“You did what?” Sungjin asked, looking up at you as you handed him a USB file.

“I did a little something, and I hope you don’t mind that I was inspired by you,” you mentioned, chewing on your bottom lip.

“Brian’s no longer your inspiration?” he ribbed, and he looked over at the man he spoke of, seeing Brian roll his eyes in response.

“Be thankful I allowed her to write it.”

“Excuse me, I’m the writer here, and I choose what I work on and what I don’t,” you concluded, shooting Sungjin an encouraging smile. “After everything Sungjin did whilst you were gone-”

“Duly noted, enjoy your gift,” Brian agreed hastily, dragging you back to the front of the police station. “We’ll go enjoy our date out in the sun.”

“I’m jealous!” Sungjin called as he waved the pair off, soon staring at the present you had left him with.

He didn’t get a chance to look at it until after his shift, mainly because he felt the prying eyes of Dowoon waiting to find out what his partner received. Sungjin knew Dowoon’s girlfriend was a fan of your work and if there was a spoiler on this USB, Sungjin was adamant his young friend wouldn’t get his hands on it.

Besides, it was a gift for him, and he wanted to open it in private.

Once home and sat down at his computer desk with a meal he prepared himself, Sungjin slipped the USB into the slot and waited for the folder to open. Inside was a document labelled Protector. Clicking on it, he waited for it to open.

Sungjin, you are the best police officer and also the best inspiration I know. Thank you, without even knowing that you had, for inspiring this world. I hope you don’t mind that I used your name. I know we didn’t move further than our flirty beginning, but I hope that this story placates some of those old feelings you once had. It sure helped me with mine. Who knows, maybe Ella might become someone special to you too. Please let me know what you think when you’re done reading it, and if I can go ahead with using your name as the main character – everyone at the publishing house is in love with this story.

— Y/N

PS. I think I love this one more than the Encounter series. Don’t tell Brian, though.

Chuckling at your opening speech, Sungjin reached for his beer and took a sip. “Okay, Y/N, let’s see what you’ve got waiting here for me.”

As the night wore on, Sungjin lost sight of his physical surroundings, drawn into the world you had created. It was addictive, even if sometimes he found himself questioning why you made his character act in one way or another. The Sungjin in this was a better version of himself, and he was chuffed that you viewed him as someone like this. It sure did make up for the lack of a relationship you both had.

And speaking of that, you had been right. Sungjin wasn’t even finished with the story when he forced himself to get up from his computer and go to bed for his shift the following day. Ella was special to him, which felt really silly. He knew how invested people could get in stories and with characters, but he was never really one of them. Still, Ella seemed to be the girl he wished for in his world. She wasn’t entirely based off of you, though she did have some similarities in personality. Ella was still her own identity though, and the further he read of her and her journey, the more he wanted to know everything about her. What made her tick? What made her smile? Could he make her feel secure and safe as his character did? Could she love him as she was beginning to in the story?

“I need to shake off this world and remember my own one,” he told himself with a loose chuckle, beating down the blankets and nestling into his pillow.

Sungjin dreamed of Ella and the world in Protector. When he woke up, he was too groggy from the lack of a full night’s rest that he blearily made it through his morning routine and got to work.

But he was off his game all day long.

“What was on the USB?” Dowoon queried when they stopped at a café for lunch, and Sungjin shot his friend a look. “What? You clearly read it, and it’s affected you.”

“I had a bad sleep, is all. Nothing more.”

However, when they reached the counter to place their order, Sungjin got more than he needed. Dowoon frowned. “Who eats the custard scroll and has a ham and cheese sandwich? You always get a meat pie and a slice of cake.”

“Huh?”

Glancing down into the bags he held, Sungjin blinked. In the story, Ella was under witness protection in his apartment, and Sungjin had been buying her lunch before going home to eat it with her. He couldn’t believe he had done such a thing and shook his head. “I guess I’m just extra hungry today.”

Though Sungjin kept the food and took it home at the end of his break before heading back out on patrol. When he was off the clock and finally home, Sungjin sped through making dinner and sat down at his computer.

“Weird, did I leave it running all night and day?” he asked himself when he found Protector still open. Settling back in to finish the novel that night, Sungjin was up again until two in the morning, unable to silence the many thoughts in his mind.

Just how had you done it? This world felt so alive, as if he were able to exist in it. As if it were his world, and Ella was about to step into it. He knew that part was wishful thinking and cursed you out playfully for installing such a woman in his head.

“This is what you give me as a gift?! Ha!”

It was then, as he was getting a glass of water that he noticed the food he had brought home earlier was gone. He hadn’t eaten it, having come home and made his own dish. And since he lived alone, there was no one else who could have eaten it.

“He came through the screen.”

Sungjin thought back to when you had explained Brian’s existence – and then his reappearance – to him and frowned. Had Ella done the same?

“Ah, don’t be a fool. Brian is a miracle. I’m not going to get the same experience.”

Though, Sungjin purposely left the computer on this time, going to bed feeling anxiously hopeful.

His apartment was empty the next morning, and yet at lunch, he bought the same food again, delivering it home and finding it gone once he was finished with his shift. He continued in this pattern for a week, finally coming upon his days off. Still, he followed the same trend of leaving as if he had work, waiting out until he could buy food and then delivered it home. Though, this time, he had set up a camera in the room. He watched from the car as someone seemed to appear in his house and entered his kitchen. Without waiting for a second longer, Sungjin dashed back into the building and to his front door that he flung open and startled the person near it. She dropped her sandwich on the ground.

Shutting the door, Sungjin peered at the woman before him. And then she smiled. “Oh, Sungjin. H-Hi.”

“Ella?” he breathed, and she shrugged a little, nodding her head. “You’re really Ella?”

“In the flesh.”

And like any good cop who came face to face with his main protagonist, he didn’t faint. Instead, he reached out for the woman, gasping when she was real to the touch. “You’re really here.”

“Only if you want me to be.”

Sungjin merely held on, thanking you inwardly over and over.

He also hoped you wouldn’t plan on writing any sequels to his world.

The End. To Be Continued.