Chapter 1: E Between D And F - New Face (6)

Baek Ho went down the stairs with officers from the Underheaven Police Department.

The basement of an ordinary commercial mega-building.

A sign read [Food Storage], and a large notice declared no entry except authorized personnel.

Creak—

Three officers used a drill to break the lock.

Lieutenant Otis entered first, pistol in hand.

About a dozen officers followed behind.

Before long, they all covered their noses and ran out.

“Uwaaagh!”

A few couldn’t hold back their retching.

They grabbed the wall and vomited.

Even Lieutenant Otis couldn’t withstand the horrific scene and fled outside.

Soft music someone had left playing drifted through the wide-open door.

<Close your eyes, and run away-♬

Baek Ho and his party entered the interior.

Under the bluish neon lights.

Various tools and chemicals like those seen in academy practice rooms were scattered about.

And in the center of the wide space.

Ownerless bodies were stacked in layers like kebabs skewered on spikes.

“Crazy bastards.”

Despite the revolting and horrific sight, the three were not greatly shaken.

They had seen worse at the academy and on battlefields.

“How many are there? Cleaning this will be a pain.”

“We need to call a necromancer. Otherwise there’s no solution.”

Baek Ho took out a purification mask and covered his nose and mouth.

He looked around.

No light emanated from the mountain of corpses.

Only from the row of bodies standing like mannequins along one wall was there a faint dark-blue glow.

Newly made Undead.

They were comatose and showed no movement.

<I am fine, I do not blame you-♬

“Necromancer…”

Lieutenant Otis swallowed and stepped into the warehouse.

Even he, who prided himself on having seen it all, had never witnessed such a horrific sight.

No wonder.

He had not been directly involved with the five gangs that controlled the underworld.

“Not a single thug left… They all ran away, it seems…”

“I told you. There’s definitely a traitor in the UHPD.”

“Yes… phew… And there isn’t just one workshop like this, is there…?”

“That’s what they say.”

“It’s not like they’re making an Undead army…”

“Maybe the White Bone Society is trying to reclaim the streets themselves.”

“N-no way…”

“Anyway, I’ll find only the people I need and leave. Do the rest yourselves.”

“Understood…”

Otis requested backup from headquarters.

[This is Lieutenant Otis of Violent Crimes Team 5. Currently…]

A case of mass abduction of civilians and turning them into Undead.

Normally this would cause an uproar, but headquarters was quiet.

Likely not a single news report would appear, and no action would be taken.

“Lucky you.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Your record looks solid, after all.”

“Ah… yes… thank you. It’s all thanks to the necromancer.”

Otis appeared to have been dispatched in response to Baek Ho’s report.

Thus it was Baek Ho who directly turned his blade on White Bone Society.

Even a Necromancer would have had difficulty opposing White Bone Society.

It was admirable he hadn’t given up.

<In your memories, I’ll live and breathe forever-♬

<cold…

Bang!

Baek Ho pulled the revolver’s trigger and smashed the speaker.

The gentle music stopped and a silence fell over the warehouse.

Baek Ho approached the pile of bodies.

He looked at the soulless shells and imagined their futures.

Would they be buried and become the deceased?

Or would they be converted into Undead and sent to the battlefield?

Perhaps they’d end up at construction sites or food factories.

Whatever the case.

In Underheaven, Undead are high-value resources.

“…”

Baek Ho suddenly remembered something an old professor at the academy had said.

Now that humanity had lost the war.

Only necromancers could die in peace.

They argued that only they should be free from death.

Soon, UHPD officers checked the victims’ identities.

Thanks to implanted mechanical bodies, families were contacted quickly.

The problem began from there.

“That’s not something our side can resolve…”

“No, ma’am. As I said, we cannot perform Undead procedures on our end…”

“We are not the ones providing compensation.”

“Why would we buy your husband’s corpse?”

“Enlisting Undead is not under our jurisdiction. I’ll give you a number to call.”

Baek Ho and his group passed through the hectic officers.

On Frank’s shoulder.

A comatose Undead lay there.

---

In front of the mega-building housing manufacturing companies.

