Immortals vs. Grim Reapers - chapter 4
Chapter 4: An Experienced Rookie (Part 1)
Yu Wolryeong stared at Yeomna in disbelief at his words.
“Are you talking about the Four Tiger Sword? Is that something you can find just lying around? You know better than anyone that Four Tiger Swords are only made in numbers equal to the grim reapers, don’t you?”
“Well, yes. I guess there’s no helping it then.”
As soon as Yu Wolryeong finished speaking, Yeomna reached into his jacket as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“As it happens, I have a spare, so I’ll lend it to you.”
“A spare? A spare? How on earth could there be a spare Four Tiger Sword…”
Yu Wolryeong looked at Yeomna with a shocked expression. Her face said, ‘How could such a thing exist?’
Gangrim roughly understood this as equivalent to the Minister of National Defense telling a part-timer he’d just hired, “I happen to have a spare gun, so I’ll lend it to you.”
Yeomna pulled out a sword emanating a dark blue aura from his jacket.
The blade was hazy like mist, and the unfathomably dark sword body twinkled with constellations.
Yu Wolryeong’s eyes narrowed.
“Wait a minute. Lord Yeomna, that looks familiar…”
“I picked it up on the way. Our Gangrim can’t fight without a weapon, can he?”
“What nonsense…”
“Here, Ju Gangrim. Try holding it.”
Gangrim grasped the sword without hesitation. As soon as he did, a chilling energy seeped through his fingertips.
The Four Tiger Sword trembled briefly before quieting down.
Yeomna smiled slightly at the sight.
“The Four Tiger Sword is equipment used by grim reapers in the field.”
Yeomna continued, arms folded.
“Don’t think of it as just a weapon. The Four Tiger Sword is a grim reaper’s insignia, clothing, weapon, handcuffs, and even a companion. If you’re sufficiently acknowledged by the Four Tiger Sword, it will take a form that suits you.”
Gangrim examined the Four Tiger Sword.
Despite holding it for the first time, it felt oddly familiar in his hand. As he lifted it, the mist embedded in the blade flowed down like a dream.
Just as he was about to swing it, Yeomna grabbed his hand.
“Not now.”
Yeomna whispered, glancing briefly at Yu Wolryeong. Yu Wolryeong still wore an expression of deep thought, trying to figure out the origin and identity of the Four Tiger Sword.
“That will be more than enough proof that you’re my man. But since that alone won’t be sufficient, I’ll provide one more thing in line with human customs in the living world.”
Yeomna pulled out a red envelope from his pocket. Inside was a black paper with nothing written on it.
Yeomna took a deep drag on his cigarette, then blew the smoke onto the paper. As the smoke seeped in, tiny letters began to form.
Gangrim took the paper and began to read.
“Ju Gangrim (hereinafter ‘Party B’), acting as a proxy for the will of Yeomna, Chief Judge of the Afterlife Court (hereinafter ‘Party A’), enters into a contract for the removal of Immortals on earth. Party A promises appropriate compensation each time Party B achieves results, and guarantees to provide maximum support for necessary resources to ensure unimpeded performance of duties. This contract remains valid until Party B becomes incapable of performing duties.”
That was roughly the gist of the contract.
“Now, if you have no objections, sign it.”
“Let’s modify this part.”
“What?”
Gangrim tapped the very last line of the contract and said,
“This contract shall be indefinitely renewed until the Immortals are exterminated.”
Yeomna paused for a moment. His expression was subtle.
“You don’t seem to understand the weight of the word ‘indefinitely’.”
“I do.”
“No, you don’t. You’re using the term ‘indefinitely’ against ‘Immortals’. Anyway, contracts with ‘indefinitely’ in them are not allowed. I’m saying this for your own good, man. It’s dangerous for me too. If the contract itself becomes invalid, that’s one thing, but if it goes wrong, it could be even more terrible.”
“Then forget it. If you’re going to quit halfway through, I won’t do it either.”
Gangrim folded the contract and placed it on Yeomna’s chest.
Yeomna looked back and forth between Yu Wolryeong and Gangrim in disbelief. His expression said he never expected anyone to refuse such generous terms.
But soon, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he broke into a grin that showed all his teeth.
Yeomna grabbed Gangrim’s collar tightly.
“This bastard’s really crazy. Yu, didn’t I tell you! You need to be this crazy to be able to run around in the field in my place!”
