Chanwoo isn’t sure how he got here.

He doesn’t even know where on earth is this place.

But he can feel it through his skin; the stuffiness, the dampness, the heat. And he can feel pain all throughout his body; it feels like his whole body is… melting.

He tries to open his eyes, but his eyelids are so heavy. He tries to shout for help, but his lips won’t budge.

Finally, with a sheer amount of effort, his eyelids open just a little bit, enough for him to see the surroundings. Except, there is nothing to see. Nothing but darkness.

“Help…”, he cried weakly.

“Shh…”, he heard an unknown voice shushing him. “It’ll be over soon. Just go back to sleep.”, the voice explained.

“Where…?”, Chanwoo asked.

“I’ll explain later. Right now, just sleep.”, the voice said.

In the end, Chanwoo’s exhaustion takes over, and he cannot do anything but close his eyes again.

“It’ll be over soon.”, the voice said one more time.

When Chanwoo wakes up again, long gone is the pain and exhaustion. His body doesn’t feel heavy anymore; in fact, it feels very… light. That’s weird, he never feels like this before.

He gets up and open his eyes. It isn’t dark anymore. Instead, he wakes up in a… room? It’s a giant vacant room, but the wall seems to be made of… meat?

Then, Chanwoo hears a voice. “You finally wake up.”

He recognizes the voice as the one that talked to him while he slept, and turns around, only to find a young man about his age.

“Where am I?”, Chanwoo asked.

“It’s a bit… complicated.”, the man hesitated.

Chanwoo looks around. He notices there is a pool of… water? No, it’s definitely not water. It’s thick and yellow, and Chanwoo has never seen something like this before…

“What you’re looking at is gastric acid.”, the man explained.

“Eh…? Gastric acid…?”, Chanwoo asked, tilting his head in confusion. He then gasps in realization; that dampness, that melting feeling, could it be…

“But… How? I mean… Why? Is this even…”, he starts uttering, obviously unsure how to process the new information.

“You were eaten. By the great devourer.”, the man bluntly explained.

“Wha- But… I don’t… What’s even a great devourer?”, Chanwoo asked.

“I don’t actually know… I’ve been living inside it for the past ten years now, but I’ve never seen his outer appearance. All I know is that it devours your meat and trap your soul inside. Very cruel.”

“What? Soul?”, Chanwoo is getting even more confused. He then looks at his body. His body indeed feels very different, as if he doesn’t have any… weight. Chanwoo gasps again. “I’m… Am I dead!?”, he shouted.

The man nods.

“But… Impossible! I don’t even remember being eaten!”, Chanwoo protested.

“I also don’t remember being eaten, but here I am.”, the man said. “Look. You’re already here; I just saw what’s left of your body pass through to the intestine. In the end, you have to accept the fact whether you like it or not.”, the man explained rather bluntly.

“I…”, Chanwoo tried to protest, but he doesn’t know what to say. In the end, he can only slump down and sigh, accepting his fate.

“I’ll let you mourn.”, the man said. “Once you’re done, I’ll show you around.”, he offered.

“Show me around?”, Chanwoo asked in confusion.

“You’re not going to stay in the stomach for the rest of eternity, are you?”

“I guess…”, Chanwoo said, still sounding miserable.

“Good. I’ll be waiting.”, the man said as he gives some space to Chanwoo.

Chanwoo sighs for the nth time. How long has he been here? He looks around, searching for anything that can indicate the time, but he finds nothing. That place is only one big empty room, with one tunnel going up and one tunnel going down.

His body isn’t even there anymore. Nothing that can give him any clue to his former glory. It seems that man is correct; there is no use denying it. He’s dead, and now his soul is trapped inside some beast he has never even heard of.

After what feels like forever, Chanwoo stands up. Mourning isn’t going to change anything, right? For now, what he needs is something to change his mood, and a tour doesn’t sound too bad.

He walks around to find the man, who shows up just in time from the bottom tunnel.

“Are you ready?”, the man asked.

Chanwoo nods.

“Alright, Follow me! I’ll give you the best anatomy lesson you’ll ever have.”, the man exclaimed excitedly. “Oh, by the way, the name’s Junhoe.”

Chanwoo smiles at Junhoe. “Mine’s Chanwoo.”

“Great! Chanwoo, this way!”, Junhoe said, pointing at the bottom tunnel.

“Wait! Where does the upper tunnel lead to?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Hmm? That? To the mouth, but it’s blocked.”, Junhoe explained.

