Necromancer Survival

me, I saw Choi Lee-kyung tossing and turning.
I moved to close the laptop.
I was going to close it, but…

[Berserker ‘Kim Sangyoon’ is starting a live broadcast.]

     With a twinkle, Choi Lee-kyung’s laptop and cellphone were notified at the same time.

     “This is Sangyoon…Hah…Urgh…Fuck……”

     Because of that, I watched Kim Sangyoon’s drunk and incoherent self on his live broadcast.
In trying to reveal the shocking failure of the raid to his subscribers, he streamed with only a simple black background with no accessories other than the microphone; he spat muddled swear words with a stumbling tongue.

[Sangyoon-ie hyung, you’re really drunk…]

[Someone should turn off hyung’s stream…]

[Hyung, get some sleep first TT_TT]

     The broadcast was truly not worth watching; it was enough that the fans (though I really didn’t understand why they were fans) who were watching with me sent messages laden with concern.

     A slurred swear against someone accompanied by quiet whimperings; cheapskate-like mutterings about borrowed money.
After listening to 20 minutes of this trashy broadcast, I skimmed through his other streams on Berserker’s channel.

     But…setting aside subscribing to Kim Sangyoon’s channel and enabling notification settings…there was not one video that Choi Lee-kyung hadn’t [liked] in this channel of more than 100 videos.
Wouldn’t that make him an avid fan? Furthermore, Choi Lee-kyung’s Youtube username was his real name, and I could see each comment he had persistently left underneath every video.

[Lee-kyung: Where did you get the pink pants you wore in the opening? I’ll skip on that lolol]

[Lee-kyung: 00:17 I snorted while drinking cola lolol]

[Lee-kyung: This hyung always smiles so wide whenever a girl comes along kekekeke] 1

[Lee-kyung: lolol Ah, he’s feeling extra good today] 2

     Was Kim Sangyoon that fun to watch? I read Choi Lee-kyung’s overly excited comments; my tense jaw wouldn’t relax.

    What was more surprising was how he didn’t show how much he liked the streamer and didn’t show any of that fan-behavior in the .
Even when asked, he only told me that Kim Sangyoon was carrying him and spoke nothing of this youtube channel…

     Come to think of it, maybe this was why he blushed when Kim Sangyoon embraced him.
I stared at the sleeping Choi Lee-kyung, strangely discomfited.

“”

     So, I stole a look at Choi Lee-kyung’s other social media after the Youtube channel–his accounts were automatically logged in.
DMs 3 or whatever, looking through the list, there was nothing in particular that stood out.
Therefore, Kim Sangyoon’s presence was all the more noticeable.
Even more annoyingly, Choi Lee-kyung was enough of a fan to follow Kim Sangyoon’s personal social media accounts.

     I approached Choi Lee-kyung, who was still asleep, and stared blatantly at his face.
For some reason I wanted to pinch him on the nose but restrained myself.
Instead, I picked him off the ground and laid him on the bed.
When I picked him up, his eyebrows crumpled, as if he were about to wake up; however, after I covered him with a blanket, he simply smacked his lips silently and turned his head towards my direction.
His mouth was left slightly open as well…

     And, when I suddenly had the cruel urge to shove something into that round gap…

[Clack Clack Clack!]

     Out of the blue, white bones manifested atop Choi Lee-kyung’s body.

     I did not reflexively touch it; the mass was the same shape as the entry-level skeleton I had seen in the Necromancer video I watched earlier.
As soon as I saw it, I realized, ‘Ah, that must be Lackey.’

“Lackey?” I asked.

     As soon as I spoke, the skeleton looked my way but didn’t approach.
We both were sizing each other up.

     Red glittering eyes could be seen through the emptiness of his eye sockets, and the purple core inside the ribs began to glow strangely.
I wondered if I had something similar inside the shell I was inhabiting…

     When…

[Clack!]

    Lackey lowered its body and rushed at me without warning.

“”

     Of course, I didn’t avoid it.
Its physical attack had little effect when I was simply a floating soul.
As expected, its teeth latched onto empty space.
Unfortunately, the skeleton constantly rushed at me without any semblance of intelligence to distinguish the futility–like a dog protecting its owner.

     “Serving without any form of ego… Will I become like that?”