After the plan was finalized and I summoned Seo Dawon, the Mage used his [Polymorph] spell on Lackey. After Lackeyâs face changed into mine, Dawon used a series of [Stealth] skills to make me invisible to others.
Once again, my mouth gaped as I saw Lackey polymorph into my imageâthe skin rippling across its bones. However, with the spell in mind, I no longer thought I was having an out-of-body experience.
When the [Stealth] skill was invoked, I felt a crawling feeling work its way from the top of my crown to my feet, but I could still clearly see my own body. âHas it been properly activated?â I wondered.
âLook in the mirror.â
While I was busy searching and observing myself, Seo Dawon led me in front of a large wall mirror.
And, only Seo Dawon could be seen in the reflection.
What an uncanny feelingâŠ
As we stood in front of the mirror, Seo Dawon cautioned me about certain aspects of the [Stealth] skill. âItâs not like this stops you from being heard, so be careful not to make a sound.â
ââŠâŠ.â
âItâs fine to answer me here?â
" "
âAh, yeahâŠ.â
âAlso, it wonât hide physical contact. We have to stay as far away as possible from approaching people.â
âYesâŠâ
âYou donât use fragrances, right? Perfume or anything?â
âNoneâŠ..â
When I answered obediently, Seo Dawon slyly smiled as if he were satisfied. Looking now at Lackey (wearing my face), his smile turned toothy as he started some useless quarrel. âHey, Counterfeit Lee-kyung, if youâre feeling upset, then you should have become a wizard.â 1
[Clack Clack Clack!]
Didnât he, when deciding on Lackeyâs evolution path, say that he alone was sufficient as a wizard and pushed it to become a soldier? Lackey must have also felt his provocations were ridiculousâin the end, unable to stand his mockery, it rushed in and chomped Seo Dawonâs hand.
Perhaps because it had currently assumed my form, the sound of Lackeyâs bite did not seem as violent as before; the sound of bones shattering was not present and sounded more like a weak human bite. UmâŠshould I say that everything was muffled by the filter of saliva? Anyway, the bite sounded quite dull, and Seo Dawon did not seem hurt.
The problem was that the skeleton committed these weird acts while wearing my faceâŠ
âLackey, donât bite! Hyungâs going to scold you!â I shouted.
[Clack ClackâŠ.]
Eventually, I stepped forward and tore him off of the Mage.
âWhen are you going to scold him?â Seo Dawon asked.
âYou shut up.â After sniping at Seo Dawon who was still giggling, I dragged the dazed Lackey into my arms. I couldnât bring myself to kiss my own face, but Lackey still rubbed its head on my arms. Perhaps that was enough affectionâafter a while, it lowered itself from my embrace.
It seemed to be conscious of Seo Dawon, wanting to look dignified in front of the other servant. After looking between us, Lackey shook my collar as if it were urging me to start leaving.
âAre we going now?â Jung Garam, waiting at the side, stretched and yawned.
I nodded at him; Lackey, going ahead of me, opened the door. At the same time, Seo Dawon seemed to have disappeared. Whatâs this? Is he hiding himself from Kim Sangyoon?
âI think weâll have to hurry nowâŠâ When the door opened, Kim Sangyoon appeared, forehead sweaty with anxiety.
His clothes were neat and stiffâwithout any crumplesâas if he had not sat even once while the rest of us were applying skills. Kim Sangyoon approached Lackey carefully, âWe only have 5 minutes leftâŠW-will it really be okay for me to be alone?â
Since he couldnât see me, he seemed to have mistaken the polymorphed Lackey for his master.
Nothing was particularly bad about thatâŠbut the problem occurred when Kim Sangyoon rapidly approached the polymorphed skeleton. Perhaps Lackey found something unsavory about the man, it suddenly bit the Warriorâs finger with its fearsome mouth.
[Clack!]
âAH, ARGH!!â Kim Sangyoon, flustered by the sudden attack, pushed Lackey, disguised as me, away; the skeleton stared vacantly back at him.
I tried to blow wind at Lackey, signaling that it shouldnât behave that wayâŠAfter a moment of calm, Lackey rose as quick as lightning and dug itself into Kim Sangyoonâs reddening arms. It had the determination to give as good as it got.
