Damn Necromancer-Chapter 305
Chapter 305: Olivia (5)
Seoul, a cafe in Gangnam.
A woman sitting by the window zoomed in on her screen.
Silver hair and black hair.
A selfie of two surreal-looking women was taking over the group chat.
“Hey, look at this.”
The friend sitting next to her peeked her head over.
“Is that…… Merhen?”
“You know her too?”
“Of course I know, dude. Do you think I'm a caveman? But I've never seen the woman next to her. Who is it?”
“I don't know either.”
“But she's seriously pretty……”
The two women on the screen were sitting on a cafe terrace.
The silver-haired woman was smiling brightly, and the black-haired woman was almost expressionless.
Fingers moved busily.
As she typed ‘Merhen’ into the search bar, related articles poured out.
Banshee Queen.
Kim Minwoo's Legion Commander.
A cafe member located on the top floor of the mega-sized cafe called the Death Cult.
―lmao Merhen knew how to take selfies?
―Who is that black-haired girl seriously
―Is she a foreigner? Look at her eye color
―Isn't she like a vampire or something? Her skin is super pale
―lmfao why would a vampire be in Seoul
It spread even faster on social media.
‘#Merhen #BansheeQueen #KimMinwoo #UnidentifiedBeauty’
The hashtags climbed the real-time trends.
Comments exploded.
―Is she a foreign Hunter?
―Am I the only one who thinks she looks like a vampire?
―Fr her paleness is not human. Seriously looks like a blank sheet of paper.
Posts were also going up on community message boards.
Title: Am I the only one seeing the vampire next to Merhen?
―Yeah I saw it too
―Isn't that photoshopped
―If it's photoshopped the quality is insane
―No, why is Merhen taking a selfie
―Did Kim Minwoo make her do it xD
It wasn't just Korea.
At the same time, on the opposite side of the globe.
There was an existence receiving this notification in Chile as well.
“Damn, living it up.”
An undead, Lee Seoyoon, who had been revived by Kim Minwoo and turned into a Shadow Walker.
It was her.
＊ ＊ ＊
The night in Chile smelled of blood.
Lee Seoyoon stepped on a cigarette under a sign hanging by its neck.
Corpses rolled around at her feet.
She couldn't even distinguish if they were human or demonic beasts.
Since their spilled innards looked the exact same either way.
On one side of the alley, a street vendor was heating an iron plate.
He didn't seem to care at all about the corpses sprawled next to him.
Here, that was normal.
She threw a few dollar bills.
An empanada came out.
A half-moon-shaped fried dumpling.
Wasn't it said to be the national snack of the Chilean people?
Inside, it has minced meat, onions, olives, and boiled eggs.
Normally, it is like that. Who knows what's in the ones they sell here.
Because asking for the source of meat in the slums is an idiotic thing to do.
She took the golden-brown cooked one and took a bite.
Crunch.
She chewed.
She swallowed.
“Ptooey.”
She spat it out.
"This tastes fucking awful, put more seasoning in it for fucks sake"
The vendor, who had been swearing, smiled brightly upon receiving the wad of dollars and generously sprinkled the seasoning.
A thick layer of red chili powder, or whatever it was, piled up. It was an amount that would have burned a human's tongue away.
Another bite.
Crunch.
“It still tastes dead awful even like this.”
She lost a lot of things when she became a Shadow Walker.
Among them, her sense of taste took the biggest hit.
No matter what she ate, it felt like chewing sawdust. Sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness all felt like faint afterimages.
Still, she ate. If she felt like throwing up, she would sprinkle multiple times the seasoning just to swallow it.
Because it was one of the few ways to reminisce about her time as a human.
Crunch. Crunch.
Only the sound of chewing echoed in the blood-scented alley.
‘Hah, when am I going to find this bastard.’
A woman in her early 20s who used to normally play pretend at being a Hunter in Korea was now in the position of scouring the back alleys of the Third World. Just to find one man.
