Elqueeness - Chapter 1

1. I have no destiny?

It has been 4 days since my life came to a senseless end.

I was still wandering around the streets in my uniform even after I watched my family collect my body.

Right now at my funeral, I was acknowledging my classmates who came to pay respect in front of a desk with my portrait on it.

“Yo~ Park-Gyu-Chul! You came?  Dude- You used to boast you would never come to my funeral, but you showed up.
Really, I only have you~HaHaHa.”

“…………..”

The only downside is, they cannot see the gestures and the words I am saying.

I thought I could be seen as a ghost at night, but that also failed.

Beneath my pictures, there was a mountain-like stack of white lilies and I sighed bitterly while watching it.

Since I’m a newly made soul, I was enjoying the new benefits -for example, going through walls and flying around.  It was fun, but I was worried that I’ll run out of stuff to do once I get used to it.

Should I fulfill my lifelong dream of travelling the world leisurely?  Ah, that might be good.

If there is one question, it is that I have no idea why the grim reaper hasn’t showed up.

It has been said that when you die, the grim reaper appears and leads the soul to heaven or hell.

Yet, it’s already 4 days since I died and the grim reaper still hasn’t appeared before me; even the bright light that showed up in the movie, ‘Ghost,’ was absent.

Can it be those were all made up from people’s imagination?  Can this be how things end?  Huh…that’s very depressing.

Still, I was hoping I would meet a soul in a similar situation but there were no other souls in this neighborhood.  I guess this neighborhood has a low death rate.

‘Surely, I won’t be alone forever?’

Suddenly, I felt uneasy and I bit my lip a little.

I’ve always been alone, but I hated it.  If I’m alone, then I’ll start forgetting my personal identity.

Who am I?  Why am I here?  What is my goal and who am I alive for? etc etc..

I’d rather be beaten by my drunk father’s golf club then ask questions with no answers.

If my father knew my thoughts, then he would enjoy it more and hit me harder.

Then my mother would shake her head from side to side while murmuring ‘Poor bastard’.  My brother and sister would squint their eyes at me.

It’s something I experienced so much that I feel no sadness as I am used to it.

To be truthful, no one in my family likes me.

I was the runt of the family.  There was a large age difference between me and my elder siblings.  There wasn’t much fondness between us.

My father was a maverick that hated children.  Of course, my mother felt frustrated with the increase in family members when our household was already poor.

Usually, late babies are spoiled among normal households.  I was born in the wrong household.

Look at my situation right now.  I had observed carefully for the past 4 days.  Since the youngest son died, they had a funeral but none of my family members showed any signs of sadness.

I think their feeling is around the level of ‘He was going to die any ways.  It’s a shame he was born using up our household resource, son of a bitch.’

It was so bad that when I was alive, I took a blood test to confirm if they were my real parents and siblings.

I wish it was otherwise, but the DNA test result verified that they were my family.  I would rather have my world would spin backward than my father berate me for doubting that they were my birth parents.

I can’t believe we are a blood-related family when they didn’t even celebrate my 1st birthday or even the birthdays after that…

Because of the unfairness and loneliness, I almost decided to commit suicide several times.  However, I refrained because my death would only benefit them.

I resolved to emancipate from my family once I graduate from high school and live like a fantastic human being.

…But, I really died in this fashion…

Whew. Still, I really hate being by myself.(No, it doesn’t matter since I’m dead)

Even if they lack affection I need someone’s existence next to me!

Isn’t there one age matching ghost around~~~!!!

“Ah! Of course!”

I was wrestling with boredom when suddenly a thought came to me and my face lightened up.

Right now, my funeral was taking place at the basement of a big hospital.

The whole floor had multiple rooms and except for restaurant and break room, all the other rooms were made for funeral services.

All the rooms can’t be for one person, right?

Each room was for a single occupant and each room definitely had different faces on the photo.

So, there should be multiple funerals going on other than my own.

I went around earlier and all the souls had disappeared to somewhere, but I won’t despair.

If I do not have luck, then I will have to make it!

If I am having a hard time finding a soul, then I should camp out next to a dying person and wait for the soul to come out!

Thankfully(?), hospitals are a special place where multiple people hover between living and dying.

It would be easy to find someone who would die soon.

This is great for me, since I would be able to find a friend.  The new ghost would also benefit from not being lonely.  It’s a reciprocal relationship. EE~~YES!!

“Nice!  Should I head out?”

Immediately, I made up my mind and went up towards the surface with no regret.

To be honest, I didn’t want to see my family faking sadness to look respectable at the funeral.

In the future when my spiritual power increase, I will move objects with my ki to scare my family! (I think I watched the movie ‘Ghost’ too much..)

If someone asked me to express how I feel in 3 phrases, I would not hesitate to answer.

It’s absurd, absurd, absurd… (TL note: says it 3 times in different form)

I’ve never experienced such absurd situation in all my life!

It was fairly easy to find the ICU at the hospital.

First, there was a sign on the first floor wall.  Since I’m a spirit that can move freely through walls, I didn’t have to get there using stairs or wait for elevators.

Therefore, by the time I found the ICU, my desire was on fire to find a friend.

Although I was like this right now, that was until I would get stunned by an event later on.

The ICU was like how I thought it would be.  It made my breath constrict with nervousness and there was a sense of darkness(TL note: creepiness?) permeating from this place.

