GRR 10

“Hey, why did you stop talking? That’s a bad habit, Kwon Chasa.”

Yeomra grumbled and put another piece of yakgwa into her mouth. If Yeomra were a human rather than a god, she would have easily fallen ill due to her bad eating habits of excessively liking sweets. Chasa Kwon, having driven away all thoughts with a short sigh, decided to talk about work first.

He opened the register and saw a name written on the very first page: ‘Yoo Kanghyun.’

“Who failed to resolve this, causing it to reach this state?”

“Jeong Chasa, No. 283. Things got a bit complicated along the way, and he was slightly late. Besides, that soul, he doesn’t look it, but he’s stubborn deep down. They went back several times to bring him in, but they didn’t get any results.”

Yoo Kanghyun. Died on February 11, 20XX. Age of twenty-two at the time of death. Cause of death: Asphyxiation due to fire.

As he flipped through the pages, he saw that the man had lived a life ordinary enough that there would have been no issue with him reincarnating as a human, provided he had arrived in the underworld on time. He was a righteous man who had lost his life because he couldn’t escape the smoke-filled building while saving others during the fire.

Even though he was at a point where he could aim for reincarnation in the Celestial Realm rather than the Human Realm, he stubbornly insisted on remaining in this world and accumulating karma, effectively twisting his own fate.

“What’s the deadline?”

“Can you bring him in within five days? I’ll send Cheonjo and Gamsu to Mount Sacheon, so once you have him, hand him over to them immediately. I’ll take care of the rest.”

When a soul crosses a hongsalmun and reaches the underworld, they must first cross Mount Sacheon. Depending on the life they lived in the living world, they face different mountain terrains. Those who disturbed the order of heaven and earth, like the souls Kwon Chasa usually escorted, had to pass through the high and treacherous Mount Sacheon. Since a grim reaper also had to cross the mountain to bring the soul to King Jingwang, the first of the Ten Kings, Yeomra’s command to hand over the soul immediately after crossing the hongsalmun was welcome news.

“At least his record is clean, so there shouldn’t be any issues with him reincarnating as a human.”

“If he’d come sooner, I would have sent him to the Celestial Realm.”

Yeomra clicked her tongue and put the last yakgwa in her mouth. Kwon Chasa stared indifferently at her as she looked at the empty plate with a wistful expression, then closed the register. Now that he had grasped the details of the deceased to some extent, it was best to descend to the living world and handle the remaining matters himself.

“You never know, so it would be better to bring him over as soon as possible. I’m starting to feel self-conscious about having to explain everything in detail to the other kings.”

Kwon Chasa didn’t show much of a reaction to Yeomra’s candid confession. His mind was filled with nothing but the desire to escape this tedious task as quickly as possible. To do that, he also needed to settle the business he had encountered in the mortal world.

“Great King Yeomra.”

“…Why so serious all of a sudden? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Do you perhaps have a guilty conscience about something?”

At Yeomra’s unusual reaction, Kwon Chasa tilted his head and raised the pitch of his voice. Yeomra cleared her throat and gestured with her chin for him to speak. Kwon Chasa stroked his chin for a moment, then spoke in a calm voice.

“I intend to erase the memory of a living person.”

“Hmm? Why so suddenly?”

“Because I met a human whose spiritual eyes are fully open. He could see ghosts, and he even saw me and Yu Chasa.”

There are occasionally humans who can see ghosts. The types of spirits one can see vary depending on how open one’s spiritual eyes are; however, the young man who helped guide Jung Suho could see not only ghosts but even grim reapers, and converse with them without hesitation. At that level, his spiritual eyes could be considered fully opened.

Unlike ordinary humans, those with opened spiritual eyes are highly susceptible to the influence of entities or things of the underworld. As the underworld energy accumulates, they become more visible to ghosts, and all kinds of evil spirits cling to them, sometimes leading to illnesses of unknown origin or possession.

Therefore, on the rare occasion they are spotted by a human with open spiritual eyes, a grim reaper must, within a week, have that human drink water from Mount Dongdae to purify the underworld energy. This was because the beings possessing the strongest underworld energy were none other than grim reapers.

While it wasn’t strictly necessary to erase the memories, he brought it up to Yeomra because he didn’t want to leave even the slightest room for future trouble.

“I suppose those kinds of humans still exist…. Their lives must be quite exhausting.”

