Chapter 1: E Between D And F - Undeadog (1)

Sophia felt pressured.

In the already cramped office, Baek Ho perched on the desk, looking down at her, while Frank sat on the mattress, eyes half-lidded.

“I’m here to request an Undeadog job.”

At her words, both Baek Ho and Frank looked at the same spot.

“What’s so special about that?”

“So annoying…”

Sophia tilted her head and followed their gaze.

On the table sat a puppy plush, still in its packaging, beside a box labeled Undeadog.

“Ah~ So that plush is called an Undeadog. I saw tons on the train… must be trendy these days?”

Her smile slowly faded.

Because Baek Ho and Frank were deadly serious.

…Hadn’t she been joking?

They clearly didn’t know the meaning of the Undeadog she meant.

“I mean hunters who catch runaway Undead. It’s one of the jobs Fixers do a lot…”

She remembered Baek Ho hadn’t been a Fixer for long. He’d been a royal citizen, untouched by work like this until recently. He hadn’t fully adapted to the city’s underbelly yet.

“If you only recently became a Fixer… you might not know.”

“No, I was just a bit confused.”

“Right. Not long.”

Their gazes collided in the air.

Baek Ho frowned; Frank snorted.

“I must have been mistaken.”

Sophia smiled faintly and extended her left hand toward Baek Ho.

“Shall we check the subject of the request?”

Baek Ho didn’t take her hand immediately. Instead, he sent a short message to Frank.

They clasped hands.

When Smartbone met Smartbone, a holographic window appeared before them… a prompt asking whether to play the Virtual Observer video.

“Start it.”

Baek Ho’s vision shuttered; he felt his body lift.

---

{Playing video.}

Inside a factory full of mechanical noise.

A man removed his purification mask and wiped beneath his nose.

Grime streaked his gloves, acrid as it smeared, but he kept smiling.

“Not much left…”

He’d managed a preorder for the popular Undeadog kids were obsessed with. Because it was a doll infused with a necromancer’s dark magic, it cost far more than a robot puppy… but thinking of his daughter, it wasn’t a waste.

He took a photo from his pocket.

His daughter, beaming, clutching a stuffed puppy.

“Hey, Deiven.”

A coworker slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Looking at your daughter’s picture again?”

“Yeah. I never get tired of it. I’m happy.”

“Happy, my ass… if you finished your quota, go home. You’ve been pushing too hard lately.”

“I’m fine. Strangely, I’ve been full of energy.”

“Oh my, becoming a dad turned you superhuman?”

“Yeah. You should meet someone nice and get married soon… ugh!”

Deiven suddenly clutched his head.

He dropped to his knees as if collapsing.

“What’s wrong! Are you okay?”

“My head… it hurts so much…”

“Maybe he inhaled too much mana-stone dust! Get him upstairs… eek!”

The coworker recoiled from Deiven in alarm.

“You… you…”

His jaw trembled as he pointed.

Blue mist billowed from Deiven’s body like steam.

“Ah… no…”

Deiven looked down at his hands and shook his head.

“It’s not me… not me…”

Despite his denial, he knew exactly what was happening.

He’d seen it countless times in videos.

An ordinary person suddenly gaining magic-driven power.

An Awakening.

“No… no!”

Deiven screamed, his whole body trembling.

Unlike dust, the radiant blue light wouldn’t fall away.

Instead, it was rapidly absorbed into him.

“Tsk, tsk…”

Nearby coworkers clicked their tongues and shook their heads.

“What a pity…”

“If he’d Awakened younger, he could’ve gone to a superhuman academy…”

“Adults don’t even get the dark-magic test, do they…?”

“Yeah… Necromancer, my ass… he’ll be turned into a Reaper and dragged to the frontlines…”

“All his memories will be wiped too…”

Their voices reached Deiven.

Because he had Awakened, they sounded louder than usual; rage surged, and he slammed his fist into the floor.

Onlookers startled and stepped back.

“Why me… why!”

Through his furious haze, he spotted his daughter’s photo on the ground.

To have to erase the memory of that child…

The thought that he might never see her again…

The more he thought, the more his heart felt crushed and crushed.

Rage welled up.

Then the voice of the coworker who’d greeted him kindly moments ago cut through.

“An Awakening just popped up here… you need to come quickly… any reward for reporting…?”

“Fuck!”

Deiven shouted, glaring at the coworker.

The man flinched and covered his mouth.

“D-Deiven, it’s for your own… “

“Shut up!”

He punched the wall beside him.

Metal bent with a crunch. Black liquid burst out.

“I can’t die like this!”

His bloodshot eyes roved.

He sprang up and ran.

He hurled himself at a barred window.

Clang!

Beyond the scattering glass, a brilliant city of lights stretched out.

Wrapped in neon, he plunged into the dizzying depths below.

