A pitch-black space where not a single beam of light enters.
Curled up like a bug rolling on the ground. I wonder how long I have endured, grinding my teeth in frustration.
Just as I began to doubt whether I was truly alive, a faint sound from somewhere far away started to awaken me.
That sound grew nearer until it reached a volume where I could clearly hear it.
However…
The reason I couldn’t understand it was that it was a language I had never heard before.
The clear and bright voice was asking for something, which felt annoying to me, who was just getting used to the curled-up position.
But contrary to my mind, my body began to creak and straighten out the curled-up limbs.
Clunk-!
“Hmm?! My body…?”
My body, which was vastly different from my original one and obviously missing many elements, was clunking forward.
When did this start…?
Was I always in this body from the beginning?
The fragments of memory, now jumbled, were broken down into unrecognizable bits.
I wondered how far I had walked.
Eventually, I arrived in front of a massive door glowing with a faint blue light.
Instinctively, I knew that stepping forward would lead me to the ‘outside world.’
It was something I could have contemplated, but without hesitation, I took a step forward.
The seemingly heavy door opened astonishingly fast, and my body was quickly sucked in.
* * *
“It’s blinding…”
That was my first impression.
And I was quite baffled. I had a vague idea of my body’s condition.
“A skeleton being blinded…?”
As I tilted my head in confusion, that clear voice that had once awakened me from the pitch-black space sounded from behind me again.
“Wow… Ah, hello?”
I turned back immediately. As if it were only natural, I began by bowing deeply toward her.
It was a bizarre experience, where my body acted without needing to think.
“Who is this girl…? She seems familiar…”
Her messy bangs obscured her face, but there was an oddly familiar vibe about the girl.
The girl, who looked no older than 20, had a bob cut that was as dark as the space I had just been in.
Her round and wide-open eyes sparkled like starlight peeking between her bangs.
Wearing faded black training pants with three stripes and a loosely fitted white t-shirt, she sat about five steps away from me, clutching a pillow, looking me up and down.
“I really have no idea what’s going on…”
However, it didn’t take long to sort out the confusion clouding my mind. Could this be a change that came with becoming a skeleton?
In an instant, I thought about what I needed to do. The girl had greeted me, and I needed to respond.
“I unconsciously bowed just now… I should properly greet her.”
After finishing my thoughts, I cautiously spoke to the bobbed-hair girl.
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
……
A moment of silence hung between us, and perhaps interpreting that as a good sign, she began to peek over the pillow she was hugging and slowly approached me, saying,
“Wow… I didn’t think this would actually work… No, it has to work since it’s my ability, but still… This is so amazing!”
As she came closer and lowered the pillow, her cheeks flushed, and the cramped square room felt even smaller as she moved rapidly toward me.
Then she started to circle around me excitedly, speaking with an animated voice.
“For my first summoning, I thought a little one would appear, but a gigantic one showed up?! You must be over 180 cm tall!”
“A skeleton soldier… You make me feel secure, like a soldier is protecting me. Hehe.”
“But can I just give you orders? I don’t need to chant a spell like when I summoned you, right? Since I have no information, I will need time to learn everything one by one.”
Suddenly, she stopped circling around and stood in front of me, staring intently with a serious expression. As the girl who had been spinning around finally came to a halt, I could see her eyes clearly.
At that moment, I realized why she looked familiar.
“First summoning… Skeleton soldier… And purple eyes…”
Just a few keywords brought her face to mind, leading to a quick conclusion.
“Summoner Lee Yeon-hee…”
A genius who reached A-rank in just two years.
The unique class known as summoner.
And a fateful hunter who tragically lost her life while preventing a sudden dungeon break.
Seeing her brought back fragments of my shattered memories.
“Yes, that’s how it was known to the world… But that was her intention.”
The twisted, disgusting face of that guy who shoved a dagger into my eye while sneering surfaced vividly in my mind. The same guy who drove her to the brink, taking my life as well…
“Jo Gi-man…”
Shivers ran through me.
In a moment of boiling rage, I unexpectedly calmed myself down remarkably fast.
“I’m much calmer than in my past life. Is it because I’m brainless?”
Before me, the girl, who had met her demise, furrowed her brows, lost in thought.
“I couldn’t recognize her right away since there’s no scar on her face, but it’s definitely Lee Yeon-hee…”
I hadn’t completely organized the information in my head, but one thing was sure: I had returned to the past and became her first summoned creature.
We were from the same guild, and she had been my lifesaver…
“Oh! How about Ddak-ddak-i? It’s easy to call!”
‘… What was she even thinking? Had she really been pondering a name…?’
I thought I knew everything about her, but now I saw her naming sense was terrible. I shook my head firmly.
“Eh?! Y-You just indicated that you don’t like it?!”
‘Is that really a shocker…?’
Ddak-ddak-i was an undeniably difficult name to accept, even for someone as dense as me. It could be a name I’d be called for the rest of my life, and she chose Ddak-ddak?!
“Ugh… It’s my first time thinking of a name.”
As she hummed and seemed to be struggling, I decided to step in.
“Clap, Clap, Clap-”
“Hmm?”
She paused for a moment, tilting her head at the noise made by our teeth clashing, then her gaze followed mine.
“A calendar?”
She caught on surprisingly well as she walked towards the calendar. However, for some reason, my feet wouldn’t move an inch.
‘Why can’t my body… move?’
It felt like a magnet had glued my legs to the ground. Did she notice me grunting?
“Oh! Come here!”
Her command finally made my feet detach from the floor.
Clunk, clack, clack-
The sounds of my skeletal feet hitting the narrow room echoed. After a few steps, I found myself beside her, staring at the calendar.
“January 2020…”
I nodded slightly and pointed with a finger bone to one spot.
“… One?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap-”
I pointed to the next letter.
“Month?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap-”
“Il-wol… Is this the name you wanted?”
I nodded in response. It was a quick name derived from the calendar, but still far better than Ddak-ddak.
Then she stood there with her mouth agape for a while, unable to speak.
“No one would know that a summoned creature could have such intelligence! Perhaps summoners share a language ability?!”
Naturally, that wasn’t the case, but for her, gaining her first summoned creature was all new and shocking.
‘Well… She’ll find out when she summons a second one, so I’ll just leave it be…’
“Il-wol… It’s a pretty and wistful name. To think a monster comes up with a better name than I do.”
After feigning some disappointment, her eyes sparkled as she looked at me and said,
“Il-wol. From now on, your name is Il-wol! I’ll count on you!”
The moment she cheerfully pronounced my name, a familiar message appeared in my head like a hologram.
=====
[Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.1]
Strength: 3 Agility: 2 Health: 3 Intelligence: 24
Magic Power: 6 Resistance: 0 Sense: 15 Recovery: 1
Traits: Calm, Protective, Thief, 99 Lives
Skills: Slam, Stealth
Equipment: Worn-out wooden club
=====
‘Looking at the stats, this is pathetic… How could my agility be just 2? At least, the intelligence and sense from my human days are reflected, thank goodness…’
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