INV 14

“You, go to the ‘Company’. That’s your best bet.”

The ‘Company’—or as kids these days call it, the Afterlife Company.

From what he heard, the Underworld was once a cesspool where corruption and outdated practices ran rampant, but things had allegedly changed since the current Great King Yama swept away the corrupt officials with a ruthless, ceremonial dance of the executioner’s blade.

The 21st century is a fiercely intense era, incomparable to those before it.

Humans are evolving endlessly, and accordingly, deaths are becoming infinitely diverse. The same goes for deaths caused by injustice.

Following the will of Great King Yama, who believed the Underworld could not persist without understanding the living world, ancient laws were revised to suit the 21st century.

He even overturned the long-standing tradition of staffing the Grim Reaper positions solely with the deceased, actively beginning to employ living humans with awakened spiritual senses.

He heard that the name “Afterlife Company” was also coined by the Great King Yama of this era.

‘…For starters, he seems to be terrible at naming things.’

The Afterlife Company—absurd from its very naming sense—manages the living, the dead, and the strange alike. However, being a bureaucratic organization under Great King Yama, he heard they primarily handle those whose lifespans have ended but are still running wild in the human realm.

Since they tend to be fair and impartial regarding providence and laws, the merit was that as long as you had no bad karma, you hardly had to worry about dying.

On the other hand, Park Seongjun said that because the ‘Celestial Realm’ holds a ten-thousand-year-old grudge over being crushed by the Jae Angshin, they would only be thinking of sealing or killing Kwon Yihyeon; thus, if he wanted to belong to this side of the world at all, the Underworld would be best.

All while keeping the ominous postscript tightly tucked away.

‘If you really have become the Jae Angshin’s reverse scale just as you said, the moment they touch you, the Celestial Realm and everything else will be royally fucked, but…’

Park Seongjun knew the weight of words.

He hoped that what he spoke into existence would not actually become reality.

Regardless, Kwon Yihyeon was preoccupied with memorizing various explanations.

Kwon Yihyeon certainly wished to set foot in this world, and if he had to do so, it was safest to intentionally belong to one specific place.

Park Seongjun decided to write the letter of recommendation in secret.

“Thanks.”

“…After putting you through that mess, this is the least I should do.”

“Yeah. I’ll keep putting you to work. You can’t stay long, right? I’m off.”

And so Kwon Yihyeon left. Just as if it were no big deal. Park Seongjun knew that those words weren’t a pretense of being okay. He really was okay.

That remained stuck in his heart.

Park Seongjun closed his eyes for a moment. To an onlooker, it might have looked like contemplation, or perhaps a prayer. Even he did not know which of the two it was.

Was it a wish? Perhaps.

⋆˙⟡

Kwon Yihyeon continued to wait. Not at the Great Mountain, but at the studio apartment in Seoul where he originally lived.

Shouldn’t he have stayed at the Great Mountain?

Actually, after their two sexual encounters, Kwon Yihyeon had indirectly asked if he could go up to Seoul—meaning, if he could act separately from the Jae Angshin.

However, the elders of the Great Mountain all kept quiet and avoided bumping into Kwon Yihyeon. He knew he should feel hurt by this, but it was even scarier because it wasn’t an atmosphere of intentionally bullying someone. A sense of terror—that they might die if they exchanged words—was distorting his family members’ faces. Only his grandmother, the Grand Shaman, had added just one sentence: “Go ahead.”

‘…Everyone looks at me… as if I’m about to commit some crime…’

Thinking about that time only made him feel strange, so he decided to focus his mind elsewhere. The Afterlife Company? What a truly terrible naming sense. The idea of Grim Reapers living like office workers lacks any romance. Honestly, it was a bit scary, too.

However, Park Seongjun had said this was the best choice to learn about this world without getting caught by some sinister shaman and suffering a foul fate, or getting into a fight with the Celestial Realm. Anyway, since Park Seongjun was the guy who had rushed all the way to Seoul after getting that fake call, he decided to trust him.

But until he heard from the “Afterlife Company,” there was nothing to do, so Kwon Yihyeon was bored to death. That’s why, that day, he went outside to check the mailbox out of habit, just like any other day. There was one letter that didn’t look very important. He intended to check it briefly and bring it inside. But then,

“What… what… fuck, what is this…?”

Kwon Yihyeon’s voice as he checked the envelope was so steeped in despair that Chacha, looking lethal, appeared from the air immediately. Chacha’s aura was beyond scary; it was chillingly sharp.

However, but.

“Ahahahaha!”

Upon seeing the “Enlistment Notice” on the envelope, it quickly turned into a cackle. But Kwon Yihyeon could absolutely not laugh… Seeing Kwon Yihyeon’s desperate face, Chacha’s laughter grew even louder.

