6 {5} "The Curse: Map Of The Soul."

"So maybe we all have dreams we believe can never come true, we all have doubts and fears but I guess that makes us human. Some of us are lost and we don't know who we are. "The Map Of Soul Curse." will help you find yourself, but only if you allow it. So will you?" —Icychica_

"Sagwa!" A female voice screamed for me excitedly.

I looked up to see Soo-ah trotting over to me even though she was wearing heels.

When she reached me she waved at me with enthusiasm. "Hey, you're looking great tonight."

"Thanks picked it out myself." I answered to her compliment.

"No, I'm serious you really do look stunning." she complimented yet again.

As the night raged on, I still saw no sight of Kazuchika; however, I did have a lot of random people I didn't know come up to me and start a conversation. Both men and women spoke to me, they all seemed to know who I was, can't say I could return the favour.

But when I was in the middle of a conversation with Soo-ah, only then could Kazuchika return.

And the first thing he could say was: "I have someone I'd like you to meet."

I rolled my eyes still mad at him for leaving me. "Who is it?" I planned in my head to deal with him later.

"The person in charge of this restaurant actually, Kim Soekian." he finished my ears perking up to the familiar name.

A figure came from behind him and held his hand out to me. "Hi, my name is Kim. Seok. Ian but you can just call me Ian." he politely shook my hand.

I shook his back observing how nicely his suit fitted him, he looked so much like a gentleman with his styled black-hair.

"Kim. Seok. Ian, my name is Min.Sag.Wa." I mimicked, sounding out every syllable in my name just as he did.

"Nice to meet you, I hope you enjoyed the food you've tasted so far." he then stated.

"It was delicious and the presentation was beautiful." I complimented him.

"Ah! Thank you, thank you!" he exclaimed as he dramatically bowed.

"I especially loved the beef, it was really good." I told him as I thought that maybe he changed a little bit.

But then...

"That reminds me of something." he stated as his face got serious for a moment.

"Of what?"

Honestly, I should have seen this one coming.

"Do you know why cows have hooves instead of feet?" he asked, his face still serious.

Me being the idiot that I am responded, "No, I've never really thought about that before."

"Because they lac-tose." he finished before erupting in a pitiful of windshield whipper laughs, making a lot of people look in our direction.

"Really Ian?" Soo-ah said rolling her eyes, putting her hands on her hips staring at her boss.

"Yah! That was a good one, let's see you do better than that." he responded to her in frustration.

Classic Ian. He always loved to tell dad jokes.

"Do you see what I have to put up with every day, this guy is so childish." she complained looking at me as she pointed her thumb at Ian.

"Don't forget, I'm your boss so you should respect me, not only as your boss but as your older brother." he stated presumptuously.

"Older brother my butt, you have the mentality of a three year old." Soo-ah insulted him again as the two prepared to go at each other's throats.

"Hey, hey that's enough." Kazuchika spoke up calming the two, not wanting them to cause a scene.

So Soo-ah is Ian's younger sister here, at this point nothing surprised me anymore. And that scared me.

"I'm gonna go outside for a little while." I said excusing myself from the conversation.

They all looked at me. "See what you did, you made Sagwa uncomfortable." Soo-ah interlaced her arm with mine rubbing my back gently.

"What?! Me?!" Ian retorted, putting his foot down.

"No no, it's not you, I just need some air, I'm just really, really, really claustrophobic, so excuse me for a moment." I waved both my hands in front of me, I then bowed to them giving them one last smile before unlacing my hand from Soo-ah's and walking to the balcony.

When outside I closed the doors behind me letting all the voices from inside fade.

I needed to keep my head straight, I was so close to panicking, I needed to calm down and find out how I'm supposed to get home. As much as they seem like nice people, I couldn't stay here, I just couldn't I have people back home who I'm supposed to be with right now, I needed to focus on getting back to them, how I wished that it was that simple but it wasn't, I don't even know why I'm here.

'I wonder if Soo-ah was able to finish the photo shoot like I asked her to.'

