Tap the text to show or hide reading controls.
A few hours earlier.
UH Stadium performers’ waiting room.
Edeline Nana was sitting in front of a vanity with a broken mirror.
Calm eyes and a bloodless face.
She was letting a song flow out with an expression full of sorrow.
“The only star shining in the darkness… I wish that were you…”
A shard of glass in her hand dropped to the floor.
It hit the pool of blood on the floor and blood splattered everywhere.
A notification window popped up before Nana’s eyes.
The blood that had been flowing down her hand stopped instantly and the wound healed.
The waiting room door burst open.
Guards in combat suits came in and began to clean the scene.
They wiped the blood from the floor and removed the shards of glass.
No one glanced at her; they only did their jobs until it was over.
It was the order of her agency’s owner and manager, the Necromancer.
The staff left, and this time the manager and the stylist rushed in.
The stylist cleaned Nana’s hands thoroughly.
The manager sat beside her and sighed heavily.
“Why are you doing this again?”
“…”
“Do you know how many times this has been this month alone? The boss will kill me at this rate!”
“…”
“No… okay, I get it. I know you hate your songs being used like that. I know. But what about us? Don’t you think about us? Do you think protesting like this will change anything?”
“…”
“Please stop. No, at least don’t touch your face and neck. I’m begging you.”
The manager pointed at the area around Nana’s eyes with his finger.
The stylist skillfully fixed her smeared eye makeup.
“Anyway, we’re leaving for the recording studio in thirty minutes, so get ready. We’ll send guards in, so don’t do anything stupid.”
“…”
“The new guard is an executioner by trade. Heard of him? A Reaper that hunts Reapers.”
“…”
“This is the last time. No one wants to be your personal guard anymore. Who would, when they keep getting fired by the boss?”
“…”
“Damn, who am I talking to… Come in quickly!”
At the manager’s signal, a long-haired man entered.
A scar etched on his forehead, headphones hanging around his neck.
It was Li Mujin.
“Please take care of me.”
“Thanks for volunteering, but I can’t promise anything. As you can see, our artist is a bit sensitive.”
“It’s fine. Just pay me well. Give me my money and I’ll do anything.”
Nana’s eyes shifted sideways and looked at Mujin.
’…Brother?’
A look of pleasant surprise overlaid her eyes.
Back in the office.
Baek Ho looked at Nana sitting on the torn sofa.
She nervously bit her full lips and picked at the nail art on her right hand.
The more he looked, the more she seemed out of place in this dingy, messy space.
“So.”
Baek Ho pressed his index finger to his temple and asked.
“You want me to make you into a dead person?”
“Yes… I want to erase myself from Underheaven…”
Luckily, she wasn’t literally asking to be killed.
‘How dare she dump this kind of job on me?’
It was none other than Mujin who brought Nana to the office.
He didn’t know what relationship she had with him or how much had been promised.
He said he’d help if she explained the situation.
From her reaction, he probably hadn’t mentioned the Baek family.
Baek Ho moved his eyes to look at Nana’s left hand.
It was tucked deep in her flight-jacket pocket, but the fabric wasn’t bulging.
He sent a contact request to check.
“Looks like you dropped your Smartbone somewhere.”
“Ah… because of tracking…”
“It couldn’t have been easy to cut it out.”
“He was very thorough about cutting it…”
Baek Ho leaned against the desk and folded his arms.
“Let me ask why. Why would someone loved by the public like you want to run away?”
“Run away…?”
“You said you want to become a dead person. Isn’t that running away?”
“Ah… I guess so…”
“Again, if you try to deceive me, this won’t work out.”
“That won’t happen…”
“Then tell me. Why should I help you?”
Nana took a slow, deep breath.
She hesitated and worried whether she should tell her story to a Necromancer she’d never met.
The problem was that he was a Necromancer in the first place.
Wasn’t it said that Necromancers were almost all the same kind?
But this man was somehow different.
Even after revealing she was a Reaper, he behaved the same as before.
He didn’t give her a lecherous look, and his pleasant appearance too…
No, it was the way he looked at her as a person, not a tool.
She’d met many sorcerers, but she’d never felt this comfortable before.
Nana gathered her thoughts and spoke.
“What do you think is the secret to I_Vu’s popularity, Sir?”
“…Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not… I’ll just show you directly… just a moment.”
Nana closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Then she slowly parted her lips and began to hum.
“Mmm~ mm~”
Baek Ho furrowed his brow sharply.
What is this all of a sudden?
Her random action contrasted with a surprisingly serious expression.
‘She’s also a Reaper, right? She looks like she’s not quite right in the head.’
The melody was familiar.
He must have heard the song a few times because of Frank.
“Mmm~ hmm~”
As time passed and he wondered what this was.
Baek Ho’s heart began to beat faster.
Not an emotional change but a physical reaction.
It felt like taking a deep drag of a graphite candle or downing an Agony drink.
His mind floated and an inexplicable euphoria washed over his body.
Why all of a sudden…
Because of that humming?
Baek Ho stared intently at Nana’s face.
And then he noticed.
Her heart was glowing more intensely than before.
Vrrr—
A vibration came to the back of Baek Ho’s hand and a notification window appeared before his eyes.
The vitals display showed several values returning to normal.
His bodily fatigue, caused by the contract with the Calamity Bird, was quickly recovering.
“What the…”
When Baek Ho spoke, Nana stopped humming.
She looked him straight in the eye.
She moved her lips and spoke with concern and suspicion in her eyes.
