"Anyway, I'll get going now." Tae-Ming said, smiling heartily. "I still have a few things to look after, so I'll get going now."
"Alright."
I watched him leave and then sighed. I couldn't sit around for much longer. I had to get to work too.
That night, I took the night shift once again and my mind accidentally wandered.
I don't exactly remember how it happened if it was my negligence or a mistake on the part of the other workers, but the hilt of the bar at the top shelf, which was holding onto the heavy goods, fell, and all of that heavy stuff fell right on top of me.
It was too late for me to even get out of the way and the next thing I knew, I had been crushed.
I had no idea what had been in those packages and I definitely had no time to be thinking of that since I was losing blood like a water hose.
I could barely see anything and couldn't feel my body either. I couldn't feel anything.
'Help,' the words I wanted to speak from my mouth could not even find their way to my throat. 'I... I don't want to die.' I thought.
I felt my life flashing before my eyes. I was weak and paralyzed, crushed by the same goods I was in charge of counting. And with that, I closed my eyes, feeling my consciousness slowly fade away from me, only to open my eyes right away but in a different surroundings.
I sat up with cold sweat dripping down my pores heavily, startled and confused.
"Hah, hah!" I panted heavily and checked my body. They were all intact.
I was able to move too and I wasn't bleeding from my head. I sighed in relief. I wasn't dead, so all that had probably been a dream. No, it was a nightmare.
Dying in such a cruel manner... I couldn't help but... *Klang*... Wait, what was that sound?
It was then that I noticed that with every movement I made, there was this dull Klanging sound, and it was coming from... I looked at my neck... There was a collar around my neck and connected to it was a thick metal chain whose end was locked to the leg of the bed I was sitting on.
Huh?
Wait, hold on. I must be seeing things cause it was too dark. I should probably put on the lights.
I reached for where my lamp table ought to be but there was nothing there. Through the darkness, I could tell the room was large but all that was in it was the very bed I was sitting on.
At that moment, a scene flashed through my mind.
It was a scene from 'Bruised' where the poor protagonist lay on the moldy and worn-out bed with a chain binding him to his bed and preventing him from escaping his fate. It was one of the beginning scenes.
Right then, it was just as if I was playing out the scene of that broken plot, and I... Was the main protagonist.
"N-no way!"
The scene reminded me of the beginning of chapter two of 'Bruised' where the protagonist was locked in a room for days without any proper meal, his neck chained as though he were a dog.
"No, no, no, no." I shook my head and even clapped my cheeks to get a reality check. "This can't be, right? I've been having too many dreams about it and..."
I paused, remembering how I dreamt of a scene that afternoon and this was something similar.
"Ah, this must be a dream. It's like last time when I was taking a nap. I'm going back to sleep. I'm sure I'll wake up in the hospital or something." I said and dropped to the dusty and worn-out mattress.
I closed my eyes tight, hoping to get out of that dark dream as soon as possible but then, the door flung open, letting in a sharp ray of light into the dark room.
My eyes shot open but I did not raise my head, pretending to sleep. I was backing the door so they wouldn't know if I was awake or not.
Maybe if whoever it was saw that I was sleeping, they would leave me alone.
"Sigh, I can't believe I have to look after this runt for another day. It pisses me off." The grumbling voice sounded tired and pissed at the same time.
Or not. I was starting to forget that in this novel, the protagonist wasn't respected enough to be left alone just because he was sleeping.
But... just what was going on? Why wasn't I awake yet?
Another odd thing I noticed about the novel I read was that the protagonist shared the same name as me.
I gulped.
"Hey, Hwang Jo-Pil." The grumpy grumbling guy called, as he kicked the foot of the bed, startling my heart greatly. "You think you still have time to sleep? Get your ass up, you bastard, and live like the whore you are."
I was a bit confused. Why was I still not waking up in the real world? The amount of fear in my heart should be great enough to jolt me out of this nightmare, so why?
Wait, was it because I was in an accident and I had somehow gone into a coma? Was that why I was still dreaming of this world?
The thought of it was crazy. No, I couldn't believe it.
I clutched my shirt and stayed silent, hoping to hurry up and wake up from this horrid dream but my silence only aggravated the situation and angered the grumpy man.
He clicked his tongue and then grabbed my chain, tugging me by the neck.
"Ah," I exclaimed and he frowned.
"So, this bitch was pretending to be asleep, huh?" He raised his hand, ready to hit me, but I couldn't stay silent and wait for that to happen.
After all, I'm not the quiet and dumb protagonist.
Whether it was a dream or not, I had to at least save my skin from being unjustly hit and try to understand my situation clearly.
"Who are you and...ack," the collar was tight. "...what do you want?"
"Hah," he scoffed, amused. "Look at this shit. Are you seriously pretending to be oblivious? You've been in here for more than a week and..." He exhaled, letting out his anger and I looked at him confused.
Was this really that scene? Yes, it did look similar. Then, if it's as it was in the novel... I glanced at the door... Right at that moment, someone would walk in through the door and...
"What's all the commotion?" The voice of the man wearing nothing but designer and extremely expensive accessories echoed in that still and dark room.