It differed from normal hospital room.  All the patients here were between life and death.  They wouldn’t know if they would die today or tomorrow.

It is a place of torment, where the family members watch the sick patients.  It is a place that collects their sadness and misery.

Most of the patients were not conscious.  They had ventilators on with many big complicated machines hanging off their bodies.

The horror was the machine appendages were piercing the patient’s bare skin.  How bad must the injury be to have such a machine hanging off of you?

I had a hard time looking at the scene with open eyes.  I tried not to go to patients with serious conditions.

Life…is it such a great thing that we need to go through such lengths to preserve it?

If it was me, I would have chosen to take the eternal rest.  In some ways, I thought it was stupid to live piercing your skin, using drugs and machine to prolong your live.

I’m thinking such thoughts…am I a little cold?

I shook my head from side to side in an effort to regain my thoughts.

I’m a little bitter, but am I not a dead person?  I’m at a different level with the living~ This is it.

As a dead person, it is not my job to empathize and feel sorry about them. Actually, I should be treated that way.

Therefore, with confidence, I continue with my first object- waiting for someone to die.

“Sa..Sang-Min-Ah! NO! Open your eyes, Sang-min-ah!”

“Brother!”(TL note: female calling elder brother)

I think my want(expectation) was overblown.

It hasn’t been that long since I’ve come up to the ICU, but I can already see a bad omen starting.

I see a boy about the same age as me with bandages all over his body.  I think he was in a car accident.
He had a ventilator on and he was twitching uncontrollably.

The doctor and nurses ran over and tried a couple things, but the boy’s breath was slowing.  There was nothing they can do.

…Even to a person without medical knowledge, I can see there is no hope for the young man.

It’s because…the young man’s soul was slowly rising from his body.

“Gasp…” (TN: Huh-uk Korean way of gasping)

I gasped loudly as I took in the real scene of body and soul separating.
I didn’t know how to act.

I got goose bumps like watching a scene taken out of some horror movie.

There was a transparent duplicate body above the stiff, cold body.  I could see the curtain through him and he started to stand up.

I would not have felt a chill if I had only viewed either the body or the soul…

I felt like screaming while watching the two similar looking people opposite of each other.

However, I am a soul too!

…Anyways when the soul rose entirely out of the body, the doctor shook his head with a sad expression on his face.  The young man’s family started to wail.

This guy was completely dead.

“Now, let’s see his face.” (TL note: I guess meet him face to face not sure)

I felt sorry for the family, but I had a big expectation for this meeting and I was in a stupor.  I tried to happily greet and talk to him.

But right then.

-Paaaaahht. (TL note: sound of something popping into existence)

“…unng?” (TL note: huh? – equivalent in English)

Suddenly, a light appeared right next to the young man’s soul that was sitting on the bed.

The still crying people did not notice the light.  I’m sure this is not an ordinary light.

I was surprised and I stopped approaching the noob. I hid my body behind the divider.

Then, I slowly peeked to see what was happening.

Looking back, my action was lacking bravery and was very timid.

However, there was a scene that made my action less embarrassing and it made my eyes go round.

‘Who are those people?’

There were definitely people walking out of the light reflection.

The men looked like really handsome foreigners from movies.  Their clothes were not modern and they were wearing a fabric around their body that might have come from Greece.(TL note: I’m guessing a toga)

Moreover, his long hair was without any ornament decorating it, and it reached the back of his foot.

Even if he is handsome, I can’t believe a man would go around like that.

Even if he can’t be seen by people, I can’t believe he is going around like that.  I wonder if he is embarrassed.

The men were really fancy and shameful.  The men approach the young man like they’ve done this before and started talking to each other.

“Water container student(TL note: direct translation doesn’t make much sense) Che-Sang-Min, Korean national.  16 year old high school student. Record of his fate has been finished.”

“Where to transport?”

“He has to walk the way of the afterlife.  There are too much to carry.”

“Then he’s part of the central section.  Is this soul the last for today?”

“Yes, it is for our part.”

They were both blond but the slightly orange blonde hair man seems to be on a higher position then the platinum blonde man.

After the other (platinum blonde) man finished answering, the other shook his head knowingly.
He grabbed the young man sitting absently by the arm and lightly pulled him up into the air.

The young man looked like a monkey hanging off of a tree on one arm, but neither the man nor the lad showed any emotion.

While holding the lad in this way, he turned his head toward the underling platinum blonde man and opened his mouth.

“Let’s return.”

“Yes.  Pu-re-oo-ni-su nim.” (TL note: I’ll go with Frenis)

Pah-Aht. (TL note:another sound effect)

……

Ha.Ha.Ha.

What happened right now?  Huh?  What did I just see?

In a blink of an eye, the light reflection disappeared and all I can do was watch with a devastated look at where the three souls were.

I didn’t even have to think much to realize that the blonde men came to take the soul.

No, unless you were dumb, you couldn’t miss it!  It was an obvious situation that played out in front of my eyes!

“…Since no one came to get me, I had thought there were no grim reapers…”

Even when I was alive, nothing was easy. Now even the grim reaper is trying to mess with me?

I didn’t become sad or devastated.  I became angry first.

What’s the reason they take him, but not me.  What did I do wrong?
Did the grim reaper who was in charge of me go the restroom when I died?!!
It can’t be!  It can’t be like this~!

