Chapter 2541 – 2541. Savior Of The Academy

I had made a bold promise to Kang Ji-young, but I couldn’t think of any immediate solutions.

Kang Ji-young’s body was dead. Her pulse was gone. Not only that, but Uureka’s curse remained on her body. I could feel Uureka’s obsession to kill even Kang Ji-young’s body.

‘If I return her soul to Kang Ji-young’s body now…’

[Now you’re just calling my name so casually.]

‘Ah.’

If I focused on thinking, Kang Ji-young could read my thoughts. I thought it was normal when I was connected to the spirits. It didn’t matter if my will was connected to the spirits. They didn’t care if I had any sinister thoughts.

[As long as I can come back to life. With my abilities, I can’t completely remove the curse, but I can resist it. Is there a way to return my soul?]

‘…Not right now.’

Release the necromancy and push Kang Ji-young’s soul, which pops out, into that body? Of course, I could force it in. But there was no guarantee that the soul would settle in the body.

If you push a soul into a dead body, will it come back to life? Of course not. If that were possible, humanity would already be living forever. Besides, Uureka’s curse was a problem for such an attempt.

[Then preserving the body should be the priority. Is there a way to preserve the body?]

‘…Inventory.’

My inventory doesn’t allow living things. But it did allow corpses.

I immediately put Kang Ji-young’s body into my inventory. Time doesn’t flow in the inventory. The body wouldn’t rot, and the curse wouldn’t progress. It would be in a frozen state.

The power of extreme cold I got from killing Jarkan? I wasn’t confident that I could freeze and fix an object perfectly like Jarkan using extreme cold.

Even if you get a power after killing a demon, using that power skillfully is another matter. That’s why I don’t use it in combat. I lack proficiency. It’s not like my swordsmanship, which I’ve trained for a long time, or my lightning, which is a characteristic of my playful life, or the Lightning Heaven Style.

‘It’d be clumsy if I used it.’

[What are you talking about?]

‘The power.’

I turned around and picked up the Hwaryeon Flying Blades. Demons and demonic beasts were still rampaging. Kang Ji-young must have needed time to think, or she didn’t want to disturb me, because she kept her mouth shut.

I focused on the demons with titles as much as possible and cleared the inside of the academy.

Support from the military and the association arrived 20 minutes later.

The White Hell event was over.

* * *

Kang Ji-young, the pioneer of Korea’s S-class hero, Jicheon (地天), and the head of the academy, went missing.

She was missing because there was no body.

But people thought Kang Ji-young was dead. The massive invasion of Earth by the 3rd Legion of Demons. She fought the legion commander, the Demonic Beast of Extreme Cold, at the forefront and was annihilated. It was such a fierce battle that not even a corpse was left. That’s how it was known.

The truth was that I killed Jarkan, and some heroes witnessed it. But I made a deal with the Hero Association. I passed on the credit and gained various benefits.

If it became known that I was strong enough to kill Jarkan, things would get annoying. There would definitely be talk about early graduation from the academy. The day hadn’t even come yet, and I couldn’t graduate from the academy.

The association and the government began to handle Kang Ji-young’s disappearance as a heroic death in the line of duty. For them, Kang Ji-young’s death would be more fortunate.

Because the fact that Kang Ji-young predicted the invasion of the 3rd Legion and requested support from the association and the government but was rejected was buried.

…Actually, there was no need to make a deal with the association and the government. It would be more beneficial to put a new hero, me, forward instead of Kang Ji-young. But I refused, and even Sung Ha-ri stepped in. When Sung Ha-ri frowned and threw a fit, the association and the government immediately bowed their heads.

In addition, as a price for the deal, I got a national treasure-level item that the association and the government managed together.

National Treasure No. 27, the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner.

The reason why the word “special” is behind the national treasure is that it is an item with special abilities. In other words, an object with power.

The association and the government didn’t give me the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner easily. They lent it to me for 30 years.

Of course, I had no intention of returning it after 30 years.

‘By then, I’ll be the owner of South Korea. Therefore, the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner is mine too.’

[The owner of South Korea? That’s absurd. Have you been thinking like that all along?]

I didn’t answer every word Kang Ji-young said in my head. It was too tiring to answer while tackling each one.

『Gilt-bronze Incense Burner
Rank: S
You can use mana to light the incense burner.
The incense stabilizes the mind and body, and stimulates the five senses and spirituality.
It washes away evil energy.』

[You don’t have this kind of ability in your spirit eyes. It’s not just amazing, it’s shocking. To be able to see the abilities of an object without any special magic… It’s amazing no matter how many times I see it.]

Kang Ji-young quietly admired. She could even see the status window through my eyes.

Originally, it was impossible. Even with necromancy, she and I were separate beings and souls. But the problem was that spirit necromancy was not ordinary necromancy. Now, Kang Ji-young and I were connected by our souls. No, should I say they were mixed?

‘Can you see this?’

[Yes. I can see your smartphone clearly. Are you showing off because it’s the latest smartphone?]

The playful life app was on the smartphone screen right now. It meant that she could see the status window but not the playful life app.

