The Horizon of a Disappearing Fiction

Monday. Eun-ho departed the household incredibly early in the morning, claiming he had to attend his university classes, and Eun-soo vanished immediately after consuming breakfast, citing an urgent occupational matter. Consequently, I was the single, solitary individual left lounging around the house like a completely useless piece of human debris. Had I possessed an inkling that the day would unfold in this manner, I would have refrained from utilizing my annual leave. Even though I would have instantly fallen prey to a deep sense of regret the exact moment I stepped onto the commuter bus, having absolutely zero tasks to execute made me miss the deferred corporate schedule. Rolling aimlessly around beneath the duvet while mindlessly unlocking and locking my smartphone display, I finally forced myself into a sitting position.

Since I am intensely bored, perhaps I should review ‘The Dragon’s Empire’.

While the specific domain to which ‘Kaian’ belonged had already fractured significantly from the original manuscript, the baseline structural settings and the macro-level historical incidents remained intact, meaning it would be highly beneficial to inspect the text once more. I promptly accessed the web novel application and entered the bookmarks tab.

The 9th-Class Archmage Grasps a Blade, I Opened My Eyes and Discovered I Am the Dragon Lord’s Son, The Manager with Iron Fists, The Director is Immune to All Poisons, The Disappearance of the Good-for-Nothing 7th Imperial Prince… Good grief, I had consumed an immense volume of texts. Scanning the title cards with my eyes, I dragged my thumb across the glass to scroll downward. While I had previously believed that being thoroughly crushed by corporate labor left me with absolutely zero leisure time to maintain a hobby, if I had simply spent the hours consumed by these novels at a local fitness center instead, I would easily be sporting a magnificent six-pack in place of this prominent abdominal fat.

Resting my bare hand against my stomach, I scrolled to the absolute bottom of the log.

From there, I began reading the titles upward once more.

Wait. Why is it missing? Did I somehow overlook it? Staring intently at the liquid crystal display, I opened the search interface. The Dragon’s Empire. Search. A digital cover depicting Lamierre Weaver grasping a magical staff should have materialized instantly, yet the query results remained completely blank. Was it hosted on an entirely different serialization platform? I opened every single alternative reading application installed on the smartphone to execute the query.

No search results found.

Staring at the grey text hovering over the absolute center of the blank white window, I bypassed the web novel platforms entirely to access a standard internet browser. While the query yielded an assortment of films, novels, television dramas, and interactive games possessing similar nomenclature, the specific text I had consumed—the novel where ‘Lamierre Weaver’ operated as the central protagonist—failed to materialize.

Did the serialization of The Dragon’s Empire simply never occur within this specific timeline?

…But Kyung explicitly stated he had read it.

I transmitted an immediate text message.

[Hey, you know that thing]

[Kyung-i: ?]

[The novel featuring a protagonist who is an exact mirror of you]

[Kyung-i: ?]

[Come on, why are you acting like this]

[You explicitly stated you read it last time]

[Kyung-i: ?]

[Kyung-i: Brother, I am currently stepping into a lecture hall]

[Kyung-i: Give me 10 minutes]

[Okay]

Right. The fellow was still an active university student. Today was a scheduled day of academic instruction for his curriculum. Rubbing my eyes while staring blankly at the chat log where the read receipt notification stubbornly refused to vanish, the realization struck me that I hadn’t even washed my face simply because I lacked a corporate shift today, prompting me to rise from the floor.

By the time I returned to the room after completing a thorough, refreshing shower, an accumulation of five distinct messages from Kyung occupied the display.

[Kyung-i: A novel?]

[Kyung-i: There is a protagonist who looks exactly like me?]

[Kyung-i: He must be profoundly magnificent then]

[Kyung-i: What is the exact title?]

[Kyung-i: By the way, are you not occupied with tasks today, senior?]

It wasn’t a structural error where my dazed mind had misheard his words… No, that was completely impossible. Within the interior of the taxi we boarded immediately after vacating the medical center, Kyung had undeniably referenced the narrative of The Dragon’s Empire.

