“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
― Joseph Campbell

Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep…The alarm sounds loudly waking up a startled Jinwoo, he gets up of the bed while he cleanses the tears away from his cheeks, the tears that he shed on his sleep once again without noticing.

Just five days ago the song of his life, his reason to live, the other part of his heart he didn’t know he was missing, Song Mino vanished from the face of the earth without leaving any trace behind.

They have the police and private detectives looking for him everywhere, doing interviews to his friends, co-workers and even people he might know, anyone just trying to find a suspect, a clue, or a hint, anything that can get them closer to his whereabouts, but they still can’t find anything.

He comes from a wealthy and important family in the editorial world, therefore they spare no expenses or efforts to find him. Since Kim Jinwoo has been - inexplicable – the one closest to him in the past couple of months, he’s the one who has been bullied and targeted the most as a prime suspect to the detectives.

While he gets ready for another depressing day at work the ring of an incoming call distracts him from his gloomy thoughts. With Mino gone who else could it be but his older brother, demanding more allowance for his two cats Ray and Bay. A few months ago, his allergies were worst than ever and when his doctor found out he lived alone and literally had no one to help him take care of the cats – who unfortunately were the root of his allergies – he told him to give them in adoption, it was that or he was never going to get better. At that time, he could not think of anyone else but his brother, even thought Mino offered his help, he didn’t trust him enough back then, Jinwoo was still trying to figure out what type of person he really was and why was he being so nice to him all the sudden.

His brother has always asked him for money, ever since he can remember, there’s nothing new about that. So now with the cats, he only has a better excuse for it, instead of coming out with lies like I lost my wallet with my entire pay check, there was a flood in my building, they robe me on the bus, etc. Of course, Jinwoo always gives him more than enough for the “kids”, but what else could he do, since their parents passed, he’s literally his only family, so he feels the obligation to take care of him.

“And also send me some money for more toys” added Jae Duck, “Bay is very depressed lately, so I think some new toys could be a great help for him, and I’m also thinking in getting a new bed for Ray, how old is the one he has right now, like one year? Yeah, I think is time for him to get a new one.”

That phone call took all his time, so he barely had any breakfast and must rush to get to work on time. He runs to the elevator and gets chills by the way people stares at him. Ever since Mino got close to him, he had to get used to women and man alike looking at him with curiosity and envy in their eyes, now that Mino disappeared, people also look at him with a hint of suspicion. How could he be related to what happened to Mino at all? He loves him above everything and with all his being, he wishes others could understand it.

Hours later, he sits in front of pile of work on top of his desk and has no will to work at all, he just got call out by his boss because he has been so distracted and neglecting his responsibilities and his stomach hurts cause he barely munched on a muffing this morning and it’s almost 7 pm and he didn’t have the time to eat anything else. Could his day get any worse?... it always can.

Kang Seungyoon, from the sales division, comes rushing to his desk wearing an angry expression on his face. He’s probably going to blame him for some sales issue that is not even his fault, but he must take in the responsibility like he always does, what else could it be? Kang Seungyoon has never ever spoken to him before.

‘Kim Jinwoo, you have to leave everything behind and come with me, I have a mission for you!’ he yells while forcibly pulling him by the hand. For God’s sake, Jinwoo thinks, thank goodness everyone is already at home, so no one else is hearing his nonsense, what did he smoke?

‘Let go of me’ Kim Jinwoo says while he struggles to free his hand, ‘You have to hear me out first’ he yells again. ‘Are you crazy, I’m not going anywhere with you, I don’t even know you’ he retorts and thinks how much he has changed ever since Mino came to his life, he would never have the courage to say those things before.

‘You have to come with me… if you want to see Mino again.’ Seungyoon states with a serious tone of voice and those words freezes Jinwoo on his place, is he joking, he doesn’t look like he’s joking, can I really see him again… He pleads in his heart while a tear escapes from his eye.

‘Yes, you can see him again.’ He says like answering to his train of thoughts. ‘But you have to listen to me, really listen to me, with an open mind and an open heart. What I’m about to tell might sound crazy, but it’s the absolute and ultimate truth.’

‘The Song Mino you know is not really the Song Mino you knew before, or how I should say it…’ he mumbles while scratching his head trying to find the best words. ‘Or better said, he is the Song Mino YOU KNOW, but he’s not the same Song Mino that lived before one year ago, the one you didn’t KNOW.’

Jinwoo doesn’t know what to say, he is speechless, he can’t understand what is happening, he was almost forgetting how to breathe until Seungyoon reminded him. ‘Breathe!’ he says while patting his back. ‘He’s exactly like me… I am Kang Seung Yoon, but I’m not the same Kang Seung Yoon that walked these floors 8 months ago.’

‘I’m actually a bookworm, just like Mino. But unlike him, I’m a non-pure bookworm, I was born in The Ordinary World Realm just like you, but I decided to be a bookworm at one point of my life.’ Jinwoo’s eyes are as big as saucers trying to digest what he’s saying, ‘Whaaa… what.. bookworm? Non-pure, real world what?’ he stutters while pulling out his hair and Seungyoon is sure he’s already losing his mind. ‘About that, I will explain in detail later, what it’s important right now is that you must come with me, I need you to take on mission with me, I need you to save Mino!’

‘But I can’t, I don’t know anything about bookworms, or ordinary missions or whatever, I’m not coming with you, like I said before, I don’t even know you, just let go of me already!’ Now Seungyoon is so mad he’s pouting, and his eyes are red with fire, if looks could kill, Jinwoo is sure he would be death by now. ‘You said you love him, I heard you say to the detective you love him! that you’ll do anything to bring him back, were those just empty words with no meaning? Were you only trying to clean your name with the police?’. Wow that really hurts, Jinwoo thinks, he really is putting salt on the wound.

 ‘I do love him, that is the truth, but if those are just empty words, I don’t know, maybe I’m someone who can only spit empty words. Yes, I wish I could bring him back, but what can someone like me do, I’m a no one, I just started existing until he came to my life, until he noticed me like no one else did before. Without him I’m a nobody again, a zero, invisible, nada. I can’t save him if I can’t even save myself.’ Jinwoo replies with tears in his eyes. ‘You save him, you bring him back to me, give me a reason to carry on again. Why me, why someone like me has to help you when I can’t do anything?!’

‘Because you are the reason he needs to be save, because he came here for YOU!’

Glossary:

Bookworms: Characters that have gained consciousness about being inside a fictional world and that works with a system that assigns them missions in order to improve fictional characters and novel plots, they jump from story to story and are divided in two types, pure bookworms and non-pure bookworms (will be explained in detail on another post).