The Villain Of Arise

ii: "am I in a novel?"

Kim Jaehyung opened his eyes to a room that was luxurious beyond comparison to his old home.
"Am I dreaming?" he murmured as he slowly got out of his bed and let his back rest on the bed head.

The window was huge, outlooking the city below. As it was, Jaehyung could see that night was just falling. He got out of bed to look out of the twinkling city and the cars going past down below. The room he was in was dim, the only light seen by the window as the last rays of sunlight seeped through and serenaded the room in its glow.

Jaehyung let out a breath of relief. "This is quite a refreshing dream." he murmured.

Feeling tired, he went back in bed and closed his eyes. Although this wasn't real, at least it was a refreshing break from the real world.

~

The next morning, Jaehyung woke up to the same room again. Blinking in wariness, he looked around the room with groggy eyes.

Confused, his vision still hazy, he reached out to get his phone but ended up stumbling towards the floor instead. He groaned, clutching his head in pain and his eyes shut tightly. Footsteps neared and the door slammed open.

"Master!" A foreigner-looking woman entered the room.

Kim Jaehyung instantly got up and straightened his back. "Who are you again?"

The woman blinked, looking slightly stunned, "I am Mina Nakamura, your bodyguard."

Kim Jaehyung frowned, "What do you mean?" he asked, a slight shrill tone at the end of the sentence. "I have no bodyguard! This is not where I live!"

He started to panic, slowly stepping away from the stranger. She took a step forward but he held up a hand. "Stop!" he commanded. "Get away from me!"

Mina faltered and stopped, "Master," she said. "You ended up caught in an elemental attack and suffered quite greatly. This is the first time you've woken up since a week ago."

"A week ago? I awoke yesterday! There was nobody around and I assumed it was a dream!" Kim Jaehyung felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Where in the world was he?

Mina clenched her fists and swore, "-doctors!" she looked up and saw his terrified gaze before relaxing. "Right now we're at your penthouse. Do you remember where you live?"

He shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no! I live in a poor home. This is a dream, isn't it?" Yet it felt so real.

Mina took a few steps backwards. "Poor? Master, your family is by far the richest in the world!"

"What is my name?" he demanded.

"Kim Jaehyung, Master." Mina replied.

"Whe-where... no, no what world am I in?"

"This is Earth? We're in the capital right now."

His breathing quickened and his palms felt sweaty. His nerves was a mess. Suddenly waking up in a different place with no idea where he was and what identity he had. "Leave me be!" he pleaded. "I need to think!" he turned around and strided away, relaxing and letting out a sigh of relief as the footsteps faded away and a distant sound of a door clicked shut.

He looked at his reflection through the window and his heart stopped. Staring back at him was an unfamiliar face. He gazed at the reflection in shock.

Looking closely, Jaehyung, with a stark realization, found out that the person looking back at him was indeed himself, except obviously leaner, taller and a huge loss of weight compared to his actual self.

The person staring back at him looked less like a dead zombie from tiredness, but looked anew and afresh. The features he had still looked the same but with an obvious angular shape that hadn't been in his old self before. The eyes that stared back had the same colour, but with a striking glint that he couldn't help but not take his eyes off.

The person that was his reflection was handsome. Something he was not. Kim Jaehyung stood back and clutched at his face before slapping himself. He winced in pain as the sting of the slap entered into his senses. What was going on?

He closed his eyes and went towards the bathroom where he could not help but stare at the face reflected there. It overwhelmed Jaehyung, to the point where it was disbelief. It took a moment to get to his senses.

Mina Nakamura. Arise. Kim Jaehyung. This was too surreal to the point where it left him on the brink of terror and nervousness.

He didn't want to admit it, didn't want it to be true. But with the current situation - it all seemed too good to be true.

"Am I in a novel?"