Caí sobre un dios

It was 3:03 AM. The hour when Seoul forgets itself. Jiwoo dragged her delivery bike through an alley that reeked of cold garbage and exhaustion. Her dark circles reached her soul. “Just one more delivery and I’ll sleep for three hours. I swear,” she lied to herself. The GPS, that traitorous piece of technology, directed her along a shortcut. A brazen arrow pointed to a dead-end alley. Jiwoo, her mind fried from sleeplessness, believed it. “I trust you,” she murmured. And she pedaled on. Then the wind changed. It stopped smelling of the city and began to smell of metal. Of emptiness. Of something that shouldn’t exist. In the distance, among broken boxes, a black pit slowly spun. Like an eye that had just opened. Jiwoo braked too late. Her helmet tilted. “W–was that not here before?” One more step. The tire grazed the edge. She lost control and fell into the pit, losing consciousness. A cold that seeped to the bones enveloped her. There was absolute silence. And when everything in her head finally stopped spinning, she felt something soft yet firm. Frightened, Jiwoo recoiled and lifted her gaze. There he was. There was a man so attractive that in her original world she would never have encountered him. He scanned every direction, only to realize that he now lay in a world unknown to his eyes. A golden light escaped from his chest like sand slipping through fingers. Purple cracks floated around him, sparking as he raised his gaze to see the man agonizing. He bore several wounds on his body and his cold look told her he wasn’t someone to be trifled with. He was nearly dead, but the impact had snapped him out of his trance. A deep, animalistic sound escaped his throat. “Ugh.” Inside, every part of him screamed: Discomfort. Pain. Panic. Discomfort, because his perfect death had just been interrupted. Pain, because his body burned and now carried an unexpected weight. Warmth. Life. Something impossible. Panic, because it had been ages since anyone had touched him—and the first to do so had no idea of the rules. Jiwoo blinked. Slowly. Disoriented. The first second was pure panic. The grey snow. A starless sky. Air devoid of Seoul’s scent. Her chest rose and fell, agitated. Her heart hammered against her ribs. “This isn’t real. This isn’t safe.” Fear crawled up her back. The second second was all about flight. She jerked backwards as if the ground were on fire. Her hands sank into the frost. The helmet rolled clac, clac until it finally stopped. “W–where am I? What is this?” her voice trembled. Her eyes desperately searched for an exit that simply wasn’t there. And then she saw him. The third second was a short-circuit. A man. Injured. Bleeding light instead of blood. Hair white as a frozen river. Skin sculpted from ice. And those eyes... gods, those eyes. An empty storm, fixed on her with disdain. He regarded her as one might a stubborn stain. A nuisance. Something repulsive that ruined his final moments. Jiwoo took a second to register it—the metallic taste, the heat in her mouth. There was blood. Not hers... his. His eyes flashed red for barely 0.2 seconds. Something ancient inside her stirred and whispered, “Keep drooling. You’ve marked territory. Mine. There’s no turning back.” The air grew dense. Heavy. Aurenys closed his eyes for a moment. Exhausted. Defeated by pain and by her. “...Discomfort,” he murmured, his voice broken, cold, final. But inside, a storm raged: hatred because it wasn’t leaving him, fear because he couldn’t move, and a treacherous spark of relief—after a thousand years, he wouldn’t die alone. Jiwoo flushed crimson to her core. She nodded like a fool. “Understood, Mr. Discomfort. I mean—NO!” Outside, it was shame. Inside, her heart raced—not from fear, but from him, from how close he was, from the forbidden warmth of his fire against his ice. He wanted her to leave. His body ached to hold onto her. She longed to run. Her mouth craved to ask his name. No one spoke. Yet both breathed in rapid, syncopated rhythms. Ice against fire. Death against life. And in between, a tension that burned without ever making contact. The chapter had only just begun. And neither of them had sa...

Updated September 23, 2026