Content warning: This chapter contains sensitive material, including discussion of suicide. Reader discretion advised.
The “automatic multi-lifespan harvest” function.
“So in other words… it’s a kind of auto system?”
I don’t know what to compare it to, but the word that pops up is exactly that: auto-hunting. The program where, if you just leave the game on, it hunts and gathers and does everything by itself.
“Fine. That’s all great. But… why did something like this suddenly kick in?”
It’s not like I’d dislike free lifespan. This was definitely a mega-jackpot. Even so, a bit of misgiving remained namely, the conditions that trigger the system.
[You said at first it came pouring in, right?]
“Yeah.”
[And now it’s trickling in, here and there?]
“Right.”
Flick, flick. A leopard gecko with big, striking eyes flicked its tongue as it spoke. Dongjaryeong, who hadn’t forgotten the sharp memory of being greeted with a scream and rejected by Min Yerin while in hamster form, had gone and changed bodies at last.
[If I do this much, Yerin will like me, right?!]
“…Not sure.”
[She seems to dislike furry animals, so this time she’ll definitely like it!]
“Aren’t you going from one extreme to the other?”
[Am I not cute?!]
“No, the gecko itself is cute. It is… but… why are you so hung up on Min Yerin?”
I honestly asked because I was curious, and Dongjaryeong swished its plump tail and answered.
[I’m trying to score points with my second-favorite, what’s wrong with that!]
“…?”
I had no idea what that meant, but one thing I did get.
‘That thing won’t give up until the words “I like it” come out of Min Yerin’s mouth, will it?’
Anyway, now in lizard form, Dongjaryeong continued.
[Do you remember anything about what was going on at the time? Roughly what time of day it was, what you did, something like that. Lifespan isn’t just going to go pop-pop-pop into your lap for no reason. There must be something you did without realizing it. So hurry up and list whatever comes to mind!]
“Sounds plausible. Hm, let’s see…”
Yeonwoo closed his eyes and thought.
“The lifespan bomb went off exactly three days ago.”
[That’s Thursday. What time?]
“A little after 11 p.m., I think.”
There wasn’t a big monitoring get-together like for the first broadcast. But filming did loosen up before and after the airtime.
“Writer Min came by and we talked a bit, but there wasn’t anything special in it.”
[What did you two talk about?]
“Viewers? We talked about articles on the drama, and about how people were having knock-down drag-out debates over who the male lead should be.”
“Hmmm. Viewers…”
The gecko raised a very tiny finger and scratched its chin.
“Hmm. Hmmm.”
After making those odd groaning noises, it suddenly asked Yeonwoo for his smartphone.
[Wait. The great Dongja will find it right away!]
A lizard the size of a palm pressed itself flat to the phone screen and, with tear-jerking effort, used its whole body to tap. It slipped off a few times as it poured in all its strength, then at last shouted triumphantly:
[Found it! As expected, your Dongja is magnificent!]
The gecko, smaller than a hand, shook all four limbs and did a tap dance. A rare scene you couldn’t buy even with money.
[Here! Take a look at this!]
“…Kang Yeonwoo… fan… club…?”
Yeonwoo’s eyes skimmed quickly across the header and then halted. It was a homepage made by cutting and pasting screenshots from the drama, and even to Yeonwoo it looked pretty legit. The title, of course, wasn’t familiar.
“What is this…? A fan club?”
[It’s still a provisional fan club. It hasn’t been launched officially.]
“…?”
A fan club is a fan club, so what’s a provisional fan club? Whether Yeonwoo was baffled or not, the lizard properly stuck its tongue out and pointed to one spot on the screen.
[Try reading this.]
In any case, the important thing wasn’t the mysterious identity of the fan club. It was something else.
“‘I never thought I’d be healed by a drama’…?”
[Read the post, too.]
Maybe it was tired from flailing around with its whole body; the lizard drooped. Its plump belly (so unlike a hamster’s) was striking. Yeonwoo moved his finger and tapped the post. As the content popped up, his eyes began to move along the lines.
—Did anyone watch this episode?
The post began like that, and the tone was a little gloomy.
—Honestly… this is embarrassing to admit, but I kept failing the civil-service exam for years, the one everyone else passes, and my confidence tanked. Depression was a given, and I even had some extreme thoughts more than once. Everyone else is landing proper jobs and doing well… I felt like I was the only one falling behind. I couldn’t face my parents, and I thought maybe dying would be the best option. In that state, of course I couldn’t study, and because I couldn’t study I kept procrastinating with other stuff. And then after, the self-loathing over wasting time would make me feel like I was going crazy again, haha. It just kept repeating. You could say, “What’s a civil-service examinee doing watching dramas,” but ㅠㅠ I couldn’t focus at all, and when I heard Seonghyeon-nim was appearing I started watching to change my mood. But… I just cried while watching the drama.
Checking the date, it was posted a few days ago. The very date it aired.
“If it was that episode…”
If memory served, episode 8 had aired that day. The Grim Reaper who first met So Yejin in order to correct the ledger of fates. But as soon as he saw So Yejin, he was seized by some strange feeling he couldn’t name and fled the scene.
xxxxx
[This is odd.]
He had to take her in order to correct the ledger. Strangely, the more he tried to approach So Yejin, the more he lost his composure. He should follow his duty, and yet he felt aversion.
[…Even so, I must carry out my task. It is the right thing to do.]
