GRR 62

Kwon Chasa sighed before speaking again.

“He is still very young.”

“Young? How old is he?”

Kwon Chasa hadn’t heard Jion’s exact age, but he had a rough idea. When he had tried to erase his memories, Jion mentioned needing to take the CSAT, and he’d said he was the same age as Park Seolhwa. That would make him nineteen.

“Nineteen.”

“Nineteen?”

Yeomra’s eyes widened, and she shouted so loudly it felt as if the main hall were shaking. A look of genuine pity began to cloud her features.

“Goodness, goodness… He’s a babe in arms. How did a child like that end up with spiritual eyes? Tsk, tsk.”

Kwon Chasa rarely found himself agreeing with Yeomra, but this was an exception. To a being like Yeomra, who had lived far longer than he had, nineteen-year-old Jion would look like nothing more than a newborn. Yeomra contemplated something for a moment before asking.

“What’s the boy’s name and date of birth?”

“What do you plan to do with that?”

“I want to take a look at the Mirror of Karma. I’m curious to see what kind of person visit our site has you so preoccupied.”

“Is a King of the Underworld allowed to do that? He isn’t a ghost yet; he’s a living human.”

Bluntly reminded of the rules, Yeomra bit her lip. The Mirror of Karma was meant to reflect the live of the dead; looking into the life of the living was, in principle, strictly forbidden.

However, simply looking wouldn’t cause a catastrophe. As long as she didn’t interfere, it wasn’t a major problem. More importantly, Yeomra held the greatest power among the Ten Kings of the Underworld, so no one would dare criticize her even if she did break a rule. The only one who ever stood up to her was Kwon Chasa.

Yeomra pouted and sighed. She knew there was no stopping Kwon Chasa when he was being more fastidious about principles and logic than she was. Reclaiming a bit of her composure, she grumbled.

“Alright, then you can just tell me yourself. What exactly about him has you so bothered?”

That expression of his, the one that looked hollow, exhausted, and perhaps even tinged with gloom.

Kwon Chasa almost blurted out the answer. He slowly ran the tip of his tongue along the roof of his mouth, which felt as dry as sandpaper, and offered a textbook response instead.

“…I am simply trying to resolve the matter before a living person gets unnecessarily involved and things escalate. His sight already attracts ghosts; now he’s encountering spirits he should never have met because of me and Yu Chasa. I have to take responsibility.”

It was similar to what he had told Jion. It meant he was only going through the trouble to fulfill his given duties and responsibilities.

Yet, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He had only answered a question, but he once again recalled Jion’s crestfallen face after hearing that answer.

Kwon Chasa frowned slightly. The change didn’t go unnoticed by Yeomra. It was only possible because she had watched him and known him for ages. She could tell that something was sprouting within Kwon Chasa’s thoughts and heart.

Just then, a juseon-dongja entered the hall after finishing an errand. He politely handed a register to Yeomra, bowed, and vanished. Kwon Chasa’s looked at the register in her hand. She flipped through the pages.

“Hmm… he’s only been dead for about two months? That explains why the register didn’t go to you.”

Only then could Kwon Chasa relax slightly. At least the ghost hadn’t lied to Jion about his name. Since he wasn’t a missing entry like Jo Yunkyung, this might be resolved more easily than expected.

“Who is in charge of this case?”

“It looks like Chasa No. 301, Lee Chasa….”

Yeomra’s expression turned grim as she flipped through a few more pages. Since Yu Chasa was No. 299, No. 301 was a complete novice with even less experience. It made sense that a troublesome ghost like this hadn’t been dealt with yet.

He had no desire to clean up someone else’s mess, but since it was a matter related to Jion, he felt jittery about leaving it in someone else’s hands. Kwon Chasa closed his eyes for a moment, then took a step toward Yeomra.

“I will handle it.”

“You?”

“Give me the register.”

