AUTHOR
Flashback
One Summer, Fourteen Years Ago.
"You must guide one hundred souls and wait for a thousand years."
—
Name: Jeon Y/N
Age: 9
Due date: 9 May 2005
The cause:
Die of drowning in the river after trying to pick up a storybook.
—
Was the message that written on the crumpled paper Yoongi just took out of his pocket.
The black-haired male in oddly all-black attire from head to toe just stared afar, looking at the girl he'll soon take her soul with. She was smiling brightly, running around with her same-aged friend on the grassy field.
Her sweet giggles filled the air. The summer breeze blew and tousled her hair softly. Her cheeks gleaming with pink. She was so pure and lively.
Oh, the irony, when that life across her face will soon disappear.
What a poor soul. Yoongi thought to himself.
The male was used to pick up an older soul, the one that lived long enough, the one who suffered long enough. But picking up a soul who barely taste bitter and sweet of this world?
This was his first to guide a child's soul and perhaps be the last one he has to take away.
She was his 100th soul.
Maybe the rumor was true.
Taking the 100th soul is the hardest task to do, they said. The 100th soul will test you.
Yoongi had always been a straight-A grim reaper, never once he failed on his duty.
Whether it's taking a vengeance soul from the most sinful one or even the saint soul from the kindest. No matter how hard the task was, never once he had hesitant. The grim reaper always had his way of finishing the task perfectly and on time.
Thus, the rumor he had heard just passed through his ears. He never gave too much thought on it.
Because for him, life and death are inseparable matters. Once a life born there will death to come.
So he never felt sorry for the soul he took. It's their fate sooner or later and it was simply his job to guide them to the place where they belonged.
But not until this day came.
For the very first time, he felt hesitant. For the very first time...
He felt sorry.
—
She was gone for a while—playing hide and seek with her friend who had this odd box-shaped smile across his face—when Yoongi came to approach the bag she left on the field.
He buried his hands into the tiny red backpack, rummaging through her stuff until he found what he was looking for.
The book.
He pulled out a small book with a watercolor illustration of a boy sitting on a planet along with a small Rose growing on his side printed on the cover.
This book will be the cause of her death.
What a dumb way to die. Yoongi thought deeply as he stared at it.
He opened the book, flipped between the pages until he reached the last one when a doodle caught his eyes. Honestly speaking, Yoongi could say the drawing was ugly, definitely was drawn by a kid. Maybe she drew this? Two stickmen perhaps a bride and his groom and two names written on it. One was a familiar one, which was hers, the other was, Taehyung.
Why did she make a mess on this such beautiful book? Yoongi wondered, eyebrows knitted together.
But again, this beautifully written and illustrated book will be the reason of her unfortunate death.
As he lost in his thoughts, the grim heard familiar giggles rang louder into his ears.
She's coming back.
She's coming to him, the one who'll take her life.
Yoongi turned around to see her bouncing backward toward him, along with his best friend, jogging in front of her. They were so happy.
Yoongi closed the tiny book on his hand as he saw her approaching.
"I won, I won!" She turned around and ran toward her bag, she marched toward it and touched it lightly.
"I won and you lose, Tae!" She rolled her tongue out at the brown-haired boy who's now bent down on his knees, panting heavily.
"Sigh. I. Could. Have. Win. If I didn't trip on that tree!" The boy whined loudly.
"Tae is a loserrrrr!"
"I'm notttttt~" The boy stomped his feet like a child he is.
The girl laughed even louder before grabbing her bag and started to look for something inside of it.
Then she widened her eyes, her hands frantically digging inside of her backpack. She started to take out all of the stuff from inside her bag and just threw everything on the ground until there was nothing left.
Her friend just watched her confusedly.
"What's going on?" He asked.
She turned her bag upside down and shook it vigorously.
"It's gone..." she gasped.
"My Little Prince book is gone!"
Yoongi was gone along with her book.
