The world has a population of 7.7 billion people. Every one second, four new lives are brought into the world while two are taken away. 

Deaths are common, just like births, they are an inevitable part of nature and life that is required for the continuation of humanity. It signifies redemption, it signifies being free of your past life so that one can reincarnate and move on to embark on a new beginning into their next life.

So, Minji doesn't really understand the sorrow that the humans have always displayed upon the realisation that they are dead. Nor does she understand why the livings cry and mourn so much for the dead during funerals. Are deaths supposed to be sad? She doesn't think so. Instead, deaths should be rejoiced and celebrated.

Acceptance is the key ---

Don't question, don't resist.

But humans don't seem to understand, and their insistence surprises her sometimes, leading them to uncover truth that they shouldn't know and do foolish things that they are not supposed to do. In the end, Minji, like many other Dream Guardians, is the one who will always have to clean up the aftermath of their deeds.

Accidents, abuse, murder, suicide or illness; there is nothing that Minji hasn't seen or heard about before. The middle-aged woman whose eyes were filled with vengeance after being stabbed to death by her own husband didn't scare her. The crying child who was dragged away by the Grim Reaper from his living parents after being knocked down by a car didn't falter her. Even with the recent appearance of the devastated high school girl who was brutally and murdered, she remained indifferent.

Minji can only pray on behalf of them that she won't be the one to chance upon any of them roaming in the streets of the living world or trying to enter their loved ones' dreams after their 49 days are up. Because crossing path with her when they are not supposed to isn't going to be a pretty sight.

It has been known ---

That she shows no mercy; and she lacks empathy.

Perhaps it is because Minji has been dead for so long already that she is starting to lose touch with how living actually feels like. Now, she only thinks that humans are pathetic --- to be unable to disconcern themselves with the living matters and rest in peace even after they had departed. A long way into history would have taught them that feelings and emotions are unnecessary baggages and yet, they still chose to make the same mistake. Worst of all, they never learn.

Then again...

In this vast universe, who is she, an insignificant and irrelevant non-living being who doesn't have a slightest idea about her own origin to make a judgment on the living world?

How did Minji die? Why is she still here? What are the answers that she has been searching for? There are many missing pieces  in the puzzle that she doesn't know where to start from. Even a simple question like who was she in her past life troubles her.

And all that's left are fragments of scenes that will occasionally flash across her mind and a mysterious face that has been haunting her for a long time. Even if she desperately wants to hold onto those scattered pieces, those memories are starting to fade away like ashes as time passes by, as if they don't matter.

If only they really don't matter.

Maybe someday, eventually, they won't anymore.

Minji has waited for close to a thousand years anyway. Another thousand years of waiting probably isn't going to prove her patience wrong (although she knows that she doesn't have any more of a thousand years). But what if it's for an eternity... she can only wonder just how long is an eternity going to last for?

"Do you regret not letting him go?" The sudden intruder breaks her train of thoughts as Minji turns around, only to find Bora leisurely strolling towards her into the Library of Nightmares, where giant shelves of jars which contain captured souls who had been lingering in the living world even though their 49 days were up (also known as Nightmares) are stacked neatly against one another. Those jars, so densely packed and towering over them can be quite intimidating if one is here alone during the night. It feels as if the Nightmares are constantly watching you, constantly waiting for a time to strike.

"I don't do regrets." Minji's voice remains monotonous, and her gaze moves and locks onto Bora's, holding their eye contact for longer than usual as if she is trying to prove that she is telling the truth before finally averting away. Even so, Bora still manages to catch a tinge of pity from the pair of eyes that is now stiff on a particular jar of Nightmare. 

Another poor soul that Minji has caught last night.

Leukaemia had cruelly taken the seven years-old boy away from the world. Simply far too young and too early.

"He just misses his mum, like how I used to miss my grandmother," Bora speaks up as she recalls that day (how many hundreds years ago, she can't remember) when she was supposed to leave with the Grim Reaper. Even though her grandmother was the only one who was mourning for her death, witnessing the heartbreaking sight of her crying still makes her heart ache no matter how much she thinks about it. She even nearly caused a great havoc if not for Minji who had stopped her in time. If Minji was able to close an eye on Bora's incident, why can't she do the same for the others as well?

