Necromancer Survival

    After hearing those words–were they part of an intimidation tactic or was he trying to reassure me?–I could barely move.
Subsequently, we hastened our steps in silence and successfully arrived at a seemingly barely visible exit.

     When I passed through and looked around, we were located within a dense forest that made it difficult to accurately pinpoint our location.
The black hole we escaped through disappeared.

     I turned around and looked at our group; now that his body was revealed under the light, I was shocked to see Kim Sangyoon’s condition.
“Sangyoon-ssi…!”

     The Warrior was critically injured; I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing.

     Alongside the large wound, his appearance had changed quite gruesomely.
His skin had shriveled, as if it had lost moisture rapidly, making Kim Sangyoon look 20 years older.
Furthermore, his complexion was quite pale.

    Though no blood dripped from the large hole in Kim Sangyoon’s abdomen, it seemed as if even the blood that should have been gushing out from the wound had already drained out of his body.

    “He… he’s not dead, right?” I struggled to reach out to the body, but the silver-haired woman looked at me before shaking her head.

    “Please don’t worry too much.
Since he escaped from the holy field before he died…If all goes well, he’ll regain consciousness,” she explained in a kind tone before gently placing Kim Sangyoon down on the flat ground.
Afterwards, she placed her hand into a gap–some interdimensional pocket.

     She then took a huge sewing needle–the size of my hand–out of the inventory along with a small pair of scissors.
With one in each hand, she looked calmly down at the fallen Warrior.

“[Repair, begin].” After shouting the skill’s name in a loud voice, she approached Kim Sangyoon’s lower abdomen and neatly cut off his battle suit.
Then, she thrust the huge needle, without threading it, into the edge of the open wound.

     As I watched the scene, I winced for a moment and didn’t turn away.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no pain, and Kim Sangyoon showed no significant reaction.

     “[Suturing].” She began to sew at an incredible speed.

     Despite the absence of thread, Kim Sangyoon’s wound surprisingly began to close neatly.
It was an impossible feat with modern surgical techniques, and there was no trace left behind after the wound was sewn.

     “Excuse me, are you by any chance a Healer?” I asked, recalling a class I had only heard about through rumors.
But, as soon as I asked, I felt embarrassed because Moon Issak suddenly smugly grinned as if he were about to laugh.

     I thought I had made a mistake, but fortunately, the silver-haired woman responded casually, “No.
I’m a Puppeteer.”

     “Puppeteer…?”

     “It’s a rare class… People don’t really know about it.” With that said, she stood up and clapped her hands lightly.

 

Clap–!

 

     As soon as he heard the applause, Kim Sangyoon opened his eyes.

     “S-Sangyoon-ssi!”

     “……”

     However, Kim Sangyoon only had his eyes wide open and remained motionless.
Worried about his condition, I looked at the silver-haired woman again.

     She answered my questioning gaze patiently, “Most of his muscles had been ruptured, so I’m trying not to overdo it.”

    “Then…”

     “He’s past the critical stage, but his condition isn’t looking too good… Probably…Healing won’t be much help at this point.”

     I opened my eyes wide at the despairing diagnosis.
Then… What’ll happen to Kim Sangyoon in the future? “T-Then, Sangyoon-ssi will…”

    “It’ll be difficult for him to continue as a User… First, though, I contacted some medical staff outside of the Hub…”

    “What?!”

     “..It’s a pity, but even if he’s transferred to a hospital, I doubt he’ll be able to walk again.” After laying down that harsh judgment, she gazed at me.

     “……” I looked instead at Kim Sangyoon’s face–eyes open and unable to blink.

     What do you mean it’d be hard as a User? Then, does she mean that Kim Sangyoon will have to lie down like that for the rest of his life? Moreover, everything that had happened to the Warrior was my fault.
I… I was caught by Bae Jaemin…

     “W-What should…” I was so guilty that I couldn’t even speak properly.