—
Later that night, Yoongi was standing alone on top of the rooftop of the highest building in the midst of Seoul. He looked down at the ant-sized cars that lightened up the street before looking down at a book on his palm.
The wind blew strongly, making a mess of his hair.
His mind wandered a thousand miles as stared down at the city light that mimicked the stars above the sky.
"Moddddaaaa faccckaaaa!"
A loud shout interrupted his train of thought. He flinched and turned around to see a familiar boy in strangely similar attire, walking to approach him.
His black blazer was unbuttoned showing his white shirt that was tucked nicely into his black cotton pants. Black glasses covered his eyes as his plump lips were visibly shown underneath.
Yoongi could clearly see he wasn't happy. Thanks to the frown the spread on his face as well as his deeply furrowed eyebrows.
He quickly closed the book on his hand, hiding it inside the pocket of his black blazer.
"I thought you're on your holiday, Jimin." He was his colleague, another grim reaper just like him.
"Right, this was supposed to be my one and only day off..." the latter said with a sarcasm laced in his tone.
"I was in Busan, just chilling on the beach until a bitchy urgent call was calling."
Yoongi shrugged and turned his head around to face the city underneath him, ignoring whatever the latter wanted to complain as he leaned his chest over the wall, resting his head on top of his hands.
"I'm pretty sure today I got all of my schedule cleared. I'm pretty sure today, there wasn't any schedule for the grim, well, except for one grim. Which are you." He stated, approaching the black-haired male who didn't even pay attention to him and just humming lightly.
"And I thought it's suchhhhh a greatttt time to have a day off! But guess what? My empty schedule today, wasn't so empty anymore because suddenly I got an order, out of the blue, to pick up a soul, back in the Seoul." He complained.
"I was in Busan, for goodness sake... Did you know how much energy I had to spend to teleport back to Seoul?!" He raised his voice.
"Well, our job is tough," Yoongi stated nonchalantly, earning a loud groan from his younger colleague.
"Don't you take the hint already, Yoongi-ssi? My holiday was ruined, because of you!" Yoongi finally turned around to face the same height male, cocking one of his eyebrows.
"Why did you save her?" Jimin questioned and Yoongi finally grasped everything together.
Right. When he failed to clear his duty—taking a life. As the price, another life has to be taken.
"Thanks to you, I have to go to the field to take this old soul who didn't even believe when I told him he was already dead!" The grim recalled a few hours prior to where he came to the same grassy field where Yoongi supposed to take his 100th soul.
The soul Jimin has to take was the soul of a man in his 70. He died of a heart attack on his happy picnic day and his family was a crying mess.
Jimin approached the man with his hair had turned all white.
"Excuse me, sir, my name is Jimin and I'm here to guide your soul to the seven trials of hell." The older man widened his eyes, thinking Jimin was a drunk youngster and just ignored him as he kept walking across the field.
Jimin was having a hard time to convince the stubborn old grandpa to follow him willingly. Even after he showed his own body lying lifelessly on the ground, the man still didn't believe in him.
So Jimin had to take another measure he didn't like. He had to use a spellbound on the rebellious soul. He flicked his fingers right in front of the old man's face and suddenly, like being hypnotized, he followed every word escaped the grim's lips.
"You just have one job, Yoongi!" The older grim stuffed his hands inside his pocket. Jimin was his junior grim and the only one who dares to speak without honorific to a senior grim like him.
How bratty. Yoongi thought to himself.
Just like the first time he met him. Just like the first time when Yoongi took Jimin's life and guided his soul trough the hell.
Yes, Yoongi was Jimin's grim reaper. The young boy was one of the vengeful souls Yoongi has taken.
He had been watching him for several years when he was alive and Jimin did almost all of the filthy sins including stealing and even killing. But what Yoongi hated the most from the youngest is once he opened his foul mouth, it's almost impossible to make him stop blabbering.
Guess, the old habit didn't change that easily.
He still remembered it vividly, 69 years ago, approximately. It was the busiest year for all the grim.
