Silence enveloped the road that should have been noisy with the sound of falling rain, the sound of vehicles cutting through puddles, and the splashing footsteps of pedestrians.
Van stood frozen while staring at the strange old man smoking a cigar in the middle of slowed time.
The old man exhaled smoke that covered his face.
"So..."
His words were never finished because his ears caught the sound of someone running, and as the smoke drifted away, his blue eyes saw Van running into the distance.
A tired sigh escaped the old man, and he finally stood up.
Meanwhile, Van ran with all his strength, breaking through the countless raindrops crashing against his black jacket. His breathing became ragged after only a few steps. The muscles in his legs tightened, and he no longer dared to look back.
He only looked around him. Although he thought he had run a great distance, everything he saw was still moving slowly.
’Shit! Did the entire world slow down?! That’s impossible, right?! Is he a god or something?!’
His golden hair was now soaked. His face continued to collide with the slowly falling raindrops. His breathing became uneven. His legs gradually slowed, and in the middle of his despair, something happened while he was running.
The road he saw and ran across gradually faded away. The slowed vehicles began turning white. So did the pedestrians, and even the raindrops turned white.
But Van was still able to move. He kept running until everything became white like a canvas that had never been stained.
After several more steps, his footing felt strange. His feet, which had previously stepped on solid ground, now became unsteady. With every step, they began sinking.
Van looked down. His black eyes widened as an endless stretch of sand began to be painted before him. He slowly stopped running.
His breathing was ragged, and his sweat mixed with the rainwater. He simply stood there, silently looking at the sand painted as far as the eye could see.
After the sand had been painted, a warm orange light startled Van, causing him to turn to his left. Van narrowed his eyes and raised his hand to shield them from the light. But when he realized where the light was coming from, he lowered his hand.
In the area of the canvas that was still white, half of a sun slowly formed. Its light spread and painted the sky orange. A warm breeze brushed against Van’s wet jacket and face.
Meanwhile, flowing water began to be painted, completing the half-drawn sun. The water surged and swept across the sand until it soaked Van’s black shoes.
Startled, Van immediately stepped back and fell. His heart pounded as he stared at the sunset that had been created like a painting by God.
Van’s body, which had been tense after running not long before, gradually relaxed again. He let his shoes become wet as the seawater accidentally touched them. His ears played a major role as the sound of crashing waves mixed with the warm breeze and the chirping of birds flying in flocks. His black eyes continued to be entertained by the never-ending sunset.
’What the hell is this? Why am I here? This place... is absurd.’
Van looked behind him. He saw a forest and a cliff jutting out from within it.
His mouth fell open as he tried to scan the cliff. He froze, unable to speak. Reflected in his black eyes were more than a dozen supermarkets lined up along the cliff. He even saw one as large as a giant shopping mall.
Van’s lips twitched. He let out a dry laugh.
’Damn... if this is a dream caused by being drunk, I apparently have quite a wild imagination.’
A sound that did not belong to nature disturbed Van. He turned to his left. There, the old man he had met earlier was walking toward him while still smoking his cigar. This time, Van simply looked at him while sitting calmly.
A warm breeze blew across both of them. Their faces reflected the same orange light. The old man exhaled his cigar smoke.
"Have you calmed down?"
Van remained silent for a few moments.
’Of course... this is a dream, right?’
Van nodded once in response.
The old man then pointed toward the row of supermarkets.
"Go over there and bring back some potato chips and beer."
Van’s brows furrowed. He pointed at himself.
"Me? I’m the one going? Why am I the one going? Aren’t I the guest? Why is the guest the one doing the serving?"
The golden-haired old man clicked his tongue.
"You’re noisy. Just go get them and do it."
Van slowly stood up while brushing the sand off his pants. He tilted his head.
’How strange, being ordered around in my own dream.’
Although he complained inwardly, Van still did what the golden-haired old man had told him to do. He walked into the forest along the path that had formed. He could hear the silence of the forest. There was not even the sound of insects to accompany him. All he could hear was the sound of the waves growing farther away and his own footsteps, which sounded strange because his shoes were wet.
Not long after walking through the silent forest, he finally saw a winding road leading uphill toward the top of the cliff. He let out a tired sigh while holding his waist.
’Good grief... can’t I at least fly in my own dream to make this faster?’
Van closed his eyes and imagined himself having wings like an angel. He then tried to jump, but every time, the ground remained beneath his feet.