Yeomna burst into laughter that shook the Sandocheon, pulling Gangrim close.
Yeomna’s pupils were burning crimson. It was the light of hellfire, unfathomable in its depth.
Within them, madness and indescribable anger burned hot enough to melt steel.
“Alright! I, Yeomna, promise ‘indefinitely’ with resolve! You will be my anger in the living world as my proxy! If you’re willing to step into hell yourself, I can’t not dip at least one foot in!”
“Lord Yeomna!”
Yu Wolryeong tried to stop him with a startled voice. But Yeomna firmly waved her off.
Yeomna pulled out the contract again and held it out to Gangrim. As his sharp nails scratched the contract, the last line was erased with a burning smell, and new words were engraved.
It was the phrase Gangrim had wanted.
“This contract shall be indefinitely renewed until the Immortals are exterminated.”
“Sign it.”
When Gangrim hesitated, not knowing how to sign, Yeomna brought his hand to the paper.
With a burning sensation on his palm, Gangrim’s handprint was left on the paper.
“You have now formed a relationship with me that even death cannot separate. I hope your hell won’t be too hot.”
Tut-tut, having finished the contract, Yeomna tidied up his attire and returned to his original nonchalant demeanor.
It was unclear what promising ‘indefinitely’ meant to him, but it seemed to have stirred Yeomna quite a bit.
Gangrim suddenly wondered if Yeomna had promised ‘indefinitely’ to someone else before.
As Gangrim pondered how to deal with the Immortals from now on, he recalled his final moments.
“Come to think of it, didn’t you say my life span had already ended?”
His body had been torn apart to the point where its form was barely recognizable, and his soul had already been dragged to the brink of the Sandocheon.
It seemed a bit of a stretch to say he was alive in this state.
“Ah, that.”
Yeomna shrugged and pulled out a phone from his pocket.
“Welcome to Bimang, the fast and convenient grim reaper app.”
“Judge (administrator privileges) ‘Yeomna’ authenticated.”
Yeomna, displaying a screen so red it hurt the eyes, swiped his finger across it. Then he showed a list created in an Excel file that appeared.
“Ju Gangrim. 1987-2042.”
Yeomna tapped on the ‘2042’ part and simply added a 2.
“Ju Gangrim. 1987-20422.”
“…Huh?”
“That’ll do, right?”
“What? Wait a minute. Is that allowed? Just like that?”
“It’s fine. This much could be overlooked as an administrative error. It’s not the first time this has happened. Why, should I add another digit?”
Suddenly getting an extra 18,000 years of life, and it could be overlooked as an administrative error?
Gangrim hurriedly turned to look at Yu Wolryeong.
Yu Wolryeong seemed like a strict and rigid person. Would such a person just overlook something like this happening right in front of her?
But Yu Wolryeong didn’t move a muscle.
“Yu also agrees that this problem needs to be solved. She’ll let this much slide. She’s more flexible than she looks.”
“It’s more about keeping Lord Yeomna from crossing the line.”
Yu Wolryeong muttered with a frown.
Gangrim thought Yu Wolryeong’s words were more convincing. Honestly, Yeomna didn’t seem like the type to be bound by rules.
“Besides, this is just a temporary measure. Above all, remember that you’re now a grim reaper.”
“A contract worker, that is.”
Yu Wolryeong added. Yeomna grinned and snapped his fingers in front of Gangrim’s eyes.
“Now that the contract is done… it’s time to start work immediately.”
Gangrim’s vision went dark.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a familiar ceiling.
No, actually, it was an unfamiliar ceiling. It was a place he’d never seen before.
But the reason Gangrim felt it was familiar was because it was a hospital ceiling. He had often found himself in hospitals.
As he realized he was alive, Gangrim let out a burst of breath.
Gangrim looked around in a daze. There was no one around.
‘…Huh?’
The scene of a quiet hospital room with no sign of people despite being an eight-bed ward.
Gangrim felt a sense of déjà vu.
It was when the gate had begun to seriously devour Seoul.
When he was still preparing for the Korea Military Academy.
Gangrim looked at his hands.
Thin forearms without a single scar.
Seeing this, Gangrim was certain that he had regressed to when he was about twenty years old.
These were not the arms that had twisted the necks of charging zombies, used everything in hand as a weapon, and been covered in countless scars.
Though trained, this was not the body of Colonel Ju Gangrim who had fought through countless hells.
