Sky has 7 districts, 7 big clusters of clouds, 7 gods and goddess, and 7 pre-gods.

Human have 7 goals, 7 wishes, 7 chances, and 7 sins to be tolerated.

The spacious room he was standing at was all covered with red. The marble floor was in deep red and was thoroughly covered with red suede carpet.  The 4 sides of walls were decorated with niches, with of course the 7 statues of the gods in there. The room was actually very nicely interior designed, but all the red colors made him wanted to vomit out anything that is inside his stomach that very time.

Something that was standing in front of him was the only one that is nice looking in that room. Something that saved his eyes from going red because of what the room had emitted. Something he was sure of, wasn’t a human like he was. Well he thought he was.

That something was wearing black weird costume and held his hands up to his chest. A black weird fur hat was resting on his head, made him looked even more unstylish. But his face was so perfectly shaped. It was so beautiful that it seemed so inhuman. That something was almost 2 meters tall but didn’t look gigantic at all. If it’s not because of the over the top lightning, he must have already thought that what stood before him is a statue that was perfectly carved by the best artist in the universe.

He was sure it was not a dream. But what if it was?

“Where am I?” He finally managed to speak out what he had wondering since he firstly opened his eyes. Actually what almost slipped off his tongue was “where the am I?” but the look in the eyes of the creature before him taken his words back. It pierced deeply through his eyes as if searching for a soul to be jammed.

“You are ing at my palace, what brings you here?” Upon hearing the voice of the creature in front of him, Donghae knew that it was a pre-god he was facing. He stared in disbelief at him, leaving his mouth ajar at his answer.

Donghae stayed silent he couldn’t think of what he should answer. He just looked carefully at the pre-god before him, observing.

“You can’t remember a thing?” He asked again. Pre-god is never confused but human always is.

The question hit at the right spot of Donghae’s mind.

He can’t remember a thing. What he remembered was only the questions the pre-god asked. How his face would turn out, and every sides of the room that had made him felt nauseous.

He is Lee Donghae he is… He is…

“Wow. You’re the first case for me,”

“What do you mean?”

The pre-god neared his face to Donghae’s made the latter stepped back in awareness and said the words,

“You have been skyed.”

“Skyed?” Donghae unconsciously repeated the alien word, guessing what may be the meaning of it.

The pre-god kept his hands on his chest and started to walk back and forth with a slow pace in front of Donghae.

“Humans have 7 goals, 7 wishes, 7 chances, and 7 sins to be tolerated in their lives,” he paused to look at Donghae and continued to walk to the other side.

“It’s a rule that sky had arranged. It’s very rare for humans to complete all of them. Many people had already died before they completed their 7 goals and some others had never done sins as much as seven before they died, because not many of them know this rule, only really a few had skyed before you did.”

Donghae stared in disbelief. Does it mean he had died? All pre-gods’ palace were on the clouds, and to reach them, there are no other than to be taken by their assistants of death.

But, wait… how did he understand all of these things?

“Before you were skyed your memories are thoroughly cleared off. But because an empty mind is dangerous for dimension transition, your mind had been filled with some knowledge of the sky,” the pre-god explained as if answering question that had popped up to Donghae’s mind a few moments earlier.

“Skyed means that you have been sent out from the world because you have no other reasons to live in it. You may choose either to be directly sent to the under-world or to be reincarnated.”

“Wait. Isn’t it cruel if you say that I have no reasons to live again?” Donghae asked in disagreement. Though he couldn’t remember anything from his live, he wondered what if he had family and what happened to them?

“The gods decided it and they always know what is best for human. And it’s why there were so a few of humans who have skyed before. After you have skyed, no one in the world would ever remember you were existed. You wouldn’t matter anymore,” the pre-god said it casually as if it was the most natural thing in the universe.

Donghae got in silence for a few moment thinking real hard about what to ask.

“Then, does it mean I had died? Without being remembered?”

The pre-god nodded, again, with a casual manner,

“Except if you want to be reincarnated.”

“Then I want to reincarnate,” Donghae blurted out without even thought twice.

“There are requirements for that,” The pre-god said with a smirk in his face.

“Humans never succeed.”

---

The extreme pain in his wrist woke him up. The sun rays unusually hit his face as he slowly gained his consciousness back.

His eyes slowly adjusted with the surroundings’ brightness and as he had gained his consciousness fully, he observed his surroundings.

Surrounding him were walls and roof built with simple constructions of wood. He had slept only with a thin mattress under him and a thin stack of unwanted fabrics sewed together as a pillow. His back ached a lot.

“There are requirements for human that had been skyed and want to reincarnate. They will have 7 days to do a chore chosen by one of my friends, a pre-god in one of the other districts,”

The place was only about 5x5 in size. There were only a table with a broken mirror hung on the wall above it and behind a board screen, a place to clean.

