save y(our) soul

Taehyung sits with a cup of tea in his hands, talking intensely with Linda about some meaningless topic that helps them pass the time. He’s been sitting idle for the fourth day in a row, which makes him cringe every time he gets a weather report instead of an assignment report. The more idle he is, the more uncompleted assignments he has, the longer he stays here. Special thanks to the girl who sees him every day and puts up with him talking non-stop, sometimes keeping the conversation going. This is the only interlocutor on Earth, in front of whom he is not afraid to say angelic bullshit, but still he had a couple of options for the development of events: the first was to be on his own, the second — to get acquainted with someone from the people, and the third — to pester Linda, which, in fact, he chose. “You’re so annoying,” Taehyung rolled his eyes at the phone notification, which was probably sending him the weather report again. But his eyes widen when the long-awaited data message pops up on the screen. “Come on, finally! “Did you get your assignment?” Linda asks, tilting her head to the side. “Fuck,” Kim cursed loudly, throwing her head back almost crying. “What is this?” “What do you got there?” Linda gets up and walks over to Taehyung, peering into the phone and raising her eyebrows upward, laughing at what she sees. “Wow, you’re lucky.” Name: Hwang Jiyeon Age: 32 years old Current feelings: None Location: Hospital “*******” “Your man’s in a coma. It’s hard to get them out of it.” “Difficult is is a relative term,” Taehyung got up from his seat and slowly made his way to the right place, but the girl stopped him and asked: “Do you even know how to get them back from there?” Angel nods his head with a final wink to Linda and leaves the building where he has spent a great deal of time waiting for this assignment. He can’t describe his emotions right now, because not all angels manage to get a human out of there, and it upsets him. Taehyung knows about comas and how to get people out of them only by hearsay, he has no experience in it. But at least he will try to do his best to help this man, not only because the white star on Kim’s back depends on him, but because he wants to give him a chance to live a new life. On the way to the hospital, he is already inventing a new identity for himself, which was present in the victim’s life. Initially, he wanted to disguise himself as a doctor, but decided that it was not such a good idea, because he would be caught instantly. So pretending to be someone close to him isn’t such a bad idea. And, of course, his conscience makes itself felt when he walks into the room he recognized from the nurse before and sees a quietly crying woman holding tightly the hand of a man lying in a hospital bed. His appearance leaves much to be desired. “Hello,” Taehyung said softly, so as not to startle the woman. “I didn’t see you, sorry. Are you someone he knows?” She asks in a thin voice, beckoning Kim over to her with her hand. “Yeah, yeah, we went to school together, and it was shocking news to me. What happened?” “A car accident. Lost control and flew off,” she gently ran her fingers over his, occasionally glancing at him fondly. “The doctors said it’s a miracle he is in a coma and not in a coffin. He must have fought to the last man, clinging to life.” “You have my sympathies. I’m sure he’s strong and will recover.” “Would you like to be with him?” “Yes, I’d like that very much.” “I’ll leave you two alone then, and I’ll go myself, goodbye,” the woman smiles slightly, stands up and walks away, leaving Taehyung alone in the room, closing the door behind her. He waits for about five minutes, waiting for the moment when his mother, as he realized, will be away from the hospital. Angel is slightly worried and feels a shiver spreading through his body. In addition to the excitement, he also feels fear: fear that he might leave the man in a coma, fear that his family will see him bedridden in the hospital, fear that Taehyung won’t be able to give him the chance to enjoy life again, Taehyung is scared of not being able to go home. Kim concentrates on his palms and directs his energy there, all his hopes and faith, until they begin to glow white, making the angel smile, and after that, he places his middle and index finger between his eyebrows, and thus moves to his head. Taehyung finds himself lying on the lawn next to the house where Jiyeon is most likely staying. He carefully gets up, shakes his ass off the grass stuck to it, wrinkles his nose at the headache, and starts walking to the door to knock and talk to the injured man. Taehyung knocks several times and waits for