Necromancer Survival

Chapter 430

"I ignored you?" Dawon chuckled as if he had heard a funny joke.

However, he immediately glanced at Koo Hui-seo with an expression that could only be described as hatred. Afterwards, he suddenly reached out and lifted the patient's pajama top I was wearing.

"What…!" My shoulders stiffened at his sudden movement, but Dawon didn't care. Rather, he grabbed at the buttons violently.

P-p-pop–!

My upper body was exposed, revealing countless scars—some deep, some jagged—etched across my skin. Especially noticeable was a blackened line stretching horizontally across my now-sunken abdomen, as if the flesh there had necrotized.

Shaking the hem of my clothes, as if he were flinging my shirt back towards me, Dawon said, "No. You ignored me."

"……"

"I didn't know asking you to stay alive was such an impossible request either."

His tone was sharp and biting, leaving me at a loss for words. I couldn’t deny it—my current state was horrendous. Not only were there scars everywhere, but my ribs were painfully visible. Seeing how emaciated I’d become, the system’s earlier warning about dangerous weight loss felt all too real.

"…Yeah. This… I was too careless. I'm sorry." I apologized belatedly.

However, there was no response from Dawon. His expressionless face looked cold when he raised his gaze after a long, enduring silence. "Don't apologize. You're going to let me down again anyway."

"……"

My apology failed to reach him.

In the silence that followed, Dawon buttoned the last button on my gown with meticulous care. Then, he lifted my hand and, without hesitation, pressed a brief kiss to the deep cross-shaped scar carved into my palm.

The scar had healed long ago, so it wasn't painful. Yet, as Dawon’s lips traced the mark, his eyebrows twitched, as though he had been the one cut by it.

It wasn’t until he pulled his lips away that my thoughts turned to the scar itself.

‘Why have the scars that have already disappeared suddenly reappeared?'

I'm sure I treated them with potions before.

Watching Dawon’s retreating figure, I pondered what might have happened to my body. Even as I wrestled with these thoughts, Dawon never once turned back to look at me. Instead, he grabbed Koo Hui-seo, who was still trembling violently in the corner, and began to walk out of the room with him.

From the moment Dawon approached him, Koo Hui-seo's eyes rolled back to show its whites; he seemed as if he had lost his mind. Honestly, it was hard to remain silent as I watched his pitiful figure.

"Koo Hui-seo-ssi… Did you really harm yourself?"

"……"

Would he have done such a terrible thing to himself?

However, Dawon didn't make any excuses.

Slam–!

And the door closed heartlessly.

* * *

“Potions aren’t a cure-all.” Choi Kyung-sik, who entered the room wearing a doctor’s white gown, lectured me while making me drink a horrid tasting potion. His words entered one ear and left the other because I thought I might vomit as I drank the awful liquid.

“Nnngh…”

“Swallow. If you throw up again, I’ll make you drink another.” Arms crossed, Choi Kyung-sik looked as firm and unyielding as steel. But, when his eyes met mine–tear-filled and desperate–he sighed and unwrapped a piece of candy that sat on a nearby table. He popped the sweet into my mouth.

It tasted the same as the candy Dawon-ie had given me before. Despite the frustrating situation, the familiar taste lifted my spirits somewhat. I was sure Dawon had prepared this candy for me.

“What are you grinning at?” Choi Kyung-sik immediately scolded me.

I glanced up at him–right now, he adopted the demeanor of a strict attendant. Then, I asked a question that I had been dying to ask, “Excuse me… About Dawon… Is he still pretty angry?”

Two days had passed since we last saw each other, and Dawon had yet to visit my hospital room. I didn’t know if he visited while I was asleep. But, given how calm and docile Lackey was, I didn’t think that was the case.

So I was curious as to what he was doing. Plus, when Dawon's mood improved, I could try and slowly cajole him.

However, Choi Kyung-sik's expression distorted strangely when he heard my question. He looked me up and down before answering, openly showing his disdain, "Who's getting mad at whom?"

"What?"

"Is Guildmaster-nim in a position where he can dare to be mad at you?"

"What are you…"

“Seriously. You know it’s true tyranny when the tyrant doesn’t recognize their own tyranny.”

