Worlds Apart | Book 1 Wonderland | Jungwon X Reader

007

The sun rose on the quiet town, and you heard Jungwon's rustling on the other end of the room. He was already dressed in a new day's clothes, folding your now-washed discarded pair.

"Good morning," He said, putting down his project.

"Morning. How did you sleep?"

"Who knows," Jungwon's eyebrow raised. "Sleep is a journey within itself. Through dream or dark, I cannot recall."

"So, well."

"Yes."

He resumed his folding of clothes, humming a childhood rhyme under his breath. It would've been a calming sight if not for the twisting in your gut. Perhaps he'd slept well, but all night the only thing on your mind had been the old woman's words.

"I suppose it would be the same as yours, now wouldn't it?"

What was your dream? How did the old woman understand so vividly what you couldn't? And, how had Jay known that you'd be able to gain access to the City of Dreams? How did he know that the Rabbit haunted its streets?

Your head ached from the sheer complexity of the puzzle you'd been presented with.

When Jungwon finished humming, he stood, sitting next to you on your small hotel bed. "What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know," You admitted, head drooping into your palms. You tried with much difficulty to explain your conversation with the hotel owner, and it seemed that your companion at least semi-understood.

"So only those with dreams can enter?"

"And only those with hope can escape."

He thought for a moment, blowing out a soft breath. "Then we must keep our hope as we search the streets. I'd suggest interacting as little as possible with the Lost. Wemblyton, although not mentioned by name, is a child's tale. You don't want to know what those...things are capable of."

You nodded, shivers echoing through every crevice of your body. "Where do you suppose we start?"

"That's up to you," Jungwon murmured, letting you lean your head against his shoulder. "Only the hunter can catch the Rabbit, Ace of Spades."

"I wish I'd never been granted that title."

"Blessing or curse, you must live with it, at least until you find the Exit."

"I suppose," You said.

"I suppose," He repeated.

-

Unlike the nighttime, the streets were now bustling with townsfolk. Or rather, haunted by.

The people of Wemblyton — the Lost, as Jungwon had called them — stumbled slowly through the streets, seemingly lost. Their moans of pain echoed in your ears like bullets scraping at your skin. It was pitiful. Horrid. A nightmare.

"Why would the Rabbit choose to haunt such a place," You hissed, peering around the crowded streets.

"It's not easy to enter, but not hard to exit. As long as you hold hope."

You understood this, and yet, you didn't. "These people suck the hope out of me, I can feel their loss from here."

The boy laughed. He was the only source of light in the dreary town. "I believe the Rabbit is far, far from losing hope in his cause."

The two of you ambled down the streets, having to push off the occasional beggar or lost soul. It drained you thoroughly.

But there was no rabbit in sight. Nowhere in the crowd had you spotted the face you'd so carefully memorized. And it angered you.