[Inside the taxi, you explicitly—]

[Never mind]

[Exactly when does your lecture conclude?]

[Kyung-i: My shift is finished. Are you currently logging corporate overtime, senior? (laughing emoticon)]

[I took annual leave today]

The smartphone vibrated instantly with an incoming call from Kyung. Staring at the two characters representing ‘Kyung-i’ on the glass, I slid the icon to answer.

“Yeah.”

• Senior! Grab a meal with me. Because I am a crusty, returning old-timer student, absolutely zero individuals are willing to consume food alongside me.

Whether he was genuinely ecstatic or simply energetic, Kyung’s voice resonated through the receiver at a significantly higher pitch.

“Should I travel over to your location?”

• Do you desire to do so? Wait, hold on. No. The immediate vicinity of the campus grounds feels structurally unsafe. I harbor an underlying intuition that we will collide with Eun-ho.

Kyung continued his rapid-fire chatter without a single pause.

• Senior Eun-chan. I experience an intense craving for meat. Let’s head over to that specific charcoal pork rib establishment we visited previously. You know the place, right? The one your corporate team frequently utilizes for company dinners.

“Exactly how long will it take you to arrive?”

• If I depart from this exact coordinate, let’s see. If I hail a taxi, it will require a mere ten minutes.

“In that case, head over first and execute the ordering process. My transit time will be twenty minutes.”

• Roger that.

The line disconnected with a sharp click. Shaking my head vigorously to dispel the deep, lingering anxiety from my mind, I utilized a dry towel to roughly dry my damp hair.

While riding inside a taxi toward the coordinate, a text message from Kyung registered on the device.

[Kyung-i: Are you currently in transit?]

[Yeah]

[Kyung-i: I have already arrived. The moment you step through the threshold, I will be completely visible]

[I am almost at the location]

[Kyung-i: (cheering puppy emoticon)]

The prominent commercial signage of the charcoal-fired rib establishment materialized right across the street. “Should I execute a U-turn?” the driver questioned. I extended my credit card, replying, “Simply deposit me right here.” Completing the financial transaction, I stepped out of the vehicle and walked over to the pedestrian crossing, where the signal light shifted to green with impeccable timing.

Throughout the entire duration of the taxi ride, I had continuously executed search queries, yet absolutely nothing manifested. Reactivating the smartphone display, the digital interface immediately revealed the log of my recent search history: The Dragon’s Empire, Kallios, Lamierre Weaver, Capre, Arnebs.

A structural possibility existed that the fiction… that The Dragon’s Empire simply did not exist here. The reality that this space wasn’t my original world but remained trapped within a narrative framework was explicitly proven by the existence of the two Kallioses born as Jung Eun-chan’s younger brothers. Integrating an original source novel inside a fictional universe was a structural choice that served only to overcomplicate the underlying settings. Therefore, its complete absence was entirely logical.

However, Kyung had undeniably stated he read the text. He had questioned me with absolute precision regarding why his character was a reflection of an entity destined to endure nothing but constant loss. Accessing Kyung’s chatroom once more, a thought surfaced: Is this punk feigning ignorance purely to execute a prank at my expense? No, that didn’t align with his baseline temperament.

Navigating past the expansive concrete parking lot belonging to the establishment, I stepped into the interior. Seated beside a circular metallic table, Kyung raised both of his arms to wave enthusiastically. I marched directly over to his coordinate and settled into the seat opposite his form. Having executed the order in advance, a spread of side dishes already decorated the metallic surface. A few empty plates indicated he had already sample the banchan.

“You could have taken your time arriving. You should have completely dried your hair before stepping outside.”

“It’s perfectly fine. I don’t feel cold.”

While an intense urge existed to interrogate Kyung immediately regarding the structural mystery of The Dragon’s Empire, I firmly checked the impulse. The charcoal fire had not yet been deposited inside the table, and the raw meat had failed to materialize. Engineering a precise timing sequence simply to discuss a fantasy web novel struck me as a fraction absurd, yet to my current consciousness, it was an issue of paramount importance.

