INV 21

“An idiot worse than an amoeba, where do you think you’re raising your voice… Ack! Why are you digging into the wound!”

“Because there’s glass stuck in it!”

Reaper Gwak thought he was at a loss for words because a crazy bastard was saying only correct things while in a crazy state. He wondered what on earth this guy carried in his bag; he was currently pouring disinfectant from a very professional-looking first aid kit onto Gwak’s hand and the affected area, picking off the glass on the surface with tweezers. Although, the claim that he was ‘digging into the wound’ was an exaggeration, as the glass shards weren’t deeply embedded but merely stuck to the surface. Regardless, Reaper Gwak, who had suddenly seen his danger rating downgraded from ‘madman’ to ‘patient’ due to Kwon Yihyeon’s eccentric behavior, could not hide his bewilderment.

‘No, this bastard is quick-witted, so why is he like this?’

Gwak had intended to set a certain atmosphere to prevent the guy from acting up about being the contractor of Jae Angshin, the Underworld itself… but it was maddening that the very person who was supposed to be the recipient of that intimidation was hanging onto his hand, insisting on looking at the wound.

However, once an intimidating atmosphere is lost, it takes a long ‘cooldown’ time to restore it. Gwak Deukcheon, having quickly resigned himself, looked down at the area that had begun to regenerate—as expected of a Reaper—and seriously pondered whether he should consider it a relief that, thanks to Kwon Yihyeon, it wouldn’t heal with glass shards stuck inside. Nevertheless, no matter how much he thought about it, the impudence was still impudence. He balled his hand into a fist and tapped Kwon Yihyeon’s head like he was knocking on a watermelon.

“Tsk… I keep calling you a total psycho, so now you’re acting like a total nuisance psycho and shit…”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“I should have retired before seeing this disgusting sight…”

“Oh dear. Have you not retired yet? Sasu-nim?”

At that moment, a stranger walked over.

The man in sunglasses—whom Kwon Yihyeon felt had a perverted gaze—had been chattering away about something among the onlookers; now, he strode forward with a trademark healthy-teeth smile and was waving his hand from across the window. With one hand thrust into his pants pocket and the other hand tilting back and forth, his posture seemed to signify ‘defiance’ itself, making Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes twitch.

Reaper Gwak, perhaps sharing the same sentiment as Kwon Yihyeon, gave a bone-chillingly white smile.

“Who’s your sasu?”

“If it weren’t for Reaper Gwak Deukcheon, wouldn’t I have failed to grow into such a capable office worker? As for sasu-nim…”

He looked at Kwon Yihyeon.

“It seems you’re doing well? Even getting demoted. And nursing a newborn baby.”

Kwon Yihyeon, who had been openly treated like a newborn, smiled back at him. Even though this nameless character curled the corners of his lips in mockery, Kwon Yihyeon’s harmless and refreshing smile did not change. He could just bury the vow to destroy him in his heart. There was no need to show it on his face.

Then, the sunglasses-wearing man, still flaunting that healthy-teeth smile, struck the window.

Crash.

‘Crazy.’

I want to quit this place. Kwon Yihyeon began drafting his resignation letter in his head as he stepped back. It seems the Underworld is full of nothing but crazy bastards. The impact of the strike was no joke. He expected broken glass fragments to splatter everywhere, but then he heard Reaper Gwak muttering something.

“…Sabaha.”

At that moment, the glass fragments that were shooting out in all directions were caught by an invisible fist and crushed into powder in mid-air, scattering away. Watching the broken glass vanish into powder before his eyes, Kwon Yihyeon wondered if everyone in the Underworld Company was insane. Barely managing to avert his fixed gaze, he saw the man in sunglasses—who had completely smashed the window to create a passage—gesturing for them to come in. Kwon Yihyeon wondered why on earth he was making a fuss about coming through a broken glass gap instead of using the front door, but…

“Enter. Reaper Gwak Deukcheon of the Haetae Department. And… Mr. Intern.”

It was only after feeling the gaze that landed on him in the next moment that he realized with a shudder.

‘That guy. He’s the one who reportedly suggested torturing me.’

Or at least, he was someone who wanted to do so. The gaze behind the sunglasses made the concept of ‘murderous intent’ chillingly clear.

“Don’t live like that. You.”

However, Gwak Deukcheon, clutching his briefcase, walked past as if the man were pathetic, his cheeks twitching. Perhaps that face was incredibly obnoxious, as the man in sunglasses was seen stiffening his expression for a brief moment. Kwon Yihyeon smiled harmlessly and refreshingly once more as he passed the man, bowing politely to him.

“I look forward to working with you. I am Kwon Yihyeon.”

He even politely held out his hand for a handshake, but the man in sunglasses let out an arrogant huff of laughter, ignored Kwon Yihyeon’s hand, and turned away. He took a step as if to walk off, then spoke as if he had to say this one thing.

“Don’t expect your corporate life to be smooth, Mr. Intern.”

“…”

“Because I won’t let it be.”

“Yes, I look forward to your kind cooperation.”

