INV 23

The world visible through the cracked door was a different realm entirely. It had the atmosphere of a researchers’ laboratory, with people clad in white gowns bustling about everywhere. In such a place, it was only natural that the gazes of everyone present would shift toward them as Reaper Gwak, in his worn-out suit, and Kwon Yihyeon, dressed like a model, stepped inside. On the outside, Kwon Yihyeon offered a harmless, thin smile, but internally he was screaming in bewilderment. Reaper Gwak, however, being as thick-skinned as he was, casually grabbed a passing individual.

“Hey, what are you doing? Don’t you train the researchers? They’re all so slack. Call the higher-ups. Don’t you know who I am?”

‘What a nuisance…’

Kwon Yihyeon thought this but didn’t say it to Reaper Gwak’s face. Regardless, Kwon Yihyeon possessed the knack for social life—unlike Reaper Gwak.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman with permed hair appeared, leading a swarm of researchers behind her.

“Stop picking on my kids, Mr. Gwak. Would you feel good if we picked on your kids?”

Because there were so many researchers, he felt as though he were suddenly surrounded, blocked in all four cardinal directions. Unlike Kwon Yihyeon, who instinctively looked for an escape route, Gwak Deukcheon merely smirked at her words.

“I didn’t raise my brats to be the kind of stock that gets picked on, Sukbun. I raised them to be a herd of charging buffalo.”

“Aha. So that’s why the rumors are flying everywhere that no one wants to be in Mr. Gwak’s department.”

“Well, look at that. There are rumors? I guess I haven’t twisted the jaws of the rumor-mongers enough. I’ve mismanaged my kids’ education, indeed. I should have passed down the methods on how to take measures so that even a single shitty rumor couldn’t spread!”

“…”

Somehow… Kwon Yihyeon thought that while Reaper Gwak would be an incredibly tiring boss to have on the same team, he would be amazing when fighting against other departments. The sight of the researcher, who seemed to be a senior at the lab and whom Gwak Deukcheon called Sukbun, wiping her face with a dry hand in a troubled expression was quite impressive.

‘Considering how Gwak Deukcheon is actually helping me quite diligently, even more so… he might be good when fighting other departments…’

Though, of course, he could never forgive the business with the stairs.

“…If you’re here to rummage through a soul, come this way.”

“Hey. Maintain some professional ethics for the intern.”

“You’re only checking his spiritual nature? Is there even a point? His demonic energy is going to show up anyway.”

“Wouldn’t I be telling you to do it because it won’t?”

“…I guess you did see something, Mr. Gwak.”

Ma Sukbun scrutinized Gwak Deukcheon’s face with oddly sunken pupils. However, Gwak Deukcheon maintained an iron-clad poker face that revealed no meaningful information.

Ma Sukbun intentionally avoided looking at Jae Angshin’s contractor and dismissed the gathered researchers back to their posts. Then, leading the way for Gwak Deukcheon, who strode up beside her, she remained silent as Jae Angshin’s contractor followed hesitantly behind before finally opening her mouth.

“What about the physical test.”

“Already did it.”

“How.”

“Made him run circles on the stairs.”

“…My god.”

“He held out like crazy.”

“How long?”

“I cut it off when he passed the 100th floor.”

It seemed this was a significant feat, as Sukbun asked back after a long pause.

“…Was he even still alive by then?”

“He looked like he could have walked a bit more.”

“Hah.”

Kwon Yihyeon trembled at the ridiculous evaluation. If he had walked even a little bit more, his muscles would have melted. It was lamentable that even as Gwak Deukcheon spread false information, he couldn’t say a word out of consciousness of Ma Sukbun.

“If that’s true… how many years has it been. Isn’t this the first time since, well, Biyeon?”

“Don’t bring up that bastard’s name.”

“Mmm… I get it. But if it’s true…”

“Ah, it’s true. Seongrim confirmed it.”

“Seongrim…? Then it must be right. Heavens. Then truly…”

Ma Sukbun continually let out exclamations of admiration as she walked into an automatic door. She performed a fingerprint and iris scan and then channeled her spiritual power. Though he didn’t know the principle, the mechanical device that recognized Ma Sukbun’s spiritual power began to pull open the massive iron doors to both sides.

In that moment, Ma Sukbun met Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes for the first time.

“…It’s been a hundred years. For someone to overcome the gravity of the Underworld with a human body.”

⋆˙⟡

Until now, Kwon Yihyeon had purposely not intervened in their conversation. The reason was not only because it was obvious that the researcher named Ma Sukbun was reluctant toward him, but also because of a devious ulterior motive that he might be able to intercept information from their dialogue.

Kwon Yihyeon wasn’t so inflexible as to insist on talking to someone who clearly disliked it.