“Today there was a man died in a car crash. It was a terrible one and happened in the afternoon,”

Donghae slowly stood up approaching the table and as he had reached it, he looked at his own reflection at the mirror.

“Your given chore is to be sent to the beginning of today again by borrowing someone else’s body and save him from the crash.”

The man in the mirror really didn’t look like him. But he knew it was really him. He still had the image of himself in his mind, maybe the gods still kept it inside. He didn’t quite understand why the pre-god he faced earlier said that he came back to this world by borrowing someone’s body. He was so sure that the man he saw in the reflection was really him, only his hair is much longer than before, and he had messy beard aching to be shaved.

“You have seven days to do it. And if you have succeed on doing it, we’ll be able to fulfill your wish to be reincarnated.”

Donghae then felt the same kind of pain as what had woken him up. He diverted his gaze to his wrist and was a little bit surprised with the sight.

“It’s not fully 7 days though. You will only be able to get conscious until the time he had died, which was in 12:27”

On the back of his wrist attached a kind of small screen that emitted lights that shaped numbers. It was counting down.

“There will be a kind of device that will be attached on your wrist that will show you how much time you have that day. As long as the device still attached, you will not lose your consciousness.”

3 hours and 36 minutes.

“Then if I succeed to save that guy in the first day, I will be immediately reincarnated right?”

He felt the stickiness all over his sweaty body and took a look at the tiny bathroom. He then unknowingly opened the drawer under the table and looked at the clothes inside it.

“Are you that confident already?” the 2 meters flawless creature’s lips curved a smirk. “Well, if you succeed, yes.”

All of the pieces he could find was all ugly yet unfashionable. He then decided to wear the most decent one of the few clothes inside it and proceeded to the bathroom.

“I have one more question.”

The pre-god just gave him a look that said that he anticipated the question and with that Donghae wondered aloud,

“What was the last thing I completed from the goals, wishes, sins, and whatever that made me skyed?”

The pre-god neared his face at his for the umpteenth time while muttering,

He got a pretty decent bath in that narrow slippery space scrubbed all the dirt off he didn’t know where it came from.  After he finished he then dried himself with the clothes he got up in because he couldn’t find any towel, and got himself at the clothes he picked earlier.

“It’s a thing you shouldn’t know.”

---

“Donghae hyung, have you eaten yet?” A voice immediately greeted Donghae when he opened the board door carefully, afraid that the fragile material would fell off from its cantilever.

Donghae looked incoherently at the guy who produced the sound and observed the middle sized guy who carried two jerry cans full of water in both hands. He was smiling showing his neat and white teeth greeting Donghae.

Donghae didn’t know where it did come from but he heard a voice in his head,

He is Kibum

“Hyung?” Kibum spoke as he wondered why his only friend in the vile area in the corner of Seoul seemed to be spacing out.

Donghae felt his stomach grumbled for food and as much as he was confused with the situation, he knew he was hungry. He simply shook his head.

The other guy smiled again and spoke the words,

“I’ll treat you for breakfast. Since hyung had done for me yesterday. Wait a minute.”

Kibum settled some things with his jerry cans by carrying it to his small space they called house that was not far from Donghae’s. Donghae could only stand still at the place he previously stood on, too confused and helpless to do anything else. Kibum then came back bringing something that looked like crumpled bank notes on his grasp.

“Let’s go.”

Kibum walked his way to a road that was familiar to him but not at all for Donghae. Donghae just followed him behind. Questions began to linger in his mind. He didn’t know that it will be so much confusing. Why didn’t the pre-god just made him invisible and made everything easier for him? How did the guy walking in front of him could know him? Where was he now? How would he manage to do the chore? He wasn’t even given any information about the guy and he had to find him himself.

“Ahjumma, two vegetarian sandwiches please,”

The voice woke Donghae up from his thoughts. He then realized he had just walked mindlessly followed the guy that was supposed to be Kibum.

Kibum took a seat at that small shop and Donghae followed him, took the one that was positioned before the other.

“Hyung, have you heard about the news?” Kibum opened the conversation confused Donghae more.

“What news?” Donghae tried to act as natural as his mind could make him.

“The government is going to sell our place, again.”

Donghae was stunned, he didn’t know what to react on that. He looked at Kibum’s face as he realized his expression was as if saying that they had experience it for more than a time.

“What’s so new about that?” He said as he kept his voice from being too careful.

Kibum sighed in agreement much to Donghae’s relief,

‘Where are we going to live after this?” Kibum muttered. That was not a question.

