SHADOWLESS |seongjoong|

#1#

Hongjoong:

I was walking down the dark alley, following my target. She hadn't realized that I followed her, yet. But judging by what I read on her file, she could sense when one of us was tailing her. Well, I wasn't the best in my field for nothing. So, I continued following her from a distance. She walked down the dead end and went to one of the trash bins. There she started to look for something. As she was distracted, I shortened the distance between us, raised my scythe and ripped her soul. Now, her soul was in my hands.

"The famous death escapee, so long with that reputation. Honestly, I thought you could give me more of a challenge," I spoke to her as I put her in my pocket.

I was done here, so I turned to leave when I heard some noise coming next to my alley. To the sound of it, I could say it was a goblin. The smell gave it out, too. But it was unusual for a goblin to wander off to this part of the city. I decided to check it out. It took me a couple of seconds to reach it, but as I walked closer, I sensed another one. There was a goblin and a human. I could feel a human soul. That person had a strong soul.

And here they were. A human man was stuck by the wall. And the goblin was about to attack him. Yet, the human didn't show any fear in his eyes, as if he didn't see the goblin as a treat. Mortals are such fools, I thought as I watched. Suddenly, the human looked at me. He wasn't supposed to see me. Humans could see me only when they were about to die. And, this guy, wasn't meant to die today. Otherwise, he would be on my list.

"Run!" he yelled at me.

But I didn't move. I had nothing to fear. A low creature like a goblin couldn't hurt me. But that human was in danger. I tried to get closer and send that goblin away. But that bastard wasn't moving. Instead, he attacked me. Who was that bastard to even dare? Anyways, I dodged that blow. But I couldn't escape his kick. It made me unstable, yet I quickly regained my balance and continued to dodge his attack. Maybe I could win some time for the human to escape. I tried to glance at that man and see if he was still there. That fool stayed in the same spot and watched us. Humans are such fools.

That glance at the human was way too distracting. The goblin managed to pin me to the ground. He raised his claws and prepared to strike me. Ah, such a pain. I should have gone home. I was ready to get that scratch when I heard the goblin moaning in pain. And as I looked at the pain in his eyes, his head got cut off. The sword blade passed a centimetre or two from my face. I watched it unpaired. It wasn't the first time I saw a blade up close.

"Thanks for the distraction," the human said, taking the goblin's head and some daggers from its back.

"You shouldn't mess up with goblins when you don't have a shadow to protect you," I responded, dusting myself off.

The human didn't respond. Instead, he walked away with that goblin's head. Humans and their recklessness. Anyway, I was running late for a meeting, so I had to leave.

Seonghwa:

I just finished showering and went to my brothers. They were sitting in the living room, Jongho polishing the new blades he had made, and San was looking at his phone. He was most likely checking out those dating apps he was obsessed with. Well, it wasn't my business. I sat on the sofa between them, giving them a tired look. Even if that grim reaper had done most of my work, cutting off the goblin's head wasn't that easy. Those things had bones as thick as enforced concrete.

"Hyung, you damaged your sword's blade. Again!" Jongho rolled his eyes.

"You know how goblins are. But I brought you his head. You can use the teeth to strengthen your crafts," I told him, drying my wet hair.

"I'm more surprised the damage isn't more," San commented. "The last goblin broke my sword in half. So how did you avoid that?"

"Believe it or not, a grim reaper helped me," I responded, remembering the handsome pale man.

"A grim reaper? They are rare to see. Not to mention that they don't mess with us or other creatures," Jongho said.

"Yeah, but this one was different. He fought that goblin. I think he wanted to help me run away," I spoke.

"Did you make the deadfall for you?" San grinned with a mischievous grin. "Was he handsome?"

I took a second to think about it. Fall for me? Not even a chance. But he was indeed handsome. And by the tired look in his eyes, he wasn't planning on collecting my soul if I had failed. Even tho I could never lose against a filthy creature like the goblin.

"Less likely. Anyways, that guy made my job easier, and that's what matters."

San rolled his eyes before giggling and returning to his phone. Afterwards, we chatted about some trivial things and decided on dinner.

Hongjoong:

I walked into the restaurant, going to our regular table. Over there, I saw my brothers already waiting for me. For grim reapers, brother wasn't someone related by blood, but rather a fellow grim reaper. Wooyoung was my youngest brother, who became a reaper only two hundred years ago. As for Yunho, he became a reaper a little after me but gave up his immortality a couple of years ago. All because of that thing humans called 'love'. I couldn't understand it, but as long as my brother was happy, it didn't matter.

I sat on the table and looked around. Yeosang was missing. I supposed he was running late and left it as that. They had already ordered some food and drinks, so I left it as it was. Both of them looked at me.

"What?" I asked them.

"You are never late. Why are you late, hyung?" Wooyoung asked me.

"He got a point, cap," Yunho commented.

Those two could kill me with curiosity if I were a mortal. That's not something common to grim reapers. Or at least in my generation of reapers. Well, not many of my generation are still in service. Anyway, I looked at them before taking a sip of my vodka.

"Because of a human trying to fight a goblin. Well, that mortal did manage to kill it," I responded.

"Wait, you actually met a hunter? Those are rare today. Damn, I remember our first hunter. Remember how greedy he was?" Yunho smiled at me.

"Sure. That son of a b thought that he could hunt grim reapers. Such a foolish mortal," I responded.

"What do you mean a hunter? Like monster hunter?" Woo asked. We forgot he was still a baby reaper and didn't know much.

"Yeah, a monster hunter. Back in the day, we used to have many of them, but now there are only a few," Yuyu explained. Wooyoung was looking at him like a child looking at his parent. Put in perspective, Woo was indeed a child in our world.

"And do they hunt us?" Woo continued.

"Not really. They hunt goblins, foxes and other low beings," I explained next.

Wooyoung had a couple more questions, and we took turns who to answer them. At some point, Yeosang showed up. That distracted him enough for us to change the topic. He was our other baby. Both Yeosang and Wooyoug became reapers on the same day. Apparently, they died together or something like that. But they were assigned to different departments. Yeosang got added to the archive, and Woo came to us in the field.

Actually, I could use Yeosang's access to the archive and check out why that guy didn't have a shadow. It was weird to see someone without one survive to that age, let alone become a hunter. After all, shadows were the guardians of mortals.

"Yeo, can you check something for me?" I asked him.

"Sure, what is it?" he responded, taking out his scroll.

"I met a human hunter with no shadow. Can you check the archive of Lost Shadows? We're looking for a man in his 20's, about 178cm tall, fairly muscular."

"Hmm, was he handsome?" Woo butted in. Of course, he would ask that. That guy was a sucker for handsome faces and how he described it as 'smoking hot bodies'. I couldn't understand his obsession, and I didn't plan to.

Yeosang typed in his scroll and started looking at the results. At first, his face showed us some hope. But, soon, he became grim. It took him some time searching, but with no result. He looked at me and shook his head. There was no shadow matching that description. It was weird. Even when separated, shadows followed the form of their owner. And all of them were in our database. It was impossible to be missing. Well, I had to check. There was nothing more to do now.