Junhee stares at the crow. The crow stares right back.
Junhee opens his mouth to speak just as Minji bursts through the foliage, flanked by Haneul and two other cats. “Hey, what’s going on- Oh! The kitty! Hand it to me, be very, very careful-”
Junhee hands the wrapped-up kitten to the detective with utmost care, still staring at the crow with wide eyes.
The crow caws once, twice, and flies off, wings flapping and causing the cats to hiss in synchrony. The beat of its wings matches the beating of Junhee’s heart. One, two, one two. I’ll see you again, Song Junhee.
Junhee shakes his head. There’s no way the crow just spoke to him. Crows can’t speak. But who knows? His conscience wonders. You died and came back to life. Maybe crows can actually speak, and there are many other things that could happen that you just don’t know about.
Junhee would really prefer not to think about that. Not now.
“You take Angae back to the client, and I’ll take this kitty to the vet?” Minji offers. Angae purrs loudly from outside as if responding to his name. “Remember to take the payment too! We’ll meet back at the agency.” She pulls a business card out of her pocket, hastily pressing it into his hand. “If you get lost, uh, just ask for directions? Since your phone is basically useless.”
Junhee nods distractedly. “Yeah, of course.”
Angae keeps sniffing at him during the walk back to the client’s apartment, trying to bat his cap off every other second like he’s deemed Junhee too suspicious. It doesn’t help that the crow from before seems to be stalking him, black feathers always present in his peripheral vision. He’d already been stared at for wearing all black with a cap and mask, but more people are staring now that he has a cat in his arms and a crow following him around. Let him wear his mask and cap in peace! He’s just an average person! He didn’t ask for anything else!
The client coos at the sight of her cat returning safe and sound, her faith in Minji and Junhee’s abilities increasing when the young man dutifully reports to her where they found the cat, as well as Angae’s new status as a father.
“Say,” the client asks Junhee curiously, “have we met before? You sound very familiar, I must say, but I can’t recall where I’ve heard your voice from. What’s your name again? Minji mentioned it… Jun… Jun-ki? Junseong? I think I’ve heard that name from the radio. I’m not caught up with celebrities but I think that Jun-something is an idol.”
She squints at him, and Junhee takes a careful step back. He fixes his mask to obscure more of his face. “I don’t think we’ve met,” Junhee tells her honestly. Something tells him it’s not a wise idea to share his full name. “You’ve probably mistaken me for someone else.”
Because there’s no way he’s actually an idol, right? All those hypothetical idol jokes with Minji were exactly what they were meant to be - jokes! He won’t lie, he is starting to catch himself humming every now and then, sometimes tapping his foot to the whistling of the trees. But more importantly, there’s no way he’d be this lucky. There’s no way someone would tell him exactly what kind of life he used to live so soon, even if they didn’t know what kind of person he used to be or why his death would be deemed a ‘mystery’ worth solving instead of an accident.
The middle-aged woman looks at him for a few moments longer, until Junhee shifts uncomfortably. “I guess I was mistaken. Ah, I’ll let you go now, you lucky detectives probably have another case to get to, right?”
Junhee laughs and agrees even when he and Minji both know the answer is no. Technically there’s his case, but six months is pretty far away right now. What’s more is that he’s not even a detective himself! This is his first day on the job of being a sidekick, and he’s not even sure how long this job will last! Oh well. He’s always been good at adapting.
Junhee remains hung up on the conversation even when he’s halfway through the walk to Minji’s apartment. People are still staring at him, because the pesky crow is still following him. He’s just about to speed-walk off when the crow lands on his shoulder. Instantly, people are jumping out of the way like Junhee himself is a walking omen of death with his dark clothes and hidden features.
“Go away,” Junhee hisses at the crow.
“No,” the crow clicks back. Its beak is snapping far too close for comfort. “I placed a bet on you surviving, and it turns out you can barely walk two feet without being some danger magnet!”
“Shut u-” Junhee shakes his head. “No, why am I even talking to a crow?”
“I’m not a crow,” the crow tells him like it isn’t covered in black feathers and has a beak like most crows do. “Just hear me out, Song Junhee! I’ve saved you from dying three times and you didn’t even realize, you owe me this much!”
How does this crow even know his name? Worse yet, why does it sound vaguely human? “What do you mean, saved me from dying?”
The crow pecks at his cap and it almost falls right off his head. “Now isn’t the time for details, Junhee, mortals can’t see me so now you just look like a madman talking to yourself.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Junhee could swear he’d never been so irritated in his life. “Fine, I’ll take you back to Minji’s apartment. But you stay quiet, and if you shit on her furniture or make me feel more insane than I already do, I’ll throw you out the window.”
The crow salutes with a wing. “Scout’s honor!”
Somehow, the crow does really stay quiet, and the more pain Junhee feels from the crow’s talons, the more real everything becomes. Junhee doesn’t know if reality is becoming a fever dream, or if things are the other way around.
The crow offers no comfort.
