"Wake up!" I heard Taehyung in my ear.
"Why are you so cheery?" I asked as I wiped of the sweat from my forehead.
"My nightmares have been decreasing lately, still sucky, but not as terrible as they normally are."
"Lucky" I pouted
We head to eat breakfast everyone was there but Jungkook and Jin.
"Good morning," Namjoon has our favorite beverages waiting for use in our normal eating spots. Jimin sat at the counter eating his waffles tiredly. Namjoon looks relaxed and relieved, but his eyes show that he didn't sleep too well. A black letter came through a small portal. Namjoon caught it and opened it.
"Boss wants me to read this out loud. To the Grim Alliance, my deepest apologies for sending your night shifters on such a dangerous task. I won't lie when I say I had high expectations, but it was wrong of me to assign a 2 man job when you really needed 3 or more. Expect another Grim by next month. In the meantime, make sure your whole team begins working by next week. Work your asses off or you may get a finger flick. Sincerely apologizing, Lord of Death." Namjoon read out loud.
"Yeesh, a little harsh," Jin said as he came in with an empty tray.
"Is Jungkook doing okay?" Hoseok asked as he took a bite of a muffin. Jin nodded as he took a sip of his coffee from the blue mug he held in his hands.
"He's healing up alright, I can take over his night shift." Jin volunteered.
"No, it's alright. I will resume my shift and Felix will help me tonight. Even though I hate to take him off his break, but he insisted." Namjoon explained.
"Hey Taehyung, f/n, are you ready to shadow today?" Hobi asked.
"Heck yeah!"
"Jimin you're gonna stay with me until you fully understand your forms, once you're ready we can go out," Namjoon explained.
"But you have night shifts," Jin argued.
"But I want to go out." he laughed.
After breakfast, Tae and I changed into some more casual clothing, rather than our pajamas.
"F/n you're coming with me. Tae, go with Hoseok."Jin instructed as he handed a necklace to Taehyung and I. The necklace was a small cube with buttons on each side.
"This button opens to different portals. Your blue one opens to the outside world, where ever you desire to be. The red one is the base, where you pick up your assignments for the day and for other matters, the black on is to the Boss's place, and the green one is for home. The other two buttons are custom." Hoseok explained.
We all went through the portal that sent us to headquarters. It was a giant library, only the sections had the name of different groups. Jin and Hoseok grabbed the identical black books that were next to each other. The only thing that made them different, was the gold lettering on the binding which had their names on it.
I saw the other books wit the other members' names, including mine. I picked it up and turned the pages of the book.
"There is nothing on it?" I asked
"Same here," Tae said confusingly
"You two don't have any assignments yet. You'll get them when Namjoon or the boss thinks your ready." Hoseok explained.
"Let's go. I'll see you two later." Jin waved off to Tae and Hobi. He placed his book into his white and black satchel. I placed mine in the bag that Namjoon gave me. Maybe this was the main reason why he got this Hermionie's bag.
I followed Jin into the real world through his portal and we flew and sore across a familiar place.
"We're in Busan." I chirped
"Yup, the first stop is Busan's St. Mary Hospital. Remember, people can see us as birds, so we must transform somewhere discrete so it wouldn't look like a bird disappeared mid-air." He squeaked.
"Can they hear us talking Jin?"
"Nope, just a bunch of bird noises." He laughed and lead us to the rooftop of the hospital. We both transformed into our Grim form. I followed Jin as we walked through the door, like ghosts. I still can't wrap my head around it. I followed him as we passed and even walked through patients down the bright, empty halls.
"Our job is to safely guide souls through the steps of their passing. If Grim where not here, the Demons would easily take their souls, and grow in numbers. If the number of demons gets too big, they can become a physical form and then threaten the real human world. We had close calls hundreds of years ago, but since Grim was put into existence, we've been keeping the pests out. If there is no grim to send away a soul, the soul may get lost and turned into a demon. Or just simply haunt a place, but those souls are tricky to catch." Jin explained.
"I'm realizing how weird human religion is."
"How so?" Jin asked
"Well, humans think that if you've done bad, you go to hell. If you've not sinned, you'll end up in heaven. What's so weird is that you're trying not to send these people to "hell" or in this case turn into a demon. What happens to the souls that sin?" I asked
"That's up to heaven. The most blessed souls have the option to stay in, shall we call it, paradise. They can be a human and angel whenever they want. I don't know much about the other souls, I certainly don't think they go to heaven, but I know for sure there is no hell for bad souls. Just bad luck in their next life." Jin sighed
He leads us to a room with a family surrounding an old woman in a hospital bed, with her family around her concerned. Jin pulls out his book.
