CH 175

“It was the first time I felt helplessness.” With that said, she outstretched her hand slowly. I didn’t avoid it, and she suddenly grabbed me by the collar.

She didn’t move to strangle me, but, since her action was just so sudden, I became rigid from bewilderment. She lifted me lightly, like the shield she summoned, and pulled me right in front of her.

After doing all that, it was obvious that her clicked tongue was simply just for show. “You’ve become lighter during this time. You’ve probably lost around 3 kilograms.”

My anxiety was suddenly swept away by this act–like a grandfather grumbling about his grandchildren. Energy lost, I grumbled, an unknown feeling–was it despondency? Was it relief?–laden in my words. “Do you always have to find that out in this way…”

“You look cute when you’re plumper, so take care of your body from now on.”

“Haah… I didn’t lose that weight because I wanted to…”

However, despite my protests, Kim Olim simply pulled on my cheeks without hesitation. That didn’t hurt, but her touch did hurt my esteem; I crumpled my brows.

Of course, she ignored my frown and only said what she wanted to say. “Your skin got rougher too. Were you trying to invoke my sympathy by being so grubby?”

“Jus- who woul- think like tha–” 1

“That’s not cute, so eat well.”

However, contrary to her stern tone, the hands holding onto my cheeks began to glow white; my body was enveloped in warmth. It felt just like someone was patting my back with a gentle hand.

I assume Kim Olim did something? Since whatever she did didn’t feel so bad, I leaned into her without complaint; after a long while, the Paladin took her hands off of me. Then, as if she was dissatisfied, she grumbled under her breath while wrinkling her forehead, “Because you’re part of ‘that attribute,’ my skills won’t immediately recover your condition.”

“It did feel warm though…” I said.

“Do you really think I would’ve used a Paladin skill only to warm your body?” Then, she looked down at me regretfully.

Woo Ragi, who had just been listening from behind, suddenly interrupted our conversation. “What’s all this?”

“……?”

“How did you manipulate Kim Olim?” 2 He stood there with arms folded, narrowing his eyes, as if I had influenced Kim Olim somehow.

His reaction was just so absurd, I was going to ignore him, but, instead, Kim Olim blushed and took several steps away from me, making excuses. “I just simply tended to him because he looked like a puppy left out in the rain!”

“How on earth does he look anything like that? He just looks like a stick thin ho… a stick thin boy.”

“He was worth looking at when his cheeks were still chubby. It’s not as good now, but, if he recuperates well, they’ll be as puffy as before.”

“No… What I’m saying is, what do puffy cheeks have anything to do with you, why should I care about that?”

“……” When Kim Olim heard Woo Ragi’s question, she went silent, as if she fell into deep contemplation, and then turned around to look at him. Her expression looked a little frustrated, and her responding question belied how incomprehensible she found her guildmate’s words. “Ragi, didn’t you feel anything when you signed a contract with Choi Lee-kyung?”

“Feel what?”

“After the contract, when the tattoo design appeared…didn’t you feel an upsurge of emotion?”

“……?” Woo Ragi raised one eyebrow, as if this was the first time he’d heard or experienced that. Kim Olim looked as if she was going to continue, but she closed her mouth, conscious of me.

I was curious as to what the Paladin was going to say, but before I could ask, the space next to her darkened and split open. I was so surprised I forgot to speak.

The other servants only observed such a scene without raising their guard. Meanwhile, an upright white hand popped out of that dark gap. I was scared at first, but, when I recognized the ring adorning that hand, I could hide my joy and ran forth.

“Seo Dawon……!”

“……”

However, from the very moment Seo Dawon walked through that gap, his expression was different from what I had expected. He looked somewhat angry; as soon as he made eye contact with me, the gleam in his eyes became fiercer–the atmosphere in the room was unusual.

“Um… D-did you worry a lot……?” I stuttered.

“……”

Crumbling under pressure, I took the initiative to begin speaking, but Seo Dawon’s steely, cold eyes remained the same.

That didn’t mean I began hesitating or clinging onto his hem, though. Seo Dawon sighed for a long while, and then spoke in a more relaxed manner, “……I told you to cut the connection and return, Lee-kyung-ah.”