Kwon Yihyeon barked out a shout.

“Don’t laugh!”

That was because Kwon Yihyeon had already completed his military service. What is this? Again? I have to go again? This is fucking nonsense. There’s definitely a mistake. No, there’s definitely a mistake! Because I already went!

As Kwon Yihyeon tore the envelope with slightly trembling hands, it suddenly burned black, turned into smoke, and rose up in clouds. Chacha was now enjoying himself so much he couldn’t even make a sound, while Kwon Yihyeon stared blankly at the smoke. Right until that smoke transformed into a suit-wearing… well, he didn’t look human, but anyway, a human-looking being.

“Are you the Kwon Yihyeon who lives in the 2nd-floor room of 3, XX-ro 49-gil, XX-gun?”

“And who might you be, the one responsible for this crazy stunt?”

“Your future boss.”

Fuck. Should I just not get the job?

Kwon Yihyeon examined the suited being with an attitude of going out of his mind.

The being before him was surely a Grim Reaper, but he was too emboldened to be afraid after the incident just moments ago.

He was a Mister whose dark circles were so deep they looked like black makeup; he looked like a civil servant who handles work half-heartedly with a bored expression every day.

Well, considering a Grim Reaper is essentially an underworld civil servant or office worker, it might not be a largely incorrect impression. His black tie was tied far too sloppily, and his shirt buttons weren’t fastened to the neck. But honestly, none of that mattered. Whether a modern-day Grim Reaper wears a hanbok, a suit, a rainbow T-shirt, or performs a striptease, it was none of his business. But dunking Kwon Yihyeon into hell and back with a single letter was his business.

Kwon Yihyeon spoke through gritted teeth.

“Thanks to you, the Great Spirit was very entertained. I give you my thanks.”

Sarcasm dripped from every syllable, but the tired Reaper Mister didn’t get worked up over the snark of an angry young man in his twenties.

“Oh, that? Kids these days never open their mail. We introduced that the year before last, and the results have been great.”

You crazy people. Is it okay to do anything just because the results are great? Kwon Yihyeon was already starting to feel a lack of trust in the work methods of this Afterlife Company. He was letting it slide this far only because he knew how hard Park Seongjun had worked to dodge his family’s eyes. Chacha, who had been enjoying this squabble—well, actually the sight of Kwon Yihyeon unilaterally losing his temper—spoke up.

“Yes, it was entertaining, you fledgling Reaper.”

The Reaper’s attitude changed instantly.

“Oh my, I greet the Great Spirit. I am Gwak Deuk-cheon, working as a Reaper in the Underworld. I belong to the Haetae Department.”

Gwak Deuk-cheon bowed obsequiously, as civil servants do when meeting high-ranking officials, without being offensive.

It seemed like the correct attitude for a Reaper meeting a Jae Angshin, but it contrasted so sharply with the half-hearted attitude he had shown Kwon Yihyeon that it rubbed him the wrong way. Chacha narrowed his eyes with a smile and asked.

“But why are you trying to take my groom away?”

At that moment, Kwon Yihyeon felt a chill so cold his heart sank.

Seeing that Reaper Gwak’s expression also froze for a moment, it seemed it wasn’t just his imagination. Chacha continued.

“The Celestial Realm has always been like that. But for the Underworld to poke its nose in here and there. Has it changed a bit from the place I knew over ten thousand years?”

Reaper Gwak looked at Kwon Yihyeon for a moment as if asking what this meant. But Kwon Yihyeon was equally troubled. He had expected to meet someone from the “Company” soon. But meeting them so loudly while Chacha was present was unexpected. His plan had originally been to negotiate the terms in Chacha’s absence and then convey them appropriately to Chacha.

Reaper Gwak, who had unintentionally and thoroughly ruined Kwon Yihyeon’s plan, turned the arrow back toward Kwon Yihyeon.

“Oh, Great Spirit. The Underworld is always the same. It was the groom who called us first. He said he wanted to join the company, and while we would love to give him an unconditional pass just for the sake of the Great Spirit, there are still formats and procedures, so we were just about to pass him after a friendly interview.”

Reaper Gwak wasn’t exactly lying, but he succeeded in returning the bomb neatly into Kwon Yihyeon’s lap.

At that, Chacha’s gaze fell upon Kwon Yihyeon again. Chacha’s energy began to ripple against his skin. Kwon Yihyeon had seen Chacha’s essence before, but his current aura was different from that. It was obvious.

‘He’s mad.’

Chacha spoke slowly.

“You’re very curious, aren’t you? Pecking around here and there. How did you come to have such thoughts?”