I woke up in the morning to the sound of birds chirping above my head, as if they were trying to wake me from a dream that hadn't ended yet.
I rose from my place under the trees and washed my face with the cold stream water. There was a strange heaviness in my chest, as if something inside me didn't want me to continue this day… not from exhaustion, but from a feeling I couldn't explain.
As I was getting ready to go to work, the pen fell from my pocket.
I bent down to pick it up and stared at it for a while... an ordinary pen, but the only one that remained from my previous world, along with the phone. Even though it hadn't been used so far, I couldn't bring myself to let it go.
I whispered quietly:
"What should I do with this pen?"
A brief silence.
Then I smiled.
"I'll keep it… it, and my phone… they're the only two things that tie me to my old world. As long as I have them, I'm still me."
I placed the pen back in my pocket carefully, as if it were a precious treasure, and headed off to work.
I arrived at the workplace. Same cart, same heavy loads, same smell of wood and fatigue.
But today, the atmosphere felt… different.
As I was pulling one of the carts, I passed by a group of workers talking excitedly.
"They say hundreds, no, thousands arrive every day!"
"From Earth?"
"Not just from Earth… from anime, manhwas, mangas, even movies and series!"
"No way…"
"Believe me, I saw a man with a sword jump ten meters. He was definitely not normal."
I stopped for a moment. My steps froze.
It felt like the world was spinning around me, yet I was standing still.
"Fictional characters… crossing over to here?" I whispered to myself.
Excitement crept into my heart. Could I meet my favorite characters? Could I see them in front of me—not as images on a screen, but flesh and blood?
But that excitement quickly faded.
"Wait… does that mean this world accepts everything… anything… from any world?"
I looked up at the sky. It was clear, yet it seemed to hide countless secrets.
"How will I find my family in a world like this?"
My eyes widened with anxiety.
"And what if evil characters arrived? Ones with powers I can't even imagine?"
Suddenly, I felt how small I was… how weak.
"Will I even survive?" I asked myself.
Then I placed my hand on my pocket and felt the pen.
I closed my eyes.
"It's okay… as long as I'm still here, I'll keep going."
By the end of the day, I had dragged my feet from exhaustion. My back ached. My shoulders were sore. But this time, the fatigue wasn't just physical… it was mental too.
The words of those men still echoed in my head.
"A world that gathers everything… even the impossible?"
How will I find my family in this overcrowding of worlds? How will I protect myself if powerful, merciless villains appear?
I'm just… an ordinary person.
I felt anxiety seep into my heart like cold water.
But despite everything, I stood for a moment, looked at the sky again, and took a deep breath.
"Everything will be alright," I said aloud this time, as if I needed to believe it.
"I'll keep going. I'll grow stronger. And I'll find them. No matter what it takes."
Then I walked slowly toward the forest… where I usually sleep. But tonight, my heart felt heavier than usual.