I observed Kyung as he continually popped the side dishes into his mouth. Locking eyes with my form, he promptly slid the dish he had been sampling directly toward my coordinate. It was a platter of pan-fried king oyster mushrooms.

“This specific item is remarkably delicious.”

“Consume it yourself. My focus is entirely anchored on the meat.”

“Come on. An individual must balance their intake with side dishes alongside the meat. Ah, the main event has arrived.”

Kyung shifted his upper body backward. A basin of glowing charcoal was lowered inside the core of the table, topped immediately by a metallic grill bearing pre-seared meat. Gripping a pair of metal tongs, I began flipping the pieces of meat across the surface—which hadn’t even achieved a proper temperature yet—while carefully selecting my words.

Do you possess a proper recollection of the dialogue we exchanged inside the taxi two days ago?

Did I explicitly state that a fictional protagonist existed who mirrored your exact traits?

Did I actually execute that action? Asserting that you resembled ‘Lamierre,’ an entity destined to lose everything?

To you… from me?

…

“Kyung-ah.”

“Yes?”

A sharp sizzle echoed from the meat resting over the heated grill. I began flipping the smaller fragments one by one.

“At this exact moment… I am enduring a dream.”

Was this a statement I was structurally permitted to articulate?

I lacked the certainty.

“The truth is, I actually perished during that historical incident.”

“Senior?”

“It wasn’t a scenario where I simply lost consciousness from sheer shock without colliding with the truck; my physical form was completely obliterated.”

“Eun-chan-hyung.”

“The pain was intensely severe. No, to be precise, I died. There wasn’t a single shred of leisure to observe a panoramic review of my life or anything of the sort. The moment the thought ‘I am going to die’ registered, my existence simply concluded. Do you comprehend?”

A stream of grey smoke wafted up from the burning charcoal. Dragging the metallic exhaust vent downward to hover right above the grill, I continued my monologue.

“Kyung-ah. I do not possess younger brothers.”

“…”

“Following my demise… after I somehow returned to a state of living, you were the single, solitary entity I missed and regretted leaving behind. I do not possess a family, nor do I own any grand assets. The single thread of connection anchoring my existence to reality is you.”

Plucking the meat away from a sudden flare of crimson flame, I flipped the pieces once more before fixing my gaze entirely on Kyung’s face.

The entity seated before my form was merely a fabrication inhabiting a false domain. He was not the true Kyung I had yearned for—the single, solitary lingering attachment belonging to the historical Jung Eun-chan.

The archives of memory possessed by this boy would naturally diverge from my own.

However.

“Does the version of Kyung who exchanged dialogue with me inside that taxi still exist within you?”

The version of Kyung who possessed a memory of reading The Dragon’s Empire would naturally share an identical consciousness with mine.

“The version of Kyung who stepped up to operate as the chief mourner at the funeral of Jung Eun-chan—an individual who possessed zero family, zero assets, and absolutely no friends aside from yourself, excluding Eun-ho and Eun-soo.”

Staring blankly at my form, Kyung began vigorously rubbing his own forearm before articulating a response.

“Ah, seriously, hyung. Why on earth are you acting like this? It’s genuinely terrifying. Who exactly is dying? And what on earth are you talking about a chief mourner for?”

Snatching the metal tongs resting before my hand, Kyung began busily flipping the pieces of meat that had commenced to char.

I offered absolutely zero verbal rebuttals, choosing instead to stare intently at Kyung’s facial features. Kyung hastily unleashed a torrent of words, claiming he had recognized something was amiss the exact moment a corporate workaholic announced an annual leave day, declaring that Jung Eun-chan was behaving incredibly strangely—before abruptly freezing mid-sentence. I locked eyes with his tightly clamped lips… observing his expression, which seemed distinctly laced with a trace of underlying anger. Kyung called my name once more.

“Eun-chan-hyung.”

