Chapter One - Sleeping Awake

The elevator doors slid open and a fistful of people piled in all dressed in similar attire. Black suit jackets, straight black pants or skirts, black shoes and high heels, ties of various colours hung from the necks of people sweating in the closed space rushing to get to their work station on time. The elevator doors once again started to slide to a close when a leg was stuck in between the closing doors forcing it to open once more. The people in the full elevator all let out a sigh and gave an expression of disgust as yet another person squashed themselves into the tight space. The elevator doors closed and hands s past each other, each person pressing the number corresponding to their own floor.

On the seventh floor the elevator stopped once again and a young woman slithered herself out of the mass of people managing to get out before the elevator doors closed on her. She looked around, straightened her jacket and tied her hair again into a neat pony tail before making her way down the corridor to the big office space filled with identical cubicles. The only thing distinguishing each cubicle from one another was the odd family portrait, picture drawn by someone’s child, picture of an idol or a postcard of their dream vacation spot. Or a green frog plush.

“Hey, Seohyun!”

The occupier of the said frog plush cubicle swivelled around in her chair and ran her fingers through her hair at the same time.

“Morning, Yoona. You are almost late. Again,” Seohyun responded and looked at her friend who was standing at the entrance of her cubicle. She shook her head in disappointment but broke into a smile soon enough as Yoona grinned at her.

“This time I have a really good reason for it though.” Yoona turned around and took a step across the narrow corridor into her own cubicle placing her bag onto the floor before sitting down on her standard office chair. She closed her eyes and leaned her neck against the back rest, slowly sliding down in her chair so her back was on the seat.

“Oh?” Seohyun quirked an eyebrow and got up from her chair and walked to the entrance of Yoona’s box, leaning onto the side as she waited for her friend to continue. People were still arriving to work and the office was full of people crisscrossing the corridors so the two had some time to chat before they needed to start working, or watching out for their boss as to not catch them slacking off.

There were many advantages to being best friends with the person in the cubicle across to yours. If either one of them needed help it was easy to ask for it. When the other was late and the boss questioned the absence of the other person they could cover for them until they arrived. And then there was the obvious reason of gossiping made easy. You didn’t’ have to type in a chat or shout over the walls of your cubicle to someone, you could just turn around and talk to the other person. You just had to make sure that your superior wasn’t nearby to catch you slacking and talking.

This was exactly the case with Seohyun and Yoona. The two had started their work at the office on the same day. Seohyun had been on time for the introduction of the facilities while Yoona had run late. The employee in charge of the introduction to the office had wanted to start and get it over with but Seohyun had insisted that they wait for the other new employee for a moment longer, just long enough for Yoona to finally arrive to the office, apologizing thousands of times and telling an elaborate story of how her shirt had gotten stuck on the door of the bus, thus disallowing the door to open for a whole ten minutes. Rolling her eyes their tour guide for the day dismissed her ramblings and told her she was lucky that the other new employee had insisted on waiting. Their friendship started from that moment and luckily for them, or mostly for Yoona, they were stationed in cubicles across from each other.

Yoona opened her eyes and stared at the dropped ceiling and the dull gray panels that covered its length. She let her mind wander a while to remember all that she had seen this morning.

The dream had felt so real. All dreams felt real for sure, but something about this one made her feel much more confused and unsure. She had been able to feel all the textures in the room, the temperature, and could partially hear the sounds that echoed in the room. They sounded muffled like trying to speak through a thick winter coat, but still much more real than usual. She felt like she was being taken in for a ride and was viewing the world from somebody else’s eyes. She couldn’t influence what happened in her surroundings. Usually when a person realizes that they are actually dreaming they either wake up or can do whatever they want in the dream. For Yoona neither of the two happened. She felt trapped and fear had begun to build up until she woke up. Once she had woken up a warm overwhelming sense of relief flowed through her. Thankfully it had all been a dream. But then again, it did not feel like a dream at all.

“I saw… had… was in a dream…” Yoona started, “but it wasn’t a dream, or it didn’t feel like one. You know?” She lowered her head to look at Seohyun who simply nodded knowing that her friend was going to continue. “I was somebody else. I literally was in somebody’s head just following what they were doing. I realized I was dreaming yet I couldn’t do what I wanted to like you usually can.”

