Necromancer Survival

Chapter 127

Afterwards, Lackey hung onto my calf for its dear life and buried its face deep into my body. Seo Dawon grabbed my hand and dragged me, regardless of the clinging skeleton, and took me to the living room where the TV was located.

The issue was that he didn’t place me on the sofa, but, rather, he pulled me onto his lap. I sat rigidly, frightened, but Seo Dawon whispered calmly as if he expected my reaction, “If you dislike this, then do you want to go to bed?”

In short, if not the living room, then the bedroom. He probably meant to correct the ‘synchronization rate’ issue from earlier.

I was about to protest, but I gave up and sat stiffly on his lap. Lackey must have despised the thought of being in contact with the Mage; it stared at him resentfully before flopping to its feet a small distance away.

Of course, this situation was very awkward for the others to watch; I felt Kim Olim and Jung Garam pause when they saw us sitting next to each other. Although Kim Olim wrinkled her forehead, she did not deign to interfere.

Jung Garam turned on the TV with the remote control and threw us a question without looking our way. “Are there really so few places to sit on the sofa?”

He sounded subtly irritated. Feeling ashamed, I tried to explain, but Seo Dawon was faster, hugging me quite strongly.

Then, more belligerently, the young assassin raised his voice to retort, “No way. Then, are you enjoying that?”

“……”

Jung Garam had now turned completely in our direction and stared at Seo Dawon. The gleam in his eyes reminded me of a younger brother full of rebellion against his hyung.

After seeing his petulant expression, Seo Dawon fixed his hold on me and murmured, “Since you’ve been whining to Lee-kyung-ie so much, I wanted to try doing it too.”

“……” At those words, Jung Garam, without hiding his irked expression, jumped up from his seat and went to my room. Similarly, Kim Olim, who had her arms folded in front of her, followed the younger into the room. Soon afterwards, the sound of the door banging shut rang loudly throughout the house.

“S-somehow he looked…quite frustrated…” I felt anxious that the three would end up fighting at this rate. Though, I wasn’t too sure what the cause was.

Seo Dawon, as if to reassure me, answered softly, “Well, that’s because they’re all jealous–they’d like to be in my position.”

“In your position? Ah, because of the undead servant’s characteristics…?”

“If that’s what you’d like to think.” Seo Dawon smiled lightly while being quite vague; he suddenly grasped my fingertips and observed my fingernails, bringing them up to eye level. Only then was I conscious of the fact that I was left alone in the living room with the Mage; I turned back towards the TV for no reason–not that I could pay attention to whatever show was on the screen.

“Your heart is beating incredibly fast.”

“……”

Seo Dawon pointed out my fast heartbeat that I had been extremely aware of since a while back. I hesitated, not sure of what I should say, and eventually I ignored him. After all, he already knew how much I liked him.

However, Seo Dawon suddenly placed his hand over my chest. I flinched and looked back; he locked eyes with me.

“Is it because you’ve been stuck to me, like this?” he asked.

“…Why are you asking?”

“I’m curious. To know if you like me that much.”

I was dumbfounded at his most insensitive question, but he didn’t show the tiniest hint of mockery or ridicule in his words. That was to say, this didn’t feel like a trick. His question felt sincere, so I answered, more relaxed now, “You should thank your parents.”

“Haha, because of my face?” Was my question that funny? Seo Dawon began to giggle; he dragged my hands along as he pleased and brought them up to his face.

As soon as my fingers touched him, they retreated as if they were burned by flame. The mage pulled them back without letting them go. He murmured, with an ambiguous smile, “If all you’re attracted to is my outer appearance, then why are you avoiding me?”

“……”

“You look scared even at the slightest touch.” Simultaneously, Seo Dawon kept on looking at me–as if he were letting me know that the shallow walls I put up between us meant nothing.

He slowly thumbed my speechless lips. Once again, I turned away from him.

Seo Dawon smiled quietly, as if he knew this would happen. “Just how much do you like me for you to be this nervous?”

“Don’t kid yourself! ¹ I-It’s just that your face is my type… You’re so despicable–I don’t like you.” I managed to muster my annoyance enough to make a response, but, by that time, it felt too late to recover the initiative. Regardless of my claim to dislike him, Seo Dawon leaned his head onto my arms. It was as if he were saying, ‘Even if I do this, you won’t push me away though.’

