~Sulli~

“Looking good,” I said, nodding at Ren.

He blushed. “Thanks. You look pretty.” He was dressed in his work uniform, wearing the light blue collared shirt, white trousers, and white sneakers.

“Thank you.” I smiled at him, and then felt awkward so I glanced away and greeted the other staff members.

One of the girls, Krystal, pranced up to Ren, twirling a lock of her brown hair and grinning up at him. “Hey, new guy, your name’s Ren, right? Sulli told me about you.”

Ren nodded. “Yes, I’m Ren. Nice to meet you.” He bowed.

Krystal looped her arm through his. “Let’s go, work starts now. We go to the Headmaster first.”

He seemed uncomfortable, but didn’t object and went with her to Headmaster Leeteuk’s quarters. I followed slowly behind them, walking with a few girls who were all whispering about Ren and giggling.

“He’s so handsome!”                                     

“I love his blond hair.”

“I’m so jealous of Krystal…”

“Don’t you think they’d make a cute couple?”

I was silent. Why did it annoy me that Krystal was talking to him? I knew I shouldn’t be jealous, but I couldn’t help it. I glared at their backs, my mood suddenly bad. We finally reached the room and Headmaster addressed us.

“Good morning, staff! Today a new member has joined us. Ren, please say a few words.” He mentioned for him to come forward.

Ren stood in front of everyone and bowed. “Hello, my name is Ren, and I’m new here. Nice meeting you all.”

All the girls were squealing, and even the guys seemed impressed and intimidated by him.

“Ren, do you want to hang out after work today? I can show you around!”                       

“Ren, you’re so cool!”

“I will take good care of you!”

I rolled my eyes. How typical. Of course they would go all crazy like this.

“Settle down!” Headmaster Leeteuk’s loud voice quieted the room. “Focus on your work. Work hard just like you always do. Oh, and Ren, stay with Sulli since she’s your mentor. Everybody else, leave him alone during work and no flirting! Go!”

We bowed and filed out, going to the kitchen and making breakfast for the Headmaster. Once he finished eating his meal, the rest of us started to eat in the cafeteria. Ren sat with me, Krystal, Victoria, Luna, and Amber at our usual spot, the center table.

“Isn’t the food tasty? I worked extra hard this morning,” bragged Krystal.

“It tastes great,” Ren replied.

“How do you like it here so far?” Victoria asked.

“Sulli’s been helping me a lot, so it hasn’t been that difficult. I’m just having trouble adjusting. But everyone seems nice and welcoming.” He smiled, continuing to eat his food.

“I’m surprised you found him,” Luna commented, frowning. “You already recently found V. That’s so not fair! Lucky.”

Krystal glanced at me and back at Ren. “It’s good that Sulli is helping you. It’s hard getting adjusted here, so if you ever feel lost or lonely, I’m always here for you.” She winked at him.

Amber snickered. “Yeah, right! She’s only saying that because she thinks you’re hot.”

“It’s okay, Sulli’s been kind enough to take that burden on for me, but thank you for the offer anyway.”

I stood up, picking up my tray. “I’ll leave first. See you later.”

The girls waved goodbye to me, and I threw away my half eaten food to go outside and sit on the front steps of the Palace. A few minutes later, Ren joined me.

“Should we try to search for something now? Since its break?” he asked me.

“Yeah, let’s try. But we need to be careful. We can’t get caught.”

“What’s the plan?”

“We need a distraction- like a fight.”

“Want me to start one? No problem.”

We headed inside and Ren walked into the dining hall, while I hid behind a pillar and watched. He went up to another worker, Tao, and bumped into him, making Tao’s tray flip and the food fell all over his shirt.

“Look what you did to my uniform!” Tao glared at Ren, brushing off food from his clothes.

“Watch it,” growled Ren, shoving him aside and about to walk away.

Tao grabbed his arm, yanking him back. “That was your fault! You bumped into me. You should apologize. I’m not someone you want to mess with.”

“Why don’t you watch your mouth? Idiot.”

“Where are your manners, huh? Should I teach you a lesson?” He punched Ren in the face, and Ren tackled him to the floor. The dining hall started roaring with cheers and everyone got up from the tables to stand around and watch what was happening.

I ran to the Headmaster’s quarters, my heart pounding in excitement and nervousness. “Headmaster Leeteuk, there’s a fight! It’s crazy out there, you should go stop it!”

Headmaster frowned, rising from his seat and heading towards the door. “Who is it?”

“I’m not sure. Can you go check it out, please? It’s like chaos!”

He hurried out to see the fight, and I started searching his desk- it was a mess of papers scattered everywhere and all of it was out of order. I frantically shuffled through them all for any useful information, and my eyes scanned over a blue journal titled “Records”. Everything else seemed ordinary, nothing appearing to relate to what Ren and I needed. I grabbed the journal, hid it in my shirt, and snuck up to my bedroom to bury it under the blankets and pillows. Then I quickly ran back to the dining hall that was still thriving with noise. Headmaster was leading Ren and Tao back to his room, and he saw me standing there watching them quietly.

