“……”
Was that why? Was that why he’d now fallen back into the hell of terrible punishment? Mua’s eyes deepened with musings.
For hating humans despite having been human himself, despite having loved humans so much. For coming to the Afterlife after committing sins as a human, yet pretending he’d never once been human.
Was that why the universe had imposed such an absurd punishment on him? Mua pouted his lips. Even so, he’d already paid for the sins he’d committed as a human by rolling through the Eight Hot Hells—even the Afterlife didn’t have such laws.
What did I do so wrong? Huh? Is this right?
If only he could, he wanted to grab Lord Yeomra by the collar and argue like that.
“…What on earth did you do?”
Mua muttered while looking down at his body. While the possibility of being caught up by coincidence wasn’t completely absent, Mua somehow couldn’t shake the thought that ‘Shin Mua’, the owner of this body, was connected to this matter in some way.
It was a kind of hunch. The fact that he happened to have the same name as ‘Mua’, his own name from when he was a Grim Reaper, also bothered him.
The name ‘Mua’ was a name Lord Yeomra had personally given when he became a Grim Reaper. It was meant for him to forget all karma from the past and return to a time when there was neither love nor hate.
Yet he happened to be possessed into the body of a human with the same name as himself? It was a problem he couldn’t help but find suspicious. Perhaps someone had carried this out trying to trap a Grim Reaper in a human body.
But why?
Mua’s musings always ended there. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t think of any benefit to be gained from possessing a Grim Reaper into a human body. And if that had been the purpose, by now the perpetrator who caused this incident should have approached him with intent.
Putting a Grim Reaper into a human body couldn’t have been easy. Yet to accomplish such a difficult task and then neglect it? It was incomprehensible behavior.
“Ha…”
In the end, his thoughts went round and round back to square one. He didn’t know. He couldn’t know anything. Mua let out another deep sigh and closed his eyes. No matter how much he racked his brain, getting an answer right now seemed impossible.
For now, he could only hope to assimilate with ‘Shin Mua’s’ body as soon as possible so he could read his memories.
However, would assimilating with a human body really be a good thing for a Grim Reaper? Mua shook his head wildly to prevent his thoughts from deepening further. What was important now was solving the case as quickly as possible and returning to the Afterlife.
He absolutely hated falling into self-pity like a human.
***
“Yes. Is your body okay?”
“Yes, I’m much better. I’m hardly uncomfortable now, and the hospital said I can even start exercising a little from next week.”
“I’m really relieved. You almost had a big accident.”
The person affectionately patting Jieon’s shoulder and sighing with relief was Jieon’s uncle, Cheon Yangseon.
“By the way, Father, why does your complexion look so bad?”
Despite not being his biological father, the word ‘Father’ coming from Jieon’s mouth was extremely natural. From a very long time ago, Jieon had often called Yangseon father. It was because Yangseon, who felt sorry for him having lost both parents early, had given him permission to call him that if he wanted.
“Me?”
At Jieon’s question, Yangseon rubbed his face with a somewhat flustered expression.
“Yes. You seem to have lost weight too… Were you sick?”
“Sick, what nonsense. Don’t worry about me and take care of your own body.”
Jieon burst into laughter at Yangseon’s scolding. Well, his uncle was someone who had looked after him like a father since childhood, so he must have been quite upset because of him hovering between life and death from the accident.
Jieon deliberately answered in an even more energetic voice.
“I’m really fine now. Honestly, in some ways, I feel like my body is even better than before the accident.”
“Is that really true?”
“Yes. My body was really bad before the accident. Nothing was specifically wrong, but no matter how much I slept I was tired, I had constant headaches… I even had frequent nosebleeds, so it was quite difficult.”
“Your body was that bad? I had no idea.”
Yangseon’s expression crumpled with worry. Jieon nodded calmly.
“The hospital said there was nothing wrong, so I didn’t say anything in case you’d worry needlessly.”
“Even so, if your body was bad you should have told Father! Are you really okay now?”
“Yes. I’m not even busy working or anything, but I kept being like that so it was a bit concerning, but after the accident all I have is some aching where I was injured. My condition is actually good, so you really don’t need to worry.”
