Mujae didn’t have many memories.
Not only was his life in This World completely invisible to the Heavenly Kings of the Underworld, but even in the Otherworld, all he’d done was live as a test subject on the Judgment Platform.
But Mujae wasn’t too worried.
‘Still, I’ve seen a few hundred years go by.’
The Ggotgam Officer, who’d forced Mujae to sit down and single-handedly set up the Promotion Team, disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
Apparently, he was the busiest person in Seocheon Flower Garden, and what could a newcomer do about that? Left alone, Mujae swept and scrubbed the little hut, and the cleaning took all day.
Thanks to that, despite the terrible first impression, the dusted rooms and kitchen ended up looking quite decent.
After collapsing from the hard labor of cleaning, Mujae opened his eyes to morning.
The countryside dawn air, something he’d never felt before, was refreshingly crisp.
On a whim, he swung his arms and circled the yard, wandering around the house before shuffling slowly into the office.
-Gulp.
He knew no one else was there, but for some reason, he felt nervous.
‘My first post in this world.’
Mujae stared at the tiny desk assigned to him. It looked ever smaller compared to the vast Judgment Platforms of hell that made him feel so insignificant. With care, he pulled out the small chair to match the desk and plopped down onto it.
His desk faced the window. Beyond the open window, the horizon was timidly blushing with the first light of dawn. For a moment, Mujae was captivated by the scene. Then, a sudden thought came to him.
‘Why am I so relaxed?’
Mujae was experiencing firsthand the irony faced by all new hires. Plopped down and told to work without anything taught or known—a misplaced barley sack.
But Mujae wasn’t an ordinary barley sack.
He was the test subject who had survived the Judgment Platform of hell.
The test subject recalled the officials of hell who had surrounded him. Each Judgment Platform in the Ten Hells had its own unique, cutting-edge office, but they all had one thing in common.
‘The power button!’
Mujae examined every inch of the computer that took up most of his desk. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the power button with determined resolve.
“…….”
Amazingly, nothing happened. The self-important Ggotgam Officer had claimed to prepare everything personally. Mujae couldn’t make sense of this hulking piece of metal. In the end, realizing he’d have to wait for Ggotgam Officer to return, Mujae grew a bit gloomy.
But Mujae had overlooked one thing.
He’d been bound in the Otherworld for hundreds of years. Even if he remembered This World, there was no way he could understand the Underworld’s system, which surpassed human science and technology many times over.
So, in conclusion….
‘Shouldn’t a senior be here before me?!’
But there was no telling when his one and only supervisor—the busiest person in Seocheon Flower Garden—would show up for work. Wrestling with the metal contraption, Mujae was just about to give up on work and focus on breakfast instead.
-Clatter.
“Mujae, you’re here!”
“Ggotgam Officer!”
The Ggotgam Officer entered, arms piled high with something, and set it down on his own desk. Following him was a woman in sweatpants, dark circles under her eyes, carrying something huge. Seeing her, Mujae cried out in delight.
“Is this our new team member?!”
“What?”
Ggotgam Officer looked back at the woman and burst out laughing. The woman met Mujae’s gaze and scowled. Baffled by their strange reactions, Mujae just blinked, until Ggotgam Officer explained.
“She’s not on our team. She’s Facilities Team Shinsomi. Say hello.”
“Hmm, hello. But what is a Shinsomi?”
“Hmhm, the fairies working at Seocheon Flower Garden are called Shinsomi.”
Facilities Team Shinsomi cleared her throat and introduced herself, following Mujae’s example.
“It’s kind of like how fairies working on the moon are called Hanga.”
“I see!”
“Hey, Mujae, look at this.”
Excited, Ggotgam Officer flung open a box. Inside was another square machine, yellowed and clearly aged. Having just been defeated by a hunk of scrap metal, Mujae responded robotically.
“Oh.”
“No, no, not the printer.”
Apparently, that wasn’t what he wanted. Ggotgam Officer frowned and rummaged through the other boxes. As the search dragged on, Mujae’s eyelids, awake since dawn, began to droop. That was when—
“Mujae, you’re dozing off, aren’t you.”
“What? Of course not.”
Startled. His supervisor had eyes in the back of his head. While Mujae tried to play innocent, Ggotgam Officer finally found the box he was looking for. Like a magician, he grandly opened the biggest box.
“How about this!”
“Whoa!”
Mujae jumped back at the unexpected sight.
“…A pigeon?”
A pigeon, nest and all, was packed in the box. The pigeon sat comfortably in its nest, staring at Mujae in silence. Ggotgam Officer looked incredulous at Mujae’s words.
“You don’t know what this is?”
“…Isn’t it a pigeon? Or a magpie?”
“Pfft.”
Facilities Team Shinsomi, who’d been standing cold and silent, snorted at Mujae’s flustered guess. Ggotgam Officer heaved a long sigh.
“Aigoo~ When am I supposed to raise all of these?”
Ggotgam Officer moved over and opened a storage cabinet, revealing the same equipment Mujae had seen yesterday. Crouching down, Ggotgam Officer began searching for something else. Facilities Team, silently observing, slowly began to back away.
“Well, I’ll be going now, then—”
“No.”
Since entering the office, Facilities Team had been looking for a chance to slip out.
But the eyes in the back of the supervisor’s head didn’t miss her either.
Dragging her feet back, she whined.
“Sir, I’m really, really busy right now~ You know that!”
