Tong Mei blinked warily.
"Where am I...?"
She twisted her head around to survey her surroundings.
White walls.
White floors.
No furniture.
No doors.
"Oh gods," she mumbled. "I'm stuck in a snow globe..."
An exaggerated cough from behind her disturbed the beginnings of her panic attack.
Whirling on her heels, Tong Mei's eyes widened as they gazed upon --
A tall beautiful person with long flowing hair and smooth creamy skin, dressed in majestic white robes that were more elegant than anything Tong Mei had ever seen before --
A complete stranger.
Yes, Tong Mei thought to herself absentmindedly. There was no way she'd ever met someone like this creature before her.
Not to say that Tong Mei's circle of acquaintances were particularly unattractive or anything, but this person before her was completely out of her league - and that was just on a walking-near-her bystander level. Her parents were both above average in looks, her brother the lone inheritor of outstanding physical traits. Her neighbors were dignified and well-put together, looking like the Board of Directors in a Korean CEO romance drama. Her friends were cute at the very least and her classmates... well, there wasn't anyone hideous.
She was sure that no one THIS ATTRACTIVE could've been in a twenty mile radius of her without her notice.
"Ahem."
Blinking furiously so that her eyes could adjust to this new and frankly never-before-seen level of beauty, Tong Mei finally paid full attention.
"Hello. Who are you? Where am I? Why are you here? With me?" she blurted.
The beautiful person stared for a moment. "Hello... I am a God. You are in Purgatory. I am here because I rule all of Hell. I am here with you because you are a Mistake I must eradicate."
Ah. She really should have expected that her good fortune in seeing such a beauty would come at a price.
Was it worth it?
Tong Mei took her time staring at the person, slowly admiring the sheen of the long silky hair against pale ivory skin. Exquisite lips frowned at her, but she concentrated instead on that luscious glow of rosiness painting that unparalleled mouth...
... Yes, it was worth it.
"So," she started awkwardly once her gaze began to trail south. "You're A god. Meaning one. Meaning there's more than one, huh?"
The beauty shortly replied, "Yes."
"Which one are you?"
"I am Death."
Oof.
"Death?" she forced out, slight apprehension finally catching in her voice. "I'm dead?"
Death patiently answered, "Yes."
"Oh gods --"
"But no."
"Oh thank the --"
Death cut in, probably feeling a bit tired of this rather one sided conversation. Though Death was an immortal and eternal entity, it did not feel the need to waste its time on the likes of her. "You're not quite dead. By my calculations, you are actually half dead and perhaps closer to three-quarters dead. This is Purgatory, which means you are in-between."
"Oh."
Tong Mei felt her knees weaken and looked around for a chair or a wall to lean on for support. Her hands instead fell through white air, leaving her prone body to lean forward rather impotently.
Although she was accustomed to humiliating herself or putting herself into embarrassing situations, Tong Mei was not inclined to doing so in front of such a good looking person, let alone an actual god. He, or she -- ?
"Are you a man?" she inquired, rather curious. If she was dead already, what did it matter if she offended someone? "Or are you a woman?"
Was Ariana Grande right after all?
"I am neither because I am not human," Death responded curtly. "I am a God."
"Yes, but --"
Death ignored her attempt at obtaining the answer to a question that millions of human beings had asked since the beginning of time. "Tong Mei, you are a Mistake I must eradicate. I must inform you that your existence is precarious and wasting this precious time here means your existence will soon cease to be."
Tong Mei shut up. Even if her life was pretty terrible, it wasn't like she didn't like living or existing. If she didn't exist, how could she continue her Cardcaptor Sakura figurine collection or her streak of binge-watching the latest Korean dramas? HOW COULD SHE EVER FINISH READING HARRY POTTER?
When it seemed that she was willing to stay still and not ask stupid questions, Death decided to continue. "You are a Mistake," he repeated. "It is because of this that you have lived the life you did, full of misfortune and catastrophe. As a Mistake, you have endured many unfair trials at an unseemly cost. And because you, the Mistake, suffer these events due to the Gods' own negligence, We are willing to compensate by giving you another chance."
By the gods, Tong Mei grumbled internally. Did Death have to say she was a mistake that many times??
"All human beings are actually halves of a whole soul," explained Death. "In your world, each person shares the same soul with another. A correct pair of soul-halves is what you would call a Soulmate pair. For example, your mother's soul is actually the matching half of your father's soul. Together, they complete each other as a whole."
Ugh, her parents. Sickly sweet and constantly pawing at each other... Tong Mei wondered if they knew she was dead.
"When the Gods first created humans, they decided to save their energy and just slice souls in half rather than creating each individual one. This is why soulmates exist like your parents exist. However, when they sliced your soul from your matching pair, they made a Mistake."
So even gods couldn't take shortcuts, hmm.
