The Day I Died in My Dreams

In the corner of my room, as a progenitor vampire, I clearly met my end as a human that day in my dream.

All my memories have been eroded and faded away, yet that single moment remains vividly etched in my mind, tormenting me even in my dreams.

My consciousness sank as if severed from the world.

I remember the senses blurring within it, and the heartbeat that grew weaker and weaker.

But what is this?

I, who had accepted death, opened my eyes once more in the darkness.

Wondering if this was hell, I stretched out my hand and felt something catch against it. I pushed it away, sat up, and only then realized where I had been lying.

A stone coffin.

The faint moonlight slipping through a crack in the ceiling was the only thing that told me this place was a cave.

Had I not died?

I placed a hand on my chest, but realized there was no heartbeat.

I was nothing more than a walking corpse.

Carrying unresolved questions, I wandered the world as a dead man.

So much had changed.

Unknown place names. Unknown history.

Comrades who hadn't even been recorded in any documents.

Where had everything I knew gone?

I must have spent about three years like that, harboring doubts and searching for traces.

“Ah, if you find my father for me… I’ll give you blood. Yes, yes. As much as you want, if you just find him.”

At first, it was a simple transaction.

A village where people had gone missing.

Blood carries memories, so I thought peering into it would help me understand what had happened while I was unconscious.

“Cough, hack. Please… take care of Kontina….”

The girl’s father, shriveled after all his bodily fluids had been sucked out, made that final plea.

So I burned the corpse of the giant spider that was the culprit, along with all the cocoons of the victims, and left.

The strange events didn’t stop there. They kept coming, one after another.

A world far too weak.

A world where magic had become a scam and gods no longer bestowed divinity.

In such a world, anomalies began to appear.

And humans reached out in their suffering. As it happened, I had power.

Even if the world was utterly incomprehensible, I decided to do what needed to be done right away.

To keep humans from being trampled by forces they could not resist.

“Hiiik. M-monster!”

That’s what I thought.

“I declare that foul being a vampire!”

I thought it would only be for a little while.

“It’s all because of you!! Why is an anomaly pretending to be human!”

How foolish.

And so, two thousand years passed.

I still haven’t died, and my heart still doesn’t beat.

And to a heart that had stopped, two thousand years was far too long a time.

…I want to go back.

In a studio apartment of about ten pyeong, there is a small window to match.

Like a reflection of the owner’s miserable life, the shabby curtain desperately tries to block the bright morning sunlight, minimizing the light invading the room.

Yet it ultimately fails to stop it all, so in the corner of the room that avoids the spot where daylight inevitably leaves its mark, I sit tapping at the keyboard.

“A pathetic NEET who only browses communities in broad daylight should just go die?”

It doesn’t hurt. Not even a little.

But there’s a contradiction in what he said, so I must point it out.

What am I supposed to do when I’m an immortal vampire who can’t even die?

Contrary to popular belief, vampires don’t die just from touching sunlight.

There’s no such convenient method. It’s just that my personal preference got twisted and exaggerated over time.

Crack.

When an ominous sound came from the mouse I was holding, I flinched and let go.

Anger is anger, but reality is reality.

If this mouse breaks right now, my living expenses for this month will take a massive hit.

Fine, I’ll admit it. It stung a little.

…Okay, not a little. Quite a lot, actually.

“Ugh, damn it.”

Clatter. Rattle.

Still, I couldn’t keep abusing the poor mouse and keyboard.

I took out some cold water from the fridge, drank it, and tried to calm myself down.

It’s not like I became a shut-in NEET in the corner of my room because I wanted to.

This is all because this damn society is broken.

Why don’t they create a world where even an old, sick vampire can live in peace!

“Whatever. Time to play some games.”

At least there I’d be able to see plenty of ‘comrades’ like myself.

Knock knock.

As I flopped into my chair and launched the game client, a knock reached my ears.

“Young man in room 206! You’re in there, aren’t you!”

“….”

It was the voice of the old security guard who managed the villa.

An old man who wandered around giving lectures despite his age. We never got along.

What was he going to nitpick about today?

Pretending I wasn’t home was the best move.

I quickly lowered the speaker volume and held my breath, pretending the room was empty.

“A package arrived! If you leave something this big in the hallway, it’ll block the residents’ path! Come out and take it!”

…A package?

I hadn’t ordered anything…?

Still, the word “package” made my heart skip a beat. It was an unavoidable instinct for anyone living in modern society.

This must be how a pitiful creature feels when it reaches for the cheese in a mousetrap even though it knows it’s bait.

Creak.

“Haha… I didn’t even realize a p-package had arrived.”

When I opened the door, the old man wearing a security cap gave me a disapproving glare.

“I knew you were inside. I’ve never seen you come out, after all.”

“I… don’t really prefer going outside….”

“Tsk. That’s why I came to tell you. Otherwise it looked like this thing would sit here for a whole month.”

“Thank… you….”

I answered half-heartedly and turned my gaze to the huge box leaning against the wall beside the door.

It was bigger than an adult and quite spacious.

What the hell? Did I win some fridge giveaway without knowing?

“Who orders something this huge for a place the size of a bean?”

“You’re right….”

“Can you carry it by yourself? Want some help?”

He must have thought my frail-looking body couldn’t handle it, because he started rolling up his sleeves and approaching. I waved him off.

“No, I’m fine.”

After all, I was still a vampire, in name if nothing else.

Even my deteriorated body could handle this much.

I easily lifted the heavy box, which was larger than me, and carried it inside.

