Uncaring of everyone, all he saw in his vision were the open doors of the church. He might have heard some shouts calling for him, but he still ran to the light to save his life. Outside, it was bright. It took him several blinks to further adjust to seeing this much light, and his speed slowed.
He stumbled out of the church and into its garden, where an ornate fountain stood proudly at the center (??), its waters catching the light in a dazzling spray. All around, beds of flowers spilled over in extravagant colors and arrangements (??), so meticulously tended it felt unreal. It was overwhelming—far too lavish, almost dreamlike. Hard to believe that such a place even existed in the heart of Seoul.
"Wow... such a clear sky. It's been a while; it's usually just pollution everywhere. The air quality is great today!"
Wait, wasn't it night time when he was struck by the lightning? Then how long has it been since he was out? Was he even in Seoul right now?
"Ellis!"
Just as he was questioning everything with a dumb expression etched on his face, the man who had been calling him by 'that' name caught him by the arm, and he was instantly turned to face the man.
"You—don't hold on to me so tightly. It's not like I'm running away..."
He responded as calmly as he could. Although no one followed after him out of the church, this man was difficult to brush away, sticking to him like gum under his shoe sole. If he was really in a new place, it was better to go out into a crowd and ask for help, but this man was dead serious on not letting him go no matter how much he struggled.
"Ellis, do you know the consequences of those words you just said in front of everyone?... For now, stop running around in a loose cloth and let's go home."
He rubbed his closed eyes with a pinch of his fingers as he spoke, sounding troubled. The man started dragging him to the gate in the distance as if he was also running away from everyone after kidnapping the person of attention.
"Let me go! Where even are we right now? My house isn't here."
"For now, we're staying in the capital—have you forgotten already? Then again, I doubt you're even mentally stable at the moment."
"..."
He tried and tired of struggling, but it seemed like the man would just drag his body through the mud too, so he quietly walked on his own accord. Maybe he was missing some major piece of information here, or everyone he had met so far had mistaken him for someone else. It had to be either of the two. The name that this man was using seemed to be the person's name he was being mistaken as.
"But mister, who are you? I don't recognize you."
The man in front, holding him by the arm, stopped walking as he asked, but continued again.
"You're Ellis Montfort... I'm your only family, your father."
"Father?"
"Yes."
His gaze dropped to the ground as he muttered the word 'father,' and his body tensed. His eyes observed the unfamiliar body he was controlling. Only now, looking at himself, did he notice that this body wasn't the one he'd had for 21 years of his life. His limbs weren't this short, nor were his feet—stepping on the damp cobblestone path—this soft and white. He glanced at his left arm, which was spotless... although he used to have a few quite visible moles on his left arm.
"Stand here. Don't go anywhere. I'll call the carriage."
The presumed father draped a coat over his body as he walked out the gate. He watched the man go and decided to follow to peek outside. There was a clear and smooth cobblestone road outside the gate, and the guards standing to the sides were clad in heavy armour. He exchanged some rather awkward glances with the guards before two black horses pulled a black, lacquered wood carriage with silver trims to the gate before him.
And that's how he came to know how truly fucked his situation was.
†††
Writing down the last word of the synopsis in Korean, he finally completed it and put down the pen, facing the person standing at his side.
"It's very unsettling to have you here."
This lady around his age was his personal maid, but he felt uneasy being in his room with a stranger. Can't he have some privacy in his own room?
"Young master... did I do something wrong?"
She muttered weakly. They both stared at each other in silence for a while before he spoke again.
"Can you just stay out of my room?"
"Haa... I'll definitely reflect back on my actions and apologize when I find out what I did to upset you."
Sighing, the lady hesitantly looked back and went out of the room. He had been careful not to sound mean, but his personal maid had a personality of taking everything the wrong way. It had been a few hours since he woke up in this new world, and in that time, he had realized what had happened.
Ellis intertwined his fingers and put his lower face on his hands as his elbows rested on the desk before him.
I'm in the world of a web novel.
He was very familiar with the concept of reincarnation into fiction. The app he used to read web novels was full of such stories. Who knew it could happen in real life too? And that wasn't the worst thing. The worst of them all was that the web novel he was inside right now was the most popular one on the app. A boy's love. He wasn't particularly fond of that genre, but he was curious to know which web novel was on top of the charts for so long. He hadn't read any of the chapters—just the synopsis.
Just the synopsis...