“Sir-! Mujae, are you okay?”
It was the first time the Facilities Team called his name, but Mujae had no time to respond.
“Ggotgam Officer, what is this….”
Mujae sensed he had done something wrong. Ggotgam Officer was approaching him with a terrifying expression he’d never seen before.
“Sir-!”
The Facilities Team’s voice, oblivious to the situation, kept echoing.
“Should I come down too?”
“No! There’s no need for that!”
Ggotgam Officer’s answer to the worried Shinsomi was firm. He pulled up the collapsed Mujae by the hand.
“Ugh…!”
Ggotgam Officer stared intently at Mujae’s fingertips.
Mujae’s gaze also landed there. Smoke was rising from his fingertips like embers. Mujae’s already round eyes grew even wider.
Something was definitely wrong.
Mujae stammered out.
“Sir, I just tripped while coming down….”
“Pluck them.”
“What?”
Ggotgam Officer whispered to Mujae and stood up.
His shadow fell over Mujae.
“All these withered canola flowers here, pluck them all and burn them with this.”
Fortunately, there weren’t too many withered plants.
Still, Mujae had to dig another pit, his arms full of withered greens.
He put the withered plants in the pit and took out the item Ggotgam Officer gave him.
Click. A spark flared from the small device.
It was hard to believe these flowers were once so vibrant.
The fire quickly spread over the crispy, dried plants. Though the scene was silent, Mujae’s insides were anything but.
‘Why?’
Questions kept popping up. The first touch of the plant. The flowers crumbling to dust before he could even feel them.
‘Am I going to get kicked out again?’
He’d never wished for some grand reincarnation. From the start, Mujae was a Dead with no memories of the living world.
But not knowing the reason for his existence—being a being with no future—just made him sad.
Everyone said things ended when you arrived in the underworld, but Mujae’s despair showed no sign of ending.
What Mujae wanted now was just… a peaceful rest.
Suddenly, a word popped into his head, and Mujae became angry.
‘No, I’m already dead!’
It was natural for a soul to long for rest, so why did it feel like wishing for something so hopeless? For a moment, Mujae felt like accepting whatever the Ggotgam Officer or even the Heavenly King of the Underworld threw at him. It was then.
“Are you done?”
“Huh.”
But as soon as he saw Ggotgam Officer’s face, Mujae’s anger vanished in an instant.
Feeling like a sinner despite having done nothing wrong. It was a feeling he’d had for a long time. For a while, the two of them watched the flames in silence. Eventually, Ggotgam Officer spoke.
“Do you know what is the most welcomed being in the Seocheon Flower Garden?”
“…You, Ggotgam Officer?”
“That’s not wrong, but…”
Ggotgam Officer cleared his throat softly.
“The reason I’m welcomed is because of my gift.”
Ggotgam Officer took a few steps to a tree with newly sprouting leaves.
He gently pulled down one branch.
Then, like petting a puppy, he softly stroked it with his hand.
Mujae raised one eyebrow suspiciously, unsure what he was doing.
“!”
The leaves twitched.
Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the leaves responded to Ggotgam Officer’s touch… spreading open wide, like wings unfolding.
Mujae stared, mouth agape, at Ggotgam Officer without realizing it.
“How did you just do that? Did you make the plant grow?!”
“Grow… That’s one way to put it.”
The branch released by Ggotgam Officer was now thick with leaves.
“It’s more accurate to say I provide the conditions the plants like.”
“Conditions….”
“Yes. This is the [Green Thumb].”
Ggotgam Officer, hands on hips, looked very displeased.
“But what about you?”
“…….”
“I’ve seen plenty who kill plants because they don’t know how to care for them, but you’re the first to kill them all at once like a herbicide.”
“…….”
He had no excuse, even if he had ten mouths. Even Mujae thought Ggotgam Officer’s description was spot-on.
Ggotgam Officer’s gaze swept over Mujae from head to toe, just like when they first met.
“I heard there was a problem during your Judge, but since you hadn’t even lived fifteen years, we brought you in….”
“…Me?”
Not even fifteen years old. Apparently, his life in the living world was very short.
“Yes. At Seocheon Flower Garden, we only train the Dead who are pure and young, under fifteen years old.”
Ggotgam Officer let out a deep sigh.
“Let’s do this.”
“…….”
“The fact you have [Brown Thumb], that’ll be our little secret.”
[Brown Thumb].
Even though it was his first time hearing it, the word stabbed straight into Mujae’s heart. But he couldn’t deny it.
“…Yes.”
