GRR 18

“Yu Chasa has a rather bold side.”

After suddenly blurting out words no one could make sense of, Yeomra laughed and took a sip of tea. Just as Kwon Chasa was growing weary of the conversation, which circled only around the periphery away from the core issue, Yeomra spoke again.

“Try to meet the living person in a humanized state as much as possible. Make sure he drink the spring water often to keep him purified, and keep a close eye on him to prevent them from getting entangled with vengeful spirits. Well, I’m sure you’ll handle it well on your own even if I don’t explicitly tell you.”

“Are you giving your permission?”

“Yes. I just wanted you to take this opportunity to take an interest in human life again.”

Yeomra looked at Kwon Chasa, who was slightly furrowing his brow, with a benevolent smile on her lips.

“What does that have to do with receiving help from a human?”

Even though Kwon Chasa asked in a slightly agitated voice, Yeomra only smiled.

She still vividly remembered the attitude he displayed hundreds of years ago when he stood trial in Chunma Hell,¹ which was under her jurisdiction, even though he had now lost his name and become ‘Chasa No. 1.’ It was she who had ordered him to perform the duties of a grim reaper instead of sending him to hell, despite him being like an empty shell with no attachment to the life he had abandoned and no hope for a new one.

She took a sip of tea, recalling the distant past. While all the Ten Kings had chosen Kwon as the right person for this mission due to his abilities, there was also a hidden agenda behind it. The human whom Kwon had met might actually be able to help with that ‘other agenda.’

As Kwon Chasa remained silent, having no way of knowing what Yeomra was thinking, she spoke again not long after.

“I do think the fact that his memories aren’t erased is related to his spiritual eyes… but don’t worry too much, I’ll ask the Jade Emperor about it. Anyway, he needs to keep his memories while you’re receiving help, right? As long as that living person says it’s fine, there’s no need to erase them.”

She smiled and crunched on the gangjeong, paying no heed to the crumpled expression on Kwon Chasa’s face. Today, the sound was particularly annoying.

“Kwon Chasa.”

“…Yes.”

A serious call, devoid of even a hint of playfulness, was heard. As he stared, wondering what kind of nagging he was about to hear this time, Yeomra showed a benevolent smile.

“Do you still think the same way you did back then?”

“When are you referring to?”

“When else? It was right before you descended to the living world.”

Kwon Chasa retraced his not-so-distant memories. It was about fifteen days ago, just before going to the living world. As usual, he had finished his work and was taking a brief breather when an attendant suddenly came into his office and said that Yeomra was looking for him and asked him to come to the main hall.

Since the Ten Kings, including King Yeomra, summoned grim reapers through telepathy, there was no need for them to go out of their way to send the attendant to their office. Although confused by the sudden message, when he entered the main hall together, he saw not only the other Ten Kings but also the Jade Emperor, who rarely interfered in the affairs of the underworld, seated there.

“Kwon Chasa. You need to go to the living world.”

The first words he heard from Yeomra at that time were so absurd. All those who had served as grim reapers for much longer than him had been granted permission to reincarnate and left, and he had become the most experienced ‘No. 1,’ so he could not understand why she was entrusting that troublesome task to him.

Since he was in a position where he had no choice but to obey Yeomra’s command, he resigned himself to it and accepted it, but questions still remained. Why did everyone cite him as the right grim reaper for the task? Why did he have to descend to the living world?

“Yes. I still think exactly the same way I did back then.”

“Yu Chasa seemed excited already, racking his brain over what wish to make.”

“I’m fine, so why don’t you just grant Yu Chasa two wishes?”

Feeling a bit apologetic, Yeomra did set a condition. She promised to grant one wish if Kwon Chasa returned to the underworld after finishing his work. However, he had absolutely no interest in such deceptive sweetness. This was because there was not a single thing he earnestly desired or longed for in his heart.

Serving as a grim reaper in the underworld meant he had committed such grave sins in the living world that it would be difficult to even reincarnate as a human. For this reason, most grim reapers harbored a desire for reincarnation, but only Kwon Chasa did not.

Therefore, after his transfer was decided, Kwon Chasa considered the connection between his dispatch and his original mission in order to motivate himself.

