‘You have died. Your life in the mortal world is ending now, and you will be traveling to the afterlife with me.’
The place commonly known as the afterlife consists of two worlds existing side by side: Heaven and Hell. Heaven is governed by the Jade Emperor, while Hell is governed by King Yama. Reapers are responsible for guiding deceased souls to the afterlife. In other words, reapers are employees of King Yama’s department.
‘As we leave the mortal world and cross the Sanzu River, your destination—Heaven or Hell—will be decided. This is determined by the administrators of the afterlife, and once your destination has been assigned, it cannot be changed.’
As deceased souls leave the mortal world and cross the Sanzu River, their destination is determined based on the lives they lived. To prevent their souls from escaping while crossing the Sanzu River, they are not told where they are headed. Once they cross the Sanzu River and arrive at the entrance to the afterlife, two paths appear. Along the path on the left, beautiful flowers of every color bloom on either side. Luxurious silk stretches across the ground, and a radiant light welcomes the deceased souls. Warm and inviting, this is the road to Heaven. Standing at its entrance is the Heaven Guide, who leads deceased souls all the way to Heaven. Those whose destination has been assigned as Heaven board a flower carriage drawn by a white horse and travel there under the Heaven Guide’s direction.
‘Your destination is Hell.’
By contrast, rows of withered, skeletal trees line both sides of the path on the right. The ground is covered in dark soil and gravel, resembling a mudflat so wet that the dampness is apparent even at a glance. The place gives off a foul stench as soon as one approaches, and it is filled with a cold, dark atmosphere. This is the road to Hell. Reapers personally guide the deceased souls whose destination is Hell. The reapers travel in carriages drawn by black horses, while the deceased souls, bound in shackles, must walk the long, endless road to Hell. Those assigned to Hell are given no comfort or consideration.
“King Yama, this year’s batch of reaper trainees has been assembled.”
“Were this many people killed by someone else this year?”
Reaper status is granted to those who suffered a wrongful death at another’s hands. Since their unexpected deaths left them with resentment and lingering attachment to the mortal world, the administrators of the afterlife showed them consideration by making them reapers, allowing them to spend more time in the mortal world and work through at least some of those feelings.
“As you were told during your orientation, reapers must never take revenge on the people who killed them, nor may they harm them in any way. Keep that firmly in mind as you perform your reaper duties.”
When the laws of the afterlife were first established, King Yama proposed turning the wrongfully killed into reapers, but the Jade Emperor opposed the idea. He believed that reapers who had been unjustly killed and sent back to the mortal world might harm humans. Since it was not an unfounded concern, King Yama persuaded the Jade Emperor by proposing that revenge be forbidden to all reapers; anyone who violated the rule would immediately have their reaper status revoked, be cast into Hell, and be barred from reincarnation forever. He also proposed bringing back to life any human who fell victim to a reaper’s revenge. After King Yama’s persistent persuasion, the Jade Emperor eventually approved the plan, and King Yama never failed to remind the reapers of it.
“Not all of you can become reapers. Only the five trainees with the highest rankings will go on to perform reaper duty.”
Suffering a wrongful death did not automatically qualify someone to become a reaper. Trainees were selected according to King Yama’s standards, and after completing the training period, only five who passed were granted reaper status each year. Once they obtained reaper status, they were granted special abilities—supernatural powers such as teleportation, levitation, object relocation, memory erasure, name tracking, time stop, and mind control.
“This year’s top-ranked trainee is Reaper Jung Han-gyeol.”
A woman standing in the middle of the front row of the trainees, who had been lined up in formation, stepped forward and bowed her head toward King Yama. Reapers retained the appearance they had at the time of death, and Han-gyeol looked, at a glance, as though she had died young.
“Along with the basic abilities, you will receive one additional special ability. However, it is an ability for which you must be prepared to accept responsibility after using it, so use it with caution.”
Of the five who would serve as reapers, the top-ranked trainee was additionally granted ‘the ability to bring one person back to life once.’ This was the Jade Emperor’s idea, inspired by the folktale about the magpie that repaid a kindness, which had deeply moved him. However, using this ability came with a responsibility, and what that responsibility entailed had not been disclosed publicly. The user was also required to write a report, and if the reason was deemed unjustified, their reaper status would be immediately suspended and they would be cast into Hell.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Han-gyeol bowed once more to King Yama before returning to her place and standing at attention. And so Han-gyeol became a reaper and began escorting deceased souls to the afterlife.
It was a night of torrential rain. After carrying out her reaper duties as usual, Han-gyeol had just finished her assignment and was taking a short break when she received a call from another reaper. There had been an accident, and there were so many deceased souls that the reaper could not guide them all alone. With nothing else to do anyway, Han-gyeol headed to the scene to help her colleague, and the sight that awaited her was nothing short of horrific.
“Oh—Reaper Jung, you’re here? Damn, what a mess. It’s raining this hard, and there are nine deceased souls?”
“Hmm. Drunk driving?”
“Looks like it. Anyway, there are nine in total, including the drivers of the vehicles and the pedestrians crossing the road. They’re all dead.”
“Everyone except the drunk driver will probably qualify as a trainee.”
“Anyway, I want to get off work, so let’s process them. Quickly.”
Han-gyeol checked the registers handed to her by her fellow reaper. As she called out each name one by one, a sudden voice made her flinch and look around.
‘Please save me.’
The voice probably belonged to one of the women among the pedestrians who had been crossing the road. Han-gyeol checked the woman’s name: ‘Seo Yeon-woo.’ She looked to be somewhere between her late twenties and early thirties.
‘Please, save me. It’s so unfair to die like this. There are so many things I still have to do and want to do, and the most unfair thing of all is that I never even got to have one of those ordinary romantic relationships! Please save me. Please.’
A snort of laughter escaped Han-gyeol. Countless deceased souls prayed to be saved as they died, but she had never heard a reason this funny before.
“What are you doing, Reaper Jung? Are you finished sorting them out?”
“Yeah—I’m done. Oh, right. You can report eight deceased souls instead of nine.”
“What? What are you talking about? There are nine.”
“There are eight. I’m bringing one of them back to life.”
Leaving her startled colleague behind, Han-gyeol moved closer to Yeon-woo. She stood beside her and quietly closed her eyes. Reciting the reaper’s oath in her mind, she chanted the spell needed to use the special ability she had received as the top-ranked trainee. Yeon-woo, whose death had seemed unavoidable, came back to life through Han-gyeol’s ability. When the paramedics confirmed that she still had a pulse, they hurriedly placed her on a stretcher and carried her to the ambulance. A smile appeared at the corner of Han-gyeol’s mouth as she watched the scene. Then she murmured softly,
“I found you. Seo Yeon-woo.”