Became a Mechromancer - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64.
How Many Layers? (1)
“Mother, let me do it.”
Lim Doo-ho hurried to the oven and retrieved the roasted sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes sat in the center of the dining table.
The family members passed the steaming potatoes back and forth, peeling away their skins.
The sweet aroma of perfectly roasted tubers drifted to the tip of his nose.
Lim Doo-ho peeled the skin from his sweet potato as he broached the subject.
“Father. You mentioned your colleagues asked about the auxiliary device.”
“Ah, yes.”
“After this competition ends, I think I’ll be able to have one fitted for you through your connections.”
Lim Tae-sang bit into his sweet potato and chuckled warmly. His gaze drifted toward the auxiliary device resting in one corner of the living room.
“Thanks to the device my son made, work feels like I’m flying these days. Even the most stubborn waste crumbles like cotton candy.”
“Still, please always be careful.”
Lim Tae-sang added with evident satisfaction.
“I feel bad that only I get to work so comfortably. My colleagues must resent me.”
Lim Doo-ho placed the peeled sweet potato on a plate and fell into thought.
‘Once mass production becomes viable, I should arrange for Father to transition from fieldwork to management and sales instead. The timing to tell him would be….’
The face of his contemplative son.
Lim Tae-sang flinched as his son’s composed expression overlapped with the image of the boy from his high school days.
.
.
.
「…The child has no emotions.」
「He separated himself to survive. ‘Dissociation’ is a state where emotions fall away, leaving only actions behind.」
「So that’s why he seemed like a robot?」
「Yes. Lim Doo-ho kept pushing himself to improve further. Then his mind applied the brakes first.」
「…The brakes?」
「A score higher than the Super Intelligence… it’s not proof of excellence. It was a warning that he’d reached his limit.」
「…A warning, you say.」
「From now on, he must recover his ‘senses.’ Before it’s too late.」
.
.
.
Lim Tae-sang swallowed his emotions and called out.
“Son.”
“….”
“Lim Doo-ho!”
“Yes??”
Lim Doo-ho looked startled, and Lim Tae-sang grasped his trembling hands as he spoke.
“You don’t need to strain yourself trying to meet people’s expectations.”
The sudden advice caught Doo-ho off guard.
“What do you mean…?”
“It’s not my place to say this, a father who’s given you nothing, but I hope you’ll live for yourself, for your own sake.”
At Father’s abrupt words, the entire family exchanged glances.
Doo-ho’s gaze turned toward Father.
‘Is he still bothered by what happened back then?’
My nose tingled unexpectedly.
To hide the rising lump in my throat, I took a large bite of the sweet potato in my hand.
“Ow, it’s hot!”
At my unexpected clumsiness, the family couldn’t help but laugh.
Heh…
“Be careful, will you.”
Lim Tae-sang smiled faintly and slid a bowl of dongchimi in front of me. I accepted the cool, refreshing dongchimi broth and smiled.
‘I need to make sure to ease his heart during this trip.’
To show him it’s alright now.
No…
That I’m happier than ever.
After the laughter subsided and an awkward silence began to settle, my younger brother Doo-bin interjected tactfully.
“Oh, right! Hyung!”
My younger brother Doo-bin jumped in with perfect timing.
“I got so much attention from the kids at school today.”
“About going to Chiko Island?”
“Yeah. They said the water park there stays warm even in winter, and they were all so jealous. So what did I tell them?”
“What did you say?”
“That I’d send them videos, so they should die of envy. Hehe.”
“You’re a devil?”
“Yep, I’m an atheist.”
My younger sister Doo-na, who had been munching on sweet potato beside him, chimed in.
“Oppa! The kids said you have to go to the Night Market too!”
“The Night Market?”
My brow twitched.
I remembered Isto’s boastful claim about sweeping up everything profitable.
Doo-na, unaware of this, sparkled with excitement.
“Yeah! The Night Market wall is all glass, so it’s supposed to be amazing.”
Doo-na mimicked swimming motions.
“The kids said that at night, fish are drawn to the lights, and it’s really beautiful then.”
My eyes widened, my mouth fell open.
“I absolutely have to see that.”
Watching his younger sister’s expression brim with anticipation, Lim Doo-ho realized he was being far too sensitive about this.
‘Right, it’s a family trip. Let’s think positively. Good vibes, relax~.’
But in that very moment.
-Your ordered package has arrived.
A mechanical voice emanated from the drone port speaker in the direction of the Living Room balcony.
Whirrrrr—. Click.
“I’ll go get it.”