Most of those who have sinned by disrupting the order of the living world and the underworld must pass through the Fifth Hell, King Yeomra’s Chunma Hell, and proceed to the Sixth Hell, Kalsan Hell². Kwon Chasa had to accompany such grave sinners on their journey to the afterlife while they were on trial. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that if he could quickly gather the wandering souls of the living world and nip them in the bud so that the number of grave sinners would not increase, his own work would become a little easier.

Since he hoped that the souls who came to the underworld would be reincarnated as humans rather than fall into hell, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the assignment had no disadvantages.

“It hasn’t even been a month since you went to the living world… so thoughts can change at any time. I actually want you to get rid of that ‘No 1’ label soon, too. If that is your wish, I could grant it right now.”

Kwon Chasa watched Yeomra gently smile, yet he could not bring himself to relax. He felt it would be best to leave quickly, as staying any longer would likely result in him being captured by Yeomra and forced to listen to nothing but nonsense. In any case he had accomplished his objective.

As Kwon Chasa sighed and was about to turn around, Yeomra hurriedly reached out her hand into the air.

“Wait, Kwon Chasa. You have to take what you need to take. Wait a moment.”

Yeomra stopped Kwon Chasa and hurriedly called for the attendant. The latter left the main hall and returned shortly after, holding a rolled-up sheet of rice paper and a peculiar brush with a white handle and black bristles in his hand.

“You’ll need these if you make a promise with a human. You know how to use them, right?”

Kwon Chasa nodded and snatched the rice paper and brush that had flown right in front of his nose with a single gesture from Yeomra. Only then did Yeomra smile, her face brightened as if she had never been tired.

Kwon Chasa squinted to gauge what dark intentions lay behind that smiling face, sighed again and shook his head. He felt that thinking too much about it would only tire him out.

“Then I will be going.”

After leaving a half-hearted greeting to Yeomra, Kwon Chasa turned around without a second thought. Yeomra, who had been silently watching Kwon Chasa walk out of the main hall, chuckled only after the door opened and closed.

She hoped that her decision will produce a positive change for Kwon Chasa.

***

On the sports field where the midday sun beat down, students in athletic uniforms ran back and forth, kicking the ball around.

“Hey, over here! Pass, pass!”

“Give it this way! Ah, here!”

Jion sat on the stairs, staring at Oh Hyunsoo running around the field while busily chewing on a grape-flavored popsicle. Go Youngjae, who had lunch with Jion today, was also sitting next to him, enthusiastically kneading a popsicle.

“Just looking at it makes me tired…”

Jion nodded vigorously at what Go Youngjae had said and crunched the ice in his mouth. Since the recent rain, the weather had certainly approached autumn, but it wasn’t cool enough to play a soccer match passionately in the middle of the day. Just watching them run around sweating profusely made him feel drained of energy.

Jion, who had absolutely no talent for sports, would always sit on the stairs and cheer for his classmates whenever there was a class-versus-class soccer match like this. Though cheering meant he just watched the game and hoped they would win.

However, today, he was lost in other thoughts the entire time. For several days, his memories of the grim reapers had remained unusually vivid, and he found himself lost in thought even while studying or working part time.

Since the day he drank the bitter honey tea made with the spring water, Jion had not met the grim reapers. Peaceful days continued as no souls particularly caught his eye during that time, but Jion’s mind was actually more complicated. He felt it was because he had heard talk about a contract and help.

That day, Jion had been able to return home through the gate together with Yu Chasa. The latter had also said that they had to hold hands before crossing the gate, so Jion had asked for the reason.

Yu Chasa explained that this gate summoned by the grim reaper did not belong to the living world, and that there was a risk that if one were to make a mistake while coming and going, a living person could fall into the Seocheon Flower Garden³ located at the boundary between the living world and the underworld. Only then did Jion understand Kwon Chasa’s actions, but he could not understand his attitude.

Why was that grim reaper so prickly and overbearing? Did he have a grudge against humans? Or did he get hurt in the past?

Jion wondered if there was a reason why Kwon Chasa acted that way, but shook his head. Judging by the fact that he had been hostile toward him from the start, he simply had a nasty personality. He had no intention of being kind to someone who disliked him.

1. Grinding Hell Karmic cause: Murder, violence, cruelty… ↩︎
2. Mountain of Swords Hell. Karmic cause Theft, adultery, use of weapons to harm ↩︎
3. Realm in Buddhist cosmology, but this one is a paradise. ↩︎