He wanted to protect her.

For some reason, that was the first thought that comes to mind the moment he first set his eyes on her. Strange, wasn't it? When he was first informed that he'd be receiving a new member into his team he was told of the circumstances beforehand. That the person was originally sent to Hell after committing some crime on the Land of the Living. And after a few hundred years of punishment, the Jade Empress decided to give her mercy by allowing her to become a grim reaper in order to redeem her past sins.

He had no objections over that decision since it was up to the deities as to whom they chose to give their mercy. He didn't have to care about what other reasoning for such a decision to be made.

That was what he had told himself. As long as the new reaper would be able to do their duties well, he wouldn't even care if they had come from the depths of hell.

But then he met Gu Ryeon in person, and somehow he couldn't help wanting to protect her... and keep her safe. As for what he should protect her from, he totally had no idea. Even when he told himself that he shouldn't care about what other reason for Gu Ryeon to be sent to his team, he started to wonder what kind of crime has Gu Ryeon committed in her past life to have caused her to be sent to Hell... and he wished that there was something that he could do to keep her safe from harm.

.

Of course, not everyone would have the same thoughts as he did with regards to having Gu Ryeon as part of the Escort team. And because of that, they may not be able to welcome her into their ranks as readily as he did. Just because she used to be sent to Hell for her past sins.

He found it ridiculous for the other reapers to think that they were better than some other reapers who may have different backgrounds than them. Do such sentiment still matter now that they were in the Land of the Dead? One would think to leave such an outdated line of thinking behind them.

That said, he didn't like the way some of the reapers had been talking about Gu Ryeon when she wasn't around. While Gu Ryeon had mostly escorted the souls of criminals to Hell—even after he told her that she could ease up on doing that after a few decades and start escorting other normal souls to the afterlife for a change—he didn't think of her to be lowly as compared to the other grim reapers in Jumadeung. In fact, she might as well be one of his best and he was very proud of her for that fact.

And somehow, after a while, he couldn't help thinking that Gu Ryeon would look more lovely with a bit more red tint adorning her beautiful eyes...

xxx

After several more hundreds of years of working together, her mind had started to grow curious again. Of which, she probably shouldn't be... considering how the threads of fates between her and Park Joonggil have long been severed. He was no longer her husband as she was no longer his wife. Whatever that has happened to him after she killed herself shouldn't matter to her anymore.

But still, she couldn't stop thinking about it. About the reason why Park Joonggil would have decided to become a grim reaper.

What happened in his past life—the lives he had after the one they used to have together—for Park Joonggil to decide to become a grim reaper? What other things has he gone through in his life that have caused him so much pain while she had suffered all those times in Hell?

She couldn't help but be curious.

xxx

After so many years of working together, it would be unavoidable to start getting to know your 'co-workers' even closer. The same could be said of her relationship with Team Leader Park Joonggil. Regardless of her initial thoughts about not allowing herself to get too close to Park Joonggil, the two did end up becoming close. And since the time that Jade Empress told her would come did not arrive yet; she had remained in the Escort team for a long time, escorting the departed souls from the Land of the Living with Team Leader Park Joonggil.

And in all those years—decades—of working together with him, she noticed something. Park Joonggil rarely sleeps; let alone take any long breaks, even on the days when he should be allowed to take the day off from doing their jobs as a grim reaper. Not that grim reapers needed that much sleep anyway, but in the case of Team Leader Park Joonggil, it was obvious that he suffered a severe lack of them.

Even back when she was still alive, Joonggil had always had a light complexion. Even more when he was much older. But ever since she became a grim reaper she started noticing it. That there was an ever-growing shadow under Park Joonggil's eyes that never seemed to go away.

Back when they were still husband and wife, there had been times when Joonggil had been staying up late. Half of the reason for that was partially her fault. Since she used to have nightmares so often every night due to her awful experiences of being taken away by the Jurchens. Because of that, her husband had always stayed up late to watch over her. Even more when she started to have more thoughts of hurting herself. But the dark shadows under his eyes were never this bad.

