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Chapter 1. An Unlucky Life
Beep-
“That’ll be 2,900 won.”
I guess the cost of living really had gone up a lot.
A single canned coffee from a convenience store was now almost 3,000 won.
It felt bitter living in a world where salaries never seemed to rise, while only the cost of everything else kept going
up.
But what could I do?
If I wanted to survive in this harsh world, caffeine was essential.
“I’ll pay by card.”
“Yes, please insert it into the terminal.”
I inserted my debit card into the terminal, and just as the payment went through, an alert sounded on my phone.
[Web Notification]
OO Card Debit Approval: Yujin, your payment of 2,900 won has been completed. Balance: 82,360 won.
The message immediately showed me today’s spending, along with the balance directly tied to my means of survival.
I thought it was rather cruel how this message laid everything bare.
“Your payment has gone through.”
“Yes, thank you. Have a good day.”
Jingle-
After saying goodbye to the part-timer, I opened the convenience store door and stepped outside to the clear, cheerful
sound of the bell.
Normally, I would have thought it was a pleasant, resonant sound.
But perhaps because of my empty bank balance and troubled mind, it no longer sounded as pleasant as it once had.
‘It’s hot…….’
As soon as I stepped outside the convenience store, the sweltering summer heat was already raging.
It was only the beginning of July, and it was already this hot…….
Just standing outside made me feel as though my lifespan was being shaved away.
The news said this year was expected to be the hottest on record.
At this point, I felt like that so-called record-breaking heat was being renewed every single year.
The only thing that gave me any relief was the canned coffee in my hand, which felt as though it had come from an
entirely different world.
‘I’ll drink it after I wake up and before I head out for my night shift. Today’s going to be rough too.’
I was twenty-nine years old.
At the moment, I was getting by day after day, moving from one construction labor job to another without a proper
career.
Back when I was a student, it wasn’t that I was bad at studying.
No, I was actually quite good.
I had never attended a single private academy like everyone else, yet I consistently ranked near the top of my school.
Even my teachers encouraged me, saying I was practically guaranteed to get into one of the top universities.
I probably could have, if I hadn’t collapsed from food poisoning the day before the college entrance exam.
‘What an unlucky life.’
Someone might say it was too early to call my life unlucky just because I had failed the college entrance exam once.
But after that, nothing in my life seemed to go the way I wanted either.
I had barely managed to start preparing for the exam again, only to get into a traffic accident the day before the next
college entrance exam and end up unable to take it.
After graduating from a junior college while serving in the military, I prepared for the Grade 5 Civil Service
Examination and actually passed, only to get fired after reporting internal corruption.
Then I poured every last bit of money I had into starting a business, only for an epidemic to break out and force the
business to go under.
Thinking about it again, even calling it an unlucky life seemed like an understatement.
‘Still, at least the work I’m doing now is going well without any problems.’
The god of studying, the god of employment, the god of entrepreneurship.
It felt as though every single god had abandoned me.
But if there was one thing I could be grateful for, it was that the god of construction work, at least, had not
abandoned me.
He gave me night jobs every day and provided me with my daily bread without any accidents or incidents.
How could I not be grateful for such an existence?
But I still had a lot of life ahead of me, and I couldn’t spend the rest of it doing construction work.
I needed another way out.
If there had been even the slightest glimmer of hope, I would have tried my best to make something of it.
But in my current situation, I couldn’t see anything like that, which left me feeling utterly frustrated.
‘I should just hurry home and get some sleep.’
Negative thoughts had a way of eating away at the body.
My life wasn’t over yet, so there was no reason to spend my days doing nothing but lamenting my situation.
After cooling my head by pressing the cold can of coffee against my forehead, I arrived in front of the one-room
apartment near the convenience store, avoiding the heat and sunlight.
It was the small home where I lived with my roommate.
Wanting to hurry inside and get some rest, I started climbing the stairs.
For some reason, my legs felt heavier than usual today, as though someone had tied weights to my feet.
Still, I somehow made it home safely, and I opened the door in a good mood, looking forward to finally getting some
rest.
What greeted me instead were toys scattered all over the place.
“Oh, right……. I forgot to clean them up before I left this morning.”
They were the belongings of the other person who lived with me.
I had intended to clean them up before leaving that morning, but I had completely forgotten, which was why everything
was still lying around.
