My otherworldly adventure

Chapter 1

"All your dreams will be fulfilled." I read out the fortune cookie note. I laughed at my own words even though there was no one around to listen.

'The biggest lie in my life or the biggest joke.' I thought as I threw it on the floor and continued making my way home. 'Home' was a reference. In actuality, it was an eight feet high and five feet wide Goshiwon.

Still, it was a blessing for me. I at least didn't have to sleep on the streets. Even though it took sixty percent of my monthly earnings and I had to eat only two times a day, it was still better than staying outside.

But I think even that is about to end as I was fired from my construction job today. The reason was that the visiting daughter of the person who owned the building didn't like my face so she asked to have me out of there.

They fired me without a second thought and I wasn't even paid for my work. I begged and begged but they didn't listen. On the way back I applied for many other jobs but I didn't get any. My face was the problem.

When I was seven years old, there was an accident at the orphanage that caused the building to catch on fire. My face was burned in the process while I was helping another friend of mine get out of the building.

The fire was put out but the orphanage wasn't insured so there was nothing that could be done. The children were sent to other orphanages and I was sent to an orphanage in Seoul.

Since my face was disfigured, it was no wonder why I was never adopted. And also because of my face, my life was equally hell.

Korea is a very troubled country when it comes to school delinquency. I was the easiest and the most obvious target with little to no background and my disfigured face.

The bullying reached a point where going to school was very painful and seeing no other choice, I had to quit school after changing the school about seven times.

I was lucky enough to get a job at a construction site and a kind hearted old lady had rented me a Goshiwon in her building but since the old lady passed away last month, her son was trying to use every excuse to get me out. No doubt when I won't be able to pay him tomorrow, I will lose that small Goshiwon as well.

On the way back, I found a cookie lying on the road and with nothing to eat tonight, I picked it up and ate it. It turned out to be a fortune cookie with a joke inside of it.

I reached home and turned on the light. I threw myself on the floor and closed my eyes. I was going to sleep here for the last time so might as well make the most of it.

I couldn't help but shed tears at my helplessness. All of this was because I saved someone that day. Sometimes I wonder, would my life have been a hell like this if I hadn't done that good deed that day?

Sometimes I can't help but wonder that good deeds go unnoticed and there is no reward for you in it.

Thinking about my misfortune and the unjust life I had because I did a good deed, I fell asleep right there on the floor.

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I woke up and found myself in a pitch black room. No, it wasn't a room. It was just black. Pitch black darkness all around me. For a moment I thought I was dreaming but the suffocating darkness was telling me otherwise.

I found my existence so small in this darkness, that it felt like I would go mad if I stayed here for more than a few minutes.

"Hello," I called out loudly but there was no response. Let alone response, there was no echo of my voice either. It was as if my voice was also suffocated and drowned in this darkness.

Again, my mind felt like it was slowly going mad when a bead of light appeared before me. It was red in color but at least it was light in this darkness.

It didn't help much as even this light died out in this suffocating darkness. Then I saw the bead slowly turning into a dagger. I was surprised at what that was however all I could do was keep my eyes on it as its shine was still there.

Soon something else appeared before my eyes—a screen. For a guy who never had a phone let alone a television or a computer, I had only seen such screens in the hands of others but this screen wasn't in some device. It was in front of me. As if in thin air.

There were a few words written on it, in a language that I couldn't understand but I knew what those words meant.

[Would you kill for your happiness?]

A simple question. However, for a coward like me, that was the most complex and difficult question.

When I was bullied in high school. Many times I thought about killing my bullies or ending my life to escape that hell but in the end, I couldn't do it. Even though I had obtained a knife somehow and determined myself to stab it in one of the bully's heart, I couldn't do it.

When I placed it on my throat, I couldn't do it because I lacked the courage. I couldn't just drive the knife in.

And right now, I was being asked the very same question in a dream or I made myself believe that I was in one because deep down I knew I wasn't. I wasn't inside a dream and I knew that.

Whatever this was, it was real. This question was real. This suffocating darkness that would swallow my existence in a few moments was real.

This darkness, someone, was asking me to kill. Kill who, I didn't know but what I did know was that it wasn't a psychological question. It was a question for a task. I would have to kill someone.

"Yes," I answered in a quaky voice. I didn't know why I said yes because I lacked the courage to do so. Yet still, words of consent had left my mouth unknowingly.

