Necromancer Survival

Chapter 70

“Lee-kyung-nim, are you ready?” Kim Sangyoon’s voice cut through the lull that fell on the room.

I cleared my throat, glaring at my punks, “Yes.” Whether or not those two were determined to just finish this mission or knew the depths of my frustration, they stayed silent and sullen.

The awkward atmosphere, however, slightly eased when Seo Dawon called, “Lee-kyung-ah.”

“I’ll summon you, okay?” Taking that tiny olive branch in my heart, I summoned Seo Dawon with more comfort than before. I made sure to store Lackey in the system space before concentrating on the Mage’s name. “Seo Dawon.”

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Would you like to summon your servant, ‘Seo Dawon’?

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As soon as I confirmed [yes], the room turned from comfortable lukewarm into chilly); Seo Dawon’s presence could be felt quite strongly–an incomparable force compared to his incorporeal form.

Seo Dawon closed his eyes quietly until shadows formed under his feet. The moment he opened his red eyes and met mine, I felt like I was submerged in an icy cold deluge.

“Lee-kyung-ah.” The strange sense of wrongness continued to build as he opened his mouth and spoke, though his voice was low and pleasant… “Invite me to the party.”

His presence was more similar to that of a boss monster you would encounter in a dungeon rather than a normal human.

Of course, he’s classified as an [undead] being, but he’s definitely a person like me…I tabled the thought and hurried to invite him to the party–further thinking along that train of thought might be discourteous to the Mage.

Seo Dawon manifested his status window and began organizing and checking a few things; after a few preparatory measures, he looked at me who was hesitating and unsure of the next course of action.

“Invite Kim Sangyoon to the party too. We’ll be on our way shortly.” He said.

“Yeah……”

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Will you invite ‘Kim Sangyoon’ to the party?

‘Kim Sangyoon’ has joined the party.

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As soon as the invitation was sent, the system notified me of Kim Sangyoon’s immediate acceptance. Kim Sangyoon ambled out of one of the rooms in the suite and asked, “Are we leaving now—Ack!” He screamed in the middle of his sentence and halted.

“Hey. Long time no see?”

“Seo Dawon-nim….”

The cause of his surprise was, of course, Seo Dawon. To be fair, I could understand his perspective. Kim Sangyoon was beaten quite heavily by the other the last time they met; it wouldn’t be a surprise if he formed some trauma.

Of course, since Seo Dawon was the aggressor, his complexion did not change after seeing the Warrior. He simply raised his hand, as if he were getting a close friend. Kim Sangyoon bowed his head in response, gloom settling in his expression. “Hello…” he greeted, mentally already crawling on his knees.

“Hey, I heard that you were bothering Lee-kyung-ie because I wasn’t there.” Seo Dawon continued to be a problem in his words to Kim Sangyoon.

Just, since when did that happen! I was speechless at this brazen manipulation of reality. “What…..” I started to speak, but couldn’t continue as I didn’t know what to say.

Kim Sangyoon must have felt the same way–he had opened his eyes wide and looked between us. He eventually began to make excuses, cold sweat rolling down his back, a minute after the awkward silence, “Me? I–I didn’t….”

“Just kidding. Lee-kyung complimented you, saying how you’ve gotten nicer.”

“I-is that so….I-I’m glad…”

“I was so jealous I almost killed you.”

“…….”

Why wasn’t he saying ‘Just kidding,’ after that?

I gave Seo Dawon a hard look, asking him to restrain himself, but he ignored me with a strained smile.

Pale as a sheet, Kim Sangyoon was stuck between us and pleaded, “I-it’s all my fault…” He seemed like he was ready to kneel at any moment.

I couldn’t stand seeing him like that. “Stop that….” I had no choice but to protect the forlorn Warrior.

Seo Dawon smiled at me, “Oh, come on. I’m just teasing.” Then, he suddenly approached Kim Sangyoon and whispered in his ear. The Warrior grew pale at whatever he had whispered, and Jung Garam, watching us all from a distance, snorted.

