Resurrection Chapter 28 - Hyung, are you okay?

I spoke, suspicious of his excessive calmness.

“Is that true? You’re not lying because you’re worried about me, are you?”

Heesoo hyung smiled gently.

“It’s not a lie.”

At his soft smile, I let go of my tense feelings. However, my worries didn’t completely disappear.

I felt his body and confirmed that all the numerous scars had vanished. Pushing my hands away, Heesoo hyung spoke as if to reassure me that there was no need to worry.

“My condition has been completely reset. The scars are all healed, and my HP and MP are fully restored. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have bothered holding on and would have died sooner.”

I shouted in a burst of anger.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things!”

Startled by my sudden outburst, Heesoo hyung closed his mouth in embarrassment. I quickly wiped the tears leaking from my eyes, but I couldn’t stop my face from flushing and contorting.

Seeing my pathetic expression, Heesoo hyung apologized.

“I’m sorry. I promised I wouldn’t die in front of you.”

I clenched my teeth, then released them and nodded.

“Yes. You promised, so at least make an effort! Don’t treat dying so casually.”

Thirty years ago, the superhuman abilities bestowed upon humans by the gods were truly astonishing. Invincible strength, a body like steel, legs faster than the wind, vision surpassing that of a hawk… These were abilities that literally transcended humanity, some of which defied not only common sense but even truth itself.

Exceptional mages conjured water and fire from thin air, summoned lightning, and stirred up storms. Healers regenerated severed limbs like plants, and necromancers commanded the dead as if they were their limbs. Tamers controlled monsters, and fortune-tellers foresaw the future.

These transcendent beings, who wouldn’t be out of place being called gods, made all sorts of things deemed impossible possible with their great abilities. However, some things remained impossible, particularly bringing the dead back to life.

Shortly after the awakener system emerged and people realized it wasn’t much different from a game system, they believed there must be a resurrection skill somewhere. Just as one could die a hundred times in a game and come back to life each time, they thought the awakener system would be the same.

They believed that by overcoming the barrier of death, they could reach what was called the max level, level 100. So far, no one had surpassed the awakener’s limit of level 70.

And for good reason—the higher the level, the harder it was to level up. It required an enormous amount of experience points, meaning one had to risk their life and fight repeatedly. But once you reached level 60 or above, around S-rank, there was practically no need to do so.

In South Korea, there were barely ten S-rank or higher awakeners.

The officially confirmed number was seven.

Only five were still active.

Those five were, in essence, walking conglomerates. Their mere existence generated immense profits, and they enjoyed popularity rivaling that of Hollywood stars. The power derived from wealth and fame was almost divine, so risking their lives to fight for the sake of reaching max level was unthinkable.

Even if a resurrection skill eliminated the need to risk their lives, they wouldn’t strive to become stronger for the sake of the world.

They would strive to become stronger for themselves.

Only Heesoo hyung, who had already sacrificed himself as a holy warrior, was qualified to reach max level.

I intended to help Heesoo hyung level up through resurrection.

That way, I would make him reach max level!

That was my plan.

But seeing him die in front of me was horrific. The thought of having to witness it not just once but countless times sent shivers down my spine.

If I, who was merely watching, felt this way, how must Heesoo hyung feel, having to die and come back to life?

It was hard to believe he was truly okay with it.

I began to doubt my plan to repeatedly revive Heesoo hyung with the resurrection skill—or rather, to kill him repeatedly—to make him reach max level. My firm belief wavered, and my confidence started to fade.

Perhaps reading the hesitation in my expression, Heesoo hyung spoke in an uncharacteristically cheerful tone.

“I’m really fine. Look, I’m perfectly okay, aren’t I? But since it pains you, I’ll be careful. I won’t die recklessly or speak lightly of dying.”

I roughly wiped away the tears welling up with the back of my hand.

I knew my attitude was highly contradictory. I was the one who had proposed this plan to Heesoo hyung in the first place.

I had boasted that if he died while gaining experience, I could bring him back to life. I had said that it might be tough, but he would never truly die, and that was all that mattered.