I hurriedly put the things away, placed the canned coffee I had bought into the refrigerator, took a quick shower, and
then threw my exhausted body onto the bed.
“Ugh……. I’m tired.”
My body was exhausted from the hard labor.
But strangely enough, my mind was unusually clear today, and I couldn’t fall asleep.
I was afraid that if I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the gloomy thoughts from earlier would start creeping back
into my mind.
So I deliberately tried to think positively and let the situation pass.
“Yeah, if I were to become any more unfortunate than this, I’d have to meet the Grim Reaper or something. It’s not that
bad, right?”
Self-rationalization.
Other people might have found it ridiculous, but throughout my life, I had never found a better way to erase those
negative thoughts.
And so, after clearing my mind through rationalization, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.
That was when I heard the voice of an unfamiliar man.
“Are you Mr. Yujin?”
My eyes shot open at the sudden voice.
Thinking that perhaps an intruder had broken in, I hurriedly tried to get up.
Then I noticed a man dressed in a black suit, floating above the ceiling and looking down at me with a smile on his face
as he passed straight through the wall of my home.
The man was dressed almost exactly like the Grim Reaper.
And the first words that came out of my mouth the moment I saw him were, once again, a complaint about my miserable
life.
“This…… unlucky life.”
* * *
The Grim Reaper, goblins, ghosts, and so on.
I had always thought such things were nothing more than imaginary stories that appeared in dramas.
At least, I had thought so until a real one appeared right in front of my eyes.
“So, what did you say your name was?”
“I am Kim Mandeok, a Grim Reaper.”
The man wore a black suit and had neatly styled pomaded hair, which contrasted with his cheerful-looking eyes.
When he introduced himself as a Grim Reaper, I initially wondered if he was some kind of lunatic.
But then I saw him enter my home without opening the door, simply passing through the wall.
And he was floating above the ceiling as he looked down at me.
There was no choice but to believe him.
“Why did you come to see me? Is it my time to go?”
Grim Reapers were generally known for their role in taking away the souls of the dead.
So I assumed that must be why he had come looking for me.
“Oh my~ No. I came to see Mr. Yujin about something else today.”
“Something else?”
“Yes! But before that, I’ll first confirm that you’re the Yujin I’m looking for.”
As he said this, Mandeok pulled a bundle of papers from inside his suit.
I found it strange that such a large stack of paper could have been tucked inside his clothes without even a crease, but
his very existence was even more mysterious, so I decided not to say anything.
“Ahem! Then. Your surname is Yoo, and your given name is Jin. Is that your real name?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then I’ll just call you Yujin from now on. Mr. Yujin, you’ve had quite a turbulent life. Isn’t that right?”
“……I can’t exactly say I haven’t.”
“Both of your parents passed away early, and you failed the college entrance exam because of food poisoning when you
were in your third year of high school. Your older brother helped you somehow so you could take the exam again, but then
you got into a traffic accident the day before the exam and failed again. Is all of that correct?”
As Kim Mandeok brought up those painful memories, my eyebrows drew into a straight line as I answered that he was right.
“You gave up on taking the exam a third time because of your family’s financial circumstances and enlisted in the
military. While serving, you graduated from a junior college and prepared for the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination.
After being discharged, you did various jobs before eventually passing the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination. That’s
correct as well, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As the Grim Reaper brought up my time as a Grade 5 civil servant, old memories flickered through my mind.
Passing the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination was something I could proudly call the greatest achievement of my life.
I had been so happy, thinking that a flower had finally bloomed in my unlucky life.
How could I ever forget it?
The problem was that even that stroke of good fortune had turned out to be the foundation for another misfortune.
“But even after finally passing the Grade 5 Civil Service Examination, you were looked down upon because you had
graduated from a junior college, and you experienced workplace ostracism after reporting internal corruption, eventually
resigning soon afterward. Is that correct as well?”
“……Yes, that’s right.”
Those were truly difficult memories.
Just hearing about everything up to that point made it seem as though I had already experienced every kind of misfortune
there was.
But it still wasn’t over.
“Even so, you used the money you had painstakingly earned during your time as a Grade 5 civil servant to start a
restaurant and achieved monthly sales of 100 million won. But one year later, an epidemic forced you to close the
business. This is also correct, isn’t it?”
As he continued bringing up the story of my failed life, irritation slowly began to rise inside me.
And that emotion was evident in my stiff voice.
