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Chapter 126
Seo Dawon leisurely left the room, leaving me in a state of mental breakdown.
–Click
Waiting until I heard the click of the door closing, I ran to the attached bathroom and washed my face with icy water. I could see an embarrassed-reddened face and ears in the bathroom mirror.
‘Seo Dawon, you really… Is he just thoughtless?’ Emotional thoughts rose from within belatedly. You’ve made it clear that you know about my attractions for you, but now you want to initiate skinship with me just for synchronization rate? I, thinking back to Seo Dawon’s behavior which seemed uninterested in the welfare of my heart, began to become angry as I dwelled upon these thoughts.
‘Then I, too, will give Seo Dawon as much as he wants, then. Yes, synchronization rate~. I’ll shut him up myself..or something like that…’
Seo Dawon probably thinks that I would stand still, be unable to do anything… but even I can shut my eyes tight and reach out to him. And since Seo Dawon had no feelings for me, wouldn’t he despise my touch? Usually, when a man gropes another man, fists would fly out first.
‘As a warning, should I once…cling to him?’ I fell into contemplation, squeezing and relaxing my fingers in front of the sink. Of course, I couldn’t think for long–the door to the bathroom opened quickly, and Jung Garam, cheeks flushed, jumped at me.
“Argh! W-what’s this all of a sudden?” I asked.
“Lee-kyung-ah, how did you persuade hyung? Hm?” Jung Garam gave me a large hug.
Seeing his youthful face so full of excitement, I couldn’t bear to push him away, “No, it was…he wasn’t as opposed as I thought…”
“Really? He didn’t even pretend to listen to me, though…” He grumbled, but he didn’t sound too upset; I grabbed his arm to calm him down. Jung Garam retreated a few steps and stared at me. With a teary voice–as if he were quite moved–he said, “I’ll rip out Park Hoseok’s heart and bring it as a gift.”
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“That’s fine, that’s a bit…”
He even acted cute in ways he never did before.
I sighed and pushed at Jung Garam’s back to move him out of the bathroom. However, as soon as I returned to the bedroom, I came upon a shocking scene. Lackey, who until recently had been rattling a spoon in the porridge bowl, was now firmly stuck to the wall by daggers like a pinned butterfly sample.
“W-why’s Lackey like that?!”
[clack clack…]
“Ah, he tried to rush at me because I was entering the room…” Jung Garam said.
Damn it!
I pushed hard at Jung Garam and ran to Lackey, pulling out the daggers that were pinning its joints one by one. Perhaps it was frightened–as soon as it could move, it stuck to my neck and wouldn’t fall off.
No matter how fierce Lackey may be to those that weren’t me, Garam was a ranker……! While soothing the skeleton that clung to me, I stared at the younger angrily. Jung Garam only shrugged his shoulders even as he faced my furious gaze.
“Hey, didn’t I say not to pick on Lackey?” I shouted.
“I just embedded some daggers into the wall and placed him on top of them.”
“Why’d you pin it to the wall? You could just jump and avoid it! Even when you could avoid it–!”
“It’s tiresome. It’s exhausting to control my strength…” Then he looked at me with an impossibly charming, cute expression. I kicked his shin in a fit of frustration.
“So mean.”
After kicking Jung Garam in the butt, he was kicked out of the room while speaking exaggeratedly.
After that, I locked the door and soothed Lackey for a long while. [So depressing], [I hate it!], [I wanna kill them]. I held the skeleton in my arms until its current mood changed to [I love master].
* * *
“I have something serious to tell you.”
[Clack clack!]
As soon as it became dinnertime, I called the servants into the living room.
“……”
“……”
“What is it?”
Even though I had gathered them all, saying I had something important to say, all the servants besides Kim Olim had bad attitudes. Jung Garam did not tear his eyes off the TV, and Seo Dawon did not respond, as if he were ignoring me.
However, I didn’t back down and crossed my arms, picking up the remote control to turn off the wildlife documentary that Jung Garam was watching diligently. Jung Garam opened his mouth to protest, but he saw my frown, he closed his mouth. Seo Dawon, who looked a bit absentminded, turned to stare at me–eyes finally focusing.