However, he wasn’t so foolish as to ask nothing when she was finally speaking to him.

“Did you say the gravity of the Underworld?”

“…”

He asked the question wondering if it meant the gravity in the Underworld was different from the human world, but no answer came back. Ma Sukbun simply walked into the iron doors as if to leave him feeling awkward, and Gwak Deukcheon, far from comforting the intern, simply chuckled.

It’s a wonder how the company manages to stay afloat when they treat a newcomer to society in this manner.

However, during the times when Kwon Yihyeon had a wide social circle, he had the experience of working part-time at various companies as an office assistant or a laborer carrying loads, and he was a worker so capable that he had been offered full-time positions at every one of those workplaces. Furthermore, he had served in the military. In short, his “level” was quite high for someone considered a newcomer.

Thus, Kwon Yihyeon followed into the dark iron doors without a second thought. Inside, a scene unfolded that looked like an examination room in a university hospital. The only difference was that Gwak Deukcheon was standing there instead of a nurse.

Gwak Deukcheon spoke while lightly kicking a suspicious mechanical device.

“Sit here.”

“…What is it? This exam I’m about to take?”

“Spiritual nature exam.”

“…”

Since communication wasn’t working, he had no confidence in winning. Kwon Yihyeon offered a pleasant smile and sat where he was told to sit.

Then, Ma Sukbun placed a device resembling a cap onto Kwon Yihyeon’s head.

“A spiritual nature exam, you see. It’s to roughly see where your spiritual roots come from and where they’re going.”

“…”

Surprisingly, Ma Sukbun continued the explanation.

Though she still wouldn’t meet Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes, her attitude of telling him that this exam couldn’t determine what choices he would make in the future didn’t feel unpleasant.

Perhaps that was because he had noticed that Ma Sukbun’s avoidance of his gaze stemmed from fear.

“This device can’t figure out if you’ll go crazy and fall into depravity; it’s just an evaluation based on your present. Got it?”

“Yes, thank you for the explanation.”

So, instead of a harmless smile, Kwon Yihyeon nodded and thanked her calmly. It is also a discourtesy to smile and cling to someone who says they are afraid. If the other person wants to draw a line, Kwon Yihyeon thought it was only polite to follow it. He did not see Ma Sukbun and Gwak Deukcheon exchange a brief glance at his unexpectedly mature attitude.

“…”

And in the next moment, Kwon Yihyeon felt the energy flowing from the device on his head approach his spiritual power in a peculiar way. So this is the exam. He didn’t know yet if ‘spiritual nature’ meant a spiritual characteristic or something more noble and divine. What was certain, however, was that an intruder appeared before the device’s detection could even properly begin.

Zzzzzzt!

“My, my, what is my young groom being subjected to here.”

The broken mechanical device was forcibly stripped away.

And…

Had he heard Chacha’s laughter?

‘This, this is…’

Sparks flew chaotically, illuminating the inside of his closed vision. Even with his eyelids shut, the light was so intense it was difficult to imagine what on earth was happening outside. Kwon Yihyeon instinctively started to open his eyes in shock, but his face was caught by a familiar palm.

“Stay still. I have no intention of asking you.”

“Wait…”

“I think I’ll have a dance for the first time in a while.”

He saw Chacha through the gaps of the fingers.

And, at the very moment the hand pulled away and Chacha came fully into view.

‘1 second.’

“Intruder!”

The Underworld responded with promptness to Jae Angshin’s intrusion, and those words thrown by someone on the front line were enough to replace the accompaniment of a musician.

‘2 seconds.’

The dancing disaster smiled like the scent of blood. The red silk cloth spun around. The red lips curled up.

And then, red blood splattered everywhere.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

‘3 seconds.’

Hundreds collapsed in a single strike.

Walls and bridges were cut down. They shattered. No, perhaps they were ground away.

Cutting through the entire space regardless of whether it was people or walls.

A merciless catastrophe.

And yet, something damnable, beautiful, and aesthetic was smiling savagely while trapped within the name Chacha.

‘4 seconds.’

If Chacha drew just one more stroke, everyone whose legs had been severed in that single strike would die.

In the 5th second, when that judgment was made.

“Bride!”

Kwon Yihyeon dared to rush at the blood-stained disaster and embrace him.

“…Please, stop now.”

The crowd thought he would be torn to death.

Because no matter how much he was the contractor, Jae Angshin was still Jae Angshin.

Because most of them considered him a mayfly whose life could end at any moment.

But as if the disaster chose to remain simply as Chacha when in front of his groom.

“…My young groom.”

He only gave a bewitching smile.

“If you want no one to die, give me a reason why I should do so.”

Everyone’s gaze gathered in one place.

Kwon Yihyeon spoke.