In the deep dawn, where even the moon seemed shyly hiding its face behind the clouds, Yoo Jeonggeol stood by the roadside, staring at the wrecked car.
‘What is this?’
The scene before him was too vivid to be just a dream.
The car, which had crashed into a utility pole and tumbled down, was the very one he had been driving moments ago.
Smoke was slowly rising from the vehicle.
And the driver who had been thrown from the car…
‘That’s me.’
The driver, thrown out by the impact, lay on the ground with his body twisted in a grotesque angle.
His neck, legs, and arms bent unnaturally in different directions.
Even looking at himself, Yoo Jeonggeol felt no shock.
“Year of Gyeongsin, Month of Mujawol, Day of Jeongsa, Hour of Sasi, Yoo Jeonggeol, is that you?”
He turned his head toward the voice.
There stood a man in a black coat and black hat, expressionless, staring at Yoo Jeonggeol.
‘What? Is this some kind of goblin cosplay?’
The man before him was dressed exactly like a character from a popular drama that had been all the rage a few years back, holding a card in his hand as he looked at Yoo Jeonggeol.
“Yoo Jeonggeol. The deceased must answer. Are you really Yoo Jeonggeol?”
Yoo Jeonggeol wanted to ask how the man knew him, but against his will, other words slipped out.
“No. I’m born in the hour of the Sasi.”
The man in cosplay looked even more surprised than Yoo Jeonggeol.
“What? Why is that? Why is your voice coming out on its own?”
As Yoo Jeonggeol grabbed his neck and mouth, the man’s face changed from expressionless to a panicked look, clearly unsure what to do.
He moved his lips silently a few times before asking again.
“I’ll ask one more time. Are you Yoo Jeonggeol born in the Sa time?”
“I’m born in the hour of the Rabbit. Damn it. What is this?”
Yoo Jeonggeol didn’t understand the difference between the hour of the Rabbit and being born in the Sa time.
He had once read in martial arts novels that those terms indicated certain times, but he didn’t know exactly what hours they referred to.
Yet, he was answering the question on his own.
Annoyed, he muttered a curse unintentionally.
But the man in cosplay didn’t seem to care about the insult.
He lowered the card in his hand and muttered to himself.
“This is a mistake not seen in three hundred years. What should I do? This wretched business is almost over, and yet such an accident happens… If those above find out, I might have to spend five hundred years in hellfire… What to do? Bring him back to life?”
After muttering, the man’s gaze returned to Yoo Jeonggeol, who lay bleeding on the ground.
Yoo Jeonggeol, standing before the Grim Reaper, also turned his eyes toward himself.
The Grim Reaper shook his head vigorously.
“Isn’t this a difficult case even for resurrection? What to do? What to do…”
Watching the Grim Reaper muttering to himself, Yoo Jeonggeol raised a hand to stop him.
“Wait. Stop mumbling curses to yourself and look at me. So, you’re saying you’re the Grim Reaper?”
The Grim Reaper gave a deeply apologetic expression.
Fury surged up inside Yoo Jeonggeol, and he started shouting.
“The way things are going, it seems I died though it’s not my fate to die. Am I right? I’m not misunderstanding, am I?”
The Grim Reaper tried to think of how to make a better impression on Yoo Jeonggeol, wearing the most pitiful expression he could muster as he answered.
“I’m sorry. This shouldn’t have happened, but somehow it did. So please don’t be angry and let’s calmly figure out a way to fix this.”
“No, look at you. How does ‘somehow it happened’ explain this? It sounds like you just killed an innocent person. Forget everything else, just bring me back. Isn’t everything solved if you bring me back?”
“Look, as you’ve seen, the situation isn’t really one for resurrection…”
The Grim Reaper even forced an awkward smile.
Indeed, the sight of Yoo Jeonggeol sprawled on the road was not one that invited hopes of revival.
His intestines were spilling out, blood pouring beyond his t-shirt, and the back of his head looked like it was caved in.
To top it all off, his neck was twisted more than 180 degrees, making it seem like if he were to survive, he’d be immediately sent to a lab for experiments.
“No. Seriously… This is absurd… So you’re telling me you’re not going to bring me back because I’m ‘not the one to be taken’ and that this is a ‘three hundred year mistake’? What happens if you make a mistake? I’m not an idiot, this isn’t something you just sweep under the rug. I’m not going to just stand here and take this. I won’t let you.”
