Jeju Jejune

I feel relaxed… as if my head has been emptied of all thought… I couldn't manage anything meaningful right now…

It is March, and here on Jeju Island, spring is showing its first signs. I am still penniless and in debt, but I’m taking a mini-vacation, sipping soju and enjoying the local scenery. The temperature is hardly staggering, a mere eight degrees Celsius. But the sun feels nice. 



Why am I here? Well, because I was kicked out in the middle of those Korean gambling games. They claimed I wouldn't let myself be eliminated. That I cheated! Is it my fault the games had a ghost-sized loophole? Being bulletproof, I considered myself the undisputed winner of the stupid money games. You can’t make me any more lifeless than I already am, so just shut your pie hole and give me the prize money! 

Well, they ran their mouths for a while, folded me up neatly, and tossed me into the trunk of a car once again. I took a long nap there, and some days later, I found myself on Jeju Island at the foot of a volcano.

The last time I found myself at the foot of a volcano, I was in Pompeii. I was in the prime of my life! I can still vividly remember how poetry flowed in my veins like a fiery stream… and how the verses I painted on the walls glowed like lava… and how that damn volcano erupted all over me. It took me decades to dig myself out from under the debris, and in this lifelessness, I have never again reached that same creative eruption. 

I’m starting to feel like I’ve had enough of traveling in Asia. I long for my home country, though I don’t know why, as they don’t appreciate me there at all. I suppose I should hitch a ride on one of those passing fishing boats, return to Seoul, and somehow secure a flight home. Mark my words: the next chapter of my story will be titled “On My Way to Finland”!

...

Next Chapter: On My Way to Japan

Previous Chapter: I Took a Calculated Risk 

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