On The Other Side

Chapter 003: Locket

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” a familiar voice called out. Mi-Ok ran to the familiar silhouette of Hyun-Ki Oppa. “I missed you so much.” he said, hugging her when she reached him. “I missed you, too.” she responded. “Wait, why are you here?” she asked, pulling away from him. “In your apartment or in this world?” “Both.” she said. “Well, I’m in this world because I fell through a portal in the forest when I was walking in the forest. The reason I’m in your house is simple. I came here every day because I missed you so much.” He pulled her towards him yet again, but it was Eli who pulled her away this time. “This is all well and good, but I am helping Mi-Ok get out of this place.” Eli’s voice was cold, and he glared at Hyun-Ki with distrust in his eyes. Hyun-Ki laughed and said, “That won’t be necessary, now that I’m here. Oh, by the way, I imagine you must have been looking for this when you fell into this world.” Hyun-Ki Oppa pulled the locket out of his pocket. “Where did you find it?” Mi-Ok asked. “It was near the center of town. I figured that meant you might be in this world, so I ran straight here when I found it.” he explained, handing Mi-Ok the locket. “I thought I’d lost it…” Mi-Ok put the locket on, clasping it in her fist as she did so. “Oppa-” “Mi-Ok, we’ve been friends for years, but you still use honorifics around me. Just call me Hyun-Ki like everyone else.” “Oh, sorry, Op- I mean, Hyun-Ki.” she said, smiling at him.

                 “If you’re going to help her get out of here, then I’ll be off. I’ve got better things to do than trying to help those who can manage just fine on their own.” Eli finally said after Hyun-Ki and Mi-Ok had finished talking. He sounded annoyed, although Mi-Ok didn’t understand why. “Come on, Eli! Of course we need your help! We can all get out of here together! Please, don’t leave.” Mi-Ok pleaded. “Mi-Ok, he clearly wants to leave, so let him. We don’t need him to get out of here. Like he said, we can manage just fine on our own.” Hyun-Ki met Eli’s gaze, hatred and distrust visible in their eyes. Mi-Ok slapped Hyun-Ki across the face. “What’s gotten into you?! The Hyun-Ki I knew would never spew such nonsense! We need all the help we can get! This place is unlike anything we’ve ever dealt with before, so we’ll have to work together if we want to get out of here, whether you like it or not.” Mi-Ok sounded so angry, it was unusual. She had always been so sweet and never seemed to get angry with anyone. It was so strange to hear her yell. “You're right, Mi-Ok. I guess I let my emotions get the best of me. I apologize.” Hyun-Ki sounded sincere, and it was clear that he had only acted like that out of jealousy. After all, they had been best friends for so long, it would seem strange if he didn’t get a bit jealous. “I- apologize as well. It was wrong of me to retaliate like that.” Eli was a bit more hesitant to apologize, but he did in the end, for Mi-Ok's sake.

                 “We should get some sleep. We'll need to have plenty of energy if we want to even have a chance at escaping this world.” Mi-Ok said, breaking the silence that seemed to have lasted forever. She began walking to one bedroom and Hyun-Ki to the other, only stopping next to Eli to whisper, “If you ever hurt Mi-Ok, I will make sure that you don’t get away with it.” Hyun-Ki wouldn’t just sit back and watch Mi-Ok get hurt by Eli. In that moment, Hyun-Ki swore that, if Eli ever hurt Mi-Ok, he would make sure Eli regretted it for the rest of his life. Without saying another word, he walked to the spare bedroom. “I’ll keep watch out here. If anything happens, I’ll come get you.” Eli called after them. “What? You should get some sleep, Eli. You’ll need to be well rested if we’re gonna get out of here.” Mi-Ok said, walking out of her bedroom. “Even so, where would I sleep, anyway?” Eli clearly wasn’t up for the idea of no one staying up to keep watch. “You can sleep in my room. I’ll stay up and keep watch instead. I doubt I’d be able to sleep after all this, anyway.” Mi-Ok suggested. “You might as well just do it, Eli. When Mi-Ok sets her mind to something, she won’t give up until he succeeds.” Hyun-Ki said, stepping out of the spare room. “Fine. Just come get me up if anything happens or if you get too tired.” Hyun-Ki rolled his eyes at Eli’s over worrying. “She’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself.” Hyun-Ki said, sounding annoyed. “I simply don’t want my saving her to have been a waste of time.” Eli glared at Hyun-Ki. Hyun-Ki just turned around and went back inside the spare room. “Alright, I’ll leave you alone now, then. Call me if you need any help.” “Ok…” Mi-Ok didn’t like that Eli and Hyun-Ki were arguing, but she could only hope that they would get along once they were both well rested. 'We won’t make any progress on getting out of here if they can’t even get along.' 

                 She began to think through everything that had happened to her. In one day she had fallen through a mirror that was really a portal, almost died twice, been saved twice, met someone who said he would help her get out of the parallel world she had fallen into, been found by her best friend who had been missing for over a year, and so many other things that seemed unreal. 'How can so many things happen in one day alone?' Once she had thought everything through and made sense, or, as much sense as could be made in a time like that, she realized how tired she really was. She had sat down on the couch because her legs hurt from running from the monsters, but now she could hardly keep her eyes open. 'Maybe I should... call Eli...? No… He might… get angry… if I can’t… even… do this... much…'