Academy's Savior

A dark night.

I walked behind Hae Seonmu.

Normally, stepping outside the dorms at this hour was a clear violation of academy rules — but hot-blooded students had a habit of treating those rules as optional suggestions.

Of course a necromancer would set up shop somewhere this filthy and gloomy.

We were on the outskirts of town. True to Gangwon Province, the greenery was thick and wild. Streetlights ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were few and far between. Hae Seonmu was heading for an abandoned house perched on a hill.

"That it over there?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's the place. First time I've gone looking for him myself, so… I didn't realize it'd be this dark."

Hae Seonmu lit the way with his smartphone and pressed forward.

Different from the original. I don't know the exact location in the source material, but I don't remember it being an abandoned house.

We arrived.

Creeeak.

The door of the abandoned house swung open.

What emerged was a man dressed entirely in black — body, limbs, even his hair swallowed by dark cloth, only the bare outline of a figure peeking through. He looked like No-Face from that animated film.

"Hae Seonmu. You brought someone with you. Is he a customer as well?"

The necromancer addressed me in a voice without pitch or inflection. Those hollow pupils of his were deeply unsettling.

"Got anything good?"

"Necromancy charms and the like — as many as you want. Thirty million won apiece."

"That's not what I heard. This guy said he bought one for twenty million."

"Demand went up, so the price went up. That's how the market works. No money? Get lost."

"You're really going to play it that way?"

"Planning to report me to the Hero Association? I've already finished preparing to leave this place. They won't catch me."

"Okay. My bad. Anything else for sale?"

"A few things. But someone who can't even afford a necromancy charm doesn't look like a buyer. Get out."

I sighed as if I had no choice and pulled out the bag I'd brought. Right in front of him, I unzipped it. Stacks of fifty-thousand-won bills filled it to the brim.

"I brought two hundred million. How about a look? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It's not like you can sell this stuff out in the open anyway."

"…Two hundred million. Cash. So you do have money. Come in."

The man turned and went inside. I followed without hesitation. Hae Seonmu trailed after us, trembling with unease.

The moment we crossed the threshold, a strange smell hit. In a way, it was familiar.

Rotting corpses.

Human or animal, I couldn't tell. What I knew for certain was that somewhere in this crumbling house, something was decomposing.

And the necromancer isn't saying a word about it. Showing off how dangerous he is?

It was working. Hae Seonmu's face had gone a sickly, ashen gray.

Creeeak.

The necromancer opened an old inner door.

"Here."

At the same instant, his mana surged — seizing the surrounding space in a heartbeat. A smile crept across that previously blank face. Something pale and hazy settled on his shoulder.

An invisible force clamped onto my body and dragged — a thoroughly unpleasant sensation.

"Kueeeek! Ugh! Uuuugh! M-my body… uuuugh!"

Hae Seonmu dropped to his knees. Mouth hanging open, he focused everything on simply breathing. The curse was making even that a struggle.

"Curse resistance, is it? You look about the same age as him… Not bad."

"What the hell is this? This how you treat customers?"

"Customer? You're not a customer. I never acknowledged you as one."

"So you don't want the money."

"You idiot…. If I kill you, the two hundred million is mine. With that much extra cash… I can finally wash my hands of this disgusting work and live like a normal person…."

Money. That was his goal.

A little anticlimactic. Human experimentation would have been more exciting.

I held the bag out toward him.

"I'll give you the money. Spare me."

"……I can't let you live. If I release you from here, you'll run straight to the Association and report me…. Being hunted is the last thing I want."

"That's cold. I'm asking you to spare me."

The necromancer's eyes narrowed. He stared at me as if he couldn't make sense of what he was hearing.

"That is not the tone or the voice of a man begging for his life. Are you toying with me right now?"

"Finally caught on? You dumb fuck."

I kicked off the floor and lunged. Crackling lightning coiled around my fist as it drove toward his solar plexus.

Bang!

A barrier caught the punch. I poured more force into it. The barrier shattered. By then he had already put distance between us, slipping clear of my fist.

"To smash my barrier that easily…. You're someone of real skill."

"Now I know roughly how hard I need to hit. There won't be a next time."

I lifted a leg to close the gap — and it wouldn't rise. Something had locked onto it. Looking down, I found several rotting hands thrusting up from the floor, clamped tight around my calves.

Crack.

