there's woman in red at the end of the street, smirking.  minseok scowls in annoyance as he pretends not to see her.  the soul in front of minseok, definitely doesn't see the woman in red because he's screaming bloody murder at the sight of his dead body.

"you're... you're the grim reaper?!" the soul stutters.

"not the grim reaper, but a reaper, yes" minseok says blandly, looking down at the red enscribed card in his hand.

every soul he collects seems to think minseok enjoys this or somehing.  to minseok, it's just a job.

making sure everything is in order, he hands the soul off to another reaper.

"w-w-where am i going?" the soul asks minseok, seemingly more comfortable with him rather than this new reaper assigned to him.

"i don't know" minseok says simply.  "it's all up to you.

+++

time isn't a constraint like it is to humans, but minseok still thinks reapers should get some more off time.  he's tired from collecting souls and all he wants to do is to go home and take a nice long bath.

kyungsoo clicks his tongue and hands minseok another name card. the red letters spell out the name of a girl.  something about the red letters of the name irk minseok and a bronze skinned man's face flashes in minseok's mind.

sure enough, it starts raining once minseok arrives at the scene. the girl steps off the curb and the headlights of a larger, semi-truck flash. before anyone can blink, the girl's soul is standinig next to minseok.

"lee jooyeon, age 23. cause of death, hit and run accident. that's you isn't it?"

across the street, the goblin stands inhumanly still. his coat ends flap in the cold wind. and his eyes, flashing green, stare right into minseok's own. minseok stares blankly back, cold and unfeeling. regardless of what the goblin thinks, it's minseok's job to take the dead to the other side.  he can't take exceptions like last time and he won't take an exception this time.  minseok tries not to look, but much like the woman in red, a part of minseok is much too aware of the goblin as the goblin follows him.

it's when they're almost at the tea shop when the soul speaks.

"why is that man following us?" she asks, pointing at the goblin across the street.

"ignore him" minseok tells the soul.  "he's of no concern to us."

"he looks so sad" she says, clutching at her chest.  "something...something about him feels... familiar."

minseok sighs, stopping in front of the tea shop's door.

"he's... not like you or me" minseok replies.  "now, jooyeon-ssi, please step inside.  we have some things to discuss."