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Chapter 51
TN: So, footnotes don’t seem to be working for this chapter…so the notes are intext for this chapter! I’ll be back to footnotes later!
I only noticed after Kim Sangyoon grabbed me roughly, but I realized I returned to my own body.
I guess the [Possession] mode expired?
Instead of shaking him off, I grabbed my forehead. “I’m  d i z z y…..”
Kim Sangyoon quickly released me, as if he had been burned. “Ah! This isn’t….I….” He said, flustered.
I frowned at Kim Sangyoon, once again acting quite badly, “I’ll. tell. you. everything. later.” Upholding the pretense of being an all-knowing User was so difficult.
Honestly, I was also embarrassed by Seo Dawon’s sudden actions. If I could, I would also grab Seo Dawon’s shoulder–like Kim Sangyoon did to me–and shake him while asking him to explain his thought process…
If it weren’t for the prying eyes that surrounded us……When I turned around to look for Seo Dawon, I saw him crouched next to Lackey with an evil smile. He was busy pressing on its forehead, teasing the skeleton. My heart broke for Lackey, but I held in my annoyance and approached the Mage.
[–Clack! Clack!]
Lackey was so stressed out by Seo Dawon’s teasing that it released a grumbling noise that I had never heard since I first summoned the skeleton. It gnashed its teeth at its opponent.
Seo Dawon, on the other hand, called to Lackey like a dog. “Lackey! Come over here.”
Just in case, I checked its [current mood]: [I’m going to kill you!]–Lackey was in complete outrage. I stared at Seo Dawon, trying to impress upon him that he shouldn’t tease Lackey so much, but he shrugged as if to ask what he had done wrong.
Tired, I stopped glaring at the Mage and gathered the sulking skeleton in my arms. I pulled at Kim Sangyoon’s thick forearms, distracting him from his despondency.
Since we were in front of a famous Dungeon, there was constant, fluid traffic of Users. Sure enough, when our party suddenly appeared embarrassing gossip began to spread amongst the present voyeurs.
Usually, if a Dungeon raid succeeds, a party would appear with the target time displayed as an alarm in the [User Alert] app. Therefore, if a party returned without that notification, their failure would be publicly advertised and they could easily become the target of unwanted attention.
“Huh? It can’t be…emergency escape?”
“But that red hair…Isn’t that Kim Sangyoon?”
Additionally, Kim Sangyoon was such a famous influencer…
The biggest problem arose, however, when we avoided their gazes and ducked into the alleyway headed for the Hub’s downtown.
“Oh? Sangyoon-ie?” By fortuitous–or rather ill-fated–timing, the door to a small alchemist workshop opened as we passed by. A group of large men poured out…Among them, the greasy-looking blond man at the forefront raised his hand and greeted Kim Sangyoon.
Standing next to him, I noticed that Kim Sangyoon’s expression hardened as soon as he heard the voice, but, when he turned around, I couldn’t find any traces of such displeasure on his face.
Kim Sangyoon replied in a startlingly polite manner, “Oh, Hyung-nim. What are you doing here?” His cordial demeanor was impeccable. The blonde man walked closer to us to deliver his answer.
I could feel his light brown eyes scan me up and down; unconsciously, I straightened my back. I had only just met his eyes, but somehow I already felt repulsed.
“Who’s this, next to you? He’s someone I’ve never seen before in Sangyoon-ie’s party?”
“Ah, this person is….”
“Are you a support?” (TN:  Just in case someone doesn’t know, a support character in an MMO usually is someone that buffs and heals the others.) The blonde man began guessing at my class, gauging my slender physique. He quickly erased all suspicious scrutiny from his expression and reached a hand out to me with a smile. “Hello. I’m a Warrior affiliated with [HaHae]. I’m called Ahn Joosung.”
I finally understood the tenuous atmosphere that existed between Kim Sangyoon and this man once I heard his name. Wasn’t Ahn Joosung–the third generation chaebol–the man that made Kim Sangyoon grit his teeth? (TN:  Chaebol is basically a rich heir to a family business.)
“Ah, so this is Ahn Joosung?” Seo Dawon, who followed us quietly, perked up at the familiar name and rushed to observe Ahn Joosung’s face. He stared closely at the man, his nose almost touching the other’s.
Instead of passing on, Seo Dawon observed his face for quite some time. He muttered to himself, “Did Ahn Joosung have any brothers?”
As I was distracted by Seo Dawon, I did not notice the suddenly chilling atmosphere. Ahn Joosung had stuck out his hand for a handshake and an introduction, but I was busy staring at his face (because Seo Dawon was there) and didn’t return his greeting.
“Um. I’m…Choi Lee-kyung…” I hurriedly grabbed at his hand, hoping to pass this interaction with only my name… As soon as I tried to pull my hand away, Ahn Joosung held onto my fingertips firmly, but not painfully, and would not let me go.
What’s going on? Even though I gave him a vaguely uncomfortable look, Ahn Joosung still held onto my hands and asked, with a smile, “What’s your guild? What class are you…”
I was speechless–I could only move my lips ineffectively.
