4
Between Life and Death
“So where are we going?” You asked as you followed behind JB and Jr. The two boys led you far away from Kangnam.
“We’re almost there.” Jr replied to you.
You guys had been walking for what seem roughly half an hour.
You were sure you were no longer in Kangnam any more.
“That’s not what I asked. I asked you where we were going.” You rebuttaled.
“We’ll be there soon enough, stop worrying.” Jr assured you, “Man, you need to lighten up Yun Su, you were never this tense before.”
*Before I died* You sighed and continued to drag your heavy feet. Your body felt heavier than usual and you wanted to stop walking. “Guys, can we take a break?” The two of them stopped and looked at one another. JB walked in front of you and turned so you faced his back. “JB?” You asked him.
“Get on.” He said as he lowered himself.
At any other moment you would have rejected his offer, but your body felt too heavy. You reluctantly got on his back. JB felt your body on his and he shot up. “Woah!” You let out surprised by the sudden altitude.
The three of you finally arrived at a grand apartment in Yongsan.
“We’re here!” Jr stood in in front of a apartment with his is arms out to showcase it.
“Where’s here?” You asked still on JB’s back.
“Our house.” JB answered you as he squatted down to let you off. This time you understood what he meant and got off. JB and Jr walked up to the door and entered the pass code. You stood at your position unsure weather to follow them in or not. You had never been to JB and Jr’s home before. JB and Jr walked in and JB noticed you. “Let’s go.” He called to you holding out his hand. You reached for his hand and gripped it tightly with both hands. You didn’t know why but you felt scared. There was a ominous feeling coming from the building. It felt as if someone was watching you.
The three of you exited the elevator on the fourth floor.
“Why are we on the fourth floor?” You asked nervously.
(a/n: there usually isn’t a fourth floor or floors with the number ’4’ in apartments or high buildings in some parts of Asia because the number ‘4’ is related to death)
“Because it’s where we live.” Jr answered.
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Home sweet home!~” Jr exclaimed as he unlocked the apartment door. On the middle of the door there was a abnormally large number ‘4’ marked on the door. The three of you walked in to the apartment.
Inside was large and spacious. There was minimal furniture and all the walls were painted white. There were four doors connected to the living room, three bedrooms and one washroom. The kitchen looked brand new and never used before. “You guys live here?” You asked them. You couldn’t believe that two high school students could afford a family sized apartment.
“We’ve been living here since we moved here.” JB answered as he threw his jacket off and plunged down onto the couch.
“How can you guys afford this?”
“The guy who built this apartment was a foreigner and he included a fourth level. No one wanted to live here especially in the fourth room so we got this baby for a third of it’s original price.” Jr answered you as he sat himself on the other couch and the TV.
You walked around the house. You were surprised at how clean the place was. There wasn’t a single trace of dust anywhere. You went in front of the TV and turned it off. You turned to the two boys who were sitting like couch potatos.
“Ah, Yun Su-yah! I was watching that!” Jr exclaimed.
“I want an explanation.” You said tapping your foot.
“What?” Jr asked you confused.
“I want to know why I’m alive.” Jr put the remote down and the room grew silent. JB shot up from his laying position and let out a sigh.
“We’ll tell you on one condition.” JB negotiated.
“What?”
“You have to accept everything we tell you.”
You thought about it for a second. You figured since you just came back to life from being dead and learnt that your friends were grim reapers you could accept anything anyone told you now.
“Okay, fine. Now spill.” You agreed
“I am Im Jae Bum a rank E-2 Grim reaper. And This is Park Jin Young a rank E-2 Grim reaper also.” JB started. Jr saluted to you at the mention of his name.
“Me and Jr are responsible for collecting the souls of people. We have a list of people that we must kill on a certain date. However we have two of these lists. It depends on what happens that day that we have to collect the souls from the two lists.” JB continued on. You nodded your head kind of understanding what he was saying. JB continued “Every time we collect a thousand souls we have to send them off to give them to our boss to ship them off to either heaven or hell.”
“That’s why we disappear from time to time.” Jr interrupted.
“Yes as Jr said, that is why we disappear. In order to fill our quota we usually take turns during the day to go out.”
“That’s why JB’s always late and I sometimes ‘go home’ at lunch time.” Jr explained once again.
“Anyways as I was saying, We collect souls. But for some reason you died without being on our list. At first we thought it was strange so we checked if someone else received your soul with our ‘boss’. However we could not find your name anywhere.”
“In simpler form, you were never supposed to die.” Jr finished the sentence.
“That’s why your soul was stuck with you. Since you were never supposed to die we were given orders to bring you back to ‘life’. You are alive right now because of that pill I gave you before. Although you are ‘alive’ you have been declared dead by the law.”
“So, your trying to tell me I can’t go back to normal life?” You asked.
“Yes, and no. You can carry on living a normal high school life but, you cannot ever interact with the people from your past life.” JB told you sternly.
He continued on, “We aren’t quite sure what our boss wants from you but at our next quota shipment we have to bring you along with us. Until then you’ll have to be situated at our home.”
You nodded understanding, until he got to that last point.
“I have to live with you guys!?!?!” You shot up. You had never even been in a boy’s home before beside Mr. Anh’s (but that doesn’t count). And now you were being told that you’d have to live with two guys.
“Woah, calm down Yun Su, it’s only for about a couple of weeks.” Jr said as he motioned his hands in a ‘calm the down’ way.
“Remember I said, you have to accept everything I say when you wanted to know what was going on” JB reasoned.
You understood what they were saying and understood the situation. You gave up and sat down on the floor. The room went quiet for a while.
“So…” You started. JB and Jr raised they heads to you.
“Since when have guys… you know been… Dead?” You asked
JB and Jr were a bit hesitant but Jr finally answered.
“I’ve been dead for five. And JB’s been dead for eight.”
“Then… You guys died when you were 13 and 10?”
The two lowered their heads.
“I’m sorry.” You apologized realizing it was a touchy subject for them.
“But why are you guys… 18?”
“Even though we’re ‘dead’ our bodies and mind keep growing and developing like normal people.” JB answered.
“But since we souls are dead, we cannot die again.”
You nodded again understanding
“So does that mean, I can’t die again?” you asked
“Yeah pretty much.” Jr answered.
“Alright, so… what’s up with the rank thing you introduced yourself with?” You asked curiously.
“Grim reapers are ranked on how they fill their quotas, and their technique. The ranks go from A being the lowest to F being the highest. At each increased rank there are sub ranks that also increase in number with the ranks.” JB explained
“A-1 is the lowest rank, which is fallowed by, B-2, B-1, C-3, C-2, C-1, D-4, D-3... E-3, E-2, E-1, and finally rank F.” Jr explained.
“Woah, so you guys are pretty high than.” You said kind of impressed by their status.
“Yeah, but we’re still a far way off.” Jr confessed.
“Why is there only one rank in rank F?”
“That’s the rank of our boss. No one has ever gotten up to rank F except the boss.” JB answered.
You listened to the boys go on and on about their work intrigued by this new side of them. It felt like JB was a lot more serious now than he was at school and Jr was more foolish than his usual self. After listening to the boy’s stories you found yourself smiling at them.
“What?” JB asked as he caught you smiling at them.
“No, it’s nothing.” You continued on smiling,
“Is there something on my face?” Jr asked you touching his face.
“No it’s just…”
“Just what?”
“This reminds me of when we first met.”
*****
Okay so I lied, I couldn't stop myself from updating today. I will be updating tomorrow wiht the next chapter tomorrow.
After I finish summer school
I will be updating BLAD on this Friday, I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been having writer's block.
Comments