The Celebrity Becomes My Thrall

The dull thud of Ju Si-eun’s club sent four green monsters exploding into the air. Chunks of flesh scattered across the sky. Ji-su calmly brought her weapon back to position and swung again. With just two swings, all seven of the green monsters were reduced to scattered pieces.

Watching the green flesh flutter through the air, I thought to myself, ‘What the hell is that… It’s terrifying…’

It really was scary. The sheer power coming from that slender arm swinging such a crude club was unbelievable. I greeted Ji-su as she returned from wiping out the monsters.

“Good work. Our Ji-su is pretty strong, huh?”

As expected, Ji-su didn’t say a word. Well, that was only natural. Seeing the power of my reliable bodyguard with my own eyes brought a sense of peace to my mind.

With a much more confident stride than before, I walked through the entertainment district, scanning the surroundings. Every shop on the first floor had shattered glass and torn-off doors, all in terrible shape. Inside each one lay at least one mutilated human corpse. They must have been people who hid inside when the monsters appeared.

I spotted a convenience store with its door smashed open and stepped inside, hoping to scavenge at least some food. One human body lay sprawled on the floor. Not a single edible item remained. The storage room had been completely cleaned out too. The place was empty.

‘Looks like getting food supplies won’t be easy.’

Not just food—daily necessities were nowhere to be seen either. The monsters probably hadn’t taken those, so it must have been other humans who looted them.

‘There should still be shops with supplies left. Let’s look carefully.’

The food stored in the Cradle of Rest was enough for me to survive two or three months alone. Still, I needed to stockpile more. What would I do after two or three months? I’d feel much more at ease if I had at least a year’s worth of food stored up.

After walking a bit farther, I reached a street lined with clothing stores. Women’s wear, men’s wear, underwear shops, and shoe stores. Since they were all on the first floor, the entrances were inevitably damaged, but it didn’t look like the interiors had been looted.

‘Oh. Nice. Let’s grab some clothes here. Winter’s coming soon, so I should prepare in advance.’

I entered the women’s clothing store first. The entrance was broken, as expected, and a corpse lay inside. Probably the store owner. The clothes inside clearly hadn’t been touched. After all, why would monsters care about human clothing?

I picked out outfits that looked like they would fit Ji-su. The clothes and underwear she was currently wearing hadn’t been changed in days. Since she protected me and even took care of my sexual desires, I should treat her well.

With winter approaching, thick padded jackets hung on the racks. I grabbed a few at random and carried them all out. Both hands full of clothes, I stepped outside and summoned the Gate of Rest right in the middle of the street.

Since I planned to loot clothes from the surrounding stores anyway, summoning it here in the middle seemed most efficient. I opened the gate, placed the clothes inside, came back out, and headed into the next store.

I looted the men’s clothing store as well, then entered a shoe shop and picked up sneakers that fit both my and Ji-su’s sizes. Finally, the underwear store. I grabbed some underwear for myself, then picked out several options for Ji-su since I didn’t know her exact size. After carrying everything back out and storing it in the Cradle of Rest, I let out a sigh.

‘Whew, the space inside is getting tight. Clothes take up a lot of volume…’

With food, daily necessities, and now clothes piled up, the inside of the Cradle of Rest was a chaotic mess.

‘I need to organize it… While I’m out, I should grab things to help with storage. Like clothing racks or display shelves.’

I went back into the clothing stores and took several clothing racks and hangers. I could hang everything up properly later. After shoving all the hangers into the Cradle of Rest and stepping back out to close the gate—

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

A sharp scream echoed from far away. Startled, I looked toward the source and muttered, “What the… Was that a woman’s voice just now?”

A scream meant something had gone wrong, and that something was almost certainly related to monsters. I hated troublesome things. A woman screaming loud enough to attract monsters was definitely a cancer-inducing character. This was a world where everyone was on their own. So, survive on your own. If you die and your corpse isn’t too damaged, I’ll raise you.

I sent my condolences to the screaming woman and tried to step into the Gate of Rest.

