Disconnected

Chapter 11: Mainstream Trip (pt.1)

'Hmm?'

She was sleeping peacefully.

Her tired body had been happily enjoying the rest it had been blessed with. The exhausted physique appreciated every single second of it.

That being said, at this time of day, Min Suhyun would usually have already woken up, unlike what she's currently doing.

4 am. 

Under normal circumstances, she would be up and about before the sun had even risen. Waking up had always been a simple task for someone who kept her guard up due to past experiences. This habit also made her an early bird.

However, this time was a bit different. 

Not only did she oversleep for around 2 hours more than usual, but Min Suhyun, who was also expecting to wake up back in her own body in the comfort of her messy bed, realized that she was nowhere near a bed.

Her back was sprawled on hard ground, which wasn't even a floor. She was lying at the damp entrance of a cave.

At that moment, she also noticed a few other details, such as how her hair wasn't ombre from that failed attempt at coloring it, the scar on her jaw from that stupid soup can accident didn't exist, and most importantly, she wasn't missing a pinky like Min Suhyun was.

'Why am I not back?' Instead, she was still stuck inside the body of Serein Rowe.

This made her wonder heavily why it had happened in the first place. 

Could she possibly have fallen into a coma? 

Had she overdosed on caffeine? 

Or was there some other reason for her to sleep so deeply, hence the longer dream?

Or, perhaps, by some unknown force, her soul had been pulled away from her body and somehow she ended up in Serein's body, destined to spend the rest of her life there. This would validate all the sensations she had experienced yesterday. And thus, she had become a transmigrator, just like in those fantasy stories she had been reading.

'Aha ha ha… that can’t be though.' The thought was rather ridiculous, yet the more she tried to rationalize her experience, the more her mind spiraled.

'Wait, really…?’ That young adventurer had only just woken up, and yet she already felt a headache coming, ‘is this for real?' She moved her facial muscles and hands to test her motor control a bit.

Just like yesterday, nothing felt off aside from the coldness her body felt due to Scitiantus. 

Curious, Serein also clawed at her legs and felt the pain caused by her nails. 

Realizing that even the smallest action actually hurt her, Min Suhyun began to doubt that she was dreaming because usually, this level of 'pain' wouldn't be able to be sensed as it was only considered minor pain.

Yet she felt it.

Therefore, she thought to herself.

'Please, don't tell me that this is actually permanent. Can't I really wake up?'

Look, she has nothing against clichés, honestly. 

To her, life is but a bunch of clichés that everyone's forced to live in. 

And it's not like she has someone waiting for her returns— other than perhaps the editor and her small number of fans— but personally? Nothing major would happen if she just disappeared out of the blue.

People would still be dying and Earth would still be a disastrous place regardless of her absence.

Her plants might die because she didn't water it— which is unfortunate if that's how it's going to be— but other than that, no one would mourn for her.

She's simply that insignificant and easily forgotten. Just the way she likes it.

But anyhow, regardless of those details, neither of them makes this situation any easier to grasp.

She's not fully convinced yet that she left her so-so life with this dangerous adventure-filled world. Therefore, she did one last retort she could ever think of...

— SLAP!!

Serein slapped herself across the cheek and it actually stung.

'Damn.'

That doesn't seem to work either.

She did not wake up as Min Suhyun...

Serein blankly stared at her pale palm that went reddish momentarily until she felt two figures stir.

"What are you doing?"

"Serein-shi? What's wrong?"

Gil and Cherry, who had woken up from the loud noise, were puzzled. One was obviously alarmed while the other spoke in a sleepy tone.

"Ah, sorry, just a bug."

Serein waved her hand in dismissal, although the two didn't look nearly convinced by her excuse.

Considering how hard that slap was for someone who was merely swatting a bug, they had a point to stare at her like that. Unfortunately, the monochromatic-haired woman didn't pay them much attention as her mind swirled with enough questions of her own.

'Did I get hit by a truck? Did I drown in a lake or river?'

No.

To both of those questions, the answer was no.

The confused soul was sure that she did nothing else other than get sleepy while cleaning her laptop of unimportant files.

Then how did she somehow get trapped in her own story? 

How did she end up getting isekai-ed into an unfinished draft, of all things?

She did not find this unusual at first, because Min Suhyun, despite her occupation before being a writer, had been through this several times in the past.

To live as someone else, in another world.

However, by the end of the day, it was all just a dream. Some great prompts and some questionable scenes that'd be such a great writing inspiration— but, regardless, a dream.

Min Suhyun always woke up the moment her 'character' went to sleep or was simply unconscious, for whatever reason.

'This is the first time I actually went to sleep and woke up in a character's body still.'

At least she's not the MC.

Heavens know how things would go if she were stuck in an MC's body instead. Min Suhyun had never been that kind of author towards her Main Characters, after all. And remember all of the sufferings that Arlia, the protagonist of this draft, must endure. 

…Suddenly, she got chills.

'Right. Hmm… before reaching any sort of conclusion, perhaps it would be wise to wait for another day or two to make sure that this is, in fact, my new reality.' 

After all, there's still a chance that this is just some ongoing dream that she's stuck in because she's been wearing herself down due to the deadline.

'Either way, I need to start planning out things.'

With the little details she could remember about this world, Serein needed to change her mindset to survival mode. Anticipating that 'Serein' would be the name she'd be living as for the rest of her life, she certainly did not wish to only live a couple of weeks short just to be fish food.

'I need to heal this Stiriacrus illness as well.' And so, with these two new goals set up right before her eyes, that pair of hazel orbs sparkled with new vigor. 

Anything to survive. 

It looks like once again, Min Suhyun's old motto seemed to resurface.