Chapter 1: Two Worlds

Boxes of chocolates and other sweets, flowers, colorful paper boxes with random stuffs in it and gifts with pretty ribbons on top. These are the things that are always present on his table in school, and had been part of his day to day basis.  He was always thankful to his admirers even though everything seemed to be occupying his entire seat area every day, when his table was already full with gifts the others will put their gifts on his chair instead.

Upon entering his classroom that morning the scene that welcomed him made him smile, showing his ever dazzling gummy smile, the number of gifts he’s been receiving lately seems to be increasing which means that his popularity is still on top.

He scratched the back of his head after realizing that he needs to arrange all of those if he wants to have a seat, sighing he bent down as he started picking up the gifts on his chair including some on his table to put them in his locker.

“Uhm… Hyukjae ssi?” He was in the middle of placing some of the gifts inside a huge paper bag when his classmate who was sitting behind him called him.

“Yes?” Hyukjae responded, raising an eyebrow,

“Don’t forget about these….” Ryeowook said, pointing at the gifts on his table, “If you don’t mind, I need to use my desk” he said courteously.

Hyukjae’s eyes widened, “Are those gifts also mine?”

Ryeowook began checking the gifts, reading the cards attached on them, “To Lee Hyukjae, To Eunhyuk Oppa, to the owner of the most precious gummy smile in South Korea, to the most handsome red headed guy in Seoul National Academy.” Reading the cards made Ryeowook chuckled heartily. “Yes these are all yours too…” he told Hyukjae.

Hyukjae couldn’t help but to sigh, And now they are beginning to occupy including my neighbors space… he shook his head.

“I’m sorry… Let me get those,” he said, gathering his gifts on Ryeowook’s chair, “don’t worry I’ll tell them not to place their gifts anywhere next time” Hyukjae told him.

He is none other than the Lee Hyukjae, one of the most popular kids in his school. Intelligence wasn’t the key in his popularity, it was all because of his overflowing appeal while dancing and his charismatic hot image. He’s from an average family, they’re not rich but they’re definitely not poor, though with his looks you can probably mistaken him as a rich kid.

No, he doesn’t need to be intelligent, because he has so many smart admirers. Projects, home works, reviewers for exams all of those can be provided to him by his ever loyal and loving admirers.

No, he doesn’t need to be rich, he doesn’t need to carry a wallet full of money to make the girls and boys go after him, he doesn’t need to spend thousands to go under surgery to make him look good because he’s born perfect. He doesn’t need to be rich to buy all the things he wanted, from stuffed toys to branded shirts, stylish caps and hats, fashionable accessories, perfumes. He have all of those even without asking, he’s admirers are generous  enough that they even make sure his refrigerator is always stocked with strawberry and banana milk, chocolates and some sweets.

But there are times that his admirers will stop sending him gifts, not because they are worried that there’s no more space in the apartment his renting at, his admirers will only stop sending gifts whenever Hyukjae is in a relationship with someone, either a girl or a boy. But like foods he also gives expiration dates to his partner, and after a week his admirers will bombard him again with their generosity.

------------------------------------------------------

He lifts the small looking figure up in the air. His eyes were turning into slits as he examined the rock-hard shell.

“Master, is this really from the human world?” the beautiful looking boy asked,

“Yes, but don’t raise it too high, you might scare it.” His master told him.

He obediently placed the figure down, and upon doing so he was surprised after seeing it’s head popping out of its shell.

“Woah!” he chimed, “Master, you’re right it’s not just a rock, it has a head!” he said almost shouting it pure amazement.

His mater laughed at his innocent and funny expression, “I told you, he can also walk but he’s slow though.”

And right that very moment the small figure started walking.

The beautiful looking boy spouted, “Yeah… he’s slow, so slow, what made you like it?” he asked,

His master sighed, “Well, you see… when you get into the human world, everybody are always seem to be in a hurry, humans tends to always rush like they are running out of time, it makes me tired just by looking at them. I admired how this little creature isn’t one of those, it’s just calm and honestly it makes me feel calm as well, that’s why I brought it here with me.”

“Hearing your story makes me want to go there too” he murmured,

“You know you can’t go there, why? Don’t you like it here?”

“Of course I love our world, but sometimes I envy the others because they can visit the human world while I’m just stuck here and hear their stories.”

“Well, the human world is not that wonderful at all. It has so many flaws unlike our world, the only difference is just there are lots of people back there and fewer in here.” He explained convince the boy.

“I see… so what shall you call it Master? Does it have a name?” he asked looking at the walking figure on the floor, dismissing their topic.

“As far as I know, that is called a turtle. I already thought of a name, I’ll call her Ddangkoma.” His master replied.

“Master, can I show Ddangkoma around?  I want to play with her.” He asked displaying an irresistible beautiful smile on his face.

“Okay, but you must be careful with her, she’s my newest property I don’t want anything bad happen to her.”

“Yes Master, I will be careful with Ddangkoma” he said, as he excitedly scooped the turtle on the floor.

“And another thing Donghae!” his master called him before he can step out of the room. “Don’t play near the hanging bridge, it’s under construction.”

“Yes Master I won’t,” he replied as he quickly dashed outside.

His name is Lee Donghae, he is one of the dearest creation of his Master, Yesung . He’s not a maid, not a servant nor a slave, he is sort of a collection, a very unique and special one.

There are a total of five kingdoms in his world, and one of those is the Kingdom of Life which is being ruled by Yesung. The ruler of each Kingdom has their own special gifts, and for Yesung his was to give life. The rulers are the only ones who are immortal and would never die in their world, hence, they’d decided to take some of the dead from the human world, bring them into their world, and give them life again so that their world can be livelier. But in the process of being brought to life, all of their memories will be washed off, they wouldn’t be able to remember anything about their past life.

