Summoning the Skeleton Soldier
It's hard to believe, but my mother has passed away.
After fainting from overwhelming sobs, I was carried to the mortuary.
My father was busy. He had to handle the necessary documents and procedures.
I watched him speak with hospital staff, confirm the funeral hall reservation, and carefully gather all the insurance paperwork. It broke my heart.
After arranging the funeral hall, my father informed relatives and acquaintances about my mother's passing. Clinging to the phone, he conveyed the news one by one... with a voice that tried to stay calm, but hidden grief seeped through.
"Oh my child... Hanbyeol-ah, Hanbyeol-ah. Why were you there... Oh, oh..."
The first person to arrive was my maternal grandmother.
Just as my mother had been everything to me, she would have been to her grandmother too.
Only then did my father burst into tears and kneel before her, repeating apologies. "I'm sorry." He apologized. My grandmother's frail hand struck my father's body, but it was her heart that truly pained her.
The atmosphere in the funeral hall was heavy.
It wasn't a hoax, after all.
More condolence gifts than expected arrived.
The Yakult company sent a wreath, and a man in a fairly high position came to discuss compensation with my father. "It will be processed under industrial accident insurance. We'll provide sufficient compensation, so a legal lawsuit isn't necessary," he said. Colleagues I had worked with also came. Since it had been a while, my father felt a bit happy to meet them again. We toasted with soju.
My friends also came.
Even though we didn't meet often, they comforted me without awkwardness. Whether to laugh or cry was unclear, so they said, "The bulgogi tastes better anyway. Eat more kal-guksu and go."
Friends only left after dawn.
Among my mother's close 'customers' she always bragged about, none sent condolences.
Was that natural? I don't know.
On the day of the cremation, my mother became a handful of ashes at the crematorium and was laid to rest in the columbarium.
Maybe because there were no more tears left to shed, after all the funeral rites ended, I felt strangely empty.
My father took out a cigarette he had quit and lit it.
"How's the civil service exam studying going?"
My father looked up at the sky and asked while blowing out smoke.
His appearance made me think of an incense stick stuck in an altar.
"It's going well."
"That government job isn't very fun these days. Want to do interior decorating with me? My hands are like this... but I can teach you everything."
My father still thought I was preparing for the civil service exam.
But I didn't correct him.
"No, Mom... she awakened me."
Suddenly, something welled up again, and I almost cried.
I tried to say it calmly, but my father couldn't stay indifferent.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Mom appeared in a dream... and that's how it happened."
"Tch."
My father snorted in disbelief.
"She worried about us till the end."
Tears spilled from my father's eyes as he looked at the sky again.
Tears flowed down his cheeks and gathered at his chin before dropping.
"Doosik-ah. Ugh... I'm sorry, Dad. It's because Dad is useless... I'm sorry."
My father wiped his tears roughly and looked at me with reddened eyes.
I guess we'll live our whole lives regretting it.
* * *
I told the building owner I would rent out my one-room apartment and went home.
My mother's empty space was too big.
I was worried about leaving my father alone.
In truth, both the room I lived in and my parents' house were in Seoul.
The reason I didn't visit much was because remembering made me regret it again.
My father called former colleagues from the woodworking days and got a job.
"I can install doors even without fingers. Yeah, yeah, got it. Tomorrow? Okay. See you then."
There you go, and he can still do it.
But I decided not to blame him.
"Don't worry. Installing doors isn't dangerous at all."
"Yes."
"More like I'm the one who should worry. Hunters are dangerous, right? If you become one too..."
My father shivered and hurriedly shut up.
"I don't even know if I'll take the Hunter job or not yet."
"That's right. Think it over and decide. They say fewer people are awakening and becoming Hunters these days."
"Yes."
"You can keep studying for the civil service exam if you want."
"Dad, I gave up the civil service exam a while ago. I'm studying coding now and preparing for a job..."
My father paused.
"Oh? Really? I didn't know. But I'm hungry."
"I'll get something."
"Okay."
"Jaejang-guk?"
"Sounds good."
A world without Mom.
Sad, but that's how people live.
* * *
5-pyeong one-room apartment.
My belongings were stuffed into moving boxes.
"Hoo..."
Even though it was a fairly spacious place.
My own space...
For the first time, I decided to check the gifts Mom had given me here.
I had no choice but to feel a bit guilty. If she hadn't awakened me, Mom might not have died, and that uncertainty made me feel this way.
I muttered quietly.
"The exclusive property of awakened ones..."
"Status window."
My heart skipped a beat.
A bizarre interface resembling bones filled my vision.
+——+——+ Status Window +——+——+
Name: Lee Doosik
Level: 0
HP: 300
MP: 250
Experience: 0 / 1,000
Class: (Unique) Skeleton Lord (Skeleton Lord)
Constellation: Skeleton Star
Traits: [Skeleton] [Lord]
+——+——+ Stats +——+——+
Strength (STR): 3
Agility (AGI): 4
Endurance (CON): 3
Intelligence (INT): 17
Wisdom (WIS): 25
Luck (LUK): 3
# Distributable points: 3
+——+——+ Skills +——+——+
[(Unique) Summon Skeleton Soldier LV. 1]
- Unique skill of the Skeleton Lord. Summons a skeleton soldier for 17 hours (1 hour x Intelligence).