Kwon Yihyeon bowed once more in greeting, Gwak Deukcheon wiped his face with a dry hand out of concern for his teammates for the first time in a while—thinking, ‘I think I brought a mad dog into our team’—and the man in sunglasses glared at Kwon Yihyeon like he was a bizarre foreign object before turning his head sharply and walking away.

Reaper Gwak asked from inside the lobby.

“Hey, weren’t you scared?”

“People are always the scary ones.”

“He’s a person too, isn’t he?”

“I meant that I was scared.”

“Do you have to twist your words like that?”

Reaper Gwak grumbled as he spoke.

“Hey. Hurry up and come.”

Standing between the lobby and the front door, Kwon Yihyeon hesitated for a moment. His sharpened intuition spoke to him.

That this was the third pomegranate seed.

It was a metaphor comparing Kwon Yihyeon’s situation to Greek mythology. The goddess Persephone ate three seeds of an underworld pomegranate, and in exchange, she belonged to the underworld forever.

Kwon Yihyeon had written his name on the contract.

Kwon Yihyeon had arrived in the Underworld.

Would Kwon Yihyeon walk into the company on his own two feet?

It was the last chance. An incomprehensible sensation was trembling, telling him it was the last chance to run away. That if he took just one more step inside, he would never be able to leave again. Not because someone would force him to stay, but because he would fall in love, and because he would love this so much that he simply wouldn’t be able to break free. An incomprehensible premonition affirmed this.

In some timeline, it might have been that way for Persephone with Hades. If Persephone had chosen to stay by Hades’ side of her own will, what would the reason have been? Because his appearance was captivating? Because all the wealth beneath the earth belonged to him? No, such things are secondary. One must leave it all behind. One must discard everything. It is all ’emptiness’. Everything that exists lacks a self-nature, a substance, or an ‘I’. Gold bars, jewels, silk, fragrant oils. They are all ’emptiness’. In the vacant spot, only ‘connection’ remains.

If she, who loved the plains and fields, had chosen to stay underground herself, there is only one guessable reason. That she loved him, and thus chose to remain here.

Suddenly, Kwon Yihyeon feels that the concept of love is truly unrealistic. He cannot believe the fact that a person can change themselves simply for the sake of love. Yet, at the same time, Kwon Yihyeon knows. He loves his family. To protect his family, he can change himself. He can break, and he can bow. He can leave behind the violent days when he would unconditionally trade blows with any provocation and give a beaming smile, at least on the outside.

Love made him that way.

As he lowered his head, he saw his palms. Hands soaked in disinfectant. Damp, stained with blood, hands holding nothing.

That man, Gwak Deukcheon, regenerated well, perhaps because he was a Reaper.

‘In that case, was what I did meaningless?’

He wasn’t sure. Kwon Yihyeon doesn’t even properly know if he has done a single thing right since waking Jae Angshin. No one advises Kwon Yihyeon on his relationship with Jae Angshin. Even if someone were to offer advice, he now knows it would be laced with malice. Now that he knows a madman who tried to detain and torture him just because he is Jae Angshin’s groom is a coworker at the same company, he won’t follow anyone’s relationship advice.

Jae Angshin mainly stays in Kwon Yihyeon’s bed, and when he sees Kwon Yihyeon, he suggests sex. Then they have sex, he smokes a pipe, and wanders around wherever he pleases. He wonders if he should stop Jae Angshin from going out if he wants to prevent someone from dying, but how could a mere body like his stop Jae Angshin?

Kwon Yihyeon did not want to die. That much was the truth.

So, Kwon Yihyeon came to the company because he wanted to know how to keep himself from dying and keep others from dying too. But he was actually being threatened with his life at the company. Even if Gwak Deukcheon was a great Reaper, it wasn’t enough, and since he seemed like a total moron, the worry grew even more.

In the midst of that, the last chance appeared.

The last chance to run away, that is.

He just had to not take this step. He could turn around and run away right now. Let’s just hole up inside the house. And if Jae Angshin wants to have sex, we’ll have sex, and since it doesn’t matter who dies, as long as I’m safe…

“Hey, aren’t you coming?”

Kwon Yihyeon, who had briefly lowered his gaze blankly, slowly raised his eyes again. He didn’t know why, but his throat was a bit tight, so his response was slow. For some reason, Gwak Deukcheon didn’t scold him but just stared at Kwon Yihyeon intently. Demanding nothing. Strictly professional. Keeping a distance. In those eyes that looked at him like a stranger, Kwon Yihyeon felt an emotion well up that could not be conveyed in words.

‘…’

In any case, Kwon Yihyeon was a college student. He was at the age to attend university. Yet he was running back and forth at the crossroads of life and death multiple times. He was being dragged along in a way that wasn’t even of his own will, being treated as the world’s ‘hot potato’.

No, of course, Kwon Yihyeon was indeed the type of person who would deal with things calmly even if the floor suddenly collapsed. However, if emergency disasters occurred in succession, it was a different story. Kwon Yihyeon was human too, and mental strength was a depletable trait.

It was only natural to want to run away.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of losing his life.

Whatever it was, whatever tragedy might strike in the future, always. Always.

The scariest thing was people.

The scariest thing was love.

Therefore, Kwon Yihyeon did not want to fall irrationally.