"Still, he broke the rule. His 49 days were long over. He shouldn't be there."

Bora crosses her arms, "He didn't harm anyone."

But Minji doesn't think so.

A Nightmare, regardless of whether it has caused harm or not, as long as it is still roaming freely in the living world and interfering with the humans' affairs, there will be troubles. Just like the boy, if he continues to appear in his mum's dream everyday, she wouldn't be able to move on with her life. One should live for the future instead of the past. It is meaningless to dwell on things that can't be changed anymore. Humanity isn't made for that.

"Your belief is going to prove you wrong just like how it did to me. To me, he is no different from the rest." Minji let out a non-chalant shrug as she turns, preparing to walk her way towards the door. She doesn't really care what others think about her --- be it heartless, unfeeling, cold or any other names that she hasn't heard of yet. All she knows is that explanations are exhausting.

"You've changed, Minji."

The sudden remark halts Minji in her steps. Has she? "Then maybe it's time for you to know me all over again."

*******

"How is the progress of the task that I've assigned to you?"

The Master clad in the black robe speaks in a low tone with great authority as she walks down the hall towards the end where her throne is situated between the only two burning torches that one can find in the whole cave. Lights are strictly not allowed in the Shadowers' House.

"It has been successful so far."

"Mmm, execute it with more caution. The guardians are keeping a pretty close eyes on the movements of our Shadowers these days. Maybe you should recruit more Nightmares." The Master pauses her words as she beckons the other with a finger to come closer. And when the Master places her palm on her shoulder to straighten the crumpled collars, the shoulders of the other went stiff for a moment at the sharp fingernails before gradually relaxing against the gentle touch. "You are my favourite right-hand person, Seo. Do not disappoint me."

"I won't dare to, my Lady," the timid voice trembles. "You can wait for my good news."

"Good," The Master smirks, pleased at the words, as she grabs the other's head and plants a chaste kiss on her forehead. The girl always know the right words into her heart. Everything comes all too easy. "Bear with it for a little while more, my child. In no time, darkness will rise again and the universe will ultimately belong to us."

*******

"Arg, I'm so pissed off!"

The summer heat in the afternoon is getting warmer and warmer by seconds. Temperatures are rising not because of the scorching sun that is hanging high up in the sky but by the shrieks of frustration that are constantly emitted in the little warehouse by the two friends, Siyeon and Yoohyeon, mostly the latter who has been engaging in a meaningless game battle. Because they kept losing.

"They're attacking me!"

"Kim Yoohyeon, to your left, to your left!" Siyeon bellows into the monitor at the incoming enemies as she quickly makes an escape towards the center of the map.

"Help me! Lee Siyeon!"

"Come to where I am now. This territory is ours, they can't enter!" Siyeon commands calmly, with her fingers moving swiftly across the keyboard as she throws a series of air trap into the enemies' base, trying to distract them so that she can save her teammate. But more enemies come over and the protection on their new territory is soon destroyed. She plans to escape but finds herself trapped on the same spot by a witch's spell.

D.E.F.E.A.T.

"Oh my god, Lee Siyeon! You should have come and save me first!" Yoohyeon groans, finally has had enough as she removes her headset and bangs her head onto the cushion, creating a huge dent onto it. "I'm not playing anymore," She raises her hands up in defeat. "This is so devastating. No teamwork at all."

"Wow, look at who is speaking right now about teamwork," Siyeon scoffs in disbelief as she throws a cushion at the girl who always doesn't want to admit that she is in the wrong. "I told you to buff up your defense! You're a tanker and you're supposed to follow me around instead of running away by yourself!"

"I'm trying to increase our resources!"

"But you left me to fend for myself?"

"Fine, fine," Yoohyeon sighs and rolls her eyes. "I get it. You are always right."