After the first meeting, the Grim Reaper was torn constantly between feeling and duty. But at last, he suppressed his feelings and moved to take the heroine away. Of course, the male lead, Kim Taehoon, repeatedly stopped him, but episode 8 was different.
[What are you doing?]
[Why?]
Kim Tae-hoon happened to be absent, and the Grim Reaper gained a chance to take So Yejin away without interference. However—
[Do you not realize you could have been hit by that car?]
Seizing the moment, instead of hauling her off, the Grim Reaper saved So Ye-jin from nearly being the victim of a hit-and-run.
[I know.]
[What…? You knew and still stood there spacing out?]
[Thanks for saving me, mister. But if I get hit by a car and die, wouldn’t that be good for you too? You were going to take me with you anyway. If I die, that’s good for you too, right? Less work for you?]
[…First of all, I am not “mister.” And… what you said is wrong.]
[Wrong?]
[Just because you die, there is no guarantee my task ends. Your soul is abnormally entangled with that body, so a death by impact may not separate soul and flesh.]
[Don’t souls separate from bodies when people die?]
[That is the matter of ordinary people. You do not fall under that.]
Maybe because her true self was a soul, So Yejin was strangely unafraid of death. In fact, as she said, if he had simply left her and watched the accident happen, his task might have been completed. What he told So Ye-jin wasn’t the truth. The important thing was the death of the body housing So Ye-jin. Whether her soul separated and was taken, or failed to separate and vanished with the body, either outcome sufficed.
‘If the soul separates, I can carry it away; if it’s extinguished, that alone is enough.’
A body that should have died. A soul that did not match that body. The near-accident just now was a golden opportunity to deal with both. But instead—
[Do not wound your soul so carelessly.]
That’s what the Grim Reaper said.
[You are… you are more precious than you think.]
Though he believed he mustn’t, the Grim Reaper’s words wouldn’t stop.
[Do not wish for a death that is not yours. Your time has not yet come, and until it does, I will remain with you.]
He had set out to take So Ye-jin and yet faced with her on the brink of death, the Grim Reaper finally acknowledged his feelings.
[So do not entertain reckless thoughts. Stop thinking so lightly of dying.]
[Then how long am I supposed to go on like this? This isn’t even my body, and I don’t even know who I am… I just want this over with, now!]
[Your time has not yet come, and there is nothing you can escape by running to death. They say there is no problem in the world without an answer. Therefore, another way must exist.]
In short, the Grim Reaper, who had been swayed constantly between duty and an unknown feeling, tipped completely to one side. After episode 8, he transformed from a threat to the leads’ relationship into a helper who aided them.
—When the Grim Reaper said those things, it felt like he was speaking directly to me. I felt like I was being told not to give up yet, like I was being comforted, haha. Strangely, once I heard that, I cried for the rest of the drama. People usually watch dramas as stress relief, just as time-killers, right? Me too. I watched because Seonghyeon-nim is in it, eye candy, no terrible acting, interesting plot, so I was just enjoying it… but… when I heard the Grim Reaper’s words, it was like… healing? It’s my first time feeling actually comforted by a drama.
The post had several comments, most of them saying they felt the same.
—You felt that too? Ahh. I grabbed tissues halfway through and sniveled all alone ㅠㅠ
↳ Another crier here ㅠㅠ 222
—You can’t call it anything but healing ㅠㅠ The fact that it was a Grim Reaper saying it made the impact even bigger. Seeing that icy face soften ㅠㅠ it made my chest all tingly. First time I’ve been jealous of a heroine.
↳ The impact is bigger because it’s coming from the being closest to death 2222
[Did you read it all?] Dongjaryeong flicked its tongue and asked.
[There are a few more similar posts. Take a look.]
The lizard pointed out several more posts.
—I… my dad is sick. He’s in chemo, and there’s basically no hope, haha. I was watching in the hospital room today, and when I heard the Grim Reaper’s line I just burst out crying. They say there’s no hope for my dad. The money keeps going out and our debt keeps growing. I even thought maybe the best option would be for all of us to die together like this? But no. Hearing it, it wasn’t. Right… there’s nothing you gain by running away into death. Haha I bawled so hard alone in the hospital room it was a little embarrassing haha. Honestly I didn’t even know who played the Grim Reaper, but I looked it up right after and joined the fan club!
(Comments)
—Welcome, glad you’re here!
—That’s such a hard situation ㅠㅠ Not sure this helps, but hang in there ㅠㅠ
—Don’t think bad thoughts. Our Yeonwoo will worry.
↳ Yeah, I’m not thinking like that now, haha
“There are a lot of posts like this?”
[What I showed you is just a drop in the bucket. If you try to read it all, you’ll be pulling an all-nighter tonight. You don’t have to read everything to get the gist—you’ve already caught on.]
That’s true. It wasn’t hard to grasp that the Grim Reaper’s lines in episode 8 had a positive effect on people.
[So, Yeonwoo. My take is this.]
The lizard, trying to look cool, propped its chin on its hand. It only resulted in a gecko resting its chin, not any coolness.
[You got lifespan from people because of the influence you had.]
“My influence?”
[Look. It’s obvious if you go through the fan club. You already noticed.]
When Yeonwoo nodded, Dongjaryeong went on.
[With your acting, people who’d been having dark thoughts changed their minds, and the return for that came to you! Doesn’t that sound right?]
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