"Kim Naomi, age 57. Married to Kim Byom-gi, who is deceased. The current time is 10:46 am, scheduled passing is at 10:51 am of April 6, 20XX. No issues to report" Jin reads out loud.
"Now what?"
"Now we wait, we are required to show up no later than 5 minutes before death," Jin said. We sat down on the empty couch on the other side of the room as the family was saying their last goodbyes.
"There must be something you can do!" the man said desperately to the doctor.
"I'm so sorry sir, we did everything we could. I'm surprised she's even gotten this far. The tumor was removed a month ago, but even so, her body didn't stop shutting down." She explained
"Omma. You said you'de be there for when the baby comes." she cried holding onto her mother's hands.
"I know...I'll be here when you do. Maybe not physically, but I'll be there. I'll make sure your son has a full head of hair throughout his whole life. Unlike me here." she said quietly.
"Cancer...." I whispered. Jin nodded his head.
"I want to tell you so much. I want you to be there at my wedding." A younger man said, looked like he was in his mid-twenties.
"I know, I'll make sure to keep the weather clear that day" She touched her sons face
"I love...I love you and your smiles." She said as her final breath was released. The heart monitor stopped its pattern and held a continuous beep. "Please watch." Jin said and stood up. The woman's body began to glow blue. A whispy, purple form of her self sat from the bed, only she looked younger.
"Is this me?" she asked as she looked at her lifeless body on the bed. Her family was bawling their eyes out as the chaos continued.
"Excuse me." Jin placed a hand on her shoulder. So we can touch them.
"You look magnificent, are you an angel?"
"I am whatever you want to call me. I am here to guide you to the next step. I am Jin, this is my assistant, f/n" he said and I smiled.
"You are beautiful." She came over and touched my cheek.
"Let's go, if there is anything you want your family to know, say it now," he asked.
"Don't cry my children, I will always be by your side," she said. Jin plucked one of his white feathers and left it on the ground with gold, shimmery writing on it. One of them noticed it and saw the message and they began to cry. Jin opened a white portal. "Walkthrough here. You'll be safe," he explained to Naomi.
"Can you walk with me?" she asked.
"It is not our path to walk, but just know we will see you make it." Jin nudged her towards the portal and smiled. She disappeared into the portal and it disappeared with her.
"Task complete, next place is at 11:23 at a crosswalk," Jin said
"So this is what Day shifts are?"
"Yes, f/n. Does everything make sense?" he asked and I nodded.
"So that gateway to heaven or whatever is that one of your customs."
"Yes, next time one opens, press the white button," he instructed.
"Hey, Jin, what was that? The feather thing." I asked
"Oh, that's my special ability. I can have souls pass on one message to their loved ones before they get to the other side. Also, we cannot go through these portals Even if we try, the portals will bounce us back. Jungkook had a funny idea to placed them all around the training course and use them as trampolines. He got in trouble with the Lord of life and death." Jin laughed.
"If Jungkook is such a trouble maker, why doesn't he get kicked out?" I asked
"Well Jungkook may be mischievous, but he is lawful. He doesn't do something if he thinks it's morally wrong. He's also very strong. Compared to Namjoon, when they were human, Jungkook would be way stronger. Right now Namjoon and Jungkook are evenly matched, but I think Jungkook can do a lot more." Jin said. I then thought to how Jungkook came in last night, bleeding. I hope he's alright now. He must work hard.
"Are you saying Jungook isn't trying hard enough."
"It's not that, I just think he's scared of what he may do to his hyungs."
"Hyungs? Are you saying he's the youngest?"
"He may have been second in being a Grim the longest, but he died the youngest of us. But you are the youngest of our bunch now." Jin poked my cheek.
"Alright then. Thanks for taking me out for the shadowing. There is something very beautiful about this process, but I can't help but to think about the darkness behind it." I said.
"Yeah, you're right. When you are doing Night shift shadowing, things will be a bit more dangerous, but I think you can handle yourself a lot better now." Jin smiled.
"Thanks, oh we should head to the next spot," I said.