Necromancer Survival

…”

     “……”

     “When I returned home and said I would kill Kyungman-ie…Mother praised me.
It was the first praise I’ve ever received from her in all my life.”

     “……”

     “In the past, she would ignore me as if I didn’t exist, but now she acknowledges me as her son.
That’s…That made me so happy…”

     “…….”

     “This is…definitely weird, right?”

     Back when he was imprisoned in the hospital ward, Koo Hui-seo loathed his mother as much as Koo Kyungman.

     However, after returning to the mansion and experiencing what it was like for his mother to acknowledge him as a son and treat him like a human being, he began to act like Koo Hui-seo from the past.
His vigilance against his mother had begun to fade.

     I began to think that there must be some reasons for the circumstances between old Koo Hui-seo and his mother’s relationship.
It hasn’t been more than a few days, and he’s already falling into old habits.

     While confessing his story, Koo Hui-seo became more agitated and spoke faster with every excuse.
By the time he finished, his expression was horribly contorted.
“…It still feels like I’m trapped back at the hospital.”

     His face was of a man who had lost his way.

     So, even though I was hesitant, I reached out to him.

     I may be acting this way because of his tearful expression.
I grasped his cold and emaciated hand that was lying on the table; his back trembled vulnerably.

     Koo Hui-seo tried to pull out his hand, but I put some strength into my grip.
It was even more heartbreaking to see his awkward attempts at pulling away.
Obviously, he had never been comforted this way before.

     “Honestly, I think Hui-seo-ssi is a bit of a strange person….”

     “…….”

     Of course, I wanted to bite my tongue as soon as I started–I was just an ordinary human being who had no skills in comforting others.
I didn’t mean to be this honest…

     However, Koo Hui-seo looked at me calmly, as if he was expecting something more.
I felt the thoughts in my head getting tangled, but I continued to speak, “But, even so…It seems like Hui-seo-ssi knows that about himself…”

     “…….”

     “S-so, didn’t he, somehow…Didn’t you want to live a good, ordinary life?”

     “……”

     “You wanted to get along with your mother; you wanted to get along with your younger brother…That’s all you wanted.”

     I really didn’t have the gift for consolation.

     Doesn’t Koo Hui-seo know by now that I’m simply rambling? He was still staring at me, incredibly patient.

     Unable to overcome the pressure of that gaze, I ended up rambling out the central core of what I had wanted to say, “What I meant to say is…Hui-seo wants to do well, but the people around him don’t accept him, right? But, the world is vast…”

     “……”

     “And there are many people out there…If you search, there’s bound to be people who accept Hui-seo-ssi as he is…”

     “……”

     “And it doesn’t have to be your family.
Or, you could create your own family later on…Don’t you think?”

     Honestly, I wanted to curse Chairwoman Shin, Koo Hui-seo’s mother…

     But I’m an unrelated third party and Koo Hui-seo still had lingering feelings for her.
Besides, I thought he would tear up more if I touched more on the original personality’s situation with his family.
Though, now that it’s all said and done, I don’t know if my feelings were conveyed properly.

     And, to be honest, I don’t really know what exactly I’ve said, so I thought he probably wouldn’t understand either…

     It was then.

     Koo Hui-seo, whose hand was sitting calmly in my grasp, suddenly turned his palm upwards and grasped mine.

     “Ah!” His grip was incredibly strong, so I screamed, worried that he would crush my hand.
After listening to my scream, Koo Hui-seo relaxed his hold, but he still held me with enough force, stopping me from escaping his grasp.

TL: MC is good kid too empathetic for this ranker world.
And obliviously good at saying the things to make people latch onto him.

Footnotes

There’s a superstition in east asian countries that a young boy should crossdress as a woman to confuse the evil spirits and hide from curses.