novelraw Chapter 73 : Fare for the Afterlife (5)
Chapter 73 : Fare for the Afterlife (5)
Chapter 73: Fare for the Afterlife (5)
“Did you say that was Yeomra?”
“Yes, haha...”
Since the two grim reapers who came with him treated him so respectfully, I simply assumed he held a slightly higher rank.
It was due to an unspoken rule in our café.
‘Don’t ask questions that could reveal someone’s identity.’
Because the types of customers who visited were so diverse, such a rule came into existence.
They lived in completely different worlds, even beyond race.
If one were to casually pry just because they had seen someone a few times, they’d only make things awkward for themselves.
Let alone Divine Beasts, there were even Immortals and National Intelligence Service agents in the mix, as well as shamans classified as civilians, Player Han Sewoon, and even Dohyuk—none of whom were keen on needlessly disclosing who they were.
That’s why this unspoken rule had been followed quite well until now.
The problem was that it had been followed too well.
To the point that even when Yeomra visited the café openly, not even a whisper was heard from the Elder Immortals.
But in a way, perhaps that was for the best. If the other party was Yeomra, then there was nothing to worry about.
“By the way, may I ask why His Majesty came to see the one guarding the Divine Tree?”
“It’s nothing serious. He was supposed to return the next day, but hasn’t shown up for several days now. He seemed quite intent on coming back.”
“Pardon?”
That reply surely had the unspoken sentiment: ‘For something like that?’
Whether it was because Deputy General Manager Oh Chang-sik had good manners or years of fieldwork behind him, he was the type to withhold words that might embarrass others.
Though, that didn’t stop Elder Gumiho from grilling him with something akin to an interrogation earlier.
But then, from Oh Chang-sik’s mouth came an answer I hadn’t expected.
“His Majesty likely won’t remember. He forgets most things about the Living Realm after drinking the tonic of forgetfulness.”
“The tonic of forgetfulness?”
“Yes. When he sees too much sin from the Living Realm, it becomes difficult to make impartial judgments.”
“Then you’re saying he drinks that tonic every day?”
“Yes. Sometimes, even other memories are erased, so he has trouble remembering names. But it can’t be helped.”
In that moment, all the questions that had piled up were resolved.
The reason why, despite his age, he gave off a similar air to Ria, and why he had placed his order with cryptic, dark-sounding words while even bringing a laptop.
He had forgotten. For that, too, was a memory of the Living Realm.
Even so, facing the uncomfortable truth left a bitter aftertaste.
“Thank you for telling me. Well then.”
“Oh, yes!”
And so, I woke Sanyi, who had been dozing off beside me, and we returned to the car.
“Is it all over?”
“Yes, aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m suuuper hungry!”
“Let’s pick up some black bean noodles on the way.”
“I want a double portion!”
“Then you won’t be able to eat the sweet and sour pork.”
“Hmph, now that I’ve turned into a human, maybe I can eat it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Remember how much trouble we had at the buffet last time? Just eat a normal portion.”
“Owwie! Even as a human, it still hurts when you pull my cheeks!”
So, we packed up some black bean noodles and sweet and sour pork, and laid out a slightly late dinner feast.
“Well, was there any gain from meeting the grim reapers?”
“I haven’t even had a single bite yet, Elder.”
“Just talk while you eat!”
Reluctantly, I put down the heaping chopsticks full of black bean noodles.
“The second grim reaper who came was apparently Yeomra.”
“I thought he seemed like someone high up.”
“You don’t seem very surprised?”
“Hmph, do those grim reaper brats ever have the leisure to come to a place like this and sip coffee? And the mediocre ones would have fled before even opening the café door, scared by your ring and the Divine Tree’s energy. What else?”
“They said Yeomra drinks a tonic every day to forget, and that’s probably why he forgot the promise to come back.”
“Then he doesn’t remember us?”
“Well, I’m not really sure.”
“That’s so sad for him.”
“There’s no helping it. Just as the Living Realm has its own order, so too does the Afterlife. There must be a reason why he has to forget.”
“I think I understand.”
“Hmm?”
“To judge sins, you have to witness them. But if you spend countless years seeing those sins, wouldn’t even a decent god go astray?”
“Now that I hear it, you’re right. Tsk, what a pitiful fate.”
Indeed, it was a pitiful fate—to be forced to keep erasing oneself, endlessly.
“I’ll try to find out if there’s anything we can do to help.”
“There you go again with your affliction.”
“Haha.”
I just gave an awkward laugh in reply.
Though I’d only overheard it, I now understood how pitiful his position was. I’d even received his farewell as a promised return.
“Hey, Deputy General Manager.”
“What?”
“Is it really okay to tell them all that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why did you?”
“He said he was worried about His Majesty. Meanwhile, those high-ranking jerks in the Afterlife haven’t lifted a finger while His Majesty’s like that.”
Whether that truly was the reason for searching for His Majesty, I didn’t know. They themselves didn’t know much about the one guarding the Divine Tree either. They had only met her twice so far, so it was practically like meeting a stranger.
‘But it’s the same for the one guarding the Divine Tree too.’
She didn’t even seem to know that the person accompanying her had been Yeomra.
