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“Ugh…”
When he opened his eyes, he saw a concrete ceiling.
It was a corridor with flickering neon lights hanging at regular intervals, and Frank’s face was looming close beside him.
“You awake?”
Baek Ho was gently curled up against Frank.
The so-called princess hold.
“…What is this nonsense?”
“I couldn’t carry you, didn’t want your blood on my jacket.”
“Let go!”
When Baek Ho struggled, Frank roughly dropped him onto the floor.
He staggered as soon as he hit the ground.
He clutched his head from the dizziness.
“Ugh… this sucks…”
He looked around.
The basement parking corridor of the mega building that housed the D&F offices.
Baek Ho leaned against the wall and sighed.
He checked his condition by accessing his Smartbone.
Heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, mental contamination, trauma stability, familiar control, familiar synchronization rate, and so on.
Most of the metrics were not good.
But conversely, things related to black magic power had increased by one tier.
’…It increased this much?’
This is the most primal way to increase the quality and quantity of black magic power.
Like forging metal by hammering to raise its strength, you just keep using and replenishing it repeatedly.
Although your lifespan will drop in the process, there’s nothing to be done.
This is the fate of a modern Necromancer.
Anyway, through this contract with the Calamity Bird, all stats related to black magic power increased.
Holding capacity, recovery speed, manifestation density, and consumption rate all rose.
That means that just confronting the Calamity Bird through illusion magic dealt a heavy blow to his life force.
What if he could summon the full original body into the living world?
He might be able to sweep away the demonic beings like sweeping leaves with a broom.
“How did we get here?”
Baek Ho stepped into the elevator and pressed a button as he spoke.
“I brought you in your car.”
“Who drove? You can’t drive.”
“I towed it.”
Frank raised his left change arm to show it.
The five fingers had merged into a single hook shape.
Like a winch on a tow truck.
“You dragged the car all the way here…?”
“That’s right.”
“Impressive.”
“Frank knows too.”
Baek Ho pressed the button to go back to the basement parking.
“Why?”
“Need to check the car’s condition.”
“I’m hungry. Let’s eat first.”
“No. Check first.”
The elevator didn’t stop.
It went up to the floor with the office.
The doors swung open and Baek Ho hammered the close button.
Tatadadada—
When the doors were about halfway closed, someone reached out and grabbed them.
They leaned forward to peek at the area in front of their office.
“What the—”
Someone was there.
A person in a thick flight jumper and a cap hat sat crouched down.
From the silhouette, it was a woman.
Her glimpsed pale skin reminded him of someone.
“…Sophia?”
My patsy? Or my treasure jar?
Baek Ho hurried out of the elevator.
He briskly crossed the corridor and then stopped.
Does it show that I’ve been waiting?
My pride’s a little hurt.
Baek Ho glanced at Frank beside him.
Frank was picking his nose with a blank face.
“Hey, give me that placard.”
“Why?”
“I might as well be a fan too.”
“You’re lying.”
“If I ask, just give it.”
Baek Ho snatched the placard from Frank’s tuxedo jacket as if taking it by force.
[Underheaven’s Star ★ I_Vu]
He held it in his left hand.
He put his remaining right hand into the inner pocket of his coat.
He pulled out and gripped a purple light stick with a bead on the end.
“Oh, that’s cool. Where’d you get it?”
“Found it.”
“Frank’s not dumb. You didn’t buy that for Frank, did you?”
“Of course not. Your dreams are too self-centered.”
He walked steadily, holding the cheering items in both hands.
He forced a less sullen expression.
I’m relaxed right now.
There’s nothing urgent.
He repeated it silently to himself to lighten his step.
His great-aunt, the CEO of Yeomra, used to say this.
She said that a hurried person loses in one-on-one dealings, so never show you’re waiting for someone.
Even if you must wait, never show it; otherwise you’ll be forced to sit at the bargaining table with disadvantaged terms.
Click—
He flipped the light stick’s switch up and light poured from the bead.
The dim hallway was instantly bathed in purple.
“Ooh!”
Frank’s mouth dropped open.
“Hold up the placard.”
“Got it!”
Frank raised both placards high.
He followed Baek Ho with a gleeful look as if the world were wonderful.
[I_Vu ♥ I_KILL FOR YOU]
[What good is resurrection without I_Vu]
The purple glow Baek Ho created had by now reached around the office area.