“Thank you for informing me, Sulli,” Headmaster Leeteuk acknowledged me.

I bowed. When I straightened up again, my eyes locked with Ren’s, who gave me the slightest nod and mouthed “thanks”.  

I’d gotten what we needed.

“Sulli”, Ren called my name from somewhere behind me. I turned around but nobody was there- then suddenly he pulled me in between two pillars, holding my hands.

I could feel my face heating up, turning red, as my heart started thumping again inside my chest. “Ren! You scared me!”

He let go of my hands, laughing. “Sorry. Did you find something good?”

“Yeah, a Records journal,” I whispered, glancing around, but we were alone.

“Thank you, seriously, your help means a lot to me.”

“I’m doing this for myself, too, you know,” I pointed out. “Didn’t you get in trouble? You were gone for a few hours.”

“He let me go easily since it’s my first day. But the other guy got two weeks’ suspension from work.”

I noticed there was a cut on his left cheek, bleeding a little, so I fished a band-aid out of my pocket and pressed it onto his cut. “If it scars, the girls will all leave you. Your popularity will go away.”

“Will you leave me too?” he teased.

“Never,” I rolled my eyes.

“I don’t care about popularity. I care about getting home. But thanks for the band-aid, though. So…since work is over for today, can I see the Records journal now?”

We went upstairs to my room and flipped through the records together. There was a lot of information in it- everything was recorded, including real names, the date of entering the Spirit World, and the founder.

Real name: Choi Minki

Given name: Ren

Date of entering: July 15, 2015

Occupation: Palace of Lights Staff Member

“Let’s look for yours,” he said, and we searched until my name finally popped up.

Given name: Sulli

Occupation: Palace of Lights Staff Member

“My real name or my date of entering isn’t recorded,” I exhaled in disappointment.

“Why isn’t it listed properly? It’s missing…”

“Headmaster is hiding something, just like I suspected.” With a heavy sigh, I took back the journal and hid it again. “It’s dinnertime. Let’s go downstairs.”

Ren pouted. “Can’t we go out to eat again? I don’t like sitting in the cafeteria.”

We ate ramen at V’s restaurant and talked to V for a little while, but Ren was really quiet around him. I figured he didn’t feel comfortable with anyone yet besides me, because I’d been with him since the moment he entered the Spirit World. After we finished eating, I told him to wait outside so I could say bye to V. I explained what had happened today and that my information was missing from the Records journal.

“Then how can I leave, if I’m not able to find out that stuff?” I asked V.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Hmm…We’ll talk about this tomorrow. Meet me at the lake before work starts.”

“Okay,” I agreed, and joined Ren outside the restaurant. My mind was dizzy with thoughts about the journal and the fact that every single staff member’s information was recorded, all except for mine. Did Headmaster Leeteuk forget to write it down? Was that information lost forever? I started feeling a bit panicked inside, because if I didn’t find it out then my chance of escaping and returning to the human world might disappear. I needed to get it.

In the early morning, when the world was still painted in blue, I met V at the lake. He was dressed in his usual school uniform and held out a white rose in one hand. “For you,” he said.

I blushed, accepting the rose, inhaling it’s sweet flowery scent. “Thank you, V. It’s lovely.”

He stepped closer to me, his kohl-lined eyes gazing at me. “Sulli…why do you want to leave the Spirit World so badly? You’ve always talked about leaving, but…you make my life fun. I like being here with you.”

I felt my body freeze. “V…”

“I don’t want you to go. Stay in the Spirit World- you showed me how to live. How can I stay here without you?”

“I don’t feel like I belong here. You’re right, I’ve always planned on leaving, because I need to find out the truth about who I am. My real home and who I used to be, what I used to do…”

V held my face in his hands. “Don’t leave,” he whispered, and kissed me. I closed my eyes, the gentle breeze blowing back my long hair. When he pulled away, I was speechless, racking my brain for something to say.

“Don’t say anything, it’ll ruin the moment. If you really are sure that you want to leave, then keep on searching for information. Look everywhere that you possibly can, but be careful. I’ll help you, because I know that your biggest wish is escaping. Even though I want to hold you back, I won’t, because you should follow your dream no matter what.”

I nodded, glancing down at the bright green grass. “I’m glad you understand me, V.”

“Go first,” he said. “Have a good day at work, Sulli! Bring Ren to my restaurant whenever you’re free. You two are always welcome. Tell him that I’d like to get to know him better. You take good care of him, so he must be special to you, right?” V smiled.

“Okay, I’ll tell him. See you later!” I walked back to the palace in a daze, as I was reeling from the kiss.