Junhee walks back to the temporary detective agency like that: humming every now and then and tapping his feet while he waits for the traffic lights to change color; his self-proclaimed savior crow perched on his shoulder, pecking him at any sign of danger. Somehow, their combined efforts manage to save Junhee from a falling flower pot and a collapsing giant neon sign, and Junhee narrowly escapes becoming a bank robbery hostage. Has life always been this dangerous?
“No,” the crow tells him primly. “It’s a you’re-supposed-to-be-dead-but-you’re-not thing.”
If magic really exists, Junhee’s going to need way more details on that.
(That ‘if’ is getting smaller by the second. Dying and coming back to life, talking crows who are probably some kind of death god incarnate, surviving three near-deaths in the span of fifteen minutes… These are all things that don’t usually happen to normal people, and Junhee supposes he’s hardly normal now.)
They return to an empty apartment. Junhee isn’t surprised - the injured kitten probably needs surgery, and Minji seems too attached to the cats to leave the kitten alone. He wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up bringing the kitten to the apartment and taking care of it while it recovers either. After a bit of polite investigation - ‘snooping around’, the crow called it - Junhee finds plenty of cat food and cat treats in the food drawer.
Junhee settles down onto Minji’s couch, and the crow finds a perch on the table opposite him. “So, Crow. Talk.”
“Well, for starters, I am not actually a crow, but a grim reaper in disguise.”
“Damn, I got it wrong.” The crow cocks its head. “I thought you were some kind of death god incarnate. I’ve spent half a day with a detective and my deduction skills have improved, but it still needs work, apparently.”
“I thought you didn’t believe I was real?”
“It’s either believe you're real, or keep feeling like I'm going insane, and I'd rather accept being a shameless nut job than keep living in denial. I don’t want to feel like a maniac for the rest of my life, thank you very much.”
The crow nods, cawing. It’s not mocking, per se, but Junhee still feels like the crow is trying not to outright laugh at him. Or maybe it’s just how crow caws in general tend to sound like they’re gossip girls laughing at whoever’s passing by. Minji better not come back soon. “Of course. Do you want to guess - oh, my bad, deduce - why I’m here too? Since you’re a detective’s sidekick now?”
I’m not going to rage at a goddamn talking crow, Junhee warns himself. I’m not going to lose my temper because a damn bird is teasing me. It’s just a ball of feathers. A talking ball of feathers.
“You’ve already explained half of it,” Junhee sulks. “You’re a grim reaper. I’m supposed to be dead, but I’m not. If you were just following me around like a bad omen waiting for something to kill me and set the balance of life straight or whatever, you would’ve already done it, wouldn’t you? But no, you’ve saved my life several times, even though it still hurts where you pecked me. So I’m guessing there’s a reason why I’m not allowed to die.”
The crow opens its beak. “No, don’t ask me if you’re supposed to have some other form, like a jeoseung saja or those stereotypical American grim reapers.” Junhee scowls, part genuinely irritated, part petulant. “You being a talking crow is already giving me a headache. If you can change into a human or whatever, my brain is going to explode, and I’m going to die, and whatever’s in it for you if I live isn’t going to happen.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” The crow protests. “I was just going to say you were right about the first deduction! There is a reason why I can’t let you die, and uh, the stakes are pretty high for me. So I was going to ask you if I could hang around. Maybe I could even help you and the pretty detective with cases.” The bird ruffles its feathers, bobbing proudly. “I’m a seasoned professional when it comes to deaths, after all.”
“Mark me unamused.”
“Sheesh, so serious. You w- I mean, I thought you would be more fun than that.”
Junhee could be fun if he wanted to! He just doesn’t have the brain fuel to deal with all this right now, though. He barely has the social battery to be polite.
“I do have a human form, though. I just thought being a crow would be less obvious than chasing you around as a human. Less scary, too.”
With a deadpan expression, Junhee mimes his head exploding, making a sound effect to match.
“So, what do you say about my plan? There are some special perks to having me around.” Junhee just knows the crow would be wiggling its eyebrows if it was in its human form. “I’d just sit on your shoulder and talk to you every now and then, and nobody would ever know! It would be fun!”
“What if I say no? Am I even allowed to do that, or are you just asking me out of courtesy?”
Now, it’s the crow’s turn to sound petulant. “How could you accuse me of such cruelty?” Junhee stares at the crow scrutinizingly. “Fine,” it admits at the end, “I’d just stalk you from afar. But it would be creepier to constantly see me in the corner of your eye, wouldn’t it? Worse if you ask the detective and she says there’s nothing there. Because she’s a mortal.”
“Some choice this is,” Junhee huffs under his breath. “What’s in it for you?”
The crow freezes and laughs nervously. “Now, we don’t have to talk about that just yet. But the choice is still yours! The offer still stands! It’s me and you against the world and it’ll be like I’m your sidekick, or it’ll be you alone against the world, which is actively trying to kill you! Because you aren’t supposed to be alive!”
Junhee closes his eyes, sighs, and makes his choice. “Fine, then! You have a deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you!” The crow chirps.
Junhee barely manages to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Oh god, not you too.”