Sophia, who had been crouched in front of the office, sensed the light and stood up.
She wore a cap low and a purification mask covering her whole face.
“…”
Seeing her freeze up, the operation was a complete success.
“Who is this?”
Baek Ho smirked and stood in front of Sophia.
“You’re the witch of Chernobog. What’s the matter?”
“What’s going on?!”
Frank waved the placards left and right and echoed him.
“Do you need something from me?”
“Take your business to the bathroom!”
“…You should be quiet.”
Sophia slowly removed her cap.
Not brown hair but silvery-blond hair flowed down.
“Did you change hair parts? Or dye it?”
“Oo! The transfer theory fits better!”
“…”
When Sophia pressed the chin of her purification mask, the mechanical bulk covering her face began shrinking.
It receded past her eyes, nose, and mouth.
The more her face was revealed, the stiffer Baek Ho and Frank’s expressions became.
She wasn’t Sophia.
“…”
“…”
Skin nearly white.
Thick brows and black irises.
A mysterious look that seemed to mix Eastern and Western features evenly.
“Oh…”
Baek Ho genuinely admired her.
She was one of the few women he could count as truly beautiful.
If it were a face procedure, that tech-surgeon would likely be a god in disguise.
But even such perfect beauty had a flaw.
An inexplicable melancholy.
As if black paint had been splattered onto a pristine white porcelain.
“Have we seen you somewhere? You seem familiar.”
“Ah… no. It’s my first time…”
“Your voice is pretty—no, it’s familiar.”
“That could be.”
As Baek Ho rummaged through a memory that was almost there but not quite.
Warning windows flashed in front of his eyes one after another.
Baek Ho was startled and looked to the side.
Frank’s face had gone bone-white and his jaw trembled.
“A. A. A. A. Aah.”
He kept repeating the same sound, then suddenly a dark blue light burst from the Necroshells on his limbs.
His tuxedo couldn’t withstand the magic and began to melt.
“W-What the hell. What’s wrong with this crazy bastard?”
“Ah, ah, ah…”
Like a broken robot, he snapped his head back and spoke in a faint voice.
“It’s Vu…”
“What?”
“It’s I_Vu…”
The large frame collapsed backward, shaking the corridor.
Baek Ho looked down at Frank with a disdainful eye.
“…Let’s quit. That’d be better.”
He sighed deeply, but the woman spoke again.
“Excuse me…”
“Hold on. Let me deal with this bastard first.”
He turned off the light stick switch and the corridor went dark again.
With no windows, the neon signs were all that lit the corridor, bathing the woman in that harsh blue-green light.
“…Hm?”
The woman’s silvery hair gave off a soft sheen.
A switch in Baek Ho’s memory flipped on.
He remembered a neatly posted poster in the office.
A group photo of I_Vu that Frank had guarded with tears when someone tried to tear it down.
He thought of one of the four women in white dresses.
‘Baek Ho, who’s the prettiest among them?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘I’m not answering anything about cars anymore.’
‘Hah… the one in the middle. The pale one.’
Baek Ho looked back at the woman before him.
Now he understood why she seemed familiar.
“You’re with I_Vu…”
He remembered the group name but couldn’t recall her individual name.
Seeing Baek Ho’s reaction, the woman bowed politely.
“Hello. I’m Edeline Nana, leader of I_Vu.”
She said it with a bright smile.
The gloomy look from moments ago was gone, replaced by bright energy.
As if someone had switched her to idol mode with a remote.
“Right? Oh, you look even better in person.”
Baek Ho remained as indifferent as usual.
Even if Edeline Nana was well-known in Underheaven, she couldn’t compare to Baek Ho, the heir apparent of one of the seven necromancer families.
Maybe it was because he’d been drilled with that fact since childhood.
Or maybe because he’d been through too much when he was young.
Even in front of a woman called a goddess, Baek Ho neither flinched nor fussed.
“Thank you…”
Edeline Nana bowed politely once more.
And Baek Ho noticed something.
She was staring fixedly at the placard in his left hand.
[Underheaven’s Star ★ I_Vu]
“That’s his.”
He quickly pointed at Frank.
The light stick in his hand swung and left a purple afterimage.
Pyororong.
“Thank you…”
“For what?”
“For liking us…”
“Since when did I?”
“…Huh?”
