how romantic

Part 4

Oh. My ceiling.

Roksu blinked owlishly at the sight, settling into the familiar feeling of his own body. The aches of the years that were uniquely his own. That tooth pain he never saw a dentist over because he was sure it wasn't a cavity. The dull ache in his left hip from carrying too many boxes unevenly.

He was definitely in his own body, he didn't even need to sit up to check.

Was it all a dream then?

Definitely not. There was no potential of a dream that vivid existing. Perhaps it might fool him while he was dreaming but there was none of the fog that came after waking up. None of the inconsistencies that marked a dream.

It was real.

Was Naru in my body then?

Roksu rolled over and retrieved his phone, checking the date and frowning.

Seven AM the morning after he went drinking with Choi Han and Jungsu. If he got home around midnight and managed to fall asleep immediately, that was seven hours of sleep.

Roksu sat up in bed while he did the mental math. He'd been awake in Naru's body for at least sixteen hours. Depending on when he changed bodies, that was the shortest amount of time. If he was in Naru's body the entire time she slept, that was a maximum of thirty hours. He'd specifically written that Naru slept seven hours each night.

...just like him...

It felt more likely that the shift was for twenty-four hours though, because that sounded cleaner in a narrative sense and while Roksu didn't quite believe that magic needed to follow narrative sense, it was a high probability to listen to that sort of thing when the magic involved a literal novel.

Was Naru just resting in my body the whole time then?

It felt a bit odd to consider someone else in his body but that was fair. He felt apologetic toward Naru though. While everything he had done since arriving allowed for her to avoid future tragedy, she was also about to wake up to a stranger in her house and no job to speak of.

So the time difference is just about three times as fast?

It was pointless information to gather if the event was a one time only occurrence but since Roksu had no way of knowing what caused it or if it would repeat, he figured it was prudent to gather as much information as possible.

First. Check the manuscript.

If he was going to live in Naru's world, even for a second longer, it was best to change the plot. Screw the publisher, this was about survival. Even more importantly, if Naru actually lived inside of a world with real people inside and he had any control over that...

Roksu stared blankly at his computer screen.

...where was the file...?

Heart throbbing in his chest, not just for the uneasy future but also the angry calls he was going to get from his editor, Roksu checked for the backups. The shared folder. He even started looking for the notebook where he'd doodled down various ideas.

Nothing.

Blank.

The wrist pain that came from a job with such consistently repetitive movements throbbed wretchedly as Roksu stared in shock at the disappearance of nearly seventy thousand words of manuscript.

I wrote it. I know I wrote it. It has to be here.

Numbly, Roksu pulled out his phone and found his editor's number. Choi Jung Gun was merciless to mistakes like this but he didn't have any other choice but to ask for an extension.