Chapter 4. The Immoral Act You Were Summoned To Do
Thurst? Hunger?
His HP was low for someone at level 8.
After looking at the Necro's equipment, I realized something.
If one's item did not have any stats, or an added effect, the item didn't show up in the status screen.
For example, normal t-shirts, underwear, or socks would not show up.
"Have you gotten used to your new additions yet?"
There were quite a lot more things that I would've liked to look at, but I probably didn't have the time for it.
"Thanks to you."
I decided to observe the man while being as subdued as possible.
This was because 'despite having this happen, no one came'.
Meaning, the current situation was totally under control.
Or, this was the 'intended conclusion'.
"Thank my ass. How polite. By the way, this isn't entirely free? You cleaned up the kids, and this is also an advance payment for something I'm going to ask you to do."
There was a high chance of me being dead when I was summoned.
In other words, the man had summoned "me" as a target.
And he was also "desperate" enough to revive me.
But if I was that important, I surely would've been treated better than this.
"O.K. Alright. Now we can talk. Let me introduce myself again."
Necro extended his hand to me.
"I am Necro, one of the wizards working for the Haze Republic."
Necro Kill. [To kill a corpse].
We shook our hands.
"Cool name, don't you think? I'm the one who summoned you here! As well as the one who revived you! Hahaha!"
His laughter was filled with pride and joy.
"Saying this makes me sound almost like a villain? How embarrassing."
If one took blood and corpses out of the equation, the whole scene seemed almost light-hearted and fun.
Now it's my turn to introduce myself, huh.
"Jin."
I decided to use my family name, since I didn't have an actual name.
"Jin? And?"
"Nothing else."
I wasn't lying.
"Oh dear. No name? Were you a part of an evil organization or something?"
Kind of.
"As for you, why are you called Necro Kill, despite being a Korean? Chuuni, perhaps?"
"Hey! Damn you! Chuuni my ass. This all has a reason, you know? Wizards aren't supposed to reveal their true name, you know? If you know a wizard's true name, you can do all sorts of stuff to their magic and existence itself. Get it?"
I didn't get it.
"Don't tell me you're making up stories just because I have no name…"
"Ehei! That's not the case at all!"
It seemed that the world of wizards was quite peculiar.
"Well, fine. I'll tell you my name, but my surname, then. Just for politeness' sake. But do try to forget it after you hear it, yeah?"
A name was just a name, after all.
"Seokil. O.K. I'll stop there."
"Kill because Seo'kil'?"
"Ah, I suppose it would work that way? Creative, aren't you. Ah, I'm saying this just now, but it's useless to know my surname? You can't just know my name without knowing the meaning behind it."
But I already got through that problem.
In this case, this was simply a case of breaking up a single character into multiple pieces.
"What a rare surname."
Necro's face stiffened.
"It's Japanese if you read it backwards, too."
I didn't even need to check if I was right. The man's reaction was quite something.
"Don't worry. I won't tell."
"…I'm not gonna trust you, but seriously, don't tell anyone that. Alright? In any case. It's getting kind of awkward to just stay here, so- let's go."
Necro motioned me out the door.
"We need to get you through the proper motions. Gotta get you introduced to a few people as well. We can talk more as we move."
I pointed towards the corpses.
"Those?"
"Ah, them? Don't worry about it. It's just trash anyway. Over there, that <Smelter> kid. He used to go around with a knife stabbing kids. Below him, <Steal More> was someone who stole other kids' stuff and took out cash from his parents' wallets. <Grand Cheat> was someone who just cheated on every one of his tests. What do you think, they all deserved death, don't you think?"
"Who knows."
The problem lay in whether they could've 'benefited me'.
"Oh~ how cool~"
Necro walked over to one of the corpses.
"Seriously, how nice. Just look at these sons of bitches. Isn't the world quite a shitty place? To think shits like these could run wild after they come to this world."
Necro crouched down next to Grand Cheat's split head.
"They don't even have shit in their brains, and yet they have the gall to call themselves geniuses."
Necro took out a knife from his pocket.
It was a Chinese cleaver.
But instead of the usual plastic case it was contained in, it seemed to be covered in some dirty pieces of flesh.
"You think you're a wizard? You thought if a piece of trash in real life came over to this world, you would be a hero?"
Necro chopped off Grand Cheat's neck with the cleaver. The limbs convulsed a little bit as blood seeped out of the neck.
So he was pretending to be dead…
The kid used his ability to make the axe miss, and used his ability to make my eyes register a 'miss' as a 'hit'.
I should be more careful.
"The only thing they try to do is make their lives more comfortable. The abilities aren't even something they earned by themselves, and yet they feel overly proud of it. See, there's too many people like these nowadays? Really, we should've held back on summoning people."