“Enough. So why did you come to see me?”
He wanted to welcome her warmly because of Frank, but he couldn’t.
He thought about it rationally.
A famous person like Edeline Nana wouldn’t entrust a job to a low-licensed Fixer like him.
So there’s only one conclusion.
“Did my aunt send you? Or my sister? Are they trying to lure me somewhere?”
Of course they would have come looking for the next head of the Baek family.
It was the same method used only a few months ago.
“Uh… I… what are you saying…?”
There was one more reasonable reason Baek Ho thought that way.
“It’s useless to deny it.”
Baek Ho rolled his eyes downward.
He looked at the area over Edeline Nana’s heart.
A dark blue glow was emanating.
‘The goddess of Underheaven is a Reaper…’
This was why he had mistaken her for Sophia.
Because the only female Reaper who would confidently come to him was Sophia.
This time he looked back at Edeline Nana’s eyes.
Between her eyes, in the middle of the forehead.
He saw a faintly glowing vessel implanted on the upper part of her glabella.
Given the unusual implantation spot, it seemed the managers had used tricks to avoid Undead scans.
“You.”
Baek Ho extended the light stick and aimed it at Edeline Nana’s forehead.
“Whether it’s my aunt or my sister, go tell them straight. I’m never going back home.”
He snapped the light stick into his inner pocket with a flourish.
Like handling a revolver.
“Go.”
Baek Ho turned toward the office door.
It was locked and wouldn’t open.
He rummaged his pockets for the card key but it wasn’t there.
“Damn…”
Should’ve switched to fingerprint recognition.
Baek Ho passed Edeline Nana and headed for Frank.
As he rummaged through Frank’s half-melted tuxedo, Edeline Nana approached.
“I want to request a job…”
“I’m not buying it.”
Despite Baek Ho’s cold reply, Edeline Nana didn’t give up.
Hesitating as if about to speak, she noticed the placard that had fallen next to Frank.
[I_Vu ♥ I_KILL FOR YOU]
She made a decision and continued speaking.
“Could you possibly kill someone for me…?”
“Geez. Why not at least do your homework on me? Relying on looks alone is lazy.”
Baek Ho found his card key and passed Edeline Nana again.
Without a glance, he brought it to the office door.
Just as he was about to step in, Edeline Nana grabbed the hem of his coat.
Her fingertips trembled.
“Wait…”
Baek Ho frowned and turned back.
He was about to snap an insult when Nana’s soft, quiet voice beat him to it.
“Please…”
“What?”
“Please… kill me…”
“…What?”
Edeline Nana lifted her head and looked up at Baek Ho.
When he met her deep, dark eyes.
Baek Ho saw his past self reflected there.
UH Stadium performers-only restroom.
Mujin stood in front of a running sink.
His long hair remained, but his clothes were different.
Instead of a coat, he wore combat gear labeled SECURITY.
“Damn it…”
He placed a bloodied hand axe on the sink and sighed.
“All that bullshit over some damn money…”
Bang bang!
The restroom door shook violently and shouts came from outside.
-Open the door now!
-Nana! Are you inside?
-Is everything okay? We’ll rescue you right away!
The iron door was firmly shut.
The protective magic designed to protect performers was now aiding the kidnapper.
“Tch.”
Mujin raised the axe and glanced to the side.
A woman’s pale hand lay neatly severed.
Mujin immediately struck the severed back of the hand with his axe.
Crack—
The Smartbone was completely destroyed.
This made it clear to everyone that Edeline Nana was in trouble.
There would be a trace on her, but he couldn’t help beyond that point.
“I wonder if that arrogant necromancer will help her.”
He swept his hair back and tied it with a rubber band.
He drew the hand axe from his waist and gripped it.
“Who really cares about who, anyway.”
By now, people outside would have noticed that something big had happened to Edeline Nana.
They would show no mercy.
As expected.
Kraaaaang–!
With a roar, one wall of the restroom collapsed.
Reapers in guard combat gear poured in through smoke grenades.
“Nana is missing!”
“Kill the kidnapper!”
“The opponent is a Reaper ex-executor! Hold until the LifeGuard arrives…”
Thud!
An axe flew from somewhere and plunged into a Reaper’s skull.
Within the gray veil created by the smoke.
Mujin stood with headphones on and a bored expression.
“Didn’t I tell you not to stop me?”
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