Yoo Jeonggeol yelled, suddenly recalling something and gesturing toward the Grim Reaper.
“Wait. You didn’t happen to cause this too, did you? This accident with the car—that was your script, wasn’t it?”
“Well…”
Seeing the Grim Reaper roll his eyes and avoid answering properly, Yoo Jeonggeol became certain.
“You’re right. Damn it. The problem isn’t just that you took the wrong person. You killed me. You killed me to take me away. You crazy bastard. I’m not going to let this go.”
Enraged, Yoo Jeonggeol looked around desperately for anything to grab.
If there was a wooden stick, he wanted to grab it and beat the Grim Reaper to a pulp.
“Hey, calm down a bit. Don’t be angry like that. Let’s try to figure out a way to get through this situation together.”
The Grim Reaper tried to calm him, but Yoo Jeonggeol didn’t hear a word.
He reached out to pick up a stone from the ground.
He felt that smashing the Grim Reaper’s head with that stone might finally relieve his anger.
The Grim Reaper tried to stop him, repeatedly closing his hands as Yoo Jeonggeol tried to grab the stone.
“What’s wrong? Why can’t you grab it? Even though you’re dead, you can’t even do this?”
“You can’t grab things from the living world. So don’t try to grab it and just look at me. Yoo Jeonggeol, look at me…”
There was urgency in the Grim Reaper’s voice.
The trembling in his tone made it clear that picking up that stone would cause some great trouble.
Yoo Jeonggeol ignored the Grim Reaper’s warning, still struggling to catch the elusive stone that kept slipping through his fingers.
“Damn it. If I could just grab it, you’d be dead.”
“You must not place Inner Contemplation into things of the living world. Yoo Jeonggeol, just wait a moment. Alright, Yoo Jeonggeol, I will bring you back. But first, stop what you’re doing and talk to me.”
Hearing that he would be brought back, Yoo Jeonggeol stopped trying to pick up the stone and slowly got to his feet.
He realized that this situation wasn’t just a personal crisis caused by the Grim Reaper’s mistake.
There was a chance it could be resolved.
“Alright. You said you’ll bring me back. You said it. Don’t go back on your word.”
“Don’t worry. I will definitely bring you back, but you have to do me a favor in return.”
“A favor? Are you out of your mind? You messed up, so why should I do you any favors?”
“If you return to life as you were, all your memories will be erased, and you’ll be born anew. Of course, because it was my mistake, you’ll be born with some fortune, but whether that fortune remains depends on how you live your life.”
“So, what you’re saying is that there’s only punishment for your mistake and no benefit for me? What kind of situation is this?”
“That’s right. It’s Underworld Regulation. If handled officially, it has to be done this way.”
Yoo Jeonggeol nodded after hearing the Grim Reaper’s explanation.
The idea of living this damned life again from the beginning shook him.
“Keep talking.”
Yoo Jeonggeol crossed his arms and fell into thought.
Knowing Yoo Jeonggeol was ready to accept his proposal, the Grim Reaper smiled warmly and said,
“I will restore your memories and let you live again. This kind of offer is rare, so think carefully.”
The Grim Reaper paused briefly, then continued, watching Yoo Jeonggeol’s reaction.
“But from now on, you must live under a different name. You will live and die as that person, and even in the afterlife, you must come as that person. That is my request.”
“So you mean you’re going to erase the name ‘Yoo Jeonggeol’ completely? Make me live as someone else? You want to erase the root of the mistake… Then who am I supposed to live as?”
Yoo Jeonggeol was now forty years old.
If he agreed to the Grim Reaper’s offer hastily, he might end up inhabiting the body of some old man about to die.
Before agreeing, Yoo Jeonggeol decided he had to find out whose body he would be entering first.
“You’ll find out if you come with me.”
“Huh? Where?”
Suddenly, the Grim Reaper grabbed Yoo Jeonggeol’s wrist.
As his wrist was held, Yoo Jeonggeol felt everything go pitch black.
After a few breaths, the darkness faded, and he noticed the scenery around him had changed.
“This place…”
The darkness in front of his eyes brightened, revealing a new setting.
He realized he was being led by the Grim Reaper into a hospital room.
In a large hospital ward, a man lay alone, relying on a respirator.