SMFC | Chapter 12

Lee Soo, feeling the intense stares upon him, was in fact too preoccupied with the spirits causing havoc in his mind to pay attention to anything else. Inside his head, there was a buzzing noise, and in front of his eyes, the system window kept popping up.

[On: Necromancy, of course, should be done by me, right?]

[Jin: No, no, it’s me. Necromancy is mine.]

[On: Says the one who can’t even talk properly!]

[Jin: I can talk. I totally can. I really can.]

Well, that was roughly the kind of argument going on. Blinking his blank eyes, wondering why they had to fight in his head of all places, Lee Soo squinted his eyes shut and then opened them wide.

About an hour into the dungeon raid, hunters who had taken down a named monster called out to Lee Soo to move positions. The only name being called was Lee Soo’s, not Yoo Haeon’s, not even once.

At this, Lee Soo, with a slight change in his expression, silently observed Haeon and then the hunters in the distance before fixing his gaze back on Haeon. Then, Haeon asked gruffly.

“Why aren’t you going?”

“Not going? What do you mean? I’m waiting. What are you doing not coming? You, Healer Haeon, need to move too. It’s my job to protect Healer Haeon. How can I leave without you?”

Lee Soo stretched his lips in a long grin as he spoke, and Haeon nibbled on his lips out of annoyance.

Knowing exactly what he was thinking yet behaving like this, Haeon could bet a lot on it. Muttering to himself, he silently picked up his pack. Brushing off the crumbs from a snack, he approached Lee Soo.

Slowly moving forward, unlike the hunters who couldn’t wait and pushed ahead, Lee Soo, who patiently waited for Haeon, smiled warmly and made a light hand gesture, assigning Jin to stick with Haeon.

“Guarding you while moving is the hardest, so I’ll assign Jin to you. If it gets dangerous, you can use necromancy. Normally you couldn’t use it without the related skill, but it’s possible since I’m here.”

“…I heard that if a normal person uses necromancy, the spirits possessing the body try to leave, which can be a big problem.”

Always needing to ask when curious, Lee Soo, having thought just that, chuckled softly and waved his hand lightly as spirits fluttered around playfully.

With a gentle gesture, the spirits fluttered and swung about. To Haeon, it looked both marvelous and eerie, staring blankly at Lee Soo, who gazed back affectionately as if looking at something precious.

“Why worry when I’m here? It’s different with me around. It’ll be fine.”

Though it might sound arrogant, strangely it reminded Haeon of a parent reassuring a worried child, saying it’s alright because they’re there.

With a slow blink, Haeon glanced at Lee Soo and then stared down the spirits flitting about near them.

Lee Soo was indeed keeping the deadliest beings around him that could potentially kill him. Reassured of his condition, Haeon stepped forward.

Despite just having finished a dungeon with a named monster, you never know what might appear, so Lee Soo walked in silence. Following cautiously, Haeon was lost in thought.

There are two kinds of healers: one who draws life force many times greater than a normal person to save others, and one who gathers unclaimed life energy floating around to heal.

Haeon, fitting somewhere in between, not really either, was thus more valuable and yet more isolated.

People were particularly harsh on anything different. Realizing he was considered ‘different,’ Haeon put those thoughts aside as he glanced at the glittering spirit beside him.

If he used about half of his life force along with the surrounding energy, he could prolong a life by another six months. Honestly, extending life by six months was close to miraculous if one wasn’t confident in their healing abilities.

It was a sudden question, but indeed Lee Soo was not in a state to be alive. Without a detailed examination, it wasn’t certain, but from what Haeon had seen, someone had intentionally blocked most of his blood vessels and slowed his heart rate to nearly make him a corpse. If his class had been an assassin or something with no attack skills, it would be to escape a monster’s detection by having a weaker life response, but still, the weakness was alarming recalling their first encounter.

Moreover, if Haeon was right, his body was almost rejecting life force. That might make the healer’s skill painful to use, Haeon thought, clicking his tongue.

It wasn’t just anything, it was his heart. Perhaps even pulling half of his own life force might not help Lee Soo survive past six months.

A healer always assumes the best case scenario while also preparing for the worst, thus Haeon naturally kept multiple possibilities open as he followed Lee Soo.

That the blocked vessels and slowed heart rate were the work of spirits was something Haeon surmised without a doubt.

After all, who would have such a skill just casually? Awakened people, despite having unique abilities, could neither collect spirits nor perform necromancy with a simple call.

Asking if they were like shamans because of Lee Soo… That too was not the case. Tight-lipped, Haeon narrowed his eyes and focused on Lee Soo’s fluttering hair, lost in thought.

The methods of healing and giving life were vastly different, each choice critically important.

Healing could buy some time without burdening either party too much but might not grant a full six months due to its slow nature.

Giving life force directly could provide a full six months more quickly but at great cost to both, and the methods available were extreme.

Thinking it best to discuss this with the patient, Haeon decided to sit down and talk about it as soon as they reached the spot where the second named monster would appear. If not possible now, he vowed to ask later no matter what.

When they were about to reach the field where the second named would appear without any hindrance, the spirit Jin that had been floating around Haeon suddenly swelled up as a monster burst forth.

[System: Dungeon information has changed. The field where the second named appears will now be generated here. Get ready.]

Acknowledging the warning, Lee Soo smoothly moved to position Haeon behind him, keeping an eye on him out of the corner of his eye without calling on other spirits, and directly performed necromancy on On. He didn’t need to check if the skill had been cast properly; he could tell by the slow stretching of his shadow.

If the tactical team hadn’t mismeasured the field size just to screw with the raid… then this must be a transforming dungeon, or there was some margin of error. Thinking the latter was fortunate, Lee Soo pulled out a charm he had memorized for days.

Never knowing when something might happen, he had diligently learned how to use skills and memorized the charm while being tormented by spirits.

Memorizing SAT vocabulary might be easier, he mused, such a treacherous process it had been. Reminiscing, Lee Soo formed a perfect circle with the spirit in his left hand. With his right hand, he twisted his fingers busily to match the correct gesture for this charm.

As the circle of spirit grew and a monster approached, Lee Soo, still adjusting the charm in his hand, seemed almost like he was blowing soap bubbles leisurely.

[System: Awakened ‘Ryu Leesoo’ casts the passive skills ‘Attachment’ and ‘Eerie’.]

[System: ‘Attachment’ maximizes the effect of the cast skill when a monster comes within a certain range.]

[System: ‘Eerie’ increases all damage by 150% for 15 seconds when a monster enters the range and there’s no significant change in heart rate.]

Unaware of Lee Soo’s thoughts, Haeon, alternating between worry and irritation, couldn’t hold back any longer as the monster approached within five steps.

“Get a grip! The monster is right in front-.”

“It’s okay. I won’t die, you worry too much.”

Mumbling, Lee Soo lightly bit the top of the charm in his right hand. As the monster came close enough to practically be nose-to-nose, he blew lightly on the charm.

In this critical situation, leisurely blowing on the charm like playing with bubbles, Haeon, who was making quite reasonable suspicions about Lee Soo’s sanity, watched in astonishment as dozens of characters from the scattered charm tightly bound the monster.

Despite reassuring him, Haeon looked at him with worried and annoyed eyes, startled by the simple spell. Lee Soo smiled faintly, finding the concern hidden in his tone inexplicably delightful.

With no intention of hiding his uplifted spirits, Lee Soo hummed a tune and flicked his pitch-black stained left hand, tearing the monster apart effortlessly.