his hosts to approach him. After about two minutes, a pretty girl opens the door and greets him with genuine kindness in her voice, asking him why he came. He’s a little confused by the pretty girl’s face, so he doesn’t answer right away, but comes to his senses after a couple seconds and asks about Hwang Jiyeon. She asks him to give her time to call her husband. “What can I do for you?” Taehyung freezes a little when he sees the big man, taller than him by a head and as muscular as if he lived in a gym. When Kim was in the hospital, he didn’t pay much attention to his body and height. “Can I have a little talk with you?” The man asks his wife to come into the house, and he asks Taehyung to follow him. They get a little farther away from the house and Jiyeon tells him to start talking as soon as possible, because his daughter is waiting for him and wants to draw together. Taehyung takes a deep breath and begins to explain to him that he is actually in a coma and everything around him is just an illusion that he creates. There is no daughter, no wife, no home, no world. And in order to get back to the world where his real life is, he needs to realize that it’s all unreal, to stop believing in the things that are going on around him, and to want to go back. After the story is over, the two of them stand silent for a moment before the man punches Taehyung in the jaw, knocking him to the ground with the force of the blow. “You’re crazy! Get out of here! And don’t ever set foot here again,” Jiyeon walked back to the house, whispering angrily to herself. The only one on the porch was their daughter, who, after seeing the handsome boy get hit, went and stepped on her daddy’s foot. “I wonder what I was counting on,” the angel gets up from the ground repeatedly shaking it off. He leans two fingers between his eyebrows, concentrates, and after a couple seconds, he returns to his consciousness, starting to wipe his eyes due to the blurry image of everything around him. And once he brings his vision back to normal, he jumps up in fear, startled out of nowhere by the girl who was staring at him absentmindedly. “I almost gave my soul to God,” Taehyung mumbled, clutching his heart and trying to get his breathing back to normal. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” The girl asks unhappily, watching Kim closely. “I’m his friend. We went to school together, and you…” and the angel realizes he just saw her a few minutes ago. “You’re his wife, all right!” “You know me?” “No, I just saw your pictures. By the way, where’s your daughter?” Taehyung looks around the room for the girl he saw a few minutes ago. “She’s not here.” “Is she with her grandmother?” “Uh, no.” “With her aunts and uncles?” “No.” “At daycare?” “No, she’s…” “Maybe she’s in…” But she doesn’t let Taehyung finish, shouting over him and saying something he clearly didn’t expect to hear, something that seems to make him breathe harder, because it doesn’t fit with what he saw earlier. “She’s dead. She’s gone. Our daughter is gone,” she tries to catch her breath from the sudden bout of aggression, wiping away the tears that are slowly rolling down her cheek. “I’m sorry, I had no idea.” “You’re the one who apologizes for this outburst of emotion. It’s still hard to take,” she sits down on the hospital bed, resting her skinny hand on her husband’s arm. What Taehyung dislikes most is re-tearing people’s wounds, making them relive what happened over and over again. It’s painful, unbearable, and hard. You try to accept what happened, trying to block out the pain with something pleasant, but if something or someone comes along that reminds you of the past and makes you relive it all over again, it’s all for naught. Angel doesn’t like to bring up the subject of his late parents who gave their lives here on Earth. Because it takes him back to the moment when he found out they were gone. When everyone was expressing their condolences, regrets, and he just wanted to be alone, so that no one would touch him and so that the phrases “Poor boy, how will he be without his parents now” would not reach his ears, making things worse. And when he asks about their daughter, he can’t stand the pain in his mother’s eyes, and he turns away to the window. He doesn’t want to hear the desperation in her voice, so if he could cover his ears, he would have done so long ago. He leaves the room, leaving the girl alone after learning everything he needs to know. As it turns out, when they went on a joint vacation, the girl ran away from her parents to the pool, expressing a desire to show her dolly the beautiful blue water where they would soon be swimming. As she crouched down to touch