Swordmaster of the Grave, Episode 3
Chapter 1: Now I Am the Necromancer (3)
“Th-thank you for saving me.”
After the battle ended, Seokgyu cautiously approached and expressed his gratitude. Jinhyeok, who had been watching the skeleton soldiers gather the scattered corpses of the cannibals, turned his head toward Seokgyu.
“Do you have what it takes to survive?”
“What do you mean?”
“I asked if you have the confidence to survive in this world.”
Seokgyu could not answer easily.
“If you think it’ll be hard to survive alone, would you like to come with me?”
Jinhyeok proposed. Seokgyu had once told him about his own personality.
‘I don’t like acting alone. If you reach out your hand, I will surely take it.’
He hadn’t liked acting alone. He had class-changed a colleague named Bae Seojun into a Spectral Swordsman and acted together with him.
“C-can I really do that?”
Seokgyu asked in a trembling voice. Being alone in this uncertain world was an unsettling thought. Such a thought was only natural. Right now, Seokgyu had just faced a life-threatening ambush from cannibals. In this situation, anyone would need someone to rely on.
“Yeah. I’ll give you a class-change scroll. Once you’ve learned it, I’ll teach you swordsmanship.”
Jinhyeok took out a Spectral Swordsman class-change scroll from his subspace and handed it over. Seokgyu received it and opened his mouth.
“But I’m curious why you’re going this far for me.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not out of simple kindness.”
“But what if I betray you……”
“Will you betray me?”
Jinhyeok looked at Seokgyu and asked, but he already knew the answer. The Seokgyu he knew was not the type to commit betrayal. Rather, he was the type who always repaid kindness.
Jinhyeok was acting based on trust in the Necromancer Ji Seokgyu of the past, not the present Ji Seokgyu. Either way, they were the same person. If he betrayed him, he could simply kill him.
“No, I won’t betray you.”
Seokgyu shook his head. A smile spread across Jinhyeok’s lips.
“Then that’s settled. Go ahead and learn the Spectral Swordsman class-change scroll.”
“Understood.”
While Seokgyu was learning the scroll, Jinhyeok created undead from the cannibals’ corpses. After sending the twelve corpses he had finished crafting into zombies back into his subspace, he walked over to where Seokgyu was. Whether he had finished the class change or not, an ominous aura was swirling around him.
“Finished?”
“Yes.”
“Come to think of it, I didn’t even know your name. I’m Gang Jinhyeok. What’s yours?”
Revealing one’s name was the first step in getting to know each other.
“I’m Ji Seokgyu.”
Seokgyu gave his name and cautiously extended his hand. Jinhyeok smiled and took his hand, shaking it lightly.
‘That’s one piece.’
Jinhyeok’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Seokgyu. He had found one of the four pieces he needed to gather.
When the Demon Legion invaded, we had been scattered.
But not anymore.
The next day, Jinhyeok instructed Seokgyu in swordsmanship.
“Watch closely and learn it properly.”
Jinhyeok demonstrated the swordsmanship with footwork. Seokgyu’s eyes sparkled as he watched.
“Your turn.”
The demonstration ended and it was Seokgyu’s turn. Jinhyeok sheathed his sword and stepped back. Seokgyu stepped forward and performed the swordsmanship.
‘He’s not as good as me, but he learns fast.’
Watching Seokgyu perform, Jinhyeok thought. It was basic swordsmanship, but his learning speed was impressive. Seokgyu was already making the swordsmanship Jinhyeok had taught him his own.
“I think that’s enough for today. It’s about time.”
Jinhyeok spoke. The mana of the field was fluctuating. It meant the Selection Test was announcing its end, with the number of survivors having fallen to one hundred or fewer.
“W-what do you mean, it’s about time?”
Seokgyu asked in a trembling voice. Hardly before his words ended, a mass of white light enveloped the two.
“What is this? Master!”
While learning swordsmanship from Jinhyeok, Seokgyu had taken to calling him Master.
“We’re going to the place we need to go now that the Selection Test is over.”
He wore an anxious expression. Over the past few days under Jinhyeok’s protection, Seokgyu’s dependent side had grown stronger. The past Necromancer Ji Seokgyu had also shown a somewhat dependent side. When Bae Seojun, a member of the suicide squad and Seokgyu’s only comrade as a Spectral Swordsman, died, he had shown a devastated side of himself.
“What if we get separated?”
That was a possibility. It was what most people thought when the Selection Test ended. But that wouldn’t happen. When a single Selection Test ended, everyone in the same field was moved to the same city’s plaza. It was a fact he had naturally learned while adapting to life in the Otherworld.
“Don’t worry. We won’t get separated.”
“Even so……”
Despite Jinhyeok’s words, Seokgyu could not easily relax. While the two exchanged brief words, the mass of light covering their bodies grew denser. The transfer would begin soon.
“I’ll go ahead and wait for you.”
With those words, a blinding light covered them both. When the white light engulfed his entire body, Jinhyeok’s form disappeared. And he opened his eyes in a familiar space.
A man in a black suit stood in an empty space.
It was the Guide.
The Guide and the empty space. This was the second time he had come here. His role was to provide a brief explanation and send them to the beginner starting point now that the Selection Test had ended.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Gang Jinhyeok.”
“Yeah.”
Perhaps because he had obtained a Hidden Class, the Guide’s appearance was different from the one he had met in his previous life.
‘Is this another variable?’
“I am the Guide.”
The Guide did not reveal his name. Even after living in the Otherworld for over ten years in his previous life, Jinhyeok had never learned the reason.
“First, let me give you a brief explanation. You have become the Hidden Class Necromancer. Congratulations.”