“Lucid dreaming?” Seohyun asked.

“Yeah. Usually when you know you are dreaming the world becomes your playground but this time… ” Yoona once again closed her eyes to get the feeling she had when dreaming. “I was trapped inside someone with no control and it wasn’t until my own alarm clock woke me up that I was able to wake up, or more precisely, escape it. I was so weirded out by it and shocked that I just lay on my bed for a good twenty minutes trying to figure out what had just happened, which is why I was running late.”

A short moment passed in silence before Yoona opened her eyes to see what Seohyun was doing since she was so quiet. Her friend was staring out into the distance at the usual traffic in the office clearly in thought of what her friend had just told her.

Seohyun’s gaze suddenly focused on something that moved quickly and loudly among the cubicles. It waved hands around and shouted at people it passed by with authority and snobbish self-importance.

“It was probably just a dream nothing more,” Seohyun responded before quickly hurrying to her own cubicle. “Hopper is on the loose, look sharp.”

Just as Seohyun finished her sentence the loud arm flailing creature turned the corner to pass by their cubicles and both Yoona and Seohyun turned around in their chairs to face their computer screens to avoid the mad ramblings of this person called ‘Hopper’.

Yoo ‘Hopper’ Jaesuk sped along the corridors and looked into each cubicle to see that everyone was working. He was called ‘Hopper’ since he reminded people of a grasshopper, though nobody dared call him by that name to his face for obvious reasons. He was the one in charge of the seventh floor offices and made himself out to be a very important man, more important than he actually was. His inflated ego needed somebody to boss around and to pick on and he had the habit of endlessly criticizing everyone. For some reason he had picked Yoona as one of his favourite targets in the office and it was very rare of him to just pass her cubicle without a word to say or something to complain about.

As he reached Yoona’s cubicle he looked in to see the girl crouched under her computer desk, with her computer screen still turned off. He stopped in his tracks and loudly tapped his foot on the dark blue floor carpet that covered the entirety of the office floor, a tap that sounded very dull on the carpet making it a lot less ominous than he wished it to be.

Yoona could feel Jaesuk’s eyes fixed on her. She had to think quickly or she would be in trouble again for not working.

“Aiyaa, what’s wrong with the cleaners? Always pulling plugs everywhere when they clean,” she huffed in annoyance waving her hands around to prove her point.

“Miss Yoona, do we have a problem here?” Jaesuk’s stern voice demanding an answer to the question ‘Why are you not working?’ .

“No problem, other than the fact that the cleaners keep on pulling on cables and plugs every time they clean. They are so unprofessional and clumsy,” Yoona turned to look at her boss giving her best pout and this time remembered to address him properly. “Yoo Jaesuk-nim.”

Jaesuk’s serious face hardened even more and his arms started flailing, his voice rising over the noise that rang through the office. This time she was lucky.

“With you too? I’ve had it with these cleaners who don’t know how to clean an office. They keep on ripping plugs everywhere and knocking off plants and forgetting to clean tables and…” Jaesuk paused for a moment to look at Yoona. “Alright get started on your work once you fix things there, I’ll have to look into this matter at once.”

With that said Yoo Jaesuk continued his speedy round through the office corridors, his loud voice slowly fading away and disappearing under the offices racket. Yoona peered from under the desk at Seohyun who let out loud sigh before they both burst out laughing.

The rest of the day was like any other. The two worked on their respective assignments, Yoona starting a new conversation topic every so often that they got bored of just working. While Seohyun would efficiently work and talk at the same time Yoona got distracted more easily and would divert her attention from working to just talking with Seohyun.

The day at the office came to a close and Yoona and Seohyun found themselves assigned to take part, on behalf of the seventh floor offices of the company, in a large children’s charity event. The seventh floor of Omnicorp, the company that Yoona and Seohyun worked at, was involved in the manufacturing and transportation of food and shelter aid to disaster locations all around the world. Various kindergartens, elementary schools and middle school teachers would be attending the event, and Omnicorp was present because of their work among poor children around the world.

