Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Chapter 69 Fare for the Afterlife (1)

"Are you sure that's the place?"

"Yes, I'm certain!"

"Do you even know what that place is?"

"Pardon? What do you mean? Isn't it just an abandoned building?"

"No. Good grief."

A fleeting look of pity crossed King Yama's face as she gazed at Deputy Manager Oh Changsik.

If making one's own life miserable was a talent, he certainly possessed it.

Despite being assigned to the relatively decent accidental-death department, he'd repeatedly experienced the rather unfair situation of finding souls listed in the register of the dead still perfectly alive. It was only ten years ago that he'd been demoted to the Trouble Resolution Team.

And now, in that fleeting span of less than a hundred years, he'd summoned King Yama herself to the mortal world, claiming there was an evil spirit inside an abandoned building.

The very place where the Divine Tree was hidden.

'Is this Goddess Mago's work? She's hidden the Divine Tree remarkably well in a place like that. Even I almost failed to recognize it.'

Not only were there talismans concealing its traces, but the Divine Tree itself, despite possessing tremendous energy, blended cleverly into its surroundings.

Naturally, to ordinary employees serving as grim reapers, it would appear to be nothing more than an ordinary tree and an old building.

'The problem is that evil spirit this fellow claims to have seen...'

Judging by the circumstances, it had to be the human said to be guarding the Divine Tree.

There were even rumors that he traveled freely to and from the Celestial Realm without his lifespan being severed.

If it would take both gatekeepers of the underworld to barely defeat him, wasn't he more than qualified to protect the Divine Tree?

'But there's no way he's an evil spirit. Goddess Mago hasn't gone senile like me, so she wouldn't have entrusted the Divine Tree to an evil spirit. Well, I'll find out the details once we go inside.'

"Let's go in."

"Yes!"

"What are you doing?"

"Pardon? You said we should go in..."

Deputy Manager Oh Changsik and Employee Shin Jihye, both clad in thick armor, held finely sharpened spears and axes. They had even assumed ready stances, prepared to thrust their weapons forward at a moment's notice.

"Put those dreadful things away. We're not going there to fight."

Only after they'd dispersed their energy and returned to ordinary clothing could Yama open the coffeehouse door.

-Jingle.

"Welcome. Please take a seat wherever you like and place your order."

The teahouse owner looked slightly surprised when he saw them, but soon offered a perfectly natural greeting to his customers.

'He looks ordinary enough. Apart from his handsome face, there's nothing particularly unusual about him.'

There wasn't even any need to bring out the Mirror of Karma.

He looked barely thirty. In addition to his handsome appearance, he possessed a benevolent soul imbued with a small amount of divine power.

He was the very opposite of an evil spirit.

(Hey, is that him?)

(No, Your Majesty. It was a furry creature with limbs growing in all sorts of strange places.)

(What are you talking about? Stop that!)

Deputy Manager Oh Changsik tried to explain by gesturing that limbs had been growing from the creature's sides, buttocks, and chest. Horrified by his ridiculous display, Yama quietly shouted for him to stop.

"Um... Excuse me, customers?"

"Ahem. Sorry. We can sit here, right?"

The three of them awkwardly settled at a table beside the window.

"The menu is hanging over there. Take your time and let me know when you've decided."

After giving his instructions, Jinseong placed a glass of water before each of them and walked away.

Only then did Yama belatedly realize where she'd come.

'Wait, now that I think about it, this is a teahouse!'

There was no doubt.

She had arrived at the very sort of place she'd repeatedly dreamed of visiting while watching the past lives of the countless souls who entered the underworld.

'It's a little different from the places I've seen, but this is definitely a teahouse!'

Though she was revered as King Yama and ruled the underworld, she was a woman at heart.

Whenever the Mirror of Karma showed women dressed in fashionable clothes, sitting in teahouses and drinking black liquid, she'd find herself replaying those scenes over and over.

And her current appearance was the result.

By quietly taking advantage of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's efforts to modernize the underworld, she'd succeeded in exchanging her loose-fitting hanbok for the clothing she'd seen in the Mirror of Karma.

But cafés and the mysterious black liquid those women drank were another matter.

The underworld might have been modernized, but it was still the underworld.

There was no way to obtain that black liquid.

She'd been so curious about its taste that she'd considered asking the grim reapers who traveled between the mortal world and the underworld, but that would have meant setting aside King Yama's dignity, and she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Especially since she was particularly bad at remembering the names of things from the mortal world. Explaining exactly what the black liquid was would have required considerable determination.

And now, not only had she arrived at the teahouse of her dreams, but she'd also been given a chance to drink the black liquid.

Yama felt like shouting for joy on the spot.

But Deputy Manager Oh Changsik, who had no way of knowing what was going through her mind, cautiously spoke up.

(Your Majesty, since the evil spirit doesn't appear to be here, perhaps you should leave for now. We'll gather more information separately.)

(Huh?)

'You useless fool!'

Frustratingly, it was a reasonable suggestion.

After all, she'd come to the mortal world to find the evil spirit that had opened the gate to the underworld and sent a soul onward without authorization.

The evil spirit was nowhere to be seen, and she'd confirmed the identity of the human guarding the Divine Tree. There was no particular reason to stay any longer.

Besides, she wasn't in a position to waste time idling about in the mortal world.

Just as she was about to quietly rise from her seat, her savior happened to notice and approached.

"Have you decided what you'd like to order?"

"B-Black water!"

"Pardon?"

"The black water in those cups! Three cups of that!"

"Ssanghwa tea?"

"Yes! That's it!"

"Certainly. I'll bring it right away."

'I did it!'

Fortunately, the Divine Tree's guardian seemed to have understood her order, which had practically turned into a game of twenty questions.

(Um, Your Majesty?)