I desperately tried to forget what I just saw by shaking my head.
Right, let’s just think like this.  I didn’t see anything, I saw nothing.
No one died in front of me and the foreign cosplayers did not show up.
Most importantly, the dreamlike sequence of them taking the soul did not happen.

I began saying these comforting words and started brainwashing myself.
By doing this, I will wash away the feelings of disappointment and unfairness.
But who said the working of the world was so easy…

After couple days…I finally came to a conclusion. I had to accept one inconvenient truth.

‘The underworld is ignoring me!!!!’

At first he wanted to avoid the obvious truth, therefore he was busy looking for other souls.

It was normal for him to visit the ICU and the emergency room.  He even went around the normal hospital rooms to look for dying people.

However, every time someone died, the beam of life always showed up.  The grim reapers were different, but all of them returned with the soul.

I had found 5 people, and all of them were guided by the grim reapers.

If the underworld is not avoiding me, then what can it be!?

In the beginning, since my situation was like this, I decided to look on with poison in my heart.  One day felt like one year and I started to become increasingly nervous and anxious.

Maybe they made a mistake in not picking me up. What if they are still looking for me?

It might be possible that I might be here for eternity.

Even if there are a lot of people, they cannot see me or touch me.  If I live here for a long period of time, then I will go crazy soon.

Am I going to talk, laugh, and play by myself?

For the record, that would be the cruelest, agonizing, and severe form of punishment hell can provide.

So after struggling to devise a solution, I reached one conclusion.

That is…even if it is unfair, embarrassing, shameful, and humiliating, I should be like a man and man up!!

…I’m going to go beg the grim reaper to take me with them. Shit.

I did no wrong, but I have to throw away my pride and beg. Ku-huk.(TL note: sounds like crying)

As I thought more about it, I became resentful.  Still, I buried my pride since it’s 100 times better then aimlessly roaming around.

I’m proud of you Kang-Ji-Hoon.  Isn’t it said that you have to exploit your own destiny?  Right now, your subservience will make you shine later.  You can do it!!

Now that my heart has hardened, I started searching places where the grim reaper would most likely show up.

Basically, I went looking for half dead patients.

I don’t know if it’s good luck or bad luck, but I was able to easily find a severely injured patient sent to the emergency room.

“Ah, ah.  It’s too late for this person.  The soul is already rising.  Damn.  It’s beneficial for me, but it’s too bad for her family.”

Even after witnessing the soul separating from the body for the past few days, it’s still creepy.  The sight makes me scrunch up my face.

The doctors and nurse are trying the electric shock treatment to revive the failing patient and it was chaos nearby.

The spirit that left the body was uncaring and she was in a sleep-like state.

Unlike the last time, I did not hide my body from the ray of light, but I approached the front to wait for the grim reaper to show up.

The strange thing was all the souls that depart from their body are not in their right mind; most don’t even awaken when the grim reaper comes.

Most are blankly staring at empty air, and even when they awaken, their wrist are already held by the grim reaper.  They can’t even say ‘ah’ before they get dragged off to the afterlife.

Even right now, the absent minded female soul’s eyes are not focused.

Maybe the shock is too great when the soul is separated from the body?  It was like that for me.

I was pondering if I should wave my hand in front of her face.

-Pahhhat. (TL note: another appearing sfx)

“Oh, finally here!”

Unlike my situation, the sparkling ray of light showed up on time.  I was happy to see it and at the same time I was feeling bitter about it.

From space that threw up the white ball of light, two people slowly walked out.

‘Uh? Those guys..’

I nervously view the grim reapers and they were very familiar to my eyes.

The blonde hair that flowed down to his feet and the Greek cloth.  Moreover, the appearance that can rival a model.  It was the grim reapers from the first soul I found!

I’ve never seen the same grim reaper twice, so my eyes naturally became round.

Is this destiny?

Like last time, they stood next to the woman’s soul and one person would report to the other in short answers.  They started having a conversation.

I guess they felt me staring hard at them, so the platinum blonde man turned to me.  His face noticeably became stiff.

“Good.  Then this soul should be transported…huh?  What’s up with your expression, Hares?” (Ha-Res)

“F..Frenis-nim…that…that young man is..”

“Huh?  What are you talking about…huk!!!”
After seeing the man who was reporting stiffen up, the other person started turning towards the direction he was pointing.  Our eyes met and he gasped out loud.

I guess he thought I was alive.
They then realized I was a soul when they noticed me looking directly at them.

They blinked their eyes like they couldn’t believe what they saw.  They became alert after I embarrassingly smiled at them and they showed themselves floundering.

“This…how can this be, Hares?  How come there is a soul wandering around without a guide!”

“It…It..It cannot be?  There are no souls that is like this kid today, Frenis-nim.”

“What?  Then what is that if it is not a soul..”

“Of course, I didn’t die today but I died over a week ago.”

I enjoyed watching them being flustered.  I thought about observing them just a bit longer, but I started telling them the truth.

I’ve been dead over 10 days.  I’ve been waiting for an existence to take me away, but there was no news.  So, I came to look for you guys personally.

However, after hearing my words, their heavenly light intensified and they started staring at me with suspicion.

“That can’t be.  When a soul is created, the wavelength is automatically sent to guides.

Are you saying the guides couldn’t feel your wavelength for 10 days..what?
What happened?  How come I can’t feel the dead person’s unique wavelength?”

“Not only that -Frenis-nim!”

Frenis was viewing me with incredulity and the platinum blonde man, Hares, desperately butted in and pushed something to him.

