Death's Bow (Golden Child TAG X Female OC)

Ch. 9: Dangers from Both Worlds

"I've found you, Death. You're exactly where they said you'd be," Murder speaks with an amused tone, as he looks up at Youngtaek with a smirk on his face.

All the while, Youngtaek doesn't seem amused even one bit as he frowns at Murder, and his eyes remain glowing. He then gestures towards the female reaper sitting on the floor behind Murder, wide-eyed and scared as she moves back and another grim reaper appears to help her.

Something about this female reaper seems rather familiar to Youngtaek, but that would be the least of his concerns now as he glares at her for a second, before he shifts his glare towards Murder. "Is this your apprentice?" he asks, gesturing to the female reaper with his bow. "Maybe I did make a mistake by not telling you of all people not to harm this human." His bow then turns to point at Suyeon behind him, while the young woman who froze in her shock and fear looks cautiously towards Murder.

What a strange pair, indeed. And Murder can't hide his amusement at all as he scoffs again. "I'm not saying Alice is my apprentice, but I do find it strange that Death himself would be one day protecting a human from that which he should bring." He pauses, and then he tilts his head and raises his brow as he focuses back to Youngtaek. "Is there a reason why you are with her?"

Youngtaek pauses, wondering how he should explain the situation to his fellow Messenger. It's true, even he doesn't understand what made him agree to having this agreement with Suyeon. Maybe it has something to do with Hyunjin. Or that night he missed twice rather than successfully shooting her with his bow. Or the fact that he just keeps saving her by instinct.

And then he pauses for another reason, as he feels one more strange presence in the room: a warm body... but no soul. His eyes widened, and he looked up and across the room towards a table in the corner where a human is watching them, shocked, but not enough for someone who probably should have been seeing grim reapers for the first time. Moreover...

"That human..." Youngtaek mumbles under his breath, before he furrows his brows and he realizes just what exactly is wrong with the human he's looking at.

Murder wears a thin smile on his face as he looks back at that same human for a second, before he stands in front of Youngtaek, blocking his sight. "You must have figured it out by now," he speaks, looking at Youngtaek with a challenging gaze as he does so. "That human has no soul... which is why we came to find you."

~•~

A sigh comes out of Youngtaek as he walks, suddenly finding himself beside the human he watches over after having such a tiring conversation with Murder, two other grim reapers of lower positions, and the soulless human.

"A soulless human, indeed... Just how exactly did that even happen?"

For a Messenger of the top rank, one would think that Death already knew and understood so much and had the wisdom necessary to answer all questions concerning souls and grim reapers. It's a common prejudice, really, and it's shared mostly among the common reapers who really know little about the Messengers, including the fact that despite his rank, Death had been serving his term for only 200 years — much shorter compared to all the Messengers and even the two grim reapers he faced a while ago.

Still, he can't help but be bothered as he thinks about the case he just encountered. A human without a soul is something he definitely can't understand, nor does he even know how that happens. He's been too focused on doing his job and getting better at his craft that he never bothered to learn more about the complexities of his profession...

Which eventually led him here, and being yelled at by the female grim reaper he spoke to, one who happened to be one of Deceit's most troublesome apprentices.