“I see. That’s… that’s really fortunate.”
Yangseon’s expression as he slowly nodded somehow looked gloomy, so Jieon slightly regretted being honest. Even though he said he was fine now, Yangseon seemed to be blaming himself for not noticing that his cherished nephew had been sick.
Jieon hurriedly opened his mouth in a bright voice to change the atmosphere.
“Ah, and thank you for finding someone to work at the house. I could have done that myself.”
Only then did Yangseon relax his stiff expression and affectionately pat Jieon’s shoulder.
“What’s this about? There’s not much I can do to help, so I feel more comfortable if I at least take care of things like this.”
“Even without that, Father does so much for me already.”
Yangseon, who let out a small laugh at Jieon’s warm attitude, suddenly remembered one person whose appearance hadn’t been seen and opened his mouth.
“Speaking of which… how is Mua?”
“Ah…”
Jieon’s expression instantly crumpled.
“His memory still hasn’t returned?”
“Yes, well…”
Jieon barely held back his desire to grumble, ‘I’d be grateful if it was just his memory that hadn’t returned.’ No matter how much Yangseon was like a father to him, he couldn’t bring up stories about Grim Reapers and possession.
“Goodness, how did such a thing happen…”
“They say it’ll come back with time, so we’ll have to wait a bit more.”
“Would it be okay if I saw his face for a moment?”
Yangseon asked carefully.
Jieon understood his uncle’s concern for Shin Mua. He usually had a warm heart and took good care of the people around him. No matter what, he wasn’t someone who could ignore the fact that a person had died and come back to life and even lost their memory.
Moreover, the person who had introduced Shin Mua to Jieon was precisely Yangseon. Of course, he too now knew that the two weren’t on good terms and that Jieon had decided on divorce. However, Yangseon still seemed to have a sense of responsibility toward Shin Mua.
“Ah, that… I think it’ll be difficult for now.”
But still, he couldn’t show Mua who wasn’t in his right mind, so Jieon rejected Yangseon’s proposal. Perhaps flustered by the unexpected answer, Yangseon opened his eyes wide and asked.
“Is his condition still that bad?”
“Well… yes, a little. Maybe because he has no memory, he’s very anxious. They say it would be better for him to avoid meeting people as much as possible and rest for the time being.”
Jieon made up excuses off the top of his head. Shin Mua wasn’t in his right mind right now. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t spout nonsense about being a Grim Reaper to just anyone, but who knows. For now, the best thing was to make sure he didn’t meet anyone.
“I see. I hope his memory returns soon…”
Fortunately, Yangseon seemed to back down without being more curious about Mua. The problem was that bolts from the blue don’t watch the situation before striking.
“So you had a guest.”
The name of the bolt from the blue that suddenly appeared in the living room was Shin Mua.
“Mua, is your body okay?”
Before Jieon could stop him, Yangseon approached Mua and greeted him. For Yangseon, who had already been disappointed thinking he might not see his face before leaving, he felt pleased to meet him like this.
He naturally reached out his hand to pat his shoulder as usual, but Shin Mua avoided his touch with an extremely displeased expression, pulling his shoulder back. Then he glared at Yangseon with sharp eyes.
“Who are you?”
In an instant, the air in the living room froze cold. Jieon sighed and raised his hand to cover his eyes, while Mua boldly spoke.
“Who are you to suddenly appear and act familiar?”
Yangseon’s pupils began to waver. While he’d already heard that Mua didn’t remember him, he was surprised by Mua’s unheard-of speech pattern.
“Uh, uhuh, yes, well… ahem. I’m Jieon’s uncle.”
Yangseon barely continued speaking. His eyes, filled with bewilderment, kept looking Mua up and down. Without needing to ask more, Shin Mua had eyes as if he didn’t know Cheon Yangseon at all.
No, it wasn’t simply an expression of not knowing. He was looking at Yangseon as if he were some kind of ‘trash.’
“I see.”
Without even a greeting, Mua only gave a short answer and then stared intently at Yangseon’s face. For Mua, he’d fallen into thought wondering if seeing a new person might bring up any memories about him, but Yangseon strangely felt his heart sink. It was a very unfamiliar and strange gaze.
