Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Chapter 74 Fare for the Afterlife (6)

The basis of negotiation is reconciling what the other party wants with what I want.

I'd already made it clear that my condition was for them to deliver this gift to King Yama. Unfortunately, however, the other party wanted nothing. No, perhaps what they wanted was to avoid being brought to the negotiating table in the first place.

No matter what I did, I would be the one asking for a favor.

In that case, I needed to turn the tables.

"I'm not sure how I should address you."

"I'm Deputy Manager Oh Changsik. You can call me whatever you like. Oh, here's my business card. If you happen to suffer an unexpected death, having this card will ensure that we come to collect you and escort you comfortably."

"Thank you."

Caught off guard by the business card he suddenly offered, I ended up handing him one of the spare cards I kept in my phone case.

I wondered whether it was all right to give something like this to a grim reaper, but since it concerned what would happen after my death, I decided to forget about it. My after-death service wasn't what mattered right now.

And the exchange hadn't been entirely unpleasant. By exchanging business cards, I'd obtained another piece of information.

These people were essentially frontline sales representatives.

Their job was to somehow persuade the deceased lingering in this memorial park to go to the underworld.

They were even willing to casually tell someone they'd visit after his death, despite knowing perfectly well how rude that was.

In that case, things would be simple.

"What would happen if you managed to send all the deceased here to the underworld, Deputy Manager?"

"Pardon?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Well... I'd probably be assigned somewhere with slightly easier work, and my term of service would be shortened."

There was the answer I needed to turn the tables. Now it was time to place my bet.

A bet so tempting that the other party wouldn't be able to resist calling it.

"Then what if I sent about a hundred souls over?"

"Are you proposing a deal?"

In truth, it was closer to an apology for the past than a transaction.

I didn't know how many grim reapers there were in South Korea, but I'd stolen at least four cases from Deputy Manager Oh Changsik alone.

And so my promise to send the deceased to the underworld would both ease my guilt and become an excellent offer they couldn't refuse.

"I'll do it. If that's really possible."

Of course it was possible.

Our coffeehouse had no fewer than two kinds of specialists in this field.

"I'll return as soon as everything is ready."

_____________

Ten days passed after Jinseong left.

As usual, the two grim reapers had set up their stall and were busy trying to coax the deceased into accompanying them.

"Mother, have you given it any thought? You still want to see your grandchild before you go? No, I've told you, there's a limit to what we can find out. We can't exactly ask Grandmother Samsin. How is a grim reaper supposed to know when someone will have a baby?"

"That's right. Why don't you go on ahead and see your grandchild during the ancestral rites... Grandmother! Grandmother!"

(You expect me to hold my grandchild during my memorial rites? Don't be ridiculous!)

The soul sitting on the plastic chair sprang to her feet and promptly disappeared.

"Damn it! Another wasted day."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought up the ancestral rites..."

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. That old woman really intends to stay until she sees her grandchild. She's unbelievably stubborn."

"Aw, what are we going to do? We haven't managed a single case this month either. At this rate, we'll have to write another statement of misconduct."

"I told you, you get used to writing them."

"I don't want to get used to writing statements of misconduct!"

Although the remark had been half a joke, they really were heading toward another written statement at this rate, and Employee Shin Jihye looked thoroughly miserable.

"Still, even I'm getting nervous about coming up empty-handed for four straight months. Missing old man Deukchun when we were called away to catch that evil spirit really hurt. We'd almost persuaded him."

"If persuading even one soul is this difficult, how did that man expect to send a hundred to the underworld?"

"Who knows? He didn't seem like someone who would lie. He probably said it because he doesn't understand how things work in our world yet."

Passing on to the afterlife was a decision each soul had to make for itself.

Just as every gravestone concealed a story, every deceased person had lingering attachments from their life, whether long or short. Letting go of those attachments and departing for the underworld was part of accepting death, and no one was exempt.

The only question was how long it would take.

Even after spending months trying to persuade souls who couldn't release their attachments, grim reapers frequently came away empty-handed, just as they had today.

"If we really sent a hundred souls over, do you think we'd be able to get transferred?"

"Where would you want to go?"

"The crematorium, of course! That's where they take all the easy souls away from us. And the turnover is fast."

"You really don't know anything. The funeral hall is where you want to be. Everyone who needs to visit has already come, and the moment they're taken to the burial site is the surest opportunity. There's this feeling of, 'Well, I've lived a good life.'"

"Come on, that's nothing compared to the crematorium. They get at least thirty funeral parties a day!"

"And would you rather spend all day shouting yourself hoarse advertising to them? At a funeral hall, you can meet your quota and work at a leisurely pace. It's the age of work-life balance, you know."

"Now that you mention it, you're right."

"And ancestral offerings aren't what they used to be. These days they put out pizza, hamburgers, even sashimi! The yin energy is stronger too, so even the same ceremonial food has a different depth of flavor."

"Aw, they ban strong-smelling food here, so everyone only brings things like bread. It's been so long since I last ate meat."

"If we're going to transfer, let's ask for somewhere in the Jeolla region. That's where the tradition of ancestral tables groaning under the weight of food comes from."

Wasn't it said that the more desperate one's circumstances became, the more one clung to impossible hopes?

Given their situation, happily imagining what might happen if they really did send a hundred souls to the underworld was their only escape.

And the end of that fantasy inevitably brought them back to cold reality.

"Sigh. What's the point of talking like this every day? We're looking at another disastrous month."

