INV 55

The place where the space-leap technique deposited them was the backyard of an ordinary village police station.

Since it was night, there was no one nearby.

Normally, Kwon Yihyeon would not have been able to see spirits clearly because he didn’t know how to control his awakened spiritual eye, but since the Reapers who had pressed the emergency dispatch bell and his seniors were all looking at the same spot, he was able to tell the location.

Once he identified the coordinates, the rest was easy. When he fixed his gaze on the same spot and focused strength into his eyes, the form of the spirit appeared clearly. There, some kind of obnoxious old man… no, an obnoxious spirit was running rampant.

[I’m telling you, I’ve gone to the sauna with the Commissioner General! Ugh? I’ve done it all, man! That’s the kind of person I am! Even if Great King Yama himself came to escort me, I’m the kind of person who’d have to think about whether to follow or not, but for you punks to daaaaare…!]

Facing the reality of a spirit in person, he couldn’t remember a single thing his seniors had told him. Is this why rote education is a problem? However, the ghost looked so much like a 21st-century obnoxious customer. He couldn’t immerse himself in the situation at all. He felt like he had become a service industry worker. He felt like his resentment wouldn’t be appeased unless he played along with a smile and then spent his break time mimicking the man as a piece of black comedy.

However, contrary to Kwon Yihyeon’s impressions, Gwak Deukcheon walked forward while tilting his head as if loosening his neck.

The moment the fight of Obnoxious vs. Obnoxious was expected…!

‘Ohhh! Is the exorcism starting now! Requiem! Salvation!’

“Die again, kick!”

<system> [Gwak Deukcheon won the battle of obnoxious power…!]

“…”

Kwon Yihyeon looked around with a dazed face despite himself, but Gwak Deukcheon, as if used to this, called together the existing Reapers who had been dealing with the obnoxious spirit and began a solemn and serious moment of silence along with the team members.

With the ghost, who was foaming at the mouth and twitching its limbs, in the center…

‘…?’

What is this? A funeral rite? Is it the law of the Underworld to deliver a flying kick to a spirit to kill it twice and then hold a moment of silence? Kwon Yihyeon blankly followed them.

“Alright, let’s head to the next site!”

Even when he slapped his own cheek in the corner, hoping all of this was a dream, nothing changed.

As he had said several times, that was the problem…

“Die again, punch!”

“And, moment of silence!”

Is… is this right? Is this really right…!

Evocation is a task belonging to a very high level of difficulty even among requiem rituals. Let’s skip the difficult and detailed explanations such as “the act of calling a name three times to identify an existence means identifying an existence through its true name.” It can be simplified by explaining that it takes a lot of effort to do it properly.

In particular, after a fellow named Dongbangsak ransacked the Underworld in his quest to live a long life, the current state of the Underworld Register requires strict screening to formally perform rituals related to life and death.

To collect a soul, a 21st-century Reaper needs one of two essential conditions:

The patience to sit down and persuade them, or the fist-fighting skills to surpass that.

『Pro-tip for Rookie Reapers ❤️: <How to Collect the Souls of the Deceased> Edition

A newly deceased person (Spirit: 靈) is in a state where it is difficult to distinguish right from wrong! Watch the register and wait for the right time! And while the soul is out of its mind, aim for that moment to slip in and seek consent for the journey to the Underworld! This is the easiest way!

But what if the deceased does not accept their own death and starts acting out? (Ghost: 鬼)

Topple them so they cannot express resistance and drag them along after obtaining semi-forced consent!

➸ What is clear is that we Reapers cannot lead the deceased to the Underworld without consent.

Just as an evil spirit cannot recklessly approach a living person’s body unless the living person allows it to enter. Unless, of course, they dig into a weakened heart, coax them into a state of mental and physical frailty, and possess them semi-forcibly! It is the same for Reapers as it is for evil spirits. If we do not seek the permission of the deceased, we cannot even lead them to the right path. Conversely, if you obtain permission, everything is smooth sailing thereafter. A promise made to a spiritual being while staking one’s true name is that heavy.』

When Kwon Yihyeon couldn’t get a feel for it and was only following along awkwardly, Assistant Manager Jeong Yujin found that printout in the corner of her bag and handed it to him.

It was a dirty and crumpled piece of paper, but the content was so helpful that he read it thoroughly several times.

In the end, a Reaper’s workload consists of two things.

First is guiding them from the world of the living to the Underworld.

Second is helping the deceased who has arrived in the Underworld find their place, from punishment to reincarnation.

The two tasks are completely different. In the case of field positions, they refer to the first case, which is closer to being a slave hunter. The second case is closer to a civil servant dealing with petitioners. In this regard, the Haetae Department is undeniably a group of slave hunters.

However, in order to beat down a deceased person who refuses the road to the Underworld, one must possess combat power that surpasses spirits and ghosts.