What a despicable thing to do. However, it was true that I hoped that this situation–him hugging onto me as if he were hanging onto my very being–would last just a little longer.

“Then, why do you stare at me like that when I’m cooking?” the mage asked.

“B-because I’m hungry…”

“When I hand you the food, you look as if you’re caught between wanting and not wanting to eat.”

“Only the smell was good, it was tasteless otherwise.”

“That’s too much… I guess I need to work harder.” ²

I pretended to be calm, but frankly I was ashamed of myself. I had no idea that I was staring so much at the mage while he was cooking for me.

Just…For someone who could call upon great power or skill with one flip of the palm to look so serious while flipping eggs on a frying pan… The gap was just kind of cute… I just glanced once or twice, that was it…

Perhaps, was he someone sensitive to others’ gazes? No, if he knew I was stealing glances at him, then he should have told me to stop. Why must he always keep everything a secret until the time came to insidiously point it out?

I had already realized that I was starting to get pulled into Seo Dawon’s orbit, but, as if I were trapped, I couldn’t move away. Seo Dawon always acted kindly like this… That guy was probably playing around with me–but, whenever he acted like he had feelings, I…

“Sometimes it’s nice to sit still like this,” the mage murmured.

“……”

“You feel the same way.”

I…felt the urge to fall deeply for him.

Today, especially, it was hard to resist. I couldn’t get enough of his shamelessness–his audacity to hug me despite knowing of my feelings for him. I said what I said, but why couldn’t I truly convince myself of the Mage’s despicableness? Was it because I was someone who had no guts? ³

However, any such self-discipline could not stop the Mage’s hand from grabbing the back of my head and pulling it towards him.

Before Seo Dawon’s lips hit mine, his mouth curled into a smile, and he gazed at me. Behind his red and fathomless eyes, the thought that the gleam in those eyes meant that he was laughing at me, was unexpectedly hot. So, eventually, I closed my eyes. Soon, a chilly tongue slowly invaded my mouth.

* * *

After dying at the <Tower of Command>, the system handed me a single scenario.

[Would you like to proceed with the scenario, ‘The Demon King of Revenge‘?]

I snorted in disbelief–what a cruel joke to those lingering in death. Are you telling me, who had lived as a User until this moment, to live a new life as a monster?

I tried to flatly refuse, but there was no rejection button for this scenario. Only the [Accept] button was left. Afterwards, the system ominously informed, [If conditions are met, the scenario will proceed automatically.]

Since death, most status windows were blocked, and there was no way to reject this [Demon King of Revenge] scenario. So, without accepting, I placed the notification far off in the corner of my view and wasted a long time trapped in this mental space and unable to perceive the passage of time.

I thought of many different schemes. At first, I was preoccupied with ways to revive my body, but soon I accepted that I had to let go of that dream.

I needed to find a way to convey to the outside world this after-death situation. However, I could think of no method that could affect the present–what seemed to be a different dimension set apart from the dead. Even if I were to drop dozens of [Meteors], the spell couldn’t touch even the tiniest grain of sand in the dungeon.

And, everytime I used a skill, the [Demon King of Revenge] scenario continued to update. For the first time, I felt a distant despair in the face of this macabre urge to give up and return to a meaningless existence.

Then, one day.

[We admire your patience and evanescent integrity.]

[Special benefits have been added to the ‘Devil King of Revenge’ scenario.]

[If you fulfill the scenario now, we can grant access to the ‘Akashic Records’ up to Level-5 Demigod (need a word other than Level).] ⁴

[We will lift the embargo on the legendary staff carried by ‘Queen Pinbara’]

Dozens of notifications–as if the system were urgently distributing coupons for a game that wouldn’t sell–began to fill my view.

After seeing these messages, I put them all out of sight. There was no doubt that while I hadn’t selected to continue, some serious loophole to this scenario must have appeared.

And, as I removed all the notifications from sight…

Crash–!

A man fell down someplace next to me.

TL: That’s the last of the three-chapter update! Thank you Sleeplessqiuqiu and LeoHP for the Kofi!!

Also, I lost the best (And so did my PRs) T_T Those of you who guessed Seo Dawon for first kiss won! (And straight into french kiss at that >///<) This also marks the start of a multi-chapter mini-arc detailing Seo Dawon’s perspective. More than giving us his thoughts, it really does uncover some interesting details about this world.

Thank you for reading~