073. Necro Puppeteer
Long ago, in the depths of the Ancient Labyrinth.
A certain being awoke in the pitch-black darkness of a deep cave. Its name was Psycho Clown. Having just been born, the clown wandered the maze-like labyrinth aimlessly, unaware of its own purpose.
One day, as it roamed alone, gradually developing its consciousness and adapting to the labyrinth—
[Kirik?]
[Kiririk?]
[What are you?]
[What are you?]
[I am me.]
[Me too.]
[I see. Kirik.]
[Kirik.]
It encountered another being that looked exactly like itself. That being was also named Psycho Clown. It was the first kin it had ever met.
From that day on, the two stuck together. They hunted as a pair, ate together, and shared their resting spots.
Some time passed. Just as friendship began to bud between them—
Tragedy struck the clowns without warning.
A monster they couldn't stand against, even combining their strength. They had encountered an overwhelming beast.
The clowns unleashed every superpower they had and barely managed to escape, but one of them sustained a fatal wound in the process. An injury that could claim its life at any moment.
The surviving clown gazed at its dying friend, tears streaming endlessly.
[Kirik... don't die...]
The death of someone precious. For the still-young clown, it was unbearable agony, an experience too overwhelming to process.
[......]
Amid the ceaseless flow of transparent tears, the clown on the brink of death struggled to move its body.
[Take this...]
It tore off a part of its own body and handed it over.
[Use our power... on this...]
[Kirik...?]
The superpower that prevented decay. It was telling him to use that on this body part.
[Even if I die... my body will always... be by your side. Then you won't be alone...]
They were too young to know. That the anti-decay superpower tied the body to its owner's life force.
That if the owner died, the preserved body would rot away.
[...Even in death, I'll always be by your—]
Thud.
It closed its eyes before finishing the words.
[KIRIIIIIK!!!]
The clown's first friend breathed its last. In that moment, the clown wailed in grief. Though their time together had been short, the sorrow was profound and intense.
Not long after his friend's death.
[Kirik? Gone! It's gone!!]
The clown began tearing through its makeshift shelter like a rat.
There was only one reason. His first taxidermy specimen—his friend's memento—was missing.
Of course, the memento was right there. It had simply decayed, just like its life-spent owner.
Lifting the rotted body part, the clown shook its head violently in denial.
[This isn't it!!!]
He sobbed and screamed. Insisting this wasn't his friend.
[Huff, huff... this isn't it...]
After crying himself out—
The clown panted heavily and murmured softly.
[Lost it... can't lose it... have to... find it again...]
From that day forward, the clown developed a habit of collecting and taxidermying other creatures' bodies.
To the clown, taxidermy held special meaning. It reminded him of his lost friend and offered comfort that he wasn't alone.
However.
As countless years passed, those memories began to fade.
His friend's existence. The bond they shared. The brief but joyful recollections.
Deeper explorations into the labyrinth brought endless dangers and shocking experiences, causing the clown to forget much of his past. Even the original purpose of his collecting faded away.
Only the habit of collecting remained, stripped of meaning.
More time flowed by.
Yet the clown never made new friends. Everyone shunned the madman who stole and taxidermied others' bodies.
Still, he didn't stop. He continued severing and stealing creatures' bodies, taxidermying them day after day.
It was the only way he knew to soothe his loneliness.
But not anymore.
After meeting the labyrinth explorer Kang Geon.
Being tamed by him and becoming friends.
Forming deep bonds with the other monsters.
He'd learned other ways to ease his loneliness.
He was happy. He never knew sharing life with so many friends could bring such joy.
He hoped this happiness would last forever.
But misfortune struck without warning once more.
While subduing and taming a monster, it lashed out in its death throes, cursing the clown with a powerful hex.
And instinctively, he knew. He couldn't escape this curse.
Death was inevitable.
Despair gripped him at the thought of no longer being able to live. It terrified him. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to part from his friends.
......
Yet at the same time, he felt a strange relief.
That he was the one who bore this curse.
Kang Geon and the others were safe—that was a comfort.
Better him than them. If not him, it might have hit another friend someday. His sacrifice wasn't in vain.
With his life, he'd blocked a latent threat lurking in the labyrinth.
Slowly, he accepted his death.
And before going, he wanted to hold Kang Geon's hand one last time.
Trapped in the mushroom's jelly, the clown mustered his remaining strength, reaching out and calling for Kang Geon.
Kang Geon took his hand without hesitation.
It was warm.
The fear of death melted away at Kang Geon's touch.
Satisfied, the clown gently closed his eyes.
Thinking it was time to go.
As the clown sank into the swamp of death—
Black substance seeped from his body, enveloping him entirely.
Within the evolution process.
Deep in the clown's hazy consciousness, long-forgotten memories resurfaced.
Meeting his first friend. Adventures together. Up to his final moments—they flooded back like a tide.
As the origin of his bizarre habit and memories of his lost comrade sharpened, the clown realized his actions had been an expression of longing, a way to soothe loneliness.
Now that he understood he no longer needed that strange hobby—
The curse vanished amid the evolution.
His body began reconstructing itself, slowly and deliberately.
Astral Code (Fox-777) intervention has occurred.
Evolution to Astral Code (Demon-4444) is canceled.
Evolution to Astral Code (Human-4404) resumes.
Evolution to Astral Code (Demon-4445) begins.
......
Composition ability added.
Day 38 in the labyrinth.
Psycho Clown awoke.
More precisely, he completed his evolution and emerged from the black egg.
The curse of decay—even Psycho Clown's superpowers couldn't touch it—had vanished.
At first, he thought remnants lingered since parts of his body looked rotted post-evolution, but it was just a physical trait. Up close, it wasn't decay at all.
The evolved clown's nerfed threat level was A-grade. Actual threat: SS-grade. All previous superpowers intact.
And the new ability: raising the dead.
Not true resurrection, mind you. More like a necromancer puppeteering corpses.
But not your standard necromancer. He used threads to directly manipulate them—like marionettes.
Those threads linked him to the corpses inseparably; no one could interfere, no matter what.
He could make them visible or invisible at will.
Plus, though soulless puppets, the corpses had egos. They retained all memories from life.
Like the one that just awoke:
[Greetings, Master! Yo-ho-ho!]
A Curse Devil Gentleman, basically.
As mentioned, puppets lack souls. They have memories, but aren't the same as in life.
They perceive those memories as someone else's, like peeking into a stranger's past.
Egos without souls. Lively bodies not quite corpses.
To me, they were an entirely new form of life.
[Gauntlet. Others possible too.]
"Others?"
The evolved clown nodded, eyes shifting to the Curse Devil.
[You. Die again.]
[Yo-ho-ho...]
The thread linking Curse Devil snapped.
Its body crumbled to dust.
The clown glanced around, then flicked his hand lightly as if sensing something.
Bones buried underground burst through the soil, floating into the air.
[Can raise multiples. Fuse them too.]
The bones shattered finely.
Mingling and merging with the ex-Curse Devil remains.
Soon after—
[Yo-ho-ho!]
Curse Devil revived as a puppet. Slightly different from before.
Seemed like a corpse-fusion ability.
I spent a good while testing the evolved clown's powers before heading back to the shelter. While updating the codex, I named him this:
Necro Puppeteer