"Loser Kim Yoohyeon," Siyeon mocks as she sticks a tongue out, which only infuriates the receiver further.

Feeling indignant, Yoohyeon stands up abruptly and slams her palm onto the computer desk, "I have had enough of your insults, Lee Siyeon!" Her voice cracks through the afternoon dullness, so loud that Siyeon can feel the ground beneath her shakes. "I want a solo match with you. 1 vs 1. Do you dare to accept this challenge?"

Siyeon only smirks at this idea. Too simple and too easy. Is the girl trying to court her own death? Nevertheless, she will accept it because there can only be one winner.

"Bring it on, my friend." 

The competition is intense and the tension is running high. Siyeon has won the first round by constantly upgrading her weapons and attacking Yoohyeon with special skills. It was an easy and straightforward win. That's why Siyeon never thought that she would be defeated by the girl on the second round after walking right into her traps.

"You actually won?" Siyeon is speechless but impressed at the same time. Yoohyeon has indeed picked up some useful tactic. That's what people called, 'One mountain is higher than another mountain.'

A smug shows up on Yoohyeon's face, "Scared now?"

"Are you using Defense again?" Siyeon asks with a pair of squinting eyes as she leans closer to the girl, trying to test the water. Now that the girl has learnt some tricks, she can't belittle her now.

"Does it matter?"

"Wow, confident, girl."

"Say no more, Lee Siyeon. It's time to battle it out!"

Yoohyeon has a perfect plan in her head. Since she can't win Siyeon's character with direct attacks, she will focus on building up a defense system around her base and at the same time, accumulating materials for the atomic bombs.

"Are you prepared to face the defeat?" Yoohyeon let out a dry laughter, trying to intimidate her competitor.

But Siyeon remains unfazed as she focuses on upgrading her skills as usual, "Never in my life. You should be asking yourself that instead."

"Don't worry about me. I'm doing very fine." Yoohyeon says as she sticks a tongue out, mimicking the mockery that she has received earlier. It's time for payback. "As for you, don't be too sad if you lose later, okay? Life is about learning to pick  yourself up after you fall."

"Wow," Siyeon let out a gasp and shakes her head as she can't believe her ears.

Doesn't the last sentence sound familiar? She remembers saying it to Yoohyeon after an inter-class relay race where the latter had caused them to lose after falling down near the finishing line.​​ She​​​​​ even cried that day.

How ungrateful is it now for Yoohyeon to be using those words against her.

"You're totally dead, Lee Siyeon. I'm almost done with my bombs," Yoohyeon warns, feeling excited.

Siyeon immediately let out a grin of victory, her guess was right afterall. Yoohyeon may be tactful but she still lacks experience. Experience always surpasses anything. "I knew it! You were making bombs but I'm afraid that you might not have to chance to watch them fly!"

"Eh---,"

Suddenly, just as the battle is about to reach its peak, both of their computer screen goes black. Out of panic, Siyeon gives the hardware a few slaps (although she knows that she shouldn't do that) before trying to turn it on again but to no avail. They groan at the sudden blackout. Victory was so close. "What the hell?? Why has it stopped working?"

"Lee Siyeon! Kim Yoohyeon!"

The voice that has suddenly penetrated into the room makes them jump up simultaneously and their frustration diminish immediately at the sight of their other best friend. Only fear is left.

Lee Yubin, the last member of the high school trio, although has always topped the school with excellent results every year and comes from a rich family, miraculously get along well with Siyeon and Yoohyeon, whose circumstances are the complete opposite of hers. The three of them were under the same team for a school project and somehow, they have been sticking together since then all the way until now.

"Omo," Siyeon let out an awkward smile as she clutches onto her racing heart. "You gave us a scare."

"Yeah, Yubin, next time don't shout like that," Yoohyeon echoes the same sentiment as she runs her hand down Siyeon's back to calm her down.

A frown of displeasure shows up on Yubin's face as she crosses her arms, "Then may I ask, with all courtesy, why were the both of you not in lecture today?"

"Errm..."