It was a thin leather paper stuck between a clear panel.  I guess it was used to record stuff since I can see letters densely written on it.

“There is no record of “Kan-Ji-Hoon” dying on 4/26.  Also, more troublingly..”

“The soul is in front of our eyes, how can there be no records? Can it be that the soul slipped out…”

“No.  If it was simply his soul escaping, then it is impossible that his soul didn’t return to the body after such a long period of time.  Also, according to the youth, his physical body already perished.
Even if the soul slipped out, it would still be recorded as “death” in the records. The bigger problem is-”

“There is a problem bigger than an unregistered soul?”

The situation is turning more serious and I started to become uneasy.

I thought if I asked, “Why didn’t you take me?, they would reply “Oh no! There was such a mistake!’ and just take me to the afterlife.

It’s like they saw a ghost – no, they can technically see ghosts –  and are on high alert.

I couldn’t help but form a building resentment against the grim reaper, who I already had some hate towards.

Still, I couldn’t help my feelings hardening when I heard Hares shout with urgency.

“This lad’s existence is not even recorded in the record of life.  In other words, he is a ‘child without destiny’!”

“!!!”

It felt like being hit by thunder when the sky is clear!  I don’t ‘have a destiny’?

Even if I was abused in my poor life, I have a past; and if I didn’t die, I would have continued on to have a great future.

How can I not have a fate?!  What about the life I have lived until now?!  Are they playing with me?!!

I stood stiff as my breath was stopped from being shocked.

Nothing has gone right since I died!!

“No destiny?  How is that…in the first place, if you are an existence that does not have a destiny then how can there be a birth?”

“I’m skeptical about that point.  I think this soul…”

The muddled face of the man named Hares peeked at my stupefied face.

Then, he careful and slowly started talking to his superior.

“I think it would be good to take him to Decider ‘Are-his’.”

In front of my eyes, ivory pillars that I’ve seen in movies showed up.

The space was as big as a school’s athletic yard and everything was colored white.
The pillar was decorated by flowers and the windows had luxurious curtains.  Even the stain glass color of the window was transparent white and it made the bright space seem even brighter.

The marble on the floor was interestingly an almost transparent silver color.  Every time I walked I heard a small crunching sound. I liked hearing it.

There weren’t that much stuff to see.  There were no chairs to sit on and I didn’t notice any desks.

There weren’t any paintings hanging on the wall either, but the flowers on the pillars were very pretty.

There were no blemishes on the white flower.  It almost looks like it was brushed with gypsum, which made it look artificial.

I guess the only interesting thing was the ball of light shining in midair?

I stared at the large white space, and it felt like I was in a dream.

The noisy grim reapers who were freaking out about me not being in the record of life decided to bring me based on the suggestion by Hares.  They disappeared to somewhere after bring me here.

They said they were bring me here to someone…I don’t who that is.

Foreign names were hard to remember and I didn’t feel like I had to memorize the name.

Sigh.  I don’t even know what my situation is.

Is it ok for me to be idle here?

Even if I felt threatened and wanted to escape, I didn’t see any doors or windows.

Since it’s the spirit world, I thought I could phase through the wall but I almost activated an electric discharge. I was almost electrocuted.

I guess there is a set distance someone can approach without having permission before electricity is discharged towards you.

How would I know this…not long ago, the grim reapers pass through the wall without any repercussion.  Chet.(TL note: equivalent would be someone clicking their tongue)

“Ah, ah. I’m bored…how long are they going to leave me here~~~”

“Jeez, I’m sorry you had to wait this long, Mr. Ji-Hoon.”

“!!!….”

I don’t think it has been that long, but I was bored from waiting in the white space by myself.

I was chewing on the complaint that I had towards the grim reapers who had abandoned me.  I internalized most of it, but I spewed out one phrase.  Right at that moment, I was surprised when I heard a voice right next to me.

I cringed and warily turned my vision around to see the two grim reaper and one unknown person.  They stood there naturally, watching me like they’ve been there all along.

“Ah..Hello.”

Gasp…am I usually this dumb.

The first move I made when the mysterious figure suddenly showed up…

I greeted him “Ahn nyeong ha sae yo”…I greeted him..

I never knew I was so polite!!

Even if I said it, I was embarrassed and baffled.  My face started burning red.

The grim reapers standing behind and next to the mysterious figure started snickering.

Gahhh.  Kang-Ji Hoon, why do you live like this, huh? …Ah. I’m already dead. Jeez..

..the saying is true.  You can’t fix stupidity even when you’re dead!!!

“HuHu.  You don’t have to be so nervous.  Shall I introduce myself first?  My name is Arehis.  I’m in charge of distributing and managing souls.

If I found an analog position on the world Jihoon lived in, that position is comparable to a mid-manager.  It’s not really that important…”

The man who introduced himself as Arehis had black hair, which reached his shoulders, and blue eyes.  He was a prototypical handsome man that could be found on TV.

He wore a similar cloth to the grim reapers behind him.  It was a white, soft-looking fabric that were worn by the Greeks.  He had a real old-fashioned feeling about him and he permeated a strange jaw-dropping charisma.

If my classmate men-killer Song-Hye-Un saw him, she would form a fan club and chase after him.  It could be said he had a phenomenal outer appearance.

My heart is fluttering even though I am a man.  I don’t think the women can lay off him.