Kim Sangyoon, noticing my discomfort, stepped forward. “Hyung-nim. That’s…Lee-kyung-nim is….”
“Did I ask you?”
“……”
Once again we were quickly plunged into sub-zero atmosphere.
Ahn Joosung did not hide his disregard for Kim Sangyoon, and Kim Sangyoon’s polite smile, which he had struggled to maintain, soon collapsed. He looked at Ahn Joosung without much of an expression but didn’t attempt to make any other statements.
“……”
My insides boiled at the disrespect and cockiness that Ahn Joosung showed. Come to think of it, though, Kim Sangyoon was a bully when we met for the first time as well…Is this a characteristic of Warriors?
“….I’m a Necromancer.”
“A Necromancer?”
“Yes.” Regardless of my boiling heart, I pressed down my anger and answered cordially. I don’t have anything to gain from clashing with this man.
When he heard my answer, however, Ahn Joosung’s face distorted, as if he were holding back laughter. “Really? Hahaha. You definitely fit well with Kim Sangyoon.”
This bastard had a knack for making two people feel filthy with one sentence.
Kim Sangyoon couldn’t stand the insult so he opened his mouth, but, just in time, Ahn Joosung interrupted, “Come on now, relax. It’s just a joke?” He grinned. This time, he ignored me and turned towards Kim Sangyoon. “Sangyoon-ie! Are you still holding grudges since last time? When I didn’t call you in time for the boss? I hear you’ve been spitting curses about me.”
“……Me?”
“Yeah, you punk. How many times did I say I was sorry? I couldn’t sleep from how much my ears were tickled.” (TN: That is to say, he couldn’t sleep from how many rumors reached his ears, aka ‘tickled’ them. )
As if they were close friends, Ahn Joosung smiled and slung an arm over Kim Sangyoon’s shoulder. Kim Sangyoon couldn’t reject his skinship but showed his anger by stiffly crossing his arms and making an unhappy expression.
Or course, Ahn Joosung knew the best ways to rile the Warrior up. He teased, “That’s why I said this Hyung will buy you a drink…Let’s grab drinks, on me, and let go of this issue. Okay?”
Profit from successful raids could be in the billions of wons…And he’s planning on appeasing that with one drink? Without an apology? Is he fucking with Kim Sangyoon?
He turned back towards me, who was standing awkwardly apart from the feuding Warriors, and said “Necromancer hyung-nim should also come along.”
Kim Sangyoon was not ignorant of the insulting nature of his offer.
“You’re replacing the last hit on the boss…with a single drink?” Kim Sangyoon flushed red. His voice teetered between rational thought and angry disbelief. (TN: 막타 = Last hit. It’s often used in games like League of Legends or Dota, where getting the last hit on a monster will net you the full reward.)
However, Ahn Joosung aggravatingly patted Kim Sangyoon’s head. “Well then, what can I do? Shall I beg?”
When Ahn Joosung said, “Shall I beg,” his cloying smile wiped off his face. The remaining expression showed contempt as if he were saying, ‘What can you even do?’……Kim Sangyoon clenched his fist so tightly that the joints on his fingers turned white. However, he stayed silent, unable to return the abuse.
Ahn Joosung watched Kim Sangyoon shake and lowered his voice. “Let’s not be a nuisance. Do you want Hyung to take care of things later?”
“…….”
He then lightly pushed Kim Sangyoon away, looked back towards me, and opened his mouth to say his greetings. However, he smirked and turned away without even that last show of manners. Ahn Joosung rejoined his group, who were standing a few steps away with their arms crossed. They laughed as they walked away.
I looked at Kim Sangyoon who looked positively miserable. When Ahn Joosung and his group were dots on the horizon, I carefully stroked his back, trying to comfort him.
Although, I’m honestly not in the position to comfort anyone as I’ve been ignored and underestimated just as much as Kim Sangyoon in this situation…
Maybe I feel emboldened because I saw Seo Dawon’s fierce smile darkening every time Ahn Joosung had disrespected me? In any case, I don’t know about Bae Jaemin, but I could definitely kill Ahn Joosung with Seo Dawon’s help…It’s a bit morbid to think this way, but I was relieved to finally have a feasible target–one that we could dispatch quickly…
Kim Sangyoon was recently tortured by Seo Dawon, and, just now, his old enemy Ahn Joosung had provoked him…Regardless of my other feelings for the man, I felt sympathetic pity on a human level.
“Knnnrk!”
Ridiculously, as soon as I patted him on the back, he made a strange sound; his back shivered as if experiencing a mini seizure. He looked at me with more wariness than when he looked at Ahn Joosung.
I felt that I didn’t deserve such a guarded gaze, so I asked, “W-Why…?”
Seo Dawon enlightened me. “Giving him a ‘reward’ because you felt bad for him? How kind of you….” he giggled.
TN: SO Sorry for the mix up you guys! Hopefully this chapter fixes everything!