Like every night Minhyun got ready to invade a lot of dreams.

He was curled up in a sleeping bag on top of an apartment building in the middle of the city. The sounds and shimmering lights of night time were all around him as he tried to get comfortable.

This was the life he had chosen. Nomadic and unsteady. Not that he had much of a choice. When they had taken the only thing that kept him going forward he didn’t have much of a direction left.

Who ‘they’ were? That was the problem.

He had spent a good year gathering clues. He was successful, but there were too many leads, too many traces to follow. And with the way he gathered his knowledge there was no way to hand it all over to the police.

And so he spent his days wandering around, following lead after lead. Through dreams.

In their unconscious mind, people were open to his requests. He could stay hidden and observe. He could mask himself as someone else from their realm of dreams and pose as whoever he thought was likely to get answers.

Most people wouldn’t even remember him. Dreams are rarely accurately recalled, if at all.

Minhyun began to walk around in the mindscape of dreams as soon as he found his way into slumber.

There were children having nightmares. He dealt with those first, posing as a golden shining samurai to fight off the ghosts. There were adults battling their own demons. He did his best to give them a way out of the labyrinth, a sword to fight or – if their minds had sunken too far into depression - a shimmer of hope.

There were mundane people dreaming mundane stuff. He left those alone. There were dreams. He stayed out of those. They tended to become bizarre and more often than not somebodies grandmother was there. Or worse.

He wandered about – through soaring skies, royal halls, dense forests, dinner conversations with long dead parents, libraries and crystal caves. Dreams were interesting but if he stayed for more than a few minutes it became obvious that they made no sense to the observer and he could only get so much of a glimpse.

Where he thought someone might have a lead on his goal, he investigated. This went on for hours.

***

Back out in the waking world it was probably near morning. More and more people dropped out of the area’s dreamscape. He was himself about ready to wake up in a few minutes.

That night had been a bust. His next lead was two provinces away and he had no bus money left.

“Hey Minhyun.”

He froze in fear. Never ever had anyone even noticed he was there unless he wanted them to. Somebody knowing his name was a whole new level of horror.

Through the gold and silver halls of a mental palace, a boy came along wearing tight but regular clothes. He looked directly at Minhyun.

“Yes Minhyun, I can see you. Don’t be afraid.”

“I… I’m sorry. I’ll leave your dream. I promise you won’t see me again.”

“No, please. Stay. I’m not asleep. I’m in trance. It took me forever to find you like this. Where are you right now? You’ll probably wake up hungry. How about we grab a bite and-“

“No. Sorry, I had no idea there are others like me. But it doesn’t change anything. I have to get going.”

The stranger spoke calmly. “We can help you find her.”

Minhyun froze in place. Did the boy mean “…Sujin?”

“Yes. I don’t know who took your sister away, but there are people who can help you. Give us any information you have and we’ll look into it. So, shall we start over? I’m Junior.”

“I’m Minhyun. But you already knew that.” He bowed respectfully and the other boy reciprocated. “Who are you? You said you’re in trance. Can’t you visit dreams when you sleep?”

“My abilities are different. But there’s something you should try. This mindscape you’re walking through – you’re creating it.”

“What?”

“Dreams aren’t naturally connected like this. If you can learn to do that while you’re awake, you could read minds.”

“I could do… telepathy?”

“I hope so. Give it a shot. So, where are you right now? I’ll bring you something hearty.”

***

A/N: Finally they’re all collected. That’s going to be quite a meeting.