Santiago was already finished.
Three gates had exploded simultaneously, but there were no troops to block them.
The military went all-in on defending the capital, and the outskirts were abandoned.
It became a slum.
No, it was worse than a slum. At least slums have something called order.
Demonic beasts ate people, and people ate people.
In illegal arenas, they pitted humans against demonic beasts and ran gambling rings.
The rule was that the winner tears apart and eats the loser.
Police? Don't make me laugh. Here, the guy with the gun was the law.
Lee Seoyoon, having forcefully emptied her food, walked down the alley. Shadows wavered beneath her feet.
After becoming an undead, the darkness became as comfortable as home. Instead, sunlight had become sickening, though.
‘Namgung Min.’
The order Kim Minwoo had given brushed past her mind.
Find him. Characteristics? Male in his 20s, psychopath. Seeing how quiet he's been until now, it's unlikely he's in Korea. Scour the entire Third World.
That was all.
‘No, how am I supposed to find him with just that.’
Psychopath?
Everyone here was a psychopath.
A guy whose hobby is murder, a guy whose hobby is torture, a guy who sleeps with corpses. To find a ‘real psychopath’ in a world full of guys like that.
Finding a needle in a haystack would be easier.
Still, there was a clue. The pieces of information Kim Minwoo had thrown her. Combat style, manner of speech, habits. And crucially…….
“Plays with them like toys.”
Enjoys the pain when killing a person. It's not simply being cruel, but dissecting them as if experimenting.
She chased after places where such rumors circulated. Mexico, Brazil, Argentina. And now, Chile.
Lee Seoyoon stopped walking.
A light was seen ahead. Stairs going down underground. Cheers leaked out.
It was an arena.
＊ ＊ ＊
The underground was filled with the smell of blood and moisture.
The lighting was concentrated only on the ring, and the surroundings were thick darkness. Human, demonic beast, mutated Hunter.
No matter who stepped into the ring, the result was the same. Blood, screams, silence.
In the midst of that, a man was smiling.
Lee Seoyoon watched the spectacle from the darkness.
The man's hand movements were slow. On purpose.
Twisting the opponent's arm, snapping the joints, and slowly dissecting them.
Like a child playing with a toy.
“How far do I have to cut for the screaming to stop?”
The man muttered. It was a look of genuine curiosity.
He cut off the wrist. A scream burst out. He cut off the elbow. The scream rose higher. He cut off the shoulder. The scream…….
Stopped.
“Ah.”
The man tilted his head as if disappointed.
“It was the shoulder.”
A shiver ran down Lee Seoyoon's spine.
Her heart raced. It was a sensation she was feeling after a long time.
‘Hah, he's exactly like me?’
She looked down at her own hands.
When she was human.
A B-rank Awakened, the days when she was called by the alias Dark Shadow. She was a shadow too.
Killing people was fun.
It was enjoyable.
The process of tearing muscles and slicing along the grain.
The process of chasing fleeing prey and slowly breaking them.
It couldn't have been better.
It was the same even after becoming an undead.
She killed demonic beasts, and she killed criminals too.
She smiled while watching their running backs.
She slowly sought them out even while knowing where they were hiding.
She appreciated the despair rising in their eyes when she discovered them.
And killed them. Playfully, slowly, a lot.
She had no choice but to admit it.
The moment she saw the look in that man's eyes, it was like looking in a mirror.
Eyes purely enjoying it.
Eyes observing pain.
Eyes seeing life as a toy.
Namgung Min was of the same breed as her.
＊ ＊ ＊
The third corpse collapsed on the ring.
The man lightly dusted off his blood-splattered hands. His eyes didn't waver even a bit. Indifferently, like dusting off laundry.
Cheers erupted.
“He won again!”
“That bastard, isn't he seriously fucking crazy?”
“Psycho! Psycho! Psycho!”
The audience went wild. Wads of cash flew through the air. Some howled, and some cheered.
As if even that noise was boring, the man shrugged his shoulders and walked out toward the exit.
