------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia]
[Proofreader - Kaya]
------------------
Chapter 7: Undeadog (5)
“Is this… the reward you mentioned?”
The scarred man stared blankly at the item in his hand.
A T-shirt with a purple heart printed on it.
A pink knife was stabbed into the center of the heart, and on the handle, it read: [I_Vu].
“That one’s a limited-edition merch drop. Pretty expensive.”
“Ah…”
The scarred man glanced toward the black SUV parked behind Baek Ho.
At the wide-open trunk, Sophia was pulling T-shirts and underwear out of a purple box and handing them to the rescued undead.
Thanks to her, their grotesque nakedness was now decently covered, though with everyone dressed the same, the scene had a surreal quality.
Like a fan club gathered at a concert venue.
“…Thank you.”
The scarred man carefully folded the T-shirt and tucked it into his pocket.
It wasn’t his style, but the fact that it was a gift from a necromancer—his first—mattered. Plus, hearing it was expensive didn’t hurt either.
“Uh, Necro… sir?”
“What?”
“It’s just… I was wondering. Why do you go this far for the undead?”
In all his years on the front lines, he’d never seen a necromancer look after the undead like this.
He’d heard rumors that Commander Baek, who led the Special Operations Unit, was the same way. But rumors were never reliable.
He figured it was probably part of some PR stunt for the Supreme Commander elections.
“I know it’s a personal question, so if you’d rather not ans—”
“My mother was a Reaper.”
“…Sorry?”
“Get moving.”
Baek Ho left the scarred man standing there and climbed into the driver’s seat.
‘A Reaper… had a kid? How?’
As confusion filled his thoughts, a harsh breath sounded in his ear.
He turned to see Frank standing with his back to the SUV, facing away.
His shoulders were rising and falling as he took deep breaths.
“Haaah…”
Tears the size of raindrops streamed down Frank’s face, falling from a chin lifted toward the sky.
’What’s up with him now?’
Curious what he was looking at, he followed his gaze upward.
All he could see was the LifeGuard extraction team in action.
“...Looks like a terror attack, if you didn’t know any better.”
Thick black smog was pouring from the middle floors of the building.
Two white hovercars floated in front of it.
A glowing green magic circle was inscribed on the side panel, and various missiles of all sizes were mounted densely around the chassis.
They looked more like gunships than rescue vehicles.
Zzzing—
He adjusted his vision with a flick of his eye implant, zooming in.
Beams of light shot out from the hovercars, scanning the collapsed walls.
From within, heavily armored soldiers emerged, carrying stretchers.
“Tch.”
Still bitter about the unpaid fee from the CEO.
Just then, a woman in a white coat walked out from the rubble.
She paused right before stepping onto a hovercar, then looked down in their direction.
When their eyes met, her expression curled into a crescent-eyed smile.
As if to say, ‘So it was you guys, huh?’
The scarred man quickly looked away. She probably wouldn’t retaliate—but still, better not to leave an opening.
“Thanks for your help out there.”
Sophia gave a polite nod to the scarred man as she passed by, then walked over to Frank and perched on the side of the hood next to him.
“What are you watching? LifeGuard?”
She gently patted Frank’s back as she spoke.
“A friend of mine used to work for them… brings back memories. Oh, but Frank, you probably don’t know much about LifeGuard, huh?”
“Huff…”
“They’re a premium life insurance service based in UnderHeaven.”
She held up two fingers.
“There are two reasons they’re famous. First—rapid deployment. Second—brute force. That rescue team’s probably made up of high-tier necromancers and Reapers.”
“Huff…”
“They’ll do ‘anything’ to protect their client’s life. Doesn’t matter who you are—if you’re deemed a threat, they’ll kill you. But once you’re out of the blast zone, you’re in the clear. Their only concern is their policyholder’s survival.”
The scarred man frowned at the two of them.
One was randomly crying like a baby.
The other wouldn’t shut up, rambling about things no one asked.
He started to wonder if their Vessels had gotten corrupted—maybe some kind of neural damage.
’Doesn’t their necromancer manage them properly...?’
He glanced toward Baek Ho in the driver’s seat.
He was busy using the car’s dashboard screen to buy I_Vu concert tickets.
‘A necromancer neglecting his Reapers to fangirl over idols.’
Well, bad ties were ties too, he guessed.
“Tch Tch…”
He’d been planning to ask Baek Ho for help recharging his Vessel after this was over—but that idea went right out the window.
＊ ＊ ＊
Slurp—
Frank sucked up an entire bowl of jjajangmyeon and sniffled.
“So good…”
Not long ago, he’d been sulking hard over Baek Ho, sniffling with tears streaming down his face.
But the moment he heard they scored concert tickets? He melted like nothing ever happened.
“There were seriously too many. We couldn’t even fit any real gear in the trunk thanks to all that merch.”
Chomp. Chomp.
“Why do you even buy stuff you’ll never wear? I just don’t get it.”
Baek Ho’s voice was flat as ever.
