INV 25

Great King Yama Kanglim kept his word strictly. Specifically, he began following right behind Reaper Gwak as they walked toward the Haetae Department with Chacha.

Gwak Deukcheon, tearfully resigning himself from his previous scheme to make the intern suffer on the stairs during the ascent, caught the elevator instead; meanwhile, the Underworld, where a wartime alert had been blaring, began to de-escalate the Chacha standby state. Still, since hundreds of legs had been severed, the gazes directed at them were stained with terror and hostility.

It seemed Great King Yama had taken it upon himself to follow an intern specifically to prepare for this kind of situation.

Kwon Yihyeon could understand that logic. If a high-ranking noble was traveling with them, the underlings wouldn’t dare act rudely. It was a move to prevent any potential accidents before they happened.

In a way, this was a boon for Kwon Yihyeon as well. If Chacha’s mood soured or if things went sideways, Kwon Yihyeon could be dragged away just like that, never to set foot in the Underworld again. That was Kwon Yihyeon’s position. However, separate from the Underworld’s official stance, Great King Yama did not seem to want to leave the Jae Angshin’s contractor roaming around unaffiliated. Thankfully.

To repeat, it was an understandable position.

It was logical for them to think that if Kwon Yihyeon caused a massive accident by running around freely like a foal in spring, it would be a disaster; therefore, they should try to put a bridle on him through proper education and leadership.

Regardless of Kwon Yihyeon having no such intentions, as long as Chacha favored him, being treated as his equivalent was an unavoidable fate.

‘But that’s that, and this is this!’

No matter the circumstances, you’re the Great King Yama!

‘Why is the chairman following right behind an intern!’

No, well, Kwon Yihyeon wasn’t a normal intern, so he supposed it could happen. To put it into perspective, it was as if Satan’s contractor had appeared in medieval Europe, so it might not be that strange for the Pope to step forward to de-escalate a touch-and-go situation—Kwon Yihyeon brainwashed himself with this thought. If he didn’t, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to walk while keeping his sanity.

No, was it even possible to be sane in the first place?

He tried to change the subject by cracking all sorts of jokes, but Kwon Yihyeon’s mind was entirely fixed on a single moment. The people whose legs had been severed because of Chacha, and things like that.

‘Ah.’

The smell of blood….

For a moment, his stomach churned. Since the elevator had just begun its ascent, his leaning against the wall wasn’t particularly noticeable. This was an elevator where every side except the floor was made of transparent glass. It was only natural to feel dizzy.

The elevator continues to go up. It’s heading to a fairly high floor. It ascends. Leaving the basement behind, going up, up, and further up.

As they pass the first floor, it fills his wide-open field of vision.

The sight of blood-stained rescuers and healers.

He vacantly takes in the sight of severed legs and people groaning in pain; in the midst of it, a pair of eyes filled with hatred glares precisely at Kwon Yihyeon, and Kwon Yihyeon feels as if his heart has dropped back to the basement without him.

As the floors went up, the brief eye contact ended quickly.

However, Kwon Yihyeon’s guilt did not end. Kwon Yihyeon saw it with damnable clarity, so he could remember it clearly. The legs had been severed cleanly. People were screaming with their severed legs lying beside them, the cross-sections so clean that the epidermis, muscle, fat, blood vessels, tendons, and bone were visible.

‘If I hadn’t come to the Underworld, this wouldn’t have happened.’

Kwon Yihyeon came to the Underworld by his own choice.

Even if it was a massacre committed by Chacha, if Chacha slaughtered people here because Kwon Yihyeon chose the Underworld…

…Is it okay for me to feel at ease thinking this was a tragedy caused simply by Chacha?

‘Me, of all people?’

Ding. The elevator doors opened. Kwon Yihyeon stared intently at Gwak Deukcheon walking out first and then slowly followed him. As he walked down the hallway, he could see the structure was one where various departments occupied a whole floor, divided into zones. Whether the building contractor really liked glass or the company didn’t want to give office workers a chance to hide and plot, the view was generally wide open—except for the partitions that doubled as blackboards—so if the angle was right, one could probably see what kind of expression a person in the next department had while working overtime.

However, no one was visible right now.

‘…’

Whether they had fled quickly at the news of Chacha’s intrusion, or if they had gathered in the basement and all had their legs cut off together.

He couldn’t know that much.

‘Among the people who use this office, there must be victims.’

At the very least, there would be someone who knew a victim. Is that why? Is that why it’s like this?

The smell of blood would not leave the tip of his nose.