And that’s exactly what happened to Donghae and the rest of his co-creations, they were already dead, but they had been chosen to be brought to life and live in a world where they will never die again. Unfortunately Donghae was different. He had some defect for he carries two genders with him, originally he’s a boy but when he gets upset or feel weak and when he gets hungry he will instantly turns into a girl. And that’s the reason why his master doesn’t allow him to visit the human world, because just a slightest feeling of sadness will make him change gender, and if humans will find out they will be in a great danger.

----

“Hyung! Look!” Donghae called a guy who-looks-like-a-girl-but-is-not who is walking towards the hanging bridge.

“What is that?” the girly looking guys asked.

“What do you call this again?? Uhmm… ” he asked solely to himself, tilting his head to the side as he concentrated on remembering what was the name of the animal he’s holding, “Hyung, I can’t remember, but her name is Ddangkoma, she’s Master’s newest property from the human world.” He explained.

The older guy snatched Ddangkoma from Donghae’s hands as he examined her, “What is so special about this and Master had decided to keep it?” he asked.

Donghae beamed a smile, “Because Master said it walks slow.” He answered as if stating compliments like ‘it was great’ or ‘that was wonderful’.

“How can that be special? Seriously Master is really weird…” the older male frowned.

“Don’t say things like that to Master, anyway give me back Ddangkoma we are going to play.”

“Wait, I’m still looking at it” he said raising Ddangkoma up in the air,

“No Hyung! You’re scaring her, put it down.”

“Fine, fine, fine, here… catch,” the older said as he tossed Ddangkoma towards Donghae, he turned around and started walking again, he didn’t even care to look if the younger male had caught it.

“Hyung,” Donghae called him again.

“What?” the older male said as he turned around to face him, he was shocked when he saw Donghae with teary eyes.

“Are you crying?” he asked, then his eyes instantly zoomed in at Donghae’s empty hands. “Where’s the thing? I mean where’s Ddang?” he asked in panic.

“You threw her at the wrong direction,” Donghae answered, “Heechul hyung, you threw her over the hanging bridge”

Both of them half run towards the bridge and saw nothing but thick fogs under it.

“Do you think she is still alive?” Donghae asked his hyung.

“Of course she is!” Heechul replied.

“How can you be so sure? Do you know what’s under those thick fogs?” Donghae was feeling very nervous.

Heechul nodded as he leaned closer to Donghae, “This bridge is a short cut to the human world, I saw master jumping here once, I tried using this too. But don’t tell anyone I told you this. Understand?”

Donghae’s eyes widened upon hearing the information he just got from Heechul, “So how can we get Ddangkoma? I can’t go there… you go get her Hyung”

“Okay okay, stay here… I’ll get her,”

“What’s happening in here? Donghae didn’t I tell you not to go here?”

Both of them stiffened as their Master, Yesung, suddenly appeared into view.

“What are the two of you doing here? This bridge is under construction.” Yesung asked them and upon laying his eyes at Donghae he remembered his turtle, “Donghae where is Ddangkoma?”

“Master… I’m sorry, she fell over the bridge,” Donghae replied as tears began falling down his cheeks,  slowly his body started to change, until he’s no longer a boy, he had transformed into a girl.

Yesung sighed loudly, “Don’t cry now, just let Ddangkoma be, I guess she’s not suited in our world. Heechul kindly bring Donghae back in his room” he said gently but sadness can be traced in his voice and disappointment could be seen in his face. Then Yesung turned around and went back inside the walls of the Kingdom.

“Donghae come--” Heechul wasn’t able to finish his sentence when he saw Donghae running towards the bridge.

“Donghae Stop! No!” he tried to stop him,

“Don’t worry Hyung! I’ll just get Ddangkoma back,” Donghae shouted before jumping off the bridge.

-----

It was raining heavily that evening, Hyukjae was on his way home when someone had caught his attention. A girl, and she’s standing at the side walk, soaking wet in the rain. No one is paying any attention to her, and he pitied her. He wants to leave and just ignore her like what other people are doing but his conscience couldn’t take it, so he decided to approach her.

“Hey, Miss, are you alright?” the red headed guy approached her with his umbrella. But the girl just stared at her and didn’t respond to his question. He scanned the girl in front of her and saw that she’s wearing a black robe, weird, he thought. His eyes went back to the girls face and that’s when he noticed how beautiful the girl is.

“You’re freezing… are you okay?” Hyukjae asked after seeing her whole body freezing. But the girl just shrugged her shoulders in reply.

“There’s a storm tonight, are you having a hard time looking for a cab? I can walk you home, where do you live anyway”

But the girl just shook her head, “I can’t go back, I still need to look for someone,” she finally speak.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Ddangkoma, she’s my Master’s property, she’s just this small” she said lifting her hands as if illustrating how small the one she’s looking for is. “And she walks slow,” she continued.

Hyukjae’s forehead creased for he couldn’t understand what she’s talking about, “Then just look for that someone tomorrow, seriously I can’t understand what you are saying. Well, if you can’t go back to your place yet, just go with me”

“Where are we going?” she asked,

“I’m bringing you home, don’t worry Miss I won’t do anything to you. You can’t stay here anymore, you’ll get sick.”

To his surprise the girl smiled at him, “Okay, thank you.”

Hyukae nodded, “Let’s go now shall we? The rains getting heavier, and you should get changed, you’re freezing.”

Hyukjae took his jacket off, placing it around the girl’s shoulder, “Let’s go,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to keep her closer so the umbrella can cover the both of them.

------------

UPDATE! 

COMMENTS ARE VERY WELL LOVED XDDD I