Listen up kids, if you ever decide to get completely wasted, avoid any and all jewelry shops by all means. There’s a good chance that you’ll have the sudden urge to sloppily steal that big, juicy, diamond ring on display that costs around a third of all of your debts—which was a Hell of a lot to begin with. Then you’ll spend the night detained at your local police station. Then one of your estranged brothers had to pay for your bail, the next morning. Then that estranged brother says something along the lines of: “Cho Taehyun, you disgrace. Did my mother die for you to become a delinquent? Did my father, who followed her soon after, leave this world just for you to insult the name he left you with?” totally harsh when you ‘only had, like… one bottle of soju… and had full intentions on returning the diamond in the morning.’

Oh yes. Our dear heroine, Cho Taehyun. Not everyone has great ice breakers like hers for all those awkward first meetings. ‘On the eve of my 20^th birthday, I went to jail. Ha, ha, ha, those were the glory days!’

This drove Taehyun to the edge of rational thinking. She wondered if she’d finally lost all hope, or if it was the hangover talking. She stared at the ominous, ugly, orange plastic container in her hand. Sleeping pills. She wanted to sleep so badly, she wanted to sleep forever.

She felt her heart race. Her hands shook, her forehead and the back of her neck formed droplets of sweat; fear suddenly tinted her glassy vision. She was on the borderline between life and death—which was a thin line to be treading on so carelessly—and one small waver in her heart could end her life, or prolong it.

Her pupils shifted rapidly, hovering from the pills, to the empty house around her. Her parents left it to her. They’d refused to sell it, or hand it over to her brothers, who had no need for it anyway. They wanted her to always have a place to come home to. But the ‘home’ felt too empty and sullen to be considered a home. She never felt so isolated. Remembering the dull, throbbing pain of suffering, she decided that she had enough. She took a breath of sickeningly sweet relief, and exhaled out regret.

She popped the cap and braced herself before she downed the pills.

“It’s come to this, huh?” Taehyun whispered to herself, “What a ty way to go…” she laughed bitterly. But before she could barely tip the bottle, there was a racket coming from the living room. She lowered her hand.

That was when he burst through the doors of her room. A strange, unfamiliar man, burst through her doors and slapped the bottle out of her hand and onto the floor, scattering its contents in the process. He was dressed colorfully, in a bright yellow turtleneck top with a matching blazer over top, and royal blue slacks. His hair was a shade of bubblegum pink. Clearly, this man wasn’t afraid of color. At all.

He grabbed her wrist and stared intently into her eyes. Taehyun was mesmerized by his beauty. The first thing she did with that beautiful face? Hm, well… She ripped her wrist out of his grasp, and backhanded the living Hell out of him. Ow. A very unconventional way of greeting a man with idol-worthy looks. He reeled backwards, clutching his face, but not necessarily in pain.

“Ya! You?! Who are you? How’d you get in here? Do you wanna die?” she exclaimed. She quickly grabbed a pair of scissors nearby and pointed them at him. Her eyes were wide; she was b with a sudden burst of adrenaline.

Then there was boisterous, happy laughter. Not the cold, threatening laughter you’d expect to hear from some random serial killer out for your organs. The kind that makes any cold day, warmer.

“Answer me,” she pressed firmly, “Or I’ll use this against you.” The man looked up at her, with a humorous grin plastered on his face.

Boldly, he answered: “You wouldn’t, Taehyun.” Her eyes seemed to widen even further, if that was even anatomically possible.

“How do you know my name? What do you want with me?” she asked, obviously flustered. He rose up and so did the pair of scissors. “Answer me!” she barked. The man sighed before flicking the scissors aside, as if he was swatting a fly away.

Taehyun backed up against the wall. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, I don’t have any money,” she said, desperately trying to convince him, “Seriously. Just take what you want. Go to a remittance place. I don’t need any of them anymore, just take them.”

The man’s face fell. He lost the amused look on his face. He was stoic, she couldn’t find a trace of emotion on his face. “You don’t need it, because you think you’re going to die?” he asked, suddenly. was agape; she’d lost all words. He was spot on.

“Wrong.” he snapped, “You’re already dead, Cho Taehyun.” The man stared at her with an unreadable expression. She instinctively placed a hand against her heart, but to her surprise, it was still beating—rapidly, like a horse thundering to its destination—against her chest. The man burst into laughter once again.

“You should’ve seen your face!” he said, in between fits of laughter, “So… cute…! What am I? The Grim Reaper? I’m too alive to be that right now, try again when I’m dead. Which won’t be any time soon.”

Taehyun stared at him in disbelief. She had no idea what was going on, whether or not she was hallucinating, or if she was really already dead.

“You’re not dead, Taehyun,” the man says, as if reading her thoughts, “The fact that you protected yourself against me, instead of letting me kill you, proves that you want to live.” She shook her head, still not quite understanding what was going on. The man continued: “As of today, I’ll be in service of you. Whatever you ask, within reasonable terms, I will deliver. Try me.” Taehyun felt so defeated that she laid down on the floor, with shaky arms.

“Side effects of taking sleeping pills,” she whispered, closing her eyes, “Hallucinations.” The man giggled. She continued: “Pay off my debts, everything. Money. Give me money. Pay for my tuition. Let me die a few Won richer.” She closed her eyes and awaited an eminent death.

“Done,” he said, and at the snap of his finger, every debt was paid off. She was not only a few Won richer. She was millions of Won richer. From across the room, her phone buzzed as she received a message. Particularly, a message from the bank, and those nasty loan sharks out for her skin. She was genuinely debt free. She nodded, feigning belief, whispering: “Nice. Can I die now?”

“I told you, Taehyun,” the man commented, “You’re not gonna die. Were you always this melodramatic?”

“I can’t hear you,” she replied, “Too busy with this whole… Death… suffering… dying thing. Does it always take this long? When does the ‘I saw my whole life flash before my eyes’ part come in?”

The man sighed, before scooping her up effortlessly into her arms. Her breath hitched. Their eyes met, faces inches apart. He smiled.

“Hello Cho Taehyun,” he said, “I’m Jonghyun. Nice to meet you.”