dodging death | lee minhyuk

④ ー "minor" setback

Bang!

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot commanded the attention of the Grim Reaper from afar, leading him towards his latest target much more reliably than his scroll in disguise did.

Swiftly, he proceeded down a narrow alleyway in which the sound came from. The loud noise subsided, only to be replaced by silent pitter patter as a gang of men fled the scene.

A pity, thought the Grim Reaper as he locked eyes with the victim who had been shot. This person's figure was slumped against a trashcan, and they clutched their chest desperately, but it barely managed to prevent blood from spilling out of their wound. The victim stared at the Grim Reaper with terror riddled in their eyes.

At this particular moment, Death was disguised in an outfit consisting of ripped jeans, a pair of Nikes, and a sukajan jacket. The only part of his attire that was not colored black were the tigers embroidered on the back and sleeves of his jacket, the heavy gold chains that hung around his neck, and the jade ring he wore on his left hand.

The mortal used their last bit of strength to scramble backwards, hitting their back against the wall. The Grim Reaper proceeded forward, bending down once he was less than a meter away.

"Death comes for us all eventually, though sometimes sooner than others. It's a shame, it truly is, but there can be no exceptions." He shook his head solemnly as if to offer his condolences.

There had been an uprising in the amount of murders these days, and there was little pity to spare. The only thing Death could truly offer was his services.

Extending his arm to reach for the wound, the Grim Reaper cautiously placed his palm against the bleeding flesh. The victim looked as if they wanted to retaliate, but too much of them had already been drained away by the bullet. The two locked eyes, and the sensation of fear dissolved into nothingness.

The target had passed away.

Faint wisps emitted from the hollow corpse of the victim, the last of their essence as their time within the Mortal Zone came to an end. Their soul.

Before it could cluster or materialize, it was absorbed by the jade embedded into the Grim Reaper's ring. The more it seeped into the stone, the more the scarlet liquid that had stained his hand subsided.

Once their soul was fully contained, the Grim Reaper retracted his hand without a trace of blood upon his skin. From the pocket of his jacket he took out his cell phone, the scroll in disguise, and held his finger against the name of the latest target.

"Cause of death... bullet to the heart," he whispered close to the mic. "Target deceased."

A prolonged ring emitted from the device the moment Death completed his last syllable.

Startled by the sudden noise, the Grim Reaper jumped up while clenching his fingers tighter around the phone.

Displayed on the screen was a header, 'Incoming Call' with the name of one of his subordinates below it.

"Yes, I.M? What is it now?" the Grim Reaper questioned as soon as he picked up the call.

From the other side of the line back in the Eternal Zone, I.M stiffened. The tone in his boss' voice obviously indicated that he was irritated by the interference, especially considering that it was interrupting his duties.

"Sorry sir, I know you're busy. I didn't want to interrupt you or anything but uh, I just thought you might like to know something about your intern..."

The Grim Reaper narrowed his eyes. "Minhyuk? What about him? On second thought, I don't want to know."

"No, no, no! You do want to know I swear, just please listen to me for a moment," I.M pleaded. "Minhyuk, he... made a little mistake with his first target,"

"Let me guess, did the runt fail to follow the set time of death? Or did he have some sort of trouble with getting a hold of the soul?"

There was a brief pause on I.M's behalf as he hastily tried to form some sort of response in his mind before speaking. In the risky waters he was treading in, he needed to take just the right measures to prevent himself from drowning. "Er, neither of those guesses are correct... or possible."

"Why not? Get to the point, I.M. I have things to do," the Grim Reaper huffed as the last of his patience slipped away at a rapid pace.

"Neither of those guesses are possible because... his target never, uh, died."

Death's jaw dropped, hanging low as he froze in utter shock. "They're still alive?"

"Yeah... boss, I know what you're thinking, it's a minor setback but I'm sure he won't-"

The Grim Reaper scowled into the mic, successfully cutting I.M's sentence off in the process. "Minor set back?! I told that kid to do his job right!"

He continued to rant through the call, but I.M was scarcely able to process the Grim Reaper's fury as he was too occupied with shivering in fear. He had never heard his boss so furious.

The only snippet he managed to understand was something about Minhyuk "having to prepare himself for what's about to come," but the boss hung up before I.M could question the notion.

Needless to say, there was a possibility that an additional name would be added to the list of those destined to depart.