INV 53

“Exactly… has that guy gone mad?”

“It didn’t seem like it.”

“Are you sure you confirmed it properly?”

“Ms. Jae Angshin strictly forbade any and all acts of examination toward the groom, so how could I have confirmed it properly?”

“For hell’s sake…”

Gwak Deukcheon was just about done with everything and prepared to dash out again.

However, Gangnim added one more thing.

“He said he wants a private meeting.”

“Pardon?”

“With Geom Biyeon.”

“And you just let that happen?”

“…”

Gwak Deukcheon spoke in a rebuking tone, but Great King Yama shot him a strangely gloomy look.

A lethal smile briefly flickered across his lips.

“So I had the bride and groom enter.”

“…Excuse me, what? What did you just say?”

Great King Yama spoke with the solemnity befitting the judge and arbiter of the Underworld.

“If he intends to do it, he will have to grill the groom right in front of Ms. Jae Angshin.”

There was no doubt that it was a fair and just ruling.

However, Gwak Deukcheon was the type of person who would frantically pick up any young animal abandoned on a rainy day.

“Ah, crazy. The kid’s gonna die.”

Even if that ‘kid’ who might die was Geom Biyeon—the one famous for growling whenever he made eye contact with Gwak Deukcheon, that nasty brat whose trademark was his sunglasses!

“I’m heading out first!”

It was a habit of his to reach out first if a living person was within arm’s length.

Gwak Deukcheon turned on his compass, and the moment the spinning needle came to a dead stop, he began to run with all his might.

A short while later, Gangnim, left alone in the empty interrogation room, sipped a few more gulps of the cold brown rice green tea,

“A guy like you should be the Great King Yama.”

He muttered those words nonchalantly—words that would have caused Gwak Deukcheon to have a fit if he had heard them.

Then, he crushed the empty paper cup in his fist.

In any case, he himself was currently holding the position of Great King Yama, a lot he was never meant for.

Therefore, he could not cause trouble himself.

‘Unless it’s getting vicarious satisfaction from watching others cause trouble…’

No matter how much one tries to change it, the Underworld struggles and rots as if it wants to return to the stifling past.

The young divinity he once placed his hopes in chose the path of compromising with corruption to oppose the scars of the past.

Perhaps that is why.

Even though the man threw a fit saying he would never join his direct command until the end, whenever he looks at Gwak Deukcheon, he feels like making him his successor…

Is it not because of that indomitable character that refuses to compromise his convictions no matter what he does?

“…Wait, then does one have to have a bad personality to become a great person?”

Great King Yama began to wander within a somewhat mistaken enlightenment.

Meanwhile, for Geom Biyeon, who had intended to grill the groom but ended up meeting the bride as well due to Gangnim’s bolt-from-the-blue ruling.

A massive tragedy was unfolding.

…In a form completely different from Gwak Deukcheon’s expectations.

“Mr. Geom Biyeon. I’ll tell you straight. If you give me trouble, world peace will be threatened.”

“…”

“Behave yourself. Do you understand?”

The bride, whose fox ears had been twitching, burst into a fit of laughter and eventually tumbled all the way to the floor.

It sounded funny, but he was serious. Kwon Yihyeon had purely chosen a head-on breakthrough.

However, for Geom Biyeon, whose insides were so twisted they were at the level of a tornado potato, it had the opposite effect.

‘There must be an intention behind this behavior. There’s no way it’s just simple nonsense.’

It really was just simple nonsense, but if one’s opponent makes up their mind to misinterpret, they can take it as far as they want.

And in Chacha’s eyes, the layers of misunderstandings were plain to see.

That was why she simply couldn’t hold back her explosive laughter.

“T-These humans…!”

Chacha, who had lost all strength from laughing, tried to crawl back onto the chair but slipped and fell flat on the floor as another burst of laughter erupted.

“…Pffft!”

