It didn’t matter since my punch had a mind of its own when it sank in his pretty face. Flat on his back, Jung Min stared at me and then at the man before he burst in a shocked “HE’S THE GUY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” and rushed to the man to help him up from the sand. Shrugging and fearing somebody might have heard us, I dragged them both behind the boulder and hoped they blamed the ocean’s waves.

“What is he doing?” Jung Min covered my mouth. Footsteps froze me on spot. A woman’s shadow slowly disappeared together with the reaper’s hand.

“Woah, that actually hurt.” The man massaged his cheek and came close to us again. He was wearing a military uniform with a white tunic and white pants, polished white shoes and braided grizzled hair matching the dangling golden earring from his right side. I saw Junsu’s horrible fashion in him.

“What, you expect a girl never to hit you?” I spat those words in his face and he only grinned.

“I expect humans not to, yes.”

Jung Min shushed us when another woman came by and patrolled the area like the last one. After he was sure she was gone, he glared at the man and then frowned at me.

“Is he the Dragon?”

At that moment, the man’s expression became dull. Were we boring him or what?

“You think I’m the Dragon?” he spoke low so only we could hear him “Well, ain’t that funny!” he muffled his chuckles.

Useless, useless, it was useless. He erupted in a laughter louder than the waves. Cool, why is it that hard to control their urges? Goddamn reapers!

That’s it, from the way he smelled and acted and looked, it could only be a reaper. There was no way a legendary creature like the Dragon (or maybe they exaggerated its proportions and it was nothing more than a puny lizard crawling under the sand we were standing) could be someone as ridiculously looking as him.

“Shut up!” I urged him, both of my and Jung Min’s hands lashing forward and covering his mouth. All three ended on top of each other. After he calmed down, we took our hands and bodies off him.

“Junsu warned me about you,” he spoke between small hiccups that only threatened to grow into another laugh. “Of how fierce you can be.”

“Yeah, well, Junsu’s dead, like really dead, isn’t that funnier?” Jung Min smacked me over the back of my head and I successfully bit my tongue. Thanks dad, aren’t you a precious bubble to pop when I would get to return the favor and smash your head against the boulder?

Well… there was one certain thing about that area: it made me furious.

“He’s not dead,” Jung Min pointed out and made me question his sanity “…he’s a demon now.”

“Then what the heck is he?” I pointed at the man who only continued to threaten our hideout with his giggles and wide smiles. “Other than insane, that is.”

“Excuse me,” he coughed in his hand, got a better seat his knees and bowed low in front of us “I am the Dragon’s Guardian and the new reaper to have taken the title of Death.”

Okay, so he’s the new bastard I have to deal with if I want to get some things done around here. Like Junsu wasn’t enough. This new dude was just as bad and I wondered if other Death applicants had been rejected because they weren’t weird enough.

“So you’re G-Dragon?”

“Excuse me?”

“You said you’re the Dragon’s Guardian, so you’re G-Dragon, right?”

“I suppose,” he returned me the weird stare. Hey buddy, I’m just saying, it’s a name that fits you. And he probably heard my thoughts by now, so maybe I should haven’t insulted him in my head just yet.

Jung Min grabbed us both again and closed the distance between our faces.

“Could we please return to our mission?” he let go and then copied G-Dragon’s actions, bowing low and presenting himself and his Seeker title, alongside with apologizes for my rude behavior and his own inability to recognize their humble leader.

Humble? HUMBLE? Really Jung Min, really? Haven’t you learned by now that all the leaders we had so far were ed up? Even Yuri had her dementia period when that demon controlled her, haven’t you learned a damned thing, Jung ing Min?

“Sooyoung…” the reaper patted my back “…you don’t look so good.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for her,” the other guy’s hand touched my chest – oh great, another ert – and let a soothing light cover me from head to toe – okay, so he’s a good ert or what? - “She doesn’t have much time left. You are here for the Dragon, aren’t you?”

Jung Min nodded. My vision slowly became blurry again like at the Palace. Actually, I felt exactly the same as when I witnessed those reapers sacrifice themselves for the Dragon or something… something.

Then I wondered how could the Dragon be here? What had they sacrificed themselves for then?

“Where is it…” I gasped and tried to get up using the boulder. Jung Min pulled me back down, looking just as out of shape as I “Where’s that goddamn Dragon?”

He smiled and bowed again.

“You are,” he uttered with admiration “you are the Dragon, born five hundred years ago to save the world you once tried to destroy.”

…okay, I’m drunk.

I surely am drunk.

I thought I heard him say I’m the Dragon.