Necro put down the cleaver down on the ground, and stood up.
Only then did the creature within open its mouth, and let out a inhuman scream.
[Cannibalistic Butcher = Gebesh]
– Rank: C-
– A butchering knife that came from a different world. It is a cursed weapon, so it is well-advised to take caution when using it. Gebesh chooses its owner.
– <Greedy Meat> Those who gets cut by this knife begins to emit a delicious odor. This smell can be smelt even tens of kilometers away.
– <Eternal Icehouse> The stomach of this beast is connected to a different dimension, allowing it to store a large quantity of meat without getting it to rot. The beast can throw up the meat inside whenever requested to do so by the owner.
Gebesh, who revealed its centipede-like legs, began to eat the flesh of Grand Cheat.
It almost looked like the flesh was being vacuumed into the beast.
So this is black magic…
"Let's see. She was a member of the archery club, and that's a cult member. Oh, you see that blood stain over there?"
I could see a black stain.
"These kids took one of their classmates and injured her, healed her, then injured her again. All for the sake of levelling up, they said. Seriously, is this something that a human should do?"
Level up…
It should be possible to level up like that if this world really was like a game.
"The kid had turned into a hedgehog by the time I found her corpse."
The bow could've been made with Smelter's ability, but what about the bowstring?
I adjusted the Floating Eye to observe the bow.
The bowstring's color and shine was quite familiar.
Black and shiny, this was almost like…
A strand of hair…
She must've cut it off of her dead classmate.
"I asked them why they killed the student, and they said they weren't even at fault. In fact, they even said 'don't you just revive when you die?' Dear lord."
Necro laughed angrily.
"Do people's brains begin rotting when they come over to this world or something?"
"Who knows."
They must've been thinking something along the lines of this:
[Once you die, you revive. Therefore, death is no longer something of concern.]
I don't agree with the idea that death is insignificant, but it does make sense that the students would think such a thing.
The existence of Necromancy proves life after death, and the theory of souls.
This means that reincarnation might actually exist.
Perhaps gods, ghosts, and monsters exist here as well.
Soon enough, the cleanup became finished.
When Necro extended his hand, Gebesh jumped into it like a happy puppy.
There were only skeletons left in the room.
Even those got eaten away by Necro's other tools.
The only proof that the kids from before existed in this world were the bloodstains on the room.
"We're done here. Let's leave. The rest can be cleaned up by my assistant."
Necro, who had been walking towards the exit, suddenly turned around.
"Ah, before that, mind if I ask a question?"
Does he have something left to do?
"It's a little strange coming from me, but why'd you kill them? They were youngsters, after all. Perhaps it would've been better for you to suck it up? Were you mad because they killed someone? Or because they tried to pick a fight? Or woke you up?"
It wasn't like I had a anger management problem. I wouldn't kill someone because of just that.
"No, it was because of Smelter."
Necro's eyebrows bunched up together after hearing my simple answer.
"Smelter? Did he pick a fight?"
"No, it was his 'ability'."
Necro seemed even more confused.
"Think about it. Smelter has the ability to extract metal from materials to create something, correct?"
"Correct."
"If that ability has time to mature, it should be able to mine various metals as well, don't you think?"
"Well… there is that probability, I suppose."
"It might bring harm to my ability, Heart of Gold. I don't know what the ability is, but seeing how it has the word gold in it, I found it fitting to dispose of Smelter while I still could."
Necro grinned.
"…Just because of that?"
"It's important for 'me'."
Why couldn't anyone understand?
Necro lifted his hands like an orchestra director.
"Right. Let's get things straight. So. You felt that Smelter's ability could endanger you in the future, so you killed him? Sort of like an investment?"
"Correct."
Necro's lips were trembling with excitement now.
"You're crazier than me, aren't you?"
"The doctor said I was fine."
Of course, I was lying.
"Are we done here? I don't want to waste any more time."
I hurried Necro as I walked towards the door.
"Let's go. For an adventure."
"…Adventure?"
The kids spoke of 'hero' and were focused very much on levelling up. Plus, this was a different world.
Of course, this meant I would reach this conclusion.
"I already know why you brought me here."
I could tell.
"We're about to catch the Demon King, right?"
"Mn? No?"
…Eh?
"We already killed the Demon King?"
"…Kidding?"
"No joke."
Necro the final blow towards my confused self.
"Ah~ you misunderstood, huh. Oh dear, there's no going around it then, huh. Fine. I'll tell you! Exactly why I summoned you here, O.K.?"
Necro grinned.
"Mr. Jin, you will, from this point on, come with me to kill the hero. How about it? Feel your heart beating yet?"
What…?