A Good Time to Be a Necromancer

After the event, public order across the world had collapsed and crime ran rampant. For a Necromancer who needed souls, it was a good thing.

Comet, having left Yeouido, pulled a Soul Bead from her inner pocket. She wiped the dust from the small orb with her sleeve, then channeled her Spiritual Energy to draw one in. A single soul drifted through the moonlight and vanished into the bead. Someone must have died nearby just moments ago. Starting the night by claiming a soul already—today was shaping up to be productive.

Comet walked in the direction the soul had come from. With light steps, she reached an officetel complex. She had no way of knowing the crime’s exact location, so she glanced around, but there were no obvious traces or lingering signs. She waited a while, yet neither the perpetrator nor another soul appeared. A shame.

Comet circled the building a few times before giving up and wandering without direction. It didn’t take long to find another opportunity. In front of a shuttered convenience store, a man who looked every bit the criminal was cutting through a lock. For some reason, the sight pleased her.

“Wow. Hello there.”

The man paused mid-squeeze on the bolt cutters and turned. “What the fuck?”

At the harsh reply, Comet scratched her cheek. Maybe the greeting had been unnecessary.

The man pulled a hammer from his bag and started toward her. Comet blinked once, then drew a knife from her pocket. The man’s footsteps stopped. Silence stretched between them.

“...You an Awakened?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

“Then stay out of it and fuck off!”

Scowling, the man spat another curse, returned to the shutter, and lifted the bolt cutters again. Comet raised her Soul Bead to scan for any nearby dead, then sat on the stairs beside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the store.

Soon the lock gave way and the shutter rolled up, revealing the glass interior. The man hefted his hammer.

“You’ll get punished for doing bad things.”

The window shattered. The man grabbed his bag and stepped inside. A security alarm began to wail.

Comet crunched across the broken glass and followed him in. Packs of cigarettes were already disappearing into the bag.

“Looks like you’ve got enough food, at least?”

“Mind your own damn business and get out!”

The man certainly had a foul mouth. Comet strolled through the aisles, browsing the shelves, and glanced at the surveillance camera. Someone had smashed it with a rock. A common enough sight these days.

“Won’t it be embarrassing if you get caught stealing cigarettes and sent to prison?”

“If those bastards actually did their jobs, I wouldn’t have to do this shit!”

Comet nodded silently, pulled on a pair of gloves, and gripped her knife. When she raised her Spiritual Energy, a keen edge shimmered along the magic blade.

“The police must be pretty busy. At the national level there are priorities, so it seems minor crimes get pushed aside. From what I’ve seen, plain murder still slides, though.”

“What?”

As Comet stepped closer with the knife raised, the man flinched into a defensive stance. She deliberately swung a half-beat slow, adjusting her angle to match his dodge. Incantation omitted. Soul Severance.

The blade grazed his torso and left a black wound. Instead of blood, soul essence sprayed out. The man staggered, clutching the gash, but hands could not stop what was already leaving him.

Comet took a few steps back to observe his reaction, then produced the Soul Bead again. It didn’t take long for the unmarked body to become a corpse.

She collected the soul, emptied the man’s bag, returned the cigarettes to their shelves—though the brands and positions were now hopelessly mixed—and washed her face at the staff sink. A car engine approached and cut off outside. Footsteps crunched over glass, followed by a man shouting a name. So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it hadn’t been a solo job.

Comet turned off the faucet. When the footsteps suddenly stopped, she crouched low. The partition wall between staff and customer areas exploded inward as a steel pipe thrust through.

How aggressive.

The pipe swept toward her head. Comet planted both hands on the floor, braced, and kicked the weapon aside with her leg. The attacker’s grip yanked the twisted pipe back.

He didn’t seem to be a Ranker, so probably an Awakened who had built his character around raw strength. Comet executed a quick tumble and landed cleanly. Knife in hand, she debated striking first or waiting for a counter when the man finally got a good look at her and grimaced.

“Goddamn it, it’s Comet!”

“Yes. I am a Necromancer, after all.”

“Fuuuuck.”

The man dragged a hand down his face.

“I really don’t understand why you have such a foul mouth.”

“Huuu… Lady Comet, I don’t know what the hell is going on, but did my friend attack you?”

“Oh…”

Comet relaxed her stance and twirled the hair at her temple. After a moment she spoke.

“I was just passing through and happened to witness the scene. I stayed to watch, and the person lying there came at me with a hammer.”

The man cursed his friend for failing to recognize a Ranker. Comet waited patiently while he punched the wall and continued bad-mouthing the dead man.

“You don’t need to blame your friend too much. I’m the one who killed him, after all.”

The man stared at the corpse, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He seemed torn between revenge and flight. To help him decide, Comet clasped her hands behind her back in a show of non-hostility and shifted her weight.

The second hand ticked. The minute hand swept around several times. Only then did fresh strength flow into the hand gripping the steel pipe and life return to the man’s eyes.

Comet smiled in satisfaction and readjusted her knife. With a shout the man charged, swinging the pipe. It scraped the wall and cut through empty air. Comet had already closed the distance. Her blade slid cleanly into his heart. The restrained, precise strike met no resistance. A sound like escaping air left the man. A single drop of blood ran down the knife. The steel pipe fell from limp fingers and clanged against the floor.

Comet caught the collapsing man and gently leaned him against the wall. Glory to a death without shame.