- Stat inheritance: The summoned skeleton soldier inherits 25% (0.01 x Wisdom) of the lord's stats.
- Summonable soldiers: 1 (proportional to skill level)
- Equipment system: Each skeleton soldier can equip individual gear sets. Gear sets are stored and summoned with the saved settings upon resummons.
- Individual entity: Each skeleton is a separate entity, allowing different abilities and gear configurations.
- Stat transfer: If the skeleton soldier dies in battle, the entity's stats transfer to a nearby skeleton soldier for 17 minutes (1 minute x Intelligence).
- MP consumption: 50
- Cooldown: None
- Experience needed for level up: 0 / 1,000
+——+——+——+——+——+
So that's how it is.
I blinked and examined the status window carefully.
"Is this... good?"
Honestly, it was ambiguous.
I didn't plan to complain even if it wasn't great, but just a quick glance revealed the pros and cons.
First, the pros: the class is (Unique).
Classes like fighter, archer, mage, necromancer, priest... are common. Of course, common means ordinary, so it's not bad.
But it's also a downside.
It seems like almost no information can be gained.
Plus, the awakened constellation is the Skeleton Star.
I had never heard of it.
Another downside: only one initial skill.
As far as I know, when awakening normally, you get at least one unique skill with no level-up limit and one overpowered ultimate skill. Of course, constellations grant additional skills later as you grow to match your class and combat style...
For now, it was clearly a downside.
Maybe it was too much to start as a Hunter.
But it's too early to judge without trying the skill.
"Summon Skeleton Soldier."
At the first use of the skill, I was honestly surprised.
A vertical crack appeared in the air, and a literal white bone skeleton soldier oozed out. I froze facing the bizarre, grotesque horror-suspense occult movie scene.
"Whoa..."
The skeleton soldier knelt on one knee and bowed its head to me in respect.
Now it really feels real.
Performance doesn't matter. First, I awakened, and I got this inexplicable power that no science law can explain.
"Hmm... but the visuals..."
Disadvantage added. If this guy goes outside the house, a hundred people will scream and run away, and Hunters will be dispatched to erase him. He looked exactly like a monster.
But let's think positively.
I wanted to awaken, right?
Maybe if I get the grade assessment, it could be an amazing thing.
First, I became curious about what the skeleton soldier could do.
"Hey, listen."
I pointed at the box with the computer and monitor.
The skeleton soldier, who had been kneeling and bowing in submission, stood up and approached the box, bending at the waist.
"?"
That's not how you lift something that heavy.
It put strain on the waist...
It should use lower body strength in a squat to lift it...
Sure enough,
The skeleton soldier waved its arms and legs, dropping the box about 5 cm from the ground,
Crack-
"?! "
The spine broke, and it disappeared in black smoke.
"Eh?"
* * *
After cleaning the one-room apartment, I headed to the [Awakened Person Management Office] located in Seocho-gu.
On top of expensive land stood a stiff, plain square building.
But the headless dragon statue at the entrance was quite stylish.
On the plaque explaining the statue, it was written like this.
[One-horn Dragon Cragidraze Extermination Memorial]
[Jang Hyeong-guk, Hwang Tae-san, Baek Jong-du, Lee Cho-wol, Ahn Seong-jin, Gang Sang-jun]
The names of six S-class Hunters representing South Korea were listed, and now I see a horned dragon head beside the plaque. I heard it became excellent equipment material for the six S-class Hunters listed on the plaque.
After admiring it for a moment, I took a few photos and entered the building.
At the entrance, a public service officer guided me to the kiosk.
"Hello."
"Yes, hello. If you want to apply for work here, please do."
"Thank you."
[1. Grade reassessment application]
[2. New awakened person registration]
[3. Awakened person information change]
[4. Awakened person death report]
[5. Hunter license application]
[6. Disaster response collaborator application]
[7. Hunter guild registration]
[8. Consultation reservation]
I pressed 2, and without asking or looking back, a number ticket was issued.
Reception number: 329
Waiting applicants: 4
About 3,000 awakened people are born in Korea every year, and legally, they must register at the Awakened Person Management Office within 28 days. But since the awakening date is known only to the awakened person, it's hard to catch them for late registration. However, if unregistered awakened people use skills in public places, fines are imposed, and if they abuse in crimes, it's subject to aggravated punishment.
But such cases are rare.
Usually, when awakened people awaken, they first want to join Huntred, and the benefits paid by the government to awakened people are quite good. Generally, the first thing awakened people do is come to this place to register as awakened.
I sat on the chair and waited idly for my turn, then opened my status window to carefully read the skill explanation.
There were many options. First,
- Stat inheritance: The summoned skeleton soldier inherits 25% (0.01 x Wisdom) of the lord's stats.
'So that's why the skeleton soldier is underpowered. 25% of my current stats mean strength, agility, and endurance are 1 or less...'
It was like ordering a baby to carry a sack of rice.
The spine came out, no big deal. It was shocking that it was completely erased, but...
But stats will grow someday...
- Stat transfer: If the skeleton soldier dies in battle, the entity's stats transfer to a nearby skeleton soldier for 17 minutes (1 minute x Intelligence).
'This is pretty good.'
Later, when summoning multiple skeleton soldiers, the longest-surviving one could receive the stats of the first one and become much stronger. Now I can only summon one, but in the future it will increase, and then...
Ding-
[Window 4]
[329]
This is doable, isn't it?