“You’re… surprisingly strong?”

“Haha. Well then, take care….”

As I quickly closed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠door, the old man called out from the other side.

“Young man! You are eating properly, right?”

“….”

“And ventilate the place regularly! There’s mold growing in there! If you need anything, just say so!”

“Yeees….”

Click.

Only after the sound of the guard’s footsteps faded away did I finally relax my tense body.

Whew. People really can be incompatible.

I couldn’t even snap at him for giving unwanted advice when he was so much younger than me in appearance.

Anyway, what is this thing?

The fancy-looking box had the words [HANDLE WITH CARE] plastered boldly on the side.

“Neulbom Villa, Room 206… Lee Han… Yeah, it’s definitely addressed to me.”

When I opened the box, I found a large capsule that looked like a coffin. On top of it lay a manual with the words Eclipse printed on it.

“This device is a dedicated virtual reality capsule for the game Eclipse. It provides users with a perfect augmented reality experience?”

When I lifted the lid, a comfortable-looking seat came into view, with a headset neatly placed on it.

It looked exactly like the capsules always described in the ‘game fantasy’ genre that had once been trendy.

“Ha!”

A hollow laugh escaped me at the absurdity of it.

This wasn’t cyberpunk. There was no way perfect virtual reality existed in modern Korea.

If it had been completed, the whole world would have been flipped upside down with massive advertising. There was no way it would be secretly delivered only to me.

It was too elaborate to be someone’s prank, yet too sloppy to be the kind of secret experiment conspiracy theorists loved to talk about.

It had to be an anomaly.

I picked up the dismantled delivery box and turned it over, wondering how I should report it to the administration bureau.

So the sender was….

“…….”

I rubbed my eyes, hoping I had seen it wrong, but the name written on the sender line remained the same.

…

……

Why?

My gaze turned rigid.

Recipient — Lee Han.

With a mind that refused to turn, I struggled to process the meaning.

In other words, a package sent to me by ‘Seonha.’

I realized I had been holding my breath for a long time and fumbled around for my phone.

This couldn’t be.

In all the long years I had spent searching for traces of the past, I hadn’t found even the smallest clue.

Yet now, of all times?

I rummaged across the desk, knocking the speaker to the floor with a crash, but at least it helped me find my phone quickly.

As if in a trance, I picked it up and called the only person who had ever heard about my dreams.

Ring ring ring.

At that calm voice, my mind cleared a little.

I hadn’t realized how shaken I had been.

There was no way Lee Yena would have leaked my story.

At the worried tone, I couldn’t say anything. I quietly hung up.

I sat on the edge of the bed and thought carefully.

This device itself was definitely an anomaly.

Modern science and technology still couldn’t create something like this capsule.

Then what was the meaning of that sender’s name?

The chance that Seonha had sent me an anomaly after two thousand years was extremely slim.

So this must be part of the anomaly’s gimmick — a package sent by ‘someone close to the recipient.’

Haha. Hahaha.

I knew I should contact the administration bureau, yet the reason I still climbed into the capsule was twofold.

First, I was furious.

I didn’t know how this damn anomaly had read my memories, but using Seonha’s name to send me a package? It was basically saying I was nothing but trash in its eyes.

No matter how much of a has-been I was, did it really think I was that easy?

Then listen up, you son of a bitch.

I’ve killed over four thousand anomalies with my own hands.

I don’t even need to go to the bureau. You’re going to die right here by my hand.

…And second, if — just if, in the most unlikely scenario — it really was something Seonha had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sent across the flow of time to deliver a message to me….

Thud.

The lid closed, and my vision went dark.

What should you do when you encounter an anomaly?

As a former professional anomaly hunter, I strongly recommend: “Don’t do anything stupid and wait for rescue.”

That is, if you’re an ordinary person who fears anomalies.

But if you’re someone who hunts them — for example, a member of the administration bureau — then you must enter the anomaly’s interior and tear it apart from the inside.

Even if it turns out to be a trap the anomaly has prepared.

Following the instructions in the manual, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I lay down inside the capsule and activated the device. Those were the first words that appeared.

In the empty black space, I carefully moved my hands and feet.

My body was definitely lying inside the capsule, yet the sensation felt completely real.

Virtual reality — commonly called VR — which had once been used as a genre trope that stirred so many hearts, had ultimately been completed not by the hands of modern scientists, but by an anomaly.

Having read game genre novels during my NEET life and secretly rooted for the scientists, I felt a strange sense of novelty.

So my wish had finally come true?

“Lee Han.”

I prefer using my real name even online.

It put me at a disadvantage during keyboard battles on various communities, but my beliefs weren’t so weak that I would abandon them over something like that.

Anomalies are not omniscient.

They are merely beings that distort reality and create their own rules.

And they are strongly bound by the rules they themselves create.

Since it had defined itself as a ‘virtual reality game,’ it was only natural that it would follow the format of a game.

I didn’t know what it wanted, but I would quickly exterminate this arrogant anomaly and return to my comfortable NEET life.

I had long since washed my hands of this kind of troublesome existence.

There was nothing to be nervous about. Nothing to worry about.

It was just an anomaly, after all.

One I had hunted for a very long time.

‘I’ had never been defeated once, and this time would be no different.

“Hey, idiot. First time seeing a vampire? You already know me, don’t you?”

Weren’t we just wrestling in a WWE match together?

“So it’s making up excuses.”

As my vision began to darken, I recited the prayer I had murmured for so long.

O Goddess, today as well.

Please protect your child.