Resurrection Chapter 80 - Not That One

In order not to lose his mind to the pain, he glared with wide eyes and ground his teeth harshly.

How long had he been doing that?

At a certain moment, his teeth shattered like sugar cubes and flowed out of his mouth. And that was not all. His hair fell out in clumps, and his fingernails and toenails fell off.

By then, the bloody sweat that had been gushing from his pores had also dried up. His skin, too, became limp as if it were dead and beginning to rot. His bones, cartilage, muscle tissue, and all his cells had become so weak that Min Gongchan could no longer stand on his two feet.

He collapsed to the floor with a thud. Then, a chilling energy began to rise from deep within his stomach. A few of his cells had transformed into vampire cells and were beginning to act.

He knew that this would soon take over his entire body with terrifying force. If he couldn’t endure the process and lost his mind, he would become a monster that was neither a vampire nor anything else.

He had asked Yoon Younghyun to take care of things afterward, but if he failed, he might not even be able to die and would have to wander this dungeon for a long time. In fact, the last time he had attempted the transformation, he had been trapped in a monster’s body and had to live for years more until the world ended.

It was a horrific experience he never wanted to go through again, and a tsunami of fear washed over him. As if responding to his terror, the vengeful spirits huddled inside his body rose up in unison and began to run rampant.

‘I don’t want to become a monster…!’

‘Let me out of here!’

‘Help me!’

‘I’m scared!’

The vengeful spirits controlled by the necromancer Yaksha were mostly ghosts who couldn’t let go of their attachment to life and wanted to possess a human body. They, too, didn’t want to be trapped in a monster’s body, and clamored to get out, but there was no way that would happen as they pleased.

Most souls are bound to perish without a body. Once they enter a body, they cannot leave until the body dies. Unless there was a necromancer who could handle souls with complete freedom, the vengeful spirits trapped in Min Gongchan’s body were in a position where they had no choice but to share his fate.

Min Gongchan roared at the noisy vengeful spirits.

‘Shut up! If you don’t want to become a monster, get a grip. Don’t give in to the pain, endure it! That’s the only way we’ll survive!’

It was uncertain whether the vengeful spirits understood his words or not. However, one thing was certain: Min Gongchan was not alone. Even if he were to lose consciousness to the pain, there were other souls in his body, so they might prevent him from completely losing his sanity and becoming a monster.

This was the reason he hadn’t undergone an exorcism ritual even after being struck by Yaksha’s curse, and it was the catalyst for his decision to drink Royal Vampire Blood again.

‘This time, I’ll succeed in the transformation… escape this tiresome ordinary person’s body… and Kim Yitae…’

Just when did it start?

He couldn’t remember the exact moment. But when the world first ended, he knew nothing. After regressing in a flurry, he had run here and there trying to figure out what had happened and met Kim Yitae.

His first impression wasn’t what you would call good. The power of resurrection he possessed seemed far too dangerous, and he had suspected that it might be what triggered the apocalypse.

But as he repeated his regressions, his opinion of him began to change, little by little, very little by little.

Resurrection was not something Kim Yitae had wanted, but he never used it for his own personal gain. His conviction to save the world through Seo Heesoo was noble, and for that, he did not spare his own body. Even though he had a resurrection skill, he couldn’t use it on himself, yet he had no fear, as if he had three or four lives. And as with all convictions, his desire to save the world required sacrifice.

Just how many times had he witnessed Kim Yitae’s death?

Sometimes as a comrade in arms, sometimes as a friend, sometimes as an enemy, sometimes as a bystander, he had watched over Kim Yitae. He had seen countless times what he went through for the sole reason that he possessed a resurrection skill.

At times, he had to take his life when he was in a state worse than death, and at other times, he couldn’t bear it himself and begged him to forget about the world and run away somewhere to live in hiding.

That’s right, at some point, he couldn’t be sure of his own purpose. Was he trying to stop the end of the world, or was he just trying to protect Kim Yitae?

Perhaps he just wanted to change Kim Yitae’s mind, his last words.

Kim Yitae always, always, said the same unchanging words, just as the world was ending.

‘Save Heesoo hyung.’

The few drops of his blood as a vampire flowed throughout his entire body. Shedding his human shell, his body, which had been close to a lump of meat, began to transform into a vampire in earnest.

His limp skin hardened and emitted a pale, plaster-like light. Hairs like his hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes grew back, and his fingernails and toenails sprouted.

