40 – Past Life Experience #2
This was the dream of Sarah, who was having a past life experience. It made sense that the things I was seeing were actually things Sarah had seen in her past life. If it weren’t for the clouds beneath her feet, one would have mistaken it for a scene from the Joseon Dynasty.
Should we call it an old residential area?
There were quite a few houses around me. I could see huts and tile-roofed houses built on clouds. On the widely spread cloud road, bachelors in topknots and noble-looking people wearing robes and hats were walking around. I felt like I was actually seeing the old people I had only seen in pictures.
I talked to people passing by.
“Over there!”
But even though I called out loudly, there was no answer. Unlike them, I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, but no one paid any attention to me. Everyone was just passing by on their way.
“Wait a minute!”
I called but there was no answer. I grabbed the shoulder of a person passing by. He was a young man wearing plain cloth clothes with his topknot turned up. It was the moment when I lightly touched the young man.
Tuk! A young man walking down the street stopped. The young man looked behind him with a puzzled expression.
「Huh?」
“Can I ask you something? I’m curious where this is.”
「… What.”
“My name is Kim Jin-woo. He was living in Seungcheon-gu, Seoul, but he suddenly ended up in a strange place…”
It was when I was explaining. The young man wasn’t listening to me at all. The young man, who was looking around with a puzzled expression, moved his feet back to the path he had taken. A muttering to himself flowed from the mouth of the young man with his back turned.
「Is it because of my mood? It felt like someone had just touched me….」
It wasn’t because of my mood, it was actually my shoulder that was touched. But the young man had no idea that I was here. The same was true for other people walking on the street.
“Hey, let me ask you for directions.”
I randomly touched people walking around. A person who looks like a nobleman, a person who looks like a commoner, a woman wearing a skirt. I touched about ten people, but they all had the same reaction.
━━Tuk!
「Huh?」
“Can you hear me?”
「…… What? “It felt like someone just hit me.”
Everyone just stopped for a moment when I touched them. No one saw me or heard me. Finally, after about an hour, I gave up trying to mess with the people living above the clouds. Everyone had no idea I was here.
‘Why can’t you see me?’
There was no clue as to why this phenomenon was happening.
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However, I was able to make some inferences.
‘Is it because it’s not my dream?’
This was in Sarah’s dream. It could be said to be a virtual space where the memories Sarah experienced in her past life were recreated. But I wasn’t actually in this space. Through her magic, he took a free ride on Sarah’s dream through expedient means.
Let’s think that the dream of your past life was a game.
What I was seeing was a moving simulation based on what Sarah had experienced in her past life. It could be said to be a simulation experiment that creates the space of a past life through the brain. But there was no person named me in my past life. So what would the dream of my past life be treating me as?
‘Bug.’
In terms of the game, I was a bug. An error that should not have occurred in the first place. The people recreated in this space can be thought of as some kind of NPC. What happens when an NPC and a bug come into contact? Normal interaction could not occur. A strange phenomenon will occur, such as the NPC being contacted pauses for a moment or spits out incorrect text.
‘Am I being treated as a bug?’
In other words, Sarah was the female protagonist of this game. There is a high probability that you are having a normal conversation-like interaction with the people living above the clouds. To find out what this space was, the best way was to meet Sarah.
Unfortunately, there was no Sarah around me right now.
The shared past life dream did not allow the two people who entered the dream to wake up in the same location. Perhaps Sarah opened her eyes exactly where she had lived in her previous life, but I felt a little removed from there. Sera must have been living somewhere in this city above the clouds.
‘I’ll have to look around first.’
I decided to look around the city and look for Sarah. Although I couldn’t talk to old people like NPCs, I was able to do some research.
The first place I visited was a tavern.
I was wandering around looking for a place that looked like a bar from the Joseon Dynasty, and after a while, I found a tavern.
Why is the person doing the investigation going to the tavern first? You may be wondering, but he was worth searching from here. I heard that in the old days, taverns were also inns, and they were places where people gathered to hear news.
I went into a tavern. There were several people drinking alcohol inside the tavern. They were all talking about some topic.
「Princess Hongryeon is coming here.」
「Are you coming to see Princess Eunryeong again? “The sisters’ relationship is special.”
「3243346 He comes at least once every month. “It’s almost an annual event.”
「Honestly, I like it! Just seeing the two of you from afar warms my heart. “They are fairies.”
「Hey, this person….」
I was listening to the conversation.
I saw a large poster on the wall of the tavern. This information was written in large letters on the poster with the official seal.
「Mama Hongryeon is coming to Seongwan on the 2343452nd of this month. It is to meet Princess Little. “The residents of Seongwan should be especially courteous to the two of you by grooming yourself that day.”
The numbers on the poster were not clearly visible. When you dream, things like numbers tend to look strange. In reality, there is no such thing as a strange day like 2343452. I was fortunate to be able to read everything except the numbers.
‘So, a princess named Hongryeon is coming? To meet the sister who lives here.’
In the world above the clouds, there was a princess named Hongryeon. Hongryeon is coming to the city where I am now to meet her sister. Perhaps because it was such a hot topic, there were many people talking about Hongryeon not only here in the tavern but also outside. The sister Hongryeon was trying to meet seemed to be a princess named Eunryeong.
「Ah, but did you hear the news? “They said someone stole flowers from Seocheon Flower Garden.”
「Really? There must be chaos in the underworld. “I’m glad it doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
I listened to the story some more and then left the tavern. After that, I overheard people talking while walking down the street. It was easy to eavesdrop on the conversation since no one knew I was around.
