INV 41

Whirrrrrrrrrr!

Sirens blared from all directions. It was only natural. There was no way the security system wouldn’t activate when a building had been openly half-destroyed. Though it might have modernized lately and lost much of its old-world elegance, this place was the Underworld—the realm that presided over the order of death itself.

As such, it was only fitting that they exercised extreme caution regarding security.

Just as they had upon Chacha’s appearance, royal guards swarmed from nowhere like a colony of ants.

Even though Gwak Deukcheon himself hadn’t caused any trouble…

“…”

Feeling rapidly dazed, Gwak Deukcheon looked up at the crumbling exterior wall of the building. He wished he could believe his eyes were just playing tricks on him because of the dazzling sunlight, but the chorus of his subordinates echoing in his ears was far too vivid for that…

Even Kwon Yihyeon—who had been using his matcha frappuccino, loaded with extra whipped cream, more as a prop to hide his expression than as a drink—seemed unable to hide his bewilderment, wearing a strange look on his face. There seemed to be a hint of pity mixed in, but Gwak Deukcheon decided to ignore it because digging deeper into that would only make him sad. He had wanted to snap at him for always acting like a sly snake, but…

Gwak Deukcheon figured anyone would be startled if their superiors suddenly poured out of a collapsing building against the backlight like characters in a hero comic, so he just let out a faint, hollow laugh.

“Huh? Oh. Team Leader, why are you perfectly fine?”

“He’s alive? That’s troublesome.”

“But the building is destroyed.”

“Your limbs are intact? Dear me. Now our excuse is gone. What do we do now?”

‘To think these kinds of bastards are following me around like little chicks…’

As Gwak Deukcheon wore a look of utter exasperation, the team members finally realized their sin, politely folding their hands and dropping their heads. Still, the glances they exchanged were hectic. Should we take them on? Just give the word. If the teacher just gives us a hint, we’ll take all their heads…

“Everyone, stay still.”

Seeing Manager Kang keeping the kids in check without even being asked, Gwak Deukcheon felt like he might burst into tears. Why didn’t you stop them sooner? If you had, I wouldn’t be surrounded while drinking a melon smoothie…

“Wow, there’s a lot. They just keep coming. Hahat. Ha…”

Gwak Deukcheon laughed as if he’d lost his mind.

The only saving grace was that Gwak Deukcheon had brought Kwon Yihyeon near an abandoned building. That was why there were no casualties despite the half-destroyed structure. The fact that he’d done that to himself made him feel absurd. But since there was at least one silver lining, should he try to comfort himself?

At that moment, the General of the Royal Guard bellowed. The Master of the Pavilion of Heavenly Senses also ground his teeth.

“The Haetae Department! It’s you bastards again!”

“Gwak Deukcheon! This time for sure, I’m going to strip you of your Reaper clothes…!”

‘It wasn’t me this time, you sons of bitches.’

However, the warriors were forming a perimeter, surrounding them like a swarm of ants that had tasted sugar and were rushing in greedily. Gwak Deukcheon had too much of a track record to openly hurl curses. If he showed even a hint of rebellion here, he might be summarily executed. Of course, Gwak Deukcheon wasn’t the type to be taken down by the likes of them, and the Haetae Department was the same. If it were just us, we would have fought back.

But who’s here? We have Jae Angshin’s groom, who must never get hurt.

Hahat, hahahahat…

‘I thought only Kwon Yihyeon was a bomb, but what on earth did these chicks watch while growing up to become fighting cocks…’

Ah, what did they watch?

‘They probably grew up watching me. Is that why? The way they blew up the building is quite clean. Hahat!’

“Ha…”

Anyway, there was nothing he could do but laugh…

At least for now…

⋆˙⟡

‘…How did it come to this?’

Kwon Yihyeon stared dazed at Manager Kang, who was working hard to dissuade the team members from beating up the ‘Royal Guard’ and the ‘Pavilion of Heavenly Senses’ to save the Team Leader, and then he turned his head.

Looking at things that were several times more insane than himself was incredibly taxing.

He wondered if this was how the people around him felt.

‘…Should I quit?’

The thought of keeping a resignation letter in his pocket suddenly crossed his mind. If he didn’t do at least that, he felt like he wouldn’t even want to come near this place. What rotten luck…

‘Ah, so this is how an office worker feels.’

It was the moment an intern on his second day of work equipped the professional smile of a world-weary salaryman.

For the record, at this particular moment, Gwak Deukcheon’s laughter wasn’t much different in nature from Kwon Yihyeon’s.

‘Dammit… life is bitter…’

The Royal Guard General, Choi Cheol-myeong, and the Pavilion Master, Go Bi-won, were holding up red binding ropes with joyous, beaming smiles, as if they had arrived knowing full well what the situation was. Wow. Did I really let those guys live just because we’re a similar age? Gwak Deukcheon’s personality has softened a lot. If I had just killed them sooner, I wouldn’t have to deal with this foul sight…

“Hahahahaha!”

