THE RELUCTANT TOUCH [tomorrow]

the reason why

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄:

"it's been five hundredth years, but it feels like it happened yesterday"

The first thing that Joong-Gil realized when he walked through the black mass was that he has unconsciously closed his eyes and held his breath. When he opened them, he found himself standing in the middle of a street. They were in a village. Looking around at the houses there, Joong-Gil found himself thinking that it didn't differ much from the village he's seeing in his nightmares recently.

Weather his nightmares were something real or not, Joong-Gil had at least that much understanding to figure out that his and Chae-Yeong's pasts are as different as day and night. She was approximately hundred years older than him.

He looked to his left where Chae-Yeong was standing. If, before they walked into her memories, Joong-Gil was able to distinguish some kind of emotions on her face, then now her face was once more impassive. Her eyes held a strange glint in them. Not that kind of glint that one has when they're happy or excited. It was different. And Joong-Gil realized that it bothered him, not knowing what it meant.

After a moment, Chae-Yeong started walking. They moved through the streets like ghosts, which they were, in a way.

"It must be past midnight." Joong-Gil looked at Chae-Yeong who was looking at the darkened skies, only moon illuminating them. "Here in Yangdong no one dared to walk out of their houses past midnight. It was like an unwritten law."

"Why?"

Chae-Yeong shrugged her shoulders before moving forward.

"No one knows, it was like a myth; no one knew where it came from, though no one was brave enough to actually check what happens when someone does stay outside." Joong-Gil noticed Chae-Yeong falter at the end thought he didn't say anything.

She glanced towards him to note that he's already looking at her. She then swiftly turned her attention back towards the road.

"You'll see soon enough."

They walked what seemed like forever through the narrow streets of Yangdong. If Joong-Gil would be here on his own, he would've sure got lost in first few minutes. Though for Chae-Yeong it didn't cause any difficulties. It was understandable, she grew up here, she probably walked these streets daily.

They were walking through another street when Chae-Yeong suddenly stopped causing Joong-Gil to do the same. She turned to look to her right where he was standing but when Joong-Gil turned to look at her he noticed that the woman was looking somewhere past him.

He followed her line of sigh to see what has captured the reapers attention.

It was the only house on this street with a light on inside. Everything else was in complete darkness. The doors were slightly ajar, and Joong-Gil was able to see what happened inside.