[Then touch the dagger]

The next instruction was simple so I did it. I reached out and grabbed the dagger. Everything went black right at the moment.

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I woke up in my room. Sweating from head to toe. 'I'm glad.' I thought as I believed it was a dream. It felt real but in the end, it was just a dream.

However, the color on my face faded soon when I glanced at my hand and found the red dagger in my hand. It wasn't shining anymore. It was a simple red dagger with no markings or carvings on it with a simple hilt.

It wasn't bigger than my hand and wrist combined. When I noticed the dagger, the screen appeared in front of me again.

[Kill Hwang Dok Son]

I froze. I couldn't think what was going on. I didn't know why I was being asked to kill someone. Why was I being asked to kill someone I knew?

That's right. I very well knew who Hwang Dok Son was. He was the reason and the start of my misery. The very friend that I had saved in that orphanage fire.

The only person in the world who hadn't shunned me. Who had shown me kindness. I didn't know if it was because I had saved his life all those years ago or pity, but he was nice to me.

So why was I being asked to kill him? I couldn't fathom the reason. Which was why I couldn't come to a decision.

Huh. Did I just think that? Did I just consider it? What do I mean by 'couldn't come to a decision'? Shouldn't the decision be obvious? Why would I kill the only person nice to me in this whole world?

Then why did I consider it? Why was that?

I was torn between my decision and my reasoning. On the one hand, I didn't have to consider anything while on the other hand, I was considering whether to do it or not.

It was driving me mad.

Slowly but surely, it was driving me mad. Just as that darkness.

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I left my Goshiwon and made my way to Hwang Dok Son's house. I knew where he lived in Seoul. He was adopted by some chairman of the conglomerate so he was rich and lived in a nice area.

Of course, a nice area for me meant a faraway area and since I lacked money, all I could do was walk to his house. House would be an understatement. A mansion was more like it.

I wasn't going there to kill him of course. I was just going to talk to him. Hwang Dok Son was a nice guy. A kind hearted person. I'm sure he would listen to what I had to say and there was no doubt that by tomorrow morning, this will all be behind me.

But there was one thing I didn't understand. One thing I couldn't quite figure.

Why am I bringing the dagger along?

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I reached his house and pressed the electronic buzzer. I had been to his house before so I knew how to get in contact with him. The problem was that it was around two in the morning so I was sure he or his parents wouldn't be happy with my arrival.

But I had to talk to him. For some reason, I knew that if I didn't talk to him before tomorrow morning, I wouldn't be able to do it ever.

"Who is it?" I was in luck as the one who replied to the buzzer was Hwang Dok Son.

"It's me, Young," I answered.

"Young? What are you doing here at this time?" he asked, surprised at my presence.

"I need to talk to you about something," I replied.

"At this time?" he asked in return to which I said, "Yes. It's important."

There was no reply but the gate was opened. I entered and made myself to their front door where he stood with the door opened.

"Is everything okay, Young?" He asked me.

I didn't know how to reply to that so I simply asked. "Are you a good person Hwang?"

He was surprised at my question when he expected a different reply. Still he answered after overcoming his surprise and said, "I like to think myself to be one."

I didn't know why I was asking that question. I just was. Until now however that is.

I knew why I was asking him that. It was because I had decided.

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"Here is the file of the victim sir." An officer handed a file to his superior, a detective.

"And why would I want to see that?" The detective asked, puzzled.

The officer replied, "It's because it is very interesting."

"What? The way he was murdered?" The detective asked while taking the file.

"That too is interesting but this is something else. I think you should see this." The officer replied while urging the superior to open the file.

The detective opened the file and read it. Soon his eyes went wide and he turned to the officer and asked, "Is this true?"

"It is. We found evidence in the form of pictures and recorded videos on his computer." The officer replied.

"So it could be revenge?" the detective speculated.

"I doubt it sir but it is possible to be the case." The officer replied.

"So what do we do? Should we disclose the case?" he continued to ask for instructions.

"Of course. He is the one we had been looking for. Give all the evidence to media and make it a public case. Check and find all the accomplices in the videos and arrest them." The detective instructed and the officer left the room.

The detective sighed and once again looked at the file. "Whoever you are, you have done a good deed." The superior said to no one in particular.

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