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Chapter 102
I suddenly recalled the man named Moon Issak. Wasn’t he also hostile to evil-attribute users and was also a Paladin.
“Moon Issak…” I mumbled his name, casually.
At those quiet words, Kim Olim’s expression suddenly grew cold. “Do you know Moon Issak?”
“Huh? Ah, No….. I just know his name…..” Looking at Kim Olim’s face, I hurried to shake my head no, worried that my head would fly away from my neck.
Jung Garam and Seo Dawon bowed their heads, waiting to see what I would say. I mean, why are they just standing there smiling? They should at least help out and stop her!
Whether or not she knew why I mentioned Moon Issak, Kim Olim, still frowning, talked to me in a somewhat softened tone, “If you ever run into him, spare your words and try to run away.”
“Yes…Huh?”
“Moon Issak tends to be cruel to evil-attribute Users. You could even call him a zealot. He’s the type that can’t be reasoned with.”
“……”
Speechless, I stared at Kim Olim who didn’t seem to notice the commonalities between Moon Issak and herself. Is this the epitome of ‘My romance, her Affair?’ 1
However, in a way, one could say that she was warm-hearted enough to warn me about Moon Issak even though she disliked me. I looked at her, complicated emotions warring on my face; Kim Olim seemed to have misunderstood my speechlessness.
She continued, after a brief silence. “Well, You don’t have to be so scared: he usually won’t show interest in a fragile necromancer like you.”
“I-I see…”
“In anycase, in a pinch you can call upon me.”
“What? Ah…..Yep….”
Does that mean you’ll come forward to save me if I’m in danger?
However, I didn’t poke her to clarify her meaning since she was still difficult to talk to. In addition, after saying ‘I need a quiet space to pray,’ she barged into my bedroom without permission, and I didn’t have the opportunity to converse further.
As soon as she vanished beyond the bedroom door, I relaxed and flopped onto the sofa. Quickly, I brought out the recent vengeful ghost contract and meticulously read through.
The sentence I was searching for caught my eye.
Clause 3 of the contract.
3. Party B is obliged to protect Party A’s safety. At A’s request, they may borrow B’s abilities.
In this clause, ‘B’ obviously referred to the servant, and ‘A’ referred to me–which was quite strange.
How could Kim Olim, the servant, threaten me? Wouldn’t strangulation affect my own safety? Did that make any sense? Furthermore, a caveat/precaution was clearly stated at the top of this contract.
As agreed, parties A and B have entered into the strongest binding contract until the terms of the agreement have been fulfilled.  Until completion of the contract, the contractual relationship between both parties will have priority over any other binding or non-binding agreement.
In the case of a “contract breach,” where the “contract completion” cannot be fulfilled, the party responsible for the revocation will suffer great risk.
After reading it, I couldn’t understand how Kim Olim was still perfectly fine.
Kim Sangyoon, who signed the [submission contract] rather than the [vengeful ghost contract] was bound to its clauses. I mean, this didn’t mean that I wanted Kim Olim to be injured or anything, but I couldn’t understand how nothing had happened to her.
In the first place, when I renewed the contract, only the name of Party B had changed; thus, I applied the same contract to Kim Olim without thinking too deeply… If one took this incident to its logical conclusion, wouldn’t this disconnect also apply to Seo Dawon and Jung Garam? If something were to go wrong, both of them could treat me similarly.
‘Don’t tell me……Was I scammed?’
With these thoughts tumbling around, everything suddenly became suspicious, so I had no choice but to ask Seo Dawon, who was looking my way, “Seo Dawon, Can I ask you about the vengeful ghost contract…?”
“What is it?”
“Can’t a servant not attack their Necromancer?”
I expected Seo Dawon to respond with a clear-cut ‘yes.’ Ominously, however, he said “Well…..” In addition, he had the audacity to couple the ambiguous answer with a sly smile. “Why are you curious about that all of a sudden, Lee-kyung-ah?”
Before, I would have answered naively and docilely, but frankly, after dealing with these guys, I gained a perceiving eye. That smile served to change the subject. I decided inwardly that I would not be pushed back this time, and I asked again, a little louder. “Servants have a duty to protect my well-being, right? But then how  could Kim Olim-ssi threaten me?”
“Well…….”
“She….strangled me.”
At my firm attitude, Seo Dawon dropped his ambiguous smile and drew closer to me. Then, as if he were worried, he touched my shoulder and observed my neck. Gently stroking the veins there, he said, “I won’t let Olim-ie do that from now on.”
“That’s……”
“Also, about the interpretation of the ‘contract’ you asked about.”After that, Seo Dawon stopped in his tracks. He looked over my anxious form and shrugged before replying, “In conclusion, a servant can kill their contractor. It’s not an unbreakable’ contract.”
“……”
What a bolt from the blue.
“It’s implied that it’s possible to go against what’s written in the contract. Of course, there’s always a risk.” Simultaneously, Seo Dawon pointed out a line in the contract I was looking at. “However, in this case, the contract specifies that ‘party responsible for the revocation of the terms’ will incur huge damages, so there’s a significant risk in turning against the agreement. Furthermore, the ‘Vengeful Ghost Contract,’ is one of the highest-level binding contracts, and the consequences are larger. The more familiar you are with it, the less likely you are to break the terms. I don’t think Kim Olim tried anything with the intention of really killing you either.”
“…….”
“It’ll be alright? Besides, you don’t think I’m going to allow you to be hurt?”
No matter how Seo Dawon attempted to placate me, I was already deeply betrayed by the contract that I had placed full faith in. After all, that’s only Seo Dawon’s opinion; who knows what Kim Olim or the other future summoned Red Lotus members will think.
What I really wanted to ask pertained more than matters of ‘life or death.’ I was interested in their ability to intimidate, threaten, torture, or even kidnap the contractor. But, if they can kill then of course the other deeds are possible…
“We said we won’t let that happen, why do you look more depressed?” Unaware of my feelings, Jung Garam asked in a frustrated tone.
It was comparable to, or even worse perhaps, that if you were told that the cat you raised was actually a leopard and would eat their owner when hungry.
So whenever the light shined upon the depths of these guys’ hard-to-understand obsessions–whenever I would get cold feet–I would think of the contract and say, ‘But of course they wouldn’t do that to me…’
But that mindset shattered after meeting Kim Olim, and I could find myself in a bigger pinch than I currently am in now…What kind of lunatic would smile in this situation.
“Y-you guys….”
“Yeah, Lee-kyung-ah.”
“What?”
I held back my fears, wore a shaky smile, and held onto each of their arms. “Don’t hold all your grievances inside. You must… if there’s a misunderstanding, you must… tell me, okay?”
“……?”
“What are you even talking about?”
“Never keep it to yourself until you act upon those feelings…Let’s have a  heart-to-heart…please….”
TL: I came down with something I think (cold?) so I might be conked out for the next two days >.< We’ll see~
Footnotes
내로남불 is the abbreviation of ‘내가하면 로맨스 남이하면 불륜’, meaning that if I love someone, it is a romance but if others do, it is an affair. It’s the tendency for humans to be hypocritical when it comes to themselves.