“And our Team Leader Gwak is unofficially the strongest Reaper in the Underworld. That’s why the Haetae Department… a field-specialized exorcism department, could be founded.”

…He heard such an explanation from Assistant Manager Myo Woon, but he still didn’t seem convinced.

‘Even so, is it okay for it to be this abbreviated?!’

“Hectopascal kick!”

‘Is it really like that!’

In any case, as a result, the ghost ascended.

If you put it that way, you might be able to say it turned out well. However, Kwon Yihyeon, who knew with what a sublime attitude the shamans of the Great Mountain saved ghosts, could not escape from the culture shock. Could one really forcibly send them to ascension through a mere act of beating them up, when each person’s resentment was so deep…

‘This isn’t a requiem.’

However, Gwak Deukcheon and the team members continued to beat down and neutralize vengeful ghosts several times thereafter, then called their names three times and held a serious moment of silence. It seemed that Kwon Yihyeon was the only one who felt the strangeness here.

He felt like an outsider again.

“We weren’t caught by civilians this time either, right?”

“Yes sir!”

“Now, now, gather up quickly!”

“Opening the horse medal!”

“Good! Where is the next site!”

Kwon Yihyeon couldn’t blend in with the boisterous team members and placed his hand on the horse medal while floating like oil on water.

The next emergency dispatch report site was a lakeshore.

The report stated that a misty lakeshore was situated largely halfway up a mountain where the range curved, and for ten years, ghostly wails had been heard from there, followed by rambling accounts from humans who had occasionally seen water ghosts.

Aquatic ghost. Earth-bound spirit. Vengeful soul.

Until now, it seems the Reapers in charge of patrolling this area simply left it alone because it was nothing more than a spirit that didn’t harm its surroundings. But as a result of traditionally letting their guard down in that manner, the long-neglected resentment piled up and up until it became a vengeful spirit just a short while ago…

“If it’s ten years, it must be quite an old resentment.”

“I heard it became a vengeful spirit recently, so it might have evolved into a vengeful ghost by now. Maybe it’s evil spirit class. Sigh.”

The difference between a ghost and a spirit is divided by whether or not it has accumulated the karma of harming the living.

If the deceased refuses the road to the Underworld and remains in the world of the living, accumulating karma by interfering with the lives of the living, they become a ghost.

In that regard, spirits might be considered relatively gentle compared to ghosts.

However, a vengeful spirit is different from other spirits. A vengeful spirit can be called a time bomb that doesn’t know when it will explode. If an evil spirit is something that tries to kill whoever it can if it’s possible to kill them, a vengeful spirit is a sniper with a clear target. It’s just that it hasn’t caused an accident until now because it has no intention of killing anyone who isn’t a specific person; one doesn’t know what will pull its trigger. And once the trigger of a vengeful spirit is pulled, someone is bound to be hurt, so a vengeful spirit was something more terrifying than an average minor ghost.

Because intense obsession and deep-seated grudges toward someone or something make a spirit into a vengeful spirit.

Then, is it safe as long as the trigger isn’t pulled? Not necessarily. If a vengeful spirit becomes old, the resentment becomes defiled. When defiled sinister energy gathers, the living are bound to be harmed whether the vengeful spirit wants it or not.

When that happens, the vengeful spirit turns into a vengeful ghost.

Vengeful ghosts refer to beings that kill the living with a conviction such as “You must know my pain too.”

If an evil spirit kills the living for fun or pleasure, a vengeful ghost kills the living to receive empathy for its pain.

So, are vengeful spirits and vengeful ghosts essentially the same? Must they both simply be defeated?

Even though the vengeful spirit hasn’t harmed anyone yet?

“It’s tough to find the traces of a water ghost. Since it’s hard to pull them out if they hide in the water…”

“Hey, hey. Scatter around and act weak so they’ll come out on their own. Huh? Wait. Kwon Yihyeon, you punk…”

“…Yes?”

The moment he was briefly lost in other thoughts, Gwak Deukcheon bared his teeth and smiled more terrifyingly than an evil spirit.

“Earn your keep. Earn your keep.”

Kwon Yihyeon desperately cast an evasion skill.

“Pardon? I didn’t hear you?”

However, the team members were already pitying Kwon Yihyeon as if his “earning his keep” was already destined.

“Don’t worry. You can just wing it. If you just walk around alone, you’ll feel some ghostly energy. If you don’t respond to anything then, the vengeful ghost will think you’re weak and stick to you. Understand?”

“So you’re saying you’re going to use me as bait right now…”

“Exactly. If you become the bait, we’ll beat the crap out of them in that gap. Deal?”

“D-Don’t call me.”

“Okay! Let’s go!”

“…”

Goddamn uncommunicative boss.

‘Go to hell. No, wait, he’s already part of the Underworld, isn’t he?’

Goddamn it…!