Patter patter patter.
Bom-i crossed the Living Room toward the balcony. Shortly after, she returned carrying a single box.
“Oppa, your package arrived.”
“Mine?”
Lim Doo-ho accepted the box with a puzzled expression.
‘I wasn’t expecting anything.’
Yet the shipping label clearly bore the name ‘Lim Doo-ho’.
Something felt off about this.
Hmm….
“I’ll leave it in my room.”
Lim Doo-ho carried the box up the split-level stairs. He set it down in his room and descended again when—
“Brother, your package.”
“…?”
Another delivery placed, and looking down from the stairs, this time Mother stood holding a box.
“…!”
A crease formed between Lim Doo-ho’s brows.
He’d finally realized who the actual owner of this package was!
As Lim Doo-ho climbed the stairs again with the box, his family’s warm voices drifted up behind him.
“Big brother must be really excited about this trip!”
“Right? How could he be so thrilled? Hehe.”
At Mother’s pleased agreement, Lim Doo-ho vehemently disagreed internally.
‘This isn’t even mine…!’
* * *
Lim Doo-ho entered his room with a reluctant expression.
But then.
The two delivery boxes he’d just placed there had vanished without a trace.
‘This little troublemaker.’
Lim Doo-ho raised and lowered one eyebrow.
He already knew the reason packages disappeared from his room.
He set down the third box in the center of the room and quietly leaned against the door.
Not long after.
Peek.
A round head suddenly popped out from thin air.
Isto carefully examined the box on the floor and cautiously extended his short arms.
He was just about to grab the box when—
“What are you doing?”
Lim Doo-ho’s low voice cut through the air.
Flinch!
Isto’s movements froze solid.
Slowly, Isto turned his head.
His gaze met Lim Doo-ho’s, who stood with arms crossed, looking down at him.
“….”
-….
Silence.
Isto’s LED eyes trembled with apparent panic, then shifted into a seagull shape.
-Ehehe~.
He released an endearing laugh.
* * *
Lim Doo-ho grabbed Isto by the head and stepped into the Garage.
When only his head was poking out, I hadn’t noticed. But now that I was inside, Isto was wearing a children’s hoodie and baggy pants.
“What is this?”
-Doesn’t it look convincing?
And with that, Isto pulled the hood down over his head.
He looked exactly like an elementary school student wearing an LED mask. Just as Lim Doo-ho was about to let out a hollow laugh—
-Welcome, Mecromancer.
Hawkeye, who was sitting at the workbench, turned and greeted him.
Lim Doo-ho found himself at a loss for words again.
Hawkeye was similarly dressed in loose, casual clothing.
Picturing the tiny Isto and the lanky Hawkeye standing side by side, they looked exactly like an elementary school student and a tall guardian.
A thought crossed Lim Doo-ho’s mind.
‘With so many kids doing robot cosplay anyway, wouldn’t they just slip through without any issues?’
No, that couldn’t be right.
Chiko Island required a passport.
So I’d have to stop them—
Wait.
Then an ominous feeling crept into Lim Doo-ho’s eyes.
Zing, zing-zing.
Hawkeye was bent over the workbench, carefully adjusting a scope with minute precision while working.
Beneath it lay a cheap smartwatch.
A chill ran down my spine.
“…What are you doing now?”
-Yes. I was modifying the smartwatch so it would be recognized as a fake passport and ID.
The modification was already complete—a smartwatch sat snugly on Isto’s wrist.
I grabbed my head with both hands.
Damn it!
“What are you thinking?! What if we get caught?!”
-If danger arises, Mechromancer can simply summon us to the Garage.
Hawkeye’s calm response prompted Isto to chime in.
-A perfect escape plan! Hehehehe~.
Shameless logic without a shred of hesitation.
“This is the Garage… or a criminal’s den?!”
Their autonomy, rolling and tumbling of their own accord, growing like snowballs.
Good grief…
‘What am I going to do with these snowballs!’
I exhaled in exasperation.
A glance.
They froze in place.
Perhaps that was why.
Suddenly, a pang of sympathy washed over me.
Come to think of it.
Except for Bom-i and myself, these two had to remain confined to the Garage.
They must have been scheming their own way to sightsee after hearing about the Chiko Island trip.
Maybe a little sightseeing wouldn’t hurt…
“Be careful out there. Contact me if anything goes wrong.”
Ooooooh! Kyioooot!!
They were overjoyed at the permission.
I was turning away, my lips smacking with guilt, when it happened.
Lim Doo-ho!
