Necromancer Survival - Chapter 208

  Seo Dawon and I walked through the endlessly long passage. The only light in the passage was Seo Dawon’s summoned [Light], so I had almost fallen over several times on the unpaved bumpiness of the path. Whenever that happened, though, Seo Dawon caught me.

     Even now I could remember being ‘Jung Garam,’ and I was dissatisfied with my clumsy body… But, I couldn’t even complain in front of Seo Dawon, who had adopted Bae Jaemin’s appearance.

     “Do you need something?”

     “Huh? No?”

     “Then why all the sidelong glances?”

     “Ah, that’s not it…”

     “Of course you’ll stumble if you keep glancing elsewhere.” Scolding, Seo Dawon stretched his hand out towards me. I hesitated briefly, but I grabbed his hand because I thought it would be a better alternative to falling over.

     As I walked slowly, led by a hand that was thinner than the Mage’s original hand, my view gradually brightened. When it became bright enough for us to identify each other’s faces, Seo Dawon turned off the [Light] and began to look around cautiously.

     “Where are we….” I murmured.

     “……”

     When we entered the illuminated space, I was honestly quite bewildered.

     Strong iron tables, neatly arranged flasks, old computers, and stacks of documents–this looked like a flawless laboratory. Seo Dawon had his mouth firmly shut while looking around; there wasn’t much to say about it.

     “Choi Kyung-sik…ssi? Excuse me… Is there anyone there?”

     “Hmm.”

     Nothing happened even after we waited for quite a while; I had no choice but to raise my voice and call out for Choi Kyung-sik. I even lightly tapped the iron tables with my fists. However, nothing happened–only echoes resonated within this empty space.

     While I called for Choi Kyung-sik, Seo Dawon rifled through some of the documents piled upon the iron tables. Nothing must have grabbed his attention, though, as he quickly placed the pages down again.

     ‘Huh?’

     It was then.

     As I snuck glances at Seo Dawon, who was reading the documents, I noticed across the room from where we entered. The iron gates were painted white like the walls of the laboratory, so, at first glance, it wasn’t so noticeable. However, when I saw a slight gap, that gate looked like the way in and out of this room.

     “Dawon-ah, the door behind you…”

     “Door?”

“Argh! W-What’s that–just now!” I attempted to inform Seo Dawon about the door, but… I made eye contact with someone through the open gap. Goosebumps rose all over my skin.

      Those eyes disappeared as soon as I screamed, but I was certain that someone was peeping on us from behind that door. After seeing my pale complexion, Seo Dawon fearlessly kicked the door I was pointing at. Of course, though, no one was there.

      Behind the iron gate, there was a staircase, and I could clearly hear faint footsteps running away. Seo Dawon, who had been half doubtful that something was there, closed his mouth and looked back towards me after hearing that sound. “Did you see what they looked like?”

     “No… I just made eye contact with him.”

     “Was it Choi Kyung-sik?”

     “……I don’t know.” Though I didn’t get a clear look, I didn’t think that the unidentified person was Choi Kyung-sik.  Though I was startled to meet the eyes of a hidden person….

     … ‘I think I’ve seen those eyes before…’

     It was difficult to explain, but those pupils felt familiar. Even though I matched the names and faces of those I knew to what I saw, I couldn’t quite recall who I saw. I felt frustrated–as if a fog had been clouding my head.

     ‘I think I’ll know straight away if I just saw them one more time…’

     Anyway, there was no hint of finding more about the [Vengeful Ghost Memory] if we were to stay here, so, even if it was dangerous, we decided to chase the stranger that ran down the basement stairs of the laboratory.

     Before going down the stairs, Seo Dawon pressed the switch next to the door. It must have been a light switch–fortunately, the bottom of the stairs was clearly revealed.

Click–!

     Furthermore, the space wasn’t so deep, contrary to what I expected. How should I say this… It looked just like a small warehouse used by the laboratory upstairs. Though stacked up, the delivery box piles were shorter than I was; when we flicked the switch within the warehouse, everything was washed with light.