A holographic billboard glowed where Deiven disappeared.

–Don’t hide. Don’t conceal it. Underheaven needs your power.

On it, a man Awakened, blue light blazing.

• You are humanity’s hero.

---

“So.”

Baek Ho closed the video.

“You’re asking me to catch this man?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“He’s human, not Undead.”

“Chasing runaway Awakened is also called Undeadog in the industry. They’re going to become Reapers soon anyway.”

“…I know.”

He rubbed his chin.

“Isn’t this the Superhuman Management Department’s job? Why hire a Fixer?”

“This client… “

A large hand appeared in front of Sophia.

Frank held out a mug of coffee.

“Drink.”

“Ah, thank you.”

A rich, distinctive aroma rose as she took it.

“The client for this job is Deiven’s wife. In other words, she wants him brought back, not captured.”

“…His wife?”

“Yes.”

“Why? If it’s family, wouldn’t they hope he runs successfully? If he becomes a Reaper, he’ll lose all his memories.”

Her tone turned cold.

“Are they after family compensation? Considering what Reapers go through on the frontlines, that money’s nothing…”

When Baek Ho finished, Sophia answered gently.

“An Awakened who refuses to become a Reaper has all records erased. They’ll never see their family again… are you sure that’s the better choice?”

“…”

“Memories are important, of course. But I wonder if they’re as precious as relationships.”

It struck at Baek Ho’s recent worries.

Memory and relationships. Which is truly more precious?

In truth, he wasn’t in a position to choose. It had been six months since he’d fled the academy to drift through the city with Frank. He’d been a Fixer only a few months. Leaving empty-handed, money was getting tight.

A message from Frank flashed across his vision.

“…”

Baek Ho looked at Sophia instead of replying.

“I have a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“What happens to an Awakened who runs and is caught?”

“It depends on the time. If they exceed the deadline, not only are their memories reset… every record of their life is erased. If they return before the deadline… aside from being assigned a rather tough battlefield, there isn’t much else. Their memories are, of course, reset.”

“I see…”

He rubbed his chin.

Watching him, Sophia recalled Commander Baek. Putting aside the resemblance in features, the atmosphere was unmistakably kin.

“Do it.”

“…Yes?”

“I’m taking the job.”

“Good choice. Then the contract… “

“Before that, one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Reapers can’t work as brokers, can they?”

Sophia hesitated for a beat.

How did he know I’m a Reaper?

She wasn’t showing a Necroshell outwardly, nor was she weighed down with front-line weapons.

She pushed aside the curiosity. She didn’t want to waste time and stir suspicion.

“I’m a free Reaper, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh… company-affiliated? You were precious, huh.”

Sophia gave a faint smile.

As she turned back to the contract, Baek Ho lifted a hand.

“Second question.”

“You said just one earlier…”

“Why me? Upstairs there are plenty of Fixers with experience and time.”

He suspected her. Even if their run-in at the bar was coincidental, coming all the way here was suspicious.

Sophia met his sharp gaze with a smile.

“I saw you outside the bar… when you caught a fugitive.”

“Ah…”

“Of course, the biggest factor was that you could hire a necromancer for the right price.”

His guard eased a little at the expected answer.

“Makes sense.”

“Any more questions?”

“No.”

“Then here’s the contract.”

A holographic document rose between them.

He skimmed the numbers before the text.

“…”

His brow twitched.

Frank, counting right beside him, shook his head.

“There’s one more merit. Idiot.”

“Hm? No, it’s fine. This amount is correct.”

“…”

Baek Ho casually swept his hair back.

Frank, meanwhile, grinned and thrust out his fist.

“Oh! Ooh!”

He waggled it, asking to be met.

Baek Ho pretended not to see and looked away.

{The contract has been executed.}

A notification popped up; a notarized document from the Fixers’ Association saved to the Smartbone.

Given the sum involved, resolving this job would grant a substantial chunk of credit points… raising his Fixer license rank and opening higher-tier contracts.

“Here’s the advance.”

At Sophia’s gesture, a deposit notice popped up before Baek Ho.

The corner of his mouth ticked. From the movement of his jaw, it looked like he was stifling a smile.

“Shall we go right now? Or is it too late… tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Understood. I’ll see you here tomorrow.”

Baek Ho tilted his head.

“Why meet tomorrow? A broker just assigns the job, right?”

“Oh my…”

Sophia smiled sweetly.

“Didn’t you read the contract? I’m to accompany you until the request is complete.”

“What nonsense…”

A copy of the contract floated between them. A portion zoomed in: in small print, it stated she would move with him until the job finished.

“You know breaking the contract tanks your Fixer credit score, right? You’ll have to pay five times the advance as a penalty.”

“…I know.”

“Oh, I didn’t know.”