An abandoned construction site.

Among drug dealers and homeless people, a man’s sobbing could be heard here.

“Please… I’m begging you…”

The man clutched his lover and spoke.

As she was a comatose Undead, she showed no movement.

Like a corpse.

Or like a person in a deep sleep.

“Necromancer… please have mercy…”

“Impossible.”

Baek Ho’s voice was flat.

Mujin stepped forward to give further explanation, but Baek Ho raised a hand to stop him.

He continued, looking at the man kneeling before him.

“You must never wake her.”

“Why… there are Undead everywhere on the streets… why is my wife the only one who can’t be…”

“White Bone Society botched the Undeading. It’s a failed procedure. To be precise, the Life Vessel is the problem. They used unrefined mana stones and, on top of that, forcibly mixed several necromancers’ black magic power into it. They tampered with the neural network… anyway, no. If you wake her like this she’ll for sure become a Mad eater.”

“No… please…”

The man shook his head.

Either he didn’t understand, or he followed the old adage about not trusting necromancers blindly.

He continued to deny reality.

“W-wait…”

The man quickly took off his company jumper.

He pulled an envelope of money from an inside pocket.

“I have money… I’ll get more… please… save my wife…”

Baek Ho remained silent.

He wanted to tell the man to give up, to use the money for a funeral, to speak calmly and leave.

But if he left now, it was obvious what the man might do, so he couldn’t.

He’d probably spend a lifetime’s savings seeking out Necromancers and Tech-surgeons.

He’d sign some unknown contract at an Undead specialty hospital.

He’d lose his money, and his wife’s body would become an experimental subject in the name of advancing black magic.

“Damn it…”

Baek Ho pressed his temple hard.

He swept his hair back with both hands.

“You know what a Mad eater is.”

“I-I have an idea…”

“The soul bound to the vessel dies. The body remains, consumed by hunger and murderous instinct, becoming a monster.”

“…”

“For now at least her soul hasn’t died. Isn’t it better to let her go?”

“But…”

“Would you be okay if your wife turned into a deranged zombie?”

“If… if I could meet her again… if only that were possible…”

He couldn’t make a rational judgment.

Or he didn’t trust him.

Frank approached the frowning Baek Ho.

“Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

“Bring them to the car.”

“Who? That woman? Why?”

“Because there’s leftover power.”

Baek Ho put a black charcoal stick in his mouth and trudged toward the parked car.

‘Let’s give it a shot…’

You never know.

His diagnosis might be wrong.

A miracle beyond magic or science could occur.

A makeshift operating table had been set up in the backseat and trunk of the car.

He laid the comatose wife down and took position by her head.

This wasn’t the car he had bought for this, yet the size fit perfectly.

“Huff…”

With Baek Ho’s sigh, dark smoke flowed from his mouth.

It filled the interior of the car.

He inhaled the black charcoal stick deeply once more and looked down at the neatly laid Undead.

Her expression was peaceful.

So peaceful he almost didn’t want to wake her.

“Replacing the vessel is impossible. Attempting to remove it will make her brain explode. Instead, I’ll completely purge the impure black magic power inside and fill it with my own black magic power.”

“Is… is that really possible…?”

The man’s voice carried doubt.

When Baek Ho said he’d operate, the man’s extinguished hope welled up, along with impure thoughts.

Maybe going to a big hospital would be better?

What about seeking a more famous necromancer?

If he sold his house, he might not reach the seventh-generation necromancer families, but perhaps afford one of their staff?

“Ha.”

Baek Ho gave a hollow laugh, sensing the man’s doubts.

Before he could respond, Mujin stepped forward.

“Do you know who this person is and still act like that?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think it’s reasonable to overturn a failed procedure in the first place?”

“Mujin.”

At Baek Ho’s call, Mujin bowed his head and stepped back.

He had been more cautious in his manner ever since learning Baek Ho’s identity.

“Necromancer…”

The man bowed his head.

Distracted by his wife, he had momentarily forgotten the necromancer’s severity.

“I didn’t mean that…”

“Enough. I’ll start, so step back.”