the water, she failed to keep her balance and fell into the water. The parents ran as fast as they could, but didn’t make it in time. The father blamed himself for what happened and still does, because his daughter was his happiness, the meaning of his life, not counting his wife, the most long-awaited child. So Taehyung determined for himself that it was worth pushing on this man’s weak spot, to help him realize that where he was now was an illusion, and that he himself was in a coma, and his wife and mother were waiting for him. Which is why he is in Jiyeon’s room forty minutes later, with his wife’s permission of course, scoping out what will serve as clear evidence and make him come to his senses. “Is that so,” Angel whispers, having lost all hope after half an hour of searching, and now he’s looking at a sheet that’s folded in half and signed “letter to daughter”. Taehyung unfolds it and begins to read: “Hello, my lovely daughter. I’m so sorry, darling, so sorry. You could have been with us now and I could have avoided writing this unnecessary letter. I miss you terribly. Your smile, your laughter, your questions, your cards and drawings, your affectionate “Daddy”. I hope you’re out there relaxing, enjoying yourself. I wish I were there instead of you… Daddy promised to always be there for you, didn’t he? But Daddy couldn’t do it. Daddy’s the protector and pillar of the family? But you weren’t so lucky. I’m trying to protect your mom now, because it’s harder on her. I’ll try to make up for lost time. Just come to me in my dreams, okay? That’s the only time I can be with you. Honey, Daddy misses you so much. I don’t even have the strength to clean your room. It’s the only place where I can feel like you’re there. Mommy misses you, too, and Grandma. I can’t even imagine how you must have felt. You must have been screaming for help, hoping to be pulled out of the water. We pulled you out when you were blue and not breathing. We couldn’t, I couldn’t. Daughter, come to me in a dream and tell me that…” Taehyung slams the letter shut, no longer reading the contents. He only weeps softly, feeling the tragedy the family has experienced. The loss of a child, the lack of a way to make things right, it’s unbearable. And not everyone can bear it. Tears roll down his cheeks, leaving an incomprehensible trail, and Angel wipes them away with the palm of his hand, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm down and move forward with the only hope that it will work. He stuffs the letter in his pocket and walks out. He gets to the hospital in a depressed state, praying to everything in this world to make things work. Taehyung rejoices when he finds no one in Jiyeon’s room besides the vast array of machines that keep him alive. He slowly walks over to his bed, sitting on the edge, and begins to look at the man who needs to be saved. Angel thinks he will be cruel when he tries to bring him back, bringing him back from the sweet lie that his daughter is alive and well to the bitter truth. That’s going to be hard to bear. Kim concentrates on his palms, directing all his energy there, and in a couple of seconds his hands begin to glow white. It’s a beautiful sight. “What are you doing?” Taehyung turns his head and sees a girl in the passage, closing the door behind her and entering the room."Why are your hands glowing? I’m going to call security!” “Let me explain.” The girl, not trusting him at all, gave him a chance and began to listen attentively to Taehyung’s whole story and explanation. He began to speak and it didn’t take a couple seconds before her face creased in misunderstanding. It seemed like nonsense to her and she wanted to stop all this idle chatter until she heard him say that it could help her husband out of his coma. “Are you a hypnotist?” Angel nodded. “And you can help my husband out of his coma if you get inside his head?” Taehyung nodded once more."Fantastic. All right, fine. Do your thing, but I’m only letting you do it because I’ve lost any hope.” “Thank you. I’ll try to help you and your husband.” " I’ll come with you.” “What? No, listen.” “You listen to me! My husband’s life is at stake, and if there’s any chance of saving him, I’ll take it, and even more so, I’ll take part in it myself. So you’re going to get inside my husband’s head with just me. Do I make myself clear?” This girl was clearly different from the one who had met him in Jiyeon’s mind. Taehyung, arriving in shock at her insistence, simply nodded his head and beckoned her over to finally try his luck. His hands began to glow again, causing a look of surprise on the girl’s face. Angel asks her to put her hand on his shoulder so she can