"Instead of allotting you 50% of all the soul's assets, you were given far less and your soulmate was given far more. This includes your luck," Death rumbled on, a trace of pity in his or her exquisite eyes. "You possess a deficit in fortune because all of it was assigned mistakenly to your partner instead."
"Are you effing kidding me."
All her life, she thought it was just her own fault that everything went wrong in every way possible. Oh, my gaydar's just wonky. Ah, I just really shouldn't have eaten three platters of salmon rolls by myself. Eh, I should not have worn a skirt on a windy day. Uh, landing in prison and then dying prematurely was not a great idea.
Tong Mei felt a rage bubbling through her veins. She'd been blaming herself and exerting so much effort to avoid these bursts of unluckiness that this new information was really feeding the fire of her temper. For so long, Tong Mei forced herself to stay happy and optimistic, blinking away tears by gritting her teeth and clenching her fists quietly to endure. Humiliation after humiliation, indignity after indignity - and then, all of her pain and suffering suddenly came to an end and she couldn't even enjoy the good parts of her life anymore.
"Are. You. Effing. Kidding. Me." she growled at Death. "All this time and it wasn't even my fault?? You're gods!!! How did you make me a Mistake?"
Death looked away. "We acknowledge that you are a Mistake. Because of this, We are allowing you to have a second chance, to live again as you should. You died far too early, earlier than your first fated meeting with your soulmate. Your soulmate would have saved you - by becoming one with your soulmate, you would have balanced your deficits with assets."
Tong Mei wrestled with her urge to punch Death. "How bad is the imbalance?"
"... your luck levels are in the negatives," answered Death dutifully. "Your share of all assets is much lesser than the half you were supposed to receive."
"ALL assets?"
"Yes - beauty, wealth, talent, brains, charisma --"
Tong Mei shrieked. "Are you saying I could've been a sexy billionaire philanthropist playgirl?"
Skeptically, Death shook his head. "Even with assets evenly split between the two of you, you likely would not have been what you just described."
"..."
Death suddenly gestured for her to come closer before grabbing her clammy hand and placing something metallic and cold around her finger.
"... Are YOU my soulmate?" she asked.
Death glanced at her in the sort of way that teachers looked at particularly stupid students.
"This is a Fortune Ring," Death said. "It stores luck and is capable of 'stealing' luck from others. However, it is merely a temporary fix and I am loaning it to you only so that you do not die upon reviving. Your lack of luck is that dire."
Tong Mei couldn't retort. It was true.
She studied the delicate ring on her finger carefully; it was a beautiful-looking piece of jewelry and something she never would have worn before for fear of losing it. A thin but strong silver band curled around her left middle finger as if it had been crafted for her, with a small cluster of pale amethysts forming a single plum blossom at the top. She had to smile at her namesake flower adorning her finger. It was likely the loveliest thing she had ever touched with her clumsy hands.
"So, I can live again as long as I wear this ring?"
"Yes."
"Oh, thank the gods - "
"- But no."
Tong Mei wanted to stamp her feet.
Death sighed. "The maximum amount of temporary luck I can store is enough to sustain you for 24 hours. You can keep refilling this amount by earning the admiration or affection from others' souls, but your luck levels will continue to drop naturally. Only people who are willing to share their luck will be able to refill your ring. You MUST NOT let this ring's luck levels fall to zero, or else you will simply die again."
"The only way to fix your unluckiness and impending doom is to find and become one with your proper soulmate. Your soulmate's luck is the only way to permanently offset your misfortune. In other words, become one with your soulmate or you will inevitably lose your life prematurely once more. After this new life, the Gods can no longer help you; you will die."
"Becoming one, huh..." Tong Mei muttered under her breath, her eyes brightening lasciviously at the idea. 'Becoming one' with a handsome, rich, smart, and most importantly, LUCKY boy... She was literally getting lucky.
Death could only stare in silence as she giggled darkly to herself.
"Tong Mei, I will now send you back to your dead body to the moment of your first death. It will be a particularly difficult experience, but be sure to remember: to live, become one with your soulmate. Also, here is a helpful hint about your soulmate's identity - soulmates always share the same birth date," Death interrupted.
"Oh!" Tong Mei exclaimed. "My first death - how did I die anyway?"
Death did not respond verbally, only giving her another blank look before disappearing in a whirl of white smoke.
Tong Mei wondered if she imagined that final glance of condescending pity from Death.
Ah well, she was going to get a second chance. That's all she really could expect.
"Hmm," she pondered. "So... I'm going to be sent back to Earth to fix a mistake the gods made by finding my soulmate and taking back something that belongs to me in the first place."
Wait a minute.
"Why am I the one doing this?? They're GODS! It's their mistake in the first place and they're all-powerful beings --"
Her voice crackled before silence finally fell, drowning her in intense darkness.