Hwayugi 2

Prologue

By the time she opened her eyes, Jin Seon Mi was back to where she was before, the Netherworld-- feeling both delighted and broken.

Delighted because Son Oh Gong still loves her even without the geumganggo, and with that same reason, she's broken for leaving him alone.

I'm sorry, Son Oh Gong. I'll wait for you.

She touched her right eye-- or should she say, Son Oh Gong's right eye, the Great Sage's golden gaze, fiery eyes, the one he gave her.

"No matter where you are or what you have become, I will be able to recognize you now. Remember my name. I will definitely find you."

She looked up to the bright sky of the world she's in. Surprisingly, Jin Seonmi expected for this world to be dark and gray. What else can one think when talking about the land of the dead?

However, suprisingly, it's bright. It never turns into night and never gets dark.

When she first woke up here, she found herself laying down under the shade of a tree. Looking around, she realized she was in a wide field of flowers. Far away, she can glimpse mountains that look like they wanted to reach the blue sky.

The sun shines so brightly but it was not too hot. The temperature was just right. As if someone maneuvered with the thermostat to make it just right.
The living world will never see a perfect day like this.

She can see people walking around, basking under the sun, smiling and laughing together, and kids running around.

Her sightseeing was stopped when a couple, a man and a woman, came to her.

She looked up to their faces, and even without words, Jin Seonmi knew they were her parents. As they embraced, someone tapped her shoulder.

She turned around.

It was her grandmother.

Her family explained to her what happens in the Netherworld.

The souls here were to wait for their turn to be reincarnated, and because they were good when they were alive, one can choose what to reincarnate into.

Her family wanted to wait for her there. So they delayed their reincarnation day further until Seonmi came. That's why they are now together.

Souls of sinners went to the other part of the netherworld where they get punished for millenia because of the wrongs they have done.

There, it was the opposite. It was always dark and the days were full of agony.

That was all they knew. Details about that part were not really shared to them.

For once, she was not struggling, scared, or in danger.

She felt at peace.

Until a group of three men in white approached her.

"Jin Seonmi-ssi?" Asked one of them who looked like the leader.

"Yes?"

"The council of heaven asks something of you. Elder Soobori will explain the details so please come with us,"

Jin Seonmi found her family to be smiling at her reassuringly, telling her that she'll be fine. She nodded and quietly dismissed herself to go with the men.

The men brought her into Elder Soobori's office, which was, in her knowledge, in the Middle Earth. As the name states, this world was between the living and the dead.

She approached the elder seated behind his table. "Elder Soobori? What is it?"

That's when she learned of Son Oh Gong's state.

He was still wearing the geumganggo and was still in pain. A tear escaped from her eyes as she heard this.

How could this be? Son Oh Gong said he would be free from the geumganggo once I'm gone. Why has this happened?

Stepping into the world of the living, Jin Seonmi discovered that time went by differently in this world and of the nether. She felt like she only died yesterday. But upon stepping in the living world, it turns out she has been gone for three weeks-- almost a month.

She was given the one-day star, which enables her to stay in the world of the living for a whole day. That's how Son Oh Gong freed himself from the confines of his memories and reunited with her.

All she has to do now is wait to be reincarnated.

Jin Seonmi was strolling near a lake which had a shade of blue impossible to be seen in the living world.

Ever since she came back from meeting Son Oh Gong, all she can ever think of is him.

She approached a bush of flowers and touched them slightly. Nobody would believe her in the world of the living if she said she found glittering flowers.

Because that's what these flowers were: glittering and shimmering.

"Son Oh Gong would love these," she said softly. "But then he's a deity so he probably has seen these in heaven."

"Seonmi-ya..."

Seonmi turned to the voice of her grandma and walked over to her. "Halmoni..."

"It's time," her grandmother said while smiling.

"Come on, daughter," her mother asked her with an outstretched hand, beside her mother was her father.

She held her mother's and grandma's hands. While her father looked at her, from her mother's side, with pride evident on his face.

Together, a bright light shone upon them. All they said to each other were I love you's and see you's.

Before dissipating into the light, Jin Seonmi's last thought was, "I will wait for you, Son Oh Gong."