"The mail came. You have a pretty easy month this time," Sunghoon said, throwing Heeseung's mail into his lap.

Heeseung didn't bother looking up from his book. "And you? How's yours?" 

"I have ten," Sunghoon sighed. "Ten souls to collect. You're so lucky. You only have four." 

"Is that so?" Heeseung muttered, finally closing his book and turning his attention to the notecards in his lap. He scanned through the names, reading their ages, the date and times of their birth, and soon to be death. He flipped the cards over, reading the basic information about their lives. Any dreams that they hadn't been able to complete... they had a month at best. 

And on the bottom of the card, as always, was written: if nothing unexpected happens, collect them at the location and time listed. 

If nothing unexpected happens. 

As always, Heeseung internally prayed that they'd make a crazy, out of the ordinary choice. They'd take a different route to work, or they won't go out drinking that day, or anything. If they made the right choice, they could change their future. Their name could be erased from his name cards. 

One of the girls, Kim Hana, was only eighteen. 

That was around the age he was, or more accurately, the age he looked. He'd been living for so long, he'd lost track of the time. After so many years, he'd stopped counting. 

"When can we finally stop?" He whispered, staring at her card. She was so young. She had her whole life ahead of her. And yet, at the end of the week, she'd go skating with her friends. They'd go to the country for a weekend, and find a frozen lake. And the ice will break, plunging her to her death. 

He closed his eyes, leaning back on his chair. "I'm so tired of this. I want to stop," he said softly. 

"I know," Sunghoon said, laying a hand on his in sympathy. "We'll be finished soon, you know that. We both only have one month left." 

"One month," Heeseung whispered, opening his eyes and looking at the calendar on the wall. He was already counting down the days until his soul would finally be freed from this nightmare. 

He took a deep breath, getting up and resigning himself to his fate. 

"I'm heading out."