A vast, endless space in a soothing sky-blue color, with its presence here making him feel as if the pure, fresh water and the wide, clear sky had rged to create this refreshing and calming place.
Kogan stood motionless, gazing at this place that seed to have no end. He lifted his eyes slightly upward, and the sky appeared so close that it felt like he could touch it with his hand, yet at the sa ti, it seed incredibly far away.
"Ahem,"a sound ca from behind him.
Kogan turned his head slightly backward and glanced out of the corner of his eye.
He saw a group of young people standing there as well.
He sighed and turned the rest of his body to face them.
"Friend, why are you angry?" one of them asked gently.
"Why am I angry?.. What about now, then?" Kogan smiled softly.
"You look even angrier now."
"Alright, let's talk about the important things now," spoke a young man who seed to radiate an air of leadership.
"We were 32, and now, with the arrival of this friend, we are 33."
"We all appeared in pairs of boys and girls, except for you. Where is your partner?" he pointed toward Kogan.
"I don't have a female partner. My partner is an old man, and we were offered as sacrifices together. But he didn't show up with ," Kogan said, glancing around.
"An offering? What do you an you were offered as a sacrifice?" one of the boys in the group asked.
'So, this place isn't just for sacrifices. Tsk, I've exposed myself,' Kogan thought.
"Your partner is supposed to be a girl. Look, there are 16 boys and 16 girls," the young man with the commanding aura explained.
One of the girls added, "I heard an annoying bell ringing in my head, and then I found myself in a dark tunnel. From that strange bell, I understood I had to move forward."
Her partner added, "And that's how, when she reached the end of the tunnel, she t , and here we appeared."
"It was the sa for us."
"And us too."
The group spoke in pairs, confirming the sa experience.
Kogan's mind was clouded with confusion. Just monts ago, the dearest person to him was killed in front of his eyes, burned after being sold out by his own parents. Yet, here he was, still alive in this strange place.
In truth, he wasn't even sure if he was alive or dead, or if this was the realm where souls gathered after death.
No one had ntioned their death, and they all seed as though they were prepared to co here. Each of them wore clean, almost noble attire, in stark contrast to him in his loose white garnt and bare feet.
He looked like soone on his way to hell, while the others, in their elegant clothing, seed destined for heaven.
He tried to shake off the anger that filled him and began to calm his confused mind. What happened had happened, and there was no way to change it.
Now, he had to think about what was happening here, what he should do, and how to act.
He lowered his head to look at his feet. The ground was like a mirror—shiny, glass-like, without a single scratch or speck of dirt on it.
What he saw was a young man with slightly long black hair and loose white clothes. It was his reflection.
"Why am I the only one with a reflection?" He looked at the ground beneath him, where all the others were standing.
As he was lost in thought, a girl glanced at him. She wore a neat white shirt with a black short skirt, black long stockings, and brown shoes. When she saw him looking at the glassy floor, she imdiately covered the area between her legs, a look of disgust and embarrassnt on her face.
'So that's how it is,' Kogan thought as he lifted his eyes toward her. She had moved behind the others.
"Does anyone have an idea about this place?" The young man with the commanding aura spoke up when he noticed the atmosphere starting to freeze.
"How long have you been here?" Kogan asked.
"A minute before your appearance, good idea, let's introduce ourselves. Surely there's a common trait that brought us all here," the young man with the commanding aura spoke eagerly.
"I'll start. My na is Shinko, I'm 21 years old, and I work in delivery. I arrived here while preparing to go to work."
"I'm Keiko, Shinko's partner, 18 years old, still studying. I arrived here while I was asleep."
'Does she sleep in these clothes?' Kogan thought as each person finished introducing themselves, his confusion deepening.
"I'm Charlie, 19 years old, I don't work, I don't study, and I don't do anything. I arrived here when I was mastur... I an, when I wasn't doing anything," his hair shaved on the sides, moving his hands as he spoke. He looked like a troublemaker.
"I'm Lily, 19 years old, I appeared here with this thing," she gestured with her thumb towards Charlie.
"This thing?? What do you an by that, you bitch?" Charlie interrupted angrily, but she ignored him and continued introducing herself, "My wedding was supposed to be tomorrow, but it seems I won't be attending." She let out a long sigh.
"Humph," Charlie turned his head and didn't continue speaking.
The group ranged in age from 17 to 24, and they were all wearing good, acceptable, and even elegant clothes.
It was Kogan's turn to introduce himself.
"My na is Kogan, I'm 21 years old, I work in... cooking. I arrived here when I was ... dreaming."
"Why did you ntion being an offering or sothing like that earlier?"
"Right, and why are you barefoot and dirty?"
"And why are your eyes such an odd color?"
"You're the only one who appeared alone. Are you really human? Aren't you here to kill us or sothing like that?"
So of them spoke up, voicing their thoughts. In the end, Kogan was the only one who seed suspicious and different from the rest.
'Before I do anything, I need to understand whether coming here alone is a strength or a weakness.' Kogan felt nothing from their accusations and opinions.
As long as it wasn't about money or authority, he would be fine.
"Let's not make false accusations. We need to—" Shinko, the young man with the commanding aura, suddenly clutched his head.
Everyone else grabbed their heads and groaned in pain. It seed the sound of the bell had returned.
After a few monts, under Kogan's confused gaze, the group looked at each other, and each young man took the hand of the girl who had appeared with him. In the blink of an eye, they vanished from the place.
Kogan stood alone in the spot, looking ridiculous.
'It seems that being alone is a weakness,' he shook his head in sorrow.
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