“What? I didn’t hear anything like that…”

“You kept on saying you couldn’t, everytime you attempted to make a connection.”

Seo Dawon told me to quit, but I rebelled?

Feeling unfairly wronged, I looked around; Woo Ragi also seemed to have no idea, perhaps because he was dragging his feet in signing the contract with me. Kim Olim began clicking her tongue.

Sitting with his chin cupped in one hand, Jung Garam looked at me. “That’s right. You rejected us by cutting your link to us. Dawon-ie hyung’s rationality was also cut off at that moment as well…”

Jung Garam shook his head as if he remembered something terrible.

Honestly, I was feeling so unjustly maligned? When I finally returned to my senses after summoning, I was already in the [Vengeful Ghost Memory]. Right afterwards, it was Ahn Hospital. However, besides Lackey who nodded hard whenever I spoke, no one seemed to believe in my words.

“Hey, wait a minute… Did you guys really give up on me because of that guy?” Behind my upset self, Woo Ragi grumbled with an expression of disbelief.

Jung Garam glared at his former colleague with eyes wide open, as if he had been waiting for those words. “Hyung, did you really do something to him?”

“All of a sudden something strange wanted to link with my subconscious world, so I put it on hold. I can’t be expected to allow something of unknown origins to plant itself in my head.” Woo Ragi made excuses, as if he were burdened by his teammate’s continuing questions.

However, Kim Olim, who had been listening quietly all this while, had joined in on the pursuit. “Didn’t the system message explain everything when Choi Lee-kyung linked with you? It should have explained the contract and its purpose.”

“But… only a fool would just readily believe that. Of course I have to test it.”

“Do you think Lee-kyung was a spam mail or something?”

“Then, do you think I’m overly sensitive? I’m sure, during that time, you guys would have received that joke of a scenario 3 as well.”

“……”

“……”

“Compared to that scenario, the conditions set forth by that homo is just too good. I’ve already been hit hard in the back of the head once, did you expect me to welcome him with arms wide open?”

While observing their prickly confrontation, I vaguely understood that something–something else I didn’t know–had happened to my servants.

To be fair…from my perspective, the perspective of the contractor, I may simply be activating a skill called [Vengeful Ghost Summon], but the others could describe that as an ‘invasion,’ as I would have been rifling through their memories.

In Seo Dawon, Kim Olim, and Jung Garam’s case, I had passed immediately since they accepted me; Woo Ragi was extremely wary, so he hadn’t accepted my proposal and used his abilities to test me.

‘But, what is this ‘Scenario’….?’ What truly bothered me, though, was the scenario that they had been offered.

From the servant’s attitudes and how they all grew quiet simultaneously at the mention of such ‘scenario’, I assume they had received another proposal before signing the contract with me… But, the offered conditions must have been unfavorable.

No, looking at Kim Olim’s expression of utter disgust, it might not be right to even call it a proposal. I had a lot of questions, but I stayed silent since I didn’t think it was the right time to ask.

“Since you’re so idiotic, you blindly threw a temper tantrum.” At that moment, the previously calm Seo Dawon suddenly cursed.

If Woo Ragi had been frowning before, his expression now was a volcanic eruption. “Are you talking to me?”

“If you know that much then you should’ve at least turned a deaf ear; what’s the point of confirming what you already know.”

“I’ve explained my stance well enough, though?”

“Before that, you should apologize to Choi Lee-kyung. Now that you’ve signed the contract, you can’t sweep this under the rug by pretending ignorance.”

Surprised by the sparks flying between the two, I stared at Seo Dawon, but the mage didn’t spare me a glance and only looked imperiously at Woo Ragi.

Woo Ragi, on the other hand, alternated looking in between me and Seo Dawon as if he had heard something unbelievable. He snorted and asked, “Are you high?”

Footnotes

His cheeks are being pulled and squished, so he can’t speak properly. 구워삶은 (literally, to bake and steam). It’s slang for making someone do as you want. The actual descriptor is more harsh…something like ‘fucking’ scenario, but that doesn’t flow as well.