"Fancy seeing you here." A voice announced causing my heart to jump in fear.

I turned around. "Namjun?! What are you doing here?!" I asked, my heart now pounding in my chest because I thought I was alone.

"I should ask you the same thing." he said as he came and stood next to me.

"God, you almost gave me a heart attack." I told him, still recovering from the scare, taking slow breaths trying to calm my heart that was beating so fast, like a run away train, then I heard him laughing at me.

"You're not following me now, are you?" I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"No, I was invited here." he inquired.

"Oh, is that so."

"Alright, then why are you here?"

"I'm here with Kazuchika." I said unsure if he knew who I was talking about.

The moment I finished my sentence he turned to face me and said in surprise. "Wait, you're his girlfriend?"

How am I supposed to answer that? 'No not anymore,' 'That's hard to explain' or 'perhaps that's a tricky subject.'

In the end I just went with: "It's complicated."

"Ah, I see, you guys are together but he doesn't want to label anything whereas you do?"

"I told you before he's not my boyfriend. Period." I grunted.

"It's okay you can talk to me, I wouldn't blame you he was known for messing around in the past." he replied, causing me to look at him.

"How did you know that?"

"He's the one who invited me here, I've known him a long time, we...went to school together."

"Really? You were friends with a mobster's son, how did that happen?" I asked as his face expression changed.

"That's not really my place to tell." Namjun's face held deep emotion and I couldn't pin point just which emotion it was. It was mixed with sadness, pain and more.

"Oh." I sighed, now feeling sorry that I'd asked in the first place.

He cleared his throat. "He usually invites me to these things but I'm always too busy to go, I just decided to come this once and it's funny how we ran into each other here."

"You could say that again." I smiled at him as he smiled back.

We then suddenly stared at each other for a while strange enough, I couldn't help but use the opportunity to trace his features again. I knew he wasn't the person I knew, but I just couldn't help it he had the sharpest jawline, every aspect of his face looked like it had been sculpted, he was beautiful; a work of art even.

I was reminded of how I left things and I felt terribly sorry towards him.

'Saranghaeyeo.' (I love you.)

Argh, I'm such a fool. I shouldn't have yelled at him and I should have respected his decision and let him go. Why am I realizing this now?

It wouldn't make sense if I told him that. I could just promise him on the inside that I'd get back home so I could finally apologize to him.

The way he was looking at me held a level of curiosity, I wondered what he was thinking.

"Sagwa—"

"Sagwa! Are you out here?!" Kazuchika interrupted, abruptly opened the doors.

"Yes, I'm over here." I alerted him as he looked in our direction.

He approached us his eyes landing on Namjun. "So you finally decided to come for once, hyung (meaning older brother, a term used between males to address a close older friend, can also be used between brothers.)." he smiled at him.

"Is there something wrong Okada?" I asked him wondering why he was looking for me.

"Right, I came to tell you that we're leaving."

"Alright." I said before turning to face Namjun. "I have to leave, maybe, I'll see you again." I smiled and bowed to him leaving the two alone to chat for a moment.

I went back to the main hall with the others to wait for him.

"Ian hyung!" I heard Tan call out as he hugged Ian tightly, who was stunned.

"Yah! (meaning hey) What's the big idea?!" he protested, the man still gripping tightly to his arm smiling with closed eyes.

"I've missed my favorite hyung." he said still holding onto him.

"Oh god, there's two of them." I could hear Soo-ah mumble pinching her forehead as she witnessed the scene before her.

"I'm your favorite hyung?" Ian asked the boy on his arm.

"Yes, I like you more than Namjun hyung." he flattered Ian.

"Wae (Why)?" Ian asked.

"Namjun hyung, is really difficult to talk to, he's dull and no fun, but you're easier to communicate with and you're funny, plus you're more handsome." Tan continued to flatter Ian using the 'you're handsome' card.

"You're right, I am more handsome aren't I." Ian replied touching his face.

"Nope, you're ugly af, don't let Ve over here fool you." Soo-ah interrupted Ian's gloating moment as she gave him a bitter look.