“H-help me!!”

Ah, too late. She must have spotted me and Ji-su.

When I turned my head, a woman was running desperately toward us from up ahead. And behind her—

A horde of green monsters was chasing her.

‘Ugh, how many are there? Looks like about twenty.’

She must have drawn them all by screaming like that. Anyway, now that I’d seen her, I couldn’t just ignore it. Twenty green monsters would be a piece of cake for Ji-su, and helping her might earn me something in return.

I ordered Ji-su to help the running woman. Ji-su dashed forward with her club in hand. The woman’s face brightened when she saw her.

Then she collapsed forward with a thud.

‘Huh? What?’

The fallen woman lay face-down and didn’t get up. Looking behind her, I saw one of the pursuing green monsters holding a long tube in its mouth, looking pleased. She must have been hit by the poison ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needle it fired.

“Ugh… She’s dead.”

Ji-su had died from that same poison needle. I shook my head. Watching a person die right in front of me to a monster didn’t feel good at all.

While I stared at the dead woman with pity, Ji-su reached the swarm of green monsters and began her rampage. Every swing of her club burst three or four monsters apart. The twenty-some green monsters were cleaned up in no time.

Ji-su stood motionless among the scattered monster corpses. Looking at her, I couldn’t help thinking how beautiful she was—and at the same time, a powerful wave of lust surged through me.

‘A woman this strong and beautiful is my thrall who obeys my every command…’

As I gazed at Ji-su with satisfaction, a message appeared before my eyes, lifting my mood.

So the experience from the monsters Ji-su kills comes to me too. Necromancer really is the best. I sent a silent thank you to the rat-headed monster who had introduced itself as “Su” for letting me become a Necromancer, then walked forward.

The woman lay completely still, face-down. A long needle was stuck in the back of her neck. If I left the corpse like this, it would become a monster’s meal. Since I had come across a relatively intact body for once, I decided I should make good use of it. I pulled the needle from her neck, reached out my hand, and activated the skill.

“Rise.”

A thick black energy rose from my hand and was sucked into the woman. She slowly got up. When I saw her face, I shouted in shock.

“Ju Si-eun?”

I examined the face of the woman I had just raised once more. No doubt about it. It was Ju Si-eun. Short brown hair, petite frame. Large eyes, a small nose and mouth clustered neatly together. Her face was covered in dust from falling, but her snow-white, flawless skin still stood out.

‘She was famous for having perfect skin.’

She had entered the music industry at a young age with just a guitar, dominated the Korean music scene as a singer-songwriter, then began acting after becoming an adult. She appeared in both films and dramas, earning recognition for her acting skills. At twenty-three, she was now called Korea’s top celebrity—Ju Si-eun.

Since I had been a fan of hers, there was no way I wouldn’t recognize her face. Suddenly, a conversation I had overheard between Seong-man and Ji-su at the PC bang a few days ago came to mind.

He usually stayed late after shift change, laughing and talking shit about me with Ji-su, but that day he rushed out early just because he wanted to see Ju Si-eun.

‘So she was filming nearby when everything went to hell and ended up here. She must have been hiding somewhere until now. Why did she only come running this way with monsters on her tail now?’

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There were many questions, but none I could answer. ‘Well, once I get the ‘Easy Restoration’ skill, I can just ask her. But still… Ju Si-eun is my thrall? The Ju Si-eun?’

I stared at Ju Si-eun, who stood silently looking at me, and felt my heart begin to race. The woman I had only ever seen on television, the one from my dreams, was now standing right in front of me.

Still dazed, I opened her status window.

“Status.”

My level had gone from 5 to 6. The stat increases from the level-up felt smaller than usual. Except for DEX, every stat had only gone up by 1. I received another 3 skill points.

‘I can level up one skill now.’

Seeing the name “Ju Si-eun” written in the thrall section of my Rise skill filled me with overwhelming emotion.

‘It really is her… It’s really Ju Si-eun!’

With a face full of pride, I tapped on Ju Si-eun’s name. Her status window appeared before me.