GRR 49

Jion took a deep breath and turned around. Just as he looked up to check the time, Choi Junghyun, the part timer for the next shift, entered the convenience store. Jion exchanged a brief nod with him and quickly checked the cash register. Seeing that Jion looked busy, Kwon Chasa left without a word.

By the time he finished the handover and got ready to leave, Kwon Chasa had already vanished. Had he left in the meantime? He scolded him for not greeting properly, yet he just snuck off himself?

Jion pouted, feeling hurt, but then shook his head. It was actually for the best. Because he had found another reason not to like him.

“Student.”

He stepped outside after exchanging greetings with Choi Junghyun, and turned toward the terrace after hearing a familiar voice, Kwon Chasa was standing there. Jion felt his heart drop.

“Why are you here…?”

“To take you home.”

He answered without hesitation. He had left Jion in Yu Chasa’s care many times as if he were a bother, yet he offered to take him home first, even after hearing that nothing unusual had happened. Confused by his attitude, Jion moistened his dry lips with the tip of his tongue.

“Is it far from here to your house?”

“On foot… about 15 minutes.”

“That’s not too far. Might as well walk and take a look around, right?”

The words “I can go alone” simply wouldn’t leave his mouth. He knew he should refuse, he knew he was fine, but why was his tongue wouldn’t move? His feet were even taking steps toward home on their own accord, as if they had been desperately waiting for this very moment to walk home with Kwon Chasa.

Jion had no choice but to start walking with Kwon Chasa. Even as they walked, Kwon Chasa kept a keen eye on the surroundings.

“Student, don’t you feel anything?”

“Huh? What…?”

He paused briefly at a dark corner and looked at Jion with his characteristic indifferent expression.

“The area is full of ghostly energy.”

“…Really?”

Now that he had heard it, the night air felt colder. However, it wasn’t enough to make him keenly feel that it was different from usual. Tilting his head, Jion suddenly gasped.

Perhaps his guess was right. If the area was filled with ghostly energy, the strange incidents that had occurred recently might be related to ghosts.

“It’s not something I experienced myself… but strange things have been happening around me recently.”

Jion glanced up at Kwon Chasa, who never took his eyes off him, then strained to calm down and slowly opened his mouth. He turned his body [stolen content]to point with his fingers the way they had come.

“If you go over there to the other side, you’ll find a bus stop. But recently, people waiting for the bus there suddenly lost consciousness for no reason. It was early in the morning.”

Kwon Chasa listened to Jion seriously. His face looked impressive all over again, Jion’s mouth felt parched.

“Yesterday… I heard some students from my school fainted on their way home from studying. They were rushed to the emergency room and woke up a few hours later, but even they don’t know why. So, I can’t help but wonder if it might have been a ghost…”

Kwon Chasa slowly nodded.

“If it really is the work of a ghost, it’s not a very good sign. It is highly likely that it is looking for a body to possess.”

“A body to be possessed?”

Startled by the unexpected remark, Jion asked loudly, then covered his mouth with his palm. Fortunately, there was no one around, so he didn’t receive any strange looks.

“Ordinary humans can neither see nor feel ghosts, so naturally, they cannot accept them. Even if a ghost tries to enter, it bounces back. The human absorbs the entire shock, causing them to lose consciousness momentarily.”

“…….”

“A body with opened spiritual eyes is ideal for possession, so ghosts go mad for people like that. Especially if they are friendly toward ghosts like you, they will be even more desperate to take advantage of you. It’s not a common occurrence, but it’s not entirely unheard of either.”

To think that the ghost might not just be playing a trick, but actually doing it to find a body to possess. Did the people Read onwho collapsed at the bus stop, as well as Kang Jaehoon and Ju Minho, all catch the ghost’s eye and almost get possessed?

The thought sent a shiver down his spine. As Jion swallowed dryly, Kwon Chasa said in a low voice.

“Were you planning to meddle again? Like wandering around late at night trying to find out what happened.”

Kwon Chasa didn’t bother to hide his exasperation. It seemed as though he was talking under the premise that Jion already had meddled in other people’s affairs. Jion pouted and grumbled.

“It wasn’t like that. I just thought it might be because of a ghost, just a thought.”

“Good. No, don’t even think about it, just mind your own business.”

After making him think about it in the first place, now he’s telling him not to?  Jion glared at him briefly, then laughed in disbelief. Kwon Chasa looked at Jion with his characteristic indifferent gaze before starting to walk again.

As the conversation ceased, only silence lingered. The road home after work was already on the quieter side, with few people around. Jion wondered if this was the first time he had walked this path at this hour, and with someone else. It was a familiar road, but thinking that Kwon Chasa was by his side, he felt strange.

They walked in silence and found themselves in front of the building before they knew it. As Jion stopped, Kwon Chasa also stopped walking.

“Go inside quickly.”

Kwon Chasa gestured toward the entrance. His tone was half hearted, matching his seemingly insincere actions, but his imposing physique looked more solid than ever.

Jion discreetly looked up at the handsome face bathed ​stolen content​in the dim streetlight. All he had to do was turn around and go inside, but he felt reluctant. Jion lowered his head slightly.

“…Thank you for walking me home.”

He couldn’t do it yesterday, but today he was able to bring himself to say the words that had been swirling in his mouth. As he lifted his gaze from below, he saw the corners of Kwon Chasa’s mouth relax gently.

“Yeah.”

Kwon Chasa replied briefly and gestured with his chin once again. When Jion, who had hurriedly bowed and turned around, opened the door and glanced back, Kwon Chasa was still standing in the same spot. Unlike yesterday, he had not disappeared, but was watching only him, ensuring their eyes met the moment he turned around.

Jion hurried inside and climbed the stairs. However, he couldn’t get far before his knees gave out.

“…….”

His heart pounded like crazy, to the point where his whole body was trembling.

***

In the dead of dawn, Kwon Chasa was sorting registers in his study. Since grim reapers did not need to sleep, they worked diligently day and night, thanks to this, the registers that once filled the house were gradually dwindling. A few souls changed their minds at Yu Chasa’s earnest pleas, while many others, swayed by Kwon Chasa’s threats, departed for the underworld trembling in fear.

Kwon Chasa separately selected those among the deceased whom Yu Chasa had failed to persuade, those he thought might benefit from Jion’s help. Most of them were young, and their causes of death were… unsettling.

These were likely those who felt wronged by their deaths. They were also the souls the grim reaper avoided the most. This was [Read on]because they often could not accept that they were dead.

Kang Seoyoon, Park Seolhwa, and even Choi Heechan. They shared commonalities, their young age and the suspicious circumstances surrounding their deaths. However, Kwon Chasa paid no attention to such incidental matters. No, it would be more accurate to say that there was no need to.

No matter what had happened or would happen in this world, there was nothing he could change. This was because, just as the deceased must not remain in this world and intervene in the events that occured here, grim reapers were also bound by that rule.

Upon descending to the living world, although they had been told by Yeomra that she would turn a blind eye to some extent as long as they did not disrupt the world order, Kwon Chasa and Yu Chasa tried their best not to interfere in human affairs. This was also the reason they had no choice but to ask Jion to grant the wishes of the deceased. After all, since Jion belonged to the living world, he was free from the rules of the underworld.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. Kwon Chasa found himself thinking about Jion. To be precise, it was the words Jion had said.

‘It’s not something I experienced myself… but strange things have been happening around me recently.’

It was a story with many aspects that were too alarming to be taken lightly. Moreover, the eerie energy emanating from the vicinity was strong, so it was necessary to pay closer attention.