THE sound of crashing waves are the first thing that I register once I come to. My hands move in an instant as I pat my chest, a sigh of relief escapes me when I realize that the stab wound has disappeared.

And upon coming to that revelation, I sit up in shock as it dawns on me that I'm actually dead. A vast ocean greets me as I look ahead, in all my life, and through all my travels, I've never seen ocean waters so clear and calm.

My palm greets the soft sand as I help myself to stand to my feet. My attention's still focused on the ocean before me, there's just something mesmerizing about the waters.

I reluctantly tear my eyes away from the waters as I look around my surroundings some more. Up ahead lies what seems to be a hut, its structure is made from wood, and dried palm leaves act as its roof. 

But what surprises me even more is the figure sitting under a large beach umbrella. I can't tell what this person's doing, but I can see that he's sitting by a table.

I turn and look behind me, I sigh to myself when I see that there's nothing behind me either. The only persons on this beach are myself and this stranger. 

I take tentative steps toward the beach hut, I know for sure that he must've sensed me approaching, but he doesn't even lift his head to look at me. The closer I get to the hut, the more his features become prominent; his long hair rests on his shoulders, I can't see his eyes just yet but his face is free of any blemishes. 

I cast my eyes towards the table and I see that he's playing a game of chess. The red short sleeve shirt he's wearing sits perfectly on his body even though the wind's making a mess of his perfect hair.

He looks up as soon as I get closer to the table, the face that greets me causes me to take a step backwards in shock. "Sunbae?"

He smiles at me and my confusion deepens as I look at his face, many thoughts run through my mind as I try to make sense of it all. There's no logical explanation that will tell me why he's here of all places.

I tell myself that this must be some sort of trick as there's no way Kang Ha Neul's here with me. "Have a seat."

A chair appears out of thin air, but I'm not even surprised by its sudden appearance, if Kang Ha Neul's here then just about anything can happen. So I sit, something within lets me know that the person before me isn't the real Kang Ha Neul.

"I thought that if I took the form of someone who you look up to, then all of this would be much easier." 

He waves a hand and the chess board disappears and a large book appears in its place. I remain silent as I watch him flip through the old pages with a small hum.

"You see, I don't really have a physical form per se, and I've already done the burning bush thing, so there's no way I wanna do that again."

I furrow my eyebrows, "burning bush?"

He looks up at me with a nod, "it's an old story." He stops flipping the pages with a sigh, "ah, here we are."

I shake my head, "what's going on? If you're not my sunbae, then who are you? Where the hell are we? And why are we the only two people here?"

He copies a sad expression as he looks back at me, "you're supposed to be dead. I go by many names, your wife calls me the Creator. This is where I live."

I sigh softly, "none of this makes any sense."

He nods in agreement, "I've stopped meddling in the affairs of the many beings that I've created. I left them unguarded and gave them free will, but unfortunately things aren't going that well."

"Why are you telling me this?" 

He chuckles, "patience Baek Hyun, there's a story here. By now you should know that I had long blessed the souls of a few, and this has resulted in a large target on the backs of their descendants."

I think of Ri Na and everything that's currently happening with those crazy soul collectors. "Yeah, one threw a knife in my chest."

"It wasn't supposed to be that way," his fingertips tap on the opened book before him. "Ri Na is a Spirit Warrior, one of the best fighters I've seen actually. There were moments when I would hear her voice, reaching out to me, praying for your soul. On her very last task, she asked to be reunited with you once more, to have a life without any interference, and I agreed."

I furrow my eyebrows, "what happened?"

"There are many things of this world that simply can't be explained," he sighs softly, "there are other worlds, or realms, all governed by laws that exist to have inhabitants living in harmony. The Heavenly Realm was in disarray many eons ago, many clans threatened to enslave the beings in the Earthly Realm."

I nod as I follow along, "there's no way the Spirit Warriors would allow that to happen. So they marched on the clans of the Heavenly Realm, and so lives were lost, tribes were broken up."

"Ri Na was involved?" He nods, "did something bad happen?"

"No, not at all," he smiles, "she excelled at the mission. I was a bit sad that she wanted to leave, but you two deserved a better life. The Heavenly Realm returned to where it once was, new gods and goddesses ascended, and so there was nothing to be worried about."

He looks down at the large book once more, "or so I thought. The Goddess of Fate seems to have a grudge against Ri Na. Of course, all blessed souls are under my protection so there's nothing she could do to harm her. You on the other hand..."

I blink at that, "I'm being targeted."

He nods with a hum, "you're not supposed to be dead right now. I promised Ri Na a life of normalcy, but the Goddess of Fate wasn't aware of that."

I look at the book, "I'm guessing that belongs to her?"

"Yeah," he chuckles, "don't worry about her. She's being punished for writing your fate based on her own personal feelings. Now, I just need to correct it all, starting with your death."

I watch as he rips a page from the book and crushes it in a ball. "What else is in there?"

He looks up at me with a smirk, "do you really wanna know?"

I give a nonchalant shrug, "I have nothing else to lose."

He stands from his chair, "let's go then."

WE find ourselves sitting by the window in a coffee shop, it seems to be Christmas time as the decorations are a dead giveaway. It's snowing lightly outside as well, I continue to look around for clues which can point to the year that we're now in, but I'm left empty as nothing out of the ordinary jumps out at me.

"This is your fourth life." 

I look at the man before me, his red shirt has disappeared and he's dressed in thick, dark blue knit sweater. "Is there a reason why we skipped the third?"

He tuts dismissively, "it's a rather boring life." The large book appears out of thin air before him, "you're constantly tormented with memories from your first life, it drives you really mad, and so you end up dying in a hospice."

I hum at that, "so Ri Na and I never meet in my third life?" He shakes his head, "that's..."

I can't find the words to describe how it would feel to not have Ri Na by my side at all. "Don't worry, I got rid of it all so you should be fine." 

Silence engulfs as I try to let all of that s