Limbo

Chapter 2: Junmyeon

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Jongdae picked himself up off the ground, brushing dirt off his clothes as he looked around at the still trees. Just like the previous two times he had been here, there wasn’t much more to do besides walk, so Jongdae did just that. He took his time walking through the forest. His feet were bare, yet he didn’t feel anything when he stepped on the sharp end of a twig. The sound of the twig snapping contrasted with the silence that blanketed the area like a needle being pushed through a thin layer of cloth.

He kept walking, listening to the soft crunches and scuffles of twigs and pebbles beneath his feet. Jongdae moved in a straight line, only changing direction when he came across a flowing river that was too wide to jump across. He followed the riverbank, heading upstream as he observed his gray surroundings.

Jongdae had just begun to wonder if he would spend the rest of his life dreaming of this place when he saw a silhouette ahead. The art student squinted at the sight, and his heart leapt in his chest when he realized that there was another person standing by the riverbank, gazing into the clear, colorless water.

The man was about Jongdae’s height, although his frame seemed broader and sturdier. A light-gray overcoat hung from the stranger’s shoulders, and short but straight hair covered his side profile. Jongdae quickened his pace, taking care to avoid the branches in his path.

“Hey! Excuse me!” he called, waving his hand in the air to make sure that he would be noticed.

The stranger whipped around as though startled, and Jongdae momentarily stalled at the hard stare he received. He didn’t stop, but his steps slowed, and his demeanor became cautious as he approached the person.

“Who are you?” The stranger asked when Jongdae was a few feet away. Again, Jongdae was taken aback by the cold and clipped tone, but he tried not to let it show. Instead, the art student plastered a small, tentative smile on his face in hopes of softening the other’s attitude.

“I’m Jongdae,” he introduced himself, faltering when the stranger’s unimpressed expression didn’t change, “I, uh…”

This was awkward. Jongdae had no idea what he should say next. Would the stranger think he was weird if Jongdae said that this was his dream? In the end, Jongdae decided that the other probably already thought he was eccentric judging by the way the man was looking at him. But then again, this was a dream, so nothing here is real…

The stranger made an impatient noise in the back of his throat, bringing Jongdae out of his thoughts. “Either way, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re not dead,” the person pointed out. With that, the man his heels and walked away.

For a second, Jongdae didn’t respond, confused by the stranger’s words. Then, he snapped into action and chased after the stranger, who was moving at a fast pace despite his overcoat being caught on various branches that littered the forest floor.

“Wait!” the art student called, “What do you mean, I shouldn’t be here?” He stumbled over a root that was sticking out from the ground in his haste. “This is my dream, you know? Hey!”

Jongdae’s efforts proved to be futile because the stranger slipped through the trees and disappeared from view. Then, his body felt light, his vision faded to black, and the next thing Jongdae knew, he was sitting upright in bed with one arm stretched out as though trying to reach somebody.

Still baffled by what just transpired, Jongdae stayed in that position for several minutes, arm still outstretched, before he leapt off the mattress and hurried out of his room. He practically sprinted down the hall, barging into Baekhyun’s room like a madman and proceeded to shake the sleeping man without even bothering to turn on the lights.

“Baekhyun, wake up! Baek!”

With an exasperated groan, the film student opened his eyes, squinting at Jongdae in the darkness. “Jongdae? What the…?” Baekhyun turned his head to the side, and his mouth folded into a scowl. “Kim Jongdae, it is three-thirty in the ing morning! What the hell is your problem?” He pushed himself up onto his elbows and glared sleepily at the other.

“It’s my dreams. I dreamed of the gray forest again tonight,” Jongdae explained quickly, but then Baekhyun interrupted him, obviously still annoyed.

“This couldn’t wait until breakfast? You’ve dreamed of the forest a couple times already!”

“This time is different!” Jongdae defended, “There was another person in the forest with me!”

Still squinting, Baekhyun stared at him for a few seconds before saying, “What?”

“There was another per–” Jongdae started repeating what he said, but Baekhyun waved his hand dismissively.

