CHAPTER 1: Where am I?

"Hey, Peka! You good today?"

"I'm in a pretty good mood just like always," I said with a smile while looking at the man in front of me. Well, not actually the man, but the breakfast that he's packing.

There's a freshly cooked omelet in the packing bag. It is exuding a sweet fragrance of egg mixed with chopped green onion.

I always prefer an omelet for my breakfast. No one can ever deny the greatness of this holy delicacy.

The man stretched out his arm to give me the bag. "Here you go, my boy!" looking at me, who's waiting impatiently, he handed the bag over. 

I took the food and gave him the money. I opened the plastic bag and reached out for the food like a ravenous wolf. "All right, time to enjoy my meal!" 

This is how I always start my day. This trivial happiness in the eyes of ordinary people is an enjoyable moment for me. Because after these apparent good times in harmony, it will be like hell for the rest of the day. 

I strode off to school, not forgetting to keep my smile on my face while I still can. Because the moment I put my right (or left, that depends) foot in the class, my smile will last for at most 3 seconds.

Finishing eating the last bit of my breakfast, I tiptoed toward the door of the class to peer in. I don't even dare to stick my head out, fearing that someone might notice because I am the kind of person that can easily get bullied and won't even try to resist.

I looked at my watch. It is 7:55, 5 minutes until the first class begins.

I always walk into the class at the last second so that no one will have the time to 'bully' me. I was bored waiting outside the class, so I looked attentively at how the second hand on my watch moved in a uniform, calm rhythm.

Suddenly, the watch starts to emit a faint puff of blue light. This glimmer immediately captured my attention. At first, I was surprised and didn't know what happened. But as if the light was attracting me, I began to forget myself and everything that surrounds me.

As if my soul left my body, I felt that this body of mine is empty. And there was dizziness in my head that slowly grow larger until I no longer have any consciousness...

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'Tak...Tak...Tak...' for every second that passed, there is a sound of 'Tak.' The rhythm was regular, just like a heartbeat. Before long, the noise faded away. I cowardly opened my eyes. There's nothing around me, and it is so quiet that I can hear my heart beating in a rapid frequency. I am just in my world alone. The only thing I could see around me is the immense darkness that devoured everything. 

But suddenly, like a group of fugitives suddenly seeing hope. At the end of the darkness, I saw a tiny hole filled with light that seems to be calling out to me.

"Where am I?" I looked around, perplexed. That's when I realized that I was somehow floating! "HUH? How? But...but..." nothing makes sense anymore, what I am hoping now is that I am just in a weird dream and that I will wake up soon. 

Unfortunately for me, it looks like this is not anything close to a dream! The fear inside me was getting harder and harder to suppress. "I wonder if there is a way that I can move." Up to now, I haven't even tried to move around. I began to move my legs and tried to find somewhere to put my feet on.

But after kicking the empty air wildly for around one whole minute, I'm already out of breath. I gasped and didn't stop cursing secretly. But at the same time, I'm panicking more and more. This unscientific space and the challenging situation I'm in started to make me feel frustrated. "Am I really going to be trapped here?" I wondered in my heart. Even though I'm not willing to give up, it seems like I could not do anything, so I decided to save my energy first and think calmly.

"If I'm floating in the air... Does that mean that I can fly?" After calming myself down, I began to make assumptions.

"It seems that this is most likely the case. But this won't do sh*t. The biggest issue is how in the world can I 'fly' to that hole there? "I mumbled secretly, thinking with all of my brain capabilities.

To my astonishment, my body began to move on its own! I didn't even need to move my body. The only thing I need to do is to think of it.

And now that I found the solution to this 'challenging situation,' the uncontrollable tension in my heart also eased: "Looks like this mysterious event isn't that hard to solve, huh." There was a note of triumph in my voice when I said that.

But the flying speed of mine is so slow that I'm sure that if my feet can touch the ground, I'll be able to walk way faster. "Fly more quickly! This will take me my whole life when I get there!" I groaned inwardly, not having any more patience.

And just like I thought, I'm flying a lot faster. The gentle breeze blowing on my face felt so good that I closed my eyes and started to enjoy it.

Out of curiosity, I opened my eyes to see how close I was to the hole: Compared to how tiny it was a moment ago, the white hole grew a lot bigger. And it was shooting out beams of bright light that my eyes began to sting. To protect me from being a blind man, I rapidly shut my eyes tight and covered them with my hands.

Suddenly, my whole body felt a pleasant warmth. And I started to hear the chirping of the birds. My feet felt something soft yet spinous. I opened my eyes slowly, fearing that I might see the bright light again. Still, the scene in front of my eyes froze me completely: 

The green and thick grass covered all the space on the ground, mixed with colorful flowers that came in clusters beside the gurgling streams. The streams are thin and shallow, that I could easily see the messy but beautiful pebbles that lay at the bottom. The creek's current made a pleasant sound to my ears as if singing a plain yet subtle chant.

There were thick trees everywhere at the narrow riverbank. I could smell the pine's sweet scent mixed with a unique smell of the earth. I could see the animals that scurry on the branches of the trees and jump to another. With its long green whips that gently swing in the same direction as the breeze, the willow tree stands tall and straight like a soldier while training. Some trees were ancient, rough with age, yet their roughness had been worn down by the soft greenness of moss that had slowly made them home. In the air, I could occasionally see some cherry tree's leaves that dance in the breeze and slowly but gently fall to the ground that was wet with a drizzle.

I was amazed by this beautiful scene in front of me, almost trembling with excitement. "How could such a wonderful place exist on earth!!" I exclaimed without even realizing it.

"Because you're not on earth anyway." said a voice that came out of nowhere.