Dreams of Arcadia

3

"So... did I really die? And I thought the day couldn't get any worse..." I said sulkily and he looked at me in irritation.

"Don't you want to scream, beg and cry?" he asked me.

"What's the point now... Can I at least see my parents?" A hope sprouted in me, they had both died when I was little.

"They're not on the list... Only one man who could be your father died today." He carefully looked through the list on his clipboard.

"No, they died 18 years ago," I said and he shook his head regretfully.

"They're in a different afterlife. We want to keep the communities small so that we don't lose track of them, so a new afterlife is created every day in every place in the world... in this one there are only the souls who died here today... and I am responsible for you." he explained to me and my shoulders slumped.

"Did Kim Minji and Kim Bora survive?" I then asked him, hoping that they hadn't died too.

"They're both here. I've already greeted them and shown them around. They say they're waiting for you at your favorite cafe." He smiled encouragingly.

"And what about Kim Yoohyeon and Lee Honggi?" I sincerely hoped nothing had happened to them, it was bad enough that Bora and Minji hadn't made it.

"No, the people in the auditorium were safe, only almost 50 people died in the VIP area. Here, take this... You'll find all the important information there and my number is speed dial 1." With these words, he handed me a smartphone and dissolved before my eyes. Confused, I looked at the device... I couldn't believe the other world had its own network.

I looked around and everything here looked the same as always... Seoul at night... only there were no people on the street. The stores were still lit up and as I sat down briefly at the bus stop, the line in front of me heading towards the cafe stopped, as if it knew where I was going. The door opened and I got on... There wasn't a soul inside, not even a driver. It seemed strange to just sit down anywhere, but when I did, the bus drove off on its own and stopped again at the stop in front of the café. I watched the bus for a moment before it drove off, then I turned to the shop window and saw Bora and MInji sitting inside, a bottle of champagne in front of them, which they were probably chirping without me.

"Pumpkin... I'm so sorry, I wanted to save you... but... I failed." Bora greeted me and Minji threw her arms around my neck, sobbing. Neither of them could stand up straight anymore... So it was possible to get dead drunk?

"It wasn't your fault... It's more my fault, since you were looking for me... If you hadn't, you'd still be alive." I dropped my shoulders sadly.

"Yah... are you crazy? Luckily we're with you... Imagine if you had died alone... I'll miss our friends, but it would have been much worse with you." Bora moaned, shaking me slightly.

"Exactly. You're our little baby, we have to look after you." Minji giggled now, after she had just been crying. Smiling, I poured myself a glass and took a big gulp.

"Wow... this tastes much better than in the normal world," I remarked and quickly downed the rest.

"Yeah, I can't stop..." Bora slurred as I simply drank from the bottle.

"Guys... does it seem that way to me, or is the bottle just not getting empty?" asked Mini after she had also taken a good swig.

"Seems that way... so... where are we going?" I asked and Bora thought about it.

"Oh, I know... let's go to Hannam-Dong and find somewhere nice to live... All the apartments and houses of the rich are uninhabited." Minji suggested and we nodded, that sounded good. We could now live as luxuriously as we wanted.

No sooner said than done, we took the next bus and looked for a nice villa with a view of the river. After we had secured rooms, I went back into the living room where Bora was lying on the carpet in front of the Cinematv, holding her stomach with laughter. She pointed at the screen and the bottle almost fell out of my hand when I saw what was on it. Minji also burst out laughing, holding her hand over her mouth... it just said Deadflix instead of Netflix...