INV 57

Kwon Yihyeon, gasping for breath, turned his blind gaze upward to look at the office worker trampling his back.

Gwak Deukcheon scrutinized him with a gaze that was, as always, seemingly indifferent yet meticulous. As soon as he realized Kwon Yihyeon had broken out of that terrible “resonance” and returned to his senses, he began tossing off his worn suit jacket, declaring he was going to save his team members.

“If you’ve come to your senses, stay right here.”

I’m gonna go give that thing a thrashing. How dare it mess with our brand-new intern?

Watching Gwak Deukcheon mutter those words while rotating his shoulders…

Strangely, Kwon Yihyeon felt that he must not let him go like this.

…Was it because he was still possessed?

In the middle of the lake, the team members who had entered combat were screaming at the top of their lungs.

Since there were no people nearby the lakeshore anyway, they were going to go all out.

“Ah, damn it! They said she hadn’t harmed anyone for ten years—has she just been cultivating herself? Why is her resentment so strong!”

“The vengeful spirit just job-changed into a vengeful ghost!”

“I don’t think she’s changed jobs yet; I don’t feel like she’s harmed a human yet. But it feels like she’s about to!”

“It’ll be a problem if we let her change jobs by harming us!”

“Let’s finish her off quickly!”

When Kwon Yihyeon looked toward the noise, he saw team members running across the water or flying through the air in the center of the lake, and in the middle of them was the aquatic ghost, resisting and suffering from the exorcism.

At a glance, the battle between the team members and the aquatic ghost was evenly matched. However, if Gwak Deukcheon joined in, the girl would collapse in an instant. For now, the team members were merely taking on the role of stalling for time to drain out the deep-seated resentment.

“Team Leader! Hurry over!”

“Wait! I can’t let my clothes get wet!”

“That stingy, one-suit-only gentleman!!”

The young girl’s gaunt cheeks and withered limbs were torn apart by the swirling spiritual power.

In Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes, the spiritual power they emitted was visible, strand by strand. An intern who hadn’t been educated on what spiritual power was couldn’t clearly categorize the names of those energies, but whenever Kwon Yihyeon’s eyes turned to gold, he pierced through things he shouldn’t even know.

That was why he could speak.

‘I can see the origin of why that child is bound to the lake.’

An aquatic ghost, an earth-bound spirit—one who drowns and is shackled to the place of death to become a vengeful soul is a vengeful spirit, a soul that a Reaper must rightfully collect…

The girl’s soul was bound by a translucent, bluish cord that was barely visible only if one focused their spiritual eyes to the extreme, and that cord was buried deep in a rocky bed beneath the water’s surface. In other words, the reason the girl was shackled to the spot where she died was none other than because her corpse was submerged there, serving as the weight for her grudge.

Kwon Yihyeon might not have known the method of how to proceed, but he had come to know the way to unbind the girl.

‘Even knowing what will happen if I release that child.’

If Gwak Deukcheon drove a spear through the girl’s heart, everything would end. Kwon Yihyeon hoped it wouldn’t be so. He hoped the girl’s wish wouldn’t be terminated.

Kwon Yihyeon slowly raised his hand.

And he cut the knot between the girl and the lake.

Slice!

For a moment, it felt like his eyes met the girl’s. However, because tears had welled up, he couldn’t see what expression she wore.

When he closed and opened his eyes, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and then.

“What kind of idiot is this?”

Gwak Deukcheon, who had flown in, was grabbing Kwon Yihyeon by the collar and lifting him up.

“Are you even in your right mind after doing that? Or are you still possessed?”

Gwak Deukcheon’s grip was strong. He was strong enough to lift the slumped Kwon Yihyeon with one hand. However, it was a reaction within the expected range.

On the contrary, as soon as his feet touched the ground, Kwon Yihyeon looked down at Gwak Deukcheon with a murderous gaze.

Gwak Deukcheon let out a hollow laugh.

“…This brat is in his right mind? Hey. Kwon Yihyeon. You, do you even know what you’ve done?”

“Yes, I know. I released an earth-bound spirit. Freely.”

“And do you know what that means?”

The team members watched the confrontation between the two, feeling restless. Shouldn’t we stop them? On what grounds? Myo Woon said flatly: the intern is the one who did wrong, so on what grounds do we stop the Team Leader? Jeong Yujin stomped her feet, saying that wasn’t what it meant, but Man Juhae also agreed with Myo Woon.

The earth-bound spirit was released and escaped. From now on, they have to work their asses off to track the vengeful spirit.

Because an intern possessed by ghostly energy caused an accident.

They had no fucking idea where the vengeful spirit would do what, and if things went wrong, a major incident might occur where dozens of people die.

There was no mercy to be shown to an intern who acted so brazenly after committing such a deed.

However, the answer that came back was bizarre.

“What about you people? What gives you the right to act so proud?”