His face is handsome.  He is nice and has a high position…errm, I guess the spirit world doesn’t have much.

He would be an unfair existence wherever he goes!!  Ah..I should introduce myself..

I was late introducing myself because I was surprised by his looks.  I was standing there stupidly before I realized what I was doing.  I tried to quickly organize my thoughts and started to bow.

“Ah..I’m sorry. My name..”

“I already know it.  It’s Mr. Kang-Ji-Hoon.  Excuse me, but I looked at your list before you arrived.  I can understand why Frenis and Hares were surprised and looked for me.  I came here to find the place you were supposed to be.”

“Where I was originally was supposed to be?”

“Please sit.  I think the conversation will be very long.”

Where should I sit in this silent place?  Does he want me to sit on the floor?

My eyes turned round with incomprehension and seeing this, Arehis started laughing.  Then, he turn his head slightly to the side.

I had expected for someone to bring a chair, but I almost fell over at seeing a strange sight.

“Gasp…”

The space was in turmoil.  There were no other explanation I can come up with.

When Arehis turned his head, there was nothing; yet suddenly, the mysterious white space was sucked in by a black hole.

Before I could stop gaping at the strange occurrence, the space unraveled to its normal position.
The moment I was conscious, I was in a totally different space.

The space I was in was like a room located in a modern European noble mansion’s house.  The room was fancy with a red carpet on the floor.  There were enough chairs and table for 4 people to sit around.

I was standing still in one place…how come the background changed by itself?!

“Please sit here.”

I was like a country bumpkin seeing Seoul for the first time.  I was overwhelmed, but Arehis just pointed at a chair while giving me a friendly smile.

Eventually, I decided this is a marvelous phenomenon that only happens in the spirit world…I forcefully accepted the experience and sat on the seat.

By checking out their expressions, it seems they were used to such experiences.  It seems I was the only one that was surprised. I felt like I was the dumb one.

As I sat down, the atmosphere quickly calmed down.

It seemed like Arehis was deciding on what to say first, and he seemed like he was organizing the thoughts in his head for a moment.  He pushed a transparent tablet in front of me.

I didn’t know what the tablet was made out of, but it looked circular with water colors printed on it.  He pushed it in front of me.

“……..?”

I was looking at him questioningly because new object. Arehis started talking about another topic.  It seems like he’ll talk about the object later.

“First, I want to convey my apologies to Mr. Ji-Hoon. This event was an accident caused solely by our side.
I guess you can say the souls were distributed wrongly?  Mr. Ji-Hoon, you are a victim.”

“Souls’…distribution?”

“The souls on the path to after life and even the newly born souls that get born when it acquires a body are first processed here.  After being processed, they are sent away to walk on their chosen road of destiny.

Sometimes…it’s a rare occasion, but there’s an error during the distribution process where the soul is forcefully sent toward the wrong road of destiny.  That’s what happened to you, Mr. Ji Hoon.
Perhaps…Did you not feel any kinship with your parents or siblings?”

“!!”

Arehis sighed and nodded his head after seeing my reaction.  I reacted like I was surprised to be burned by fire.

Then, he sent me a look of compassion mixed in with guilt.  He stared at me with a complex gaze and started speaking again.

“They were not destined to be your, Mr. Ji-Hoon’s, family.  It was inevitable for them to treat you poorly.

I would guess they felt distant from you and had a hard time understanding you.
They would probably wonder ‘why are we being so cold to our child’.
Because of our mistake, you were hurt unnecessarily. I am very sorry.”

Hmm.  If it is like that, than I don’t really mind.

In reality, I was probably too insensitive or ignorant…I received cold treatment from my family, but I wasn’t hurt too much by it.

No, it may be because I was treated like that from an early age and got used to it so much that I was insensitive to it.

When my father was berating me, it felt unfair and I was disappointed but..what, is it weird not to feel such emotion when your body is not hurt?

I guess his words are nice…They killed a person by mistake and are they trying to get off with an apology?  Ah, in my case, I was born because of an error.
Anyways, if they admitted that they were wrong then they just have to fix it. Ka Ka Ka…

“Excuse me.  I heard that I didn’t have a destiny?  They said my record did not exist in the record of life…”

“Ah, since Mr. Ji-Hoon was born in the wrong place, a blank space was formed at where you were supposed to be born.
You are at the “unborn” distribution phase and your soul is basically waiting to be born.  Someone who hasn’t been born yet can’t have a destiny.”

Huh-Guh-Guk.  Then the life I led up until now is all for naught?

Would I feel like this if someone swapped the problem you were using all your energy to solve with a new problem?

Arehis spoke to me after looking at my speechless, despondent form.

“To tell you the truth, it is a miracle that you were able to live until now.

If the soul does not have a destiny, then the soul and the body are not tied properly.  Even a big shock can separate your soul from the body.  I’m guessing Mr. Ji-Hoon really treats your body with care.”

“Ha…Ha…Ha…”

No wonder…I thought it was strange that I died after getting into a minor collision.

Since it’s a rough world out there, I treated my body like a treasure and this was the result.

It’s fortunate I didn’t separate from my body at an early age.  I wouldn’t have been able to search out the guides.  I would have wondered the earth for an eternity until I ran into the guides by luck.

When I heard Arehis’ word, I could imagine how horrible it could have been. I get goose bumps thinking about it. At least I could comfort myself with the fact that my luck is not as low as I thought it was.

However, I guess my luck didn’t end there.

