GRR 108

Upon arriving in the underworld, Kwon Chasa headed straight to the office of the Noksa. It was to examine the scrolls recording the names and whereabouts of the deceased.

Based on the fact that the deceased had stayed in the living world for a little over a year, he determined the time of death and requested the records from that time, the Noksa quickly found the scroll and handed it to Kwon Chasa.

Kwon Chasa headed to his office holding the scroll. He lit up the dark interior, sat at his desk, unfolded the scroll, and diligently read through the text. His eyes, reflecting the characters, held a light of unparalleled caution.

He finally found a name and let out a low sigh.

Chae Minju

Fortunately, among the people who died at that time, there was only one person with the same surname as Jion. Kwon Chasa placed the scroll on the desk, tilted his head back, and quietly looked up at the ceiling.

‘That’s how I ended up granting ghosts’ wishes. They say the underworld sees whether the deceased’s family or friends did good deeds or not. So I was doing it hoping that if I sent the ghosts to the underworld, Mom might receive a lighter punishment…’

To think that the mother Jion spoke of was the very soul he had last taken. To think that the little child who had been crying all this time was Jion. It was a situation he had never even imagined, and all he could do was sigh.

Jion, who had spiritual eyes open like his grandfather, must have kept his dead mother by his side for a year. Although Jion’s mother may have stayed by his side simply out of concern for her son, the negative energy inherent in ghosts inevitably has a detrimental effect on the living.

The same went for the energy he possessed. Even without direct contact, it was impossible that young Jion, whose spiritual eyes were already open, remained unaffected by her energy.

‘The grim reaper who took my mom… was that really you?’

Jion’s trembling eyes and sorrowful sobs would not leave his mind. The sight of him retreating and entering the house with his head bowed was also still vivid, as if it were permanently imprinted in his memory.

“It’s all in the past, so why attach any meaning to it?” The words he would normally have said without hesitation would not come out in front of Jion today. It was partly because Jion had cried so bitterly, but the guilt of having caused Jion to be like this was even greater.

He had told him that getting involved with ghosts was not good, that he should be careful, and that he shouldn’t meddle unnecessarily, but when he realized that he, too, had contributed to the reason why Jion had no choice but to act that way, he let out a hollow sigh.

On the one hand, he thought it might actually be for the best. Now that Jion knew that he was the grim reaper who had treated his mother so cruelly, he would be able to give up on him and forget him sooner.

‘That living human who’s been helping you. I think I might be able to erase his memory.’

He suddenly recalled Yeomra’s words. It occurred to him, albeit belatedly, that there was a surest way to make Jion give up. Though, rather than making him give up, it was closer to completely erasing his existence from Jion’s memory without a trace.

Since it erased memories linked to grim reapers, the version of himself that Jion saw when he was young would also disappear from his memory. It wouldn’t be easy, but since they said they could close his spiritual eyes as well, if that happened, Jion would no longer be entangled with ghosts and would be able to live a normal life.

Kwon Chasa lowered his gaze back to the scroll. Beneath the name Chae Minju, her trial results and subsequent whereabouts were written. Chae Minju, who had gone to the Chunma Hell under the jurisdiction of Yeomra like most of the deceased, appeared to have been granted reincarnation after serving her punishment there for about two years.

He thought that since she was a victim caught in an incident caused by Sobyeolwang, her sins might have been considered excusable, however, it seemed they could not overlook the fact that she had stayed in the living world for over a year, overturning the order here and altering someone’s fate. That someone was none other than her son, Jion.

As he reached the conclusion that Jion was the child born with the unfortunate fate of having to die earlier than Chae Minju, he felt a dizzying sensation as if his whole body were running cold.

Was that why Jion’s spiritual eyes were so open? Was seeing what ordinary humans couldn’t see, and consequently being unauthorized copyexposed to greater danger, the price Jion paid for living out his changed destiny?

‘Things didn’t get too complicated. After all, they say that human still has many years left to live.’

He recalled what Yeomra had said about Jion. If Yeomra had not stopped at having a juseon-dongja check Jion’s lifespan back then, but had delved deeper, she would have quickly discovered that Jion was the child involved in the incident 11 years ago.