“……Yes, that’s right.”
I answered in an extremely displeased tone, confirming everything he had just said.
Yet this Grim Reaper, who clearly had no sense of the atmosphere, seemed delighted by something.
With an extremely satisfied smile, he tucked the papers back into his clothes and formally introduced himself.
“Just as I thought! You’re definitely the person I was looking for! Let me introduce myself once again! I am Kim
Mandeok, a Grim Reaper! I came here because I have a proposal for you, Mr. Yujin.”
“A proposal?”
“Yes. Our Underworld Branch Team 4 is currently working on a new business venture. We need Mr. Yujin’s help with it,
which is why I came to find you.”
I wondered what someone as ordinary as me could possibly do for a Grim Reaper.
But Kim Mandeok had an unwavering look in his eyes as he asked me to help him.
“These days, the Underworld has been suffering tremendously because of the rapidly increasing suicide rate.”
“The suicide rate?”
“Yes! You know too, don’t you, Mr. Yujin? People have been having a very difficult time these days.”
Perhaps it was because everyone was struggling just to make a living.
I had heard that among the things our country ranked first in worldwide, the suicide rate was still one of them.
It was truly a sad thing…….
“Because the suicide rate in the living world has become so high, the work that needs to be handled has piled up like a
mountain. All the Grim Reapers traveling throughout the country are suffering from excessive workloads.”
From the many expressions and gestures Mandeok used while explaining, I could tell that he was a man with quite a flair
for dramatic reactions.
“Then I thought, ‘What if we could reduce the stress and depression these people experience in the living world?’”
“You mean stress and depression?”
“Yes! Exactly! And the method I came up with was to run a café.”
“A café?”
The conversation suddenly took such an unexpected turn that I instinctively tilted my head.
“How exactly is a café supposed to help reduce stress or depression?”
“That’s exactly where I need Mr. Yujin’s help!”
As he said this, Mandeok pointed a finger at me.
I merely blinked at him in this awkward situation, so he continued.
“Mr. Yujin, you are the strongest and warmest-hearted person I have ever seen! That’s why I want you to run the café and
share that warmth of yours with the people who visit it.”
They say human beings are social creatures.
When surrounded by positive people, they are positively influenced.
And when surrounded by negative people, they are negatively influenced.
Kim Mandeok intended to take advantage of that very fact.
He believed that the positive influence I radiated would help the people who visited the café reduce their stress and
depression.
But I had a slightly different opinion.
“I’m not some kind of sage. How could an ordinary café owner possibly do something like that? It doesn’t seem to make
any sense.”
Even if you thought about it logically, could an ordinary café owner really change the minds of people who were
struggling?
My answer was no.
But there was an inexplicable certainty in this man’s eyes.
“No! I believe in you! I’m certain that Mr. Yujin is someone who can heal the wounds of other people!”
“What exactly makes you believe in me so much?”
“Mr. Yujin. Haven’t you actually counseled and advised many people at school, in the military, and even at your
workplaces?”
“Th-That…….”
Was it because he was a Grim Reaper?
He seemed to know everything I had ever done.
It was true that I had counseled people many times.
And just as he said, there had also been many people who relied on me.
“In fact, there were even people who were destined to die if they hadn’t received Mr. Yujin’s help! I saw how your
positive influence changed those people’s destinies, and that’s why I want to invest in you!”
Hearing how badly Mandeok wanted me to take on this role made me think deeply.
Right now, I didn’t have a proper job, and I desperately needed money.
If you told an ordinary person that you would give them a position as a café owner, they would probably accept without
hesitation.
But I didn’t want to take on such a responsibility carelessly.
“Then what exactly would I have to do?”
First, I wanted to know exactly what kind of work I would be doing, so I asked him about my responsibilities.
A smile spread across Mandeok’s lips.
“Seeing is believing. How about you visit the café and hear the rest of the explanation there? I think it’ll be easier
to explain everything that way.”
Mandeok suggested that I visit the café and hear the rest of what he had to say.
That made sense.
How could I make a decision based solely on an explanation?
After taking some time to think, I agreed to go to the café.
“Excellent! We’ll have to use public transportation from here, so grab your wallet and let’s go!”
Following the energetic Mandeok, I opened the door and headed outside.
Perhaps because it was summer, the heat outside was sweltering.
But for some reason, following him out didn’t feel so bad.