Chapter Text
“ Oh my god .”
Wonwoo sighs. He got caught. “This isn’t what it looks like.
He turns.
There’s a boy holding a cat up to his chest and his eyes are wide.
“You’re telling me,” The boy clutches the cat closer to his chest. “that you’re not trying to clear all this up?” He gestures to the floor.
Wonwoo isn’t surprised. “No.” He says blankly, even though it was exactly what he was doing. “I wasn’t.”
“I saw your voo-doo magic.” He tells Wonwoo, taking a brave step closer. “You can’t fool me.”
Wonwoo quirks an eyebrow. That’s new.
“What’s your name again?” Wonwoo asks.
The boy gives Wonwoo a look over. “I’m not telling you.” He scoffs.
“Look-“ Wonwoo tries to take a step forward but the cat in the boy’s arms hisses. That never happens. Cats love him.
“She hissed at you.”
“I know.” Wonwoo frowns. “Why?”
“Because she knows .”
Wonwoo rolls his eyes. All he wants to do is gather this body up and leave. Why is it becoming more and more of a difficult task?
He attempts to take another step closer and the cat struggles and must have scratched or bit the boy’s hands because he yelps and his arms loosen and the cat jumps and runs away.
“ Petal .” The boy says mournfully. “She left me.”
Wonwoo notices the clothes the boy wears and how he has a little name tag on his breast pocket.
Vernon.
“Are you gonna tell me what you were doing now?”
“Hmm.” Wonwoo pretends to think and nudges his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “No.”
Vernon pouts. “ Why? I found you.”
“It’ll get complicated if I tell you and I really don’t want to fill the paperwork out.”
“You guys have paperwork ?”
Wonwoo rolls his eyes at Vernon’s naive question. “Don’t you have paperwork here as well?” He says.
“Aha!” The curly haired boy points at him. “You aren’t from here ! I knew it!”
“I didn’t say anything-”
“No no, you did.” Vernon paces. “You said, here . Therefore suggesting you aren’t from here .”
“Maybe I meant I wasn’t from Seoul.” Wonwoo tried to stop the nervousness from creeping into his voice.
“I don’t buy it.” Vernon shakes his head. “ Please - You’re like, my favourite dude out there.”
“I’m a fantasy story.”
“Not really.”
Wonwoo gives him a dirty look. The boy had enough respect to look embarrassed.
“The real question should be, why are you lingering so close to a dead body?” Wonwoo says after a few moments. That ought to throw him off.
“Cause, I knew you would come here eventually.”
“How do I know you didn’t kill him?”
Vernon rolls his eyes. “I think being the grim reaper , you would know who kills who.”
Wonwoo hums.
“Can you tell me how he died Mr. Grim Reaper?” Vernon begs, tone higher and cuter and it made Wonwoo’s mouth taste bitter. “Please?”
“Overdose.” Wonwoo says simply. He’s given up trying to hide who he was from this irritatingly stubborn boy. “He died five minutes ago but since you’ve been here, stalling me , it’s been a good fifteen.”
“Sorry.”
Wonwoo softens at the guilty look that rises from Vernon’s face.
They stand silently for a while and Wonwoo looks calculatingly at the harmless boy before turning back round and doing his work.
He stands with his fingertips touching each other and he mutters strange words that even he doesn’t know how he’s learnt and he can practically hear the boy creeping up behind him.
“Vernon.”
The boy freezes. “Why do you know my name?!”
Wonwoo wants to laugh at him. He doesn’t. “I know the names of people who try to stalk me. Consider yourself lucky.”
“No way!” Vernon gasps, but not from horror like Wonwoo has suspected. More in the way of succeeding from being on Wonwoo’s made up stalker list .
Wonwoo sighs and he turns back to his work and he closes his eyes for good measure but that doesn’t quieten the way the gravel crumbles under the soles of Vernon’s feet.
The last bits of the unfortunate soul gets sucked up in the air and drifts freely and glimmering before slowly vanishing.
“Oh sweet .” Vernon breathes and Wonwoo flinches because the boy is too close and Wonwoo isn’t really used to the heat humans emit.
“Right.” Wonwoo drawls. “You’ve seen my magic trick . It’s past your sleeping hour. Time to run back to your little human cocoon.”
Vernon folds his arms across his chest. “I don’t have a bedtime.” He says defensively. “And it’s called a bed .”
Wonwoo waves it off. “I don’t care. I’m leaving now. Don’t try to find me again.” He warns.
“But you didn’t tell me your name.” Vernon whines. “You found mine out but you didn’t tell me your name. That’s not fair .”
Wonwoo pushes his hair back. “Okay.” He has come to a conclusion that this boy was harmless.
“I don’t want to keep calling you Mr. Grim Reaper.” Vernon begins to chatter without giving Wonwoo another second to deliver an answer. “It’s too long and it’s not very nice.”
“Wonwoo.” Wonwoo finally says. He has a headache so he shuts his eyes. “My name is not Mr. Grim Reaper. It’s Wonwoo.”