Even Kwon Yihyeon couldn’t hold it in and began to laugh heartily. It was a feast of explosive laughter. Despite this, Geom Biyeon could not laugh. Because he was Kwon Yihyeon’s adversary. No matter how funny it was, he had to endure. No matter what happened, he had to maintain a serious and solemn expression.

“Ahahahaha! Haha, hahahahahat…!”

That… was truly a tragedy.

BANG!

“Hey! Geom Biyeon! Are you alive?!”

“…”

“…Oh dear. He’s on the verge of death.”

If Gwak Deukcheon hadn’t burst in at that moment, Geom Biyeon might have died from voluntary respiratory arrest. Leaving behind words to stay put so they wouldn’t be late for the trial, Geom Biyeon stumbled and was eventually escorted out of the interrogation room supported by his subordinates.

However, the three people here—Gwak Deukcheon, Kwon Yihyeon, and Chacha—were individuals with egos far too strong to comply with an order to stay put.

They slunk out after Geom Biyeon.

The warriors didn’t dare point their spears at Ms. Jae Angshin, and Gwak Deukcheon snickered while making fun of them. Kwon Yihyeon looked at Gwak Deukcheon with pathetic eyes, saying he was failing to act his age.

Still, he felt grateful deep down. It was because Gwak Deukcheon was the one who had informed him of ‘Geom Biyeon’s’ existence.

Kwon Yihyeon had learned about ‘Geom Biyeon’ thanks to the ‘coffee time’ he had with Gwak Deukcheon.

That was right. In fact, until the Haetae Department had rushed in as a mob to save Gwak Deukcheon, a very effective conversation had been taking place.

“M-hm. So the name of that sunglasses-wearing pervert-eyes I ran into last time is Geom Biyeon, is that right? And he’s the core of the faction trying to kill me? Huh. I feel like I heard that name when we talked about how I went down to the 100th floor of the Underworld’s gravity. By the way, why didn’t you let me ride the elevator back then?”

Whining about not being allowed on the elevator wasn’t a very practical conversation, but…

“…I’m glad that your goading of the Assistant Manager wasn’t intended to make him die at the hands of Ms. Jae Angshin.”

Kwon Yihyeon, reminiscing about the coffee time during his lunch break, left a low-voiced sentiment.

At the time of the coffee time, Gwak Deukcheon had said this:

“What do I gain by making him angry? If he dies at the hands of your bride, what exactly would be so good about that that I would instigate it? I just thought that if someone had to let it be known, he should be the one to say it.”

“Say what?”

“…That he was the only one who could speak the reality. The reality of the Underworld. The reality that has befallen the fox monsters.”

“…”

At that time, Gwak Deukcheon had looked at Kwon Yihyeon with gloomy eyes, and Kwon Yihyeon had wanted to avoid his gaze.

The dark emotion lingering in those eyes was so severe that it was uncomfortable to look him in the eye. Just as one cannot look straight into the eyes of a mother driven mad by the grief of losing a child.

“I can’t do it. Despite how I look, I’m an elite who’s well-settled and has good connections here. Even if everyone else gets fired, me and Kang Taerim won’t be. So Manager Kang can’t do it either. If the two of us monopolize the microphone, that’s the start of corruption. But Jeong Yujin doesn’t have the courage to cry out. Lim Muyoung and Man Juhae—those two can’t do it because they are from the deceased. So it could only be Assistant Manager Woon. The victim who can shout that we are still alive here…”

Was he the kind of person to worry about such things? I mean, that asshole who didn’t let me ride the elevator…

“To ensure that speaking of tragedy doesn’t become a deception, one has to put in a hell of a lot of effort, don’t they?”

“…”

“Well, I’m sure you know that yourself.”

…Was he a person who knew how to say things like that, too.

There was a moment yesterday when I had such a thought.

However, the coffee time was already over. The Gwak Deukcheon in front of him, waiting for the trial, only replied lazily and loosely as if those words were no big deal.

