Chapter 2 …
After running for a long time, I finally returned to where Kim Yeoul had been.
There were no traces of the intense battle.
All that remained was a single corpse, half of its body blackened and lifeless.
“Ah…”
I didn’t even need to see the face to know.
The corpse lying there was my friend, Kim Yeoul.
The Kim Yeoul who used to annoyingly wake me up every morning.
The Kim Yeoul who would hit me on the back of the head when I was having a hard time.
The Kim Yeoul who would smile shyly when embarrassed.
The Kim Yeoul whose touch would make my cheeks flush red and who would throw little fits.
Fifteen years of shared history.
My friend, who had spent a long time with me through the changing of seasons, had died protecting me.
And she was dead in a pitiful state, half of her body burned beyond recognition.
“Ye… Yeoul-ah.”
It felt as if I’d been hit in the head; my thoughts wouldn’t function properly.
My hands and legs trembled uncontrollably.
The cold tears running down my cheeks made the reality painfully clear.
“Yeoul-ah, Kim Yeoul, I’m here… come back to your senses…”
I cautiously approached Kim Yeoul and tried to lift her.
Supporting her head with my hands, I raised her, but the lifeless body had no strength left.
The hands that used to pinch my cheeks randomly were now motionless.
The annoying lips that always stole my bread, the arms that would hit me every morning to wake me up—everything had lost its vitality.
Talks of being an A-rank hunter or fleeing to Japan didn’t even come to mind.
Only the guilt of my friend dying while protecting me tightened around my throat.
It even felt like I’d lost the last family I had.
My chest felt hollow, as if a hole had been torn through it.
The Kim Yeoul who would have teased me, saying, “Thought I was dead?” was no longer here.
Her black eyes had lost their light, turning gray.
My tears fell onto her cheeks.
No miracle would resurrect Kim Yeoul through my tears.
This was reality.
Tears streamed uncontrollably, blurring my vision.
Even as my breath caught, my hands gripping Kim Yeoul refused to let go.
“Why… why did you do that… We could have just run together… why….”
Her burnt hair crumbled with a crackling sound.
The fragments blew away in the wind.
How much pain had she endured?
What had she been thinking as she died in that inferno?
She could have escaped if she were alone.
“Because of me… it’s all because of me…”
Tears fell endlessly, but I forced myself to rise.
She had once saved my life.
I took up a shovel to honor her final wish.
Quietly, I began digging the earth.
Using a military shovel, I dug the ground and cleared the area.
I carefully placed Kim Yeoul inside.
My friend, eyes closed, had fallen into an eternal sleep.
The friend who had protected me until the very end had crossed a river from which there was no return.
“……”
I shoveled the dirt.
Burying her with my own hands, the friend who had kept me safe, was nauseatingly hard.
Tears flowed endlessly as if my tear glands had broken.
Still, I bit my lips and covered her with earth once again.
I could not even deny her last wish, so I buried Kim Yeoul.
I leveled the ground and took out the drink she had liked from my bag.
Only a couple of sips left, maybe.
I poured it over the grave, unwilling to waste even that.
Kneeling, I placed my hands together and bowed.
Once:
“Virtuous and honorable Kim Yeoul, your legacy will remain eternal.”
Twice:
“May heaven watch over… my friend who rests in eternal peace…”
My bitten lips bled.
My throat kept choking on the endless tears.
I pressed my head to the ground, performing the last rites.
“May you attain ultimate bliss…”
I bowed twice, giving my friend the utmost respect.
With that, the bond between Kim Yeoul and me, left in this world, felt completely severed.
Tears poured in torrents.
If she were here, she would have scolded me to stop crying, but I couldn’t break the wave of sorrow.
Now that Kim Yeoul was gone, there was nowhere else for me to go.
No country would accept a parasite who hadn’t even awakened, let alone an A-rank.
So I would have to keep surviving in this hell.
At that thought, a slightly blasphemous idea crossed my mind.
If only I could go with Kim Yeoul, where she had given her life…
The horrifying thought of letting her sacrifice be in vain lingered for a moment.
Then, suddenly, time seemed to stop.
The blowing wind ceased, and the distant roars of monsters were abruptly silenced.
“Uh…?”
A cluster of pure white light, origin unknown, began gathering in my heart.
A warm sensation enveloped me.
[1,000 Awakened buried.]
[The souls of the dead have gathered.]
[Awakened as a Necromancer!]
[A great achievement!]
[Soul rank has increased!]
[EX – Awakened as Soul Lord!]
“……uh.”
Life returned to my weakened body.
An awakening.
And EX-rank at that.
At the term “Soul Lord,” I frantically opened my status window.
[Cha Hyunsoo]
[LV. 1]
[EX – Soul Lord]
[Owned Skills]
[Arise – 0/3]
[Unique to Soul Lord.]
[You can resurrect and command the dead.]
[Completely ignores time, divinity, curses, and seals.]
[Resurrected dead retain the power of their prime.]
[The dead under your command grow stronger as the Soul Lord grows.]
[If a controlled dead dies, they can be revived in 1 hour.]
EX-rank… Soul Lord… nothing else mattered.
I could resurrect the dead.
That was enough.
I dug up the grave I had just filled.
The still-soft soil gave way easily under my hands.
Inside, covered in dirt, lay my friend.
I carefully held Kim Yeoul’s hands and activated the skill.