“Now, should we search for Mr. Ji-Hoon’s original location?  Please look at this.”

Arehis told me that there is 17 years of blank pages and it is imperative to send me back to my original location.  He pushed the transparent tablet stained with vagarious water colors toward me.  It was the unknown object he gave me in the beginning.

When my wondering gaze fell upon it, Arehis gave me an awkward laugh and gave an explanation.

“This color pattern was stained using something called ‘Soul Mate’.  The color shows the person’s destiny.  Even if it looks like this, it was made with a lot of divine skill and it is a high level divine object.”

While Arehis was explaining, his gaze looked like he didn’t believe in the object he was staring at.

He wants be to believe in him when his body language is like that?

I felt nervous and curious at the same time.  I started dispersing the multiple color on the panel.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Hmm..It’s simple.  Just pick the color you really like.  Isn’t it simple?”

..You can find the fate’s location with just that?

I stared at Arehis with doubt in my heart, but Arehis and the two grim reapers nodded their head that seemed to say the drawing was right.  With no other choice I turned my gaze to the soul mate.

Should I go along with it and just pick a color?

It should be hard to just pick the color I like the most.  Alright let’s try it…

I started evaluating the soul mate’s color with a light heart.

There were seven types of colors that were like water paint on a palettes.  There were green, red, black, white, gold, blue…and…

“I like this the best.  I’ll go with this color.”

The color was transparent green color.  Also, if you were to change the angle, the color changed every time you saw it.
It looked more mysterious because it shined more than the other colors.

It does look like a fusion of colors.  I wonder how that color can be made.  I was very curious and amazed.

“Let me see?  The color Mr. Ji-Hoon selected…was…”

“Gasp! Arehis-nim! This is!!!”

“…..Huh?”

What…What is it?  Why are they acting like that?

They watched me pick the color with pleasant faces, but when Arehis and the grim reapers saw the light green color I pointed to, their complexion noticeably changed.

After a while, they started bring in research materials and bustled around busily.  Since I had no idea what was going on, I felt like something had gone wrong.

Was there something wrong with the color I picked?  I just chose it because the color was pretty…

Ooh Ooh..I have no idea what’s going on!  Should I tell them I’ll change my choice?

I was feeling nervous and I was about to ask if I can choose another color.

Arehis regarded me when he regained his patient facial expression, as if he just finished the conversation they were having.

“Sigh.  I don’t know if it is your fortune..fate…somehow we finally found it.  We are quite fortunate.”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Ji-Hoon probably doesn’t know this, but picking a color from the soulmate is not a simple problem.  Even if you randomly picked it or someone forced you to pick a color, you will always pick your own destiny’s color.
If Mr. Ji-Hoon had a chance to pick the color again, you would be pulled to pick the same color.
The reason being it’s Mr. Ji-Hoon’s color of destiny.

At this moment, Arehis stopped talking and slowly regulated his breathing.

He tried to reign in his heightened emotion. Unlike earlier, his two cheeks had a slight red tint to it.

“I’ll explain the meaning of the colors.  The first soulmate color indicates the body’s race.”

“r..race?”

“Indeed.  The word might not mean a lot in your world, but there are many other dimensions where numerous races other than humans exist.
The green represents the vegetation of the elves.  The red represents the passion of human.
The black is the rulers of darkness, Ma-Jok(TL note:devils).  The white color is Shin-Jok (TL note: deity), who are proficient in the divine art.  The blue represents the nobility of the Dragons. The gold represents the dwarves who have excellent technique.
And…This light green…I would have to elaborate more.”

“…………?”

I was stunned when he started listing fancy races you would only see in fantasy.  Arehis smiled a little and took out another soulmate to put in front of me.

Unlike the previous one, it contained four colors only.  It had blue, red, gold and white.

When my doubtful gaze fell on Arehis, he urged me to pick the color again.  Without knowing the reason why, my gaze focused on the soulmate again.

I chose a color bluer than a sapphire.  It shined with a cool, blue light.

I chose the color because my throat was dry, but Arehis’ face was serious once I chose this color.
He trailed off after saying, ‘Of course..’

I still had no idea what happened, so he started slowly explain to me.

“Mr. Ji-Hoon.  In your previous life, were you sick a lot or had to treat minor disease frequently?”

“Yes? Ah..Yes..My body was on the weak side..”

“Have you ever been damaged when the rain was pouring or when there was a storm?”

“Not directly, but every summer there were floods.  The seasonal rain was also long…is it a problem?”

If I think about it, there was an increase in the frequency of rain before I was born and people lamented about it.

Moreover, for the past couple years, there were increasing damage from floods.

Still, I don’t know why I recalled those stories.

Why should I care about what happened in the past life? It will be reset.

Also, wasn’t he trying to find my original location?

“Ah Ah, your eyes are asking me why I asked those questions.  It’s understandable that Mr Ji-Hoon does not understand anything.  I’ll start explaining now.
Earlier, I told you about other dimensions with races other than humans?
In one of these dimension called “Arkadon,’ there are news of a calamity.  It has been about 10 years since they had a single drop of rain.”

“Gasp?”

“Fortunately, the people there can use their natural strength to create artificial rain, and they were able to avoid the worst situation.
Still, we don’t know how long they can maintain it.  It is a dire situation.
It wasn’t a calamity authorized by the main God, so everyone was busy trying to find the cause.
We finally found the cause.”

