Chapter 17 – Prove It

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As always, I was lying on the sofa, fiddling with my phone, searching for information about Shining White, when Narae let out a sigh and spoke.

“Mina? I know it’s not really my place to say this, but… isn’t it a bit much to just laze around all week doing nothing?”

I put my phone aside and clenched my fist while staring at Narae, but by now, she must have grown used to it because she didn’t seem scared at all.

“You’re not even going to hit me for real. I mean, even if you’re involved with Zodiac, you’re still a person, right? Shouldn’t you at least go outside once in a while? You make me buy your food, your snacks—what am I, your maid?!”

I had been making her run errands for even the most trivial things, and it seemed she had finally had enough.

“You’re not a maid. You’re tied to me by fate, so if anything, you’re closer to a servant or a slave.”

“Can’t you let me win just once?!”

She seemed desperate to win an argument at least once, yelling in frustration—so much so that the neighbors might—

Oh, right. There were no neighbors. Including the three floors above and below us, we were the only ones here.

Go ahead and scream all you want. If it helps relieve your stress, I don’t mind.

But I’m not letting you win.

“No way. You want me to lose to someone weaker than me? That’s ridiculous. Even if the world turns upside down, that’s never going to happen. Keep dreaming. And for the record, I’m not just goofing around. I’m gathering information.”

Someone might say the same about what I did to Suhyeok, but I didn’t lose to him—I let him off the hook. That doesn’t count.

Besides, I achieved my goal of handing over the kid, so technically, I won.

“Yeah, right. I literally saw you grinning like an idiot…”

“I was just watching some silly cat videos to take a break from work. What’s wrong with that?”

In reality, I was just doing a little trolling in online communities under different IPs.

It’s always fun to start a fight over magical girls. Who’s stronger? Who makes the best wife? Just light the fire, and they’ll go at it like rabid dogs.

Even the moderators, who are supposed to mediate, get swept up and start abusing their authority—it’s a sight to behold.

Narae looked like she wanted to say something but ultimately sighed and asked if I had actually found anything useful.

“If you’ve been staring at your phone for a week, you must have learned something, right?”

Hmm.

Not really.

It’s not like I didn’t do my research. I took breaks here and there, sure, but I was serious about gathering intel.

I looked into Shining White’s past records, news articles about her defeating monsters—even combat footage of her fights, though I had no idea how they were recorded.

I saw it all, but nothing triggered any memories.

All I could think was, Damn, she’s really good at fighting. And, Why on earth would someone this flawless side with Zodiac?

What could she possibly have been lacking? With her abilities, she didn’t need to rely on the power of monsters—she could’ve handled almost anything on her own.

My curiosity grew, but I didn’t actually learn anything.

Still, admitting that outright would be too embarrassing. I decided to spin it as if I had at least found something.

“Well, for example, my Principle.”

“Huh? You remembered your Principle?”

Narae seemed genuinely surprised and asked if it was true.

“Not exactly, but I realized that I don’t need to remember it. I mean, I’ve been doing just fine without it, right? So I’ll just keep living like this.”

It might sound irresponsible—like I was just avoiding the issue—but I was serious.

For a High-Class Monster, their Principle was, to put it elegantly, their Raison d’être.

In other words, the reason for their existence.

Or, to put it bluntly, the shackle around their neck.

It’s hard to explain simply, but… if I had to simplify it—

It’s a restriction you place on yourself, but also a path you must follow no matter what.

To wield Starlight, you need an immense amount of willpower, and for someone with the sheer amount of Starlight that a High-Class Monster has, that willpower must be absolute.

That’s why we create a purpose heavier than life itself—to solidify our resolve.

And once a Principle is established, it becomes more important than life.

Breaking it, even for a moment, weakens our will—causing our vast Starlight to go out of control, turning us from Monsters into Beasts.

For a Monster, becoming a Beast is as good as death. There’s no turning back from that.

And when that happens, all we do is spread destruction and death.

For my sake, and for the sake of the world, it’s better for me to stay exactly as I am.

I don’t know what my Principle is, but I’ve been following it just fine so far. Rather than poke at something dangerous and risk turning into a Beast, I’d rather keep living like this.

Narae gave me a look of utter exhaustion, then went back to staring at her laptop, deciding to mind her own business.

That’s right. Know your place. If you try to challenge me again, I’ll crush you with logic.

As I chuckled to myself, I checked the time and sprang up from the sofa.

It was about time to meet Suhyeok. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to get some fresh air for once.

“…You’re a little late.”

When I arrived at the barely functional Mengkuang Errand Center, Suhyeok greeted me like he had been expecting me.

“Ran into some pests on the way. Had to deal with them.”