“Arise…!”
Light poured from my body into hers.
Her charred body healed, burnt hair and skin regaining vitality.
She returned with more vigor than ever, slowly opening her eyes.
Her black eyes held me within them.
And then.
In an instant, Kim Yeoul leapt from the grave and hugged me.
Normally, she would have pushed me away, saying how gross it was, but her back trembled.
I quietly patted her back.
“…Kim Yeoul, you’re sticking awfully close.”
“I died to save you, and you can’t even hug me this much?”
“…Hug all you want.”
Since being resurrected, Kim Yeoul held my arm and rested her head against me.
It was awkward with the closeness, but I couldn’t push her away.
She was the savior of my precious life.
I gently stroked her head, now no longer trembling, and asked,
“So… how does it feel to be resurrected?”
“…Good.”
“Is that all? Don’t you remember anything else?”
Kim Yeoul thought deeply, pulling something from her hazy memories.
“What I remember… is a white hand pulling me out of a pitch-black place?”
“Pitch-black place?”
“Yeah… just pitch-black.”
Pitch-black place… not quite like the afterlife I imagined.
“So… aren’t you curious how you were resurrected?”
“Huh? You revived me with the Soul Lord’s power, didn’t you?”
“…How do you know that?”
“Well… you revived me, so of course I’d know…”
Even without me saying it, she knew… that must be a power of the Soul Lord.
Though I hadn’t paid attention before, technically, Kim Yeoul was now my summoned entity.
The skill window even shows [Current controlled dead 1/3].
My friend… was my summoned minion.
It was confusing, but there was no need to complain.
Good was good.
“So… what now? Going to Japan as planned?”
Kim Yeoul, occupying my left arm, asked.
My thoughts cleared.
“Japan….”
Given my current rank, even the US would send the president after me, let alone Japan.
A skill that resurrects the dead.
I’d never heard of anything like it.
Even the abilities of S-rank hunters, who could move mountains and split seas, were ultimately human feats.
But to bring the dead back to life…
It was more divine power than strength.
And with just the corpse, resurrection had no limits.
“No, the destination changed.”
“Huh? Where to?”
“We’re going to the National Cemetery, Hyeonchungwon.”
“…Hyeonchungwon?”
Kim Yeoul gave me a look of disbelief.
“Still talking about Hyeonchungwon?”
“No, you don’t know who’s buried there?”
“Uh… the hunters who died in the line of duty when Korea was still intact… Ah!”
“Yeah, now you get it.”
Korea hadn’t always been ruined.
In the past, it was a powerful country, on par with other advanced hunter nations.
And that was all thanks to one hunter.
Hunter Baek Dohyun.
The hunter who single-handedly stopped the S-rank monster, Paewang Dragon Balsarion.
The legendary hunter who held off the undead army pouring into Seoul while other hunters fled.
One of Asia’s finest, Baek Dohyun.
When he died on the lost battlefield, Korea’s hunter ranking plummeted from 3rd to below 30th.
And now I could resurrect him.
And as a summoned minion.
No matter how battered or broken, as long as I survived, I could bring him back.
Baek Dohyun, who could die and revive endlessly.
“We have to go, right?”
“Absolutely!”
Kim Yeoul’s eyes sparkled as she nodded enthusiastically.
Even for her, Baek Dohyun joining them was exciting.
“With just Hunter Baek Dohyun, at least we won’t die!”
“Maybe we can even restore the Korean Peninsula.”
“With the endlessly resurrecting Baek Dohyun… maybe…!”
Plans were being revised entirely.
We would head to Seoul’s National Cemetery, specifically the hunter section of Hyeonchungwon.
“So how are we getting back to Seoul?”
“Take another route… this one was supposed to be the safest.”
“The safest?”
Kim Yeoul gave an openly disgusted expression.
But what could I say? It was true.
“It would have been, if not for some absurd variables. Originally, it was the safest.”
“The guide couldn’t account for the variables, so I died….”
“Even for a pro guide who can revive the dead, nothing’s impossible.”
“Heh…”
Kim Yeoul, ready to headlock me again, froze and then relaxed her arms.
Summons can’t harm their masters, so her body must have stiffened automatically.
“To put a headlock on your heavenly master…”
“Hey, in that case, bury me again.”
“Really? Wait a second.”
“J-Just kidding! Just kidding!”
I put the shovel back in my bag and unfolded the map.
“Sigh… maybe we should just go the opposite way.”
“Where?”
“We’re heading into the Red Sky Horse’s territory.”
“What? You’re saying we go there!?”
Kim Yeoul recoiled from PTSD about the Red Sky Horse.
But this was the perfect high-pass route now.
“The majority of monsters should be over there fighting the Ice Dragon. Now’s the perfect time to raid an empty house.”
“What if the war ends before we get there?”
“Monsters of that level don’t finish battles in a few hours.”
At least one side must die or retreat badly for the war to end.
S-rank monsters wouldn’t finish a fight in one or two hours.
Besides, the Red Sky Horse isn’t even in its territory now.
Which means the surrounding environment isn’t that terrible.
“Time’s critical. Let’s move.”
“…Really, nothing will happen?”
“Even if it does, I’ll revive you again.”
Kim Yeoul smiled brightly and nodded.
“Trust me. I’ll protect you again this time.”
Her dazzling smile, holding my hand, was incredibly reassuring.