The office was clearly clean, and no blood was visible anywhere; Chacha, too, had at some point wiped away the blood on his body, and even the blood on Kwon Yihyeon’s hands had vanished, yet that dog-like fishy smell…

‘It’s a psychological problem.’

Come to think of it, there shouldn’t have been a smell of blood in the elevator either.

He wondered if smelling something that wasn’t there was a type of hallucination. It seemed to be because that excessively shocking scene was burned into his brain. To the point where his senses were being distorted, that moment had brought such extreme guilt…

“It’s okay. You punk.”

Then Gwak Deukcheon tossed out the words bluntly. Kwon Yihyeon reflexively put a social smile on his lips.

“Haha. I’m not sure what you mean…”

“Do you know about the Seocheon Flower Garden?”

“…I know it’s a place name that appears in Korean mythology.”

The Seocheon Flower Garden is a mythical flower garden protected by Saradoryeong, the flower overseer, and Hallakgung-i, the god of all spirits. One arrives there after passing through milky water that reaches the ankles, crossing yellow water that reaches the back, and crossing a great river of red water that rises to the neck—a place one can only reach by dying, yet it is neither the Underworld nor the Living World…

When Kwon Yihyeon answered in a low voice, Gwak Deukcheon twitched an eyebrow as if impressed. He seemed quite surprised.

“How do you know that? A guy from the 21st century.”

“…I studied in advance.”

Kwon Yihyeon wasn’t a person with a stomach strong enough to chatter while walking through an office that had become empty because of him, but he answered his boss’s question faithfully nonetheless.

“Since I… don’t know much about this world. I thought I should at least learn some basic knowledge…”

“Is that so? How did you study?”

“I bought one hundred and eight books related to the occult.”

“How many of them did you read?”

“I read all of the ones I bought.”

This time, Gwak Deukcheon wore an expression that was truly surprised and proud.

“I don’t really get along with diligent model students. Tsk.”

‘What am I supposed to do about that? Please make your expression and your lines match.’

Kwon Yihyeon’s gaze soured naturally as it usually did, and seeing that, Gwak Deukcheon burst into a chuckle.

“If you’re a guy who knows the Seocheon Flower Garden, you should be able to provide the answer. Now, how will the Underworld clean up this mess?”

“The flesh-growing flower, the bone-growing flower, the blood-growing flower…”

Those are the flowers that could be called symbols of the Seocheon Flower Garden. Flowers that make flesh grow back, bones grow back, and blood grow back, respectively…

Could it be.

Kwon Yihyeon looked at Reaper Gwak with trembling eyes, not believing it yet wanting to believe.

Reaper Gwak reached out.

“If the cross-section is that clean, it all attaches back, you brat. So.”

Simultaneously with the words, Reaper Gwak’s palm landed firmly on the crown of his head. Then, he ruffled and messed up his hair.

“…My own life is hard enough as it is, so I don’t know what sin I committed to have to look after a greenhorn too, but.”

“Haha…”

“I’ll only say this once, so listen well.”

At that moment, Kwon Yihyeon was thinking that even if severed legs are reattached, the fact that they were once severed does not disappear.

“It’s not your fault.”

And Gwak Deukcheon said it nonchalantly.

“…”

That moment left a quite deep impression on Kwon Yihyeon.

Gwak Deukcheon did not check Chacha’s reaction, lower his voice, or mumble his pronunciation. Even in front of Jae Angshin, this consistently swaggering, ill-mannered man was just speaking normally and casually.

As if it were some obvious truth.

“…Well, anyway, if the Seocheon Flower Garden knows the situation, they will cooperate immediately, so there won’t be anyone permanently damaged. If you don’t believe my words, Great King Yama is here too, so let’s ask him.”

“…!”

At the boss’s behavior of calling out the chairman without warning, Kwon Yihyeon looked at Kanglim with eyes full of anticipation even while trying to stop Gwak Deukcheon.

Chacha was watching Kwon Yihyeon as if he were cute…

‘That’s a gaze that looks like it’ll swallow him whole….’

So Kanglim inwardly swallowed dry saliva. If he could just ignore that kind of gaze, then perhaps the evaluation of the human named Kwon Yihyeon needed to be overhauled. He was a crazy bastard who was more fearless than expected.

Regardless, private thoughts were private thoughts, and public business was public business. Kanglim nodded bluntly and added a comment.

“I give my word that I will help with their treatment with all my might, even if it means selling out the Underworld.”

But in that moment, Chacha looked at Kanglim with a meaningful expression.

Kanglim watched his reaction for a moment and added.

“…I will?”

“…”

“…Could you please let me speak comfortably?”

Chairman?