He wasn’t even looking at Frank—too busy meticulously wiping down a gold-plated revolver in his hands.
“When did you grab that?”
Sophia narrowed her eyes, suspicious.
“What?”
“That’s the one the Undeadog CEO was using, right?”
“Was it? I just picked it up off the floor.”
“......”
“I was wondering who’d toss something this nice. Must be drowning in money.”
Sophia formed a silent “Wow” with her lips, then shook her head.
She couldn’t believe how shameless he was being.
“If that’s an artifact, shouldn’t it have a tracking enchantment or something?”
“It’s fine. Watch this.”
Baek Ho enveloped the revolver in dark mana.
It looked as if it were burning, engulfed in smoke—dark mist swirling like shadows from a fire.
Watching that black haze, Sophia couldn’t hold back her question any longer.
“D. When did you learn Barigyo’s Art?”
“Back in school.”
“There’s no way they taught that at the academy.”
“I taught myself.”
“…You don’t seriously expect me to believe that, do you?”
Barigyo’s Art was one of those arcane martial arts—its founder and origin unknown.
Back when Awakened were still called Hunters and fought the rifts, it was considered part of the black magic tradition and had a decent number of practitioners.
But nowadays?
Every Awakened attuned to dark mana focused on necromancy.
Like other old magic, Barigyo had long been relegated to obscurity.
“That’s hard to believe?”
“Of course it is. I’ve spent years on the frontlines, and I’ve only ever seen one commander who used magic as a secondary discipline. And he was ‘ancient’. You learning something like that? It just doesn’t add up.”
“I see.”
Baek Ho exhaled onto the revolver’s cylinder and kept wiping it with a cloth—squeaky clean.
“You want the truth?”
“That’d be nice.”
“Well, here it is.”
Baek Ho raised his head.
His eyes were deep and dark, like a bottomless well, locked onto Sophia’s.
Then he spoke slowly, like he was finally confessing a secret he’d kept buried for years.
“I’m a regressor.”
“…A re—what?”
“You know. Someone who’s come back in time. A regressor. Don’t you watch dramas?”
“......”
“But there’s a catch—I’ve got memory loss. All I remember is Barigyo’s Art.”
“......”
Baek Ho’s lip twitched.
Unlike usual, there was clear mischief in his expression.
“Can you believe ‘that’?”
Sophia bit her lower lip, frustrated.
She hated feeling like she was being teased.
“Forget it. Not like you’re going to give a straight answer anyway.”
She figured pressing him further wouldn’t get her anywhere, so instead she asked something more important.
“Then what about side effects when using magic? Doesn’t it strain your heart or make you cough up blood? I heard that if a Mage with a low mastery level uses forbidden arts, it eats away at their body.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Lately even plain water tastes like blood.”
“Wha-What?!”
Sophia slammed the table and shot up from her seat.
“Are you out of your mind?!”
At her sudden outburst, Frank choked on his food and began coughing violently.
“Do you even realize how dangerous that is?! One wrong move and you could lose your ability to use dark mana entirely! If you're a necromancer, then act like one and stick to necromancy!”
-......
The whole restaurant fell silent at her raised voice.
Other diners quietly got up and left. The moment they heard the word ‘necromancer’, they rushed to evacuate, clearly alarmed.
“Why does it matter? Just eat.”
“Ugh…”
Sophia let out a deep sigh.
‘Would the Commander be okay with this? No way. If he knew, he wouldn't just sit back and watch. Should I report this…?’
While she was caught in that dilemma, a server brought over the sweet-and-sour pork they had ordered.
“......"
Sophia gulped and sat back down.
“Thanks for the food.”
“Yeah, you too.”
Baek Ho’s lazy reply made Sophia’s brow twitch again.
She felt utterly pathetic for following him here just because he promised her a good meal.
‘Why did I let myself get lured in by some city food… though, it does smell amazing.’
She held back everything she wanted to say, and calmly said only what was necessary.
“You really need to ease up on the magic. I know I’m in no position to lecture you, but… there’s a reason why necromancers only use black magic—not arts like Kali’s or the Barigyo’s.”
As she poured the sauce over the sweet-and-sour pork, she continued.
“It’s all based on decades of data. If you can’t use it properly, then—”
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Frank suddenly yelled, making Sophia flinch and look up.
He was staring in horror at the pork now drenched in sauce, his chopsticks trembling in the air.
“What?”
“You… poured the sauce ‘on’?!?”
Just then, a vibration buzzed against Sophia’s wrist.
A call—from one of her contacts.
“Excuse me, I need to take this. I think they found Devin’s location.”
Sophia stepped outside the restaurant.
It was located inside a megabuilding, so the noise was relentless—advertisements blaring, people chattering all around.
“Hey, gorgeous! Got a minute?”
A drunken man lounging at a nearby food stall called out to her, hitting on her.
Sophia raised her middle finger without looking back, then pressed behind her ear.
“It’s me.”