He finally gave up trying to fly and slowly began walking uphill. His legs throbbed whenever the wind blew against them, making him stagger slightly, but the moment he reached the top, he fell silent once again.
His face reflected the orange light even more strongly. The setting sun appeared larger from the top of the cliff. The ocean, which he had previously thought was only an illusion, now looked vast, as though it had no end. The shoreline where he had been sitting earlier now looked tiny, nestled between the forest and the sea. Even the old man who had sent him here looked like nothing more than an insignificant dot.
Van ran a hand through his hair. He stood there for quite a while, letting the warm breeze brush against his face.
He then turned around. One of his eyebrows rose, and he unconsciously whistled.
’Woah... I didn’t expect there to be so many different kinds of buildings. This feels like a small town.’
Van began wandering among the buildings, which turned out to contain all sorts of things.
He saw a clothing store, an electronics store, supermarkets, a mall, and even a cotton candy stand. Everything seemed to be there, yet there was no one besides himself, and every building faced the sunset.
Van finally stopped for quite a while in front of a clothing store. He looked at a mannequin wearing clothes suitable for the beach.
Van whistled briefly before taking off his jacket and entering the unattended store.
He stayed inside the store for quite a long time before finally coming back out wearing different clothes.
Now he was wearing a white T-shirt covered by a yellow short-sleeved shirt with palm tree prints. He had taken off his long pants and changed into cream-colored shorts. He had also replaced his wet shoes with a pair of sandals. As a final touch, he covered his golden hair with a light blue bucket hat and wore a pair of black sunglasses that shielded his black eyes from the glare of the sunset.
He walked with even greater confidence toward one of the supermarkets.
The familiar scent of a supermarket reached him the moment he stepped inside. He greedily inhaled the aroma before letting it out noisily.
"The smell... it’s very, very similar."
Van moistened his lips. He formed a rectangle with his thumbs and index fingers as though taking a picture of the neatly arranged shelves.
’For a dream, this is incredibly detailed... damn, do I actually have such a vivid imagination?’
Van eventually walked toward the aisle filled with all kinds of snacks. He paced back and forth, unable to decide what to choose, before finally stopping.
’Why am I even confused? I mean, this is a dream.’
Van looked around.
’There aren’t any employees either... that means I can take whatever I want.’
Van chuckled. He looked around again. His black sunglasses made it difficult for him to clearly see the colors of the snack packages neatly lined up nearby. He reached out and picked one up, shaking it to hear the sound of its contents.
He smiled broadly and burst into laughter, but his laughter stopped when he looked back at the shelf.
The spot that should have been empty after he took one bag had already been filled again.
Van fell silent for a moment. He then tried taking another bag from the exact same spot, this time watching closely.
The place that should have been empty slowly filled up again with the exact same bag of potato chips.
Van lifted his sunglasses so he could see more clearly. He took another one, then another, and another.
He kept taking one after another, and the shelf always refilled itself. Now he could no longer hold all the potato chips with both hands.
Dozens of bags of potato chips were scattered across the floor near his sandal-clad feet.
Van’s mouth hung open. He looked to the right and then to the left.
"This really is a strange dream..."
"Or am I the strange one?"
Van finally stopped and tried to think rationally after continuously experiencing things that surprised even him, despite believing he was inside a dream.
Some time later, he came out of the supermarket while pulling a trolley with balloon wheels. Inside the trolley were piles of potato chips and several cans of beer that were still cold.
Van whistled casually while pulling the trolley.
He walked down the winding road, passed through the silent forest once again, and eventually stepped back onto the sand.
The old man frowned when he saw Van approaching. He shouted,
"Why did you bring so many?"
Van pointed toward the supermarket on top of the cliff while continuing to pull the trolley across the sand.
"That... that... the potato chips never recovered by themselves, I mean, they appeared again."
Van shook his head.
"No, no... what’s the word? The potato chips never ran out. None of them ever ran out."
The golden-haired old man, sitting cross-legged on the sand, shook his head.
"If you already knew that, why did you keep taking them, you idiot?"
Van’s expression turned incredulous. He took off his sunglasses and hung them on the collar of his shirt while shrugging both shoulders.
"What was I supposed to do? It’s the first time I’ve ever seen something like that."
Van then sat facing the old man. He took off his sandals and used them as a seat cushion. He pulled the trolley closer, placed the beer cans on the sand, and opened a bag of potato chips, setting it between the two of them.
The old man immediately chugged a can of beer and opened another one, while Van ate the potato chips as he looked at the eternal sunset.
"I’ve seen this brand of potato chips in the real world before, but I’ve never tried them."