Yoona didn’t feel like going and had been feeling rather tired and lost in thought throughout the day. She had apologized to Seohyun for ditching her last minute and instead went home to take a nap while Seohyun took on the responsibilities of the company at the event.

Yoona got back to her apartment just before the event was about to start. It was held at one of the central parks in the city and even though she didn’t feel too well she would have enjoyed walking around in a park on a nice day like this. She looked out of her living room window which was on the fourth floor of an average apartment building and watched the drowsy traffic of the afternoon in the hot glaring sun.

The heat made her feel even more tired than usual and so she grabbed a glass of water and took a sip out of it before placing it on the coffee table by the living room sofas. She sat down on her khaki sofa, wrenched her phone from the pocket of her tight jeans to message Seohyun.

[Me] Sorry for ditching you like this. I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow. If you find something cute buy it for me will you? And if you see Hopper, tell him I’m somewhere around the park, okay? – 17:38, 14 Jul 20XX

She placed her phone down next to her and pulled her legs in, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on her knees. She really did feel bad for making Seohyun do it on her own, but Yoona was not feeling well enough to deal with the event or with Hopper. Yoona’s message tone which was Seohyun’s strict voice commanding to ‘Pay attention!’ brought her back to reality.

[Seororo~] It’s alright, I know you wouldn’t bail out on me if you weren’t feeling so down and tired as you were today. Don’t worry about Hopper, I’ll keep him busy. You can just rest. I will take you up on that offer to buy me food, but you know I bring my own packed lunch. Instead would you like to maybe, possibly, have dinner with me after work? – 17:43, 14 Jul 20XX

As expected, Seohyun was going to take care of everything. Her phone buzzed again.

[Seororo~] That is if you want to have dinner. You don’t have to. – 17:44, 14 Jul 20XX

Yoona smiled. Of course she had to send a clarifying message. She was always so polite. But why would she not want to have dinner with her?

[Seororo~] And if I find something cute, I might buy it. But it’ll be for myself! ^_^V - 17:44, 14 Jul 20XX

The final message made Yoona laugh out loud and she quickly replied to Seohyun with a simple ‘Thanks, you’re the best’ before falling down to her side and resting her head on the sofa cushions. She let out a loud yawn, wide like an alligator, before quickly succumbing to sleep.

Yoona soon opened her eyes and looked at the crowd of people in front of her. The flow of people was incredible and she was getting pushed from all directions because of her short stature. She tried to peer over people, looking for somebody, but shook her head as she couldn’t spot anybody she knew. As she stood by the various food stands that adorned the entrance of the place that seemed to be a park, she slowly started to make her way along with the crowd towards the centre, following the flow of people. Along the way she noticed a huge banner: ‘Save The Children’ charity event. Seemed like she ended up coming to the event after all.

As she got closer to the centre of the park that had a large field comprising of lots of green grass and beautiful leafy green trees with flower gardens outlining the sides, she stopped by a hot dog stand to stare at the huge water fountain that occupied the very centre of the park. She had rarely visited this park and so took her time to look at the fine detail on the fountain.

It had a beautiful lady with long wavy hair that flowed down along one of her shoulders. She wore a stola and had her right hand stretched out with the palm open. A nightingale sat with its wings open as if to take flight and its beak was ajar presumably to sing its nightly song. From what Yoona could remember, it was a depiction of a woman who was tormented by nightmares and begged the nightingale to sing so the moon would disappear behind the horizon bringing the morning faster to release her from the nightly terrors.

Finally breaking eye contact from the fountain she looked down at the people that stood under it. There, next to the large Omnicorp sign, stood a stunning young woman, straight long black hair parted from the centre slowly moving in the breeze, wearing a dark blue lightweight woven dress with little yellow prints and a ruffled hem. As she focused on the woman she noticed it was Seohyun. Yoona tried to lift her hand to wave at her and tried to shout, but she could not move. Her hand would not respond. No sound came from as it refused to even open.

Yoona continued to stare at Seohyun, eyes fixed on her as she talked with people who were interested in what Omnicorp had in store for the children’s aid program in Kenya. Her form and stature overflowed with professionalism, her smile and bright, gleaming eyes conveyed passion towards her line of work. She was a sight to behold and Yoona noticed others who were also staring at Seohyun but not engaged in conversation with her. She felt like telling them to stop staring, but as she had it, her body still refused to respond to her commands.