“I know that! Why was there another person in your dream? Who was it?”

Jongdae shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before while I was awake. He talked to me, too, but he said I don’t belong there.”

Baekhyun wrinkled his nose. “But…it’s your dream though?”

“Exactly!” Jongdae exclaimed, “How do I not belong in my own dream?”

“Man, I don’t know,” Baekhyun yawned and laid back down, pulling his blanket up to his chin, “Let’s talk about this in the morning. I need to sleep. Good night.”

Jongdae reluctantly bid his roommate good night and headed back to his own bed. He tried to calm himself so he could fall asleep again, but the stranger from his dream kept invading his thoughts. You’re not dead. What was that supposed to mean?

The art student sighed. This was one of the strangest dreams that he had ever had. At this rate, it was going to keep him up all night, but somehow, Jongdae found himself blinking awake when his alarm rang three and a half hours later. His eyes felt heavy, and his throat was dry, but Jongdae pushed himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

He felt a lot better when he came out. A rustling sound from the kitchen told him that Baekhyun was already up, so Jongdae changed out of his pajamas and went to join his roommate.

Baekhyun was digging through the pastries that Chanyeol had made when Jongdae arrived. Without even looking up, the film major began rattling off some of the treats that were Tupperware.

“We’ve got a slice of cheesecake, four chocolate fudge brownies, a mini red velvet cake…” Baekhyun paused to lift the small cake out of the Tupperware with an adoring smile, and Jongdae had to agree with the other: the cake was very cute. “…and two egg tarts. Which one do you want?”

“Uh,” Jongdae tapped his chin thoughtfully, “I’ll try the cheesecake.”

Baekhyun took the cheesecake from the Tupperware and placed it on one of the plates that were laid out next to him. He pushed it towards Jongdae, who took it and sat down. The art major placed a spoonful of the white cake into his mouth and chewed happily, savoring the flavor of cream cheese. “This is really good.”

“Let me try.” Baekhyun leaned forward with his mouth open, waiting for Jongdae to feed him. The latter obediently held a spoonful of cake in front of his roommate’s mouth, but then withdrew his hand and ate the cake himself, laughing at Baekhyun’s betrayed expression.

His roommate scowled before snatching the spoon out of Jongdae’s hand and feeding himself a bite of cake. The indignant look on his face morphed into a look of surprise. “Woah, this really is good.” The film major took another bite out of the pastry and handed the spoon back to Jongdae, who was now frowning because there was only half of the slice left.

He whined at Baekhyun, but his roommate merely stuck his cake-covered tongue out at him. Unwilling to admit defeat, Jongdae stole a large spoonful of the red velvet cake that Baekhyun was eating for breakfast. This eventually led to a war between the two as they both tried to take the other’s cake while defending their own. They only stopped once the cakes were gone, and to their horror, they were running short on time.

The two of them ran to class. Jongdae barely arrived on time, entering the classroom at the same time as the professor. He sat at his desk, panting through the first five minutes of class as he tried to catch his breath. Luckily, they weren’t doing much that day since they were already ahead in the curriculum, so the professor told them to do self-study. Jongdae pulled out his sketchbook and flipped through it, looking for a clean page.

Upon seeing the drawing of the coniferous forest he had done the day before, Jongdae remembered the stranger from his dream. Turning the page once more, Jongdae picked up his pencil and began lightly sketching.

He could remember the details almost perfectly. The thick eyebrows were angled slightly in displeasure, dark-brown eyes held an unwelcoming stare, and small mouth was bent in a frown. Jongdae made sure to sketch it so that the bottom lip was thicker than the top, and the man’s bangs were swept up, revealing a smooth forehead.

“Who is that?” Jongdae had been so focused on the stranger’s face that he failed to notice his professor walking among the students, observing their work.

“Oh, um,” Jongdae stammered, still caught off guard, “He’s…I don’t know.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Jongdae realized how strange it would seem for him to be drawing someone he had only seen once.

Sure enough, his professor raised a thin eyebrow. “A stranger?”