I guess my little massacre last week loosened the grip of the big predators, letting the small fries run wild.

“I see. We’ll have to pay more attention to cleaning up the area.”

But Suhyeok’s reaction was rather interesting.

Wait… Did he just worry about me? The thought of teasing him made the corners of my mouth and eyes curve slightly.

There’s no way I’d let this slide.

“Hmmm~? Just now, was that you worrying about me~? You were ready to kill me when we first met, and now this? Hmm? Hm~?”

I leaned in with an obviously playful expression, and Suhyeok avoided my gaze, hurriedly making excuses.

“If the client has trouble getting here, how can we take on any requests?”

So dishonest. I knew it was because he was worried.

But even that excuse was acceptable. If he had said he was just trying to score points for some kind of “family test,” I would have been really disappointed.

“Oh, is that so~? Alright, I’ll believe you. Anyway, what happened with the request?”

If I kept teasing him, he might end up hating me, so I changed the subject to the request.

“The request, huh. Sorry, but I wasn’t able to kill the lackeys as you wanted.”

Well, considering the Rabbit’s Foot’s standards, even their grunts were strong. It wasn’t surprising that he couldn’t kill them.

Not that I ever expected him to, anyway. If I’m being honest, I only gave him that task hoping he’d pick a fight with those enhanced fighters and get a harsh reality check.

Failing was the obvious outc—

“But instead, I found out their branch location. That’s more valuable than killing a few lackeys, right?”

…Wait a second.

“What did you say? The branch location? How?!”

Sensing there were major gaps in the story, I demanded a detailed explanation, and Suhyeok recounted what had happened.

Apparently, the gang I had wiped out had received the branch’s location directly from Rabbit’s Foot.

Though a mysterious figure had appeared and slaughtered everyone except for one survivor, Suhyeok was still able to learn the location thanks to that one boy being left alive.

He then attempted to take out the low-ranking members at the branch, as per my request, but even they were too strong, forcing him to retreat.

…Damn, so he actually fought them. I wasn’t expecting that at all. This is a real surprise.

Then, Suhyeok brought up the mysterious figure he encountered.

“I couldn’t figure out who that person was, but… I think they were with Rabbit’s Foot. Maybe they were sent to silence those who didn’t align with them. Oh, and that figure looked strangely like you. Does that ring any bells?”

I had barely suppressed my laughter at Suhyeok’s ridiculous guess when a cold chill ran down my spine.

…Looked like me?

I thought my monstrous and human forms were completely different?

In my monstrous form, my reflection never appeared in mirrors, so I had no way of knowing.

Narae never said anything either, so I assumed they were different. If I had known this would happen, I should have taken a selfie in my monstrous form to check!

As I broke into a nervous sweat, I stalled for time, desperately scrambling for a convincing excuse.

What do I say? Just calling it a coincidence sounds fishy. But if I lie poorly, he’ll catch on. What do I do, what do I do…

After pushing my brain to its limit, I finally came up with something plausible.

“…How much did they look like me?”

“The hair color, eye color… Aside from a few physical traits, not much. They had horns, wings, and a tail that you don’t have. But still, there were too many similarities to dismiss as pure coincidence.”

Suhyeok’s tone was hard to read—was he suspecting me, or just stating the facts?

…Lying to him keeps getting harder. With that thought, I finally spoke up with my improvised excuse.

“Haha, my dear mother. I wondered what she was plotting by siding with those bastards… but I guess this is how it turned out.”

I let out a bitter laugh and muttered. Suhyeok immediately latched onto the word.

“…Mother?”

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you before? Rabbit’s Foot caused trouble in our backyard. The story’s a bit complicated… but if I told you that my mother was the reason, would you get it?”

I then proceeded to fabricate an entirely nonexistent family history for Suhyeok.

I spun a tale of how my “mother,” after losing her standing in the family due to some incident, sought revenge by allying with outside forces and stirring up chaos.

“The last time I saw her, she was leaving with those bastards. Looks like she finally crossed the line she shouldn’t have.”

Suhyeok studied me for a moment before speaking.

“…If this was the case, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

…Looks like he bought it. But now there’s another problem.

“Well, I didn’t want you to think my family was a mess. First impressions matter, you know?”

“You were the one demanding respect, saying we might become family someday.”

Hearing my own words thrown back at me was beyond annoying, but I had no rebuttal, so I shut my mouth.

“…It seems like we still lack trust in each other. That being said, I have a proposal.”

“And that is?”

I asked, feeling a bit uneasy. I had no clue what he was about to suggest.

“…Proof. I need proof that I can trust you. Specifically, I want proof that you’re a vampire.”

He wanted me to prove that I was a vampire.

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