You waved at your friends across the street excitedly. They spotted you and waved back with the same excitement. It was finally a summer break and you were going to the amusement park with your friends. It's been ages since you went to one. You've been working your ass off during the exam week so you hoped you could release all the stress piled up during exam week at the park. You were waiting for the red light to change into green and once it turned green, you sprinted across the road. Too excited to notice your surroundings. Until you saw the horror in your friends' face. Until you heard the loud screech from car brake's being slammed hard. Until you felt a heavy force on your legs, sending you flying before landing on top of the car's hood and rolling down the road. Until you heard people's screaming, piercing your eardrums. Until the blackness covered you.
You woke up with a pounding headache. You sat up and squinted your eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness in the room. You took the room slowly, from the light on your bedside, the humidifier in the corner of the room, to all white sheets in the room. You realized that you were in a hospital room right now. You groaned as you remembered your plan from earlier. You were supposed to be having fun at the amusement park, but it all went to waste because you got into an accident. After several minutes staring blankly at the wall, you gathered yourself up and almost stumbled off the bed when you realized there was a man sitting on your bedside.
"Who are you?" you pulled the blanket and tried to cover yourself but stopped midway when you realized that you were still fully clothed. You frowned when you realized you didn't wear hospital gown. Why weren't you wearing one? The guy from earlier cleared his throat and you were pulled back to reality.
"Let me repeat again," he began, repeating your name, date of birth and yesterday's date, "This soul has been collected."
You blinked. What did he just say? This soul has been collected? What did he mean?
"Are you going to sit there all day? We have to get moving," he said rashly, "Didn't you hear what I've just said?" he looked as if he wanted to kill you.
"What did you just say?" you repeated slowly. "What soul?"
"Simply said, you're dead," he deadpanned.
"What??" you shouted. "No way...I'm still young.. I was healthy and I was going to go to the amusement park with my friends when I..."
"Got into an accident," he finished your sentence and you were reminded of the incident earlier. You groaned when you realized that he was right. You got into a car accident. A car ran over you when you crossed over the road.
"But, I'm here in the hospital," you argued. "That means I'm saved, ain't I?"
"Turn your head around," he pointed and you gasped when you did as he told you. You could see yourself lying on the bed and when you tried to wake yourself up, your hand could pass through your body like a wind. You tried several times but failed every time. You looked back at the man sitting on your bedside that looked at you with boring looks etched on his face. As if he has seen many people doing the same thing that you did just now.
"Are you done? We have to go now," he stood up and you grabbed his elbow.
"Wait, are you sure? That I'm dead? That it's really.. Really my time to go?" you begged once again, hoping that perhaps there was malfunction in the system or misinformation somewhere. Maybe your data was swapped with other person's data.
"Yes," the man took your hand off his elbow and produced a tablet from thin air, "Look here, this is your data, with your picture," he tapped his finger at the display impatiently. "Everything is a match, so no mistake here. It's really, really your time to go." You looked at the proof and there was no mistake there. You were really, really dead.
After accepting your fate, you followed the man walking down the hospital hallway silently. You asked him about your next destination and he answered your question in short answer that it started to irritate you. You walked side by side with him so you were able to steal glances at him. The grim reaper. You remembered they were called grim reaper. You noticed that the man was too handsome to be a grim reaper. He looked like a prince out of fairy tales rather than the grim reaper. Though with his dark hair and cold demeanor, the job suited him well. He looked exceptionally good looking in dark suit that you wouldn't guess that his job was a grim reaper. You could imagine his taut muscle under that suit. You felt his biceps when you grabbed his arm earlier and you could feel that he was all muscle underneath. And let's not forget those puppy eyes. Those sharp and hypnotizing eyes.
In a blink of eyes, you arrived at the gate of the afterlife and the man guarding the gate repeated the same information, your information, to make sure that you were the correct soul.
"What will happen now?" you asked the man guarding the gate.
"Well, when they're finished measuring your good deeds versus your bad reps, you have several choices. If you were deemed bad, then hell is surely waiting for you. But, if you're deemed good, you have several options. You can go through the afterlife, enjoying it for awhile before being reincarnated. Or, you can choose to be the afterlife worker," he told you.
"Like being a grim reaper?" you asked.
"Like being a grim reaper," he confirmed.
"Will I go through training to be a grim reaper?" you inquired.
"Is there any job that doesn't require training?" he deadpanned and you grinned.
"Then, can I choose my mentor?" you pestered.
The man at the gate looked up at you, starting to feel pissed at your numerous questions while your grim reaper remained flat, no emotion on his face. "What are you trying to say, young lady? Make it quick, there's a line behind you," he pointed to the people behind you, waiting for their turn to be admitted.
"Well, if I can pick my mentor, I want him to be my trainer," you pointed to your grim reaper that automatically had his eyes widened at your statement.
"What?" he exclaimed, you definitely caught him off guard.
"I want him to be my trainer," you repeated, ignoring the protest from your grim reaper.
"You want Jinyoung to be your mentor?" the man at the gate looked rather amused. "Ain't this interesting? You're the first one to put in such request. But I guess, the higher ups will grant your request, considering that this is the first time someone ever dare to ask Jinyoung to be their trainer. Let's see how you can handle this guy," he winked at you.
Your grim reaper – Jinyoung, started to protest your request but the man at the gate raised his hand to stop him, "Uh-uh.. This is going to be interesting, don't you think? I'll send the request immediately," he stamped a piece of paper and clicked his finger and the letter vanished from sight. Quicker before Jinyoung could react.
"Jackson," he hissed, "Take that letter back!" Jinyoung looked as if he would murder the second guy.
"No can do," Jackson wiggled his finger, "It's a done deal. And you, young lady, stepped into the scale and I hope your good deeds outweighs your bad so you can enjoy this guy's company," he led you to a big scale on his side. He squealed in joy when the scale showed that you were good in your previous life. That meant you could choose to be a grim reaper, and with the request being sent in, you just had to wait for the approval letter and Jinyoung would be your trainer.
Jackson signaled you to come closer and when you lowered your head, he whispered to your ear, "Here in the afterlife, there's no restriction against being in a relationship at work, you know," he wiggled his eyebrow. "So, good luck girl!" he shouted before running away, Jinyoung was hot on his tail, ready to kill him, if he could die twice, that is.
