My body felt like it was falling down, as if I jumped off a cliff and was plummeting toward the ground. I couldn’t see anything but I heard something like white noise ringing through my head. I tried to move around but my body suddenly felt paralyzed. After a few seconds of tense noise and falling, both things disappeared and the sound of a soft wind and rustling leaves faded into my hearing. My body felt used in a strange way and it was hard for me to move even just my fingers. I cracked my eyes open and blinked several times. A wide open field of long, golden grass spread out all around me. I slowly turned around and realized I was leaning against a tall tree with bright green leaves rustling in the calm, warm breeze.

 

Wait…this is… I carefully stood up and looked around. Everything was so peaceful. It was almost like heaven.

 

“I waited so long for your return.” A calm, female voice said.

 

I blinked and turned around, but no one was behind me. I looked back into the rolling golden fields. “Where are you?”

 

There was no answer. The wind blew in my direction from my left and I instinctively turned in its direction.

 

I could see her. The woman in white. She was suspended in the air looking down on me with calm but relieved eyes.

 

“…it’s you.” My mind seemed to be clouded with many emotions. “I-I know you.”

 

“You said you would stay with me. But why did you leave?”

 

Suddenly the area started to rumble and shake. I stumbled and looked down at the golden grass. Small balls of golden light started to rise from the grass and disappear into the air all around me.

 

“I-I don’t know!” I looked back at her, but to my surprise, she was suddenly very far away. “W-wait!” I moved forward and started to run. A sudden feeling of dread washed over me. The land around me was suddenly ablaze with a red fire, burning all of the foliage and killing the golden grass below my feet.

 

“I can’t stay here. But you can. You must.” The woman’s voice rang clearly in my head, but her body started to fade away into a bunch of tiny, white sparkles.

 

So many questions were running through my head, but I kept running toward her. Soon the entire area around me was a shade of dark red and the sun in the sky was completely covered by a blanket of red clouds. It became hard to breathe and I slowed down, grasping my upper chest.

 

“D-don’t go…” I shook a little and fell to the ground. My breaths became heavier and raspier. It felt like I was breathing in sand-filled carbon dioxide.

 

“You will live for a very long time. This is only the beginning.” The woman’s voice faded away along with her figure. The heavenly light illuminating her disappeared as well, and I was left in the red sand coughing and struggling to breathe.

 

I don’t want to die! I closed my eyes tightly. Please don’t let me die! Please!!!

 

After a few seconds, my breathing slowed down and became quicker. All sounds faded away and my vision went black. Through my quick breaths, I was able to get my breath back and calm down a little. New sounds faded back into my hearing. I could hear crickets chirping and the temperature became cooler. After my breathing steadied, I slowly opened my eyes, expecting to see the ceiling of my apartment.

 

I was looking at a darkened area of the city with the sun only grazing the highest part of the skyscrapers. Only a handful of people were walking around in the gloomy street, not looking at each other. Looking closer, I could see a few bodies lying still on the ground. As I approached them, I noticed their eyes were completely black, as if something out their pupils and corneas. The sight made me a little sick and I backed away some.

 

Then I heard a stream of incoherent dialogue coming from below me. I looked down and saw a gated opening to an underground room.

 

“It’s dangerous in your spot. Step away immediately.” A voice calmed ordered from behind me.

 

Taken by surprise, I backed away from the opening and slowly turned around.

 

There was a figure standing outside an entrance to an abandoned apartment complex. He wore a black suit and a black top hat. Light brown hair seemed to outline his face, but his face was hidden in the shadows.

 

“W-why?” I squinted, trying to see the figure’s face.

 

“If you stay there for too long, you will lose your mind. It will soon belong to the being that resides in the abandoned, underground science lab.”

 

“B-being?”

 

“Yes. It is not exactly human, but not exactly machine. It is a mistake.”

 

I stared at the figure, unable to think of a response to his stream of sentences.

 

“Come. You need to see it.” The figure turned around and walked into the dark hallway.

 

I thought about refusing, but after looking at the area once more, it seemed to have gotten darker. I swallowed and ran into the apartment opening.

 

“W-where are you?” I squinted around in the darkness.

 

“Come to the stairs.” The figure replied.

 

After spotting his backside at the entrance of the stairs going down, I ran a little closer and followed him down.

 

“You must be very confused right now.” The figure spoke calmly.

 

“Well yeah…but I’m also very scared.” I admitted quietly.