By that time their sandwiches order arrived. As soon as the plastic plate with the food on it was placed on the table, Donghae impatiently grabbed it and stuffed the first big bite into his mouth.

“Wah hyung, you must have been really hungry,” Kibum said, smiling at Donghae’s eagerness at the food then as well took a bite.

They ate in a comfortable silence.

When Donghae had finished his meal, he swiftly looked at the device attached at his wrist. It was now looked rather transparent but the numbers were still showing.

3 hours left.

He hadn’t got much time till the end of the time given that day and since he had to search for the people he is assigned to save without a clue, he had to do nothing but to start.

“I have to go now, thanks for the treat,” Donghae stood from the plastic chair and was about to leave the shop when Kibum’s question stopped him,

“Are you going to your current project again?”

Donghae again was confused on what to answer so he just nodded and walked away.

“How am I going to find him?”

“You will.”

And then everything turned black.

---

Donghae kept walking in an uncertain way. He walked where his body allowed him to. In a narrow alley he met a middle-aged woman who walked stumblingly calling a name he had no idea about. She talked to no one in particular about the government and things about selling the area randomly. She looked older than she supposed to be.  Frustration and restlessness certainly was painted on her face.

Donghae stopped his pace for a moment and watched the woman gone past through him.

Is this place really going to be sold?

Donghae chose to ignore it at the end and continued walking.

He went through a lot of gangways and when he finally went at the end of one, someone exclaimed out his name,

“Donghae!”  He found the figure called him and backed out. It was a tall big man, he looked like he was a worker of the construction behind him. He looked so strong but the expression in his face didn’t look too good, in Donghae’s opinion he looked rather scary.

“Donghae, you came!” Another figure appeared behind the man and the person’s expression toward him didn’t look too good too. Donghae didn’t remember having an enemy but he didn’t want himself ended being beat up instead of saving his mission from the crash.

Without thinking twice, he ran.

He ran as fast as he could to no certain way and as soon as he decided to stop, the confusedness just started to strike.

Who were they?

Donghae felt so stupid for running away without any reason. What if those persons were not bad as what he thought they were and maybe could give him help?

Donghae mentally scolded himself as he started to walk again and looked at his surroundings.

He had run to the main street and all he could see now were vehicles and shops. He was wondering if it’s where the accident would occur. He looked at his wrist and there were still more than two hours left. He didn’t actually have an idea on what to do because he felt tired on searching without any guidance. He decided to take a stroll along the pavement in front of the shops and gave himself a great time to think of ways.

What if the accident occurs on the other side of the country that it’s impossible for Donghae to even search his mission? What if he would never be able to find him?

He thought that maybe this mission is really impossible and the pre-god didn’t lie about human never being succeed.

But then he came to think about it again, It felt good to be walking on solid earth. Though he didn’t remember being in this place, he felt lucky that he knew he was ever been in this place. Breathed the air and felt presences around him.

Although he probably didn’t succeed doing his mission to be reincarnated, he wanted to enjoy the chance given to him.

But he still thought that being skyed is rude, having your soul dismissed from your body and even your body dismissed from everyone’s memory just because you have completed the 7 thingies in life. Shouldn’t people like him be given award of accomplishment? The pre-god even said that not many people have been skyed before.

He didn’t know how long he had walked with thoughts lingering in his mind freely. He only knew when he felt pain stinging in his wrist and when he looked at it, the device attached on it said 15 minutes left.

He was surprised that he had spent so much time on just walking around the shops.

Maybe the accident would occur here, I should just try waiting

Donghae looked carefully to each people who walked across the street and the vehicles sped on it.

His mind wandered again as he spread his vision to the street. Had he been in this street before he was skyed? What if one of those cars that had passed on it was actually his?

What if there are actually persons he used to know, but had already forgotten and no longer remembered him as well, in that street?

A sudden atmosphere of sadness brushed across him that make him wondered even more.

Had he done something awful in his life that even dying without being forgotten is not enough?

Minutes past, and came the time when there was just one minute left, Donghae tried to push his wandering self back to the presence’s need and focused his attention to the people who were waiting for the lights to turn red for them to be able to walk across the street.

The light turned red.

Donghae didn’t know he was doing but he ran as fast as he could to the direction of the street while eyeing every single people who were walking across it. He then caught a look of a man walking without anyone beside him and unknowingly focused his attention on him.

The number appeared on the traffic light keep counting it as he did so.

He is the one

Something inside his head voiced out but it’s just seconds before the sound of vehicles tires squeaking and moments later, screams of fear.

The crash had occurred.

Donghae stopped running and was stunned at what had just happened when he felt an outrageous pain on his wrist, the device on his wrist was becoming unattached and he saw it floated in the thin air before everything turned black.