move with him, and she tries with all her appearance to show that everything is under control, but Kim can feel her fear, her excitement. And he clearly feels proud of her. Of her determination. Her strength. After a couple seconds, they find themselves sitting in front of the house that Taehyung had gotten to last time. Usually traveling like this takes a toll on their health, so the dizziness made them sit for a while, bringing themselves to their senses. After recovering and coming to their senses a bit, they stand up and walk closer, looking around. Taehyung says something to her, but she just nods without answering, stunned by everything that’s going on. Then the angel hears a soft cry behind him. Turning around, he sees a girl with tears in her eyes, covering her mouth with her hand and looking somewhere behind him. He turns back around and sees Jiyeon chopping wood and a little girl sitting next to him, eating a bun. This is definitely cruel. Taehyung holds her by the shoulder when he sees that she was about to walk up to them, smiling happily. In this world, one can easily and simply lose touch with reality, imbued with wonder and happiness. After all, everything she wanted is here for her: her beloved husband, the house created by the efforts of the two of them, and most importantly, her daughter. A living, healthy daughter. Attractive for people who have scooped shit in their lives. He asks her to stay here while he goes to her husband’s house to show her the letter he got from his room. “I beg your pardon,” Taehyung walks slowly toward the man with the axe, not wanting to turn into chunks of meat if he turns around or tosses the axe aside. “There you go again, you psycho. Sunshine, come to mommy,” the girl runs back home, and Kim continues: “It’s nice. But let’s get to the point. What I’m standing in front of you now for,” the angel pulls a letter out of his pocket, holding it out to Jiyeon. “You must read it. Realize that everything around you is an illusion. You wrote this to your daughter in the real world. She, unfortunately, has gone to the next world.” The animosity in the man’s gaze made goosebumps run all over Taehyung’s body. Not everyone would want to listen to a man who was determined to prove that you were in a coma, that everything around you wasn’t true, that your daughter wasn’t alive, even though she’d run away just a few seconds ago, dropping a bun on the ground. Angel doesn’t notice any emotions on Jiyeon’s face, just an emotionless expression from which you don’t know what to expect. He watches him for a couple of seconds, and then smiles back when he sees a slight smile appear on his face. Taehyung feels like he’s been sweating a hundred times while he’s been waiting for at least some kind of response or emotion. The man gives the letter to Taehyung, who calmly puts it back so that he doesn’t forget to give it back when he comes out of the coma. That’s just the laugh disappears when he sees a man walking quickly towards him, who aims an axe at him and is ready to throw it at any second, which he does, but misses because Kim manages to jump away. “An overgrown pig, damn you,” the angel swears, starting to run away from the evil big guy, who rushes at him at the speed of light, leaving the axe somewhere aside. He doesn’t understand why the stomping of feet that chased him and almost caught up with him stopped abruptly and he somehow managed to escape, which was almost impossible. Taehyung turns his head to his right side in confusion and sees that his wife, who he had previously asked to hide, is standing in front of him, her palm touching his face, gently stroking it with her thumb. He is both angry with her and grateful at the same time. “Honey, he’s telling the truth.” “Are you with him or something? How did you get outside so fast?” “Come back to us here. Home.” “We’re home, sweetheart. Have you been drinking? If not, why are you talking like that?” The woman doesn’t have time to answer anything as the same voice behind him calls out to him, forcing him to turn his full attention to her. The other wife, who is her only in illusion, approaches them, and Jiyeon runs his eyes from one girl to the other, who look quite identical, and understands nothing, refusing to believe what he sees. “Which one of you is my real wife?” “I am!” the girls say at the same time, looking at each other with displeasure after a joint answer. “Mom, why does this lady look like you? Are you sisters?” a little girl runs up to her mother, and a true wife tries not to look into her daughter’s eyes, raising her own to the sky. She knows that now her daughter is an angel who watches from above, but this illusion