âIâIâmâŠ.Iâm sorry!!â Kim Sangyoon no longer shoved Lackey (in my form) as hard as he could, and instead tried to gently push me off with his palm. However, the weight difference was far too much and the Warrior was pushed backâŠ
However, Lackeyâs main method of attack was biting; this soon proved to be a problem. Now used to its changed form, it grabbed at Sangyoonâs outstretched palm and shoved it into its mouth, chewing on it as if the skeleton was trying to bite it offâŠ
However, the attackâs main purpose did not seem to be pain. And the sound of the bite did not have its usual snap and sounded more squishyâŠ
âIt seems that not much damage has occurred, considering your lacking muscular strength.â Jung Garam said, voice bland as if he were watching someone elseâs house burn down. 2
Whatâs even more bewildering was Kim Sangyoonâs response. With a saccharine voice, he asked, âD-did you want to suckâŠ.â
Spouting some nonsense, he couldnât even properly jostle Lackey away.
Am I crazy enough to want to suck your finger?! Return to your senses!
âHey! Hurry up and stop it!!â I mouthed to Jung Garam.
âWhat if I get bitten too?â
I held onto Jung Garam, begging him to deal with this horrible sight, but the servant simply stood on the sidelines and watched with an amused face. There was one other person who could solve my ordeal, but he had suddenly disappearedâŠ
Eventually I became frustrated; I took a step closer to the tangled Warrior and skeleton, determined to break precautions and negate the effects of the [Stealth] skillâŠ
âHm, whatâs going on here?â Before I could say something, a white hand appeared from midair and roughly grabbed Lackeyâs nape, dragging him away and separating the two. Starting with the hand, Seo Dawonâs body began to materialize, as if brushed into existence with ink and pen.
âS-Seo Dawon-nim!â
[Clackclackclackclackclackclackclack!]
Kim Sangyoonâs screams and Lackeyâs shrieks, its response to its most detested enemy, echoed throughout the room. However, Seo Dawonâs attitude remained unchanged.
Seo Dawon flung Lackey onto the fluffy sofa and, without looking back, flicked his finger. Like a spring, Lackey bounced after hitting the cushions and froze midair. Its frozen face could only blink uselesslyâit seems that Seo Dawon used some skill to restrict its movements.
Then, the Mage stared down at Kim Sangyoon, who sat down with his hands glistening from saliva.
Though I couldnât see Seo Dawonâs expression from my perspective, I could see Kim Sangyoonâs face. Judging from his pale expression, Seo Dawon must not have looked happy.
âT-this isnât my fault! L-lee-kyung-nim suddenly⊠That is⊠He b-bitâŠâ Kim Sangyoon laid down flat on the floor, begging for forgiveness.
But whatâs truly ridiculous isâŠAt this point, Seo Dawon could have released the [Polymorph] or informed Kim Sangyoon about the situation. He did not say anything that would make the red-haired man more comfortable in this situationâthings like âI understand,â or âItâs fine.â
âLee-kyung-ie suddenly rushed in and started to suck on your hand?â Rather, he began to pressure the Warrior, lowering his voice and painting a vivid image.
Did he get hooked on bullying Kim Sangyoon? 3
âI-itâs not exactly sucking⊠It⊠was more like bitingâŠâ
[Choi Lee-kyung: Pester himâ]
[Choi Lee-kyung: Fuck, how am I supposed to clear this up]
[Choi Lee-kyung: I have to somehow fix this mess]
I hurriedly sent a message to Seo Dawon. If he wasnât going to clear up this misunderstanding, then he should finish whatever he wanted to do quickly. This incident needed to remain as a black stain in my past.
Seo Dawon seemed to have seen my frantic messages; his shoulders trembled from silent laughter. With the tip of his shoe, Seo Dawon stepped onto the prone Kim Sangyoonâs hand (the very hand that was still glistening from Lackeyâs bite and saliva). âCut it off.â
ââŠ..What?â
âJust kidding. Why are you like this? You need to quickly go to Moon Issak.â
As soon as Seo Dawon removed his feet from atop Kim Sangyoonâs hand, the Warrior sprang up and ran at a tremendous speed out of the room.
Rather than rushing to meet Moon Issak, he looked as if he were rushing to escape from Seo Dawon.
TL: âŠThere was no way for me to TL this that didnât make it sound dirtyâŠso have this chapter with all of its innuendosâŠ
RIP Kim Sangyoon.
Footnotes
ì§êČœ = Counterfeit Kyung aka Fake Lee-kyung. Seo Dawon is using a portmanteau of both words to be casual, but thereâs no easy way to get that across. Idiomatic~ Iâm sure you guys can guess but essentially it means to passively watch someone elseâs misfortune. This would be literally translated as âhas gotten the taste for bullying Kim Sangyoonâ