Baek Ho placed his hand over the wife’s head.

He focused on the black magic power contained in the vessel.

He slowly pushed it out and began filling the empty space with his own black magic power.

Ssss—

The vessel’s durability was weaker than he had thought.

It was like pouring hot water into a bowl made of ice.

If he messed up, the vessel and her brain could melt away together.

Baek Ho poured more of his will into preventing such a disaster.

He finely adjusted the rate of change and ‘temperature’ so the bowl wouldn’t melt.

A black shimmer rose from the wife’s forehead.

The impure black magic power previously contained flowed out through her sweat pores.

“Huh…”

Mujin clicked his tongue.

He had seen the process of replacing black magic power in vessels a few times.

He had even experienced it personally.

Usually it’s expelled through large openings like the nose and mouth.

It’s quicker and more convenient for the necromancer.

But the subject suffers severe pain and aftereffects.

Therefore, many Reapers replace ocular parts after such procedures.

But Baek Ho was extracting it through the sweat pores.

Since they are natural outlets, it is said to cause less pain and no aftereffects.

However, it consumes the necromancer’s willpower many times over, and if the skill is lacking it can’t even be attempted, so it’s rarely used.

‘As expected, Baek is Baek…’

Baek Ho’s face was drenched in sweat.

The wife’s face had turned pitch-black from the impurities seeping out of her pores.

After lighting two more charcoal sticks,

Baek Ho opened the eyes he had closed.

Under the intense gazes of the three men, she slowly opened her mouth.

“For now… success.”

“Ah, ah!”

The husband collapsed as if overcome.

He grabbed the rear of the car and let tears fall.

“Thank you… thank you…”

But Baek Ho’s expression was not good.

“Ten days. Maybe a week.”

“…Yes?”

“The time this woman can hold on. That’s assuming she doesn’t suffer brain shock.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“The black magic power in the vessel will leak out quickly. You won’t be able to refill it.”

There’s no way to repair an already broken vessel without replacement.

Never.

“Ah… ah…”

Don’t be regretful.

It’s a miracle you bought that much time with such a trash vessel.

Baek Ho swallowed the words he wanted to say.

“Spend the remaining time well. Don’t run around trying to fix her—use that time to make one more good memory.”

Baek Ho stepped out of the trunk.

He moved his incredibly heavy body as he walked.

He sat down on an old tire placed a short distance from the car.

Right…

I’ve done what I could…

At that moment, the wife woke up.

“Ugh… h-honey…?”

“Y-yeah! It’s me! I’m here!”

The husband embraced his wife.

The wife was confused, not knowing what had happened.

She soon grabbed her head and cried out in pain.

Baek Ho had taken precautions in advance to prevent psychological shock.

He would have liked to excise recent memories completely, but he wasn’t a psychiatrist, so it was impossible.

“Honey… why are you crying…?”

“It’s nothing… nothing…”

Frank and Mujin also left the couple alone and moved away from the car.

They approached and stood beside Baek Ho.

“Necromancer.”

“Why…”

“Truly impressive. You don’t need any title.”

“Why don’t you quit being a Fixer and work at the legion hospital? I’ll be your nurse.”

“Both of you shut up…”

The construction site surroundings were quiet.

There wasn’t much traffic due to the location, so it was peaceful.

It seemed like the perfect place to rest when—

A car with loud music rolled past beside the construction site.

It stopped at a signal, and a calm, plaintive voice drifted in.

<Close your eyes, and run away-♬

A song recently popular from being used in ads.

Though it’s sung by the leader of I_Vu and Frank should have chimed in, he didn’t.

No, he couldn’t.

Because it was the same song that had been playing incessantly in White Bone Society’s warehouse earlier.

“Tsk…”

The power of music.

The associative effect of the music pulled the image of the warehouse into Baek Ho’s memory.

The same happened to Mujin and Frank.

They all felt an automatic sinking feeling.

“Our I_Vu has been tainted… it can’t be…”

<I am fine, I do not blame you-♬

And then.

They were not the only ones in the warehouse at that time.

“Gyaaah!”