The Thirty-Second Assignment: Crossroads ③
"The insolence is enough to pierce the heavens. That Changmo fellow was the same—why is it you Post Office types never learned how to respect your seniors? Is it the school that's the problem, or is it you?"
Gangnim's voice was thick with irritation. First Changmo, and now Yuhwa too—every last one of them talking down to him in casual speech. Being addressed so familiarly by juniors so far beneath him was starting to make his blood boil. Maybe they needed a little lesson. He rolled his shoulders and stepped forward with open menace.
Not that Yuhwa was the type to be cowed.
"It's not the school, and it's not us—it's you. You walked out. Shouldn't you act like it? Keep mistaking yourself for somebody's superior and you're going to have a problem."
"I left for a time because of problems with those at the top. I am still a Grim Reaper."
Yuhwa laughed in sheer disbelief at Gangnim's brazen protest. You left—that should have been the end of it. She couldn't stand watching him play the senior over such a pathetic excuse. At least, she couldn't. She answered with a short, thick curse.
"Oh, give me a fucking break."
A vein popped. The effect was spectacular. The instant the words hit his ears, the blood stood out on Gangnim's neck. Even in his active days, he had never heard language like that. Power surged from him before he even realized it. Starting from his feet, the ground and the air around them began to freeze.
"Ha! In all my years, I never thought I'd live to hear a junior curse me out. It's more unpleasant than I expected."
"I said it to piss you off, so yeah, that's the point. If it bothers you that much, let's go a round."
"I was going to anyway. Talk clearly isn't going to cut it."
Both of them raised their blades high. The swords, saturated with Divine Power, glowed a fierce blue. Dokkaebi Fire—the light that manifested through potent spiritual energy. At this rate, someone was going to get hurt before it was over. The two of them glared at each other as if they meant to devour one another whole.
"I'm done going easy on you. I'll beat you until you regret it, so brace yourself."
"Look who's talking. I'll have you crawling back to your hideout."
Each gripped their blade in their own style. Gangnim held his upright in the old sword forms; Yuhwa seized hers brutally, like a club. Both of them were pouring Divine Power out in torrents besides. The other Grim Reapers sensed the threat and backed away.
They're going to go at it for real. Should I stop them?
Yeoni glanced around. They were near an abandoned house, so there weren't any people about—but a fight like this was bound to draw attention. Gangnim and Yuhwa were too furious to notice. He had no choice but to step in.
"Hold on!"
The youthful shout stopped both Grim Reapers in their tracks. The kid?Seo Yeon-ui? They both turned to look at him with wide eyes. The atmosphere, which had been seconds from exploding, settled into an awkward calm. Yeoni had, quite unintentionally, contributed to the peace. Gangnim clicked his tongue.
"Tsk. Sticking your nose into something that doesn't concern you. Fine by me, though."
"H-how did you know we were here?"
Unlike Gangnim, Yuhwa didn't know what to do with herself. She hadn't wanted the youngest to see her like this. Yeoni paid her flustered reaction no mind and walked right over, planting himself squarely between the two of them. He was clearly trying to keep them from fighting any further.
"You were so loud I couldn't just walk past and ignore it. What were you going to do if people heard and came over?"
"Ahem! Was it that loud?"
"Extremely."
Yeoni folded his arms and launched into a lecture. A rare reunion, and a rare scolding to go with it. Gangnim received a novel cultural shock at the sight of a junior lecturing his seniors. He was starting to understand exactly where Yuhwa's insolence had come from.
"Like senior, like junior. The insolence, the attitude, all of it..."
"That's just how we always are. How about you tell me why you're fighting here? From the looks of it, you followed me."
At the mention of following him, Yuhwa and her junior Grim Reapers averted their eyes. Gangnim, on the other hand, was completely unashamed. He'd considered it necessary, so he had nothing to be embarrassed about. He shrugged and answered.
"You started moving all of a sudden, so I came to check. I don't like my prey slipping out of sight. Originally I was going to talk to you in front of the recipient's house. These damn juniors got in the way, though."
"I keep telling you we're not your juniors."