During the war of Korea, many people were dying and their corpses just scattered all over the place. Dust and smoke filled the air. A loud noise of bombs being dropped, a gun being shot was like an ordinary thing everyone listened every day.
A dark age filled with blood, sweat, and tears.
It was such a mess that all of the grim has to pull all night just to finish their duty. They worked without rest, including Yoongi.
But most of the grim reapers were happy. More souls they get to take, more chance for them to be reincarnated soon.
Yoongi had guided so many poor soldiers' life who died during the war. He had to stay on guard, watching the human fight for their greed. Yoongi even got used to hearing the gunshot, he eventually got bored of it.
Until one day he got to take a soul of a normal citizen instead of a soldier. For the very first time, he stepped his feet inside the city instead of the muddy ground. Finally.
And his deadline was getting longer too. If it was the soul of a soldier, usually it only took a night for Yoongi but this time, it was a bit different. He still got a chance to watch this human doing all of his bad deeds— including one of the reasons for his horrible death.
Then Yoongi frowned. It's better to take the soul of a soldier instead of this filthy human being. At least they died for serving this country unlike him...
...Jimin was lying on the ground vulnerable, blood oozing out of his body, even pooling underneath. Seven stabs were painted gruesomely all over his stomach. A painful death he perhaps deserved after all he did.
He tried to rob a rich man and he got stabbed and being thrown on the ground like a rag doll by his guards. The police didn't even bother to do anything, just watched him through their narrowed eyes. He was worthless to be saved by them.
Yoongi didn't know, the human can be so cruel. But again, it was his mistake, to begin with.
When all of the police were gone, leaving Jimin whose breath was getting heavier each second passed by. Yoongi finally showed his true self in front of him.
The boy was smirking as he looked up at Yoongi, he was coughing blood as his hands clutching on his bloody stomach.
The pale-skinned boy took off his grey colored beret, stuffing one of his hand into his black colored coat pocket as he looked down at the dying male after he briefly introduced himself as his angel of death.
"What are you waiting for? Take this piece shitty life of mine I don't even care anymore. Bring me to hell or wherever I belonged, it won't be much different from living in this hell hole of the world anyway." Jimin chuckled bitterly as his life flashed right before his eyes.
Surprisingly enough, although he had been living a rebellious life, Jimin gave up his soul too easily to Yoongi. His eyes were blank as if he was waiting for this.
Yoongi was afraid that Jimin would refuse to follow him. After all, he was a human filled with hatred. He thought Jimin would end up to be a resentful spirit, the one who refused to be neither in Hell nor Heaven.
There were only two options for the soul, either they followed the grim to the afterlife or remain lost in the human world.
But the latter choice had more risks. If the soul ended up full of grudge, they may get filled with evil. And once a soul turned into an evil spirit, there was only one thing a grim would do to protect the balance of the world. The evil spirit has to be banished.
Fortunately, Yoongi didn't have to go to that extent since Jimin just followed him willingly. One thing Yoongi hated the most from being a grim was to banish a soul because once they're banished, they just have gone without a chance to repent.
When Yoongi watched Jimin suffering before his death, he could help but to pity the young man. He knew what kind of life he had got through to be ended up like this. However, Jimin was a human with a free will, he could choose to live a proper life but he chose a dark path instead.
When the boy finally sighed his last breath, Yoongi watched his soul slowly coming out of his body. Then, he guided him through hell.
The seven trials of hell.
But how did he ended up being like him? A grim reaper who took the human soul away?
That's all because Jimin didn't want to be reincarnated as a pig.
Long story to be short, after he passed all the seven trials of hell, the deities had decided Jimin's next life to be a dog or a pig because of all of the sins he had done in his past life. Of course, neither of them that Jimin wanted. He preferred to stay tortured in Hell forever rather than being born as an animal but the deities have made their decision.
"What the hell? Pig?! You must be kidding me!" The young soul protested. Yoongi groaned and rolled his eyes.
"That's what you got for living a wrongful life."