Perhaps in many people's eyes, Yubin may seem small (her nickname is small bean) and harmless, she can be very intimidating when she is angry. Like right now, Siyeon and Yoohyeon can see fumes coming out of her nostrils as if she is controlling herself not to skin them alive.

*******

"Hey, your best friend is angry," Siyeon whispers as she nudges Yoohyeon. 

They are in a food market, and yes they are here for dinner but one can easily tell the disharmony between them. Siyeon and Yoohyeon are walking on eggshells as they trail behind the angry girl with a fairly calculated distance, like students who are being punished for misbehaving..

"Nah, she's yours."

"Go talk to her."

"No, Lee Siyeon, you do it," Yoohyeon insists, her eyes never leaving the pair of boots walking in front of them, whose pace gradually increases as they continue pushing the responsibility to the other. "I think she likes you better."

Until it comes to an abrupt halt.

And they too, stop.

Yubin turns around with a troubled expression, both arms on her waist as she charges towards the two girls. And they retreat. Her eyes dart over to Yoohyeon first, whose hand inches closer to Siyeon's as if she is asking for a comrade's help, which she is refused. Deciding that she can't bring the harsh words to , Yubin switches her target to the other girl. But that doesn't work either as Siyeon just stares straight into her eyes and put on her sincerest smile without any sense of remorse. Yubin balls her fist and stomps her feet onto the ground in frustration.

The two girls will be the death of her one day.

"Relax, Yubin, it's not that of a big deal."

"Right, it's just school," Yoohyeon joins in and casually put an arm around Yubin's shoulders, only to be met with a pair of death glare. She immediately retrieves her action before she is being burnt to death. "Take a look at the world, Yubin. It's so huge. There are so many more much interesting thing to do than just studying."

"Then what's the point of enrolling into college if you are not interested in studying, you tell me?" Yubin questions.

"That's because you told us to..."

"Oh?" Yubin scoffs. "So now it's my fault?!"

The sudden commotion causes the passers-by and stall owners to turn their attention onto the arguing trio.

"Oh no, of course not, Yubin," Siyeon quickly comes in between the two girls before the argument gets worse. "Don't listen to Kim Yoohyeon," And Siyeon shoos Yoohyeon away with an eye signal. "This girl doesn't even know how to appreciate your effort but I know, okay? I totally understand how worried you are for us."

"You are another one, Lee Siyeon."

"What?" Siyeon gives a non-chalant shrug on her shoulders as she she tries to act like she doesn't know what the girl is talking about.

Yubin points a finger at the dumb-founded girl, "What what? Don't try to use sweet talk on me. It doesn't work."

"Uhh..."

Then, she pushes up the glasses that's sliding down her nose bridge as she continues to stare at the two girls, her death glare intensifies, making sure that they have received the warning of not to mess with her, before turning away and scurrying off.

"Hey, Yubin, wait up!" Siyeon calls out and nudges Yoohyeon to quickly catch up with her. "I thought we were going to have dinner together?"

*******

"That's why she is always angry at you, Kim Yoohyeon. You're too honest. You need to learn to observe her expressions and say the right word," Siyeon continues her nagging on their way home as she throws a nut up in the air, trying to catch it with , only to fail badly, eliciting a hysterical laughter from the other girl.

"You think it's funny?"

The dinner earlier on was eerily quiet and nerve-wrecking. Siyeon and Yoohyeon watched in fear as dishes after dishes were being put onto the table, as if Yubin was trying to gobble up the whole eatery. Not that they minded though since the richest girl would be the one paying in the end.

"It's not my fault that she can't handle the truth," Yoohyeon says as she signals Siyeon to throw another nut towards her instead. It's her turn to perform. She opens and fixes her gaze on the nut in Siyeon's hand, blindly following it for a while but the other girl still isn't throwing it. "Hey, are you going to throw it or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was going to! Don't move!"

But the nut remains in Siyeon's hand for a long time and only when a muffled laughter rings in her ears, does Yoohyeon realise that she is taking her for a ride.