Annoyed by the sarcastic and cavalier attitude, I snapped back, “When have I ever abused any of you?! 1 You guys–Red Lotus folks–haven’t been listening to me at all~”

At my words, Choi Kyung-sik pushed up his glasses with his fingers and asked, “Choi Lee-kyung-ssi. You think you’re still hale and healthy, don’t you? You think you’ll recover after a few bottles of this disgusting potion I’m giving you.. Don’t you?”

“…Well, of course…” I tried to continue, but the words caught in my throat.

Choi Kyung-sik glared at me; his face looked strained, as if he was barely holding onto a thread of patience.

Kyung-sik, as the best alchemist around, had a reputation for producing potions that were incredibly effective despite tasting like hot trash. Ever since Dawon had stopped visiting me, I could see the incredibly speedy recovery rate in action just by looking at the vanishing scars.

However, he spoke with a hitherto unseen sincerity; I now realized, belatedly, that my body was in a far worse condition than I had assumed.

I rubbed my palms, which began to itch, against my thighs and asked cautiously, “…How bad is it for you to be scaring me like this?”

Choi Kyung-sik’s gaze turned icy as he answered, “I’ve said it again and again–You’re body isn’t the only thing that’s broken. Your soul is cracked as well.”

“ At the moment, I’ve barely filled in the cracks with my mana and potions; but, if we break even this fragile balance, there’s no helping you. Even now, there’s no way to recover your original state; you’ll have to live like this for the rest of your life.”

“…..” Though I was shocked at his words, a part of me doubted the gravity of the situation. After all, I could move my body without much trouble now.

However, just then, Choi Kyung-sik suddenly held out a hand mirror to me as if he had read my mind. I held the mirror with a sense of curiosity. When I raised it to my face, the mirror was heavier than one would think for an object of its size; the reflection was strangely black, unlike other ordinary mirrors.

“Look at it properly,” He said.

[‘You have obtained a ‘Soul-Viewing Mirror.’]Nôv(el)B\\jnn

I looked at the oddly named hand mirror and turned it so it would reflect my face. And, my reflection appeared slowly–gradually–unlike normal mirrors.

Finally, the face that stared back at me from the mirror’s surface was more ghastly than expected.

The face was cracked here and there, and the flesh was marred with streaks of void-like blackness. The darkness was different from the discoloration caused by bruises. I looked deathly pale, as if I could wither and die at any moment.

After looking at my startled face, Choi Kyung-sik grabbed the mirror out of my hand–which had dropped down to my thighs–and placed it back in his inventory.

“…Choi Kyung-sik-ssi…Is this how I look in your eyes?”

“…Something similar, yes. Although, it’s probably worse to Guildmaster-nim–his magic is directly tethered to you, and he’d see your true image in sharper detail.”

At that moment, I understood why Dawon avoided my gaze so much. Suddenly, I felt so depressed; I couldn't believe I looked so terrible in his eyes…

"Though things got a little dicey this time…" I mumbled, making a poor excuse, only to suddenly recall the moment when Koo Hui-seo lost control and slashed open my abdomen.

Kyung-sik seemed to share my thoughts. "The influx of that man's contaminated blood certainly didn't help."

"……"

"Not killing him was all the mercy he could muster. At least, that's what I think."

"……" After a long silence, I finally asked something that had been weighing on my mind, "Then, why are my past injuries showing up again?"

"A potion is only an emergency treatment. That's why you have to rest after returning from dungeons."

"……"

"Your deteriorating condition has caused the ‘sealed' wounds to reopen. Especially in your case, Choi Lee-kyung, there’s also the matter of the damage done to your soul…"

I cut Kyung-sik off to ask, "Why is my soul so shattered?"

The only thing that came to mind was Moon Issak. Just recalling how he had broken my ego under hypnosis made my head ache. However, besides that, I could tell that something else had taken its toll on me.

"……" Choi Kyung-sik didn't answer for a while. The silence wasn't short.

Then, he opened his mouth, "The repeated [Vengeful Ghost Contracts] are largely to blame."

"What…"

"To put it simply… The parasites have outgrown their host. You’ve reached a point where coexistence is no longer possible. That’s how we see it."

—–

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TL: What a chilling final line.

Thank you guys for waiting. I know it was a long break this time–I’ve finally finished my finals and finished my grading. I’ll be off on a short vacation but, hopefully, I’ll soon be able to update more.

1. The exact nuance here is more akin to workplace harassment, aka when your superior piles on loads of work and exploits you using their superior status.