Death Cast

00.15 | The Penultimate

Barron was able to deduce Jaerim's thoughts and feigned a cough. He looked across at Silvester, who was sitting beside him, and signaled with his eyes. Silvester took a step forward as soon as he saw what the elder was getting at.

With a cunning gleam, he slid his eyeglasses up to the bridge of his nose. It will be discussed in full after Autumn has completed his first assignment."

"That..." Jaerim bit his lips.

He wanted to argue but couldn't after seeing the bespectacled man's crimson eyes. It gave him a terrible, foreboding feeling in his gut, telling him to stop talking.

Silvester could see the complaints in his eyes, but he chose to ignore them. He retrieved a gold pocket watch from his trousers and checked the time. The surface of the clock shone sharply against the reflection of light.

"It's almost time to go," he murmured, closing the pocket watch with a click. "Let's go quickly."

Silvester turned and began walking away. Barron followed the grim reaper with both hands tucked behind his back, leaving the only human behind. Jaerim did not want to be left out, especially since he could still feel Olivia's scorching gaze on him, so he rushed beside Barron.

They returned to the entrance they had entered earlier and began heading down the seemingly endless corridor yet again. Though, it wasn't as nauseating as before when three people were walking around. It seems that one more person makes a crowd.

Steps could be heard echoing through the windowless walls.

Jaerim concentrated his attention on the ground, on his shoes, and on the number of steps he was taking in his thoughts. He was still able to pick out the faint murmurs from the paintings. Barron walked slowly next to him, humming a tune that he didn't know, as if covering the obnoxious voices.

Silvester suddenly spoke, "Don't worry."

It took Jaerim a few seconds to react. He raised his head and and glances at the grim reaper's side profile. Jaerim took an extra step forward in order to walk alongside Silvester. That way he could hear the Grim Reaper more clearly.

Silvester cast a sidelong glance towards Jaerim from the corner of his eyes before turning his gaze forward. His gait is extremely regulated and precise, with no room for error.

He continued. "I presume Sir Barron has explained what a Death Cast is?"

Jaerim nodded. "Aren't those the characters who are attributed to death?"

Barron had told him that Death Casts - short for Death Characters - are those people who are supposed to die.

"It is a term coined specific for studying Autumns," Silvester nodded. "As what you can see, Autumns are an existence that even us, people who are mainly responsible for the dealings of death and life, could not understand."

Autumns had become a mystery ever since the ancient times. The moment the grim reapers reached the end of their wits, they finally reported the issue to the higher ups.

An allocated group of supernaturals was tasked with solving this problem. But despite many millenniums of investigation, no relative or substantial findings had been obtained to date.

It's only recently that the their department decided to make a separate program and studying the behavior of an Autumn in a different perspective did they able to gain significant data. Though, it wasn't enough to determine their hypothesis.

"The research had been running over a hundred years already. It might have been a long time for you but honestly it only given us few results," Silvester said.

Jaerim immediately understood the premise. "Then the contract is to have Autumns participate to this behavioral study?"

"That's right," Barron answered from the sidelines.

"But Autumns... die, right? How could a study last if the participant will be left dead within the twenty-four mark?"

"That's where the deal takes in place," Barron said. "Autumns will be pardoned off of their death sentence once they sign the agreement of becoming a Death Cast. You could say it is an incentive for being a worker in our company."

Jaerim blinked. "Our company?" He did not expect they are working in a company.

"Did you not see the large logo of the company on the door?" Barron said, mulling over his memories. "You know, the CIS..."

"You mean the WIC?"

"Oh... yes, the WIC, is it?" Barron chuckled. "So, it is WIC. I see."

You are not sure? Aren't you working in this company for many years?

"Anyway," Barron cleared his throat. "Every task done means a life extension. Though, the extension will depend to the task given. The minimum life extension is three days and the maximum could reach up to three years."

"Isn't that too good to be true?" Jaerim commented, thinking that the contract is a sure deal. He just have to finish simulations until he accumulate enough time to live longer.

"It is true but I won't agree that it is good," Barron shrugged. He looked at Silvester and said, "I mean, if it is easy, why do many of the test subjects die quickly?"

Barron had only touched a portion of the said experiment and from the information he gathered, there is only at most five percent of the test subjects that could finish five simulations.

"The world simulations will increase difficulty in each level. Which means, the more worlds the test subject successfully finished, the more difficult the next world will become. The simulations wanted to test the ability of Autumns so it is reasonable to increase the level of difficulty."

Barron nodded in understanding. "So that's why. It's a good arrangement."

Pardoning death is not easy no matter how easy they are trying to sound it like. The consequence of easily giving someone an extension if they are supposed to be dead is quite high. Fortunately, the laws of the universe had considered Autumns as anomalies, pests, so they were able to gain permission.

