"Are you really going there? You might die, you know."

Hankyung looked up at his friend, Zhoumi. He shrugged and kept on packing his bag. "People don't die on the way, they just get stuck in that one place. I'll go see for myself, this place called Vanity Fair," he said and zipped close his baggage.

"Your choice, but make sure you have enough balance, okay?" Zhoumi said as he placed a hand on Hankyung's shoulder. "If ever anything bad - or anything that looks bad - happens, call me. I'd rush to help you." He smiled and threw Hankyung's phone over, the other man easily catching it.

"What could go wrong, seriously? Mi, relax. It's just a small fair, just before Celestial City," he said nonchalantly and stood up, shoving his phone into his pocket. "I tell you, I'll be able to get a rock from each of the cities, and I'll show them each to you."

Zhoumi gulped and nodded slowly. "Just... just be careful."

Hankyung could barely take a step out of the city. He looked behind him and gulped; Zhoumi wasn't there anymore. From now on, he was alone. It terrified him.

'You can do this,' he thought to himself. 'What could possibly go wrong?'

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then he knelt and took a stone from the ground. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of it, making sure to have remembered the piece of earth. "Well, it all begins now."

He started walking past the city border and as he did, Hankyung faced a vast swamp. It seemed to stretch forever, and the swamp was crowded with mangroves. They gave it an eerie shadow. Hankyung's hair started to stand.

"This is necessary, I guess."

It was no easy task, crossing the swamp. It took him a few days and nights just to construct a proper raft sturdy enough to be able to carry him. Many times it failed, but he didn't give up. Finally, after a few more hours of constructing the perfect raft, he was able to ride the raft across the swamp.

He thought that the swamp was the hardest in the path, next to the fair. A giant gate proved him wrong. It marked the actual border of his city. Thing is, no one just dared cross the swamp to actually find the gate to the outside world, just those who ventured to find the Celestial City.

"Give me your passport, and twenty thousand to be able to pass through this gate," the man in the watchtower said. Hankyung rolled his eyes and paid the man, but the gate did not budge.

"Hey, I thought you were opening the gate?"

The man stared at Hankyung and shook his head. "I said that you will be able to pass through the gate, not that I would open it. A hundred thousand would do per two feet - a total of three million, if you want me to open the gate. Come on, we need funds."

Hankyung's jaw dropped; this was unfair. A corrupt way to earn money indeed. He opened his wallet nevertheless and looked at the contents - no more than fifty thousand. , he thought. It looks like there's no more opening the gate.

"Uhh no thanks, I'll just try climbing the wall," he said loudly, but when he turned to look at the man in the watchtower, it was gone. "I guess I will start now."

Hankyung examined the wall of the gate. It seemed to extend to the skies, and it just disappeared above the dark and heavy clouds. And at the base of the dark wall, many human bones lay forgotten, all piled up, one on top of the other. It was creepy, but he had to do it. He walked forward and grabbed the highest and strongest bricks he could reach, and pulled himself up.

Along the way, of course, Hankyung grew tired of climbing, and he knew he was about to give up. Apparently, he wasn't anywhere near the middle of the wall. His body was heavy, and he thought he would fall and his blood would splatter everywhere if he let go.

Then from the corner of his eye, he saw a small platform, yet big enough for him to sit on. Lying down and sleeping wouldn't do, but sitting would still give him enough energy to continue. He struggled to reach the platform, and once he landed his foot on the platform, much to his dismay, it started to crack and crumble. He knew it was no use testing its strength, so he just sighed and kept going up.

He heard a laugh from below.

"A platform like that costs a million, and as you can see, it's crumbling down. See why we need more bucks? So idiots like you can rest on your journey. The next real platform you will encounter is at the top. See you there."

It took him a few more hours of climbing - how he managed to keep his strength, he didn't know - to reach the top. When he got to stand on the edge of the wall, what he saw next surprised him: the land was on the level of the top of the gate. He looked at his city and saw that is was kilometres below the level of the land. It was a deep and wide pit in the earth, and the gate kept the land outside from spilling in.

The gate was just a decoy, a huge sculpture on the wall, a way to trick the people into giving them money.

Hankyung took a deep breath and looked at the road in front of him. It was barren, and it seemed to stretch as far as his sharp eyes could see. He knew it was time to eat and take a rest.

He slowly lay down on the ground, careful not to get too close to the edge of the wall. He took a bag of chips and slowly ate. He pulled out his phone and dialled Zhoumi's number.

"Hello?" the other line spoke up. "Hankyung, how are you? Are you hurt anywhere? It's been a week since you last called. Want me to come to you?"

He nearly shed tears upon hearing Zhoumi's voice again. "Listen, I guess this will be the last time you're going to hear from me in a long time. I don't want you coming after me, it's a really hard journey. I'll be back as soon as I can," he said and hung up before his friend on the other line could reply. Hankyung shoved his phone in the side pocket of his bag and sighed.

He rest his head on the ground. He closed his eyes and slept peacefully for the first time in six days.