Getting a second chance at life isn't exactly as enchanting as it seems.
Sohee Young, who lived life like the callous person she was, dies. She gets another chance to live life correctly though, and that is by swapping lives with Lina Park, who die...
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OBVIOUSLY, THERE WAS that lingering question in the air.
Why, out of all people, did I have to be the replacement? What even for?
I closed my eyes as my wrist rubbed against the rough texture of the transparent rope. It was suffocating, being unable to itch the pain away while controlling myself under the people's scrutinizing gazes. Elders of the Council, they called themselves, shortly after the one with the hat called me a replacement. After that, the only words said in the room were through their facial expressions, which changed with every few seconds.
It was as if they were waiting for one of us to combust. And I was ready to, done with whatever sick game they were playing. I lifted the heels of my feet, and breathed in and out in an attempt to calm myself down.
Beside me, I heard a creak. Lina. From the corner of my eye, I saw her lips press together as she tried to settle into a comfortable position. Slow and cautious, she looked around to see if her movements had broken the silence. Another creak as the chair groaned in protest.
Couldn't she sit still? Why was she fidgeting so much?
Park, I remembered the elder with the hat saying. She was probably Korean, too. With a slight head turn to my right, I took in her round face, broad shoulders and oversized round glasses.
Who was she? I had never seen her in any social events or parties. If she wasn't even that famous, why was I replacing her?
Lina pushed her cap further down, shifting in her seat yet again.
I got that we were strangers, but with the two of us sporting crinkled, dried-out paper-like clothes and brittle hair, we were... what were we? On the same boat?
"Same boat? You two are definitely not on the same boat," an elder cried behind the desk—the same elder whose eyes flashed white as he declared my time of death, somehow in sync with Lina's. The hat he had on drooped down to cover his eyes, and, with a clench of his jaw, he lifted it up.
"And why not?" I shot back, pausing to intake a sharp breath. He read my mind.
My mind.
How did I ever believe that he was a ghost? If anything, he was a grim reaper... which would explain why he didn't want my heart.
"Seven times," he muttered as my eyes widened. "And each time it somehow gets worse."
The elder in the far right sighed and placed her hand under her chin. The rough rope slithered across my skin and fell to the ground. Placing my hand over my chest, my finger grazed the red marks on my skin, and I winced.
The grim reaper noticed, because he frowned in her direction. "Elizabeth. You know it's not safe to let her free."
I took in a deep breath, hoping to ignore my father's words ringing in my head. "You know it's not safe for you to run off without a bodyguard, Sohee. You could ruin my—our—image."