The Guide clapped with a bored expression. Soon, he took out a small leather pouch from within his clothes and tossed it to Jinhyeok. The pouch was light.
“It is 1 Gold. This should be enough for you to get by for the time being.”
As expected, it was the reward given to beginners for completing the Selection Test.
Jinhyeok carefully put the leather pouch away. The Guide opened his mouth again.
“You have now obtained citizenship in the Otherworld. You are free to live however you wish, but responsibility will follow.”
“I’m done with explanations. Can you send me on my way?”
“You’re a prickly one. Then I’ll send you as you wish. To Lawrence!”
The mass of light covered him again.
When he opened his eyes, he stood in a completely new space.
* * *
When he opened his eyes, many people came into view. Hundreds of people were gathered in the plaza. Around the plaza stood people wearing vests emblazoned with all sorts of emblems.
They were personnel sent by the Guilds.
The inflow of beginners only came from the Selection Tests that opened irregularly. So when the Selection Tests ended, each Guild sent personnel to recruit beginners.
“Where is this?”
“W-what! We ended up in a strange place!”
Beginners who, like Jinhyeok, had not listened to the Guide’s explanation began appearing one by one. Because they hadn’t listened, they were greatly confused.
“The chicks have arrived.”
“Let’s move!”
The guild members of each Guild moved toward the beginners. Those sent by the Guilds were professionals of this world. They naturally struck up conversations and guided them to their areas. There were beginners who did not join a Guild, but most nodded at the invitation to join. In the unfamiliar Otherworld, they needed a place to lean on.
A few seemed to approach Jinhyeok, but sensing the sinister mana dancing around him, they turned away or stopped.
“Senior, why aren’t we recruiting that person?”
“Lower your voice. I can feel sinister mana. To accumulate that much sinister mana, he must have killed dozens of people. We pursue stability over skill. We can’t accept someone like him.”
Jinhyeok furrowed his brow. It was close enough to hear clearly. The speaker probably knew that. He hadn’t expected them to say such things so openly.
‘Ji Seokgyu… You lived a harder life than I thought.’
Just looking at the current situation, it was obvious what Ji Seokgyu must have gone through during his first round.
‘I’ll have to hide my mana as much as possible from now on.’
A lonely road, despite being promised the seat of the strongest. Now Jinhyeok was walking that path in Seokgyu’s place.
“Excuse me.”
A voice that was polite yet flowed with a strange chill came from behind. When he turned in the direction of the voice, there was a man and a woman. They wore armor and capes emblazoned with the emblem of a Guild.
A red katana emblem.
It was the Ronin Guild, which had a branch in Lawrence and its headquarters in Ruakion in the Ruark region. They accepted even murderers as long as they were strong. Therefore, their reputation in the first round had not been good. Seeing them approach Jinhyeok, who reeked of a frigid scent of death, it seemed this time would not be much different from the first round.
“You’re a beginner who just finished the Selection Test, correct?”
The Ronin Guild member spoke with certainty. Right now, aside from the black robe, Jinhyeok was wearing modern clothes that did not fit the Otherworld. Anyone could see he looked like a beginner who had just finished the Selection Test.
“Yeah.”
Jinhyeok answered and hid a smile. Strictly speaking, he was not a beginner. At least among those gathered in the plaza now, it would be hard to find an otherworlder with more experience than Jinhyeok.
“From afar, I could see the smell of death and dark Mana overflowing from you. So I have a proposal. How about joining our Guild?”
The Ronin Guild member cut straight to the point. Jinhyeok shook his head and opened his mouth.
“No, I’m not interested.”
“You probably don’t know because you’re a beginner, but there won’t be many Guilds willing to accept someone emitting this much dark Mana.”
“I don’t plan on joining another Guild either.”
“It will be difficult to get by without a Guild…… Surely you don’t mean to create a one-man guild?”
“Maybe.”
After giving a rough answer to the Ronin Guild member, Jinhyeok moved toward the warp gate. This was an opportunity barely obtained through the sacrifice of his comrades. He had no intention of wasting his time joining something like the Ronin Guild.
Jinhyeok looked around. It was about time for Seokgyu to arrive.
As if on cue, perhaps because the Guides’ explanations were ending, beginners wearing modern clothes that looked out of place in the Otherworld began appearing with masses of light. They were ones who had obediently listened to the explanation until the end.
Their faces were full of despair. After hearing the Guide’s explanation, they had belatedly realized their predicament. They had survived, but despair awaited. Beyond this pitch-black mountain, the hope of returning home awaited them. Those who had spent at least a year here held onto an invisible, distant light and lived on. But to those who had just arrived in the Otherworld, what they saw immediately was a swamp of deep despair.
“Master!”
A familiar voice rang out. Seokgyu had found Jinhyeok first. He appeared, pushing through the complicated crowd.
“Did you listen to the explanation properly?”
“Yes, I think I roughly understand the situation we’re in.”
Jinhyeok nodded with a satisfied expression. Seokgyu’s comprehension was good, and he was quick-witted. With the Guide’s explanation added, it wouldn’t have been difficult to understand the current situation.
“What should we do now?”
Seokgyu asked. Jinhyeok smiled. The plan had already begun.
“You got 1 Gold, right?”
At Jinhyeok’s question, Seokgyu nodded. If he had met the Guide through the normal route, he would have received 1 Gold as living expenses.
“From now on, we’re going to use that to get some minimum equipment.”
“Equipment, you say?”
Jinhyeok nodded and opened his mouth again.
“It’s best to take off your old clothes quickly.”
Wearing modern clothes in the Otherworld meant you were a beginner who knew nothing. In such cases, you were likely to be looked down upon.