“Are you crazy? Has the possession not worn off yet?”

Gwak Deukcheon, irritated by the retort, twitched an eyebrow upward, but Kwon Yihyeon suddenly grabbed him back by the collar.

“She was a person! They were all people!”

“Who doesn’t know that…”

“All the people you’ve beaten and sent back until now were human beings!”

Suddenly, a wind blew across the deserted lakeshore. As if welcoming the one who, for the first time, understood the will of the deceased.

Suddenly, Gwak Deukcheon looks down at the young man shedding tears with flashing golden eyes.

A youth who was only in his mid-to-late twenties.

“…She was a child who did nothing wrong, just a little kid who was sacrificed and scarred by the world—why did you do that to her? Why did you give her pain by dragging her out by force instead of resolving her grudge and guiding her to the afterlife!”

“…”

“What is a requiem! A requiem is soothing the soul of a dead person so they can sleep in peace! But why did you do that? Why was that the only method you could choose!”

He couldn’t be raised as the successor of the Great Mountain, but that boy who lived by the tutelary shrine and silently watched their ways from the side—even now as a grown man, he could not comprehend the guidance of the 21st-century Reapers.

Guiding a soul to the afterlife should be about soothing the spirit and sending it back, yet he could not accept the very behavior of those calling themselves Reapers who lead the dead to their place. So, he made a choice.

Even if it wasn’t the best choice, he firmly believed it was the right thing to do.

But the Reaper named Gwak Deukcheon roared back like this.

“Doing something wrong? She didn’t! Was there a reason to beat her to death just because she made a human walking by the lake last night faint with her crying? No such thing! It’s also true that we should feel guilty for not being able to resolve her resentment! Reapers like us are a chronic evil habit and a deep-seated corruption of the Underworld that shouldn’t be justified just because we’re short-staffed!”

The anger that had momentarily surged to the top of his head stopped at the biting self-criticism.

Gwak Deukcheon continued to shout.

“But being possessed by a ghost! Releasing her because of that! That is a mistake! Even if you die and die again a hundred times, it is a mistake worth beating you to death for! The dead must return. To their place! That is the providence. Returning to the place where you were born to live a new life—that is what circulation means!”

“I…!”

“Even if you released her while in your right mind, even if you weren’t possessed! That is an even worse choice! If you leave her like this, she will become a vengeful ghost, then an evil spirit, and eventually perish after accumulating evil karma. Is that what you wanted? Was that what you wished for!”

“…No! Even so, this isn’t right! I believe there is a better ending! For all of us!”

The cold wind surged powerfully as it met the lakeshore after climbing over the mountain range.

The conversation broke off.

Kwon Yihyeon disappeared just like that and did not return for three days and nights.

“…Tsk.”

Was it a moment too deeply felt for a total amateur who hadn’t received any explanation to endure?

Belatedly, Gwak Deukcheon had such a thought.

‘Is it because it’s been too long since I dealt with a soft-hearted and sensitive kid? Tsk.’

Since everyone around him was a tough fellow, Gwak Deukcheon had completely forgotten how to handle such a delicate man. Besides, the emergency dispatch was a bit urgent.

For a boss who had just been dragged through a trial, this level of handling was good enough.

‘…Even so, it’s not like it doesn’t weigh on my mind.’

The team members, excluding Gwak Deukcheon and Kang Taerim, expect that he won’t return. They try to accept that a guy who was so possessed by a vengeful spirit that he even released her from her earth-bound state would be of no help even if he did return. Come to think of it, if he was possessed by Jae Angshin, why wouldn’t he be possessed by a vengeful spirit?

Gwak Deukcheon thought a bit differently. So he didn’t report Kwon Yihyeon’s desertion to the higher-ups. But he couldn’t keep his mouth shut forever.

Kwon Yihyeon did not return for three days and nights.

Even when he looked up his address, he couldn’t feel any trace of Kwon Yihyeon or Chacha.

Does it mean he can’t be found unless he returns on his own?

Well, since his bride is Jae Angshin, she could hide their traces as much as she wanted.

But it was now getting to the point where he had to report to his superiors.

‘Come back quickly, you madman. There’s a limit to how much I can cover for you.’

However, the work continued even with one intern missing.

Since they lost the vengeful spirit, they didn’t know when or where an accident might break out. They had to find her. But they couldn’t ignore other emergency calls either. So Gwak Deukcheon decided to split the team in half to operate from three days ago.

“Ah, we used to do this only when we were at our busiest.”

“We are at our busiest right now. There are over seven thousand emergency calls piled up.”

“Shit…”

“Now the higher-ups say they’ll screen the dispatch requests based on whether they’re truly emergencies or not, but isn’t it too late?”

“Let’s just be glad they’re starting now.”

“Holy shit…”

Nevertheless, that girl Kwon Yihyeon let escape, that child.

Wherever she was hiding so well.

Not a single strand of her hair could be found.