I laughed. I laughed so hard, I thought I’d start an avalanche.

“So you were dying to see me?” I came closer to the blond and elbowed him “Eh eh? You were dead over me?”

“I see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.” He blandly stated and pushed me away with a single finger pressed over my forehead. I had to take a few steps back in order to keep my balance. I rubbed my forehead. Ugh, that burnt.

“So Death’s a guy? That . That a lot.” Really, can’t girls rule for once? The only time when I met someone stronger than me was that blasted demon and Yuri. It wasn’t enough! Not to mention fair. Since when did the male population overcrowd the female one?

“I have no gender.” Alright, that was good to know, I love equality.

Hah! That’s right. Guy or girl, I’ll kick both of their asses because somebody has to remind them that doesn’t matter one bit. We’re all humans in the end. It becomes complicated when we’re talking about separate species. I mean, how could I beat a reaper as someone without abilities? Or how could I deal with a demon that crawled on my back and transformed into my personal trainer without consent? Either way, the fact that they were either a she or a he was obsolete.

“Sooyoung.”

“Yes?”

“I can hear your thoughts.”

“Oh.”

“Yes.”

“That’s awkward.”

“Very.”

I burst out laughing again. Death’s mouth curved into a smile.

“Still, why a guy?”

“I can change in any image of this world, be it humanly or a simple breath.” He blew air over his palm. The same blue rose from before reappeared. This time, I took it and examined its perfect petals and absent thorns. Then I threw the flower into the blond.

“Great!” he eyed me suspiciously. “And you can also turn things as you want, right?” he nodded. “Perfect! Get me and my friends out of here, then fix Jung Min and maybe calm Yuri a little. Then I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.”

“But you already are listening.”

Oh. Was I? With him reading my mind, it was hard to keep a straight face. I had to imagine all sorts of weird happenings, mostly past occurrences, just to keep myself busy and away from his influence.

“Okay, spit it out. What do you want?”

“You.”

“Wait, so you’re the almighty Death, but you can’t do your thing without me saying yes?” He nodded. “Why the not?”

Whenever I’d look at him, I had to shift my eyes away because it was too unreal. He was expressionless and had absolutely no wrinkles or any fine details which made humans... well... humans? Even reapers had a few imperfections here and there. They mimicked their old bodies. Why couldn’t Death do the same? I covered my eyes for a second, just enough to block any other malicious ideas away from my hyperactive brain and await his answer. When I removed my hands and tried again to face him, I had to blink more than once.

The blond was replaced by Jung Min.

He tilted his head to my right and gave me an all-knowing smile. With the recent events, I didn’t want to jump in his arms and cry how much I’ve missed him. I was sure that wasn’t him and Death – or the labyrinth in that world – was messing with me. Actually, how could I verify that Death was indeed who he said he was? He might as well be a spirit trapped in the world in Between, having its fun just like Daesung did eons ago.

I swear that being drunk was easier to handle than that .

“Missed me?” he had the same voice, the same cheeky tone when he tried to mock me and the same huge grin. But there were no feathers attached to his black suit, nothing to pinpoint his morphing abilities. His eyes were the same, thick with eyeliner and lacked the red hue.

“Do you think I’m that stupid?” the Jung Min wannabe raised both eyebrows in astonishment. “You need to earn my trust, so of course you’ll do it through him. Just change,” I waved my hand and turned to the side, once again covering my eyes. “You look horrible, Jung Min would never act like that.”

When I turned back, he was Jessica.

Alright, it’s getting annoying. And why Jessica and not Yuri? Had he also sensed that I fancied the girl? Not as Daesung, but... oops.

“Then what about me?” she grabbed my head and nuzzled my forehead. “You smell good.”

I shoved her away and was ready to roll her in snow when a familiar shout stopped me.

“GRANDMAAA!!!” it couldn’t be an illusion because only Daesung was capable of having such huge lungs. He hurled in my direction with the same battle scream and a powerful red energy flaring around him. I moved in time when he collided with the fake Jessica and sent her off the cliff.

I watched in horror.

“YOU IDIOT, YOU JUST HIT DEATH!”

“Eh?” he gazed at me confused, the energy vanishing with each passing second. “You mean that I killed her? That can’t be Jessica!” he suddenly jumped away from my side and pointed his finger at me with wide eyes. “WHO ARE YOU? MAYBE YOU’RE NOT GRANDMA EITHER!”

“Oh, for...” I mumbled the insult under my breath. “Fine, ask me something only I should know.”

“But...” he paused to think about it. Yes, that was Daesung alright. “Okay, what have you seen that nobody else saw?”

“Your .” I stated bored.

He cheered in an instant.

“GRANDMAAA! I’VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!” just when he was about to give me a hug, I punched him in the face.

“Shut up and let’s go before that thing returns!”

“What thing?”

“Death.”

“Grandma, has this place gotten to you too? Because you sound weird.”

I exhaled loudly. God, could Daesung really tick on my nerves.

“Let’s just go, okay? I’ll tell you later.”

He raised his arm in the air and yelled his approval.

We headed back to the forest.

When you accidentally post the new chapter without correcting it OTL gah. 
Planning to speed my writing these days BECAUSE I SHALL BE FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE *dances around*
Anyway, I just wrote the most horrible thing in the world *cries* That thing didn't let me enjoy writing. I wish I could just delete it OTL