Yet here I was, horrified and distressed at the sight of Heesoo hyung dying.

In truth, the fastest way for Heesoo hyung to reach max level was to die as many times as possible. The experience points gained didn’t reset upon death. In fact, since his condition would be restored, he could recklessly accumulate experience to level up without holding back.

But seeing Heesoo hyung die made it impossible for me to insist on that approach. Instead, I wanted to say that we should keep the resurrection skill as a last resort and be as careful as possible.

As I frantically rubbed my eyes, Heesoo hyung grabbed my hand and pulled it down. Then, looking at my face, which was starting to swell, he said,

“I promise.”

I saw him extend his pinky finger.

What, am I a child or something?

A pinky promise, really?

I wanted to complain, but before I knew it, I had hooked my pinky around his. Then, without a shred of shame, I said,

“You made a pinky promise, so you have to keep it!”

Realizing what I’d said, I was so embarrassed that my tears dried up instantly. Instead, my face flushed, and seeing me, Heesoo hyung smiled warmly.

His sincere smile was as radiant as a lotus blooming in a muddy swamp. Mesmerized by his beautiful smile, I ended up wholeheartedly believing his claim that he was fine.

👑

In any case, Min Gongchan was right.

Ignoring his words, I moved with Heesoo hyung to lure and defeat a giant crocodile. Large and small swamps were scattered in the fog, and we set a trap in one wide enough for the beast to emerge.

But instead of the crocodile we intended to lure, a lizardman scouting party fell into the trap. We wiped out the scouting party, but the trap became unusable, and the main force nearby came rushing in.

Their numbers were far greater than expected. A rough estimate put them at over 300. There was even a cavalry unit riding kelpies, with attack power beyond imagination.

They burst out from under the murky swamp, hurling harpoon spears, leaving no room to catch a breath. I, who was supposed to handle defense, was preoccupied with dealing with a lizardman shaman, unable to support Heesoo hyung.

While he struggled against dozens of lizardmen, I had to resist all sorts of spells conjured by the lizardman shaman.

When the lizardman chieftain finally appeared, we gave up fighting and fled. We tried to escape the dungeon belatedly, but they were relentless. In the overwhelmingly advantageous terrain of the swamp, they herded us like a flock of sheep, and just struggling not to be surrounded was exhausting.

In the process, Heesoo hyung died once and was revived. It was fortunate that his condition was restored, but the situation hadn’t changed.

If things continued like this, the same thing was likely to happen again. Perhaps thinking the same, Heesoo hyung spoke in a troubled tone.

“By now, the dungeon must be closed, so we can’t escape until sunrise tomorrow. Just hiding until then won’t secure us a way out. We need to find a way to break through without getting surrounded.”

“Got any good ideas?”

“The tougher the situation, the more effective a straightforward approach is. We have no choice but to take down the lizardman chieftain. Given their nature, if the leader dies, they’ll give up the fight and flee.”

“The chieftain, you mean the one with the fancy neck frill?”

“Yes.”

I recalled the lizardman chieftain I had glimpsed. Being an S-rank dungeon, it was on a completely different level from lizardmen in other dungeons.

It was so massive that the kelpie it rode seemed pitiful. Its entire body was covered in bluish scales, and its neck frill was thick. When it spread that frill, it looked terrifying and served as a shield covering its whole body.

Its movements were incredibly swift, almost as if it were using acceleration magic.

I didn’t get a good look at the alert window, but it was at least a two-black-star monster. Taking it down alone might be possible, but picking it out from among hundreds of lizardmen seemed doubtful.

Above all, the shaman wasn’t likely to stay idle. In the swamp, its spells were near invincible, and my magic was of little use.

I said with an uncertain expression,

“To take down the chieftain, we’d need to deal with the shaman first, but my magic won’t cut it.”

“Magic won’t do, indeed.”

When I glared at Heesoo hyung for his quick agreement, he added,

“But swordsmanship might.”

I was greatly flustered by his words.