This time, neither of them looked at the other.

A short while later, Sophia left. The office quieted around the two of them.

Baek Ho tapped the mug on the table with a fingernail.

“I’ve been completely played…”

It was clearly a purposeful approach.

There was another reason beyond the job.

Did she know he was Baek family?

No… no way.

He was sure… he knew how tightly they concealed him from above.

“Does she need a necromancer to hold and control him? Even a free Reaper would have activity restrictions…”

He operated his Smartbone.

He sent a message to someone.

[I’m sending an item now… look into it for me.]

He placed the mug Sophia had touched into a sealed container.

[I need a Reaper profile. I want to know who the handler is.]

In the last six months, Baek Ho had seen and learned a lot.

---

The sky was crimson.

An in-between hour… not day, not night.

Like humanity turning into something neither human nor corpse.

The ground was thick with blood.

The field lay strewn with bodies in military uniforms.

Around them lay ownerless weapons and prosthetics.

Crueler than the traces of battle was the truth that followed:

Demonic beings still prowled the dead.

They moved like colossal wolves, burying snouts into corpses.

Then…

<We will not be defeated.

With a low, grave voice, a man appeared beneath the red field.

Black hair, black eyes.

A black coat snapping in the wind; a commander’s uniform heavy with medals.

Commander Baek.

<We will not fall.

The demonic beings answered with threatening roars. Their faces twisted, fangs bared.

Even with dozens of giants glaring murder, Commander Baek did not flinch.

Perhaps their pride was wounded.

They opened their jaws and surged forward as one.

They stamped over the bodies in the red field and swarmed downward.

Amid killing intent pouring from all directions, Commander Baek slowly raised both arms.

Black mist burst from him like a storm.

Whoosh!

Dark magic swept across the red earth.

It seized the demons’ throats.

It wrapped the trampled corpses in shadow.

Crack… bodies writhed.

Torn wounds fused; severed limbs sought their mates and reattached.

They rose.

Broken prosthetics reassembled; fallen weapons found hands.

Waaaah!

The resurrected roared; the ground shook.

<We await you.

At Commander Baek’s voice, the immortal legion charged.

Those with swords swung them; those with guns pulled their triggers.

And dark silhouettes passed overhead…

Twelve Reapers in black coats.

They ravaged the demonic beings… bisecting the unkillable, blowing them apart in instants.

Soon, none remained alive in the red field.

<We will surely win.

Commander Baek stooped and picked up a soldier’s head from the ground… one whose body the demons had eaten.

<Sir… Commander…

The head rasped.

<Did we win…?

<Yes. Thanks to you.

<Ah…

<You did well. I’ll remake your body.

A tear rolled down the severed face.

Commander Baek tucked the head beneath his arm and climbed the field toward the summit.

Behind him strode twelve Reapers, each distinct… some hiding their faces however they could, others forcing theirs to be seen.

At the summit, the crimson sky shifted blue, and a holographic slogan rose, vast and bright:

• Take up arms for your family.

• You too can be a hero.

“Oh! That’s me!”

A white-haired man shot up from his chair, clapping as he pointed to a corner of the giant screen. Half his face was hidden by the cheering soldiers.

“Ah… looks a bit swollen.”

They were at the Portal Station.

A place that had stayed quiet for lack of passengers now had one more body in it.

“Let’s go.”

Commander Baek strode past.

The white-haired man leapt to follow, close at his heels.

“But do those things really boost voluntary enlistment rates?”

“If it helps, we should believe it.”

They headed for the station entrance.

Crossing the lounge, the man suddenly spoke as if remembering something.

“What about Sophia?”

“She’s on leave.”

“Whoa, success?”

Commander Baek had intended to leave Sophia in the city… to keep her near Baek Ho for a while. She’d refused at first but eventually changed her mind.

“She saw that Baek Ho fellow in person and changed her mind.”

“Did she fall for him at first sight? Baek Ho’s in his mid-twenties… the age gap’s too big! Even if Reapers don’t age, there’s etiquette…”

“Nonsense.”

They stepped out of the Portal Station.

A vast landing pad and a gigantic wall filled their view… an endless expanse of ash-gray. A deep, wide tunnel yawned through the center. Only necessary lights burned.

Vroom…

A black mid-sized hovercar descended above them, blue heat streaming from its exhaust.

“Anyway,” the white-haired man said, looking up, “Baek Ho’s protection is solid. That’s a relief.”

“Protection, my ass. It’s unnecessary.”

“Huh? Then why did you send her?”

At his question, Commander Baek turned back.

He gazed at the brilliantly lit Underheaven in the dark… humanity’s last ark, guarded at the cost of countless necromancers and even more Reapers.

“I told her to show Baek Ho reality.”

“…Reality?”

“He needs to know too… how noble the dream he gave up really was.”