Yooa cheerfully sipped on her iced coffee, shaking the cup around, enjoying the Sound the swirling ice cubes made. She looked down the balcony of the café she spent her break at until her phone rang, signalising it was time for her to get back to work. She sighed, downed the last of her beverage, pulled her light brown hair into a ponytail and grabbed her bag.

You could say Yooa was just like every other young woman in her early twenties. Full of energy, lots of plans, and her whole life still ahead of her. Except, for Yooa that wasn’t really the case, that thing with the whole life ahead of her.

It had all started three years ago, when she woke up in a small aprtment. She was on the floor, wearing only a black dress and a necklace. She didn’t know how she got there. She didn’t know what day it was, heck she didn’t even know what year it was. And worst of all, she didn’t know who that girl in the mirror was, who was staring back at her. “Is that me?”, she thought.

When she looked around she saw a bed and a small table. Next to her was a book, binded in old brown leather. On the front stood “Soul Guide 101” in thick golden letters. Yooa opened the book. The pages were empty except for the first one.

Rule Number 1

Death is not Death

She flipped through the book, looking for any other hint of what had happened to her, when something fell out of the back. She bent down to look at it, picking up an ID, turning it back and forth before looking at the mirror again to compare the face she saw there with the photo on the document. Although her hair was shorter now, it seemed like it was her ID.

“Kwon Yooa,” she read out loud, repeating it a few times. It didn’t sound familiar. She flipped down on the bed again, unsure what to do now. All of a sudden, she had tears in her eyes. How did she get here? Was someone looking for her? Did anyone miss her?

She closed her eyes. At first she only saw black, but then there were lights dancing before her and she heard a loud noise she couldn’t quite place. Water? A crash? A scream? The impressions got so overwhelming that she quickly opened her eyes again, reassuring herself that she was safe.

Yooa looked at the first page of the book again. “Death is not Death.”

She looked at the ceiling, speaking to noone in particular. “Am I…dead?”