Finding You

CHAPTER 1

If she were to choose between the blazing sirens from emergency response teams and the collective wailing of people awaiting their death, Son Eon Jin would definitely prefer the latter.

After so many years, she thought she would probably get used to that annoyingly long and loud noise that stretches from low to screeching high and back. Yet, she was still covering her ears every single time the said vehicles arrived on site.

"You should wrap this up now," Eon Jin told the grim reaper standing beside her, obviously irritated by the sound coming from the ambulance that just passed through. "There's no sense to cause this much of a scene just for two souls."

The grim reaper checked her silver pocket watch. "It's not yet time," she said. "They still have two minutes left."

Eon Jin subtly rolled her eyes at the concept of fetching souls down to the exact second. She thought to herself, What difference would it make? People are still going to end up dead. It's the god's will, after all.

"Patience," the grim reaper reminded her, which she dismissed by nodding with the least enthusiasm.

It was almost noon and they were standing at the site of a construction accident. Several posts collapsed at dawn (Rumor has it that the procured materials were actually substandard due to cost-cutting.) and the already-erected framework of the building crumbled down like it was made of cards. Rescue operations started five hours ago and was still in progress, so the incident already attracted a crowd size more than the police could handle.

Eon Jin never liked these kinds of scenarios. She preferred the isolated accidents, those that happened in the middle of the night or in a place far from the bustling city.

It was a bright, cloudless autumn day. Eon Jin actually needed to adjust the brim of her large burgundy fedora hat, which was a striking contrast to her black and white ensemble, to cover her eyes from the blinding sunlight.

"I'll leave this to you then," she offered.

"Certainly, mistress. Matters will be taken care of," the grim reaper said. She smiled at Eon Jin and gave a slight bow before she walked towards the disintegrated building.

Eon Jin wrinkled her nose at the word mistress. She hated what they called her. It was a constant reminder of the strange situation she got herself into.

At 11:43 am, Eon Jin took one last look at the disastrous rubble, then conjured a single purple hyacinth and placed it on the ground. After which, she turned away from the scene and started walking past the crowd towards her car parked by the corner of the next street. People were subtly making way for her although she cannot be seen by mortals at the time. It's instinct, they said, for humans to veer away from danger.

As she turned the corner, Eon Jin magically switched from being the inconspicuous demigod to her usual disguise as a mortal in a blink of an eye. Wearing a white cotton shirt under an over-sized navy blue blazer, a pair of stonewashed skinny jeans, and beige ankle boots, she was ready to resume her day as a proprietor of a small flower shop in the city.

Life was like this for Eon Jin in the past three hundred and seventeen years. Her past prior to her transformation to this mythical form, which was about four or five lifetimes ago, was a huge void. It was as if her memories were the retribution for an infinite span of existence she never wanted.

What remained was a vague memory of that night when this punishment was imposed to her after she offended a deity. From then on, she became the servant of the god of Fate, frequently acting as her physical manifestation and burdened with the task of ensuring that all things would happen exactly according to Fate's elaborate design no matter how tragic or gruesome.