“What..What was it?”

The situation wasn’t related to me but my mind was worried about it.

I waited with heightened anxiety for the next part of the story.  Arehis nodded his head like he expected this and continued.

“Arkadon is different from Earth which has a main god.  There are 4 spirits of nature that keep the order.
The flow of the environment is swayed especially by the existence of the Spirit Kings.
The Spirit Kings have a life span between 10k to 20k and when they die a new Spirit King is born immediately to take their place.
However…for some reason, when Arkadon’s water Spirit King died, the new Spirit king was never born.
The 10 year disaster’s culprit was this.”

“Just for that one reason?”

Just because there were no water Spirit King for 10 years, it didn’t rain for 10 years?

I was shocked, but Arehis nodded his head without hesitation.

“It’s not ‘Just’, Mr. Ji-hoon.  It just shows how great of an existence the Spirit Kings are.

‘Spirit King of Water’ has the right and control over all of nature’s ‘water’.  The heaven and the underworld were overturned because the spirit king was never born.  The soul that was supposed to be distributed as the Spirit King was later found to be missing.

Ah, Spirit Kings do have souls.  They are slightly different from humans in that they need to borrow nature’s strength to be born.

The Spirit Kings that are close to death come to the underworld and grant their powers to a pure soul made by the main god.  Afterwards, they leave for the world of the gods.

In those cases, the most frequent reincarnation is a race called ‘Dragons’-this isn’t important, so I’ll skip it.
Anyways, the soul that inherited the Spirit King’s power just has to assimilate the nature’s power to be born in the Spirit World.
It putted us in a bad position when the spirit disappeared.”

Arehis finished explained calmly and he shook his head like he didn’t want to think about it.  His body shuddered like it was under a bad omen.

It made the mysterious feeling I felt when I first met him crumble.  Then, Arehis returned to normal like he wasn’t never embarrassed and it made me feel like I was mistaken.

With a real unconcerned voice, he delivered an unbelievable news.

“Now…Today we finally found the soul of the Spirit King.  I’m relieved.  Our hardship in searching for it the past decade is now far away like bubbles.”

“What? You found it? Where?”

My eyes twinkled as I looked around when I realized I might be lucky enough to meet this great existence.

If Arehis didn’t reply immediately, I might have acted stupidly and ask him to introduce him to me.
No.  I would have, since I know my normal personality.

I definitely would have acted really stupidly!

“What do you mean where?  It’s right in front of me.”

“Yes?”

What does he mean?  There is only me in front of Arehis…ehhhh-ek? M..Maybe?

Suddenly after watching me panic did Arehis facial expression turn haughty, or did I imagine it?

He was smiling and posing triumphantly, like a general who won a war.
It was just one thing, but it made him seem unbearable…Ku-uk(TL:sound u make when in pain) it’s a shame.
If his appearance wasn’t flower-like, I would have thrown a stone..

One thing I learned today…not all flowery handsome men are coy?

Look at that Arehis.  He is really boasting and has no shame.

Arehis’ face remained peaceful even though he spoke some incredible words that flipped my insides.

“The second soulmate’s color indicates the position within the race.  The light green color that changes depending on the angle symbolized nature’s spirit…
Among those, the sapphire like color indicates the ‘Water Spirit’.
In Arkadon, all the Water Spirit has been annihilated.

If the Spirit King has yet to be born, then the lower spirits cannot be born.
Therefore, the only spirit that can select the water spirit from the soulmate is the ‘Water Spirit King’.

Until now, we’ve had multiple destiny-less souls try but none picked that color.
We’ve been looking for you for a long time, Water Spirit King ElQueeNess-nim.  We’ve been waiting for you.”

“EHHHHHHHH??”

Long Long ago~ In the distant past ~ There were 4 Spirit Kings that ruled the world.

Their names were Fire’s Ifrit, Wind’s Minerva, Earth’s Trowell and Water’s Elqueeness.

One day, Elqueeness felt his life coming to an end.
Immediately, he went to the underworld to give all of his powers to his successor.

The new Water Spirit King was born.

However, what happened?  The newly born Water Spirit king, like a derp, was born in the wrong world and lived like a human while being barraged by all kinds of insult~

This isn’t a Cinderella story.  Does it really make any sense?

Really~  It wasn’t until the Underworld’s residents tried to fix the wrong did the Spirit King find out about his real identity. What is this?
There are countless people dying on the other side because of him.
That dude is really idiotic. Isn’t he?  Ha. Ha. Ha.

“I’ve told you multiple times, Ji-Hoon…no, it’s not Elqueeness’ fault.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Arhenis spoke with a stern face and he had already started using an honorific title.

I guess he couldn’t endure making me wallow in shame. In my head, I had escaped to a fantasy land.(TL note: escape reality)

“It was our fault that you were born in the wrong place, so any harm that has befallen Arkadon is our fault.
We’ve already taken some corrective measures.  It’s fortunate we’ve found you before the situation can worsen, and now we just have to return everything to normal.”

Arehis mentioned everything going back to normal.  That means I will be born again in Arkadon’s spirit world.

I was curious, but the anxiety in my heart prevented me from easily agreeing with him.

“By the way…isn’t this a mistake?  How can a normal dude like me be a Spirit King…”

My mind is not all that special…
My appearance was just okay and I’ve never had a girlfriend. I can’t believe I am this incredible existence.