Kyung began stacked the neatly sliced fragments of meat into a tidy mound directly before my plate.

“That specific narrative is the dream.”

Listening to his absolute, unyielding declaration, I lifted my wooden chopsticks. As I deposited a perfectly cooked piece of pork into my mouth to chew deliberately, Kyung continued.

“The scenario where you perished is the illusion, and this exact reality is the truth.”

“…”

“The meat tastes magnificent, correct? Within a dream, consuming food yields absolutely zero flavor profiles. Furthermore… an individual typically awakes from slumber the exact moment before they can consume the food they expended immense effort to grill.”

Utilizing the tongs to lift a hot fragment of meat to his lips, Kyung let out a sharp “Hot!” before dropping it onto his personal plate. Touching a pair of metal tongs that had been resting directly over a charcoal fire against one’s bare lips was a structural error bound to yield a burn.

“Are you an absolute idiot?”

“Ah, you happen to be a significantly grander idiot, hyung!”

The reality that his pronunciation was completely slurred due to his fingers pinching his lower lip was intensely amusing. Unleashing a soft laugh at his pathetic display, I prepared a massive wrap utilizing the leafy greens and consumed it. The meat was undeniably spectacular, and my consciousness remained anchored within this specific domain until my stomach achieved absolute capacity. While I was fully aware that the underlying nature of this dream diverged entirely from the definition Kyung articulated, I lacked the confidence to logically convince him, nor did a structural necessity exist to do so, prompting me to resolve never to mention the web novel again.

We executed two additional orders of meat, devouring a grand total of seven portions between the two of us. The exact moment a light tap to my stomach threatened to induce a physical backflow of food, we finally deposited our chopsticks onto the table, proceeding immediately to catch the 4DX film screening we had missed previously. Bypassing the midway point of the broadcast, Kyung proved utterly incapable of enduring the violent oscillations of the mechanized seating, fleeing toward the restroom facilities. What an absolute fool.

Well, even so.

Observing that he possessed the capacity to firmly check his tears now—an action he was completely incapable of executing in the past—indicated that Kyung had achieved a significant amount of maturity.

What exactly is the underlying nature of this world?

For what structural purpose has my consciousness been deposited here?

Eun-ho was waiting right in front of the villa entrance. Maintaining a slow, deliberate stride to facilitate digestion, the moment my eyes locked onto his form standing completely still beside a utility pole, I accelerated my pace to close the distance. Catching the sound of my approaching footsteps, Eun-ho shifted his gaze toward me.

“Brother.”

“Why are you standing outside?”

“I possessed an intuition that you would return around this exact time.”

His warm fingers brushed against my cheeks, which had been thoroughly chilled by the November wind.

“Your skin feels like absolute ice.”

“It’s not particularly cold. The walk actually generated a fair amount of sweat.”

Brushing my bangs aside, I offered my forehead for his inspection. Eun-ho pressed his palm against my skin before expertly sweeping the disheveled strands back into proper alignment.

“What about dinner?”

“I consumed an immense volume of food during lunch.”

Grasping my hand firmly within his palm, the fellow guided me toward the interior of the villa. The sensation… felt remarkably akin to being taken into official custody.

The interior of the household was entirely vacant. It appeared Eun-soo’s occupational commitments were extending significantly. The exact moment I crossed into the quiet interior, I located the remote control to illuminate the television screen. Eun-ho activated the living room lights. The dark space was instantly flooded with absolute illumination, accompanied by the boisterous sounds of human dialogue.

“Have you consumed a meal yet?”

“Not yet. I intended to eat the moment you returned, brother…”

Inspecting the wall clock, the hands indicated it was slightly prior to seven-thirty. It was precisely the standard window to execute a evening meal.

“Should we consume a meal together?”

“You explicitly stated you were entirely full.”

“In that case, I can simply sit directly across from your position to maintain company.”

Eun-ho stared at my form for a brief moment before uttering a quiet “Okay,” marching straight into the kitchen. Watching his retreating back, I flopped heavily onto the surface of the living room sofa.