Van picked up a few more potato chips.
"For some reason, they taste incredibly real even though I’ve never tried them before."
The old man frowned as he wiped the beer that had dripped from his lips.
"What do you mean?"
Van licked his fingers and opened another bag of chips.
"I mean, in this dream... the taste of these potato chips is so real and detailed."
Van blinked several times and suddenly covered his mouth.
"Eh? I shouldn’t be talking about a dream while knowing that I’m inside a dream, right?"
The old man opened and closed his mouth several times before letting out a sigh.
"You idiot."
The old man clenched the beer can in his hand until it was crushed out of shape. Beer spilled over his arm.
He then raised his fist and suddenly punched Van in the forehead, sending Van rolling across the sand in pain.
Van’s groan clashed with the crashing waves, which sounded as though they were laughing at him.
Van screamed hysterically for quite a while. His scream was understandable because a bump had formed from the old man’s punch.
The old man smiled slyly.
"Did that feel like a dream?"
Once Van had become somewhat accustomed to the pain, he tried sitting up again. He slammed both hands against the sand.
"So... is all of this actually real?!"
The old man stuffed a dozen potato chips into his mouth at once. He chewed while speaking, causing crumbs to fly onto Van’s face.
"Yes... it’s only natural for a modern person like you to think this is a dream."
"This is a space that I created."
The old man pointed toward the row of supermarkets on top of the cliff.
"I copied all of that from the real world."
Van opened a can of beer and took a drink. His eyes did not blink as he stared at the old man opening another bag of potato chips.
"Then... who are you, sir?"
Van stroked his chin, his eyes carefully examining the old man’s face.
"Looking at how similar our hair color is... are you my ancestor?"
The golden-haired old man almost laughed.
"If that’s the case, then you’ll have to go to sleep and dream if you want to become my descendant."
One of Van’s eyebrows rose. He nodded several times while looking around with a new perspective.
The old man licked his fingers. He then sat up straight after seeing that Van had become much calmer.
"Seeing that you’ve come back to your senses, I think I can explain the general picture now."
Van looked at the old man, whose tone had become calmer, while the old man continued speaking.
"Isn’t that a little too forceful, sir? I mean, aren’t you going to ask whether I even want to listen or not?"
The old man clicked his tongue. He shifted his gaze toward the sunset and the crashing waves.
"I’m going to pass this space on to you."
Both of Van’s eyebrows shot up. His eyes widened. He rose until his knees were pressed into the sand.
"What?! All those supermarkets that never run out of stock?!"
Van immediately stood up and looked clearly at the cliff filled with all kinds of buildings.
"Doesn’t that mean I’m going to be rich?"
The old man, seeing Van lose his mind again, could only scratch his forehead.
’You idiot. Who’s going to shop at a supermarket two million years ago?’
After his excitement lasted for quite a while, Van finally managed to sit down calmly again. This time, he listened to the old man’s words with sparkling eyes.
The old man crossed his arms.
"Anyway, for now I’m going to awaken your potential. You’ll become the first human to awaken potential."
Van scratched his nose.
"Being the first at something sounds interesting. What potential? Or... what exactly is potential?"
"In three years, humanity will awaken their potential because of a certain event."
Van’s expression became strange. He stroked his chin.
"So, I’ll be preparing for three years from now?"
The blue-eyed old man shook his head.
"No. You’ll begin from the past."
The old man cleared his throat as though remembering something.
"About two million years ago. You’ll go there to retrieve something from the meteors that fell, something that will be needed for the future."
Van dug at his ear to make sure he hadn’t heard wrong.
"Two million years ago?"
The old man nodded once, causing Van to shout even louder than the sound of the crashing waves.
"TWO MILLION YEARS AGO?!"
Van swallowed, his throat feeling bitter.
"Wouldn’t it be easier to just look for it in the present? It has to be somewhere, even if it’s buried, right?"
The old man ran a hand through his hair.
"It does exist, but it isn’t enough. There should have been a lot of it, but they took it first."
Van scratched his aching forehead. The bump from before was still there.
"Who are they?"
"You’ll find out once you’re already two million years in the past."
Van lowered his head in silence. He didn’t know what to say, while the old man spoke again.
"The important thing now is that I’m going to awaken your potential, and you’ll begin training."
Van remained silent. His mind was filled with the sound of his own thoughts.
The old man let out a sigh.
"Take off your shirt."
Van instinctively looked at the old man while covering himself.
"WHAT?!"