The Lonely God (Rosekook)

3

His senses were assaulted the moment his consciousness returned: unfamiliar scents, a cacophony of strange noises, loud shouts rising above the din... the very air itself tasted different.

Jeongguk jerked awake to find himself curled up against a wall on a street that was populated by people in strange clothes and unusual square beasts with round wheels for feet rolling down the busy road.

There was a dense smoke hanging in the air that made him choke, his eyes watering. Strange buildings shaped like blocks with high rectangular window panes towered up and up so much that Jeongguk had to crane his head back as he whirled around to take it all in.

"Outta the way kid!"

"What are you doing you lunatic!"

Panicking, Jeongguk dodged a beefy man sitting astride his steed—a two-wheeled, black monster that breezed by noisily—and ran helter-skelter without paying attention to where he was headed.

He jumped in fright as he ran in front of the rows of beasts in the middle of the road and they all started honking at him like geese, with their angry human drivers poking their heads out from inside their bellies to yell at him.

Jeongguk darted and jumped and dodged and bumped his way across the street then stopped to catch his breath. Leaning on the wall, he realised even his clothes had changed, matching these people's attire more or less.

Where was he anyway? Did they speak his language? Were they Korean too?

They looked Asian enough—

Wait, magic! Magic would solve his problems!

Jeongguk held up a hand and snapped his fingers, intending to obtain information on his bearings as well as a rundown of just what exactly he was dealing with.

But nothing happened.

In a cold flash, he realised just what his mentor meant when she said absolutely no magic.

He had been exiled to a non-magical universe.

The great Jeon Jeongguk had been banished to Gods knows where just because Her Great Crabby Witchiness thought he was being too, quote on quote, 'reckless and irresponsible'.

Like any self-proclaimed genius magician, Jeongguk slumped to the ground and sulked.

>

"Come back here boy!"

It didn't matter in which dimension, Trouble followed him like a faithful dog follows its master.

Already Jeongguk had tried exercising his street smarts once emboldened by his growling stomach.

He had been sitting on the cold ground, paying attention to the spatter of conversations as people hurried past him to try and learn more about this unfamiliar world.

Stealthily, he edged closer to a street stall and to his delight, he spied delicious crispy chicken sticks displayed on the grill.

Jeongguk wasn't a man of many morals: dealing with magical tricksters and master manipulators on the streets from a young age, he knew that it was all man for himself in life. And so without even flinching, he crept still closer and at the right moment snatched a bunch of the sticks before fleeing the scene.

But just as stealing came easy to him, Trouble never dawdled far behind.

"Stop thief!"

Jeongguk ran.

He sprinted away into dingy alleyways, bursting out onto busy roads and nimbly zigzagging through the beasts ( he learned they were called cars), ignoring the angry shouts and panicked screeching sounds of the vehicles stopping abruptly.