I remember one case with Yuri.

There was a nasty ghost that scared every servant at a noble’s house. Of course the master of the house did not believe in his servant’s gossips, but the mistress couldn’t ignore it since she was pregnant and any bad omen to the house could endanger her unborn child. Naturally, she sought first for a temple priestess that could cleanse the place. That only angered the ghost and soon enough, even the master could swear there was something sinister in the air. They finally searched after Yuri when one of the girl servants was found dead in the courtyard, strangled by an unknown criminal. Nobody heard her scream or see anything unusual that night, so the only culprit was the ghost.

The masters invited us to stay over the weekend. Somehow, our presence scared the ghost away because we couldn’t sense it and definitely could not see it. Instead of preparing a spell to pull the ghost out of its hideout, Yuri felt like finally trying a plant she’d kept hidden in her little sack of magical herbs. She crushed them and mixed it with tea. She told me to go round the house and make sure everybody drank a cup of that tea. I lied to each one of them of its effects – to some that it helped their stamina, the other that it relieved the stress and to the poor mistress that it protected her womb from the ghost’s evil doings. Not long after, maybe an hour or so, one by one they collapsed asleep and by nighttime, the house was silent. That’s when the ghost appeared and we could talk to it. I laughed when I found out she was the master’s grandmother and was just furious on the fact that the man cheated on his wife with that low servant. She thought that child was a lie, but would never hurt it. Why does it always have to be such the case? Yuri didn’t think it was funny and she exorcised the poor grandmother before we could talk her into leaving. I had to wait until morning when the herb’s effect wore off. Yuri already left to the market to prepare us for another journey further west.

She used that herb a couple of times and I was sure she still had it. I had to find her hideout somewhere stacked in her bedroom. If I knew Yuri well – which I did despite those years of demon possession – she always has a trap door or some kind of secret compartment only she knows of. Or I know of. I checked under the bed and found it right away. I pulled what looked like a box, unlocked it right away with one of my hairclips and checked the inside. There were a couple of useful herbs, but not what I was looking for. I took them all out and lifted the bottom to reveal a fake one. A-ha! There it was.

I took some of it, put everything as it was and made sure the box was at the same exact position as before. I couldn’t risk being caught by Yuri later on because I was sloppy. I went past Daesung who was sulking on the couch and watched a drama or something with some snob kids I could care less about. I had to boil some water, choose a tea Daesung would surely want to drink with me and then press that herb and let it stay inside the kettle alongside the tea. That way, Daesung can mistake some of its fragments as tea residue. But I don’t think he cares about that. I poured the tea in two cups, those on a tray and joined the blonde on the couch. I offered him the cup and he eyed me suspiciously.

“Weren’t you going to sleep?”

“Yeah, well,” I giggled to show him I was alright, but I was afraid that might have sounded too forced “I want to spend more time with you. Is that so bad?”

Daesung’s face brightened in a second.

“Not at all!” he blew into the cup and was about to drink, when he lowered it and stared at the T.V. “Awww, poor her.”

I wanted to turn the T.V. off, but decided it was best to play along. “Yeah, poor her.” The girl in the drama sobbed while yelling after her sister. “Aren’t you drinking that?”

Daesung nodded and was about to take a sip when he started laughing. “Dude, that guy is such an idiot!”

I tried hard not to smack him. “Yeah, an idiot.”

“Grandma, you don’t sound too excited.”

“I’m not really the type to watch dramas and such...”

“Oh, but this one is so fun!”

“Yeah, yeah, just drink your tea.”

“Why?”

“Just drink it.”

“Whhhy~?”

I frowned.

“Because I made it with love and you should drink it!” I told him in my sweet voice, only for Daesung to put the cup on the tray and point his finger at me.

“You put something in it, right?”

“No! Who do you think I am?”

“I know you grandma! What are you planning?”

Alright, change of method. Should I just be sincere and hope for the best?

No.

That’s stupid.

Who the heck does that?

“Do it,” the reaper’s voice came again in my head. Ugh, stay out. “Tell him the truth. Time’s running out.”

Fine, fine.

