"What is a dream, really? Many of us do not even know—or understand—what a dream is and what its essence might be, because indeed, dreams are a mystery in themselves. Are dreams a kind of warning, or merely messages from a different world? No human truly knows, except for those who are chosen, and one man named Jung Proto. This is his story."
— K...?
It was exactly 8 a.m.
The sky was bright, birds chirped outside, and the city had already begun its daily routine. But one thing was easy to notice: this was a boring morning for Jung Proto. The alarm clock rang relentlessly, dragging him out of the darkness people insisted on calling "morning." He opened his eyes—but his body refused to move.
"Oh, modern life, please, I beg you, take me back to my bed," he muttered.
Recently, Jung Proto had been having a terrible time. His beautiful girlfriend had broken up with him, his boss had just fired him from his job, and his mother had just passed away. Even for a so-called "normal person," everything that had happened to him within the last week could easily be called "the end of the world"—some people like to label any unpleasant event as such, and honestly, it's a bit funny when we think back on what the "end of the world" actually means—or what is more commonly known as the apocalypse. Who could blame him?
"What should I even do now? I'm too lazy to shower, too lazy to go outside, and I don't even know what movie I want to watch," Jung complained to himself.
At that point, he recalled everything that had happened. He thought, "I don't have a girlfriend anymore, my mother is gone, and I'm unemployed… If I think about it again, I'm actually free to do anything now!"—a way to escape from reality. Again, who could blame him?
"Whatever, the world can explode, get invaded by aliens, I don't care," he said with a strange expression, then raised his voice, "bed, here I come!"
This was the beginning of his journey.
A journey into the world of dreams where, unlike his previous dreams, he would have control over his own body. A dream that—
"Ah, I can't sleep! I was so motivated just now," he said, as if deliberately sabotaging the narrator's intention to explain what would happen next. "Maybe I'll try the counting sheep method. Sounds like a good idea."
…Uh, where was I again? Oh right.
This is his journey into the world of dreams. A dream that, if one keeps digging deeper, will reveal something extraordinarily valuable—both metaphorically and literally. Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking: "the true meaning of life?" Maybe. But let's start with the dreams first.
"Ah… huh? Where am I? I thought I was sleeping just now…?"