Team Leader, Let’s Retrieve the Transmigrators First! - Chapter 3.1
Iryeong remained standing there for a long while, watching Lee Jinwoo’s soul grow distant. The look on his face held far too many thoughts for a simple farewell. Seeing Lee Jinwoo’s original appearance, so visibly ravaged by illness, left him feeling conflicted. He could understand why Jinwoo had harbored lingering attachment to the place he’d transmigrated into.
But the thought occupying the largest part of his mind was that despite all that, he envied Lee Jinwoo for leaving everything behind and walking toward reincarnation.
“That was pointless.”
Kangmu, who had approached Iryeong before he realized it, spoke in a cold voice.
“Do you think he’ll even remember any of what you just told him, Iryeong-ssi? He’s going to forget everything soon anyway, so why bother saying all that?”
“He may have been to the Underworld any number of times before, but without those memories, this is the first time that soul is experiencing it. First times are frightening and unfamiliar. If a few words can put him at ease, I don’t think it’s all that pointless.”
“You really do have a way with words.”
Iryeong couldn’t begin to guess what had put Kangmu in such a foul mood.
“I only wish your skills improved as quickly as your mouth.”
Come on, what’s wrong with offering a few kind words to the dead?
“…It was my first time. I’ll work hard.”
In case Kangmu had somehow forgotten, Iryeong emphasized the fact that this was his ‘first’ time doing this work. Whether or not Kangmu caught his meaning, he gave a short laugh, patted Iryeong on the shoulder, and said,
“Write up the soul retrieval report for the deceased Lee Jinwoo and submit it to me for approval by tomorrow.”
With that, Kangmu left first without waiting for Iryeong’s answer.
“Ugh, seriously…”
Iryeong threw a few shadowboxing punches at Kangmu’s retreating back.
Only in his head, of course.
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Unlike the bustling mortal world, the Underworld was always quiet.
Modernized in step with human civilization, its outward appearance was scarcely different from that of the modern mortal world.
For ages, it had stubbornly maintained the old-fashioned palace style with tiled roofs. The modernization that followed the appointment of the current King Yeomra[1] was truly the first innovation in thousands of years. It was also the current King Yeomra who had established a system in which employees were judged strictly by performance, just like in the mortal world.
The office of the Soul Retrieval Team stood at the center of ‘Underworld Administrative Town,’ an area lined with skyscrapers. Within the skyscraper named ‘Registry Tower,’ on a royal floor with a fine view over the Hwangcheon. That was where the Soul Retrieval Team’s office was located.
There, Iryeong stood in front of a whiteboard, using a tablet to look up each pair’s recent records of retrieved transmigrator souls.
The terrifying title ‘Performance Status’ was written across the top of the board. Managing the status board, which blatantly displayed every team member’s performance for all to see, was another duty assigned to the youngest new hire.
“Uh… let’s see. Lee Jinwoo-ssi was me and the Team Leader.”
Iryeong placed one ghost-shaped magnet each on the graphs bearing his name and Kangmu’s. There was only a single ghost above Iryeong’s name, but Kangmu’s section was so high that Iryeong had to stand on tiptoe just to add another.
The sheer number of ghosts was overwhelming even compared to the other team members. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that nearly all of the Soul Retrieval Team’s performance came from Kangmu.
The fact that the office on this royal floor had been assigned to the Soul Retrieval Team reflected both the team’s importance and its performance, so much of the credit for that also belonged to Kangmu.
“They said the team’s performance shot straight up after the Team Leader took charge…”
Those results certainly were worthy of earning them a royal floor.
Because transmigrators were now given choices out of consideration for their Soul Rights, performance depended on how skillfully they could coax transmigrators into agreeing to retrieval. In other words, Kangmu had displayed exceptional ability in that area as well. His performance board, crowded with an overwhelming number of ghosts, proved it.
“With that prickly personality, what does he do, threaten them or something?”
“How did you know?”
When someone answered his muttering, Iryeong flinched and turned around. Standing behind him was the exceptionally tall Myowon, wearing an easygoing smile.
Myowon had worked as Kangmu’s partner before Iryeong was assigned to fieldwork as a Soul Retriever. He now had a separate partner and worked independently of Kangmu.
Despite being busy with his own work, Myowon seemed concerned about Iryeong being paired with Kangmu and often gave him all sorts of advice, making him a sunbae Iryeong was grateful for. Myowon had also taught him his first desk duties, so in a sense, he had been Iryeong’s first workplace mentor as well.
“The Team Leader is seriously good at psychological warfare. He makes it so the souls have no choice but to follow him.”
Now standing beside Iryeong and looking up at Kangmu’s performance record, Myowon whistled.
“As expected, the Team Leader’s number one in performance. How was your first business trip, Iryeong-ssi?”
“Sunbae-nim…”
Looking at Myowon, Iryeong was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion and couldn’t continue speaking.
…You never told me it was this hard.
Note/s:
[1] King Yeomra (염라대왕)
– The Korean form of Yama, a judge of the dead in Buddhist afterlife tradition. Although traditionally one of the Ten Kings who judge souls after death, Yeomra is the best-known of them in Korean culture and is often portrayed as the highest authority of the Underworld. He is a judge and ruler rather than a devil figure. ↩
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