If only that had happened, he could have realized that the child back then was Jion a little sooner. Everything could have been undone before Jion’s heart and his drifted this far.

Ruminating on his fleeting regrets, Kwon Chasa tidied up the scroll and slowly closed his eyes. In conclusion, Jion no longer needed to go through the trouble of helping ghosts to atone for his mother’s sins. She had already paid the price for the sins committed in her past life and had started a new one. There was no longer any need for Jion to share the burden of those sins.

He, too, had no reason to remain in this world any longer once he safely brought the last soul to the underworld. It was tantamount to saying that he did not have much time left in Jion’s memories.

He might never be reincarnated, thinking of Jion from time to time, and one day he might find himself wanting to see him. Just as the events of his past life were still vividly etched in his mind, even after all this time had passed, the memories of his time with Jion would remain clear in his head.

“…….”

However, he soon scoffed at himself. To think he had fallen for a human. It was absurd, and a feeling unbefitting of his status as a grim reaper. He should no longer attach any meaning to Jion’s innocent smile or sincere confession. That was the right thing to do.

Kwon Chasa exhaled, took the scroll and left the office, wishing that his own memories would evaporate the moment Jion’s memories were erased.

***

As always, time flowed equally for everyone. It was the same for Jion. As he surrendered himself to the flow of time, which sometimes seemed to move slowly and sometimes quickly, he couldn’t even visit our site immediately calculate how many days it had been since he hadn’t seen Kwon Chasa.

Jion, who had been mechanically doing his part-time job, bowed slightly to the manager who entered after the customer who had bought snacks and cup noodles left. While the manager checked the cash register, Jion went into the staff room, took off his vest, and put on his coat. Just as he was about to zip up his long padded jacket, he suddenly thought of Kwon Chasa.

‘Go inside quickly. It’s cold.’

It was this padded jacket. The one that Kwon Chasa used to button up so nicely.

As the affectionate voice came to mind, Jion’s throat tightened. He let out a heavy sigh. However, the stifling feeling would not go away, so he had to pound his chest with his fist a few times.

He grabbed his bag and sling it over his shoulder, then stepped out of the staff room. As he turned his head absentmindedly, he saw a display stand filled with dairy products and packaged drinks. Seeing the banana milk there, he felt his throat tighten again.

The only thing Kwon Chasa, who had no appetite and had no need to eat, had voluntarily consumed was milk. Jion recalled Kwon Chasa drinking chocolate milk while sitting at a table behind the convenience store, and chuckled.

He wasn’t impressed by anything he ate, but did he like milk?

Come to think of it, he didn’t really know what Kwon Chasa liked or disliked. The only thing he had ever clearly said he liked… was Jion himself.

As the confession from that day came to mind, he felt a stinging sensation all the way to the tip of his nose.

“…Manager, I’ll be going now.”

“Oh, right. Good job.”

Thinking that staying here any longer would only result in an embarrassing sight, he hurriedly greeted the store manager. As he pushed the door and stepped outside, he realized just how much colder the weather had become recently. It seemed he would have to layer up on everything he could, scarves, gloves, and more, now. The cold, which a single down jacket couldn’t withstand, chilled him to the bone.

Jion sniffled once and walked toward his house. His eyes widened as he saw someone walking toward him from the opposite direction with a familiar gait.

“Grandpa!”

Jion shouted happily and ran over in one breath. He deliberately raised his voice to exaggerate, not wanting to let anyone know that he had been feeling down just moments before.

“Why are you running? You’ll fall.”

“I didn’t fall.”

Jion replied with a giggle, linked arms with his grandfather, and pressed himself against him. Seeing his grandfather laugh in disbelief, Jion poured out questions.

“Grandpa, what about the cafe? Did you close early?”

“Yes. I was thinking of having dinner together.”

As soon as grandfather finished speaking, he turned his feet in a different direction, away from the house. Jion was dragged along with him.

Judging by the direction, they were heading toward the gomtang restaurant, a long-time favorite of his grandfather. He wasn’t exactly sure how old he was, but he remembered eating there with his grandfather, grandmother, and mother. ​Read on​It was a cold winter back then, just like now, so the restaurant was full of customers.

Thinking that there was indeed no food like it in cold weather, Jion walked alongside his grandfather.