Out of nowhere she felt a sharp sting to her left abdomen as someone poked her. She turned around to see who it was. There stood a brightly smiling blonde with long straight hair that flowed down to her chest. Her eyes disappeared as she smiled, her lips forming a perfect v-shape. She was wearing a white short-sleeved pleated tie-waist top and a pleating high-waist cream coloured skirt. The girl hugged Yoona tightly, who in return responded with a barely audible voice, “Hey, Hyoyeon.”

It was only now when Yoona noticed that everything else in the surrounding area was in silence except her own voice which sounded muffled to herself. The girl standing in front of her was about her own height and Yoona realized that she was actually much shorter in height than usual. As her body kept on moving on its own, talking to this strange blonde beauty, Yoona began to once again panic. She was not herself.

She tried to rip herself away somehow, to escape the place she was in, but nothing worked and she could only watch as her body moved on its own and she talked in a mumble to the other girl. From the corner of her eye she could still see Seohyun who had just finished talking to someone, take out her phone and seemed to be calling someone while Hopper appeared from behind the fountain to stand by the stall while eating cotton candy.

Yoona missed Seohyun. She was scared. She wanted to talk to her. She wanted out. She...

“Noona neomu yeppeo~ Geu geunyeoruek boneun naneun Michyeo~ Ha hajiman ijaen jichyeo~ Replay Replay Replay~”

Yoona’s eyes shot open as she heard her phone ring. She looked over the edge of the sofa on to the floor where her phone lay vibrating. Blinking a couple of times, she realized she was at her apartment. She lifted her phone and a comforting familiar voice greeted her.

“Hey Yoona, how are you feeling?”

Yoona sighed with relief.

“I… it happened again.”

“What happened?”

“The dream, the same thing as this morning but this time it- You were there.”

“Weren’t you just dreaming?”

Seohyun’s initial tone of concern had slightly faded and found the situation a bit more amusing.

“No I-“

Yoona thought quickly on how she could convince Seohyun she was not just dreaming. The line was silent until Seohyun broke it.

“Yoona?”

“Seohyun, Hopper is standing next to you right?”

“Yes”

“Ask if the pink cotton candy tastes good? Also I like your light blue dress that you are wearing, though I would prefer if you let your hair to the front to cover you more.”

The other end of the line went quiet for a moment.

“Yoona you came here didn’t you? Where are you?”

“No I saw you in my dream, I was at the event in my dream- I…”

Yoona stopped talking for a second, trying to organise her thoughts.

“Oh, can you see a short, blonde haired girl with a white shirt and cream skirt by the hot dog stand in front of you?”

“Yoona plea-”

“Please, Seohyun. Just say if you can see her. She should be talking to someone who is of similar height to her.”

Yoona waited in anticipation.

“No, I can’t I’m sorry. Now can you please stop hiding and come here?”

Yoona switched the regular phone call in to a video call.

“Look! I’m in my apartment. Do you believe me now?”

“You… you really are at your apartment.”

Seohyun’s face was blank. Silence fell over the two; the only noise was from the background as the charity event continued on.

“I need to get back to work.”

Seohyun turned to look away from her phone camera and seemed to be looking at her surroundings.

“I- I’ll talk to you tomorrow alright?”

“Okay. Message me when you leave and get home.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Yoona finished the phone call and let her hand fall limp next to her, the phone slipping on to the seat. It had happened again. She had been somewhere else in her dream and this time it was not just her imagination. Questions about who had she been trapped in and who was the blonde girl she had been talking to went through her mind, the one that was called Hyoyeon.

Yoona kept sitting on the sofa staring silently in front of her at the black TV screen. Evening was approaching and soon she would have to go to sleep. As the thought of sleeping crept into her head she shivered, fear slowly crawling under her skin. She didn’t want to be trapped in somebody else again. When she was dreaming there was no way for her to get out unless an external source disturbed her sleep. Instead of the usual nightmares where one would wake up when it got unbearable, now she would have to stay until something woke her up. She needed her own personal nightingale.

Before the night had even arrived she was already wishing for it to end.