Chapter 3 – Insignificant Supporting Character (1)
“Oh, oh! Argh!”
He felt dizzy and distressed from the strong currents of the Han River. This is the first time he had plunged into water following his brother’s death. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t lift his body, deeply submerged into the depths.
‘There’s nothing good about me. I have a wretched life. But I shouldn’t die in vain. I don’t want to die like this. No!’ He sputtered, frantically trying to get above water.
‘Am I going to die?’
At this moment, he saw faces of his mother, his younger brother, and his colleague, Minsan, who used to be his crush, flash before his eyes.
No, whatever it takes, I want to live..
Somebody, please help me!
While reminiscing of such trivial thoughts, a strange light suddenly burst from Jeongjin’s left hand, the bright blaze a golden semicircle that enclosed him from the black-colored waters that pushed him inside the surface of the circle.
Soon, Jeongjin’s unconscious body is dragged out of water by the same circle of light.
***
A young girl, who witnessed the strange light, ran towards the source and quickly brought a body from the river to the shore.
The mysterious golden light has faded away as if it was being drawn gently into Jeongjin’s left hand.
“Wake up, Clayo Asser!”
Jeongjin slightly opens his eyes to the strong voice. He vaguely sees a beautiful girl with a red hair and green eyes shaking him by the shoulders.
“Huck, peck.”
It wasn’t long before he finally vomits water that has gone in his system, the pain he felt on his eyes, nose and mouth causing him to groan.
Clayo…?
“…wh-what…?”
He must have swallowed plenty of water. Hence, his voice sounded different to his ears. He tried to restore his senses by intermittently closing and opening his eyes quite a few times.
Jeongjin noticed that an unfamiliar face stared at him. A tall, pretty girl with large eyes.
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” she prompts him away from his scrutinizing.
“Why did I suddenly… why did I…”
Jeongjin had no idea how he almost drowned in the river. He was even more confused as to why the stranger before him is agitated, dragging him closer by his collar.
“You’re a first-grade Clayo Asser! Don’t ever think of hiding it–I’m sure the light I saw was from the magic circle you opened!”
Jeongjin envisioned he must be shaking like a leaf as she held a vice grip on his clothes and shook him.
But most importantly, the girl didn’t speak Korean yet Jeongjin can understand the meaning quite fine. However, since he felt drowsy at the moment, he can’t fully comprehend her words.
“What are you talking about? Do I know you? Let go of me.”
Jeongjin struggles with the girl’s grip, but find he couldn’t free himself because of his tired arms.
‘How long you’ve been in the water, Jeongjin? You can’t even shake off a girl who’s smaller than you!’ Jeongjin thought in ridicule.
But it seems he was more exhausted than he thought, his heavy head finding reprise on the ground. The annoying inquiry still continued some more moments before it suddenly quieted down. He then felt his body being lifted by something warm, a pleasant smell faintly wafting through his nose, but he couldn’t remember the anything very well.
***
When he opened his eyes, he found it was already morning.
Jeongjin surmised he must have slept through a couple of hours, or could it be that he just awoke from a short nap? He was quite confused.
Suddenly, a cold breeze blew inside from the partially-opened window. For a moment, he is bewildered, it should be July—the midst of the summer season.
Where am I, and what the hell is this place?
He raised his drowsy body from the bed, his limbs refusing to move as if it had been dormant for a time. The condition of his body can only be described as that of a vegetable.
Jeongjin, who sat back down to regain his bearings, wiped his weary eyes with the back of his hand and felt a sudden sense of discord.
He takes a closer look at his hands.
Back when he was a student, his hands were calloused from the part-time jobs he had to work to sustain his education. But surprisingly, they are now smooth and thin, as if he has never done physical labor all his life.
As he observed further, there were no longer scars from the massive wounds he had incurred from a freak accident with a grinder on the back of his hand.
Instead, a rectangle was inscribed on it, consisting of white lines. The markings were blurry, almost nondescript, yet it was clearer the moment he placed his right hand closer to his nose.
What’s this? My hand doesn’t look like this…
Jeongjin hurriedly searches for something inside the room. His eyes land on an intricately furnished mirror set up beside the door, and on the person reflected on it—a skinny boy with a droopy eyes staring right back at him.
The boy’s brown hair in the mirror shook as Jeongjin moves his head.
‘Is that me? What a stupid dream. Am I still drunk or something? Did I suffer a brain injury? Is this a hallucination? Maybe I am just lucid dreaming. What can I do if I became a different person in my dreams?’ He tries to make sense of the scenario rationally.
‘But, hey! You have my ring,’ a surprised Jeongjin enthuses as he sees the familiar jewelry on the unknown boy’s finger.
Although his family wasn’t well off, Jeongjin still owned a graduation ring after his exit from college. It was a ring with sentimental value to him. He never thought that the only thing he cared most in his life, would appear in his dream.
Apart from it, Jeongjin had no other desires.
When it was declared that the school department should be abolished due to merging at the time of their graduation, Minsan and some of the students asked for a graduation rings as their tribute.
Naturally, Jeongjin chose to wear a similar ring with Minsan. An item to remember his adoration for her, and something he promised to carry with him everyday.
I’m not twenty-two anymore, yet I’m still acting like a teenager. I still can’t forget her even if I’m already in my thirties… What am I even doing? Why am I still thinking of her even in my dreams!
He reprimands himself for his immature thought when suddenly–
Ding! Ding! Ding!
He hears a strange bell, something sharp from a distance. Before he knew it, thick forests and antique buildings stretched before him outside the brightened windows.
Jeongjin mouth opens in shock.
This was nowhere close to how Seoul looked like. But where else would he be then if he currently wasn’t in Seoul?’
Dreams are usually reshuffled memories of one’s life experiences. It was only natural to brush it off the moment they wake up.
So Jeongjin tried to do just that—bringing himself conscious.
But the throbbing migraine and ache in his bones from lying down for a long time was prevalent. That, and even the thirst he currently felt. All his other senses were active.
I can’t avoid this dream anymore.
He never had dreams akin to action movie. Whenever he was tired, he fell asleep as soon as his head touches the pillow, his alarm the only companion waking him up from his slumber.
Moreover, he never thought he would be able to visit a foreign country!
While contemplating, he weakly stretched his trembling fingers from time to time.
For a moment, the ring made of platinum that should perfectly fit around his fingers, slipped down his index finger. Jeongjin inadvertently tried to grab for the graduation ring, firmly replacing it on his hand.
But moments after wearing it, searing heat soared from the thin metal. He tried to retract it from his hand, but strangely, it was stuck around his finger.