INV 58

If they become an evil spirit, they are actually easier to find. One cannot hide a demonic aura. However, the energy of a spirit is everywhere. It exists wherever people live.

Because it was a vengeful spirit merely harboring a grudge, it was difficult to find.

It wasn’t as if they could wish for it to cause trouble, either.

“It’s stifling, so stifling!”

Man Juhae screamed toward the sky.

Lim Muyoung pressed the area around his eyes—where dark circles had grown deeper—firmly with his wrist before letting go.

They knew as well.

The “Haetae Department” was a department that operated primarily on “violence” rather than “persuasion,” and because there are countless unfair deaths in the world, there would be no end to it if they tried to save every single one.

Moreover, if they didn’t lead the deceased away quickly, the boundary between the world of the living and the Underworld would only become blurred.

In the end, it was a race against time. A race against time played with lives on the line. Every group has its own circumstances, so they make choices that fit them. Kwon Yihyeon judged the Underworld without truly knowing the reality of how it operated.

However, even if manpower was lacking, failing to treat the deceased with respect was, as Gwak Deukcheon said, something to be ashamed of. As a Reaper. Before that, as a shaman. As one who touches the spiritual world and leads the deceased. Poignantly.

“But it’s not like there’s another way, right?”

Everyone’s mood was sinking, but surprisingly, Assistant Manager Jeong Yujin spoke with composure.

“It’s our portion! Both the shame and the self-reproach! Even if we wonder if we can find another way, the truth is we can’t. So, we are living by doing our best. Don’t look down on yourselves! Because that is looking down on all of us!”

“Mmm. That is true…”

Man Juhae nodded, feeling a bit more at ease from Assistant Manager Jeong’s advice.

But the next moment, a message arrived from Myo Woon.

[Myo Woon]: Found Kwon Yihyeon.

[Myo Woon]: At that lakeshore from before.

[Myo Woon]: Emergency. The intern’s condition is strange.

“Eh.”

Man Juhae wondered just how strange the kid’s condition could be.

Could it be worse than us, who stayed up for three days and nights?

[Myo Woon]: He’s jumping into the lake!

“…What?!”

But it seemed he really was in a strange state.

The team members, hurriedly holding up their horse medals, moved quickly to the lakeshore.

Kwon Yihyeon was there.

He was walking into the lake, submerging himself of his own accord.

Man Juhae began frantically taking off his clothes, and Lim Muyoung tried to jump into the water before even organizing his thoughts. It was to save the intern who was possessed by a ghost. However, Gwak Deukcheon, who had appeared at some point with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, grabbed Lim Muyoung’s shoulder. His firm knuckles blocked him. Lim Muyoung exhaled questions that couldn’t quite become words through his labored breath. But Gwak Deukcheon only shook his head.

Then, Jeong Yujin, who had caught up late, let out a short exclamation.

“Over there…!”

Beyond the lakeshore stood a man with red lips draped in a pure white long robe. Bathed in the glow of the bright moon, the man drew everyone’s gaze with a figure that could only be called a “beauty under the moon,” then extended his index finger to his lips and whispered.

“Do not interfere. With my bridegroom.”

They knew that person would never do anything to harm Kwon Yihyeon. But, what on earth was happening… Myo Woon bit his nails out of anxiety.

At that moment, Kwon Yihyeon, who was almost fully submerged in the lake wearing only a short-sleeved T-shirt, slowly began to talk to himself.

“It was cold, wasn’t it?”

It was impossible to tell who he was addressing. Just as a paroxysm of worry was about to rush in—thinking he might really be doing something crazy because he was possessed by a ghost.

“It must have been this cold for you too, right?”

“…”

The next moment, a sudden realization struck. That is to say, these words were, from the beginning…

“I wore short sleeves on purpose, but you were wearing a dress. So you must have been colder than me.”

“…”

“You were young.”

“…”

“Right?”

…directed only toward that girl.

So Myo Woon felt a pain as if his heart were being torn out. Myo Woon had also fallen into a similar shock when he first performed a requiem for a vengeful spirit. However, accepting and resonating with the spirit’s wounds with one’s whole body did not mean one could comfort the spirit’s death. The pain of death was a hunger that could not be filled no matter who it devoured. Stepping forward to embrace even that sadness was merely the beginning of a tragedy that would cause the spirit to commit another sin.

So Myo Woon shouted.

“Stop it! Kwon Yihyeon! It won’t do any good even if you do that…!”

He clamored without even having time to use formal language, and as if he heard it, Kwon Yihyeon looked back at Myo Woon.

And he laughed softly.

Myo Woon somehow froze at that laughter, and Kwon Yihyeon began to recite something.

