Black Silk ✘ Minsung

Chapter 9

  He sat on the throne, his eyes getting lost in the crowd in front of him. He was frantically scanning for Changbin but all he could look at was Hyunjin, that one sentence repeating in his head over and over again:

  "The best way to pass the exam is to do the one thing I am not capable of doing — especially when they ask about your previous human life and memories."

  He started panicking. How is he supposed to do that when he won't be able to do anything verbally. How is he supposed to lie, when they will just look into his head and ... steal his memories? Should he even lie at all? All those questions were flooding his mind but once he tried to convert his eyes towards Changbin, to find emotional support in him, he was not able to move an inch. All he saw was Hyunjin and the word lie.

  Seungmin was explaining the process to him, just like he did to Ryujin. Jisung was nodding even though he was mostly absent-minded. Before Seungmin stood up in front of him, he saw Hyunjin flashing his amber eyes at him while nodding slowly. That was the moment when Jisung came to his decision.

  Suddenly, his vision blurred and all he saw was white.

  "326." he heard. His mind immediately reminded him of the conversation with Changbin, when he scolded him for mixing up the rules 328 and 326.

  "Rule 326 — recollection of what was once there is the most important thing. There might be anything we want on our hands now but we must not ignore where we once stood," he said, sure of him being right. A few more numbers could be heard, there were at least 30 of them but he was able to answer all of them correctly.

  The part he feared the most was about to come. The only thing he could still see was the whiteness of nothing he was currently seeing. The auditorium was dead silent and he felt heavy all of sudden. He heard a voice, faintly explaining what was about to happen to him next. He recognised that it was Seungmin's father this time. Weird, he thought but did not think much of it anymore. Then, he felt two cold hands touch his neck as if trying to strangle him. He internally panicked but his body didn't move an inch. And maybe it was better that way.

  Suddenly, the whiteness turned into an image. It was an image of a family sitting by a table. Jisung still vividly remembers that day — they were celebrating Chuseok and Jisung was six years old then. His mom cooked lots of delicious food and invited some of her friends over. Jisung was much more excited about the food on the table than the kids his age sitting next to him. That put a smile on his face.

  Once he got a full view of his mom, he could not help himself. Tears started falling down his eyes as he slowly made his way around the table, scanning all the small details. He felt a sting in his heart upon realising that he will never see his mom again. And that thought resulted in him crying even more violently.

  As he was about to touch the table to make sure this was truly real, the scenery changed. Now, he was walking by his younger self's side. They were going down the mall, his parents right behind him. That's when he noticed their intertwined hands which made him chuckle. The whole family passed by a music shop and small Jisung was the only one that stopped in front of the giant window, observing it with eyes full of tenderness. His mom turned around and saw him pointing his tiny finger at the poster of some famous local singer.

  "I will be a singer when I grow up!" the young Jisung said enthusiastically and Jisung's heart dropped. His dreams never once changed. He wanted to go and run towards the boy and hug him but as if his feet were glued to the ground, he could not move at all. All he could do was stand and let the salty tears fall down his cheeks. He heard his mother's laugh as she stepped towards him and crouched down to his level, ruffling his hair. She acknowledged her son's love for music and all of his goals to become a famous singer and said that once he becomes one, she will be even prouder of him than she already is. If that was even possible. His mom was his number one fan.