     But then Moon Issak spoke to me as if he were trying to tempt me, “You’re not left with no recourse…”

     “What do you mean?”

     “You can use your class.”

     I raised my head at that unexpected remark.
“What are you talking about?”

     “Kim Sangyoon is… half-dead anyway, right?”

     “……”

     “If you actually kill him and sign a ‘Necromancer’ contract with him… He’d be able to move, hm?”

     “Are you insane?” I knew Moon Issak was a psycho, but at that moment, I felt really disgusted with him.

     However, Moon Issak didn’t consider my position or my feelings and continued to speak freely.  “I’m being serious, though? Kim Sangyoon’s class relies on his body to make a living.
Unlike Bae Jaemin, he cannot maintain peak performance missing an arm or an eye.”

     “What… What nonsense…!”

     “Even if he regains consciousness in the hospital, do you think he’d be grateful to you?”

     “…What?”

     “Won’t he resent you? He was trying to save you when he became crippled.
I bet he didn’t expect to lose his promising future.”

     “……” I felt like I was running out of oxygen; I ignored the pain as I held onto my chest.

     However, Moon Issak’s awful words didn’t stop there.
“Black magic–it’s always like that.
Well… You gain one thing and you lose another.”

     “……”

     “Whether or not he’s transferred to a surgical ward, his chances of survival are 50/50.”

     “……”

     “Of course, even if he lives, it’s 100% certain that he’ll become disabled.
Look at his thigh–all the muscles there have torn and burst.”

     I listened to Moon Issak and, as if I were possessed, looked towards the Warrior’s leg.

     I saw a noticeably deformed swelling above his knee.
Moreover, when my eyes caught the dark, bruised skin through the gap in his torn combat uniform… tears involuntarily streamed down my face.

     Despite knowing that it wasn’t the time to cry, my heart was pained.
And Moon Isaac, watching me cry, smiled and cruelly whispered, “You may feel proud that you saved him for a few years… but, won’t he just end up committing suicide within ten years? Could you just let that happen?”

     I wanted to tell him to shut up, but no words came out.

     In addition, the Puppeteer, who had been kind to me during this entire time, didn’t stop Moon Issak and just watched our conversation.
She probably also judged that Kim Sangyoon couldn’t live as a User in the future.

     “…A different…A different Priest…” I could barely refute those words–my sanity had been overcome by desperation.

     However, Moon Issak replied with a vicious sneer, “In Korea, the only Priests who are strong enough to cast [Divine Possession] are Ryu Hyerin and Bae Jaemin.”

     “……”

     “You killed one; the other wouldn’t ever cure Kim Sangyoon even if he were about to die.”

     “……”

     “You can’t stomach killing him and resurrecting him as a zombie?”

     I couldn’t endure anymore and punched Moon Issak in the cheek.
Of course, my punch didn’t hurt him at all; he merely looked at me with an expression that said, ‘I let you hit me.’

     Moon Issak seized my wrist, and I felt an insurmountable power gap between us.
He spoke quite underhandedly, “Of course, there is another option, Choi Lee-kyung.”

     “……”

     “Oh my… Are you sulking now?” Moon Issak gripped my chin so that I couldn’t escape and locked our gazes.
I wanted to spit into those madness-filled eyes.

     However, Moon Issak was faster.
“You can make me the [Pope].”

     “What…?” I couldn’t understand his words and frowned.

     However, Moon Isaac continued speaking without any hesitation.
It seemed that he had expected my reaction.
“If you collect all of the Goddess’s relics, even the dead can be brought back to life.”

     That reminded me of a previous conversation my Servants and I had had about Moon Isaac’s obsession with the Goddess.
That was the reason why Jung Garam had been able to entice him with the black market ticket.

     Barely suppressing my anger, I tried to respond calmly.
“You’re saying I’m needed to gather those artifacts?”

     “That’s right. The scenario I’m searching for is within your reach.“