"Are you a dog?" Siyeon asks teasingly.

Yoohyeon reaches out for the nuts in Siyeon's hand and throws them at the owner, "Yeah, right, if I'm a dog, then you're a pig, Lee Siyeon. All you do is eat and eat! Aren't you full from the dinner just now?"

"A dog and a pig makes a great friendship." Siyeon winks.

A frown of dismay shows up on Yoohyeon's face, feeling disgusted, the crease between her brows so deep to the point that her face looks distorted, "Ew, you're really annoying, Lee Siyeon."

"Love you, Yoohyeon."

It is dark but they have already been used to it. Cars are rarely seen especially in a rural city like this, unless there are outside visitors from the main city, Seoul or other countries. The row of flickering street lamps that usually accompany them home also haven't been fixed for years already, probably due to the scarce supply of electricity.

But the laughter and jokes from the two friends still continue on down onto the long stretch of empty pavement until they finally have to part ways.

*******

"That girl is alone now, Leader Seo." A low voice emerges from the corner of the alley, the curvy figure totally camouflaged into the eerie darkness.

"Kim Minji is also around the corner," Another voice speaks up right after. "Now is a good time."

"Mmm, set the bats off. Right now."

*******

The night has been really quiet these days. One look across the wide road comes up nothing, only darkness and silence, whereas in the past, Minji can still hear the rattles of the crows. It is hard to find a Nightmare roaming around the streets these days, either these souls have learnt their lessons or that they have become better in hiding. Minji believes in the latter. What's more, the lack of light makes it so much easier for them.

A breeze of cold wind shutters past her shoulders.

Minji shivers at the contact, her vigilant eyes become extra focused as they start to dart around her surroundings with all the possible scenarios flashing across her mind.

Then, another cold breeze comes.

"Who?" Minji is enraged as she takes a defensive stance with a widely-spreaded legs. "Show yourself now!"

A cauldron of bats soars past the head of the lone guardian. Fearing attacks, Minji squats down and watches them fly directly towards the blocked path before maneuvering to the right into the alley. A troubled frown fills her face. The presence of bats is not a good sign, especially dead bats. According to legend, they are a reflection of evil who steals ages and lives with the motive to live again. They only appear when death that isn't supposed to happen is near.

It can only mean one thing --- a Shadower is here.

Sensing troubles, Minji picks up her speed and follows the bats' direction into the alley.

"Arg! Oh my god! Help! Help!"

A human's scream?

The flying creatures huddle together in a circle, echoing shrieks of terror and sending the ground beneath them shaking. The poor human, probably too frightened by the chaos in her surroundings brings her hands up to cover her ears as she collapses onto the ground and continues to scream. Minji balls her hand into a fist and gathers the energy from the ground before releasing it in the air to destroy the bonds of the bats, only for them to gather together again. She tries to silence their shrieks but they only get louder.

And it's weird, that they are not responding to her attacks.

From her peripheral view, Minji sees a rooster peeking out of the chicken coop of a farmhouse. An idea pops up in her mind right at the moment. Too bad, buddy. She snaps her finger and blocks the human's larynx, temporary muting her. Then, with another snap of her fingers, the crowing of the rooster reverberates and the bats flock over.

The crowing weakens and dies down eventually.

And the bats finally leave.

Her speculation was right; seems like they only respond to the livings and their sounds.

A suppressed voice, trying to get any words out breaks Minji's train of thoughts as she turns around to the poor human who is still on the ground. She has forgotten to release her larynx. With a snap of her fingers, the vocal pipes open and the human begins coughing loudly into the air as she grasps onto .

As usual, humans are weaklings, Minji thinks as she scoffs at the sight. She didn't even use that much of a force.

Turning around, Minji was preparing to leave when she hears a trembling voice from behind.

"Who are you?"

Halting her steps, Minji returns her gaze to the human, feeling extremely mystified, just to make sure that she isn't hearing things. Is she calling her? Then, she sees the human's teary eyes staring straight into hers.

The frown on her face deepens.

How? How is she able to see her?