Her joy at finally ordering the black liquid was short-lived. Her two subordinates questioned her with a few brief words, plainly seeking an explanation.

Yama's mind raced to devise a plausible reason.

(Y-You! You've been doing this job for hundreds of years, yet you still have so little sense? What if something happens again while you're watching the place? I'm busy enough as it is. Do you expect me to come all the way back to the mortal world again?)

(No, Your Majesty. I wasn't thinking clearly.)

(Just wait. You never know.)

And that waiting period became time devoted entirely to Yama enjoying the black liquid in the teahouse.

_____________

When it rains, it pours. Of all times for customers to arrive, why now?

Coincidentally, there was nobody in the coffeehouse except me.

Lia had gone to Serin's house, Sani was at Mount Gyeryong, and the Elder had said he'd be back late in the evening because of some business involving Director Baek.

Although it was the weekend, we weren't officially open, so naturally there were no other customers either.

Under these unfavorable circumstances, I had to serve customers.

And customers who were clearly not ordinary humans, at that.

Their order was peculiar too.

Black water, of all things.

Fortunately, there was only one black drink on our coffeehouse menu.

And so three cups of ssanghwa tea, topped with pine nuts, peanut powder, and egg yolks, were quickly prepared and delivered to their table.

________________

'I-Is this really it?'

It was black.

There were a few minor issues, such as the little bits floating in it and the egg yolk, but overall, it was unquestionably black liquid served in a cup.

Jinseong's coffeehouse didn't serve Americanos or even black coffee. Yet to Yama, already intoxicated by the atmosphere, the fragrant ssanghwa tea was no different from freshly brewed coffee made with roasted beans from a café machine.

"Hmm, it smells wonderful."

-Sip.

'What? It was this delicious all along?'

Worried that taking too large a sip would make the precious liquid disappear too quickly, Yama drank as little as possible.

Yet the taste struck her with astonishing force.

After all, powdered ssanghwa tea, whose ingredients consisted largely of sugar, packed a truly devastating punch.

Furthermore, the MSG included in the recipe handed down through generations at Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse was an overwhelming sensation for Yama's tongue, which had existed for ages without knowing the pleasures of food.

She continued savoring it little by little, like a bird pecking at its feed.

After some time, Yama briefly set down her cup, fearing that if she drank with the abandon of a horse released from its reins, she'd soon reach the bottom.

There were still plenty of things she wanted to do in the teahouse.

'That's right! They were reading books too! Can I just take one out and read it here?'

Cafés and books were an inseparable combination.

After all, she'd seen quite a few women reading books in teahouses through the Mirror of Karma.

Conveniently, a small bookshelf beneath the counter was packed with books.

Yama gestured for Employee Shin Jihye to bring her one.

At an order from her unimaginably senior superior, Employee Shin sprang from her seat like a coiled spring and fetched a book.

【Fart, Fart, Poot! Diarrhea Goes Splatter, Splatter】

"..."

The new employee had excellent judgment.

The book she'd brought with such swift movements was the most frequently read bestseller in Dangsan-ri Coffeehouse.

___________

"Thank you. Please come again."

-Jingle.

The three peculiar customers left after spending about two hours there.

I suspected they might have enjoyed what they'd ordered more than any other customers at our coffeehouse, apart from the Elder Nine-Tailed Fox.

In particular, the woman who appeared to be their superior had enjoyed her ssanghwa tea so much that I'd wondered whether I should offer her a refill.

She pretended to be completely indifferent, but her eyes widened with every sip, which had been quite entertaining to watch.

The problem was the money the three left behind after fiddling with their empty cups and finally getting up.

『Ten Thousand Gwan (Underworld Bank)』

It was funeral money for the afterlife.

The kind sold online for six thousand won per hundred sheets.

I was so dumbfounded that I even looked up the price.

I'd essentially given away three free drinks and had another two thousand won taken from me in change.

It was the first time I'd ever conducted such a loss-making transaction while running the coffeehouse.

And when the Elder arrived late that evening, the news became his favorite story.

"Heh heh heh. So even you have days when you get taken advantage of."

"Are you really enjoying this that much?"

"Of course I am! A fellow who collects all manner of rare divine treasures for a single cup of coffee has finally been swindled. Heh heh. Still, you let them leave surprisingly peacefully. Why didn't you stop them and show them that framed notice?"

"They seemed unfamiliar with how the world works. And I didn't particularly dislike them."

When one of her subordinates had taken out his wallet, the woman had insisted that such things were the superior's responsibility and practically pushed him outside before paying herself.

She'd worn a strangely prim expression as she paid, almost as though she were trying to conceal just how thoroughly she'd enjoyed the ssanghwa tea.

I simply couldn't bring myself to tell her, "This isn't money, so please call back the man who just left."

"Still, you did well. If you treat grim reapers kindly, they'll surely repay the favor someday. Those fellows hate being indebted to others almost as much as you do. I daresay you'll receive special treatment when your lifespan ends and you go to the underworld."

"I'm not so sure. I've done plenty of things that must have caused trouble for the grim reapers."

"Heh heh. I suppose you have. All those accidents you prevented with your Divine Eyes must have been natural disasters for those fellows."

It wasn't merely once or twice that I'd interfered with their work.

Whenever my Divine Eyes showed me traffic accidents, fires, or similar incidents, I'd prevented them in my own way.

On those occasions, a grim reaper would invariably appear at the scene wearing an expression like that of Kim Gu after losing his country.

I'd unintentionally ruined their work.

And one of the grim reapers who'd visited today was someone I'd met before.

"I suppose fate really does bring people together. I never imagined we'd meet again like this."

"Hm? Was there someone you knew?"

"Yes. Though I doubt he remembers me. I was very young back then."