"Ah Jinjihage (Ah seriously), you really know how to bring a guy down don't you?" Ian gave his sister a look.

I then saw Okada and Namjun leave the balcony from the corner of my eye. "Guys, we're leaving right now so maybe we can all catch up some other time." I smiled at them.

"Yes of course we can sweetie." Soo-ah answered sweetly in a nicer tone than the one she had with Ian, giving me a quick hug.

"That's not fair, how come you're so nice to her but can't be nice to your own brother?" Ian complained.

"Because she isn't so full of herself." she hissed back.

"I'm not full of myself, that's just self love, you'd know that if you had any, walking round here looking like an orangutan." Ian jabbed, imitating a monkey as he did, making her immediately let go of my arm to leech at him.

I decided to walk away from them in a hurry before the volcano exploded, hearing the faint sound of curses, yelling and a couple ouches in the background. I found it really funny how much they both teased each other.

I could feel that deep down they both loved each other a lot, I never imagined Ian arguing with his sibling like that, but then again he'd always argue with the others back home as if they really were his siblings; though it looked more like a mother scolding her children.

I guess it was a Ian thing, no matter what world he's from you just can't change Ian, he didn't even lose the 'thinking he's the handsomest man alive' thing.

'Yup, that's Ian alright.'

Later, arriving at home I was exhausted, I couldn't wait to get out of my clothes. So I immediately rushed to the bedroom and took them off taking a nice warm shower before changing into pajamas —a random shirt and some shorts I found— and jumping into bed.

As my eyes were about to close, I felt the bed dip beneath me as Okada laid down beside me.

"What are you doing?" I asked turning to face him.

"Going to bed." he mindlessly answered.

"Not here you're not." I told him watching him make himself more comfortable.

"Why not? I always sleep with you." he complained with a pout, pausing his actions.

"We broke up..." I said trying my best to be gentle.

"So? We were friends before that and I still slept with you." he said, almost whinning.

"How do I know you won't try anything?" I asked raising my eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"You don't, that's the fun part." he mischievously answered making me take up a pillow to hit him with.

"Oh geez! I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Not the head, not the head!" he pleaded in a panic protecting his head with his hands.

"Still... I think you should sleep alone tonight in some other room, just to be safe." I said touching his shoulder.

He got up off the bed hesitant at first. "You're so mean." he complained again before leaving me alone.

"He's so unbelievable." I mumbled for the last time before I closed my eyes going to sleep soundly.

...

"And to report this morning a 32 year old man has gone missing..."

With the morning news playing in the background my first order of business was to find out what this strange artifact was, so after I ate breakfast and sat down in front of a laptop with some tea in hand I proceeded with the mission.

I wasn't sure yet, but I felt like there was more to that strange object than meets the eye.

I searched the web, hoping to find something but at first there was nothing I was about to call it a day until I read these words: "'The Curse: Map Of The Soul."'

I got curious so I clicked on it.

What I found was insane.

"'The Map Of Soul Curse occurs when the victim is unsure about his/her life, when they have doubts and fears, when they think for a moment that maybe things should be different, that maybe their life wasn't supposed to be that way. This curse is attracted to dying souls begging for help. It helps them find themselves, it teaches them a lesson, it takes them on a journey making them even experience Jamais vu."' I finished as I read it off the internet being taken back to the moment I got shot.

Was that the moment my soul screamed for help or was it when I told Namjun I wished things were different or was it both? Could this curse really be what happened to me?

I scrolled down some more hoping to find a picture of it or at least a description of the artifact's appearance. '"This artifact is round and made of gold and has a claytonia carved into it, this flower symbolises rebirth.'" It read as I looked at the object in my hands. It matched almost perfectly.

Maybe this could tell me how to reverse it.

"Although it's a sacred curse and really old it is reversible, you just have to—" I began before my screen went completely blank, I tried to turn the damn thing back on but it wouldn't budge, at all.

'Damn it! And just when I was so close.'

...