't activate it.
He doesn't know what universe they're in.
Which timeline they're in.
He's helpless against it.
He can't feel their touch anymore.
"But then the universe takes pity on him.
"My child. Ashborne's vessel. Try imagining a world just like yours. With bustling lights, bright people, and harm like any other universe... Then remember the system that held them... the one that you erased..."
Jinwoo tries until he succeeds, and he finds himself somewhere familiar.
[Skill: Shifting utilized! Enjoy your stay in this universe]
He's in a city of bustling lights
No portals, no monsters.
It's just like his world after he turned back time.
Everyone's a stranger, he knows no one.
He wanders around, and he follows his heart.
And he follows his feet to wherever they would lead him.
Past the park that he used to run through with Y/n.
Past the building that was the tower of hell.
Past his home, where he had dinner with Y/n for 8 years.
Past the building, where he got ranked with Y/n.
Past the gym that he trained with Y/n in.
Past the countless portals that he had cleared with them.
Past the fried chicken place that he had visited countless times with them.
As he passes all these places, he can't help but think that he's still in his own world.
Perhaps Y/n never disappeared.
Perhaps he was just delusional to think that Y/n was completely missing.
Finally, he finds himself in front of an apartment.
An unknown apartment.
Hesitating at the door, he breathes to calm himself.
He takes a leap, and he opens the door.
It's warm here.
It doesn't look anything like his home, but it felt so warm.
Just like how he imagined his future with Y/n to be.
And he finds the person he's been looking for inside their room.
Their laptop open, reading the new chapter intently.
Shaking from their tears.
Three empty boxes of tissues next to them, the tissue paper all over the floor from wiping their tears.
Missing him just as much as he missed them.
And with a breathy sigh, he lets a tear roll down his cheek.
"I'm home... love."
They turn around, tears brimming, and at their door stands the very man they loved.
"... welcome home... Jinwoo""
The door to your room opens.
"Love?"
Eyes brimming with tears, you sob into the stranger's chest.
You knew this man, you knew his scent, his build, his body just like you knew your own.
"Welcome home... welcome home... I missed you so much... Jinwoo..."
Wrapping his arms around you, he lets out a breath shakily.
"... I'm home... love..."