"Tell me about it. Let's start packing up. The sun's setting."

And so, just as the two grim reapers were packing away their stall to the accompaniment of their own bitter complaints,

"Hm? Did someone famous die today? Why are so many cars coming up here?"

"Where?"

Sure enough, a procession of luxury sedans and black vans was approaching from the direction Employee Shin pointed.

"One, two, three, four... Wow, there seem to be even more than when that National Assembly member died last month. Should we set everything up again, just in case?"

"The more possessions someone has, the more attachments they tend to leave behind."

The answer to the question was already decided.

Other grim reapers were already taking their signboards back out of their cars one by one.

But the grim reapers' expectations of welcoming a new deceased customer were spectacularly mistaken.

Not a single vehicle among those filling the memorial park's parking lot was carrying a funeral urn.

"Deputy Manager, over there..."

"What the hell!"

Most of the people getting out of the vehicles were individuals the grim reapers knew well.

They were shamans.

And not just any shamans. Every single one was a genuine shaman overflowing with divine power, all gathered in one place.

And at their center stood Jinseong and Lia.

____________

"Those performing the Ogu Gut, come this way! The Sumang Gut will be last, so just get everything ready!"

"Are these all the pig heads we've got?"

"Anyone planning to dance on the blade needs to tell us in advance! The ground slopes here, so we'll need to use a spirit level."

The shamans took ritual foods and ceremonial vessels from their trunks and began preparing for the rites with remarkable coordination.

"Now that everyone's gathered in one place, the scale is incredible."

"Hoho, it's our first time gathering this many people to perform rites together too!"

"Please take good care of everything."

"Leave it to us! We'll try to send every last soul on to the afterlife!"

After hearing the reassuring determination of the Haedong Divine Maiden, who was overseeing the proceedings, I headed toward the open area where the grim reapers had arranged their signboards.

As expected, they were all staring blankly in our direction.

"I've come to keep my promise."

"H-How on earth did you arrange all this?"

"I happen to have an unusually large number of acquaintances in this field."

"Even so, this is..."

They still seemed unable to believe it.

"Since you'll have to guide the souls to the afterlife, please come along for now."

"I'm afraid helping them attain release will be difficult. Shamanic rites may comfort spirits, but those who could be consoled through conversation have already departed long ago."

"Yes, I know."

I knew.

If words alone could resolve their attachments, these grim reapers wouldn't have been reduced to soliciting customers in front of roadside stalls.

That was why I'd prepared one more thing.

"Lonely souls wandering between heaven and earth, homeless spirits roaming the myriad things and the four seas and eight directions, through the mortal world and the underworld, come now to this place, to this sacred rite."

"Haiya!"

"Those who died in the west, those who died in the east, spirits who weep from hunger and sob from thirst, among you, the thirty-seventh descendant of the Choi family, born February 21, 1973, and departed May 7, 1993. Come closer, come closer."

"Haiya!"

"We raise the prayer paper, we pour the wine, we prepare the food. Wander aimlessly no longer. Appear here, speak your words, shed your tears, and depart."

"Haiya!"

The thunderous sound of the janggu drum stopped.

"Sob, sob. Please resolve my injustice. I spent my whole life raising my children, only to depart for the underworld before they could bear fruit. I can't leave like this. It's too unfair."

The Haedong Divine Maiden's expression and manner of speech had suddenly changed into those of a gruff middle-aged man.

Another spirit had entered her body.

I approached the weeping soul and clasped his hands.

Then I revealed the true purpose behind everything I'd arranged.

"You still have to go. Were you planning to stay until your son and daughter lived out their entire natural lifespans?"

"Pardon? What do you mean by that...?"

"Lia."

"Yes!"

-Whooooosh!

At my signal, Lia clenched and opened her hand.

A massive beam of divine power shot into the sky.

"You have two choices. You can be annihilated here, or you can go to the underworld."

The shamans had carefully selected the most troublesome souls, and they were already possessing human bodies, leaving them no means of escape.

If they didn't want to be swept away and annihilated by the divine power Lia was emitting, they had no choice but to enter the gate to the underworld.

A choice between two kinds of death.

This was the method of helping souls attain release that I'd devised.

After all, these were deceased souls who had stubbornly refused to enter the underworld despite decades of effort from the grim reapers.

Persuading and reasoning with them had never been an option.

"Deputy Manager, please open the gate."

"Ah, y-yes!"

-Rooooumble.

The two grim reapers stretched out their hands, creating a massive gate in the sky.

"Now, if you don't want to be annihilated, please go inside on your own."

At my courteous instructions, the possessing spirits scrambled desperately through the gate to the underworld.

Not a single soul chose annihilation.

After all, even their powerful attachments to the mortal world depended on their continued existence.

The saying that nothing mattered once you were dead represented a second, true death for them.

Once every soul had entered the gate to the underworld, we hurried to prepare for departure again.

"What are you doing?"

"Pardon?"

"We're still a long way from reaching a hundred. We need to go to the next memorial park."

"Y-You really intend to send a hundred souls over?"

"That was the condition of our agreement. Hurry up, pack your things, and follow us."

I didn't feel the slightest guilt about forcing those pitiful souls to attain release.

Given enough time, they'd become evil spirits whose intelligence had faded anyway.

Wasn't going to the underworld this way a far better choice for them than harming someone, earning themselves a ticket to hell, and being dragged away by force?

And thankfully, laws and principles of morality held no sway in this world.

From this moment onward, it was time for a one-sided hunt.