"There must be a way!" Jimin insisted and so Yoongi offered him his one and only way, but it will take him a lot of patience which Yoongi wasn't sure, Jimin could even handle it.
"There is a way you can reincarnate as a human being." Jimin immediately tugged on the grim's sleeve as his doe eyes stared with hope at him.
"Be a grim reaper for a thousand years and collect a hundred soul and the hell will granted you another chance to live as a human being." Of course, without a second thought, Jimin had agreed, he nodded his head eagerly.
Once Jimin became the angel of death, he didn't remember any of his terrible past, as once you signed up as a grim, the deity will lock your memory completely. Until the day he finished his duty and waited for a thousand years.
Only Yoongi, his grim who has the idea about Jimin's past. The newly hired grim himself was clueless, didn't even know about Yoongi used to be his grim.
But just like how Jimin had forgotten all of his past, so did Yoongi.
He wondered what kind of unforgivable sins he did in the past before ended up being a grim the way he is. After all, being a grim reaper was a punishment for a sinner like him.
"Did you forget what you had said to me? That we all sinners? So why do you act all saint now? Saving her and all. This is so not you, Yoongi." Jimin complained but the older just decided to keep his mouth shut. He didn't understand himself too, why he did that.
"I guess the perfect A grim can make a mistake after all." The younger mocked. Thankfully, Yoongi wasn't in a mood to fight his younger colleagues. He didn't even have the energy to scold him for being so rude.
"But still. Don't drag me into your shit." Jimin growled. He didn't care what Yoongi wanna do with his soul but when he made a mess and Jimin had to clean his shit, he didn't like the idea a bit.
"Isn't this your 100th soul? I thought when I came back from the holiday I would never see your grumpy face anymore. But I guess you're not ready to let go of your title just yet?" Jimin scoffed, narrowing his gaze accusingly at the older.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Jimin yelled as Yoongi didn't say a word.
"Yoongi! We are not a guardian angel. We are the grim reaper. Our job is to take a soul not saving them!" Jimin reminded.
"I know." Yoongi sighed heavily.
"I won't make such a mistake again in the future it just... She's still a kid, Jimin. How could I took an innocent life just like that?" The older finally admitted.
Jimin knitted his eyebrows together. Perhaps, as he aged, Yoongi had turned soft.
Jimin recalled his first time as a grim when he had to take the life of a young mother and her baby. It was his first and his toughest job. Even Yoongi had to accompany him to make sure he did his job properly.
Jimin still remembered his cold eyes staring at the mother and her soon to be born daughter.
"Don't hesitate, Jimin. Sooner or later everyone is going to die anyway." Yoongi stated coldly.
So Jimin gulped his hesitation down to his throat and soon the woman and her baby stopped breathing as he guided their soul through the tunnel to heaven.
So what's with this sudden change of heart?
The old Yoongi wouldn't even bat an eye especially since this was his 100th soul.
Soon, he'll get granted a new life.
But this Yoongi, he was fisting his tremble hands into a ball, wondering the same as what Jimin did.
Why?
Why did he save her?
Although he didn't regret his decision a bit, his heart still left unsettled.
She will always be his 100th soul. He will be owing to the deity, her life. He had to take her life again, it's his destiny he couldn't change. Whether he wanted it or not.
But Yoongi could only hope for one thing. At least, let her live her life long enough before Yoongi could take her soul.
He wasn't that eager to be reincarnated anyway, since the very first time he became a grim reaper. He didn't mind to wait a little longer.
He just hoping for a miracle to happen.
And the miracle did happen.
The piece of crumpled paper that used to appear magically inside his pants pocket, telling him how she would die, had never appeared for years.
But will that miracle last forever?
—
This is what Yoongi wore during the Korea war in the 50s. ( which coincidentally, was 69 years ago.🥺)
Exactly like the guy on the left.
And who wants to hear more about Jimin past? If you do. I'll add it as a bonus chapter by the end of this book.