Yuhwa grumbled from the side. It was a shame she couldn't raise her voice in front of Yeoni. She could still have a staring contest to her heart's content, though, and the two of them locked eyes with passionate intensity. Yeoni quickly broke them up.
"That's enough. Keep this up and I'll start yelling, okay? Want people to come over?"
As if to prove he really did work in the Underworld, he'd pinpointed exactly what Grim Reapers found most inconvenient. Even Gangnim dropped the staring contest at that one remark. At last, an environment for conversation had been established. So they'd followed him because they had business—what business, exactly? Yeoni wanted to know.
"What were you planning to talk about? And Yuhwa, you tell me what you were here for, too."
The two of them looked at each other. They seemed to be gauging who would speak first. But only for a moment. Both of them launched into their business at once, their determination not to let the other seize the initiative laid bare.
"We didn't mean anything by it. We were worried the rebels might try to approach you, so we were dispatched to stand guard nearby. We wouldn't even have run into him if it weren't for that."
"Because you were going to meet the recipient. I wanted to try persuading you one last time before that. You were going to deliver the letter, weren't you?"
Yeoni's brow furrowed as he heard them out. Yuhwa's reason was one thing, but Gangnim was just... persistent. His head throbbed. He pressed a finger to his temple and went on.
"Then I don't need to say anything to Yuhwa. I just need to settle this with you, mister. What exactly were you trying to persuade me of?"
"To make you stop what you're doing. You already know that, so don't play dumb."
He was a man of unwavering consistency, if nothing else. Did he really want to pull Yeoni off this job that badly? Yeoni held back a fuming Yuhwa, then lifted his head and met Gangnim's gaze. Wariness and discontent mixed in his eyes.
"You already told me every fact worth telling, didn't you? And you said the decision after that was mine to make."
"I said it was yours to make. I never said I wouldn't try to persuade you. I didn't lie."
Tch. He's got a silver tongue, I'll give him that.
It was a cunning entirely different from Simyeong and his team. He'd probably anticipated this from the start. Yeoni didn't have a particularly good rebuttal, so he quietly took a step back. Gangnim, looking satisfied, posed him a question.
It might well be their last exchange.
"I wonder if you've thought it through properly. It'll be a problem if you haven't."
"Can you deliver a criminal's letter? Can you trust a Post Office that's been hiding secrets? Will you follow the Post Office's wrong methods? Those three, right?"
Yeoni answered, enunciating each word with blunt precision. It was a firm declaration that he would not be pushed around. Gangnim, apparently displeased with the answer, narrowed his eyes fiercely. Did kids these days eat manners as an after-dinner snack or what?
"The only thing I like about that answer is how straightforward it is. Everything else is garbage. Your attitude is all wrong."
"It's because you pick fights over attitude that Dayeong treats you like some old geezer. Let's skip the petty stuff. I've still got questions to answer."
"It's not petty, that's the point. Hah. Fine. As you say, there are more important matters."
Gangnim glared at him with a gaze sharp as a blade. Yeoni nearly answered out of spite, then remembered the gravity of the matter and barely held himself in check. He steadied his breathing and organized his thoughts.
Of the three, the second concern was the one he'd resolved most clearly. Simyeong had sworn an oath upon the Samdo River, so he wouldn't doubt that any further. The real issues were the first and the third. One was a matter of personal preference; the other was a serious question that didn't belong to him alone.
"Came here without even being ready to answer, did you?"
As the silence stretched, Gangnim sneered as if he'd expected as much. Yeoni forced himself to endure the mockery. He had to press down the anger boiling in his gut, too.
"I've made a decision on one of them. And I'll decide the rest here. I want to see the recipient who should receive this letter, in person, before I do."
"Meaning you'll deliver it or throw it away depending on what you decide. Cleverer than I thought, kid."
"Who knows. Maybe."
Yeoni felt a bitter taste at the praise that wasn't quite praise. A convenient, simple method—in the end, it was a trick that served himself. It wasn't a trick for the recipient or the Post Office. He didn't bother dressing it up.
"But I chose this method, didn't I? And once you've chosen, you have to see it through and act on it. Please don't tell me to stop. I'd hate that even more."
"Persistent little brat. Would it kill you to come over to my side? Just tell me what you've decided. What did you settle, and how?"