 

“That’s understandable. These times are uncertain and not friendly. Nothing will ever be the same.”

 

“What happened to this city? What city is it?” I asked.

 

“You don’t recognize your own city?”

 

I stared at him. “…w-what?”

 

“Seoul used to be such a bright and bustling city until…we’ll you’ll see.”

 

The figure and I entered the lowest level of the apartment. It was filled with glass bottles and flasks and many vials of colored liquids. Only a small amount of light was illuminating the room and it was coming from the sewage opening that I saw before.

 

“The poor thing…it’s trying to speak.” The figure mused.

 

“…what thing?” I slowly glanced around him.

 

Sitting in a dark-fabric barber chair was a grey, human-like body. It was wearing grey shorts and was lying back in the chair staring up at the ceiling. Its eyes were pale blue and they were constantly looking around the room. Its mouth was moving but its voice didn’t sound human. It sounded more like an unstable radio voiceover.

 

“W…what the hell is that?” I stared at it in fear.

 

“A mistake. A failed experiment.” The figure replied.

 

“And experiment for what!?”

 

The figure turned around and glanced at me. “Have you ever heard of The Human Dream?”

 

Before I could look at the figure’s face, he disappeared and reappeared behind me.

 

“This is the result of a failed first attempt: a miserable organism that never asked to be alive.”

 

I turned around to face the figure. “Why are you speaking like all of what I’m seeing right now has happened already?”

 

“You think this is a dream.”

 

“Of course it is!” I heard some movement behind me and slowly turned around.

 

The thing had approached me directly and was staring directly in my eyes.

 

I screamed and fell back, staring up at it in shock.

 

“It’s not going to hurt you.” The figure said.

 

The thing flinched after hearing my scream and turned around, limping its way toward the stairs leading back up to the entrance of the apartment.

 

“W-what is it doing now?” I slowly stood up, trying to calm my racing heartbeat.

 

“It wants to see the world.”

 

“It has feelings? I thought you said it wasn’t human!”

 

“I never said it had feelings or that it wasn’t human. I said it was neither human nor machine.”

 

A sudden rush of pressure attacked my head and I closed my eyes, grabbing the side of my head.

 

“Its life will end soon.” The figure’s voice sounded faint for a moment.

 

I opened my eyes and I was suddenly standing out in the open. The thing was limping toward the street, its mouth continuously moving and its pale blue eyes focused on the path in front of it.

 

Then a pair of lights appeared in the distance. A car approached the area quickly and the thing stopped walking to focus on it. I watched with wide-eyes at the thing got run over by the speeding car and collapsed to the ground in a fetal position. The car disappeared in the distance to my left and all the sound that remained was the faint radio voice coming from the thing. It didn’t move any other part of its body.

 

“No organism should experience this kind of living.”

 

I turned to my left and the figure’s gaze was set on the thing.

 

“Why would someone create something like that?”

 

The figure looked at me once again and I could see his eyes a little. “You must learn about The Human Dream.”

 

“The Human Dream?”

 

“Yes. My time with you now is limited because you will wake up soon, but you must educate yourself.”

 

“Why should I listen to you?” I asked quietly.

 

“Just do your research. You will understand soon.” The figure responded softly.

 

Before I could respond, a faint sound came from my front and I looked back toward the thing.

 

It disappeared.

 

I looked back at the figure. He disappeared too.

 

The area suddenly became darker and that similar feeling of dread washed over me.

 

Then I felt something touch my ankles and I jerked my head down.

 

The thing was latched onto my feet and staring up at me with its blank expression and constantly moving lips.

 

I screamed and kicked at it, but it would not let go. Soon it started to hang on me for support and I couldn’t avoid its piercing blue eyes staring right back at me.

 

“Shinwoo! Shinwoo!!” A deep, familiar voice rang in my ears.

 

Everything around me suddenly disappeared and I was staring at the ceiling of my apartment breathing in and out loudly. Sunwoo was looking down at me with shock in his eyes.

 

“You were screaming.” He said quietly. His hands that were attached to my wrists slowly let go.

 

I blinked a few times and glanced at him. My face was covered in a cold sweat and my stomach hurt. My head was beating very hard.

 

“What the hell were you dreaming about?”

 

My stomach suddenly turned upside down and a wave of nausea washed over me. “I-I have to…” I pushed myself up weakly, making my stomach turn harder.

 

“H-hold on.” He helped me up and over to the bathroom where I collapsed in front of the toilet and held my head over it. I didn’t come back out for about five minutes.