Therefore, I carefully asked for a confirmation while reading the atmosphere.
Arehis reeled back like I was speaking nonsense. He dismissed my thought with one sentence.

“The soul mate was made through the main god’s power,so there can be no mistake.”

“B..But..”

“Didn’t Mr. Ji-Hoon say your body was weak? It’s because normal human physiology can’t withstand the Spirit King’s enormous power.
Rain, wind and storm formed and as the season turned, the damage grew because you were maturing.  The energy of the Spirit King within you grew stronger as a result.  Can you still not be convinced?”

…I’m still not convinced?…

I couldn’t even accept the fact that the underworld was a place where foreigners run rampant in some fantasy setting.  What else do they expect?

When I died, I was really expecting to see king of the underworld, but he wasn’t present.
Normally, the grim reapers would wear a black bamboo hat with a pale face.

Instead, they all looked like flowery, handsome men who were about to make a début in the entertainment industry.

It was hard to take all the flowery background when my own appearance was lacking.

Ah Ah.  I’m embarrassed to have a hairy, sheep like hair!

I told Arehis my feeling succinctly after I organized it.
When he heard my words, he was baffled for a second before laughing.

It didn’t feel like he was looking down on me…I was about to feel like a fool when he faked a cough and spoke.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Excuse me. Hmmm..
So you are saying you can’t adjust because the underworld is very different from the image you thought of…is that it?”

“Yes? No, umm..I was a bit surprised…I don’t think it at a level where I can’t get used to it?”

It’s not that I couldn’t get used to them.  I have a habit of turning to a stone statue when confronted by foreigners and I was a bit curious why that didn’t happen in this case.

I was just a little sad that there were no oriental people..so what if I can’t get used to it. It’s not like I’ll be living here for a long time.  I’ll be born in a different place…I’ll just endure while thinking I’m just view something interesting.

I might have just forcefully accepted Arehis’ wild explanation that I’m a Spirit King.

I don’t want to think about refuting that point anymore.

Arehis smiled with satisfaction after hearing my reply.

“That’s good.  Elqueeness-nim will be returned to a place similar to this.  I was worried you wouldn’t be able to adjust.”

“……..”

Is he saying that the place I’m going to will only have handsome people, or will it only have foreigners?

Both news were not welcomed and I couldn’t frown at the vague explanation.

When I heard the name Elqueeness, I knew something serious was going on.  If I’m born right now then it’s almost certain it’ll be a foreign world..
Ku-huk.  How can this be! I have no confidence in my language!!!!

Compared to the average scores I used to get for every subject, I thought about the mysterious worst scores I would get in English.

I was severely tempted to think it would be better not to be reborn.

Meanwhile, Arehis said everyone normally look like westerners.  He was talking busily about how the topography, climate and food affects the appearance.  He babbled on about irrelevant information pertaining to me.

Of course, I just realized the reality and it caused my body to tense up.  I didn’t really hear what was said.

..Uh?  Now that I think about it…Arehis is a foreigner?
How come I can understand what he is saying?

“Arehis, do you speak Korean?”

I asked a question that wasn’t related to the topic and Arehis stopped explaining to look at me with wide eyes like I was speaking nonsense.
Then he understood the meaning of my question and exclaimed ‘ah’ before laughing briefly.

“I was wondering what you were talking about…Kuk Kuk. Elqueeness-nim.  Spirits do not talk to each other with language.
You have residual consciousness of when you were a human so you might be confused. We are not communicated by making sound with our mouth but we are sending out our wavelength through our will.  Ah, I guess it’s similar to Spirit Language.  They use their will to send wavelengths to converse.
When you are reborn, there won’t be any big obstacles in communicating.”

Then why do I see you move your mouth when you talk?

I stared suspiciously at Arehis, but he explained it is a trick to get new spirits to talk unconsciously.  Most spirits are not used to speaking that way, so they have to be guided.

If the spirit see the other’s mouth moving, then they talk like when they were alive.  They communicate normally like when they were alive or something like that.

I guess if a new spirit saw someone talking while having their mouth tightly shut then it could be scary in their perspective.
I had another question from when I was roaming around.  I had to find out why most new spirit stood there blankly.

In the beginning, I thought the cause was the huge after-shock of the spirit shedding its physical body.  I also think if the spirit wakes up immediately after it sheds its body then the spirit might escape from the spot before the guides come.
They will lose their method of controlling them.

The busy grim reapers can’t expend more energy to find the souls that deviate so they put that kind of geas on them.

Still, there are rare cases where the spirit does wake up with a clear mind.  Those who disappear and are luckily not found then become ghosts in the mortal world.

Even if you are caught later, there are no ways to repent and there are heavy punishments handed out. Then they have to walk the most murkiest afterlife…(TL note: I guess he is trying to say the soul will have no idea what will happen to them)

Arehis complained in his explanation.  He wished the spirit with unresolved issues would not act so foolishly.

“Ah, Elqueeness-nim, this isn’t your original form.
When you became a human, your physical body was influenced and changed.  When you return to your original position, your original looks will be restored.”

“R..eally?”

I halting answered because it was a problem I haven’t really thought about.

I know my Oriental look right now does not fit in a Western world.  I’m not too excited to find out that my original form is that of a Westerner.  On the other hand, I was a little disappointed and it made gave me conflicting emotions.

It’s the face I’ve been greeting every morning in the mirror for 17 years.  It may not handsome, but I have grown accustomed to it.