As they made their way toward the festival grounds, Jisung couldn’t hide his awe.
The streets were spotless, flowers lined neatly on both paths of the road. The houses, simple yet beautiful, were surrounded by well-kept gardens. Everything felt alive and well cared for.
"Wow..." The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Sam turned to him with a warm smile. "Cool, huh?"
Jisung nodded enthusiastically.
"I’ll give you the full tour tomorrow," Sam said. "If you still can’t walk, I’ll tie a rope to your legs and drag you around. Call it my little revenge."
A light laugh escaped Jisung. He knew Sam was joking. In the short time they’d spent together, he could already tell the man had a genuinely caring heart. Jisung watched as Sam greeted passing residents with that same easy, warm smile.
As they drew closer to the festival grounds, Jisung gasped. A massive bonfire crackled in the center, casting flickering orange light everywhere.
Nearly a hundred and fifty people danced and laughed around it. Some spinning freely, while others clapping along to the drums. On one side, a long buffet table groaned under countless dishes he couldn’t even name under the firelit sky.
His mouth watered instantly.
"It’s a celebration for new participants," Sam explained. "Not the official welcome. That has its own processes. This is a way to fold new arrivals into the community. A lot of people don’t make it through their Awakening Trials, Jisung."
He stopped.
Jisung blinked. This was the first time he had seen Sam without that easy smile on his face.
"You, me, and everyone sitting around that fire tonight... we’re the lucky ones. So it’s a celebration for every single one of us who came out victorious. After midnight today, we climb that mountain,"
He pointed far ahead.
"...and we mourn those who were lost and pray for their souls to rest peacefully."
Jisung fell quiet for a moment. "That’s very,"
"...Thoughtful?" Sam offered, a smile spread warmly on his face.
Jisung nodded slowly.
Sam smiled gently. "Don’t dwell on it too much. This is Paradise. There won’t be any more suffering here. You can finally... rest your mind."
He carefully helped Jisung down onto a free mat placed against a bench so he could lean back comfortably. Jisung whispered a string of grateful "thank yous" that only made Sam laugh and blush.
"You must be starving," Sam said. "I’ll grab you something to eat."
He jogged off, quickly disappearing into the crowd, smoke, and noise.
Jisung smiled as he watched the lively scene. His body swayed slightly to the rhythm of the drums. He had never felt this free. Yet Sam’s words about the lost participants lingered. He remembered his own trials and how many times he had stared death in the face.
He closed his eyes and offered a silent prayer for the souls who hadn’t made it.
****
Bgrrrrr!
Jisung’s stomach let out another loud growl. ’Damn.’ It had been grumbling for nearly ten minutes now since Sam left.
’Why’s he taking so long?’
Jisung scanned through the crowd but Sam was nowhere in sight.
The crowd caught his attention, and for a while, he forgot about his growling stomach. He watched some of the participants dance and giggled at their funny moves.
He wished he could get up and join them, but even if his legs worked, he knew the problem wouldn’t end there. He didn’t have the confidence to dance in front of everyone.
The only time he had ever "danced" if he could even call it that, was alone, late at night.
He would play songs from his favorite K-pop group, 2wice, and move around without a second thought. But that was only when nobody was watching.
He had never danced in front of another living soul.
He glanced around. Nobody else was sitting alone. Even those who weren’t dancing were gathered in twos and threes, laughing at jokes he couldn’t hear.
Jisung watched them for a moment before looking away.
It didn’t bother him. At least, not much. He had spent most of his life being alone so he was used to it.
Bgrrrrr!
The low growl came again, louder and more violent.
’Curse these useless legs.’ He would have gone to help carry the food himself if he could. The long underwater fight in the trial must have overtaxed his body. It felt like his legs had completely forgotten how to work.
He sighed, pressing a hand to his stomach, then leaned his head back against the bench and stared up at the starry sky.
The festival noise faded into a gentle hum around him. For nearly ten minutes he simply rested, breathing slowly, until he sensed someone approaching.
He smiled. ’Finally!’
"Sam?" he called, sitting up straighter.
