Treasure tales

Short 1: The fall

The wind brushed upon my face. I stood on top of the bungee-jumping structure, my hip tightly fastened to the rope. I have never been so afraid of heights that I don't dare to partake in any high-risk activities at all. In fact, I loved all of my Flying Fox, High Elements and Rock climbing experiences that I enjoyed in secondary school. I miss that now.

"Rin! Jump!" I could distantly hear the sound of voices screeching. Those were the comforting calls of my classmates. I looked downwards, feeling queasy, but also at the same time, excited to once again be able to relish the feeling of wind pummeling my body as I sailed into the air. There was always something about risk-taking, the thrill of it that enticed me to lunge for it again and again, even though each and every time I am forced to confront and squash the mounting fear building up inside me.

Before we continue, let me first address the most important question. What is a 17 year old junior college student doing, bungee jumping instead of preparing for the much feared A levels? Good question. I'd like to know that too. One day my classmates(I was very lucky to be blessed with a bonded class--after 16 years of hell I finally got a good class for once) suddenly decided to have a class outing so that we could all destress a little, and here I ended up, preparing to jump. I don't know if that was a genius idea or an inherently stupid one, but I could not turn back now. I wanted to do it.

I took a deep breath, and jumped. I heard the distant sound of shouting in the air, and the frantic calls accompanied by screams of panic. Only then did I notice that the rope fastened to my hip had been faulty, and now I trailed off in the air, pinned down by nothing but gravity, sailing through the wind to my death. Pretty unfortunate that trained professionals noticed so late, but that was fine with me.

Death did not sound too bad. Fear did rise up in me, blinding my eyes and ears. Black spots did begin to swarm in my vision. I did feel panic, and a feeling of unwillingness, unwillingness to die just yet did begin to swim uneasily in my stomach. But at the same time, I also felt the exact opposite. I closed my eyes, hoping that my last moments would be merciful to me, and that no afterlife would ever continue haunting me afterwards. I was prepared to die, but I also wasn't.

Then it happened. A pair of warm hands surrounded me, and I ended up enclosed in a warm embrace. I opened my eyes. Was this supposed to be the afterlife?

A man with green hair and a happy-go-lucky smile was beaming at me from above. He seemed to be flying through the air. I widened my eyes, looking around me in awe. Many questions were running through my head. Who was this man? Why did he save me? And most importantly, how is he able to fly? And well, was I in the afterlife after all?

Finally we landed on the roof of a building in a place I did not recognise. He slowly set me down such that my legs could touch the floor. I stood up, shaking quite terribly, and cautiously appraised the man in front of me. Aside from his green hair, he was also wearing a checkered jacket and a chain necklace, and a pair of black jeans. All over his body glittered jewels and diamonds and all sorts of shiny accessories.

"Choi Hyun Suk, to your rescue!" He proudly introduced himself. "Yo, didn't I do a good job? Your near death experience was rather unfortunate, but I was there to save you, so no worries! And it's finally time. I'm so excited!"