A newspaper article from ten years ago about a human trafficking site of a certain gang being discovered. He listed sentences he had memorized so many times he could say them with his eyes closed, and finally… he delivered what absolutely had to be delivered.

“Ten years ago, a gang got caught during human trafficking—that’s the content of the article I just heard. It said the little girl who was rescued then was adopted by a police officer. She was exactly four years old, and they said she couldn’t remember her own name. But I could tell once I saw the photo.”

Suddenly the lake surged and billowed, and then a giant wave stopped above Kwon Yihyeon’s head.

But Kwon Yihyeon did not close his eyes.

He simply held out a photograph.

“Look here. It’s your Suyeong-i.”

Immediately following, a wave like a tsunami crashed over Kwon Yihyeon.

Whoooooooosh…

How much time had passed?

Kwon Yihyeon walked out carrying a young girl. With a body that was not wet in the slightest.

The corpse, which had not decayed at all compared to ten years ago, was heavily crushed, but as soon as he laid it on the shore and closed its eyes, it crumbled into powder and scattered.

Leaving behind only the photo of the happy child…

“…”

“…”

A long silence followed that no one could easily break.

Kwon Yihyeon, having finished his moment of silence, tried to explain his unauthorized absence, but Gwak Deukcheon was faster.

Chewing on his unlit cigarette, he approached, tapped Kwon Yihyeon’s shoulder, and walked past.

“Excellent work.”

“…”

In that moment, Kwon Yihyeon felt his eyes grow red.

He thought he would be scolded for doing something wrong. He came prepared to be cursed at for being arrogant. But instead, he received praise. That was an acknowledgment of the “ending” that Kwon Yihyeon had chosen and achieved. At the moment his scream—that he absolutely did not want to forcibly drag the unfairly killed girl to the Underworld—was recognized by Gwak Deukcheon, Kwon Yihyeon felt a sense of being completely accepted into this world. That sensation became even stronger as the team members each left a comment while slapping Kwon Yihyeon’s back or the back of his head.

“Next time, explain it to us before you do it!”

“Unauthorized absence is not allowed!”

“Let’s do it together. The cool stuff. Don’t just snatch it and do it alone!”

“…I thought I would be in trouble…”

When he whispered cautiously, Myo Woon glared with “axe-eyes” and struck Kwon Yihyeon’s back hard.

“It is true that you should be in trouble. Not explaining anything and releasing a vengeful spirit as you pleased. We were working our asses off while you showed up late all by yourself to act cool.”

“Ugh…”

“But, because you were more than excellent.”

Myo Woon stated firmly. That the existence of a Reaper is inherently an existence that prays. An existence that prays for salvation, prays for a requiem, and prays for a memorial.

“Because today you were the most faithful to 그 role, I’m putting off the nagging.”

“…Assistant Manager Woon…”

“See you on Monday. You’re dead.”

“…”

Myo Woon failed to make a threatening expression when he said that and let out a playful chuckle, and Kwon Yihyeon made a comically tearful face in front of his senior, making the team members burst out laughing.

Let’s talk later about what Kwon Yihyeon did during those three days and nights to find the girl’s younger sibling.

More important than that is the miracle of this moment.

The lakeshore at night, the moisture-laden wind.

Under the moonlight.

Among the group who finished a moment of silence.

Myo Woon asks.

“Do you think every case can end in a happy ending?”

A tone that was hard to tell if it was a rebuke or awe brushed past dimly, as if it would be swallowed by the hazy mist.

But Kwon Yihyeon laughs.

“Isn’t it fine for at least one person to be a Don Quixote? In this world?”

As if it didn’t matter.

As if he was so poignantly happy this night after comforting someone that he had no room to care about anything else.

Three days ago, Chacha asked.

“Shall I help you?”

As he said that, Chacha had a face that seemed confused about what kind of expression he was making.

Kwon Yihyeon turned his back to him, burying his head in the computer as he replied.

“No. Because this is something humans did wrong.”

A human wants to return it, Kwon Yihyeon replied.

Chacha made a strange expression again at those words, but as Kwon Yihyeon continued, he made an even stranger expression, so it went unnoticed.

“But I might be late. Since that shouldn’t happen, please make it so our team members can’t find her. Also, if the vengeful spirit does something that makes her a vengeful ghost, all my efforts will go down the drain, so please ask her to stay quietly in the lake so she doesn’t do that.”

“…You are quite brazen, picking out only the most bothersome tasks to order me around.”

“Haha…”

Tasks that could be finished with a snap of a finger if he were asked to find where the sibling was.

Claiming he would do it with his own hands and feet, he dumped an even greater inconvenience on him and acted with good-natured cheekiness.

“You’ll do it for me, right?”

And he did it unnecessarily cutely. With glistening, teary eyes.

Even acting charmingly!