‘So this is what giving me a chance meant…’
Certainly, there was nothing he could do in a world that had already ended. But to think it was possible to turn back time.
Instead of thinking complicated thoughts, Gangrim considered what he could do.
‘First, I need to find a weapon.’
Gangrim got out of bed and started moving hurriedly.
At twenty years old, his memories of the hospital were still vivid. It was the catalyst that made him abandon his ordinary life and live as a zombie hunter.
Right now, an unprecedented massive gate had opened on Bukhansan.
As a result, numerous casualties occurred, and Gangrim in his twenties had also been injured and hospitalized due to this incident.
People thought the gate would close naturally soon or that the country would somehow handle it, but the gate didn’t close and ended up swallowing the northern part of Seoul.
‘Looking at the sky… it’s already too late to turn back.’
Now, northern Seoul would become a “dungeon” with a permanently open gate.
This was the so-called Gangbuk Incident.
Some people refused to evacuate because they didn’t understand the severity, but now it seemed that all patients and staff in the hospital had evacuated.
‘It was such an urgent situation that even unconscious or immobile patients were left behind.’
Gangrim didn’t blame the hospital staff who had left him behind. The situation was that desperate.
Unconscious patients had to be abandoned.
Currently, the few zombie hunters and the military had been deployed to the gate in northern Seoul. That’s why Gangrim wasn’t rescued until several days after the military retreated.
After countless brushes with death back then, Gangrim could realize one thing.
‘That ordinary daily life would never return.’
Crack.
Gangrim broke off an IV stand and improvised it into a spear.
Although it was made of aluminum and easy to bend, it should be able to handle a zombie or two.
Gangrim calmly headed towards the corridor.
The hospital was quiet.
Papers were strewn messily on the floor, and examination equipment was cluttered about.
A red light kept blinking at the empty desk.
The red light was equipment that had been installed as standard in hospitals after the gates started opening.
Because hospitals were prone to producing corpses, the procedure was to turn on the red warning light and evacuate with patients as soon as a gate opened or a zombie plague occurred.
‘If my memory is correct… there should be five zombies in front of the emergency stairs.’
Gangrim hid his body at the corner and examined the area in front of the emergency stairs.
“Grrr… gaaak. Gak.”
Sure enough, exactly five zombies were loitering around. They were all elderly patients in hospital gowns.
Those who died due to the gate’s opening had all become zombies.
‘Zombies…’
When the zombie plague first broke out, all people knew about zombies came from Hollywood movies.
For better or worse, zombies were almost identical to their movie counterparts.
They crawled, walked, ran, and bit people. Unfortunately, getting bitten by a zombie turned you into one, just the same.
There was no cure. They died when their brain was destroyed, just the same.
The biggest difference was humanity.
Humanity didn’t suffer one-sidedly like in the movies.
The zombie plague had a high mortality rate, almost no incubation period, was only transmitted through saliva, and had a clear weakness in the brain.
If it had only been the zombie plague, humanity might have been able to control zombies more effectively.
‘The problem is the gate.’
As long as the gate remains open, zombies appear endlessly. Even dead zombies come back to life.
Unless the core at the center of the gate was destroyed to force it closed or it closed naturally, they had to continually face hordes of zombies.
Gangrim retreated for now.
No matter how experienced he was, he couldn’t face five zombies without a proper weapon.
If unprepared, it’s best to avoid zombies as much as possible.
‘Come to think of it, Yeomna gave me something called a Four Tiger Sword or whatever, where did it go?’
Not only that, he had mentioned something about abilities as a grim reaper, but Gangrim didn’t feel any different.
He was grateful enough just for the regression, but he became uneasy, wondering if he was missing something.
‘Surely my entire life up to now wasn’t just a dream.’
That’s when it happened.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring.
A smartphone inside the hospital room started ringing loudly.
“Damn it.”
Gangrim tried to find the button to turn off the smartphone. But the unfamiliar type of smartphone made it difficult to find the button.
The smartphone, whose owner was unknown, responded to Gangrim’s fingerprint and turned on with a click.
A screen so red it hurt the eyes appeared.
“Welcome to Bimang, the fast and convenient grim reaper app.”
“Grim reaper (intern) ‘Ju Gangrim’ authenticated.”
“Current remaining soul pay: 0 nyang.”
“Today’s words of wisdom: Even a ghost who died after eating well has good complexion.”