Lee Seoyoon moved.
She tailed him like a shadow. The body of a Shadow Walker melted into the darkness. She followed him, gliding without a footstep or a hint of presence.
She slipped out of the underground passage. Chile's night air hit her skin coldly. The man was walking toward the end of the alley. A leisurely pace. The pace of someone who didn't know he was being followed.
No. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Lee Seoyoon's eyes narrowed.
It was the pace of someone who knew and was ignoring it.
‘Cocky bastard.’
The corners of her mouth went up. She liked it.
“Namgung Min.”
She called his name. The man stopped.
His head turned slowly.
Black pupils reflected Lee Seoyoon.
Eyes that could be seen clearly even in the darkness. The same eyes full of curiosity she had seen on the ring earlier.
“My name…….”
His voice dropped low.
“How the hell do you know it?”
Lee Seoyoon smiled.
Red eye glints flashed in the shadows.
The eyes of an undead.
The eyes of a Shadow Walker.
The proof of being Kim Minwoo's summon.
“Because someone is looking for you.”
“And who might that be?”
“The bastard who brought me back to life.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yeah, really.”
Lee Seoyoon took a step forward.
Behind her, darkness that looked ready to explode began to surge.
“Noona's gonna give you a choice. You wanna go with all your limbs chopped off, or you wanna just go nicely?”
Namgung Min laughed.
His eyes were not smiling.
“Noona? You look younger than me.”
“You'll probably figure out who the elder is once you're nothing but a torso.”
Lee Seoyoon smiled too.
Likewise, her eyes were not smiling.
“You're a bit of a smartass, aren't you?”
In an instant, the two shadows disappeared simultaneously.
Chaeng!
Sparks flew.
Two figures crossed paths in the middle of the alley.
Twin daggers were held in Namgung Min's hands before anyone noticed. The black metal swallowed the moonlight.
Lee Seoyoon's eyes narrowed.
‘He's fast.’
No, he wasn't just fast.
Extremely efficient movements.
There were no wasted motions.
If his right hand aimed for her neck, his left hand stabbed at her abdomen. If she blocked, she was cut; if she dodged, he chased.
A killing machine.
She felt it instinctively.
Talent.
She had never considered herself lacking anywhere she went.
But that gap was vast.
If it had been her during her human days, she wouldn't have lasted even three exchanges.
Seueuk.
The smoothly thrust dagger grazed her neck.
Her skin split.
Black smoke rose up.
“Huh?”
Namgung Min’s eyebrows went up.
“You’re not bleeding?”
“I’m not human, you see.”
Lee Seoyoon’s body scattered.
Shadow Dispersion.
Her physical body broke down into black particles and seeped into the darkness all around. Namgung Min’s dagger cut through the empty air.
“Oh.”
An exclamation of admiration leaked out.
“That’s fun.”
The shadow on the wall wavered.
Lee Seoyoon popped out.
From behind his back.
Her dagger struck down toward his spine.
Namgung Min only turned his head.
Chang!
He blocked it without even looking back.
The dagger held in a reverse grip accurately caught Lee Seoyoon’s blade.
A foot flew in.
It lodged into Lee Seoyoon’s abdomen.
Her body flew and smashed into the wall.
Bricks poured down.
“Ugh.”
She stood up.
Her broken ribs reattached themselves. The regenerative power of an undead.
This was also something she obtained after becoming a Shadow Walker.
‘Head-on won’t work.’
This bastard is pretty strong.
The corners of her mouth went up.
It was fun.
For the first time in a while, it was genuinely fun.
“You know.”
Lee Seoyoon said while melting into the darkness.
“I don’t usually fight like this, you know?”
Afterimages remained.
One, two, three.
“But, I’m gonna cheat a little?”
Three Lee Seoyoons lunged toward Namgung Min simultaneously.
Namgung Min’s eyes flashed.
“That’s how it’s fun.”
His twin daggers danced.