I sparked a pulse of lightning. Blue electricity seared the rotting hands to ash.

My eyes snapped back to him. The pale haze on his shoulder was sinking into his chest.

Necromancy. The rotting hands had been nothing more than a stall for time.

"Do you know the greatest advantage of necromancy?"

"I'm a spirit mage, so I've got some idea. Controlling ghosts?"

"Heh heh. Correct. Commanding the dead is one advantage, yes. But the true power of necromancy… is that with a ghost's strength, you can become anything. A swordsman who once dominated an era. A mage long forgotten by history."

His body swelled. Muscle. At least three times its original bulk, ballooning so violently it looked monstrous.

"So you can turn into a muscle freak too. Not exactly jealous."

"Heh heh. These are Volfre's muscles. I placed Volfre's soul into my body… and became Volfre."

"Who the hell is Volfre?"

"You dare claim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ignorance of the genius martial artist who shook Australia two hundred years ago?! You uncultured bastard!"

"Fuck. How am I supposed to know Volfre from Molfre? Doesn't sound famous to me…."

"You goddamn bastard! How dare you insult my ancestor?! I'll seize your soul, torture it, and annihilate it!"

His speech had suddenly gone crude, almost clumsy. A side effect of the necromancy, most likely.

Through my Spirit Eye, I saw the problem clearly.

The soul he forced into his body has seized more control than he has.

In short, the necromancer had failed to fully dominate the ghost.

The muscle-bound necromancer closed in. Those absurd bulked-up arms inspired more disgust than awe — but his footwork was pure martial artist.

Charna.

I moved before things got any more annoying. Closing the distance in an instant, I summoned Hwaryeonbido from thin air, seized the hilt, and brought it down — all before he could raise a fist. The necromancer's left arm came off clean.

"KRAAAAAAGH!"

The scream was pure agony, but his body still moved like a master of hand-to-hand combat. He spun, loaded power into his leg, and fired a side kick.

Hard to dodge. Getting hit would hurt, and I don't feel like hurting. Charna.

My body accelerated. I slipped past the kick and swept the blade. Slash — the leg came off. Balance gone, he started to fall.

Before he hit the ground, I swung Hwaryeonbido again. The remaining arm and leg followed the first two.

"Uuuuuu…."

Limbless, the necromancer stared up at me with eyes full of raw fear. The soul that had been forced into his body slipped free and vanished. The monstrous bulk of muscle deflated with it.

"Game over, right?"

"Kill me…."

"Answer my questions properly. Then I'll make it quick."

"……"

He looked up at me. After a few seconds of studying my eyes, he nodded — the gesture of a man who had given up.

"I've seen your type before…. I know cooperation is the smart play. Ask. I'll answer everything…."

"Cooperative attitude! I like that. I promise to kill you clean."

"……"

"First question. Why are you here?"

"……Security around the Academy is tight. No matter how bold you are, you keep your head down near that place. The moment you touch the Academy… the Association and the government both come down hard."

"My guess is you ran from somewhere. Where are you from?"

"China."

"Gwirakgok?"

"So you know of Gwirakgok. Yes. I fled from there."

"Why?"

"Gwirakgok started changing. It isn't the Gwirakgok it used to be…. I refused to die as their disposable tool. No — even death wouldn't have been death. Those Gwirakgok bastards… capture ghosts and enslave them."

"Hmm. Less interesting than I expected."

Thud.

I drove the blade through his heart and stood.

"Huk!"

Hae Seonmu sucked in a sharp breath. I looked at him in silence. Whatever was racing through his head, he started trembling and crawling across the floor.

"Hae Seonmu."

"S-spare me! I won't tell anyone what I saw here!"

"What are you talking about. Report it to the Association. Don't go into details — just say you stumbled on this place by accident. Don't mention the deal at all."

"I-I know that much. I was the one who set up the deal in the first place…."

"Ah — tell the homeroom teacher first, before the Association. You'll get more help that way."

Once I saw him pull out his smartphone, I turned and surveyed the room. Plenty of grotesque curios littered the place, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but I didn't spare a glance for anything useless. There was only one item I wanted.

Found it.

A shabby cloak hanging on the wall.

I reached for it carefully.

An S-Rank item.

The ability looked almost too simple for that rank — which only meant the effect itself was that overwhelming.

With this, I can clear several special dungeons like free samples.

I was thoroughly satisfied.