“I wanted to drug you, so you will fall asleep and while you do that, I will have gone to free the reaper and maybe run with him somewhere in a field with flowers in our head and laugh till our heads exploded. Happy?”

Daesung stared.

He smacked me.

“Grandma!” he yelled in my ear “What has he done to you?!”

I rubbed the back of my head.

“Nothing! I just don’t think there’s something wrong with him.”

“Seungri said---”

“ what Seungri said!” Daesung's mouth shut tight. “Back in that alley, I felt every single thing he had. I know he’s not the bad guy.”

“What if he tricks you? What if it’s all an illusion? Do you even hear what you’re saying?”

Last time I saw such a serious Daesung was when he wouldn’t let me cut his hair. It sent shivers down my spine because I wasn’t used to that side of his. Always joyful, Daesung rarely let me know the gravity of a problem and I wish that would have stayed the same.

“Yeah, I hear myself loud and clear...” I touched my cheek where that cut once adorned my skin. “Are you in or not?”

Daesung's eyes wouldn’t leave mine. He didn’t answer right away, sunken in his thoughts. I would be too because I was asking him to betray Yuri, to betray Jung Min and his new reaper friend. I was asking him to once more be by my side just as he had always been - both as Hyung-soo the ghost and as Daesung the human.

He smiled with all of his might.

“Let’s do it!”

---

The basement was very dark. With another snowstorm outside – I hope Yuri’s somewhere safe – we lacked electricity again. Daesung brought some candles from the kitchen and we lit them, enough for us to make our way towards the Keeper. Before that, I told him to throw his necklace outside in the snow. He almost cried while doing that, but I assured him that we could search for it after we were done. I lied. Nobody’s going to find a thing in that blizzard.

Down there, I saw the barrier system. Yuri drew a complicated circle with a feather in the middle. I figured it was Jung Min’s because he could go in and out as he pleased. I didn’t have time to memorize it for future use.

The Keeper had his wings folded in a painful way. Those black strings hovered around him while another circle kept his body immobile. How in the world could I go against Yuri’s magic? She was stronger than I could ever be. Daesung on the other hand seemed to have an idea, but was too reluctant to go with it.

“Are you sure grandma?” he asked while waving his hands in front of the Keeper. He didn’t flinch once.

“Very, do your thing.” I assured him. Daesung looked at me, then at the Keeper, then back at me and, defeated, he pulled out a magic paper. He pressed it against the ground and murmured some words. The black strings were slowly inside the magic paper until it turned completely black. The Keeper gasped and flapped his wings a couple of times. We still had to get him out of the circle.

“Thank you,” he nodded in our direction and we nodded back.

“Before we do anything else,” I pointed under my eye “What the heck is this?”

“I’ll explain everything after you get me out. This circle is draining my energy.”

I exchanged looks with Daesung. It wasn’t wise to do that... and we had no clue on how to release him anyway.

“Why should we trust you?” Daesung mumbled and the Keeper grunted in disbelief.

“Because I rebelled for a cause and I need help.”

“What cause?” I inquired. The Keeper went to and fro between us. It’s too late to keep it all in, buddy.

“Reapers,” he started “this generation of reapers will be exterminated.”

“What...?”

“It means that me and everybody else, including your father, will die for good if we can’t do something!”

Daesung shushed us.

“Seungri... Seungri’s outside, I know it!”

Ugh, why do I always have to solve complicated stuff?

“We’ll help you,” I rushed with my words and tried to see if I could erase the circle with my hands. “I’ll trust you for now,” I continued. No, I couldn’t erase it, but I could overwrite it. I grabbed his wing. “But I’ll kill you myself if you betray us,” I crossed my palm across the sharp wings and winced. I took my hand away immediately, so I wouldn’t heal like last time and smudged a small part of the circle with my blood. “By the way, what’s your name? Since you know mine already.”

“Byung Hee,” his eyes flashed blue “My name is Byung Hee.”

Thank you for reading case 6! >.< 

And G.O as our mysterious Keeper/rogue reaper because G.O @__@ 

I’ve wanted to write with him for a while now OTL