Chapter Text
When Joong-gil first appears next to them Ryeom is sure they've somehow lost their current case without her noticing, that their equipment somehow failed them and didn't notify them of this disastrous turn of events. They're in a jail, so it would make sense for Joong-gil to reap the man.
Then she remembers that he's only been out of his confinement for a week and he's no reaper anymore for another six months.
She's unsure what he's doing now, she hasn't had the courage to go see him again, convinced that he must've changed his mind in that month alone with nothing to do but think and that he despises her again.
She stares at him like a deer caught in headlights and Joong-gil, uncharacteristically, stares right back. Mouth opening and closing without any sound escaping him.
Ryung-gu scratches his throat, saving them both from their silent staring match. "Team leader Park, what brings you here? Surely our case didn't somehow jump off the roof in the ten minutes we've been on our break."
Joong-gil finally looks away from Ryeon and she feels like she can breathe again, think again.
"I'm not a team leader for the time being", he reminds Ryung-gu in a dry tone, but his eyes flicker to Ryeon again, as if gauging her reaction. She keeps her face carefully blank.
How does he want her to react, exactly? Over the past hundreds of years she's become used to a Joong-gil that expects her professional and deadpan. This is assuredly not that Joong-gil anymore. But neither is he just her husband, living his first ever life with all the innocence that accompanied that.
"What are you doing at the moment then?", she asks, thankfully her voice comes out strong.
"Well", he hesitates. "Nothing right now. But the jade emperor told me I could choose which faction to join. I thought...it might be beneficial to us both...I mean, only if you're agreeable, of course...that I join the Risk Management team."
Team leader Park does not get nervous. He doesn't stumble over his words and he certainly doesn’t nervously wring his hands while looking at her.
And yet that's exactly what Joong-gil does. It reminds her so much of the boy he'd once been she's sure she would've stood there like a fool again if Ryung-gu didn't speak up in that moment.
"You?! Join the RM team?", he exclaims rather rudely. "But you've hated us since the moment we were formed."
Joong-gil glares at her newly appointed manager and grits out. "Well, then maybe this could be an extremely enlightening experience for the both of us."
Though she wants nothing more than to immediately agree, Ryung-gu has a point. He's hated the idea for years, thought of it as a downright betrayal. "Ryung-gu, out."
Her friend hufs, but does as he's told. Stiffly walking out of the break room and looking every bit the guard he's pretending to be. Which leaves her and Joong-gil alone for the first time in a month.
"While I'm glad you came here", Ryeon says and his eyes soften. It immediately makes his entire face-which is all sharp angles and delicate arches that she knows through and through-look gentler. That makes her heart ache, she's missed that look. Even if she didn't deserve it directed at her anymore. "I want to make sure you're not just doing this out of some misplaced feeling of guilt."
She doesn't understand why he of all people should feel guilty about anything other than Cho-Hui. He didn't remember anything and he'd done nothing but follow the rules.
"While I have to admit that's part of it", he says after a slight moment of hesitation. Disappointment courses through Ryeon and though she keeps her face carefully blank, he still reaches out to grasp her arm gently, as if sensing she's upset. "I still want to see what this team does. I've never given you or your cases a fair chance. I think it's time I change that. Even if only for six months."
She feels faint. This is all she ever wanted and more. She's acutely aware of where his hand rests on her skin.
"Be fair to them", she tells him. "Give them a chance. If not, you're out."
A grin appears on Joong-gil's face-Ryeon wonders when she saw him smile last- and he gives her a small bow. "Yes, ma'am."
Admittedly, Joong-gil isn't particularly helpful on that first case. Sure, he puts on the same guard uniform as them and joins them as they invade their case's cell when he passes the 97% mark.
But he doesn't speak up as the man demands to know who they are, the rope he'd somehow acquired trembling in his hands. And when he eventually does calm down and starts sobbing about how unfair this all is Ryeon even sees a sneer on Joong-gil face. He quickly looks away when he notices her looking.
Well, Ryeon rationalizes as Ryung-gu reassures the man that this too will pass, it is Joong-gil’s first case. Jun-Woong hadn't been particularly helpful on his first case either. In fact, he’d been borderline deadly in his incompetence. And a sneer is better than almost getting stuck in a girl's memories forever.
"You don't have anything to add, mister Park?", Ryung-gu asks as they're about to leave.
Joong-gil simply shakes his head and closes the cell door with a resounding clang. "No."
"Good work today", she tells them both when they arrive back in the office and she almost expects Jun-Woong’s chipper voice to answer back now that they're a trio again, but of course he doesn't. She’s horrified to conclude that she’s disappointed. She’s truly going senile in her old age, missing Jun-Woong of all people.
Ryung-gu salutes and leaves the office. Joong-gil lingers.
"I know I wasn't of much help today", he says lowly after she gives him an expectant look. "I'm still getting used to thinking of them as victims."
"I know", Ryeon reassures him. "I don't blame you. You've been reaping these people for hundreds of years and sending them to hell for the 'crime' of murdering themselves. I'd be surprised if you were full of empathy on your first few cases."
Joong-gil gives her a small, grateful smile. She nearly does a double-take. "Thank you, Ryeon."
Ryeon.
Not Koo Ryeon.
She turns around, pretending to be busy with the whiteboard to hide her face. She's been priding herself on her composure for years. Decades. Centuries.
She will not let something as simple as a name break her.
She won’t.
Joong-gil shuffles behind her, as if hesitating to go and then he quietly bids her goodbye. When she answers her voice is level: “Goodbye, Joong-gil.”