ERRORS AHEAD
A gift for Sehun's birthday. Updates next year...? Please don't expect. Huhu. I'm yet to finish the other four before this. Just... a plain gift. :)
Tweet: #IARWSehun
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[2016. The Office]
I BOWED my head, it will be disrepectful of me to look at him with such proud eyes after doing something wrong. I honestly don't know what kind of punishment he'll give me but I'm going to give it a try because after all these, I will never regret whatever I did.
I heard him clear his throat and it made me shut my eyes tightly. Calm down, Mirae. You can get through this for sure. I stood straight when I heard him speak, "You know that what you did is still wrong, right?"
Biting my lower lip, I nodded my head, "But if given a chance, Sir, I'd do it again."
He sighed, I raised my head a bit to see his reaction and it was clear that I disappointed him. Who wouldn't be disappointed, though? I am Mirae, one of the most outstanding grim reapers among all the sectors. Reapers look up to me and here I am, receiving the consequence of breaking the rules. A disgrace to my sector and to all grim reapers. "As a punishment, the Supervisor ordered that you will be sent back to Earth and continue collecting souls–" I smiled upon hearing those words, feeling relieved because that will be easy, I do that everyday because that's my job. I thought it would be something difficult or painful even but hah! I guess the Supervisor is still a good deity—"as a human being."
"What?" I exclaimed, my eyes widely opened. Human being?! How am I supposed to collect souls when I'm human?
It was his turn to smile, "You heard me right."
My brows knotted in one, "Does that mean I would have to travel by foot or any means of transportation used by humans?" He nodded his head and I cursed mentally. That only means I can't teleport anymore or be invisible! Not being able to do so will make it way harder for me to collect souls. Just what the hell is this situation? "When can I go back as a grim reaper?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "As soon as you get the soul of the white angel."
Eh? White angel? Since when did they let the White Angel be born as a human? "And what if the white angel is not dying?" And what if I can't find that person?
He smirked at me and I almost got scared of the thoughts running inside his head, "Kill him." He tapped the tip of his pen on the desk, "Or her."
I clenched my jaw and shook my head, "I am a grim reaper, Sir. I only collect souls and I don't kill humans."
"Mirae," he called, "this case is differe–"
I cut him off, "No, sir. If not killing that person and waiting for them to die means staying on Earth for a long time then so be it." There must be some great things I could enjoy as a human, some things like a grim reaper couldn't.
He raised his hand as if telling me that he understands, "Okay, Mirae. Do whatever you want but just in case you want to go back to your old life, you know what to do."
Life? Do we even have a life? Is what we have right now a life? Ugh, this is frustrating! "How do I even know if a certain human is the white angel?"
"A feather shape will light on their back." So I have to see their bare back first to know? This is insanely difficult! How will I see that? Strip them off their clothes?
He told me some important details that would help me adapt easily, especially those details that humans won't question me about.
Kang Mirae. 26. Born on February 29, 1992. An orphan. He even gave me an address of my house.
My Sector Head works with his own mysterious ways that he told me I should just get a copy of my birth certificate when I go back to the outside world. How he does it? I have no idea. Geez, since when did a grim reaper own a birth certificate? I don't even know if we were born or we're transformed into one.
I heaved a sigh and turned around. It's time for me to walk out of this building and enter Earth to live like a human being. I looked behind to me for a last glance with my some of my fellow grim reapers, I smiled at them and they smiled back. Silently, telling me goodluck. I faced front and took a deep breath before closing my eyes and stepped out.
My eyes opened real wide when I felt an extreme force push me.
I was busy catching my breath when I opened my eyes, I looked around me and found myself lying in the middle of the street. "Ugh," I rose to my feet, groaning. My eyes caught my arm, it was bleeding. What the heavens! I've never seen myself bleed before! Oh, right. I am a human now so that means I'm no longer immortal. I can get hurt or even die in this place now.
#2287 Mapo, Seoul.
I've memorized this country since forever. I watched it stumble and grow. It won't be hard for me to search for my new place. Another house to live on, huh?
I suddenly remembered what the Sector Head told me, I'm 26. I laughed. 26 my ass. I lost count of how old I am but I think my age is the same with the year right now since I remember being here on Earth since the fourteenth century. Yeah, I'm probably 2002 years old already. That's a lot, I know.