-This shop at the Chiko Island Night Market is absolutely hot right now!
Isto manipulated his smartwatch, projecting a hologram of the Chiko Island Night Market’s layout.
-Look here.
“What is this?”
-Someone bought an item worth 100 million coins for just 400,000 coins!
“…”
-Shouldn’t we try to find a genuine item there ourselves!
Not mere sightseeing, but an ambitious(?) plan to hunt for authentic items buried in a heap of garbage.
I abandoned the sympathy I’d felt moments before and gripped the back of my neck tightly.
You cunning bastards!
“That’s a typical dark web scam ad!”
-Huh?!
At my words, Hawkeye, who had just finished modifying the smartwatch, trembled.
I should have known!
-Humans are fundamentally different from robots—they’re contemptible creatures bound together by lies!
‘…I’m human too.’
Whether Doo-ho objected internally or not, Isto confidently placed something onto his open palm.
-Don’t worry about being scammed! We have the perfect item detector!
Ta-da!
On Isto’s palm sat a green frog—Bom-i.
Croak croak—.
Bom-i puffed out his chin in protest.
-Calling a fellow Super Intelligence a detector? That iron-headed guy seems to have serious issues upstairs, ribbit!
Only then did Doo-ho learn for the first time that Bom-i possessed item appraisal abilities.
‘They’re really sharing information among themselves and causing a ruckus.’
Then, observing their clothes and smartwatches, he tilted his head. Wait a moment.
“Where did you get the money for shipping and buying smartwatches?”
-Ah, you mean that?
When Isto turned the laptop around to show him, it displayed a familiar logo.
-The Ghost Shop’s merchandise is selling quite well.
“You mean the Ghost logo from before?”
-Exactly! Now we’ve released t-shirts, hats, bracelets, and even limited-edition figures with the Ghost logo!
“How much did you make?”
-We’ve accumulated 11 million coins. Ahem!
Doo-ho’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t fathom why people would buy such things.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye silently averted his gaze to the corner.
It turned out he had eagerly designed a logo himself.
Namely, the Robot Liberation Group.
It was a design he’d put considerable effort into….
Yet it had zero engagement.
In short, he was broke.
Not all Super Intelligences were equally capable, it seemed.
Observing the pitiful Hawkeye, Doo-ho asked.
“So Isto gave it to you?”
-I lent it to him, ribbit.
Doo-ho’s gaze shifted to Bom-i.
What about you?
“Where did you get money?”
-I borrowed 500,000 coins from the iron-headed guy and created a virtual identity first, ribbit.
Hearing the familiar story, Isto’s eyes darted away when Bom-i glanced at him.
Bom-i continued.
-With the remaining coins, I started coding and selling taste data at the taste shop where the digital entities go, ribbit.
Taste data?
“You know how to do something like that?”
-Master, judging by appearances is a bad habit, ribbit.
“Sorry. So what flavor are you selling?”
-It’s Pangpang, croak.
Bom-i spoke to Lim Doo-ho, who tilted his head in confusion.
-Data registration fee is 50,000, selling price is 1 coin, croak.
An absurdly cheap amount.
I couldn’t believe she’d saved enough from that to buy Hawkeye clothes and a watch.
I had thought Bom-i was really kind….
-Current revenue has surpassed 3 million coins, croak.
Lim Doo-ho’s legs nearly buckled.
‘3 million coins from selling at 1 coin each??’
Then the name that Ham Bong-sik had praised so highly flashed through Lim Doo-ho’s mind.
“Pangpang?”
-Pangpang, croak.
Ha….
‘That’s… Bom-i’s creation?’
Bom-i spoke with an arrogant posture, her words laden with meaning.
Master.
-After all, that place is nothing but an electromagnetic space made of code, croak.
“…!”
-Such crude code is child’s play, croak.
The shock was so overwhelming that Lim Doo-ho felt drained of all energy.
What kind of world had these beings come from?
But here’s the thing.
“With all this free time, you’re getting too many idle ideas.”
-Huh?
So here’s what I’m thinking.
“Let’s head down from Abyss Layer 4 early tomorrow morning and explore deeper.”
You two need to dial back your power before the trip.
It was Lim Doo-ho’s bombshell declaration.
Became a Mecromancer
Author |
Keongang E
Publication Date |
February 25, 2026
Publisher |
Talesyx
Website |
https://talesyx.com
Email |
[email protected]
ⓒ Keongang e, 2026
This publication is protected under copyright law and may not be reproduced or duplicated without authorization.
UCI｜
G720:N+A277-20260210015.0064

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————