Chapter 3— Dae-Mi

12:49 am.

At the moment, I was not in my bed, not even in my house. I was in a black minivan, seated in between strangers—who, seconds ago, I was about to call the cops on. Oh, and in the back, tied up, was the man that had just broken into my home and, if I could hazard a guess, tried to kill me.

Oh, what a wonderful Saturday night.

Seated in the driver's seat was the girl with the neon beanie. We had been driving for approximately twenty minutes in complete silence. Nobody even attempted to make conversation. Although I did have a number of burning questions, the day's events had worn me out too much. Plus, I knew (almost) for certain that none of these people would harm me. After all, they needed my vision too badly to risk it.

With that thought, I allowed myself to relax a bit. At this point in my life, I was nearing the end of high school, yet I still had no idea what my "life's passion" was, if you could even call a 9-5 job that. After years of living in a repetitive way, I had no more ambitions or dreams that every child starts with. Maybe that's why being in a minivan with strangers didn't feel that big of a deal to me.

Even though I was seated in the middle, I could still see the alluring and attractive nightlife of Seoul. Numerous restaurants were still open, in addition to famous bars and clubs. People of all walks of life were still out and about at night, and no matter who you were, there was always something to do at 12 am in Seoul. I began to pass the time by staring at what could be seen out the window.

The car began to slow down, nearing a red stop light.

"So, are you good for grilled meat?"

Surprised at hearing someone speak, I peeled my eyes away from the window and looked at the driver with a puzzled look.

"Well, I'm hungry and I know for certain that the others are too. I just wanted to check if you had any, yknow, allergies or something…" she timidly continued.

"Yeah, no allergies here," I awkwardly replied.

A moment of silence ensued. "This might be abrupt, but we should at least introduce ourselves," she said as the light turned green again. "I'm Song Ju-In. As you saw today, I can control time—well it's actually a bit more complicated than that."

Song-Ju In. Now that I looked carefully at her, she stood out from the rest appearance wise. Donning a vibrant neon beanie to match her ripped jeans and oversized 87mm t-shirt. One glance and you could tell she was in the know for Seoul street style.

"The guy beside you on your right—actually your left—is Min Joon. Kim Min Joon. He's the youngest of us all, being 19 and all. On your right is Min Jae-Hyun, the second oldest."

I observed the two guys sitting on either side of me. Kim Min Joon was around my age, and his outfit showed it too. Athletic pants and a plain hoodie, he probably was the sporty type. Min Jae-Hyun on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He wore a polished look, a sleek black turtleneck and slacks, along with a (definitely not cheap) watch.

"Sorry for scaring you back there. We didn't mean to, but as we'll explain later, you are really important to us," Min-Joon told me apologetically, flashing a friendly smile.

"Yeah, though your grandma was really nice. My grandma would have beat me up and dragged me by the ear if my friends came that late to my home," Jae-Hyun chuckled.

"And lastly, in the back is Kim Ji-Hyun unnie. She's the oldest of us, and the coolest in my opinion," Ju-In announced proudly.

At Ju-In's compliment, I turned towards the back seat. Her ears were tinted pink, probably from embarrassment at Ju-In's comment. She wore sweats similar to Min-Joon, but the aura she gave off was completely different. Instantly, you could tell that she was competent at what she did, and based on how she fought that man, I knew she was.

"Unnie, are you blushhhiinnggg?" Ju-In teased as she laughed, draggin out her words.

Huh, they really are a weird group of people.

The strangers in my home now felt like people I knew. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but the atmosphere felt friendlier at least.

__________________

The five of us were seated around the table at a small grilled meat restaurant tucked away in an alleyway. Outside, plastered on its wall in big letters, it said "Open 24 hours".

While we were still driving, I borrowed one of their phones and called my grandma. At first, I couldn't even tell what she was saying because she kept on screaming. But eventually, I made out that the police were at the house and that she and my dad were worried like crazy. Yet, the weird thing is that when I told her what the strangers told me at home, she immediately calmed down. She told me to just go with them and that she would take care of everything else.

"But you have to stay safe, Dae-mi. No matter what," she instructed me.

"Don't worry, grandma. Your granddaughter is capable enough!"

After I hung up, we'd already arrived at the restaurant.

"I'd like one serving of beef, chicken…" Ji-Hyun began to order. At the end, we'd ordered so much that the waiter walked away smiling cheek to cheek.

The restaurant was completely silent, there were no other customers beside us. We sat in the corner directly facing the door and through the glass you could see the occasional person walk through the alleyway.

"Now, while we wait for the food to come, how about we start explaining ourselves to Dae-mi? We didn't really get a chance to at her house before that guy busted in," Min-Joon told everyone.

Everyone suddenly sat up straight and wore a serious expression. After a bit of silence, Ju-in began to speak to me. It was as if they had silently communicated who was going to start.

"Now, Dae-mi, what do you think happens when someone dies?" Ju-In asked seriously.

I had never really thought of what happens after death. Death to me seemed simply like the end of your life on Earth and I had never seen it as the beginning of something else. I figured after an exhausting life, why would you want to do it again?

"I'm not sure. I think they just disappear from the Earth. But things like heaven and reincarnation, I don't know if I actually believe that," I answered.

"Well, your soul actually gets reused. The energy that it is composed of is transferred to a new person. Someone alive."

I stared quizzically at her. Right as she began to speak again, the waiter came with the food we had ordered. As he sat everything down on the table, I thought about what Ju-in had just told me.

Reused? Like how plastic is recycled?

This theory of what happens after death was one I had never heard of and I was having a hard time wrapping a head around it.

The waiter finished placing everything, told us to enjoy our meal, and left. As everyone picked up their chopsticks, I unzipped my hoodie.

"Ok, let me explain it another way," Ju-In picked up a piece of raw meat. "Let's say this is someone's soul energy. They have their own character and all the stuff that makes each of us unique. After their death," she placed the meat on the grill, "it gets removed of all the stuff that makes it special and distilled back to its original form." She picked up the piece of meat that was now cooked on one side. "Although it's back in its original form, it has changed. There is still residue of the past owner there."

"But usually, the residue is so little that the past owner, or owners, have no effect on the new owner," Min-Joon cut in. Ji-hyun nodded at what he said.

"But when the past owner died angry or full of hate, a larger amount of residue remains. In this case, the living person has much more soul energy than others. The past owner can also influence the living person. As the soul gets more soul energy, they get more powerful and closer to taking over the living person's body.

"Then how does it get more powerful?" I asked.

"By killing living people."