is so sweet and so alluring, but she does not allow her to take over herself. “Look, I don’t know why you came here or why that woman looks like my wife. But I already have a family that’s healthy. I have a daughter. So please get out of here.” They were about to leave, warning one last time to leave them alone or the cops would be here in five minutes. But his wife couldn’t let her favorite man go so easily, can’t give up and say goodbye to the man who brought so much happiness and harmony to her life, so she tries one more time, grabbing the arm of the man who turned around and turns to her. “Listen here and just try to interrupt how you like to do it. How can you leave me like this in this life? I can’t live without you, you fucking egoist! Every day I go to your hospital bed, praying to all the gods that you will meet me awake. Do you have any idea what it’s like to lose two dear people?” She’s crying so hard, tearing her throat out, that even Taehyung has the urge to stop her. “This is not our daughter! She never liked bread rolls. She always liked the gummy bear you bought her on the way to school. But she’s gone! And you have to accept it. You have to come back for her, for me and Mom, and for our son.” The girl pulls out a photo of an ultrasound from under a case that shows a pregnancy that has just recently begun. He looks at the photo and can’t believe his eyes for the second time. “And you said the daughter was ours, but I recently found a certificate saying you were infertile,” Jiyeon states in a hoarse voice, looking at the other wife and daughter, who is silent and holding onto her mom’s leg. The ground begins to shake, leaving the ground beneath our feet, the sky is covered with black clouds, covering the clear sun, the nearby sea rises in a huge tsunami, the waves of which begin to sweep away homes and families. The wind rises with insane force, ripping out trees along with their roots. Taehyung almost flies away, trying to get closer to the girl, who clings to the ground with her hands and feet, trying not to fly to the other side of the street. The other wife and daughter disappeared as if they didn’t exist, leaving the man alone. The angel grabs the girl’s hand, and just until they are crushed by a huge boulder, he makes them back to the correct reality by putting two fingers between their eyebrows. Abruptly waking up, they start breathing deeply to bring themselves back to their senses from the previous adventure. It was scary as hell. But it seems the past circumstances become dust and no longer matter when the machine starts beeping, causing Taehyung and his wife to panic terribly, scaring them that maybe it didn’t work. Several doctors rush into the room, immediately running up to the patient and checking his condition. The doctors ask them to move farther away so they have more room to move around. His wife, fingers crossed, began to recite a prayer, leaving Taehyung puzzled. Even he doesn’t recite prayers, to be frank, which is not at all typical of an angel. Kim feels like the whole world is falling away from under his feet as the doctors move away from the patient, disconnecting one of the machines. The girl, laughing hysterically and crying, goes straight into Taehyung’s arms, seeking support in his warmth. She begins to realize that there is no one else, except for the particle her husband left behind shortly before the accident. The wife settles to the floor, no longer feeling strength in her body and legs. Kim swears he saw desperation and unwillingness to live in her eyes. “Welcome,” says the doctor. “It’s good to see you back with us.” Taehyung and his wife, hearing the doctor’s words, jump up from their seats, running over to the bed where the now conscious man looks at them with a slight smile. He is still weak, because he has given all his strength not to go to the next world. But he finds the strength to lightly squeeze the hand of his wife, who embraces him and cries, dropping tears on the hospital clothes. Angel realizes his work is done, feeling the burning of the third star on his spine. He walks quietly out of the room, covering the door, and strides happily outside, feeling wonderful. The realization that he had something to do with saving people’s lives makes him feel proud of himself. And sure enough all the effort was worth it when he sees a recovered Jiyeon and his wife who has regained her reason to live. “Honey, where is that guy? I didn’t even get a chance to thank him,” the wife asks, a couple hours after her husband wakes up. “This is the guy who helped us get you out. He’s a hypnotist.” “He’s not a hypnotist, he’s a real angel, or there’s no other way to put it.”