The smell of sandalwood and old parchment was the first thing that hit him. Dae-Hyun opened his eyes, fully expecting to see his cramped apartment ceiling. Instead, he was staring up at a towering wooden canopy draped in crimson silk. He sat up, the silk sheets sliding off his chest. He wasn't wearing his faded T-shirt. He was in an ornate, dark violet robe with silver embroidery.

He scrambled out of bed and rushed to a polished brass mirror. The reflection staring back wasn't a tired bookstore clerk. It was a tall, strikingly handsome young man with sharp features and an air of unmistakable arrogance. It was the villain from The Moonlit Treaty—the ridiculous romance novel he had finished reading at 3:00 AM.