“I’m… an Irregular…”
Irregular.
An Awakening who, in addition to sensing and using magic, possesses unique special abilities.
It’s the same principle as Baek Ho sensing the aura of magic.
“As you probably felt… my voice has a special power…”
“Oh. It does.”
“You were surprised, right…?”
“A little? I didn’t expect to see an Irregular inside the city.”
“Right… everyone would be on the battlefield.”
She’d somehow managed to avoid being detected until now.
Baek Ho swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
“So. Is this the reason for I_Vu’s popularity?”
“Yes… If you came to a concert and heard it live, you’d feel very good.”
“Does it have an effect on recorded music too?”
“To some extent…”
Baek Ho glanced to the side.
Frank lay neatly on the mattress.
A happy smile filled his face as if dreaming something pleasant.
Could he be like that because of the same reason?
“I admit you have an extraordinary ability. But what does that have to do with you wanting to become a dead person?”
“…”
Nana paused for a moment.
She bit her lips as if deep in thought.
Baek Ho waited quietly, and Nana began to speak with difficulty.
“My voice… is being used by the White Bone Society…”
White Bone Society again?
“Explain in detail.”
Nana composed herself.
She gripped a cruciform pendant hidden under her clothes with her right hand and began to explain.
“Actually, not long ago…”
A long explanation followed.
About how the agency owner and manager, the Necromancer, was colluding with White Bone Society to commit something.
And what her songs were going to be used for.
“…To put it plainly, using my ability to stimulate a vessel to turn Undead into Mad eater…”
“Wait.”
Baek Ho stopped speaking.
“Give me a moment to think.”
He remembered something from a few days ago.
Nana’s singing that had come from White Bone Society’s Undead production plant.
He even recalled the moment when his wife, whose vessel he’d barely fixed, heard Nana’s song and turned into a Mad eater.
Baek Ho pressed his temple hard.
They’re experimenting to forcibly turn Undead into Mad eater?
The woman’s surgical failure wasn’t an accident but intentional?
Why would White Bone Society do that?
They’re challenging the authority of corporations?
Questions piled up in Baek Ho’s mind.
It didn’t make sense, and it wasn’t something he could solve on his own.
“How did you find out about this?”
“The boss was drunk and mumbled his thoughts… I investigated as soon as I heard it…”
“Hmm…”
“I can’t stand by while my voice is used for something like that… If left as is, later…”
“They could even turn ordinary Undead into Mad eater.”
“That’s right… That’s my biggest worry…”
It’s only speculation, but still.
If it actually happened, he couldn’t even imagine the upheaval it would cause in Underheaven.
“How many people know about your ability?”
“No one except the boss and a few close aides… The boss is very greedy… he wouldn’t want rumors getting out.”
“Right. The corporation would snatch you away.”
Baek Ho thought as he spoke.
Maybe a corporation is involved in this terrible plan.
Could White Bone Society have done this without corporate backing?
“So do you know how far along the experiment is?”
“From what I heard, it’s not complete yet… that’s why they keep asking me to record…”
Baek Ho turned his gaze back to Frank.
An experiment to forcibly turn Undead into Mad eater.
If this progresses and affects Reapers as well?
He couldn’t just stand by.
“Let’s do it.”
“R-Really…?”
Nana’s pupils dilated.
She hadn’t really expected much.
She’d come believing Mujin, but expected refusal because White Bone Society was involved.
A lone Necromancer confronting the five major gangs was too dangerous.
Afterwards she planned to take the risk and seek out a famed sorcerer family.
Among them, Izanami Corporation.
She thought the Yagami family, who had treated her kindly, might help easily.
“Is there a way…?”
“There is.”
“I’m a LifeGuard diamond member. Unless I’m injured, I won’t be tracked… but can I really become a dead person?”
There are two ways to make an Undead a dead person.
Breaking the vessel to actually kill them.
Completely removing the vessel and Smartbone and implanting new ones.
Assuming the Smartbone was removed during the stadium escape, the problem was the vessel.
If you tamper with the vessel, the nano-mithril in the bloodstream will activate.
And then they’ll call the LifeGuard.
Baek Ho also knew how to overcome this.
“You have to get outside the city.”
“…What? Outside the city?”
“Yes. LifeGuard service doesn’t work outside.”
“Ah…”
Biological services that make daily life convenient, aside from combat functions, only work within Underheaven.
“But how would you get out…? I’m an S-rank royal citizen…”
“Right, you wouldn’t pass a scan, let alone the gate.”
“Yes…”
“Fortunately, I know an expert in that field.”
Baek Ho manipulated his Smartbone and sent a message to someone.
As soon as he sent it, a reply came as if waiting.
Sneaking out of the city was the specialty of the rebels, no, the Liberation Army.
The promise to grant a favor in exchange for feeding an electroshock device.
“Ah.”
Above S-rank is SS-rank.
And above that, the V-rank reserved for the owner families of the seven major corporations and high-ranking central government officials.
They were the people the City Defense Force must protect first.
About ten seconds passed.
A reply from Elise arrived.
He brushed the hologram window aside.
“Done. In a few hours you can get out.”
“Wow… Really…? You’re truly capable…”
“There are some things to keep in mind first.”
“Go ahead.”
“Have you ever been outside?”
“No…”
Baek Ho pressed his forehead tightly and continued.
“You could really die.”
“…”
“Be prepared.”
“…Yes?”
“No, steel yourself.”
Reading Settings