The Blue Flower

01 The Garden of Life and Death

01 The Garden of Life and Death

When she arrived at the gate to God Igong's realm, her blood-soaked white hanbok had already dried.

She only managed to cross the bridge over Samdocheon River (1). After that, the two guards were arguing what to do with her and where to sent her first. Normally, one of the Hells would be the first stop but even with that they weren't sure nor wanted they to deal with her case – too big was the onslaught of souls due to cross the river. Too many names to check off their lists, leading them to just send everyone over the bridge instead of determining if one of the other two options applied to the deceased individuals. So, they sent her to the Garden of Life and Death – God Igong's domain. The god that decided the length and quality of souls in form of flowers in the Heavens' biggest garden. Decided their fate and life in the Human Realm and thus deemed them worthy or unworthy to reincarnate. To put it short: he probably had the most work out of everyone in the Heavens, always in need of some extra hands. It seemed like he had still too much free time or else why would he have so much fun messing with her life? The flower representing her was probably all withered and crumbled, maybe even stomped on.

"Name?"

An annoyed male voice hidden behind a man-long list, which was lightly sliding on the floor due to its length.

Her voice croaked when she answered, her throat too dry. "Kang Hwa-young."

The paper rustled. The man behind the list looked her up and down in a stern manner which turned into disapproval, then hid again behind the list, scribbling on it. "We both know that is not your true name but who am I to care if you keep this up even in the afterlife? I'm just doing my list, that's what I'm paid for and that's what I'm doing. Judging will be the tree's job." His hand showed up from behind the list as he waved it in the direction of a small group of people. "Now, off you go over there to the rest of the new bunch."

She didn't bother to bow. Why would she thank someone in the afterlife in the first place? Just after a few slow and struggling steps she made, clutching the huge gash across her chest with one hand, his voice let out a sound similar to a squeal and he called her back. His eyes went back and forth from the list to her face in an expression between panic and disbelieve. His hands grabbed tight onto the list, crumbling the paper up slightly.

"Wait... What? You are colorblind? How in the Heavens' name are you supposed to work here when you are incapable of seeing colors? What did these idiots at Samdocheon think again? Are they pranking me again? How do I explain this to His Highness?"

She struggled again to speak. "They weren't sure which Hell would be the first stop for me. And it seemed a lot of souls were arriving to cross the river."

"If that was the case, they should have just sent you to Dosan Hell (2) to clean and sharpen all those swords and figure out the rest later! I understand that in the recent days there's a lot going on at the river but this... incompetence, behaving like they are amateurs and were doing this for the first time... And with laziness at that! Just shipping their duty off to others... I have my lists to do as well and they are not short by any means!" Aggressively, with a red face, he waved his list around. By now, it was very much crumbled up. "I saw that your sins have yet to be weighed. They could have sent you to the hill – to the Ui Ryeong Soo (3). It's a good first stop for those who cannot be sorted into one of the Hells for whatever reason, be it by the river or by the personnel. Also, that tree is much closer to the river than the Garden."

Hwa-young blinked confused. "It's a tree. Shouldn't a tree be in a forest or a garden?"

The man's eyes almost bulged out at her – for him, surely – preposterous question. "Of course, it cannot be! It's the one tree everyone in all the realms needs access to so the sins can be weighed. If it would be in that same vicinity as us... Lord Igong's realm would become the guesthouse of the Heavens! And His Majesty King Yeomra (4) would surely just take the Euiryeong-gum (5) in his rage and annoyance to slay everyone left and right with it to get order back. And then we would have a real mess on our hands with all the unchecked and unapproved souls simply reincarnating." He shuddered and shook his head. "Oh, I don't want to even imagine all the paperwork that would be the result of it!"