everyone around him dies

Part 1

Kim Kwangsu stared at the hand that linked him to his twin brother, a deep and thoughtful frown overtaking his face that was entirely unrelated to the dour occasion.

The mourners all approached the boys, each providing their hollow condolences for their loss and scurrying away when the children didn't respond the way they had anticipated.

'...everyone around him dies.''

It was a fact that he was suddenly and painfully aware of. Kim Kwangsu had endured quite a few near death experiences as well while remaining at his twin's side, although he'd never quite put together why until this moment.

Both of their parents were dead.

Pets and friends and all the people who his twin treasured were always short for this world or experienced a misfortune that was so great that they left.

It was as though the grim reaper itself hugged his twin gently against its bony chest while slicing down everyone who came near.

If Kim Kwangsu were a normal child, he definitely would have died too.

His younger twin, a child of only five years old with an expression that appeared numb to loss, stood stolidly at his side and Kwangsu could feel his hand trembling ever so slightly.

Even though he was only a child, he seemed to have grasped the facts as well. Perhaps only on a subconscious level but he was aware of the lethal jinx that his mere existence was.

'...this is going to be a pain in the ass.'

The older twin let out a deep sigh and looked towards the next mourner, sneering at the obnoxious man and jerking his head to make him go away.

None of these people cared about the two orphans.

No one was willing to take them in, they'd argued amongst themselves loud enough to be heard and attempted to force it into the hands of those who were the least qualified merely because they would have the most difficult time arguing back.

It was disgusting behavior. There was being a trashy person and then there was being absolute scum.

Kim Kwangsu was familiar with both.

Cale Henituse had lived the majority of his life being trash of some kind or another, mostly on purpose, sometimes by accident. He'd lived to the shitty age of forty before dying anticlimactically at the hands of a sociopathic psycho with a god complex.

And then he'd spent roughly five years of his new life in a hazy state of barely being able to remember his old life but having just enough of his old instincts and skills to spare himself from the many gruesome deaths that nipped at his heels.

All because he'd been born as Kim Roksu's twin brother.

It would be a lot easier if Cale were able to smack away the tiny trembling hand holding his own. Walk away from the walking death jinx and go anywhere else. With his memories of his adulthood returning back to him he ought to be able to navigate this new world even with the body of a child.

The trouble was that he quite liked his brother.

Roksu was an awkward brat who didn't know how to smile properly, go figure with the grim reaper stifling him, and a heart that was deceptively kind. He was also quite devious in his own way, which Cale approved of. He liked bright kids who knew how to make the best of a shitty situation.

Although Roksu's situation was probably far too shitty to be solved simply by being just a bit clever. They'd probably need a miracle if Cale wanted to live to adulthood at his brother's side.