For the next several nights Comet continued her nocturnal activities and found the time deeply satisfying. The souls were not enough to raise her Synchronization Rate—still stuck at ten percent—but she gathered a suitable quantity to modify her magic knife.

Around evening she visited the assembly member’s office to ask the Alchemist for help.

“Are you busy?”

“Comet? Come in! I was just about to take a break anyway.”

It didn’t sound like politeness. The National Assembly member and her aides were pouring hot water into cup ramen. They clearly meant to eat quickly at their desks rather than visit the cafeteria.

“I feel ashamed for being the only one with free time.”

“You’re a citizen, so you have free time. We’re public officials, so we’re busy.”

The assembly member laughed, stirred her noodles, and covered the cup with a notebook.

“So what brings you here?”

“I need some liquid mana. You’re the only Alchemist I know in Yeouido, Lady Mal-rang, so I had no choice but to come.”

“Planning to draw a magic circle?”

“Yes, to modify a knife.”

“Faster than I expected.”

“Is it?”

The assembly member beckoned an aide and exchanged quiet words. Suddenly excluded, Comet waited obediently.

“I figured the famous Comet wouldn’t jump straight into large-scale combat preparation, so I thought you’d show up soon—but this is quick. Have you been killing people?”

Comet flinched, then belatedly remembered it was the sort of joke Necromancers always heard from other classes in the game and laughed. “Haha.”

“The times are bad, so it’s convenient for a Necromancer.”

The assembly member rummaged in her desk drawer and produced a tumbler filled with liquid mana.

“You’ve been going out at night a lot lately. Looks like you’ve been working hard.”

“Ah. You’ve been keeping track?”

Comet twirled the hair at her temple.

“Here.”

“Wow, thank you.”

“It’s nothing. If you need anything, don’t bother going elsewhere—come straight to me.”

“Thank you.”

The assembly member set the notebook aside and picked up her chopsticks. Comet bowed and turned to leave.

“Ah, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

Still stirring her ramen, the assembly member spoke casually. “If you’re truly that free, why not stop by the committee later? As an authority on Necromancy, you might have some light advice to offer. Nothing difficult—just a casual visit.”

“Uh… sure, I’ll do that.”

She left the office to the sound of slurping noodles. Comet twirled her hair again, considered the request, then decided to let it pass. Good things were good things.

Back in her assigned room she cleared the furniture, creating open space in the center. She opened the tumbler, dipped her finger in the liquid mana, and began drawing. Line after line, mana after mana, until the magic circle was complete.

Comet placed the magic knife and Soul Bead at the center and raised her Spiritual Energy. The knife floated upward, its shape warping before dissolving back into its original soul form. Souls burst from the bead, swirling and merging with the knife’s soul inside the circle’s confines.

Comet focused, crushing, dividing, and reshaping the souls. She balanced the weight, honed the blade’s edge, and even carved a few simple patterns while she was at it.

“Good. This should serve me well for a while.”

She scuffed the circle away with her foot, returned the furniture to its proper places, and lay down on the bed. Only then did she remember the committee visit and rise again.

After asking around, she reached the Disaster Response Committee. Even though evening had passed into full night, the office still buzzed with activity. A few ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠people, however, appeared to be wrapping up rather ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than planning an all-nighter.

Comet scanned the room, spotted a familiar face, and walked over. A healer was reviewing printed documents.

“Hm? Miss Comet?”

“Hello. Um…”

She meant to say she had come at the assembly member’s suggestion, but she suddenly couldn’t recall the woman’s name and faltered.

“Lady Mal-rang said there would be work for me if I came here.”

Comet scratched her cheek.

“The Chairperson?”

The healer glanced toward the chairperson’s office. The glass-walled room was empty; the assembly member was apparently still in her own office, just as Comet had left her.

The healer blinked, stacked the papers neatly, and stood.

“I see. You’re a Necromancer Ranker, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is probably the case.”

The healer opened a file cabinet and pulled out a thick bundle.

“The committee recently agreed to enact special measures for Awakened-related crimes at the Semi-Ranker level or higher.”

“…Special measures?”

Comet leaned in to look at the documents. An odd unease stirred inside her.

The healer flipped through the bundle and selected several sheets.

“This is the one.”

Comet accepted the papers and read them. They summarized several murders, each accompanied by the opinion that a Necromancer was responsible. The locations were all too familiar. A chill crawled down her spine.

“…The police are already short-handed. Isn’t this kind of thing too much for them to handle?”

“Where did you hear that?”

The healer stared at her.

“No, I mean… you just notice these things while living day to day.”

The healer sighed, drummed her fingers on the desk in thought, then spoke.

“To be honest, monster incidents have caused so many casualties that the police force is indeed severely understaffed.”

“Then why…?”

Comet’s question came out a little too quickly.

“We originally planned to handle these cases later.”

The healer pulled out additional documents. A familiar convenience store appeared in the report.

“The damage pattern at the scene felt off, so we checked the victims’ identities. One was a Semi-Ranker. The killer is assessed as a Necromancer of Ranker level or above, which brings the case under the new special-measures agreement.”

“Wow…”

The word slipped out of Comet’s mouth with a faint tremor.

“If you could assist with this case as a civilian external collaborator, Miss Comet, we would be very grateful.”

The healer bowed.

“I see! Of course I’ll help.”