So that's how she knew. That Park Joonggil hadn't been taking any proper sleep. As time passed, she even realised that it had been intentional.

For some reason, Team Leader Park had been trying his best not to fall asleep. And Ryeon couldn't help wondering why...

xxx

They had just finished escorting a departed soul a few hours earlier. And as usual, instead of resting, Team Leader Park Joonggil had gone out to take a walk by himself. So Ryeon took it to herself to go and accompany him.

.

"Can I ask you a question?" she started to say, "There's something I'm curious about. Why don't you sleep, Team Leader?"

She might as well get straight to the point. Since it did seem that Joonggil had been trying to not let himself sleep. And it worried her a lot, not that grim reapers could really fall sick.

Park Joonggil gave her a weak smile before shrugging.

"The truth is that... I can't sleep. I'm afraid of falling asleep. When I fall asleep that horrible moment would keep repeating itself."

Immediately Ryeon felt her heart turning ice cold. That moment. That horrible moment. She had no doubt which moment was it that he was referring to.

"Sadness and rage. Distrust and despair. And... lethargy. The person looks exactly like me but that's not me."

"So I hate seeing that nightmare every time I fell asleep..."

xxx

"Sadness and rage. Distrust and despair. And... lethargy. The person looks exactly like me but that's not me."

"So I hate seeing that nightmare every time I fell asleep..."

Don't know why it still bothers her very much. Because despite everything, despite the nightmares, it didn't change the fact that Park Joonggil did not remember the memories of the life he and she had once lived. As long as Joonggil didn't try to recover those painful memories, he should be all right.

Still, it didn't stop her from wanting to comfort the man. To ease his pain.

Gu Ryeon glanced down towards her hand as she recalled grabbing Team Leader Park Joonggil's arm and holding his hand tightly sometime earlier. Joonggil always wore gloves for his hands and disliked being touched by people—even back during the Joseon period. Yet he always never minded being touched by her.

Why should she be happy about that though—?

"Sorry..."

Without warning, someone bumped into her and hurriedly apologised before she could recollect herself. Ryeon blinked at her surroundings. Before she realised it she had arrived at the shopping man and into the cosmetics department. How could her line of thinking be so straightforward? She had been thinking about the dark circles around Joonggil's eyes and wondering if there was something that she could get for him... and now she was wandering aimlessly in a busy mall...

She snorted to herself. As if Joonggil would even use it if she had bought something for him to treat those dark circles on his eyes.

"Oh... long time no see, Ms Gu."

Ryeon immediately glanced up towards the voice as Ryunggu skipped over cheerfully towards her.

"How long has it been? 60 years?" she asked. The last time she had seen him was during the Korean War when one of the Escort team members had caused some trouble with the collection of departed souls, which ended up with many reapers from the other departments coming and lending their help. She had told him to work with the Records and Auditing team so that Ryunggu would be able to find out about the whereabouts of his mother's soul. Has Mr Lim found the reincarnated soul of his mother? Was that why he was here?

Ryunggu corrected her about the length of time since they have last seen each other and started asking her about when the Jade Empress's plan for a new special department would be made. She just told him that she still didn't know. But seeing how that reply hadn't bothered him the slightest, it should mean that there was no need to worry about his mother's current reincarnated life yet.

As the two of them passed by some of the cosmetics displays, she stopped by a counter showing some different shades of eyeshadows. Ryeon picked one up as she noticed one with the same red tint that she liked.

"How long since you've been using that shade?" Ryunggu asked again.

Ryeon let out a long sigh as she recalled the memories when Joonggil had gifted her the same tinted rouges for her. She smiled as the memories brought back all of her fondest memories with Joonggil.

"It's been a long time. A very... very long time."

Perhaps, she could buy something for Joonggil regardless. If he asked about it, maybe she could convince him that she bought them in exchange for all those eyeshadows he used to get for her.

Yes, she could do that!