“Jiyong! Jiyong!” Someone was calling him, but it sounded so far away, like from another dimension. He tried to open his eyes but they refused to obey.

“Ji…” The voice was familiar, he remembered hearing it uncountable times before but when he wanted to call the owner of the voice, the name died on his tongue. He had forgotten whom it belonged to. The voice had grown agitated and despite it kept calling for his name, it slowly drifted away and soon it’s all silence.

Someone patted his face, soft and gentle. He tried to pry open his eyes but as soon as he did it, the blinding light forced them to close right back. He threw an arm over his eyes and groaned in agony.

“Hey,” a voice whispered. For a moment Jiyong went still, thinking it could be the same voice in his dream. But no, it’s different. He couldn’t remember the owner of that voice but he just knew it wasn’t the same.

“Can you hear me? Jiyong-ssi?” The voice tried again. When he gave no response, the voice murmured, more to itself than to him, “He’s supposed to be awake now, has anything gone wrong? … Is this another mistake?”

“Hey, hey, wake up.” Someone was shaking his shoulders and a wave of nausea struck him, he felt like throwing up. So he did. With energy he didn’t know he had, he sat up and opened his mouth but all he did was just retch and retch, it felt as if someone had made thousands of knots in his stomach.

Nothing came out from within him, but there’s a sudden clench in his chest, reflexively he clutched at the fabric where his heart lay underneath. That’s when he realized he’d been holding something in his palm. Opening it up, he frowned at the wrinkled paper. Slowly he evened it up with his fingers and what’s revealed only had his frown deepened.

It’s a half-burned photograph, he’s smiling so brightly beside someone but the person’s face was burned out, unrecognizable. Something clicked in his head, he knew of this photograph, he remembered taking this, and he remembered how happy he was when that happened. Yet it was a futile attempt when he tried to put a name to the person beside him, the person he’s wrapping his arms around. He stared at the missing face, trying to put a name to it. Who are you?

“Jiyong-ssi,” someone crouched down beside him. He lifted his eyes off the photograph and looked at the girl. “I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” She’s looking at him with concerned eyes, a hand touching his shoulder.

He couldn’t understand why was she apologizing, but that seemed unimportant because, “You know me? Then do you know who this is?” He lifted the photograph to the girl and waited expectantly.

She briefly glanced at it and her eyebrows knitted together when her eyes met Jiyong’s. “You don’t remember?”

Jiyong bit his lower lip. He didn’t want to admit it but that was pretty obvious now. So he helplessly shook his head.

“Damn.” She looked around as if searching for help. Jiyong followed her line of sight and that’s the first time he took in his surroundings. Practically there was nothing, it’s all blurry white; it’s bright but instead of burning up his skin, it’s soothing. And the ground he was sitting on—wait, he wasn’t even sure if that’s ground—it’s glowing in white as well, smooth and warm to touch, it felt like cotton candy, except nobody would tile their floor with cotton candy. Where am I?

The girl replied, “You’re in limbo.” Oh, he’d thought out loud. A second, what did she say?

He turned his head in her direction as she stood up and reached out a hand to him to which he accepted after a beat of hesitation. She helped him stand up and he took the chance to study her from head to toe. The girl was wearing a black suit and a white dress shirt that had two buttons undone, her platinum waist-length hair falling out behind her shoulders. It’s odd, but people nowadays were odd so he didn’t give much thought. He’d met eyes with the girl before, but never really paid them attention they deserved and now that he did, he blinked and shook his head at the sight, to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. She had grey eyes and there’s this golden hues around her grey pupils. Now it’s more than odds.

Curiosity took the better of him so despite the bizarre situation he found himself in, he took a step towards her. “Are you wearing lenses?”

“What?” She seems surprised, unexpected at the question. “No, this is a trait of our kind. Wearing lenses is a blasphemy to who you are.”

Great. He woke up at a strange place and to make matters worse, he got stuck with a nutcase. “Yeah, whatever.” He walked away, searching for the exit. It’s got to be one, right?

“Where are you going?” She sidled up behind him.

“Look,” he turned around, impatient. “You seem to know me but I definitely don’t know you. Don’t get me wrong, you seem to be a good person, but I’m in rush, I…” He stopped min-sentence, because he felt the need to go somewhere and meet someone, but where and who? “I...have something to do.” His voice went weak with every word as panic washed over him. Why can’t I remember anything?

He fell onto the ground, hands covering his face, exasperated. “Why am I not remembering anything?”

The girl let out a sigh and sat beside him, she gave his shoulder a light squeeze. “I’m sorry, Jiyong-ssi. I’m afraid it’s all my fault.”

Jiyong peered from between his fingers. “What are you talking about?” He straightened up, both hands on the cotton-candy-like ground and asked, “Who the hell are you?”

For the few seconds that followed, she didn’t say a word and just stared into his eyes. She took in a deep breath and started, “First of all, let me introduce myself.” She extended a hand and smiled, despite it came out a little bitter. “I’m Chaerin, but I go with CL most of the time.” She continued when Jiyong reached out his and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Kwon Jiyong, although I’m afraid you won’t feel the same when you know who I am.”

“Who are you?” he asked again, a gloomy feeling settled heavily in the pit of his stomach.

“People give us different names, but in general we’re soul fetchers. In your language, we’re reapers.” She paused, half-anticipating Jiyong to freak out or laugh it off. But the man just stared at him without a word, so she went on. “It’s my task to collect a soul in the instrument check-out room today. You see, a boy with slim figure, fair skin, soft features, you actually fit the descriptions. And you’re the only one in there. So I… I made sure you stayed where you were. It’s already too late when I realized you’re not the scheduled one.” Her head dropped low. “I’m sorry, it’s my mistake.”

Most of her words sounded like bull to him but he got the last part. The scene inside the room flashed before his eyes. If the door slammed shut one second later and he could’ve made it out. “You’re the one who shut the damn door and locked me in?!” He surged forward, grabbing the girl by her wrist and yanked her to him, their faces almost touching as he glared down at those grey eyes.

She