It was at this moment that Jongdae wished he had better brain-to-mouth filter. “I…yeah…I mean, we’ve, uh…we’ve spoken once before, so he’s not a complete stranger.” He pressed his lips together, willing himself to stop talking before he made it more awkward than it already was.

“Huh.” His professor hummed shortly and moved on, seemingly having accepted Jongdae’s explanation. Once he was sure he was out of his professor’s sight, Jongdae covered his face in embarrassment. He was certain that the pair of girls behind him were laughing at his flustered answer, but the art student decided to shake off his small blunder and continue working on his sketch.

Unfortunately, he could no longer focus on the drawing because his embarrassment refused to fade. Jongdae had never been happier that class ended when it did. On his way to his next class, Jongdae sent Baekhyun a text about the incident, and though the latter didn’t respond, Jongdae knew that he was laughing over Jongdae’s predicament.

For the rest of the day, Jongdae refused to look at the sketch of the stranger, choosing to doodle random little things that he saw whenever he looked out of the classroom window. However, he found himself growing more and more nervous as nighttime drew closer, anticipating and dreading the next time he dreamed of the gray world. Would the stranger be there again, or would Jongdae be left to walk through the trees alone?

His unease must have been rather obvious because Baekhyun asked him if something happened as they ate dinner together.

“It’s just…” Jongdae hesitated as he continued to push some kimchi around on his plate, “I’m nervous about dreaming tonight.”

“Ah.” Baekhyun nodded in understanding. “It’s the stranger, isn’t it? Mr. You-Don’t-Belong-Here?”

Jongdae nodded slowly. “He actually said something else to me last night.”

Baekhyun didn’t say anything, but he leaned forward, eyes fixed intently on Jongdae, silently telling the latter to continue.

“So he said that I didn’t belong there, right?” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun, who nodded. “Well, then he told me that I wasn’t dead. What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

Baekhyun paused in his chewing for a moment, staring at Jongdae with a shocked look on his face. Then, he shook his head, “Wow, Jongdae-yah, you have some really weird dreams.”

“Tell me about it,” Jongdae grumbled, stuffing a piece of chicken in his mouth and chomping down on it furiously.

Baekhyun hummed thoughtfully. “The way he said it makes it seem as though only the dead are supposed to be in that gray forest. But why?”

Jongdae didn’t reply, but he agreed with Baekhyun. The whole thing was rather strange, even for a dream. He figured that he could just ask the stranger, but he didn’t know if he would find the man again.

“Well, if you see him in your dreams again tonight, you can always ask him!” Baekhyun suggested, taking Jongdae’s thoughts right out of his head.

“He kind of brushed me off last night though,” Jongdae admitted.

“Tell him I’ll barge into your dream and kick his if he does it again.” Baekhyun raised his hands and made a few punching motions, only to hit his hand on the edge of the table with a loud thud. He let out a yelp and cradled his hand as Jongdae nearly fell out of his chair in a fit of laughter.

In the end, Baekhyun didn’t have to find a way to appear in Jongdae’s dream. Jongdae was walking through the trees, trying to formulate a way to properly confront the stranger, when he saw the very man he was looking for ambling ahead of him.

As Jongdae quickened his pace to catch up, he feared that the other would just walk off, but to his surprise, the man actually stopped and waited for him, albeit with a rather displeased scowl on his face.

“You’re back.” The sentence was short, and the tone was curt, but Jongdae wasn’t going to back down.

“Last time we spoke,” Jongdae panted, “what did you mean when you said that I don’t belong here?”

“Only the dead people come here,” the man replied, and he looked Jongdae up and down, “You are obviously not dead. Therefore, you don’t belong in Limbo.”

“Limbo?” Jongdae repeated incredulously, “Is that what this place is called, uh…?” He trailed off, hoping that the man would tell him his name.

The stranger seemed to consider it for a moment before finally replying, “Junmyeon. And yes, this place is called Limbo. It is the Land of the Dead.”

A/N: A new chapter bringing Junmyeon into the picture :D And he doesn't sound very welcoming...

At least Jongdae is stubborn ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

'Til next chapter!