I can even remember collecting souls of some of the Kings of Korea. Taejo. Jeongjeong. Gwangjong. I can also remember one of my busiest time, collecting souls during World War I and World War II.
I sat on the bus stop and waited for the right bus to come.
Looking around made me realize that there's a lot of people in this place. How am I going to collect souls now? Nurses at the hospital would question why I'm there every single day. Should I tell them 'Oh, I collected the soul from room 1548'?
Ugh. This sure is a punishment but as what I've said before, I'd still do what I did.
The bus came and I hopped in. I almost panicked remembering that I don't have a tap card, I tried searching in my pockets and found one. Oh, my Sector Head is really thoughtful. The Supervisor must've really planned this in a very meticulous way. Really making sure I get to live like a normal mortal, huh? I can't believe them.
I settled at the farthest seat and looked outside the window, letting me see my reflection. Shit! There's a wound in a size of my thumb on my forehead! I made a mental note to buy something to tend this tomorrow. Is ethyl alcohol enough? Do I have to cover this with something? What now, mortal?
It took me half an hour, when I could've collected souls instead if I wasn't caught doing my sin, before I reached my destination. Ugh, finally.
There I stood in front of the door, thinking of any possible passcode then I remembered my so called birthday, 920229. And I was right, the door opened and it led me to a single suite. The interior was a mix of black, white and gold. Cozy and glam based on my perspective, very modern. It exactly fits a modern Seoul person, but the Joseon person inside of me still loves the interior of our houses back in the day.
I let out an exasperated sigh, slowly realizing that I am indeed living like a human from now on. "This is nice, Sir."
He's surely there, listening and watching my every move like the other grim reapers from the office. I seriously wonder how he managed to arrange these for me. He really did a great job, probably hoping to earn more points from the Praefectus.
This entire punishment isn't so bad after all, I think.
I PEEKED inside the room to see what's happening. Everyone is crying and the ECG already shows a flat line, I searched for the soul I need today and I saw her standing at the corner of the room. "It's time," I said.
She slowly came to me, tears are falling from her eyes, "Can I just not go?"
I shook my head, sympathy was spreading through my body. If I can just not fetch you and let you live then I will but unfortunately, I can't. I told her to just follow me, I went inside the restroom and faced her. She looks pitiful, but I doubt that a soul of a person who just died needs my pity. Especially when I'm the one who's fetching her, her assigned grim reaper. I reached out for her shaking, cold hand and told her to close her eyes as I close mine.
When I opened the door, it already led us to the Office. "Please head there," I pointed the line in front of Gabe, and handed her the stub with her personal details. "He will give you your itinerary."
With doubtful and teary eyes, she nodded her head and accepted the stub with both of her hands before she walked towards the direction I told her. My eyes followed her until she finally stood in line. Kim Sooyoung. 16. She died of multiple stab wounds after pulling back her bag from a snatcher.
Poor kid. The world is slowly turning into a more evil one as every second passes. "Your first soul?" I felt a hand touch my shoulder, "After becoming a human?"
I tilted my head and saw Kitaro, he welcomed me with a warm smile, "No, she's my 236th as of two weeks after being a human. They're kind of hard to get now."
"Ah, because you can't go invisible now, no?" He couldn't contain his entertainment and bursted into laughter, causing lots of souls to glance at us. I immediately covered his mouth.
How can he make fun of my punishment? He's such a mean reaper. He's supposed to feel bad about me since I'm suffering but how can he be like this? I smacked his arm and turned around, ready to collect souls again when I heard him shout after me, "You should've just let him die."
I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in dismissal without looking back at him. Didn't he hear what I said before? I'm not going to regret whatever it is that I did, besides, he's the one who told me that information! My stomach grumbled as I walk out of the building.
I'm very human now, frequently hungry and in need of sleep. Who would've thought that collecting souls is a job not fit for a mere human being? Now I understand why the Praefectus made this job solely for celestial beings instead.
Another grumble from my stomach and I wished to open the door leading to a restaurant, but as I peeked to see where I was, I found myself back in the hospital restroom. Being punished also meant I couldn't do what I wish, huh? Glancing at myself through the mirror, I caught my undereyes getting darker. A human's body is too weak for me, only two weeks of being one and I'm getting ugly? Anyway, isn't this how they perceived reapers to look like? Dark and grim.
I shrugged my thoughts off and decided to leave the restroom, and as I find my way out of the hospital.