Taken aback, Yeomra handed him the register. Without a moment’s hesitation, Kwon Chasa nodded.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Uh, yes… alright….”

She wondered if this was the same Kwon Chasa she had known for over three hundred years. Stepping in for a case that wasn’t even his jurisdiction was unheard of. She couldn’t help but be curious about how much that living person was weighing on his mind.

“Ah, the name…!”

Yeomra cried out too late. She realized she hadn’t managed to get a single piece of information about the living person from him. She scrambled to her feet, but Kwon Chasa had long since disappeared from the hall.

***

It wasn’t a special-menu Friday, but the food piled on the tray was still impressive. However, Jion was picking at his meal. Go Youngjae, who was sitting in front of him, swallowed a fried shrimp and called out to him.

“Chae Ji.”

“…Huh?”

Jion responded a little late and looked up. Go Youngjae pushed up his glasses.

“Something’s wrong with you.”

“What do you mean? Nothing is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong, yet you’re barely eating?”

He knew Jion’s usual eating speed well enough to make the call. Come to think of it, his grandfather had asked if something was wrong this morning, [stolen content]and during lunch, Oh Hyunsoo had told him he was acting weird. They were all saying the same thing.

His state of mind was transparent to others. Jion shoveled a big spoonful of fried rice into his mouth and followed it with several gulps of spicy beef soup. He chewed and swallowed loudly before answering.

“I just have a few things on my mind.”

Jion gave a bright smile and bit into a fried shrimp. As he mechanically chewed and swallowed, he suddenly felt wronged.

I’m probably the only one acting like this. The ever-responsible Kwon Chasa is probably way too busy working to give me a second thought.

He felt dejected, as if he’d been rejected even though he hadn’t actually confessed. His mouth felt dry and scratchy. Jion didn’t know how to calm his fluctuating emotions, so he just sighed. He focused on his food to keep Youngjae from getting suspicious.

After finishing their meal while chatting about the upcoming CSAT, Jion parted ways with Youngjae outside the cafeteria. He walked out of the school gates with his bag slung over his shoulder. Jion suddenly shivered when a cold wind blew. He looked around to see if a ghost was nearby, but nothing was there. It was a relief, he’d been worried Baek Kitae might show up.

He stopped walking and cautiously checked his surroundings. Wondered if it might be Kwon Chasa, he even looked up at the sky. But nowhere was there a man dressed in a black suit and polished black shoes.

Kwon Chasa had said he wouldn’t ask for any more favors for a while, so there was no reason for him to visit. It was ridiculous to be looking for him out of some expectation.

Jion shook his head vigorously. He decided to think of it as a good thing. If they saw each other less and drifted apart, his feelings would eventually disappear.

Liking a grim reaper was nonsense. Even as Jion thought this, he clutched his chest.

‎

‎

“Hi, Noona.”

“You’re here?”

Jion entered the convenience store and greeted Im Hyejin with a smile. He went straight to the staff room, put down his bag, and pulled on his vest. He tugged at the hem of the vest to smooth out the wrinkles.

Once the handover was finished and Im Hyejin left, Jion was alone. It must have been a busy day; he spent over an hour filling the empty shelves and attending to the occasional customer.

After finishing the restock, Jion returned to the counter. Feeling exhausted, he slumped into the plastic chair. His eyes drifted to the small table tucked between the aisles, the one where Kwon Chasa had sat when he visited.

‘I told you earlier. I have a bad feeling about this.’

‘Don’t worry about it and just focus on your work.’

That day, Kwon Chasa had stayed in the store until Jion’s shift ended, offering those words of concern with a stoic face. To think the only reason he’d gone to that trouble was out of responsibility made Jion feel like crying.

Is that just what it’s like to be an adult? Or are grim reapers simply not allowed to have personal feelings? Was the way he looked after me, the way he went along with what I said, and the way he worried about me, just duty and obligation?

Despite having vowed to move on, Jion was already back to thinking of nothing but Kwon Chasa.