He called Yeoni persistent, but Gangnim himself was as clingy as a leech. He seemed utterly convinced Yeoni would come around. Yeoni didn't answer right away; he turned and started walking. After a few steps, he looked back at Gangnim and replied.
"You asked if I could trust the people at the Post Office, even knowing they'd hidden this."
"That's right."
"Yes. I can trust them."
The atmosphere shifted in an instant. Yuhwa and the junior Grim Reapers lit up with delight. Gangnim felt the frustration of a carefully built tower collapsing. Was the kid in front of him just a sucker? He looked at Yeoni with something like pity.
"Stubborn as a mule, and you can't even look after yourself. Don't you realize you'll get burned if you trust people that easily? I was trying to help you, and you're kicking the opportunity away all on your own."
"I'm not trusting them blindly. I'm trusting them because they're worth trusting."
"Oho. Did someone swear you an oath? A Samdocheon Oath, perhaps?"
Gangnim tossed it out on a whim, just in case. The Samdocheon Oath was a vow that even Ksitigarbha and the Ten Kings could not break. There was no way they'd have made such a heavy oath to a human so easily. But Yeoni shattered his expectations to pieces.
"Yes. Simyeong did."
"W-what?"
"He swore an oath. That Samdo River thing, or whatever it's called."
And yet—that was exactly what had happened.
The shock Gangnim received upon hearing that answer could be summarized in that one sentence. An impossible possibility had come to pass. He asked again in a dazed voice.
"Is that true? A Grim Reaper... made a promise to a mortal?"
"I may be a mortal, like you said, but I'm doing Underworld work too. You think I'd lie about that? If you don't believe me, go ask Simyeong yourself."
You absolute idiot. You just went and made a promise like that?
Sparks flew from Gangnim's eyes. Were Grim Reapers this loose-lipped now? If he met the man in person, a slap across the face wouldn't be enough. But once spoken, there was no way to take it back. He turned his fire on Yuhwa.
"Is it true? Your senior staked his heart on the Samdo River?"
"It's true. We're not like you. Before he's some mortal kid, Yeoni is our junior. What kind of seniors would we be if we couldn't even make him an honest promise?"
"Are you joking right now? It's a Samdocheon Oath. You don't just pull that out so casually!"
The anger he'd been holding back finally erupted. For this moment, at least, he was genuinely worried for his foolish juniors. A Samdocheon Oath was not something to be produced so easily. But in the next instant, Yuhwa unleashed a presence every bit as fierce.
"Casually? Who the hell decided it was casual?"
"Y-you little—!"
A cold so terrible it could freeze bone. The other reapers quickly shielded Yeoni, while Gangnim took the full blast of the chill and flinched. Yuhwa, eyebrows raised, laid into him. She poured out every bit of anger she'd been holding back.
"Looking down on Yeoni once or twice is plenty. Ksitigarbha, the Ten Kings, and all of us already recognized him as our youngest, you got that? Don't you dare run your mouth just because you don't like it. It's pissing me off!"
Gangnim said nothing.
Her face had gone red as she poured out the words. It was enough to make you worry someone might come running at the shouting. Gangnim's lips twitched, but the razor-sharp air sealed his mouth shut. A rare humiliation—being overpowered by a junior. The price, perhaps, of underestimating how much Yuhwa cared for Yeoni.
Hah.
The passionate outburst and the anger subsided, and an awkward silence settled in. Gangnim's wariness toward Yeoni had weakened considerably. Now was the chance to go see the recipient. Yeoni took the step he'd been holding back. He declared it to Gangnim and Yuhwa at once.
"That's enough of an answer, right? I'll decide the rest after I meet the recipient. Whether I deliver the letter, and what to do after that. Please don't stop me anymore. I'm asking you."
Yuhwa stepped aside, of course. Gangnim hesitated, but he no longer had any justification to keep blocking the way. Yuhwa and the other Grim Reapers wouldn't just stand by, either. At last, he gave up on holding Yeoni back.
There was nothing left standing in Yeoni's way.
"Well then. I'll be going."
Yeoni offered a bow and set off down the road.
He'd been delayed long enough. He had to hurry.