The figure stepping into the firelight didn’t look like Sam at all. Jisung squinted, but the bright bonfire behind the person turned them into a glowing silhouette. Their movement was elegant, almost graceful.
It felt like the dramatic entrance scene from a dating show. He giggled at the thought.
Then the figure stepped closer, and his smile vanished.
’It’s a g-g-gi...’
He swallowed hard. His mind was running aimlessly.
She leaned forward with the warmest smile he had ever seen.
"Hi, I’m Ashley." She said.
Jisung’s throat went completely dry. His brain was even drier.
’...A girl?’
"H-Hi... I’m... hehe..."
Jisung laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.
’Shit.’ Words refused to come out of his mouth as memories flooded his mind.
He remembered the last time Daniel had pushed him to ask out the most popular girl in class. It had ended terribly. Their teacher had assigned everyone with a ’secret admirer’ note challenge at the end of the semester, to write a note to the person they secretly admired.
Students wrote names and messages, dropped them in a transparent box. Two days before prom, the teacher would read them aloud. If the recipient liked the note, it became an automatic prom date.
Jisung had been nervous but went along with it. ’It’s highschool, what could go wrong.’ he’d thought.
He spent lunch periods carefully crafting his message, even going the extra mile to add stickers. While reviewing it in the boys restroom, his safe space, Daniel came from nowhere, snatched the note and ran to the classroom.
Jisung had wanted to cease to exist as he ran after him, begging and pleading to give it back. On getting to the class, Daniel was reading it aloud for the whole class to hear.
That memory still haunted him.
Later that day, Daniel and his gang pushed him to actually go ask her out. She’d answered with the most humiliating slap of his life. The slap still echoed in his mind, along with the cruel words she’d shouted for everyone to hear.
Standing in front of him now, Ashley reminded him of that girl. Beautiful, confident, effortlessly graceful. The kind who would have been at the center of attention in high school.
Ashley watched him for a second, then giggled softly and sat beside him on the mat. "What are you thinking so hard about?"
Jisung felt heat rising in his face. He let out an awkward laugh and cut himself off mid-sound, which only made Ashley laugh harder.
’Even her laugh sounds... cute!’ He stared down at his feet.
After a minute of comfortable silence, she spoke again. "You looked lonely sitting here all by yourself, so I came over. I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable."
He shook his head quickly and swallowed. "I-I’m Jisung. Y-Yu Jisung."
She smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you, Yu Jisung."
Almost immediately, footsteps approached. Jisung looked up and let out a huge sigh of relief.
’My doctor... my hero.’ He smiled... until he saw Sam’s face.
Sam was jogging carefully toward them, holding a large tray of food with an extremely apologetic expression. The closer he got, the harder Jisung had to fight not to burst out laughing.
"I am soooo sorry, Jisung!" Sam panted as he arrived, breathing heavily. "I don’t even have an excuse. I thought you’d have fainted from hunger by now."
Sam grinned with relief when he saw Jisung laughing.
"Yeah..." A female voice came from behind Sam. "You guys must already be pretty close." She wore a wide, mischievous grin.
"Yeah. Sam doesn’t run. Ever," a masculine voice added. Both newcomers giggled while Sam rolled his eyes.
"Jisung, meet my unfortunate friends, Angela Taren and Zhang Wu Chen. I believe you’ve already met Ashley Velyn. Everyone, this is Yu Jisung."
Jisung bowed his head slightly in greeting as the group settled comfortably on the bench and mats around him.
Angela spoke first. "Woah. Respectful ’and’ handsome. Sam, I don’t see the psycho you were talking about."
Jisung gasped and stared at Sam in shock. "Meee... psycho?"
"Angela!" Sam yelped.
"What?!" She laughed. "Oh right, it was ’weird strong guy’..."
She didn’t finish before Sam started chasing her around the bonfire. Everyone, including Jisung, burst into laughter.
Jisung noticed Zhang Wu watching him with a small smile. He offered a handshake. Jisung took it warmly.
"Welcome to Paradise," Zhang Wu said softly.
For the second time that day, Jisung felt like he belonged somewhere.