In 1998 , Seoul.

A man in a black suit and overcoat walks into a crosswalk and is immediately hit , head-on, by a car. The car slams to a stop, its front bashed in and windshield shattered-but the man in black remains unmoved. Just standing there, upright.

The driver takes in this impossible tableau and gets nervous, but the man in black tells him simply,

"You hit a wild boar."

The driver's eyes glaze over, and the mysterious stranger literally disappears into wisps of black smoke.

When bystanders stop to help, the driver explains hitting a boar. But people scream to discover a body inside the trunk of the car-and a passing woman falls in horror, recognizing the body as her own.

The mysterious man appears before her to read the woman her death statistics. He's the grim reaper, and he takes her to an odd tearoom and pours her a cup of tea that will make her forget her life in this world.

The woman asks what happens if she doesn't drink, and he supposes she will regret that and adds on saying that any regrets should be left in this life.

The scene cuts into the present ,

Where Kim Shin walks by the street outside the reaper's tearoom, and he pauses to look in the window. The two men lock eyes, and the reaper wonders, "Goblin?"

Shin wonders back,

"Grim reaper?"

And then we see that Shin is staring at what looks like a stone wall; the window must only be visible to otherworldly eyes.

"You're wearing a terribly vulgar hat," Shin says. The reaper glares, offended.

Shin carries a luggage bag into a large, airy house, where candles flicker on automatically and furniture covers fly away of their own accord. Okay, probably his accord. His magical goblin accord.

An old man greets him with the antiquated word for

"milord,"

happy to see him for the first time in twenty years. He's with his grandson, YOO DEOK-HWA, who doesn't have grandpa's deference and says Shin doesn't seem all that cool, to his grandfather's horror.

The boy wonders who Shin is, and Shin replies that he will become Deok-hwa's uncle, brother, son, then grandson. He kneels down and says it's nice to meet, but the little boy has attitude and eyes Shin suspiciously, and grandpa apologizes for his manners.

Then Shin is struck with a look of recognition, and explains that there was a boy born in Goryeo who is Deok-hwa's ancestor-and Deok-hwa looks just like he did.

"Was he good-looking?" the boy asks.

Grandpa keeps apologizing, but Shin assures him that he's never been let down by anybody in his family. Shin smiles, thinking of the ancestor boy, who'd visited Shin's grave with his mourning grandfather a thousand years ago.

A thousand years ago,

The Goryeo grandfather speaks to the sword as though Shin's still alive, and introduces his grandson to take over his role in serving him, as he senses that he is nearing death. The boy asks,

"Is this sword the master?"

Just then, a strange energy emits from the sword, and it rocks back and forth. A voice from the heavens declares, "The soul of your subject has saved you."

However, the god notes that Shin's sword has been stained with the blood of thousands-and while they were his enemies, they were also the blood of the gods.

"Live alone in immortality and witness the deaths of those you love," the god tells him. "No death will be forgotten. This is the reward I give to you, and the punishment you receive."

Shin's body revives, and the sword glows brightly, still embedded in his chest, as the god continues,

"Only the goblin's bride can pull out that sword. If the sword is pulled, may you return to nothingness and be at peace."

The faithful servant and his grandson gape as Shin comes back to life, looking whole and well. Immediately, Shin sets off for unfinished business, arriving at the palace to confront the eunuch who'd twisted the king against him.

Shin sends one eunuch flying through a paper-lined wall, then summons the treacherous eunuch through the air toward him. The man recognizes him with horror as Shin chokes the life out of him.

Approaching the bed, Shin sees the wrapped body and says regretfully,

"I was too late."

Shin grabs a scroll , lights the entire palace including the king's coffin in flames and walks away. 

When Shin returns to the little boy, his grandfather has died and the boy sobs over the grave. Dismayed, Shin kneels before the mound and says,

"You must be my first punishment."

The little boy bows and tells Shin,

"I will serve you from this moment on."

Shin is filled with guilt over being blinded by his need for revenge, and asks if he still wants to serve him. The boy nods.

As they cross the sea on a ship, Shin notices the boy watching other passengers eat and hands him a ball of rice, which the boy almost takes before lying that he's not hungry, and that Shin should eat it. Shin offers him half, but the boy speaks like a tiny adult, saying that sharing ensures that nobody is full, assuring Shin that he can work on the ship and earn scraps.

Shin tells the boy to trust him, and the boy accepts, eating hungrily. Then Shin waves his hand, entertaining the boy with the flecks of light that float into the sky.

Suddenly, a sailor grabs the boy, stomps on his rice ball, and dangles him over the side of the ship. The other men find Shin and the boy suspicious, and intend to sell Shin as a slave and let the boy drown. The boy is thrown overboard, and the men reach for their weapons and face Shin menacingly. Wearing an ominous face,

Shin asks, "Do you know what happens when humans act lower than beasts?"

The waves grow rough and Shin rises to his feet, saying, "They meet god." The storm rages around them, and one man gasps,

"It's a g-goblin!"

The ship whirls, ropes catch around men's feet, and a mast falls. Flames erupt around Shin's head. The entire ship starts to tilt and sink, and men fall into the stormy sea. One man begs for mercy, and Shin says grimly,

"It's too late."

He draws his sword, which glows with bluish-green fire, and slams it into the deck, splintering the wood and sinking the ship.

-1478 words

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