Chapter three- The Underworld
Hwon began to wake up, and as his eyes slowly opened, he said, "Where am I?" As his eyes opened, he saw the cat in front of him. The cat said, "You're awake." Hwon, still not fully himself, said, "Where are we?" As he looked around, they were on some kind of marble and golden bridge, and underneath it was a river of lava flowing endlessly. He saw demons whipping people to carry huge stones with their bare hands; it seemed like they were building something. One of the demons looked in Hwon's direction, but Hwon quickly hid. The cat then said, "Try not to look into the underworld; otherwise, it will pull you in. Or should I say, they will. And touch nothing."
Hwon suddenly hit with the realization that he was dead, asked, "Am I really dead? Is this hell?" The cat replied, "Well, close. This is the underworld." Hwon paused for a second and asked, "Wait, you can talk?" The cat replied, "Is this the best time for questions like that?" Hwon then asked, "How did you even get here?" The cat replied, "None of that is important. Let's just go." "Go where?" asked Hwon. "You'll see," the cat replied.
Hwon and the cat had been walking for a while, and as they walked, Hwon saw different kinds of creatures and monsters on the way, from regular demons to demonic beasts and dragons. There were so many that Hwon saw. The cat yelled in front, "Hurry up unless you want to get lost here." As Hwon hurried up to meet the cat, he noticed that it had gotten bigger in size. "It almost looks like a puma, well, if a puma had a weird color," Hwon thought.
The cat told Hwon to stop and look forward. Hwon looked forward and saw a huge gate made of gold and different minerals, with the design of a huge ominous looking skeleton with a black shadowy robe and golden and diamond rings on its hand, along with a golden crown on its head, sitting on a crimson throne. Hwon thought to himself, "I could have sworn that wasn't there before. Where did it come from? Oh well, I guess we have to go in." Hwon went forward, wanting to push the gates open, but then the cat stopped him and said, "Didn't I say you should touch nothing?"
Suddenly, a dark voice said, "Why warn him? I could have gotten a new piece to add to my collection." The doors started to creak open slowly. As the doors opened, Hwon saw a huge throne similar to the design on the door, and on it, the same ominous looking skeleton, which was also on the door, but this one was way bigger. As they walked inside, Hwon saw treasures of all kinds all over the place, as if it was a dragon's den, usually described in fairy tales. As Hwon looked at the treasures lying around, a loud, enticing voice similar to his own voice began speaking in his head, "Look at all this treasure. Just a single coin from this is enough to change our entire life. The life we've lived up till now would be a distant memory if you had just a little fraction of this. So just take one, take it and forever live the life of a king. You could have everything you've ever wanted, so just take it." Hwon's eyes began to change to the color black, as if he was under a spell. As Hwon's hands got closer to the treasure, a huge grin appeared on the skeleton's face.
A voice yelled, "What did I tell you? Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" Hwon quickly snapped back to reality, looking for the cat, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead, a young-looking woman with black hair and cat ears on her head stood there. Hwon said, "Wait, are you the cat?" The young-looking woman looked at him and smiled.
As the skeleton moved, the whole place began to shake, and a dark voice came out of it, "You're no fun, are you guys just going to stand there all day?" The skeleton's grin stretched across its face, its eyes glowing with an unnatural light. The skeleton emitted a black, reddish aura that made it hard to even breathe. Hwon, unable to handle it, fell to the ground, his vision blurring as he struggled to breathe. The skeleton said to them, pressuring them with his aura, "State your business. I grow tired of your company." The lady, who was on her knees, bowed and said, "I greet the Great Sovereign of Death, King of the Underworld." The skeleton replied, "At least one of you has proper manners. Speak." As he released his aura, Hwon, who was now able to breathe, remained on the floor with his head bowed.
The lady began to speak, saying, "I have come in the place of my master to request that you allow this young man to return to the world of the living." The skeleton asked, "And why should I be obliged to do so?" The lady replied, "Could we talk in private? He is not yet ready to know of this." The skeleton said, "So you haven't told him yet. You know he is bound to find out eventually."
The skeleton sighed and snapped his fingers, teleporting Hwon to another space. "I already know why you're here, so let's not prolong this. After all, it's a favor I owe to him, so it's time I repay it. But I can't just allow a dead soul to leave just like that."
The lady asked, with a surprised face, "What do you mean?" The skeleton grinned and said, "Let's make a bet, with the young man's life at stake. Let's see if he can survive in this underworld for 10 years. If he can survive in this place for that amount of time and find his way back here, then I'll let him go with no conditions. But if he fails, he'll slave away in this place for eternity."
The lady, unable to oppose, quietly agreed to the bet. "Oh, and that's right," the skeleton added. "He must not be aware of the bet, the young man that is. Now, I believe I have other things to do. You may now leave." He snapped his fingers, and the whole space began to distort and the throne room vanished. Hwon and the lady were together again.
Hwon asked, "How did it go?" With a sad look on her face, she said, "I'm afraid you're going to have to be on your own for the time being. But I'll come back for you, so you have to survive no matter what." As Hwon was about to ask what she meant, the floor underneath him opened up, and he fell into the underworld. He heard her say again, "SURVIVE," and then Hwon blacked out.