When Min Gongchan opened the eyes he had feebly closed, they were no longer human. Shedding a bluish glow like tears, he raised his head and let out a long howl.

It was the first cry announcing his birth as a vampire.

👑

Yoon Younghyun, who was sitting by a small fire, nervously bounced his leg.

In fact, the crystal cave he was in was as bright as day and had a stable temperature, so there was no need to build a fire. Usually, in dungeons, people would build campfires to chase away monsters that disliked light or to signal their location to other hunters, but that wasn’t the situation now. The Crystal Crabs that appeared here were used to the light reflected by the crystal monsters and didn’t even pay attention to things like campfires.

Nevertheless, he had built a fire to find comfort. The time for feeling anxious about being alone in a dungeon had passed, but now he was anxious.

Yoon Younghyun bounced his leg, thinking of a cigarette he didn’t even smoke, and then jumped in surprise at a sudden loud noise.

Craaash!

His eyes widened like saucers as he looked in the direction the roar came from. He could see a giant crystal pillar toppling over in the distance.

Something was definitely rampaging over there. At first, he only heard sounds like something lightly hitting a wall or the ground, but now there was a loud noise as if the entire crystal cave was about to collapse.

Yoon Younghyun did not mistake it for a monster.

‘It’s probably Min Gongchan.’

Yoon Younghyun shuddered as he recalled the memory of his own transformation. The horrific pain of a werewolf’s giant teeth digging into his shoulder was still vivid. But his memory of the transformation itself was unclear; the pain was so extreme that his brain had erased it.

In fact, what was clearer was the memory of the hospital.

The Hunter-specialized medical center had a separate, large-scale infectious disease ward. The majority of the patients admitted there were those infected with lycanthrope-type viruses. Since it was a place where Awakened who could turn into man-eating monsters at any moment stayed, it was no different from a prison, despite being called a ward.

In a narrow and monotonous hospital room that would make even a sane person go crazy, the most agonizing thing was managing the desire for human flesh.

Until his condition stabilized with consistent administration of the cure, he had to suffer from an extreme appetite. Just as agonizing as enduring that was the self-loathing and self-pity. This was because what remained more clearly than the pain of transformation was the changed appearance of his Ace One colleagues, with whom he had been laughing and sharing moments until just recently.

When he was bitten while fighting a werewolf and the transformation began, the people who had been so kind raised their voices, saying he was a monster now and should be killed. Even the usually generous raid leader had cold eyes and loaded his weapon.

The person who stood in their way was Kim Yitae, with whom he hadn’t been particularly close. Perhaps because he was a contract worker, there had always been a sense of distance. But that person had vehemently opposed the idea of killing him.

‘Don’t you know why this guy got bitten by a werewolf? It was all to protect us! And now you’re saying we should just kill him because he might turn into a monster? Is that a joke or what?’

Kim Yitae had knocked him out as he was beginning to transform, tied him up tightly, and thrown him in here, in the infectious disease ward of the Hunter-specialized medical center. Fortunately, the transformation had ended, and the cure was also taking effect, so his condition was gradually stabilizing, but his heart, wounded by disappointment and betrayal, would not heal easily. He just kept dwelling on the thought that he had to get out of this prison-like place as soon as possible.

Then one day, shortly before his discharge, Kim Yitae came to visit him.

Even though it was a visit, he had to meet him in a straitjacket, so it couldn’t be called very pleasant. He wasn’t happy to see him, thinking that the purpose of Kim Yitae’s visit was to recommend he leave Ace One.

Even if that wasn’t the case, he thought he would demand financial compensation for saving his life. Kim Yitae, the all-rounder jack-of-all-trades, was famous for working like a cow, but he was also famous for being a miser. He had a personality that would never take a loss, so he couldn’t even guess how much money he would demand. He met him, tense with the thought that he might have to clean out all his savings.

As expected, Kim Yitae went on and on about how he should consider him his savior and asked if he hadn’t cried with gratitude. He praised himself like that for a long time but didn’t make any demands at all. He didn’t even offer meddling disguised as advice, like suggesting it would be better to leave the raid team voluntarily. He just said, “See you later,” and was about to leave.

To him, Yoon Younghyun hurriedly asked.

‘How much will it be? How much would be a fitting reward…’

Kim Yitae glanced back at him and snorted.

‘I don’t need some kid’s snot-nosed money. Don’t say useless things like rewards and just focus on recovering.’

It was purely thanks to Kim Yitae that he had returned to Ace One after finishing his recovery. If it hadn’t been for him, he would not have had the courage to think about returning.