“He was bringing fatigue upon himself”.

The reason he showed mercy and gave a chance to the person who had been so confident that he could somehow change Jung Suho’s mind was entirely because he hoped that he would gain enlightenment through this experience.

He wanted him to realize how dangerous it was to get involved with the dead and how heavy and terrifying the weight of that promise was.

Kwon Chasa hoped the human would realize this and never again pretend to know a soul. In the end, that would be for the human’s own good.

At the bottom of his mind, he also thought that the human being would be unable to accomplish it. He believed that if he humiliated him for failing, his pride would be so hurt that he would never again make a promise carelessly to the deceased, but his prediction was spectacularly wrong.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Jung Suho resolved his grievances with the human’s help and left the living world safely. Although he was displeased that things hadn’t gone as he’d hoped, the matter had concluded well enough since the human had kept the promise and avoided harm.

Even though cleaning up the mess afterwards would be a hassle, it wasn’t impossible. He just had to get it over with quickly.

“Have you given him the spring water?”

“Not yet. I’ll have him drink it before I erase the memories.”

“Right… I’m sure you’ll handle it well on your own. Let me know once it’s resolved.”

“Yes.”

Kwon Chasa bowed to Yeomra to signal his departure and turned around. Although it felt unsettling that a human had interfered on his very first day of service (after a long time) in the living world, he decided to quickly resolve the situation. He had much work ahead of him and could not afford to get bogged down in such matters.

I guess I’ll have to meet that brat first.

Kwon Chasa stepped out of Yeomra’s palace without hesitation, unaware that Yeomra’s piercing gaze was following him from behind.

 ***

Today marked the sixth day since Suho was sent to the underworld. It is said that seven days after a person dies and goes to the afterlife, they face their first judgment, Suho must be walking the path to the underworld to receive that judgment.

Was Kwon Chasa sticking by Suho’s side the whole way? For some reason, it felt like he wouldn’t take the child’s side in front of the Ten Kings; instead, he would be the one leading the charge to send him to hell. It also felt like he would point a blade at Suho to threaten him to walk faster, and yell at him that he deserved to be punished for his sins.

Are grim reapers originally that merciless? In old stories, there are plenty of grim reapers who are much more human-like…

Jion ruminated over the question before chuckling to himself. Would he ever even have another chance to see a grim reaper in his life? When he was young, it had happened by chance because of his mother, and Suho’s situation was a coincidence. Since their main residence was the underworld, he likely wouldn’t see a grim reaper again until the day he died.

He should stop thinking about it.

That annoying guy… why bother thinking about a grim reaper? It only puts me in a bad mood. Jion shook his head and checked the time. It was already nearly 11:00 PM.

From Monday to Thursday, a college student four years older than Jion worked the night shift, but since the manager handled Friday nights, today he just had to hand things over to the manager. Jion closed the workbook and began checking the cash balance in advance. No one had paid with cash while he was working, but he was checking once more just in case.

Just as Jion finished the quick cash check and was rubbing his slightly hungry stomach, the bell tinkled as the door opened.

“Welco–”

Jion stood up. He straightened his clothes and turned his eyes toward the door. If it was a customer, he’d greet them politely; if it was the manager, he’d greet him warmly. With those thoughts, Jion couldn’t finish his greeting and his eyes widened. The person who had walked into the convenience store was neither a customer nor the manager.

“Uh, uh….”

It was the annoying grim reaper he had been cursing in his head dozens of times just moments ago: Kwon Chasa.

Jion stared at the approaching face, unable to close his gaping mouth. Kwon Chasa, who had appeared in an untidy suit again today, was not holding the buwol in his hand. He looked at his surroundings with interest, then picked up a lollipop placed in front of the cashier and examined it from all angles.

“How did you get… here….”

Jion hurriedly looked around to see if a soul was wandering around there. Although ghosts occasionally drifted into the convenience store, no one was seen today, and the place was eerily quiet.

Or maybe he wasn’t here for a soul? Then does that mean he came to see me? Did he know I was cursing him and come to pick a fight? But… how did he know where I was?

Jion bit his parched lips and stepped back. However, bumping into the cigarette stand made it impossible to get any further away from him.

Why would a grim reaper have a reason to come down to the living world? As Jion raised this fundamental question, he instantly turned pale and froze.

…He came to take me away? Am I going to die today?