‘Seonggwan? Seocheon Flower Garden? ‘I’ve heard it many times before.’
I heard many place names that I had heard of somewhere before. According to people’s stories, the city I am in now was Seongwan. Seongwan or Seocheon Flower Garden were names that could have been heard in Korean mythology.
In Korean mythology, Seongwan Village is said to be somewhere in heaven.
Seocheon Flower Field in the underworld.
However, it was too large to call this a village, so it would have been more appropriate to call it a city. The place names I heard matched those that appeared in mythology. As I searched the city, I came to a surprising conclusion.
‘Could it be that this was heaven?’
Heaven.
It was a sacred place treated like heaven in the East. It was a land called by many names, including Heaven, Heaven, and Seondo. I couldn’t believe it, but several clues pointed to this being a mythical heaven.
Was Sarah a resident of heaven in her past life? The moment I learned little by little about the identity that I could not have imagined, I could not help but be surprised. Of course, it may not be a good person, but a spirit creature from the heavenly world, but it was surprising in itself.
I walked aimlessly through the large city, looking for Sarah. Because it was such a large place, I didn’t think I would be able to visit everything even if it took several days. When I first opened my eyes, it was broad daylight, but before I knew it, the sun had set and it was night. Maybe it was because I was in a dream, but I wasn’t tired. I continued looking for Sarah until the sun rose.
The morning sun has risen before we know it.
A day has passed since we arrived at the city above the clouds. I walked around endlessly, but I couldn’t find Sarah. I reached a street that could be considered the center of the city. At that moment, a magnificent building appeared before my eyes.
‘It’s a palace.’
A magnificent palace was built in the middle of the street. The pavilion towering above the wall caught my eye. At first glance, it looked like a palace where a noble person lived. Soldiers wearing armor were tightly guarding the front gate of the palace.
People also walked around the streets in front of the palace. I was curious about what that building was, so I watched it for a while. After waiting for a long time, people finally appeared talking about the palace.
It was a young woman and a young boy.
A woman and a boy who looked like mother and son were talking on the street.
I quickly approached and overheard their conversation.
「Mom! “What kind of person lives in that palace?”
The boy asked, pointing to the palace with his finger. The woman hurriedly lowered the hand of the boy who was pointing at her and urged him.
「Be careful! “What are you doing so rudely?”
「Yes? I was just pointing it out….」
「The person in that palace is the granddaughter of His Majesty Sangje. “You must not carelessly point to the Sobyeol Palace where the princess is staying.”
「Wow… ! Is there a princess living there? It’s awesome!”
Even though the woman was done with the child, she innocently asked back.
The woman opened her mouth, sighing.
「Yeah, isn’t it amazing? Take note, baby. Princess Eunryeong lives here in Seongwan. “If you ever encounter that person, you have to kneel down and bow to him.”
「A temple?」
「It’s only natural to meet the princess! “You have to be polite wherever you are.”
It was worth waiting on the street. Thanks to overhearing the conversation between mother and daughter, I learned what the palace really was.
Sobyeolgung.
It was the place where His Majesty Sangje’s granddaughter stayed. Princess Eunryeong, whom I had only heard about, was living in that palace. I felt curious as I looked at the towering palace hall.
Your Majesty Sangje.
When you say Sangje, doesn’t it refer to the Jade Emperor? He was the Jade Emperor, revered as a high deity not only in China but also in Korea and Japan. He was the emperor who ruled the kingdom of heaven. If she were the emperor’s granddaughter, it was difficult to imagine how high her social status she was.
“…That’s amazing.”
I wanted to meet Princess Eunryeong. Anyway, I wasn’t visible to the people in my dream. I thought it would be okay if I went into the palace and took a quick look at Eun-ryeong’s face and came back. I couldn’t control my curiosity, so I thought about climbing over the fence myself.
It was right then.
Before I could enter, the palace door burst open.
A neatly dressed maid walked out the door. The maid shouted loudly to the people passing by on the street.
「Please inform me that Princess Eunryeong is going out now!」
It was the moment when her maid’s voice rang out. She heard people passing by on the street put down the luggage they were carrying and fell down. Whether it was a bachelor with a cut topknot, a man wearing a coat, or a woman with a child, everyone was the same. Everyone knelt down on the ground and bowed towards the main gate of the palace. The soldiers guarding the palace replaced the bow by bowing.
“…What is it?”
I looked towards the front door and swallowed my saliva. I was caught up in the atmosphere around me and became nervous without realizing it. Now, someone was coming out from inside the palace.
There was silence everywhere.
The sound of soft footsteps echoed from inside the palace. There was not one sound of footsteps, but many. Princess Eunryeong was coming out, leading her maids.
Princess Eunryeong crossed the gate and came out into the street.
I saw a girl with silver hair. She was a girl wearing a wing suit. The beautiful winged clothes that I heard in legends that fairies wear caught my eye. The hem of her skirt flowed down and her long sleeves fluttered in the air. The mysterious fabric floating around the girl fluttered like a wave.
It was the moment I looked closely at the girl’s face.
Surprisingly, I knew that silver-haired girl.
But the girl I knew was not named Eun-ryeong.
“Se, Seraya…?”
A voice came out of my mouth.
Because that was Sarah.
He was definitely my childhood friend.
It was when I inadvertently called his name.
The silver-haired girl dressed in wings turned her head and looked at me.