Barron looked at Jaerim who seems to be thinking something. He leaned closer, placing his arms around the youth, and patted his shoulder. This intimate gesture once again made Jaerim frown.

"Don't you think it is very easy? So simple?"

With the conditions given, it was sure a good deal. Though there are problems concerning security, what else could they do? Autumns are already meant to die. If they could extend their lives by joining the experiment, then it is a good price.

One more hour, one more day to live is still a good a thing.

"Uh...err..." Scratching his head, Jaerim made a guess. "It wasn't?"

"It's not," Silvester sighed. "Though there are many records of Autumns, it is relatively small compared to the number of the world's population. They are also very... perishable."

"..."

Autumns, irregardless if whatever they are doing, are people who will die no matter what within the twenty-four hours timeframe. Grim reapers would be too late to collect them since most of them have died before they arrived.

"The selection is also not random," he added.

"There are qualifications?" Jaerim exclaimed in surprise.

It seems that even after being an Autumn, they are still required to have certain attributes and qualifications to get a job - if this is considered as a job, that is.

"Uh-huh," Barron showed his fingers and counted. "The autumn must no be too old, too young, or too weak to undergo the simulations. The participants must own an abled body with a great sense of survival. It's a plus if the said Autumn had bypassed many death conditions."

Old Autumns might not have enough stamina and power to finish the simulations while young Autumns, like babies, don't have enough intelligence to execute an idea. They need a strong sample, a clever test subject, that could last longer so they could gather more data.

"That's why you don't have to worry since there is a high chance of survival for the first task," Barron concluded.

They won't send out the test subject in a task that is too difficult to perform since they will only waste a subject. In such a case, they will offer assistance on the first few levels until the test subject could handle the simulations by themselves.

Jaerim had understood the run through of the deal. Then, it means, he could still live longer after the first task. This kind of chance made him feel good, even giving out a genuine smile. Barron saw his little actions and also smiled.

"Good, a little optimism to life is better than mourning over towards your expected death. Keep up the attitude," he said, giving Jaerim's back hard slaps.

Silvester watched his senior and the puny human argue and simply heaved a sigh. He had long known about the teaseful nature of Barron so he is used with it. He had been once a victim of the act had gone immune in it.

His attention is more focused on Jaerim. This person, who was able to avoid death conditions using other Autumns, is something he had never heard before. He had seen what happened to the incident on the road earlier this morning. Jaerim's death mist did not desire to bring death to other people.

On the other hand, isn't this human getting very comfortable with them?

Normally, shouldn't they be scared or at least be suspicious to people who call themselves grim reapers? Silvester even met a case where an Autumn accused them of a cult serving the devil.

This person is too trustful...

But he had seen Barron almost killing the person before so Jaerim must have said something to trigger a grim reaper's fury.

Or perhaps, not?

Barron could sense Silvester studying Jaerim. It seems that he had, too, noticed the peculiarity of the Autumn. He let go of the hug from Jaerim's shoulders and walked ahead of them. Jaerim followed the white-haired guy and noticed the surroundings change.

The corridor seems to have ended in another door. However, this time, the door is much larger and made up of grey marbles. It is framed with sculptors of humans with terrified faces as if they are trying to escape from something. The door left out a creepy, eerie feeling that automatically rings the bell of danger.

A person can be seen sitting in a plastic tool in the front of the door reading a travel magazine. He is flipping the colored pages liesurely as if he didn't notice the people coming over.

"Yo, Janus," Barron loudly called out.

Janus' brows immediately frowned after getting called, though he continued leafing over the magazine. Barron walked past the figure and stood in front to the crevice of the stone door.

"Is that how you treat a god?" Janus said after a while.

Silvester walked in front of Janus and made a courteous bow. Jaerim followed Silvester's action. It is only now did Janus stop his reading and raise his head. He looked at the face of the youth that were covered with gauze.

"A human?" Janus asked.

"Yes, sir," Silvester answered politely.

Janus stared at Jaerim for a while before he nodded. He lowered his head and continued reading the magazine.

"He is safe to pass. Have a safe voyage."

"Thank you, sir," Silvester made another polite bow and brought Jaerim over Barron. The older Grim reaper placed his hand over Jaerim's shoulders.

"Shall we go?" Barron asked.

"What-?"

Before Jaerim could ask where will we go, the stone door suddenly opened. The three people was quickly blinded by the bright light. Jaerim closed his eyes while covering his face with his arms.

Suddenly, someone pushed him towards the door. A loud scream echoed through the hallways before it has been shut by the door closing. Janus picked his ears that were almost deafened by the loud noise.