Veil of the Vanguard

THE REAL WORLD—

Lena's body jolted awake, her eyes snapping open to find herself lying on the cold, hard ground behind the delivery company where she worked. It was the last place she remembered being before getting pulled into the webtoon world again.

The lingering chill from the night air clung to her skin as she tried to orient herself. It was dark—still the middle of the night, she thought. She could feel the darkness pressing in, the quiet only broken by the occasional distant sound of a passing car.

Slowly, her fingers curled around the damp grass beneath her, and she tried to push herself up, groaning as the tightness in her body made itself known. The hours she'd spent in the webtoon world weighed on her limbs.

"How long have I been here?" she mumbled, rubbing her face, her mind struggling to recall the last moments before her consciousness slipped away.

Lena reached for her phone lying beside her, where she had dropped it when the portal had pulled her in. The screen lit up, casting a faint glow on her face as her eyes fixed on the time.

06:00?!

Then it hit her like a cold wave. Lena was no longer in the webtoon world—she was back in reality. Her thoughts scrambled as she tried to piece it together. She distinctly remembered stepping out for a break around 3:12 PM the previous day.

Moments later, she had been pulled into the webtoon world. If she was only returning now, it meant she had been gone for fifteen hours in real time—but had experienced a full week in that fictional world.

Lena stared in disbelief, her mind racing.

Fifteen hours? How was that possible?

It defied logic, yet the proof was in the numbers.

No, no, no... this can't be happening.

Lena's thoughts were a chaotic whirlwind as she forced herself to her feet. Her co-workers had likely assumed she had left for home after her break, completely unaware that she had been trapped for a week in a fictional world. The realization churned her stomach, leaving her queasy and unsettled.

A surge of nausea overtook her as she stumbled toward the gate. The crisp night air stung her exposed skin, and her trembling hands fumbled for the lock.

Why is it locked?

Oh, of course. Working hours had long ended. It was well past midnight, so it made sense that the security guards had locked up the premises.

As Lena stood there, unsure of what to do next, the sound of approaching footsteps made her freeze in place. Moments later, two security guards emerged from the shadows, their faces a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Wait a second!" one of them called out, his voice sharp. "What are you doing here at this hour?"

Lena's throat tightened, her mind racing as she struggled to come up with a believable explanation.

Think, Lena, think!

"I… I must have fallen asleep in the office," she stammered, trying to force some coherence into her words. "I was just resting during my break, and I guess I lost track of time."

The guards exchanged skeptical glances. They had checked the entire building earlier; safety check, and none of them had seen her. It didn't make sense.

"Why didn't you leave?" one of the guards asked suspiciously. "Do you know what time it is?! F*cking 6 AM!"

Lena hesitated, her mind racing for another excuse.

"I—I guess I just slept too deeply. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

The guards seemed unconvinced but, after a long pause, decided not to press the matter further. They let her go with a warning, though their confused stares lingered as she left.

Lena hurried toward the bus stop, her pace brisk and unsteady. As she boarded a bus and sank into a seat, the weight of her situation began to press down on her. The world she'd been trapped in had felt so vivid—so unnervingly real. Yet now, back in her own reality, she couldn't stop the questions swirling in her mind.

What was her connection to that fictional world? Why was she being pulled into it? And, most baffling of all, how could a webtoon universe even exist?

Her thoughts shifted to the enigmatic, wealthy man who had saved her. Who was he? And what role did he play in this surreal world?

By the time the bus reached her stop, the sky was starting to brighten. It was almost 7 a.m. Lena hurried off the bus and made her way to the familiar street, the one she had walked countless times before. Her steps quickened as she neared her house.

When Lena arrived home, she quietly unlocked the door with her spare key and slipped inside. The house was silent and dark. She removed her shoes, holding them in her hand as she tiptoed through the hallway, careful to avoid any noise. Thankfully, her father was still sound asleep in his room. A sigh of relief escaped her lips, and for a brief moment, she felt a fragile sense of safety.

But that relief was fleeting. As she passed the kitchen, an unsettling thought crept into her mind. Had her experience in the webtoon world been recorded as another chapter? She needed to find out.

Lena quickly slipped out the back of the house and headed toward her father's art studio, where he spent countless hours working on his system. The cold air bit at her skin as she approached the small, dimly lit building and unlocked the door with trembling hands.

As she stepped inside, a nagging thought resurfaced, sending a chill down her spine.

What if everything she had experienced—the encounters, the world, the people—was all her father's doing?

Her heart pounded as she sat down in front of the computer. The dim glow of the screen illuminated her face as she powered on the system. Her fingers hesitated over the keyboard, fear and curiosity warring within her.

Taking a deep breath, Lena navigated to the app her father used to design his webtoon. The screen loaded, and there it was—a vivid representation of the world she had just left.

Her stomach churned as she scrolled through scene after scene, the dialogue, characters, and settings matching everything she had witnessed in the webtoon world. It was all there, disturbingly accurate and vividly detailed.

The moment she had spent talking to the old man on the bus, the bus driver's angry tirade, the conversation in the boutique, even the scene where she met the rich man—every detail was there. It was as if her time in the webtoon had been meticulously documented.

But that wasn't what worried her.

The scenes of her being pulled into the webtoon world weren't there.

She stared at the screen, her fingers frozen above the keyboard. There were no traces of anything that explained how or why she was pulled into this fictional world. It was as though that part had been erased entirely, leaving only the scenes where she played her role as a character.

She sat back in her chair, trying to digest the chilling realization.

'The system made sure I fit into the narrative. It was all part of the story. My life... it's all part of the webtoon!'

Her stomach churned as she scrolled further down. She couldn't stop herself. The next slide made her blood run cold.

It was a full-body portrait of the handsome, mysterious, and wealthy man she had encountered in the webtoon world. The same man who had rescued her and brought her to his opulent penthouse.

But there was something even more unsettling.

Lena's breath caught as she read his brief introduction. Character details were usually displayed at the end of every chapter when a new, significant character was introduced.

Dan Cross—The Male Lead

Role—Main Character, Protagonist

Age—28

Height—6ft 6in

Her mind raced as the realization hit. Lena had just met the male lead. She had spent time with the very man meant to be the hero of the webtoon world.

The final slide appeared, and Lena's stomach sank.

Lena Kim—The Female Lead

Role—Primary Character

Age—24

Height—5ft 7in

Her jaw dropped as she stared at the words. She wasn't just a background figure or a filler character; she was a primary character.

Lena was the female lead, while Raven, the character she had believed to be the female lead, had been relegated to an assisting role for the protagonist.

'I'm the female lead?'

Lena's heart raced as the full extent of her situation began to sink in. She wasn't just part of the webtoon world. She had been written into it, with her every action seemingly controlled to some degree.

'This is insane...!'

Her thoughts spun as she tried to process the twisted reality she found herself trapped in. She had been pulled into a world that wasn't her own, and now she was forced to play a role that had been predetermined for her.

Her father had no idea any of this was happening. He didn't know that the characters in his webtoon were alive, that they had their own thoughts and emotions, that they weren't simply ink and colors on a page.

What now?

Lena shuddered as she read the final sentence.

'To be continued…'