GRR 5

It was only after more time had passed that Jion realized he was a grim reaper who had come to take his mother, and that the axe he was holding was a buwol, one of the items that proved one’s identity as a grim reaper. That was why, unlike the axes commonly known, the shaft was long enough to touch the ground, and the blade gleamed with a golden light, making it feel even more menacing..

The man now visible to Jion’s eyes was holding something that looked exactly like the buwol held by that grim reaper back then.

The man was likely not human, but… a grim reaper who had come to collect Suho’s soul.

“Hmm…”

In the strange confrontation, it was the mysterious man who broke the silence first and approached. He stood in front Jion and hummed in a low, resonant voice. Then the man abruptly raised his hand and carelessly waved it in front of Jion’s eyes. Thinking the man was going to hit him, Jion was startled and took a step back.

“You can see me?”

Jion was startled once again by the man’s face becoming clearer and the low voice. As he was momentarily speechless and only his lips silently moved, the man moved closer to narrow the distance again.

“You really see me?”

The man waved his hand in front of Jion’s eyes once more. Jion pulled his head back slightly and closed his eyes, but as a strange silence ensued, he had no choice but to cautiously open his eyes.

“…”

Jion was about to exhale but stopped The man’s face was too close. The man, exuding a chilling aura akin to that of a dead person, stared at Jion with his pitch-black eyes.

“And you can see that kid too?”

“Ah… u-uh, yes…”

“Ha… this is a real headache.”

The man’s physical build was intimidating. He was tall, his shoulders were very broad, and even the veins on the back of his left hand, which was gripping the buwol, were bulging. His eyes, with their slightly upturned corners that looked fierce, and his prominent nose bridge were completely different from Jion’s own features, which had an overall rounded appearance.

He even noticed something sparkling in his ear, so he took a closer look and saw that he was wearing piercings. Jion blinked several times, wondering if he had seen it wrong. A grim reaper with piercings, it was so unrealistic that it gave him goosebumps.

“Hyung, I’m, I’m scared…..”

Suho clung to Jion’s back and cried. Lost in thought, Jion just stared up at the man who was tapping the handle of the buwol against the ground.

Although all the circumstances proved that he was a grim reaper, Jion was still so stunned that his mind wasn’t working properly. Even though he had seen a grim reaper when he was young, all he had seen was a brief glimpse of his back as he was dressed in black from head to toe, so he didn’t know what to do. On the other hand, the situation was even absurd.

Come to think of it, seeing ghosts must be preposterous to others…

Jion bit his lip as he watched the man, following the endless train of thought. It was because he exclaimed as if he had realized something.

“Ah, you’re that human from earlier, right? The one who was idling around with that kid.”

“How did you…”

“I saw you. From up there.”

He saw me… when? Jion stared at him as he calmly spouted incomprehensible nonsense, then turned his gaze following the gesture of his chin. The place he was pointing to was a building adjacent to the alley.

Jion held his breath when he felt a sensation similar to the chill he had felt earlier in the day, and slowly retraced his memories. It was the moment it was proven that the feeling of someone’s gaze and a cold energy sweeping over his body while he was talking with Suho before heading to his part-time job was not just his imagination.

That man had been watching this alley, watching him and Suho.

To take Suho to the underworld.

“You must have realized who I am… then why don’t you get out of the way and stop interfering?”

“.….”

“It seems you don’t care if your head gets cut off instead?”

The man calmly said terrifying words and cracked his neck to the left and right. The hand holding the buwol bulged with veins. Jion swallowed dryly but remained in his place. The thought that he shouldn’t back down now held him captive and prevented him from moving.

“Hyung… hic, Mom… Mommy…”

It was only after hearing Suho’s pitiful voice that Jion regained his senses. Even his mind went blank for a moment, so Suho must have felt an even greater fear.

Jion spread his arms wide as he silently ruminated on the word “Mom” that Suho was crying out. He didn’t know where he had found such courage, but right now, he only thought that he had to protect Suho.

The man tilted his head as he looked at Jion, who had suddenly blocked his path.

“…Could you please wait just a moment?”

“.….”