What’s that? Did he just threaten him again?

“Hey! Did you just say something to him?”

“Hm? I just told him to take care in this operation.”

“Y-yes! That’s right!”

What bullshit; even a dog wouldn’t trust those words. But, Kim Sangyoon nodded his head firmly as if his life depended on my acceptance.

In addition, Kim Sangyoon pleaded with his pitiful eyes, ‘Please just ignore this and pass on by,’ so I felt that I couldn’t question them further. His eyes told me that life would become tough for him if I kept standing up for him.

“Well then, we’ll go to the first floor first. I’ll send you a message when we get there.” Seo Dawon said.

“……I’ll make a safe return.”

This wasn’t a situation where I could waste time by intruding on their conversation. There’s a time limit to Seo Dawon’s summon, so the two of them had to move as fast as possible.

In the end, I sighed once and said, “… Please have a safe trip. The both of you.”

* * *

When, in front of the door, Seo Dawon brandished his hand that had a ring, the two of them began to gradually disappear, little by little, until nothing could be seen.

The door opened quietly, as if it had opened on its own. Someone tapped my shoulder, a silent greeting, before the door closed quietly. With an anxious heart, I brought up Jung Garam’s map, observing the two blue dots that represented my party members drifting further away from me.

I clenched and relaxed my fists as I watched the dots arrive on the first floor.

As soon as they passed by the armed guards, Jung Garam spoke, “We should go, too. This floor’s security guards left for the first floor.”

As expected, there must have been skills set in place to sense hidden intruders; even if nothing could be seen, security immediately flocked to that location.

Of course, I wasn’t too worried if Seo Dawon was there…but the problem was his summon time limit. He could still access some skills in his incorporeal state, but the capability was noticeably different from his summoned state…I could only hope that everything would be over within the confines of the time limit.

“I’ll be right back… If anything happens, squeeze that doll. Got it?”

[Clack…..Clack….]

Just in case someone comes into our room unexpectedly while we’re gone, Seo Dawon [polymorphed] Lackey.

So now, Lackey looked like me. If one ignored the fact that his eyes looked a little blank, Lackey now had my face. Looking at my double–my body, I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.

To counter intruders or nosy visitors that attempted to talk to its disguised form, Lackey held something eerily shaped like a cursed doll within its embrace.

Nghhh… Will this truly be okay? However, we couldn’t leave me with a gap in my alibi…

“I’ll be back….–Hurk!”

[Clack clack….]

Just as I was about to leave the room, Lackey leaped and hugged me tightly before I could protest. It dropped its head to my chest.

It probably detested the order to remain in this room–to be the only one left behind and far away from its master. With nothing better to do, it attempted to childishly change my mind.

It was… slightly cute, but it was also somewhat scary to see my own body running towards me. Fortunately, after one hug, it didn’t whine anymore, and I could exit the room without further delay.

“Wear this.” Jung Garam handed me glasses at the doorstep.

“Okay…”

It was the monocle that Jung Garam used to evaluate Kim Sangyoon’s necklace earlier. As a [Special Hunter] Jung Garam had the skills to see items that anchored the [antivision] spell. However, I did not have those skills, so I borrowed from him a tool that could appraise items.

On this floor alone, there were about 40 sculptures and paintings that were suspected of being the [anti-vision’s] anchor. We decided to separate at the elevator and search each half alone to save time.

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[Special Expert Appraisal Monocle]

Type: Glasses (Monocle)

Rank: Rare

Durability: 50

Equipment Restriction Level: None

Special Skill: Appraisal (Max)

Description:

*It helps the user identify items

*Tells the user about an observable item’s rank and skill when they enter the user’s line of sight (passive).

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TL: RIP Kim Sangyoon, Seo Dawon will fund your funeral.

I’ll also take a break for a day or two after these continual updates~ gonna work on some stuff! Enjoy~