“You guys…I would like it if you wouldn’t harass Lackey just because I’m not watching.” I said.
“Today was just…”
“If it keeps getting harassed, I will have no choice but to take Lackey everywhere. How will I know what you’ll do to it when my back is turned?”
[Clack Clack!!!!]
“If, from now on, something like today happens again… I’m going to carry Lackey around in my arms no matter what.”
Lackey climbed onto the sofa and jumped wildly, arms raised, as if it were all for this idea.
Of course, compared to the skeleton, the expressions of the other three were chilling. In particular, Jung Garam leaned his head against the back of the sofa. “Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah….!” he sighed, long and discomfited.
Following his sight, Kim Olim spoke, “But, Necromancer. Your skeleton has a serious trigger-bite. Whenever someone just passes close by you, it growls threateningly or snaps at our hands and feet. I haven’t opposed it out of laziness, but, if it weren’t your servant, I would have already removed its jawbone.”
It wasn’t like I couldn’t understand Kim Olim’s point. However, Lackey was perhaps the servant that gave me the most concern–it was originally vulnerable and foolish enough to be chased away by the neighborhood dogs. So, rather than being at fault, I had thought that the others must be doing things to provoke the skeleton.
Moreover, no matter how much stronger Lackey has become, it was ridiculous to compare it to those that were at the peak of human capabilities. Who in their right mind would rip out the claws of kittens just because it scratched them? Likewise, it was unacceptable in my perspective to wholly overpower Lackey just because it rushed at them. “Lackey is incredibly weak compared to you all. If it rushes at you, you can easily avoid it. Why retaliate?”
“Then, let’s do it this way.” Seo Dawon, who had been listening to our argument silently, stood up from his seat. Then, out of nowhere, he approached me and pulled me into his embrace.
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Of course, Lackey had lowered itself from the sofa once Seo Dawon had risen from his seat–and rushed to the Mage as soon as he hugged me. Embarrassed, I tried to push Seo Dawon away, but I couldn’t beat him in sheer strength. From somewhere below my waist, I could hear a bloody crunch.
As expected, Lackey was biting with all its might at the fingers that Seo Dawon had purposefully lowered. Looking at his mauled hands, I screamed, “What are you doing! Take your hands away! Lackey, stop!”
However, Lackey did not pay any attention and continued to bite. Seo Dawon, also, did not move and only later raised his hand–if not for the lack of blood, the skin and bones certainly looked broken–and showed it to me. I was stunned by the bite marks left on his skin.
He said, “Like this, I won’t avoid it and let him bite me in the future; don’t you think Lackey needs to be punished as well?”
“P-punishment…”
“The punishment should go to the owner.” And then, Seo Dawon lowered his head towards my neck. Lackey gnashed his teeth; it looked like the skeleton absolutely despised the sight of the Mage clinging so intimately. Perhaps it remembered my order to stop, though, because it begrudgingly stayed still.
Still bowing his head into my neck, he whispered while drawing me completely into his arms, “From now on, if our Lackey attacks for no good reason, Lee Kyung-ie will nurse us until the wound is healed.”
“Th-thats…”
“A wound like this will take about 30 minutes to recover, so I’ll spend that time with Lee-kyung-ie however I please.”
“Oh, agree!” Jung Garam shouted.
“That’s not bad. How about an entire day for an amputation?” Kim Olim said.
Are they insane? I felt both irritated, unable to understand why I’m made to feel guilty, and uneasy while looking at his tattered hand.
Unable to take the wretched sight any longer, Lackey laid prone on the floor, whining. Seo Dawon slowly brought his damaged bones to my eye level, and he actually hugged me for half an hour before releasing me.
When I was released from his embrace, I was able to voice some protest, “You could have…used some shield or defense skills.”
“If you won’t discipline it, at least put a muzzle on.”
“……”
“Isn’t that what an owner has to do?”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue against that.
TL: Lee-kyung — “I’ll show you! I’ll give you all the skinship! That’ll teach you!”
Seo Dawon — “All according to plan”
Also, MC hasn’t fully yet realized how dangerous Lackey can be. Hopefully this opened his eyes. Lackey isn’t just a dog but is more of a monster…that also happens to be adorable like a dog. It could cause some serious damage to most humans.