Homebound in Another World

It was an ordinary night in the life of a married couple in their thirties.

Syaa, the wife, worked from home as an IT auditor. Reyo, the husband, had just returned from a long day as a software trainer, carrying takeout in one hand and his briefcase in the other.

It was 9:00 PM. They ate quietly in front of the TV, talked a little about their day, then took turns showering before heading to bed—just another typical weekday, ready to repeat again tomorrow.

The scene from their bedroom pulls away, drifting through the glass windows of their cozy seventh-floor apartment to the far away outs. Outside, the world continued its routine: headlights of late-night cars zipped past, and the last train of the evening clattered along its rails in the distance.

Then, silence.

Suddenly, with an almost imperceptible snap, all the city noise vanished. The apartment was plunged into total darkness. The subtle glow of streetlights and the soft hum of life from outside disappeared without a trace.

Reyo and Syaa slept soundly through it.

A phone alarm broke the silence. The screen glowed faintly in the pitch-black room, reading: 7:00 AM.

Reyo groggily reached for the device, squinting at the light as he silenced the alarm. The world around him was still cloaked in darkness.

“…Was it always this dark at seven?” he muttered, blinking as he turned to glance at his wife. He could barely make out her silhouette under the blanket.

Still half-asleep, he got up and walked to the bathroom. With a flick, the ceiling lamp illuminated the small space in a familiar warm glow. He went about his routine, not noticing the faint shadow that moved across the ceiling—just above the see-through glass surface he’d never realized was there.

A faint rustle echoed beyond the apartment’s upper boundary.

Back in the bedroom, Reyo returned and turned on the bedside lamp. The soft light illuminated the room—but outside the windows, it was still night. 7:20 AM, and not even a hint of morning.

He frowned.

“That doesn’t make sense… Dawn should’ve broken by now.”

Curious, he checked his phone again. No signal. Instead of the usual location pin, it showed a strange label: Location: Hell Forest

“…What kind of sick GPS joke is this?”

He opened YouTube. The loading icon spun for a moment before an error popped up: No internet access. But oddly enough, the Wi-Fi icon was still showing full bars.

“…Weird.” He grabbed the second phone and checked. Same result. No signal. No internet.

Suddenly, the air grew heavy.

A low hum vibrated through the room, followed by a click—not mechanical, but something… unnatural.

Then, it appeared.

A massive, glowing red eye slowly emerged across the ceiling, its pupil contracting as it focused directly on him.

“What the—?!”

He recoiled instinctively, stumbling backward as the monstrous eye stared down at him. Syaa bolted upright in bed, screamed, and scrambled to move—until Reyo reached over and quickly covered her mouth.

“Shh! Don’t move,” he whispered sharply, eyes wide.

They froze, trembling under the blanket as the crimson light from the eye bathed the room in a blood-red glow. After several agonizing seconds, the eye blinked—and slowly began to recede, shrinking until it disappeared entirely.

Silence again.

Syaa was shaking. “What… was that?” she whispered, her voice cracking, eyes moist with fear.

“I don’t know,” Reyo said, trying to keep calm. He pulled the blanket off, stood up, and cautiously looked up again.

The eye was gone, but the ceiling now looked... different. It wasn’t the usual concrete and light fixture. He could vaguely see shapes above—a shimmer of leaves, shifting branches.

He hurried to the window and peeled back the curtain. What he saw made his stomach drop.

Trees. Grass. Dense jungle terrain. Not a single sign of their apartment complex. Not even the city skyline. Just a vast forest stretching endlessly in every direction.

“That’s impossible… We were on the seventh floor…”

He turned to Syaa, who was still frozen in place.

“I think… either the building collapsed and we somehow survived…” he said, pausing to swallow his own disbelief, “…or we’ve been transported to another world.”

Syaa’s lips trembled. Tears welled in her eyes, but she couldn’t say anything. It was too much, too fast, too unreal.

Reyo shook himself into action. He began switching on every light in the apartment, walking room to room. The familiar warm glows sprang to life, casting away the overwhelming darkness.

The soft sounds of rustling came from another room.

Their four cats—Leo, Pancake, Joy, and Luna—yawned and stretched lazily as the lights roused them from their peaceful slumber. None of them seemed to notice anything strange, though Luna tilted her head as if sensing something... off.

Reyo approached the front door, hesitated, then opened it.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks.

Where there should have been a hallway, elevator, neighbors’ doors... there was nothing.

Just forest. Dense, deep, and untamed.

Hell Forest.

He remembered the label on the phone, and it sent a chill down his spine.

And thus, the story began—with one simple day that should have been just like any other... until the world they knew disappeared without warning.

The air was unnaturally still.

Reyo stood outside the apartment door, surrounded not by a hallway or cityscape—but by a dense, otherworldly forest stretching as far as his eyes could see. The soft rustle of wind through towering trees replaced the familiar distant hum of traffic. He stared for a moment longer, heart pounding, before slowly stepping back inside to gather his thoughts.

Once inside, he instinctively closed the door, and the moment it shut, a soft chime sounded.

A flat, black panel shimmered into view beside the doorframe.

“What the…?”

He touched it. The display awoke with a soft glow, revealing three options:

[Build Mode][Settings][Manual Guide]

His hand moved almost on its own as he selected Build Mode. A confirmation prompt appeared.

“Enter Building Mode? Y/N”

Reyo tapped Yes.

In an instant, the entire apartment flickered—walls became semi-transparent, faint blue gridlines outlined furniture, and floating labels tagged different areas. It was like being inside a simulation game. A new panel hovered near him:

Tip: Access building controls via Watch Interface.