Yet she still went looking for him, out of concern—despite clearly knowing what they were.
Telling her about Yeomra’s condition was the closest thing he could offer in return.
“Hey, Deputy General Manager.”
“What now.”
“The hat that kid was wearing earlier... didn’t it look kind of like your old one?”
“Huh?”
The kid had just been sleeping on the man’s back, so he hadn’t gotten a proper look. But now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure the child had been wearing a hat.
‘Wait a sec... I lost my hat at that café, didn’t I? Then...’
Given the circumstances, the kid must’ve picked it up and worn it.
“Dammit!”
“W-wait! You’re just gonna leave it like that? Hey! Wait up, Deputy General Manager! Deputy General Manager!”
Having figured it all out, Deputy General Manager Oh Chang-sik belatedly dashed off in the direction where Jinseong had disappeared.
However, before long, his steps gradually slowed and then stopped altogether.
“Huff, huff, why are you stopping! We have to chase him down!”
“It’s already completely broken. I even wrote a whole written explanation. Going after that now won’t undo what happened.”
“Ah! You’re right?”
“Eyy, let’s just get back to work.”
It was an item from the Afterlife. And since he was the one who lost it, retrieving it immediately would have been the right thing to do—if it hadn’t already been resolved on the other side.
It wasn’t exactly clean, but considering he had even received a new hat, taking it back now wouldn’t change a thing.
It would only make things awkward for the kind young man who had shown concern for Yeomra.
With that, Deputy General Manager Oh Chang-sik returned to his job, smiling so brightly his cheeks twitched.
“Whew, Elder! So you passed away today? Just looking at your face, it’s clearly a peaceful death! So, have you looked into an Afterlife service provider already?”
Time passed, and before I knew it, it was Friday.
It was one of those rare days when I had to go to the office.
Since it was practically a hybrid work setup, office days were often packed with backlogged tasks, leaving me busy dashing around the office.
But today, oddly enough, there were no post-its covering my monitor as usual, and the phone was quiet.
“It’s much quieter than I expected? Over at Sales Team 2’s office, there were intimidating stacks of energy drink bottles.”
“Yeah, really. Normally we’d be swamped with ‘check this,’ ‘do that’ requests.”
“Or maybe higher-ups haven’t given the go-ahead yet.”
“Come on, with how seriously they’re prepping, no way.”
“The amount’s quite large. As a latecomer, they’ll probably be sweating it out trying to negotiate government subsidies.”
No one in the world wants to be the scapegoat.
Because the losses one faces when things go wrong far outweigh the gains when they go well. That’s the nature of business.
Especially ventures that require large upfront investment—no matter how prettily they’re packaged, they almost always face opposition from shareholders.
It takes someone to say, “I’ll take responsibility, let’s see this through,” for such a project to even start.
Well, thanks to that, we ended up with unexpected free time.
It felt like we were borrowing from future workload a bit early, but with no pressing tasks at the moment, we couldn’t help but enjoy some downtime.
So today became a legally sanctioned day of slacking off.
Some watched YouTube on their phones, others tucked their heads in pretend contemplation and snuck in a nap—nobody said a word. It was a blissful kind of rest.
Yet even on such a delightful day, I couldn’t bring myself to feel happy.
It was because of a customer who hadn’t shown up for several days.
『Search Results for “Tonic of Forgetfulness”
– Daejong Daily
“We discovered a drug that erases only bad memories.”
– NamuWiki game item description for Forgetfulness Tonic
…….』
As expected, there wasn’t much to gain from the internet?
No matter how many similar searches I tried, the results all seemed useless.
Just a few absurd articles clearly aimed at pump-and-dump stock scams and some game item listings, that’s all.
Even if I did find meaningful information, it wouldn’t change anything.
This was about the Afterlife.
And maybe, Yeomra had already forgotten he ever visited the café.
That thought left me feeling uneasy once more.
“Manager Kim, Manager Kim!”
“Yes?”
“What were you looking at, you didn’t even hear me calling. Anyway, can you send me that PC cleaner file again? After one online payment, all these random security programs got installed, and now it’s ridiculously slow.”
“Yes, I’ll send it right away.”
Just as I was about to resend the file to the Manager, a good idea suddenly came to me.
“Manager Kim, are you sending it or not?”
“Ah, yes. Sending it now.”
Three days later, I headed to the memorial park where I had previously met the grim reapers.
And once again, I subtly made my presence known to the grim reaper who seemed preoccupied with a consultation.
“Good to see you again.”
“Oh, what brings you here this time?”
It was a greeting mixed with pleasant surprise and confusion.
“I have something to give you.”
“Please, have a seat first.”
And so I once again sat at the table beside the grim reapers. Before any awkward small talk could begin, I quickly got to the point.
“Would you be able to give this to Yeomra?”
He seemed to know what the item was. But he hesitated to reach for the object I placed on the table.
“Oh dear, this is a bit tricky. According to our regulations, we’re not supposed to accept items from the living.”
“Would it also be difficult just to deliver it?”
“I’m sorry. We had a major incident in the past over something like this.”
“No worries. If it’s not allowed, then there’s nothing to be done.”
The easy path was blocked. That meant I would have to take the hard one.