     This was advantageous for us who had come to this place to find the suspicious person that hid behind the door. Even now there were signs of someone moving in a hurry; so we slowly moved behind the rustling delivery boxes, preparing for a sudden attack.

Seo Dawon, who walked in front of me, seemed to find the intruder first. “Choi Lee-kyung?”

     “Hm?”

     “……”

     However, after calling my name, Seo Dawon simply paused and did not approach the intruder any further. It felt quite different from his usual bold behavior–like he was somehow bewildered.

     “What? What’s wrong?” I said.

     “……” Even after a long while passed, Seo Dawon said nothing. I couldn’t help but to stick my head out from behind his back to check on what he had seen. My mouth fell wide open from the shock of the intruder’s identity. “What the… W-Why am I over there?”

     “……”

      How horrifying… A man that looked exactly like me was staring back at us in fear.

     That wasn’t all. He wasn’t alone; a small skeleton bravely stood, arms wide open, in front of the man, trying to protect him.

    “I-Isn’t that Lackey?”

     “…Are you… Choi Kyung-sik?” The trembling ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ seemed to have taken some courage after I recognized Lackey and tossed us a question. I listened absentmindedly to his voice and stared at the man who wore my face.

     Then, instinctively, I pulled Seo Dawon to my side and shouted, “That’s a fake!”

     ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ made a dumbfounded expression before glaring at me, “Who are you calling fake! You should stop pretending after wearing my face, Choi Kyung-sik.”

“What? Why am I Choi Kyung-sik?”

     “Stop acting weird. I’ve come here to sign a contract with you–not to see you imitating me,” ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ retorted, made a cheeky expression, and drew Lackey closer into his embrace. It was as if he was saying ‘You don’t even have a Lackey of your own.’

     Speechless, I looked at Lackey within his arms. The skeleton gave us confused looks before deciding that the closest man must be his master; it began making threatening clacking sounds at me.

     I was unable to calm down–I felt such a sense of betrayal at that moment. Tearing up, I found myself angry at that despicable fake. “Y-You coward… even creating a Lackey…”

     “What are you talking about… Lackey’s been with me ever since I came here.”

     “Lackey never enters [Vengeful Ghost Memories] okay?”

     “Then, how come you’re claiming you’re the real one when you’re the one roaming with Bae Jaemin?”

     The fake ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ was strangely overly talkative and aggressive. I was going to say that Bae Jaemin was actually Seo Dawon, who had simply taken the Priest’s form, but the Mage stretched out his arm and stopped me. I was unable to bring that point up.

      As if recovering from his brief moment of confusion, Seo Dawon spoke to Choi Lee-kyung with a calm voice. “I’m not Bae Jaemin.”

     “……?”

     “I borrowed his body as a shell to enter this [Vengeful Ghost Memory].” As he said that, Seo Dawon lightly manifested his trademark, his golden magic circle, over his palm before scattering it.

     Then, ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ crumpled his brows, as if he were contemplating the Mage’s words. He looked so familiar to me when he was lost in thought; I continuously inwardly repeated to myself ‘That’s not me…’

     However, soon after, ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ raised his head and stared blatantly at ‘Bae Jaemin’; it was odd to see his expression slowly change.

     At first ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ looked at him with distrust, but the fake soon opened his mouth slowly and blinked his eyes… It felt like my reaction, when I realized the Mage’s identity, had been copy-pasted onto the man before me.

     The unpleasantness of seeing someone copy me was becoming gradually unbearable. ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ suddenly stepped forward, “A-Are you Seo Dawon?”

     “……That’s right.”

     “How did you…”

     Now, it felt like I had become a total third-wheel. 1 Seo Dawon was answering without hesitation, not even suspicious of that fake…

     I folded my arms and glared at the fake. When I saw Seo Dawon staring at ‘Choi Lee-kyung’ with downcast eyes, something painful was caught in my throat.