One ordinary night, Klaus was lying on his bed, the dim lights of the room barely illuminating the space. Resting on his legs was Walter, his faithful golden retriever, breathing calmly and warm, like a small anchor amidst the chaos of his mind.
Klaus had a bowl of popcorn beside him, and in his hands, his phone. It was his little escape, that moment when he could stop being the invisible, boring office worker and dive into worlds created by others.
He liked reading webtoons, those digital comics where authors brought to life characters and universes much more interesting than his own reality.
That night, more out of curiosity than anything else, he opened a recommendation: Lookism.
At first, he thought it would just be another distraction, but something in the story grabbed him from the very first page. The way the protagonist dealt with the duality between how the world saw him and who he really was struck a chord Klaus didn't know he had.
Every day, after coming home exhausted from work, he closed the door on his gray world and prepared his bowl of popcorn. He lay back on the bed, placed Walter on his legs, and opened a new chapter.
It was his ritual.
A silent way of telling himself there was something beyond the routine.
Something that, even if it was just drawings and words, made him feel he wasn't so alone.
But there was one character who caught his attention… Johan Seong, a prodigy of Lookism, a boy who seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Despite being discriminated against for his appearance and living in an environment full of prejudice, Johan never lost his essence.
His struggle wasn't only against others, but against his own insecurities.
Every time Johan faced adversity, he found within himself a silent strength that pushed him forward.
But what moved Klaus the most was something else: the deep love Johan felt for his dogs.
Those dogs weren't just pets to Johan, but his family, his refuge in a hostile world.
He protected them with the same ferocity with which he faced his enemies, and he loved them more than anyone.
That loyalty and unconditional affection reminded Klaus of his own Walter, his faithful companion, his inseparable friend.
He also remembered how Johan loved his mother despite everything, how that loyalty and love remained intact even though the world seemed to want to destroy him.
That touched him deeply, because in Johan he saw reflected something Klaus himself had lost: the ability to hold on to what truly matters, no matter how broken he was inside.
That's how I was for a year. Every day, after work, the ritual with Walter and the webtoons gave me a breath, a spark of life.
But one day, everything changed.
Walter began showing signs of tiredness: he no longer wanted to go for walks, his energy slowly faded, and trips to the vet became more frequent.
The illness was inevitable. Kidney failure that, despite care, took my companion away.
I remember the last night, when he curled up on my legs, weaker than ever, but with that look full of trust and affection he always had.
I buried him in the forest, one of his favorite places. There, where he always ran free, where the trees witnessed our laughter and games.
The following days were hard. The house felt emptier, and my motivation had collapsed.
But amid that silence, I understood something.
I had to keep going.
For me.
And for Walter, who had been more than a dog; he had been my friend, my anchor in a world that many times seemed to want to drag me down.
He said to himself, with a mix of tiredness and determination, as the words came out almost in a whisper:
"Even if life throws me a thousand challenges, I will remain the same cheerful and strong boy I once was. I will never again let anything or anyone make me feel inferior."
His voice sounded faint in the shadows of his room, but it was the only truth he had at that moment.
That night, after an exhausting day, Klaus arrived at his small apartment. He threw his suitcase to the floor carelessly, the dull noise echoing in the silent room.
Without even changing, he let himself fall onto the bed with a heavy sigh, closing his eyes to escape the routine that consumed him.
The world outside those four walls was gray, monotonous, but that moment was his. Just him and the silence.
However, outside, in the darkness that covered the city, something else watched.
An ethereal figure, white and luminous, floated slowly. Its shape was human, but it had no face. Only a big, shining smile stood out, almost mocking, in the void where its eyes should have been.
Its presence seemed to hover between the tangible and the unreal, like a whisper from another world sneaking into reality.
In the room, Klaus breathed calmly, unaware that that faceless smile was watching him from the shadows.
And in an instant, as fast as a blink, Klaus Eisen, who rested on his bed, vanished.
The air remained untouched, but his absence echoed like a reverberation in the silence of the night.
It wasn't a normal awakening.
It wasn't a dream, either.
It was more like... a leap. As if my mind had disconnected from the world for a second, like when you blink... but when you open your eyes again, you're no longer in the same place.
I knew it instantly. The air smelled different. The bed was too soft. And the ceiling... I swear I'd never seen that pattern before.
I blinked several times.
I didn't react as one would expect. I didn't scream. I didn't sit up suddenly. I just... observed.
A fan was spinning slowly above my head, casting broken shadows across the room. To the right, a shelf with sports trophies. To the left, a half-open window with gray curtains. The noise of cars and students walking outside told me it was morning.
I sat up.
The sheets fell down my chest. I looked at my hands.
They weren't my hands.
Thinner. The knuckles were prominent. The nails were manicured. The veins... Why were they so visible?
I jumped up, almost tripping over my own feet, and ran to the mirror hanging on the closet wall. What I saw took my breath away.
It was the face of a Korean boy. Dark hair, slightly tousled. Light dark circles under his eyes. A thin mouth. And slanted eyes, somewhat tired, but... intense.
It wasn't me.
It was Suhyeon Kim.
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Author's Note:
I'm leaving you this chapter ahead of schedule. I realized that this volume was going to exceed 30 chapters, and I had originally planned it to have around 20. That's why I decided to adjust some things, leaving only the most important parts. This means that some scenes might be a bit rushed, but the essential context will remain.
Also, I want to clarify that there will be new chapters throughout this week. After that, I'll have to pause the publications a bit due to my exams. From then on, I will post at least one chapter per week, and occasionally two. I hope you understand, and thank you for your patience.