“Blocked?”

“By the same thing that prevents you from choking.”, Junhoe said as he walks.

Chanwoo fastens his pace to catch up. Before long, they arrive at an intersection.

“Ok, so from here, you can go to the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, or intestine. Let’s go to the liver.”, Junhoe decided liberally.

The liver is a big room which is divided into four unequal-sized rooms. And Chanwoo also notices that it is filled with tubes.

“That is the blood veins.”, Junhoe explained. “They’re everywhere, although some places have more than others. You can technically go anywhere through the veins, but it’s very easy to get lost.”

“Do you use them to travel?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Yes, of course. I’ve got ten years to learn the map.”, Junhoe said proudly.

“Then, I’ve got nothing to worry about.”, Chanwoo said with a smile. He then turns around to look directly at Junhoe, “You’ll look out for me, right?”.

For some unknown reason, Junhoe is surprised by the sudden question. His eyes widen at the smile of the young man in front of him, and his cheeks somehow feel a bit warm. “Ah… Yes, of course.”, he replied a bit stuttering.

“Oh, by the way.”, Chanwoo changed the topic. “I remember it being so dark… Why is it suddenly bright?”

“We souls can see in the dark!”, Junhoe said with a proud smile. “Comes in handy.”

“Ah… I see. Ok, let’s move on. Let’s go to the intestine.”, Chanwoo requested.

“Intestine… Are you sure?”, Junhoe hesitated.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… You’ll see when we get there.”, Junhoe said as he leads the way to the intestine.

The intestine is rather repetitive. It looks like a tunnel-shaped jungle, filled with gut flora. The view does change after some distance, but it’s still mostly the same thing.

After a while, Junhoe stops.

“What’s wrong?”, Chanwoo asked, checking on Junhoe.

“It’s already near the big intestine.”, Junhoe said.

“And…?”

Junhoe stares at Chanwoo. “Do you know what big intestine do? It’s the place where they make your excrement! It’s not a pleasant place at all.”

“I… I see.”

“Let’s go back.”, Junhoe offered.

Chanwoo doesn’t see any reason to protest, so he decides just to follow Junhoe back up again.

While they’re walking, Chanwoo asks a question. “Oh, anyway, how do you know it has been ten years? I don’t see any time indicator at all.”

“Oh, that. There is a place where you can tell whether it’s day or night: the eye.”

“Really?”

“Obviously, I don’t just stay inside these muggy organs all day long; I’ll go crazy. In the eye, you can actually see what the beast sees. So, I spend most of my time there.”

Chanwoo’s eyes brighten at Junhoe’s explanation. “Take me there!”, Chanwoo demanded, eager to see the outside world.

“Well, it’s a long way there, but we can go through the vein. Follow me!”

Chanwoo readily follows Junhoe. They enter a vein and walks all the way up. At one point, they enter the heart, but Chanwoo isn’t paying any attention to the structure of the heart. He only has one thing in his mind: seeing the outside world.

Before long, they arrive at the eye.

“Whoa!”, Chanwoo shouted in excitement as he sees the outside world again after a while. As far as he can tell, the beast is under the ocean. He can see a lot of water and some fishes and… Wait, are they upside down?

Chanwoo tilts his head in confusion, which makes Junhoe giggles. “Yes, it’s upside down.”, Junhoe explained.

“But… How?”

“I don’t know. Apparently, the brain will somehow flip the image later. But, as far as the eyes are concerned, everything is upside down.”

“I see…”, Chanwoo said, sounding disappointed.

“C’mon, it’s not that bad. Besides, this place is probably the only upside-down conservatorium in the world!”, Junhoe exclaimed.

“I guess so.”, Chanwoo said as he sits down to enjoy the show. Junhoe then sits next to him, pretending to look at the outside world while secretly stealing glances at Chanwoo.

In the middle of watching, Chanwoo suddenly says, “I think you’re right. It’s still beautiful.”. After saying that, he turns around to face Junhoe. “Thank you.”, he said with a smile.

Junhoe can swear his heart stops beating when he sees Chanwoo smiles like that. Before he knows it, his cheeks are already rosy. “Eh… No- No big deal.”, he said, stuttering again. For the first time in a while, Junhoe feels fear again; fear of Chanwoo seeing through his nervousness.

Fortunately, Chanwoo doesn’t seem to notice. He quickly returns his gaze to the outside world. With that, Junhoe sighs in relief. Giving Chanwoo the rest of the tour will be a long day.