“Heuhahahaha!”

“Hat, ha, haha…”

“…”

“Site confirmation complete! No intention to resist, but to prevent any possible escape, we will detain the person in charge. Grim Reaper Gwak Deukcheon, accept the binding!”

What? Accept the binding?

‘…Did you just spit that out in front of me? Dare you? Pieces of trash like you?’

Gwak Deukcheon glared straight ahead with that sentiment, and suddenly, the tension spiked. The lower-ranking warriors almost drew their swords instinctively before taking their hands off at the restraint of their superiors.

Such was the weight of the notoriety built up by the man known as Gwak Deukcheon.

However, there was hope for the warriors as well.

‘…What should I do.’

Gwak Deukcheon, who had habitually scoffed with one corner of his mouth tilted up, continued his uncharacteristic train of thought.

Normally, the moment he saw those binding ropes, he would have delivered a flying kick.

If Gwak Deukcheon jumped in saying to hell with detention and let’s all die together, he’d feel great, but…

‘I can’t help but think about the new groom.’

Somehow, it seemed better for him to be tied up than for Jae Angshin to witness a scene of Kwon Yihyeon being detained…

But in the next moment, he found himself fascinated by his own conclusion… and a smirk escaped.

‘I didn’t know I’d grow up at this age. And by the will of another. Forced into it.’

It seemed his thinking had been so rigid that even this small change was surprising.

There was a time in Gwak Deukcheon’s youth when he would hang out with friends and chatter about unbreakable resolutions, swearing he would never become a stiff-headed old fogey. That youth and vigor he felt back then had flown off somewhere, leaving only a body with stiff joints standing lonely on the ground.

While that realization felt exceptionally bitter, he also thought the change that had found him was ironic. His sweet youth was long gone, and he was past forty. The age of fifty was a distant memory, and he had passed seventy, eighty, and ninety.

Now, counting his age felt meaningless.

Is that why?

A premature reflection came to him as the current encirclement overlapped with his hot-blooded younger days. As Gwak Deukcheon, who had been glaring with wide eyes, briefly lowered his eyelids, the man named Gwak Deukcheon—who had lived from the end of the Joseon Dynasty through the Enlightenment period to the beginning of the 21st century—seemed to smile crookedly, making it unclear if he was an illusion or not.

If there was one peculiarity, it was that Kwon Yihyeon, who had been watching the standoff between Gwak Deukcheon and the warriors with a sullen face, also saw that illusion of Gwak Deukcheon.

To be precise, his eyes felt strangely itchy so he blinked, only to hear a bizarre remark from Assistant Manager Myo Woon next to him: “Intern Kwon, were your eyes always that color…?” Then, he simply looked at Gwak Deukcheon once.

And what an impossible thing happened…!

“…What in the…!”

“I thought you might be curious, so I brought you here.”

Suddenly, Chacha’s gentle voice caught his ear.

Kwon Yihyeon, who was about to jerk his head up in surprise, found his gaze stolen by the scenery before him in the next moment.

He didn’t even have time to get angry. The city of the Underworld he had been standing in just a moment ago—which displayed over-technology through a meeting of the 21st century and the occult—was gone, and a completely different era had unfolded. A pre-modern setting where rickshaw pullers in ragged hanbok carried modern girls and boys holding newspapers across the main road, and mailmen moved about delivering letters…

The modern man, kidnapped by a goblin trailing a red robe, could not believe reality and denied it several times, but in the end, he had no choice but to accept it.

They were now standing in the middle of the Enlightenment period!

“How… don’t tell me that if you’re a deity, you can turn back time at will?”

“Of course not. The laws of the Heavenly Realm are quite strict.”

Chacha, who leaned in close with a hand on the shoulder of Kwon Yihyeon—who was narrowing his eyes as if demanding an explanation—gave a cold, sarcastic smile while tilting his chin slightly, but soon changed his expression to a kind one.

“I was quite curious about that Reaper fellow, Gwak Deukcheon… but his spiritual defenses were so well-maintained that I couldn’t dig into his insides without damaging his mind, so I was leaving him alone. But just now, his defenses wavered, perhaps because he was shaken. So, I slipped into his memories. To peek at what secrets are hidden. How is it? A prime viewing spot, isn’t it?”

“…How can you steal someone else’s flashback scene! Hey! What are you going to do about this!”

Kwon Yihyeon criticized Chacha wildly, calling him a person with no professional ethics.

That is, from within Gwak Deukcheon’s memory.

“Hahahat, isn’t it fine since it’s interesting!”

“I am not fine! I don’t want to know my boss’s past history! Put it back! Put my reality back to the way it was!”