You berated yourself for getting distracted; of course it was more important for you to talk about the girl waiting outside, lost in the recesses of hell. You pushed a way a little pang of guild, instead settling yourself into work mode. You were going to get this fixed, right now.

“Here, come sit, we can talk comfortably.” Hongbin walked past you in one smooth motion to a small tables and set of chairs in the center of the room, pulling one back and settling himself languidly. As you pulled out the chair across he laid the form on the table.

“I see what you're saying,” he continued once you were settled. His gaze turned back to the door, to Taekwoon and Megan on the other side. “She might even be one of the purest souls we've ever had down here. She shouldn't be here at all, in any case.”

“I know,” you responded wryly. Why did he think you climbed all those stairs and left your station unattended? “So get her out of here.”

Hongbin sighed. “It's not that simple. One a soul has entered hell, it gain a particular...” he trailed off, searching for an appropriate word. “Stamp. She won't be accepted into any of the other afterlives until she pays her dues here.” He picked up the paperwork again. “Which, in this case, is a year.”

So no way around that one, it seemed. But...“What if she doesn't go to a different afterlife?” You suggested.

Hongbin looked up at you slowly. “If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting--”

“What if we send her soul back to earth? To her body?”

Hongbin was silent for a moment. “That,” he finally said, voice quiet, “is extremely dangerous and ill-advised, hardly even possible.”

“But it is possible,” you pushed, searching for information. You were still relatively new to hell.

“It is,” he conceded, nodding, “but rarely done. That magic is complicated at best, and requires... something?”

“Something?” You pushed, not letting him get away with it.

“A sacrifice,” he conceded, “a blood sacrifice. And an energy seal with a demon. Nothing you should be involved in.”

He waved as though that dismissed the issue, but you weren't quite finished yet. You just couldn't let the issue lie; you might work in hell but you weren't trying to solicit it as a vacation destination. Leaving Megan to face her fate alone for a year seemed to cruel a thing to do.

“Is there any way she can be in hell without being punished?”

Hongbin was slow to respond, seeming to not want to admit the answer. “No, not that I know of.” He gave you a wry smile. “I would know by now.”

You huffed in irritation. “So then I guess you have to explain the energy seal.”

Hongbin scratched the back of his head. “Since that's not happening, we don't really have to worry about it. We can talk to Taekwoon, see if he knows a way, but--”

“Tell me,” you insisted. “Besides, demon's like pacts right?”

“We, generally yes, but--”

“Great, so explain.”

He looked like he was about to stick his tongue out at you, and probably would have if the topic wasn't so serious. “Besides the blood sacrifice, the energy seal links a demon to a human; when the demon is weak or using power, it is absorbed from the human counterpart instead.”

Well that didn't sound as bad as he was making it out to be. “And this lasts for how long, usually?” You wanted all the facts.

Hongbin was looking more and more uncomfortable with the progression of the conversation. “It depends on how strong the magic needed is. To do something like this, an awful long time. A lifetime, even. Bringing someone back to life isn't easy.”

“Even for you?” You prodded, and he grinned, relieved at a joke.

“Even for me,” he agreed. “It's dangerous though, if too much energy is taken the human can be killed.”

You snorted. Did he even realize that you were working in hell? How much worse could it get for you? You were lacking the healthy dose of fear he was expecting. “But it would bring her back to life, send her back to her parents?”

Hongbin nodded slowly, thinking. “If her parents are alive, she would go back to her body. If she just came to you, her death was quite recent.”

“Check on her parents,” you demanded, leaning on the table. If they weren't this would all be for nothing, and you wouldn't be able to help her. Hongbin accepted the command in stride, closing his eyes for a second and mumbling something in a language you barely recognized as the demon language. Before you could figure out what was happening he was done, and in the air is front of him strange symbols began to appear. Reddish in hue, the writing formed a small circle perhaps a foot in diameter, floating there. Hongbin knit his brow, looking at the circle with a searching gaze. While you could see only him through it, the center empty and clear, Hongbin was hopefully looking to find the girl's parents.

“Yes,” he responded after a moment, unsure at first but growing confident. “Yes, they are both alive; the truck hit the back of the car. Injuries, of course, but minor; bruises, a few cracked or broken bones. Megan got the worst of it, hit her head...” He winced, apparently seeing the incident. “Humans are so fragile,” he whispered, then sighed. With a wave of his hand, the circle faded and disappeared; once again his eyes looked to you. He looked unhappy about what he was about to say, looking for a way around it.

“I can send her back, then, if I make a pact.”

You felt a surge of relief. For whatever reason, you just couldn't leave this girl alone. You threw caution to the wind, stating your declaration.

“Then that answers that; let's do it.”

He leaned forward on the table, suddenly earnest. “Rethink this,” he pleaded, honestly seeming distressed. “Making a pact with a demon is no small matter, and for a human to not only work in hell but to pact with a demon king...” he trailed off, letting the words speak for themselves. You would be an absolute idiot to go through with it, but you would, of course, go through with it. To hell with the consequence. And besides, you figured giving energy to Hongbin was better than giving energy to a weaker demon like the guard from earlier.