“Don’t even talk about it. Would I be crazy enough to send a suicide squad? I’m the person who was preparing a will because when Assistant Manager Woon went off the rails, I saw a future where everyone there—Great King Yama or whatever—would all die together. No, my original suggestion was actually quite moderate, but I don’t know how that kind of temper came bursting out…”

“Would you give me a chance to hear objectively what you suggested?”

“Ah, I really didn’t say much. I just…”

Gwak Deukcheon, who had led Kwon Yihyeon out of the hallway to a terrace garden on an unknown floor, looked down at the wide-open view, cleared his throat with an ahem, and then spoke in a fairly natural acting tone.

“Regarding the current situation of the Underworld, that fellow—Kwon Yihyeon—really doesn’t know. I can guarantee that. But we don’t know yet how that guy will react once he learns the truth. If ignorance is not a sin, then that kid isn’t a sinner yet. So how will that fellow act once he gains knowledge? Well, aren’t you curious? Hmm? You’re asking why I’m provoking you like this to get something out of it? Myo Woon, you should know that if I really intended to provoke you, it wouldn’t end at this level. I’m just letting you in on it as a special favor. That there is an opportunity to make Ms. Jae Angshin’s contractor face the ‘reality’ that he does not know.”

Gwak Deukcheon, having brilliantly finished the reproduction of the remarks used to instigate Myo Woon, habitually curled the corner of his mouth aslant; Chacha gave a half-hearted clap; and Kwon Yihyeon muttered vaguely.

“No matter how much I think about it, I feel like the Team Leader is partly to blame for Assistant Manager Woon going off the rails…”

“What did you just…!”

“Why do you place such expectations on me?”

Gwak Deukcheon was momentarily flustered to the point of looking back and forth between Chacha and Kwon Yihyeon, but surprisingly, Kwon Yihyeon looked sane. No, more than just sane, his previously blurred eyes had become firm.

But the thing he says with that kind of gaze is this?

Gwak Deukcheon burst into a chuckle despite himself.

Then, he said:

“Hey. You were the one who wanted to live.”

“…?”

“It’s not like I threw a fit wanting to save you because I placed some grand expectations on you, okay?”

“That may be so, but…”

“Hey. Fine, fine. You’re the one who contacted me first because you didn’t want to live a shitty life… you said you wanted to become strong. Huh? Like the protagonist of a shonen manga… you came to me saying you wanted to become strong!”

“Please stop talking about that. It’s giving me goosebumps!”

Kwon Yihyeon shouted at the top of his lungs while rubbing his goosebump-covered arms.

Gwak Deukcheon snickered.

“You’ve saddled yourself with a dark history that’ll make you kick your blankets for the rest of your life, but I saw it quite favorably. Anyway, you did that because you hated the idea of being the only one to survive by sucking up to Ms. Jae Angshin. You grabbed at a straw to try and do something. I don’t dislike that sort of thing.”

“…”

“You showed your will, and I answered.”

Gwak Deukcheon said plainly that that was all.

Suddenly, Kwon Yihyeon felt like he understood why the lackeys who wanted to repay him were huddled together in the Haetae Department.

An annoyingly complex set of emotions surged up his throat.

But there was no place to hide in the garden, so Kwon Yihyeon had to glare at Gwak Deukcheon with reddened eyes.

“What? Why are you glaring?”

This was the only way to avoid showing that he was about to cry.

However, a moment later, Chacha said something bizarre.

“Kwon Yihyeon is mine.”

“Ye-yes…?”

“I suppose so, right?”

“…”

Only Gwak Deukcheon, a long time later, realized Chacha’s hidden meaning: ‘Did this old monster just spout that kind of nonsense out of jealousy?’ He got goosebumps.

‘Ah! Why are you taking it out on me! if you’re going to say something, say it directly to the groom!’

However, Kwon Yihyeon didn’t understand Chacha’s possessiveness in the slightest.

Therefore, it was a truly useless check.