“I know you have to take him… but Suho misses his mom a lot. So…”

The man didn’t listen to Jion’s words until the end and reached his hand forward. His hand didn’t even touch Jion’s body, but Jion floated into the air and was placed down all alone in a spot away from Suho. Jion blinked in shock. He saw the man pointing the blade of the buwol at Suho and ran over in a panic.

“Kwon Chasa!”

Just then, something pitch-black dropped from the sky. Jion was so shocked he couldn’t make a sound and his body trembled. Even when he had unexpectedly encountered ghosts, he had never been this startled.

The one who called the man holding the buwol ‘Kwon Chasa’ was wearing a black suit just like him. As he approached, Kwon Chasa, who had briefly retracted the buwol, spoke.

“What did Yeomra say?”

“She said that if he just crosses the hongsalmun¹ within three days, she’ll let him reincarnate. Since he’s a child, the situation doesn’t seem to be bad. It’s a relief it’s not immediately today.”

The only differences were that, unlike the man whose attire was not very tidy, he had his buttons fastened all the way to his neck and his tie tied properly, and that his voice was not very threatening. After barely managing to calm his pounding heart, Jion stared at the newly appeared man.

“She said all the other Ten Kings agreed too…”

The man, who was speaking in an excited voice, slowly turned his head when he felt Jion’s gaze. Jion did not avoid his gaze either.

“Um…? Kwon Chasa, I think I just made eye contact with a living person… It must be my imagination…?”

Kwon Chasa let out a hollow laugh as he looked down at Yu Chasa. Jion was convinced that the man staring at him was also a grim reaper.

Jion, who had been staring as if he were in a staring contest, turned his gaze back to look at Kwon Chasa. Then he walked over and stood in front of Suho again. This was possible because the atmosphere had softened slightly with the appearance of another grim reaper.

“Suho misses his mom a lot. Please let him see his mom just one last time before he goes.”

Jion tknew that if a soul does not go to the afterlife and wanders the living world, karma accumulates for that very long.

Since Suho had an accident at the beginning of this year, it meant he had been wandering the living world for a full eight months. He probably couldn’t leave, bound to the living world because of his lingering attachment to his mother.

Since he had previously granted the last wishes of such ghosts and helped them let go of their attachment to life, he wanted to help Suho sort out his feelings and leave this place.

“I didn’t mean to listen on purpose… but I heard everything. If you said he can reincarnate as long as he crosses the hongsalmun within three days, then there are three days to spare…”

“Euh?! How did you…!”

Jion’s gaze remained on Kwon Chasa, but the exaggerated reaction came from Yu Chasa. As Yu Chasa fidgeted and stomped his feet while clutching a jeokpaeji² in his hand, Kwon Chasa clicked his tongue and adjusted his grip on the buwol.

Kwon Chasa ignored Jion as if he wasn’t even worth dealing with. He disappeared from sight in an instant and then reappeared behind Jion’s back. When Jion belatedly turned around, the hood of the padded jacket Suho was wearing was already in Kwon Chasa’s right hand. Suho’s flailed his legs as he was held high in the air.

“Hey kid, this ahjussi has been very lenient. Why don’t you let go of your attachment and go quietly?

“Hic, uhh…”

“If you keep being stubborn, you won’t be able to reincarnate. You didn’t commit any sins during your life, so if you had gone to the afterlife right away, you would have reincarnated long ago. Samsin³ might let you be born as your mom’s son again because she feels sorry for you, so why are you acting so foolishly?”

“…”

“Are you doing this because you want to go to hell? But this ahjussi doesn’t particularly feel like sending you to hell, so what to do. That’s a very, very scary place for a scaredy-cat brat like you to go. You should reincarnate as a human if possible. That way this ahjussi’s heart will be at ease too.”

Judging solely by the content of the words, it seemed as though he wished for Suho to be reincarnated as a human, but Jion frowned when he caught a glimpse of murderous aura in Kwon Chasa’s cold, expressionless face.

1. An architectural element acting as a gateway to enter a sacred place. ↩︎
2. A red cloth with the name of the person destined for the afterlife written on it ↩︎
3. Goddess of childbirth and fate in Korean mythology. ↩︎