-Yoho~ I heard the news! You're working with Commander Baek’s son now, huh?
A cheerful female voice rang in her ear.
“Wait, that rumor’s already spread?”
-Of course! That sneaky gossip from Special Ops leaked it first. So? What’s he like? Just like the rumors say?
“Can’t say for sure yet. But there’s ‘one’ thing I know.”
-Ooh, tell me, tell me!
"He's handsome."
-…Even more than Commander Baek?
"Yes."
At Sophia’s answer, chaos erupted on the other end of the call.
A chorus of female shrieks rang out — clearly, she wasn’t alone.
-S-So, when’s he being stationed outside the city? Did he say where he wants to be assigned?
"Who knows. I’m not even sure he’ll actually become a commander…"
-Oof, maybe I went too far. That was kinda shameless, huh?
"Not at all. Everyone’s been dying to know, after all."
-Exactly! There’s just no info out there. Seriously… Anyway, calming down now… I sent you Devin’s last known location from about an hour ago. Take a look.
"Thank you. I know you must’ve been busy."
-Oh, don’t worry about it. Ever since the Special Operations Unit cleared out Sector 81 last week, things have been way more manageable.
"I’m glad to hear it. Makes me feel like we actually helped."
As she spoke, Sophia tapped on her smartbone to open the file.
She wondered what Devin had been doing while she was following Baek Ho around.
She assumed he’d been lingering somewhere near their house — but when she opened the file...
"...Huh?"
The marker on the map pointed to the very same building they had been at not long ago.
‘Why was Devin there…?’
She quickly opened the attached photo.
It showed a man in a cap disappearing down an alley, holding a stuffed dog.
On the other side of the street, a group of people in matching idol merch T-shirts — and a black SUV — were crowded together.
She could even spot herself in the background.
-Did you get the file?
"......"
-…Hello?
"......"
＊ ＊ ＊
"As expected."
Baek Ho ran a hand through his hair and continued.
"Rather than overthinking it, it's better to go with your gut. That usually turns out right."
"Ugh, smug much."
Frank muttered.
Sophia nodded in agreement, clearly feeling the same.
"If I hadn’t let my guard down, I could’ve taken him right there. Damn shame."
Baek Ho opened the car door and stepped out.
When Sophia asked where he was going, he held up a black cigarette in his hand.
Sssst—
He shut the door and lit it.
Leaning against the car, he took a deep breath.
As the acrid black smoke coursed through him, a notification popped up—his dark mana had been slightly replenished.
"Hoo…"
After about five exhales, a man walking toward the building entrance caught his eye.
A cap pulled low. A purification mask hiding his face. Work jacket and work pants.
It was a common look for laborers in the city—but Baek Ho noticed something that made the man stand out.
A faint, radiant blue glow coming from his chest.
Unlike the murky, death-tinged mana of Reapers, the pure mana of an awakened being was always easier on the eyes.
"He’s here."
Baek Ho tapped on the window.
Sophia started to get out of the car, but Baek Ho stepped in front of her, blocking the door.
"I’ll go alone. If the three of us show up, he might bolt."
"You can't mess this up."
She warned.
Right now, Devin’s house was being watched by agents from the Department of Awakened Affairs. They couldn’t let him go back upstairs.
He had to be convinced—peacefully—into taking a different route to see his family.
"Mess up? Me?"
Baek Ho placed the still-burning cigarette on the roof of the car.
"I'll be back before it burns out. Keep the engine running."
"…Got it."
As Baek Ho walked away, Sophia turned to Frank and whispered.
"Is he always like this? A little…."
"Annoying?"
"Haha…"
"He’s just in a good mood. Leave him be—he’ll be back soon."
Sophia watched Baek Ho’s back, eyes wide.
The more she got to know him, the less he matched the image she had in mind.
Baek Ho intercepted Devin just before he entered the mega-building.
"Devin."
"Who… who are you?"
"A fixer."
Baek Ho pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket and showed it.
It was the Undeadog reservation certificate Devin had been tricked into buying.
Devin’s brow furrowed as he recognized it.
If this guy had this slip, that meant he’d met his family.
"…Who the hell are you?"
"Your wife hired me."
"W-What?"
"Yeah. She said to bring you back in one piece. Told me to stop you from running."
At that, Devin clenched the handle of his bag tightly. Inside was the Undeadog plush… along with all the turmoil he’d carried over the past two days.
"I see… Actually, I…"
Just as Devin began to speak in a weak voice—
"Move!"
Baek Ho yanked Devin’s arm and pulled him aside, both of them diving out of the way.
CRASH!
A thick, steel spear slammed into the spot where they’d just been.
The sudden attack sent pedestrians fleeing in panic.
Amid the crowd of retreating people, a group stood motionless in black suits.
They were Reapers—agents from the Department of Awakened Affairs.
------------------
HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Hestia
[Proofreader - Kaya]
Join our Discord for release updates!
https://discord.com/invite/dbdMDhzWa2
------------------