His eyes flicked to the smartwatch on his wrist. At his touch, it projected a soft, blue hologram displaying:

[Blueprint][Tools][Materials]

He let out a breathless laugh. “No way… this is like one of those survival base-building games.”

Just as he exited Build Mode, the soft patter of bare feet approached.

Syaa stood nearby, wrapped in a blanket, eyes tired but alert. “Rey... what are you doing? And… what’s going on?”

Reyo rubbed the back of his head. “I think we’re in some kind of... building interface? Like, I just activated a construction mode for the house.”

Syaa blinked at him. “What are you talking about? Are we still dreaming?”

“I don’t think so,” he muttered, then tapped into Settings on the panel. A new list appeared:

[Soundproofing][Ceiling Transparency][Window Tint][Lighting Mode][Auto Shut-Off]

He checked the Soundproofing box. Instantly, the outside world went silent—even the distant breeze vanished.

He turned the ceiling opacity to full black. The stars and trees outside disappeared. The windows followed.

He dimmed the lights to a cozy warmth and set it to auto-mode. “Night lights warm. Day lights cool,” he muttered.

Syaa leaned closer, her eyes still swimming with confusion. “Wait… how are you doing all this?”

Reyo scrolled to the final option—Manual Guide—and read aloud for her.

Manual Guide: Apartment 7-7

Apartment 7-7 cannot be destroyed.

Apartment 7-7 will cannot be targeted by external attackers.

Any entity that attempts to attack its occupants will cease to exist.

Apartment 7-7 can be expanded or upgraded by the owner’s creativity.

Apartment 7-7 can be compacted into a portable card and redeployed.

Ownership is permanent: Reyo, Syaa, Leo, Pancake, Joy, Luna.

All guests require owner approval to enter.

Apartment 7-7 generates its own energy and resources.

There are no limits to upgrades or expansions.

Settings will expand as new furniture or devices are added.

Syaa blinked several times. “...Are they for real?”

Reyo turned to her, expression half-serious, half-dazed. “At this point, we might not even be regular humans anymore. Who knows—we might have levels. Skills. Stats.”

The moment he said that, a soft chime echoed. A holographic panel materialized in front of him.

[STATUS]

“Hah. Expected, but still weird,” Reyo said, startled.

“What?” Syaa asked.

“Try saying status, maybe?”

“Status?” she echoed, puzzled.

In that instant, her own panel floated into view.

[STATUS]

Name: Syaa | Race: High Human |

Potential Stat: Magic

Skills: Magic Creation (Lv. 1), Magic Master (Lv. Max)

“Magic... Creation? Like a little fire coming out of my palm?” she said while extending her hand—boom, fire emerged. Not too big, but enough to stir panic.

Both of them froze.

“HOW DO I TURN THIS OFF?!”

“Uh, maybe just… think about stopping it?”, Reyo said.

Fwoosh. The flame vanished as quickly as it came.

Reyo chuckled weakly. “Okay… that’s kinda amazing. I got nothing when I tried.”

He glanced back at his own status:

[STATUS]

Name: Reyo | Race: High Human |

Potential Stat: Strength

Skills: All-in-One Handyman (Lv. 1), Weapon Master (Lv. MAX)

Strength: 35

“Thirty-five strength… I don’t know what that means exactly, but it looks impressive,” he muttered.

He swiped right on the panel. It shifted to show:

[Party Status]

Members: Reyo, Syaa, Leo, Pancake, Joy, Luna

Even the cats…?

“Hey,” he turned to Syaa. “The cats are on the list too. I think they have skills.”

Syaa raised an eyebrow, but curiosity overruled her nerves. She tapped on Luna’s name.

“Stealth and… Speedster?” she read. “Wait, where is Luna?”

She looked toward the small cardboard cat house. Nothing. But when she leaned closer…

“Ah! She’s right there,” Syaa whispered. “But—” she took a few steps back and blinked, “—she’s completely gone from sight. Like invisible from just a few meters away.”

She stood silent for a long second, then said softly, “This is real. The panels, the stats… all of it.”

“Bet,” Reyo replied with a crooked smile.

Then Syaa’s face darkened with a more grounded concern. “Rey… if we’re in another world, and the apartment is no longer connected to a building… where are we getting power? Water?”

They checked.

The stove turned on with no smell of gas. The faucet worked. Their Coway water cooler hummed gently. Lights flickered on and off at command.

“Maybe it’s like the guide says,” Reyo muttered. “This place generates its own energy. Self-sustaining…”

“But… the fridge is empty. Now it has something like an LCD panel on the door, with a list of foods and stuff,” Syaa said, dumbfounded.

“Maybe we can summon it out by clicking one of the items on the list?” Reyo replied, half-sure.

Syaa clicked on chicken and broccoli. A chime sounded. She opened the fridge to see both sitting neatly on the shelf.

“That’s neat, somehow. But we might need to restock this fridge. These foods all come with expiry dates,” Reyo said, pointing at the list.

“And no delivery apps here, I guess,” Reyo said dryly.

She chuckled despite herself. “Not unless ‘Hell Forest Panda’ becomes a thing.”

Reyo grew serious. “We still don’t know if this is temporary. We need to find out what’s out there.”

"I'm gonna take a quick step out, and check for things. If anything happens, I'm gonna rush home at once", he added.

“Are you sure?” Syaa asked. “If anything weird happens, just run straight back, okay?”

He slung a backpack over his shoulder and took one of the phones, which still functioned—though without internet or signal.

He gave her a quick smile, trying to look more confident than he felt. “Sure, hon. I’ll be back soon.”

He stepped outside the safety of Apartment 7-7, into the unknown.

Chapter End