Since it was my third [vengeful ghost contract], I felt used to the process.
I donât know whether or not it was just my imagination, but I felt like I was moving faster than when I summoned Jung Garam. I didnât stand there, dazed with the essence of the soul in my hands, but I took the dagger out of the inventory and posed in the middle of the magic circle.
Honestly though, why did this vengeance contract need a Necromancerâs blood every time? Of course, the class concept itself is quite grim, but I wondered why exactly it needed the blood of the living for the dead.
I kept thinking about it as I placed the cold blade on my palm. If itâs going to be like this, why isnât the class named, âBlood Donation Masterâ instead of Necromancer?⊠âShould I draw my blood in advance next timeâŠ.â
âDoes it hurt that much?â
âNo, itâs justâŠItâs not that it hurts, itâs just a hassleâŠâ
However, when Seo Dawon seemed to have misunderstood while listening to my murmurs, I wondered if I was making a mountain out of a hill.
I didnât mean to save face in front of him. Itâs justâŠIâve been feeling for a while now that I wasnât someone that instilled the slightest bit of faith in my contractees.
Of course, partially itâs because Iâm too low level, but I was honestly shocked when Jung Garam said âI think Iâm going to develop a mental illness because of you.â How weak must I have seemed to him; I felt flushed when thinking about how Jung Garam, someone younger, viewed me.
So, I thought I shouldnât be seen whining in front of my servants anymore. I tried to maintain a brave facade and quickly gripped the dagger with more strength, fearing that I might seem hesitant or frail.
To finish it in one go, I pointed the point of the dagger straight down and plunged it into the palm of my handâŠWhen I put my heart and determination behind my strength, blood welled out of the deep cut. The issue, however, was that it hurt enough for me to whimper. (Of course, I didnât make that sound because I was still putting on a strong performance).
I was acting pretty well, I thought; I looked at the blood that began to accumulate in my palm without biting my lips once, pretending to be calm.
Then, I dropped Kim Olimâs vengeful ghost essence to the floor; as soon as it hit the ground, the essence cracked slowly before fragmenting into several pieces.
I dripped my blood onto those fragments. The wound was pretty large, but the blood did not well to the surface much after the first gush, so I was drenched in cold sweat as I squeezed some out.
You have fulfilled the conditions for summoning a Vengeful Ghost.
The message popped up after much difficulty; I tightly shut my eyes, thinking that I had finally overcome this crisis.
Replaying the memory of the deceased: âKim Olim.â
And when I opened my eyes againâŠ
âHuh?â
Oddly enough, âIâ wasnât Kim Olim, this time.
Of course, it wasnât that there was no change. Instead of standing in the living room with Seo Dawon and Jung Garam, the scenery changed to the , where Kim Olim fought until her last breath.
However, unlike all the previous experiences, the memory wasnât reconfigured from Kim Olimâs perspective, and I was left alone in the .
âD-did it go wrong?â I stood there for a long time before faltering and looking around. I was sure I entered Kim Olimâs memoryâŠ
However, there was a clear difference between the sensation of possessing a memory fragment and what seemed to be happening now; eventually, instead of waiting for a memory that might never begin, I began to look around.
I was forced, though, to stop even that casual investigation before long.
âW-whatâs thisâŠâ It had only been about ten minutes since I started walking along the wall.
I couldnât climb higher than from where I was standing, so I went below and saw something whiteâI couldnât see clearly from aboveâat the bottom of the incline.
Moving closer, several skeletons lay scattered about. At first, it looked like dozens of skeleton sets, but, at a closer look, I could pick out five skulls. Everything else seemed to have been shattered into many pieces, thrown haphazardly here and there.
And, at the center of the wreckage, the only intact skeleton lay leaning against a giant shield. From my point of view, I could only see the skullâs back, but I noticed the large shield half-buried in the reddened sand. Recalling Seo Dawonâs memory, I realized that the shield must have belonged to Kim Olim.
âSo then, the skeleton laying against that shield must be Kim Olim?â I hesitated before slowly approaching. At a certain distance, a womanâs low voice began to resonate in my ears.
[When I came to my senses, it was all over.]
I knew this voice from the memories.
I stopped at the sudden voice, but strangelyâafter a whileâI couldnât hear it anymore. I took a few more steps, certain that whatever had happened had passed, but I started to hear Kim Olimâs voice again.
[I was alive for a while longer, but I knew that I wouldnât last long. Actually, I didnât have much to live forâŠnot after I realized everyone had died.]
ââŠâŠâ I became slightly emotional when I heard Kim Olimâs calm voice.
She wasâŠAccording to Seo Dawonâs memory, she was attached to and cared for the members of the [Red Lotus] a lot. She started becoming a shieldbearer while complaining that there were only crazy people in the guild who didnât know how not to be reckless with their bodies.
She preferred safe routes so that no one was hurt, so she often quarreled with Seo Dawon about the direction of their adventure. But, she never wanted him to fail, so she often compromised with him. She began to focus on protecting Seo Dawon, the one who cared about his health the least on the team.
For someone like Olim, she must have felt great despair when she realized all the [Red Lotus] guild members were dead. Furthermore, she didnât die as neatly as the others and had to wake up from unconsciousness to witness the whole situation with her eyes.
That was not all.
[There was a guy who made vulgar jokes while stacking up our bodies like firewood. Red Dragonâs Koo KyungmanâŠ.]
She even saw the enemy gloating his victory in front of the dead.
ââŠKoo KyungmanâŠhas already paid the price.â I rubbed my eyes and told her. I wondered if this news might comfort her a little.
Howeverâperhaps she couldnât hear my voiceâKim Olim continued to gripe without any reaction to my presence.
[Lim Jisoo was drawing on Ragiâs face with a knife. The assassin that used the red chain spat on Eunjiâs faceâŠ]
ââŠâŠâ
[However the most disgusting was Ryu HyerinâŠI couldnât stand it the moment I saw herâŠ]
Ryu Hyerin was the deputy guildmaster of the [Opera] guild and one of the targets of revenge. Although she did not actively engage in combat and harm the members of the [Red Lotus], she and her guild members restored the enemyâs stamina and eventually made the [Red Lotus] members face an untiring enemy.
In a way, she may have seemed like the most passive of the opponents in our revenge process, but, in actuality, the ambush would not have been possible with the support of [Opera].
Wasnât it too shady how they united to prevent [Red Lotus]âs dominance? So, I wondered if Ryu Hyerin had done something, free of her facade.
Creeping close enough to touch Kim Olimâs skull if I just reached out, I asked, âWhat didâŠRyu Hyerin do?â
Kim Olim, who must have heard my question, slowly raised her skull as if she was only playing dead. Continuing, she looked back at meâthe sight of her empty eye sockets made me retreat.
Within those eye sockets, dark red water incessantly flowed out, drawing two clear lines across the skull, past the cheekbones even in the absence of flesh.No matter how many times I looked, she seemed as if she were shedding tears of blood.
[She was crying.]
Like that, Kim Olim raised both hands to the ceiling, shaking.
[How dare she! She was weeping!]
TL: And so we meet Kim Olim! The shieldbearer/paladin of the Red Lotus Guild. I can imagine how painful it must have been especially for someone whoâs primary purpose is tanking to see the rest of the members dead all around her.
Below is a depiction of Kim Olim with her long black hair and giant shield.