𝐑𝐔𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄 ▪︎ [𝘋𝘜𝘛𝘠 𝘈𝘍𝘛𝘌𝘙 𝘚𝘊𝘏𝘖𝘖𝘓]

ꜰɪꜰᴛᴇᴇɴ

∞ 𝐑𝐔𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄∞

_______________________________________

Death. One word that has made every generation of people that has ever lived on this planet lose their minds. One word that can mean liberation and imprisonment for eternity at the same time. What is after death? Reincarnation? Afterlife? No one knows and it shall remain that way. Because those that were once dead, they can never come back in the world of the living, in the realm where not only the heart beats, but the soul soars in the sky as if it doesn't know what death is. Once your body dies, once your heart stops beating for the eternity that follows, your soul falls into the pits of hell. Because everyone has their own hell, full of made-up monsters that haunt you in your sleep and every time you close your eyes, nightmares that crawl on your skin and eat you alive, laughing as you are screaming in despair for someone, something to save you.

But nothing can save you from the claws of death, not even the Gods, not even the Love, not even the Fear. 

Some have given up on life, some have chosen to fight for it. But once it is promised to you, once it is written in your stars, once destiny takes a hold of your life, there is nothing you can do to slip though death's fingers. 

❃❃❃

"She's waking up."

The voices were followed by a loud ringing in her ears. Trying to open her eyes, she saw the blurry lights over her head. Blinking fast, she tried making up a few of the faces she was seeing above her head, but it was too dark to recognize anyone. She tried getting up, but a hand pushed her back. But that was not the reason she was forced to lay back down, it was the agonizing pain in her left shoulder. 

"Don't try getting up," she heard the same voice say. "How do you feel?"
"Am I de -" she tried speaking, but the voice didn't seem to belong to her. It was too hoarse. "And I dead?" she forced herself again.
"Not yet, buttercup. You're lucky we got here in time." Another voice. Who was this?
"Got here in time? Where am I? Who are you?" She concentrated on the person's face more.
"I must say that I am disappointed. It hasn't been that long since you've left us, you know? I'm Ji-Eun, you dummy." Ji-Eun? Where was she?
"Why are you here?"
"You've been shot, Chae-Yeong. Chun-Ho called for us through the transmitter, we came as fast as we could." She was shot. Chun-Ho. The memories were starting to come back to her. "Do you remember what happened now?"
"Where are the others? The kids? Chun-Ho?" Her vision started to clear now. Ji-Eun and Da-Mi were standing in front of her.
"Chun-Ho is with Seong-Jin and the others," Da-Mi told her. "They are inspecting the school grounds so there are no spheres in the area. The kids are in the other classroom, they are pretty shaken up after the attack."
"Attack?"
"Yeong-Su told Il-Ha what happened when he found you. He heard a gunshot and came to see what happened. A sphere came toward you and when he tried shooting you, he shot you by accident. The sphere crawled in the ocean after that." That's not what happened. Not what Chae-Yeong remembered. She closed her eyes, averting the bright lights that were giving her a headache. What happened out there? There was no sphere. Or was there? She had to talk to So-Yeon. She must know what happened.
"Take me to the kids," she told the girls as she got up, feeling her whole body pulsing.
"That's not a good idea," Ji-Eun said. "You've lost a lot of blood, it's a miracle we managed to save you, really. We'll bring Chun-Ho to you as soon as they are back, ok?"
"I'm fine, I just want to go and see the kids." She tried standing up, but as soon as she was on her feet, the world became blurry and her legs became numb. Ji-Eun and Da-Mi caught her before she could fall. "I'm going to need a little bit of help to get there, though."
"You should really -"
"Please. I just... I need to see them." The two girls looked at each other, considering their options. She knew that if they said 'no', there was nothing Chae-Yeong could do in this shape.
"You are a pain in the ass even when you're shot, you know that?" Ji-Eun told her and she started laughing, but stopped soon enough as her shoulder started throbbing again.
"You're the best."