For reference, my smartphone is not the latest model. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Perhaps because the playful life app is installed, the smartphone’s functions are far superior to the latest ones.

‘What about this?’

[It’s a picture of a naked woman. How could you take something like this… No, wait. That’s Sung Ha-ri! Are you crazy?! I saw earlier that your smartphone didn’t even have a password, what if you lose it…?!]

‘That won’t happen.’

I threw the smartphone into the air. It didn’t fall and went straight into the inventory.

And then I summoned it again. The smartphone was a means of communication, so I usually carried it around.

Even if I lost it, I could just summon it back.

‘Status window.’

『Name: Sung Yu-jin
Strength: S Stamina: S- Agility: S- Durability: A+ Mana: S+
Traits: Spirit Eyes (SSS) Demon Hunter (SS+) God of Storms (A)
Skills: Spirit Contract (S+) Spirit Necromancy (A+) Barrier (C+) Swordsmanship (S+) Spirit Gate (SS)
Karma: Good 1,408』

『Name: Kang Ji-young
Strength: – Stamina: – Agility: – Durability: – Mana: –
Traits: Eye of Horus (SS), Wolf of the Earth (S)
Skills: Greatsword (S), Magic (A), Sixth Sense (S), Super Strength (A), Natural Healing (S).
Affection: 51』

My status window and Kang Ji-young’s status window appeared at the same time.

My stats were generally higher. The reason why the stats were not displayed in Kang Ji-young’s status window was probably because she didn’t have a body.

[…This is ridiculous. You can know your own and other people’s information with objective information? Even affection? This is even much better than my eyes. What are you, really…]

I didn’t bother to hide the status window from her. As long as we were together, I had no intention of hiding it by force. Of course, the playful life app was an exception. I didn’t feel the need to tell her about it. Unless her affection was high. It was only 51.

[What exactly is this affection?]

‘It’s literally the affection towards me. In the case of men, it’s shown as trust. I can’t manipulate it.’

[…So you can see other people’s status windows. What exactly is the level of affection at 51?]

‘The level of feeling romantic feelings. Kang Ji-young is feeling romantic feelings for me right now.’

[Ha. That’s a ridiculous joke. Do you think I would feel romantic feelings for you?]

‘It’s true.’

[I don’t believe it. Assuming the maximum affection score is 100, there’s no way you can feel romantic feelings at just 51. Besides, I know my own feelings well.]

‘The feeling of marriage is 70. And our Head Kang Ji-young is a virgin who doesn’t even know what romantic feelings are. How can you be so sure about something you don’t know?’

It was rare for someone to feel and be 100% sure of their own feelings. Besides, 51, not 60, was a bit ambiguous, so it was difficult to grasp one’s own romantic feelings.

[…What makes you so sure that I’m a virgin?]

‘Mom told me.’

[Sung Ha-ri…!!]

I could imagine Kang Ji-young’s crumpled face. I was about to tease her more, but I got a message from Sung Ha-ri.

I headed to where Sung Ha-ri was calling me.

* * *

Kang Ji-young’s personal training room, which she used to use.

Sung Ha-ri and Tenrai Nagisa were there together. This was one of the most secret places in the academy. It was a place that only the head of the academy, Kang Ji-young, could enter.

“Yu-jin. You said Ji-young wasn’t dead yet. Explain what happened.”

Sung Ha-ri’s voice was much lower and more serious than usual. Kang Ji-young was her best friend, so it was natural.

“Demon Duke Delma used his power of interference to sever the connection between my aunt’s body and soul. Uureka cursed my aunt’s body in the meantime. Originally, her soul should have disappeared and she should have died… but I used spirit necromancy to summon my aunt’s soul into me.”

“Since the essence of spirit necromancy was necromancy… that’s possible. Can you talk to Ji-young inside you?”

“That’s…”

[Tell them it’s impossible.]

“No. It’s not a spirit, but a human soul, so it seems like there’s a slight problem.”

Sung Ha-ri believed my words without suspicion. She didn’t usually doubt my words much from the start. And Sung Ha-ri only knew the surface of spirit magic and spirit necromancy. She didn’t have any professional knowledge.

‘Why is that? The two of them are tight-lipped. If you tell them, you’ll have more room to maneuver in many ways, right?’

[I know that Sung Ha-ri is a hopeless fool. If she knew that I could think and feel inside you, she would be in a complicated state of mind. More than anything, it would bring all sorts of problems.]

‘Ah. So you want to play around since it turned out like this?’

[It’s because I can’t make things difficult for you just based on my position. You are the owner of this body. I’m just an uninvited guest and a parasite. I have no intention of ruining your life just because my work is urgent and important. Since my body is dead, I’m dead.]

Kang Ji-young’s voice was firm. If I ignored Kang Ji-young’s words here, her affection would drop.

‘I’ll figure out how to bring you back to life, so just wait.’

[Okay. I believe you. But can’t you respect me? I’m your mother’s friend, and the head of the academy you’re attending.]

‘And a parasite.’

[……]

You little brat. That’s how it felt. It wasn’t just my imagination.