Necromancer Survival

–a loud roar.
No way… was my nose bleeding too? I wanted to raise my hand to block the flow from my nose, but I couldn’t do anything.

     However, when I barely managed to raise my eyelids, I thought that Seo Dawon’s face was far too close to mine.
Furthermore, the gleam in his eyes was a little terrifying.

     Emotionlessly, he said, “We’re going to give up on summoning Woo Ragi.
Don’t just endure; press the summon cancel button.”

     “Haah…”

     “Choi Lee-kyung, do you hear me? Lee-kyung-ah…”

 

[Replaying the memory of the deceased: ‘Woo Ragi.’]

 

     However, Seo Dawon’s voice seemed to grow more and more distant; at some point, I could no longer hear him.
Simultaneously, my view of the clearly visible living room cut off, as if someone had turned off the light.

     It was then that my stomach, which had been continuously vomiting blood, finally settled.
The suffocating pain subsided in an instant.
It felt like I had swallowed some painkillers and, finally, fell into deep sleep.

 

* * *

 

     “……Choi Lee-kyung, no way, are you sleeping?” Someone called to me, cautiously.
I felt a delicate patting on my back.

     Opening my eyes, I reflexively jumped up from my seat.
I stood up with such force, the textbooks and ballpoint pens on the desk fell, clattering, to the floor.

      “If you’re feeling sick, go to the infirmary.
Don’t lie down and pretend as if you’re attending class.”

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      … Infirmary? Class?

      Unable to understand what was happening, I looked blankly around at my surroundings.
My homeroom teacher from my 3rd year of highschool stared back at me, clicking her tongue 1.

     Hushed giggling noises; indifferent gazes glancing at me for a moment before falling away.
The homeroom teacher continued class, as if she hadn’t been interrupted, explaining concepts on the electronic blackboard.

     And then, a familiar voice whispered from behind, “Why did you suddenly stand up from your seat?”

     “You…”

      As soon as I turned around, I was struck speechless, bewildered.
‘Seo Dawon’, smiling playfully and tilting his head…was wearing a school uniform.
The same uniform as me.

      “You…what are you… No, but here…”

     “Hey, look forward.
Homeroom Teach is glaring at me too.”

     “…..What?” I corrected my posture and started listening to the lesson again, but my confusion didn’t go away.

     Something absurd just happened; what on earth was this bizarre reality? I had definitely been in my living room, atop a magic circle, about to summon Woo Ragi.
However, after cutting my palms, I had no memory of how I ended up back in high school.

“”

     ‘Furthermore, Seo Dawon is sitting behind me?’

     I didn’t go to the same highschool as Seo Dawon.
Seo Dawon wasn’t the one who sat behind me…

     ‘Huh……? Who was it that sat behind me?’

     However, no matter how much I traced my memory… I could remember the face of my former classmate that sat behind me, but I couldn’t recall his name.
It was as if that knowledge had been blocked.

      Soon, though, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.
Seo Dawon naturally stood up, sat on my desk, and played games on my cell phone.
Too naturally.
He didn’t turn to look at me, but it was as if he had done this for at least one year.

     “Seo Dawon.”

     “Yeah,” Seo Dawon responded, but he still didn’t look my way.
Looking at that cheeky attitude, he was unmistakably Seo Dawon.
Furthermore–now that I took a closer look–his face looked a little younger, and his voice was higher than usual… I felt uneasy; it really did feel like the mage’s younger self.

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      So, I was struck speechless for a while; Seo Dawon unglued his eyes from the cell phone screen and turned to look at me.
When faced directly with not his red eyes but more auburn irises, the words died in my throat.
Was that the color of his eyes before he died…?

      “Why’d you stop speaking?”

     “N-nothing… Anyway, you.
Are you also in the Vengeful Ghost memory too?” I soon returned to my senses and asked the other.
I had thought he might have intervened and changed something.

     However, Seo Dawon made a subtly strange expression and responded, “What?”

     “I asked if you also entered the Vengeful Ghost memory playback.”

“”

     “What’s that?”

     “……Huh?”

     When I opened my eyes wide at his absurd words, Seo Dawon frowned and placed his hand on my forehead.
It was as if he was checking me for a fever.

     “Are you really sick? You’ve been saying weird things since morning.”

     “No, I’m not saying anything weird…”

     “You’re boiling up.” Then, he dragged me along by the arm with brutal force and took me to the nurse’s office.
At the very least, he had wanted me to take a fever reducer.

 

 

 

TL: The angst! Summoning these ghosts is truly putting a toll on Lee-kyung.
I saw a fancomic depiction of this scene a while back, which made me want to read this novel! What do you think is going on? Why is he back in high school?

Footnotes

For now, I’ve made her a woman, but there are no gendered pronouns here, as is common for most Korean texts.