“I know.”
“That’s it?!”
“That’s why I brought you here.”
“And if I go back, what, my work will be done?”
Ignoring Facilities Team’s grumbling, Ggotgam Officer finally pulled something from the cabinet and handed it to her.
“Here, you know what this is, right?”
“No idea!”
“I do!”
Mujae shouted eagerly.
“A mirror!”
“Wrong!”
Ggotgam Officer’s triumphant ‘wrong’ echoed in Mujae’s ears. Sighing deeply, Facilities Team approached the bird and, for the first time, spoke to Mujae.
“Watch closely, rookie.”
-Click.
She slipped something like a shard of glass around the bird’s neck.
“This isn’t an ordinary bird. It’s a Recon Bird we use here at the Flower Garden.”
Maybe realizing something had been hung around its neck, the plump bird stood up.
Tap tap….
The little bird hopped lightly onto Facilities Team’s wrist. A faint smile broke through her fatigue.
“Good job.”
She produced a snack from who-knows-where and gave it to the bird, who nibbled away eagerly. Without hesitation, Facilities Team headed for the door. Ggotgam Officer called out.
“Mujae, take this with you!”
“Huh? Yes, sir!”
Whoosh, a hunk of metal flew at Mujae.
Fumbling, not even knowing what he’d just caught, Mujae hurried out after them.
It was blinding.
By now, the sun was fully up, bathing Seocheon in golden light.
The whole world looked as if it was nothing but flowers, stretching to the horizon.
Mujae was suddenly struck by the realization of where he was.
The flower fields of the Otherworld, Seocheon Flower Garden.
Here, all lives and deaths in this world blossomed as flowers….
Lost in wonder, Mujae heard Ggotgam Officer’s voice.
“Have you taken it all in?”
“Ah… I’m sorry!”
Mujae reflexively bowed his head. But Ggotgam Officer just shrugged.
“It’s fine. If someone appreciates the result of all that hard work, it’s something to be thankful for.”
Truly words befitting the most powerful figure in Seocheon Flower Garden. Meanwhile, Facilities Team, already standing in the middle of the yard, shouted at Mujae.
“I’ll show you just this once!”
“Oh, yes!”
Mujae hurried over to her. As he approached, Facilities Team held out her arm with the bird perched on it.
“That thing I attached to the bird’s chest is a Miniature Camera.”
“!”
“Seocheon Flower Garden is enormous. Drones don’t stand a chance.”
Ggotgam Officer sounded proud. Facilities Team pulled out her phone from her pocket.
“I’ll link it to my phone.”
Ggotgam Officer nodded, and Facilities Team tapped something on her phone, stretching out her arm.
Whirr— The bird took off with a strong beat of its wings.
“Wow….”
“Here, take a look.”
Facilities Team showed Mujae her phone screen. The view from the bird flying high in the sky showed Seocheon Flower Garden below.
“Wow!”
“…Is that all you can say?”
Ggotgam Officer chuckled, clearly in a good mood. Mujae’s eyes narrowed slightly, but Ggotgam Officer added,
“What do you think? We can take pictures of the Flower Garden’s scenery with that.”
“I think it’s great!”
“That’s how we’ll gradually spread Seocheon Flower Garden’s reputation.”
The Ggotgam Officer’s elegant lips curled into a greedy smile. It seemed Mujae wasn’t the only one to feel a little put off by it; Facilities Team shook her head.
“You do realize it’s for reconnaissance, right? The image quality is garbage.”
“You can’t satisfy everyone! You always start out like this.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.”
Facilities Team shrugged, then offered Mujae, her Seocheon Flower Garden junior, a weighty bit of encouragement.
“Good luck surviving.”
“…I’ll make sure I keep rolling, so I never get covered in moss.”
“Ha! You’re a real stone, you know.”
Her tone was blunt, but Ggotgam Officer was smiling. He pointed at the hunk of scrap Mujae was holding.
“Now you’ve seen the demo, it’s your turn to try filming. Go down to the foot of that hill and take some shots.”
“…Me? With this? Right now?”
“Yeah, just put your eye to the hole and press the red button—”
While Ggotgam Officer showed Mujae the basic camera controls, Facilities Team grumbled with obvious annoyance.
“Ugh, I knew it wouldn’t end at one demonstration.”
“The bird’s coming back anyway! This is all we need, just wait a little longer.”
Listening to their bickering, Mujae made his escape.
He scurried down the hill, where tall yellow flowers swayed in the breeze.
Thinking the slope looked gentle enough, Mujae bounded forward without a second thought.
“Uwah!?”
The ground gave way a little where he stepped, and Mujae lost his balance, dropping the camera from his hand. He tumbled head over heels down the slope.
‘Why did I have to make that comment about mossy stones!’
He regretted jinxing his own future.
Ggotgam Officer, seeing this, grumbled as he came down the hill.
“Ah~ Can’t even make it down properly~”
“Ugh….”
Mujae groaned and sat up.
It was a soft patch of grass, so he wasn’t hurt, but feeling embarrassed, Mujae opened his eyes a little late.
Fsshhhhh-….
“?!”
Mujae had seen many things today.
But never had he doubted his own eyes as much as he did in this moment.
“You….”
Even the arrogant Ggotgam Officer was frozen in shock.
Mujae hurriedly withdrew his hand, but it was already too late.
He was lying in a field of withered, lifeless grass.