Invisible String

Chapter one

I should be studying for my exams, but who cares?
The world needs more Joong-gil's fanfics, and I'm here to deliver it.

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After a long and exhausting workday, Si-eun was walking home through the streets of Seoul. As grateful as she was to have a job, she couldn't stop imagining what it would be like to get something better, with a wage that was enough for her to take a taxi home every day.

Tilting her head back, she looked up at the dark sky, with only a few stars adorning it. She was very, very tired. Last night she had barely slept. It had been another day when she had had one of those strange dreams.

It was always the same. She dreamed about a tall, cold, rude man, but who for some reason always made her feel sad and happy. The dream always ended the same way: she was crying, arguing with him for some reason she could never remember, and then telling him she loved him.

Shaking her head, Si-eun pushed those thoughts away. If she thought about it too much, she might dream again that night. And that was the last thing she wanted.

Sighing, she ruffled her hair with one hand, grimacing.

It was already night, and if there was one thing she detested, it was having to walk the entire way from work to her house alone in the dark.

She was about to be convinced that it was worth calling a taxi, even if it meant she would have to save even more money for the rest of the month when she noticed a commotion a few meters from where she was standing.

There were three men and a woman gathered on the bridge, arguing about something she couldn't quite hear.
Si-eun tilted her head to the side and realized that one of the men was trying to jump off the bridge.

Dropping the bag she was carrying halfway down, she ran as fast as she could, grabbing the stranger and pulling him back so that he came down off the bridge support and was prevented from jumping.

─ Are you crazy?! - she shouted. - What do you think you are doing?

The man ignored her.

Si-eun opened her mouth to speak to him again when she felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back. She turned her head, looking in surprise at the pink-haired woman she had seen earlier.

─ What do you think you are doing? - asked the stranger.

Si-eun frowned, letting go of the man she was holding.

- Trying to save someone? - she said with a hint of sarcasm.

─ Go away.

Opening her mouth in shock at such rudeness, Si-eun prepared to retort, when she heard one of the men standing there start shouting and bumping into her. Looking back, her eyes widened when she saw that the man she had been trying to save was climbing back up onto the railing of the bridge.

Moving quickly, she and the stranger who had bumped into her grabbed him, trying to stop the older man from jumping. However, losing her balance and with the momentum at which she threw herself toward the gentleman, both she and the other young man fell off the bridge together. Si-eun closed her eyes, screaming in horror as she fell. Sinking into the water, she began to regret giving up the swimming lessons she had taken as a child. Trying ineffectually to get back up to the surface, she felt the air draining from her lungs and her body becoming heavy. Then she lost consciousness.

 
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Si-eun groaned, annoyed by the repetitive noise she heard.

─  Turn off the alarm clock.

Snorting as she noticed that the sound continued, she opened her eyes, coming face to face with a white ceiling. Confused, she looked around, realizing that she was in a hospital room. Removing the oxygen mask she was wearing, she sat up.

─ Shit. - she mumbled, ruffling her hair
.
Si-eun tried to find her cell phone but failed miserably. How many days had she stayed in that hospital? Had she lost her job? Her rent was already late, and if she became unemployed, she would have to live with someone she knew, again.

She groaned in discontent.

─ That's what I get for interfering in things that are none of my business. - she complained.

Looking to the side, she screamed when she saw a person standing by the door.
Startled, she stood, moving as far away from the stranger as possible, recognizing her as the same woman from the bridge incident.

─ What are you doing here? Who let you in? - she demanded to know, still recovering from her fright.

The woman didn't answer her, just looked away. Si-eun followed her gaze, curious, and had to cover her mouth with both hands as she saw what the woman was looking at. Her body, lying motionless on the hospital bed. That... was impossible! It could only be a dream. Unless...

─ I died? - she asked, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

She was so young! It couldn't be. How unfair life was. She hadn't even accomplished any of her goals yet, how could she have died?

This time she received an answer.

─ No," the woman said quietly, and took a few steps toward Si-eun.

─ So... what is it? What's going on?

Si-eun watched the stranger sigh and show her a badge. Confused, she approached the woman to try to see what was written on it.

"Koo Ryeon. Soul Management, Jumadeung"

─ I am a reaper. - the woman replied, seeing Si-eun's curious look. - And to explain briefly, what happened on the bridge earlier was my fault. And unfortunately, you went into a coma because of the accident.

─ Coma? - she shouted. - No, no, no...

─ Listen! Since it's my fault, I need you to come with me to Jumadeung. There, the principal will decide what to do with you.

Stopping her pacing, she looked hopefully at the woman.

─ Does this mean I can come out of the coma? That she will make me wake up?

Without letting the stranger answer, Si-eun smiled, clapping her hands together, and went toward the woman to hug her, but to her surprise, she walked right past the stranger's body.

Opening her mouth in shock, she noticed that she was in the hospital corridor. Turning around, she stretched out her arm, touching the wall, realizing that she could walk through it.
Entering the room again, she spoke excitedly:

─ It's like I have superpowers!

The woman looked at her like she was crazy, and then snapped her fingers.

─ There, now you have a body. - she said, walking to the door and opening it. - I suggest you don't try to go through any more walls. Now put on what's on the bed and follow me.

Pouting, Si-eun looked at the bed next to hers, seeing a box. Opening it, she noticed a pink dress printed with some flowers and a pair of white heels.

After dressing, Si-eun left the room, trying to resist the urge to try to walk through the walls.
 
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A/N:

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