And so, on the very first day, the Promotion Team of Seocheon Flower Garden had a secret.
The days of the Promotion Team began.
Ggotgam Officer truly was a busy person. He was almost never in the office, and everything he had became Mujae’s responsibility.
“Set up the accounts.”
It was Mujae’s first task, just as he was getting used to computers and Deathnet.
Seocheon Flower Garden didn’t have any SNS accounts yet. Except for one.
“Don’t use the BooBook account.”
“But didn’t you make it a long time ago? There’s a lot of old records there.”
“It’s all useless stuff. The trend’s long gone, so don’t waste your energy.”
His boss was right. In fact, Mujae already had over six platforms to run.
First was GoddoG.
A video-centered platform, the largest in the underworld, where anyone could upload videos as long as they could film—even worms posted videos competing in tunnel-digging speed…. But then—
‘Live broadcasts by the gods themselves!’
From the Heavenly Kings of the Underworld who once tormented Mujae, to Bodhisattva Munsoo who made meditation videos, Dragon King of the East Sea who posted underwater beauty content, and Chiyou the war god flaunting his muscles in his personal gym….
Topping it off with an Egyptian god’s video weighing feathers on a scale for the “Today’s Sin Weight!?” challenge, Mujae decided not to think any further.
‘They really just upload anything.’
Then there was Satoon.
The full name was Satongpaldal Network, meaning “communication to all directions”—a name fitting for an SNS platform in the underworld. Even if the abbreviation sounded weird.
Despite sounding like a network spreading death, the name worked: it was the messenger app most used by underworld reapers in the Eastern world.
Like the itinerant merchants of the underworld, they shared news fast and kept up with trends.
Then there were other platforms like the neighborhood-based Soul Chat and GrabeGram…. At this point, one question occurred to Mujae.
“Should I just start with the platforms popular in the East?”
He was just trying to lighten his workload. But Ggotgam Officer’s answer was odd.
“That’s fine, but make at least one for the West too.”
Ggotgam Officer, who disappeared right after coming in late every afternoon, left him with that cryptic order.
“There’ll be a time we need to contact them.”
“??”
Who are ‘they’? I’m not the one contacting them, am I? But his boss had already vanished, and Mujae couldn’t ask. In the end, Seocheon Flower Garden had eight accounts, all set up by Mujae.
Luckily, four were the main ones, and the other four were just for archiving collected materials.
He didn’t realize how much future him would regret this moment.
If only one well-managed platform was enough, why be so greedy…
But with no way to see the future, Mujae simply did as Ggotgam Officer told him—learning to use Deathnet, studying platforms and influencers.
Late into the night, even Ggotgam Officer, checking his materials, remarked:
“Even a soul can wear out, so take it slow.”
“…How can I wear out when I don’t even have a body?”
Genuinely curious, Mujae asked. Ggotgam Officer replied, sounding a little deflated.
“There’s such a thing as vanishing, you know, you spotless Dead who knows nothing.”
“Huh?”
“Still, it looks like you’re having fun?”
For a Dead who had been judged without memories of life, this ocean of information was addictive.
Mujae, who never knew learning could be so fun, nodded sincerely.
“Yes. It’s fun.”
“All right, then see you tomorrow.”
“Wait a moment!”
“What now?”
Just as his tired boss was finally about to leave, Mujae called him back.
Afraid Ggotgam Officer would run away, Mujae hurriedly opened the file.
“Please take a look at this before you go.”
“…You already drafted a three-month upload plan?”
Puhahahahaha! Ggotgam Officer burst out laughing.
Embarrassed, Mujae scrunched up his face, but Ggotgam Officer couldn’t stop chuckling as he scrolled with the mouse.
“Really… You must really love this work.”
“…Did I mess up?”
But he couldn’t help feeling impatient now that all the accounts were set up.
Everyone else posted two or three times a day, but Seocheon Flower Garden, with its brand new accounts, had zero posts.
It had only been three days, but staring at that emptiness made him anxious.
“No, no, it’s just funny how hard you’re working.”
Ggotgam Officer finally calmed down and moved the mouse.
Click, click.
He deleted everything except the one-month plan.
“?!”
“This is all useless. If you really can’t let go, I’ll save it elsewhere, so pull it out if you ever need it.”
Maybe seeing Mujae’s whole body radiate question marks, Ggotgam Officer added,
“Trends change so fast, even a one-month plan is pointless.”
He really was a boss who was always right.
His attitude was a bit annoying, but he only ever said what was necessary.
“And soon, you’ll have an assistant.”
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