Ch.137Season 2 – Have Some Faith in Your Little Brother…!

“A world where humans are nearly extinct.

In this apocalyptic world where even the remaining humans have become cannibalistic bandits, where do the humans who’ve maintained their sanity live?

The answer, as mentioned earlier, was underground.

“Originally, we tried to build a base in the sky.”

“You tried… does that mean you failed?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, in the Earth twenty years from now, monsters inhabit the planet like animals. The pterodactyls in the sky made it impossible to build an aerial fortress.”

“Does that mean the Gate phenomenon has disappeared from this world?!”

Jaewon led the way while explaining what had happened in the future.

One of those stories was about the aerial fortress he just mentioned.

“Gate? Oh, are you talking about those portals where monsters come from, Father?”

“Yes. In our original world, that’s how monsters appeared.”

“I haven’t seen any of those Gates. That’s because monsters just… exist. Like you can see them when you pass by. Look, just like now.”

Han Jaewon pointed upward as he spoke.

At the same time, something that initially looked like a small bird began circling around us.

“SCREEEECH!!”

It gradually transformed into a massive monster that could easily crush a human, plummeting toward the ground.

“It’s coming!”

“That’s… a B-rank flying monster, the Owl Hunter?”

“A B-rank monster just appears from the sky?! What kind of world is this?!”

“It’s about 5 meters in size! Fortunately, it’s known to act alone rather than in groups!”

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

We prepared to face the Owl Hunter that was diving down to target one of us.

Lady Kurumi had already summoned Inari, a fox monster, from the shadows, and Lia took a Kyokushin Karate stance.

I was ready to transform into a monster at any moment, while Jaewon drew the sword from his back, and Cheran also pulled out what appeared to be a divine nunchaku.

Only Sister Kang Mirae, who wasn’t a combat type, was crouching down.

And naturally, the Owl Hunter’s first prey was the nun who could only heal among all these strong fighters.

“Damn, it’s targeting Kang Mirae as expected!”

“Aaaah! S-save me!!”

Kang Mirae’s eyes met with those of the massive 5-meter owl.

Though it wasn’t sunset yet, when the creature spread its wings wide to descend, Mirae’s vision was instantly enveloped in darkness.

No matter how fast she ran, there was no way she could escape.

Realizing this, I immediately prepared to transform to save her.

But…

“Father! If you transform here, the future Shinwoo will immediately detect you!”

“What?!”

“Think about it! Future Shinwoo and you are currently connected! That’s why you grew stronger the more you fought! In normal state it might be fine, but if you transform, we’ll be exposed right away!”

“Tsk…!”

True, my transformation creates black lightning that pierces through clouds.

And since I’ve directly felt the energy of my future self, there’s no guarantee that my future self wouldn’t sense my energy too.

In other words…

“Aaaaaaah! Save meeeee!!”

‘That’ was a bit awkward for me to save.

I really wished someone would save her…

“Oppa! That bird monster is too fast! And too high!”

Lia was too short and not fast enough, so she was out.

If the monster was charging at Lia herself, it might be different, but for chasing, the matchup wasn’t good.

“I could take it down… but would it be okay if the Sister accidentally gets hit by my nunchaku?”

No way.

If that happened, the nun who could only heal would be instantly destroyed.

Cheran was out too, since she mainly used large-scale techniques.

“Should I transform and save her?”

“No… if you do that, my future self might sense your energy and come flying.”

“Hmm… that’s true…”

Jaewon was also an ambiguous choice, which left only Lady Kurumi.

But even then…

“Grrrr! Grrrr!”

BOOM!

“SCREEEECH!”

“GRRRR!”

“Aaaah! You crazy monsters! Don’t fight right in front of me!”

A 5-meter fox and a 5-meter owl were fighting like a cat and crow.

Meanwhile, Kang Mirae, who kept getting caught in the middle despite her protests, continued to scream and looked even more precarious than before.

“She’s going to get crushed at this rate.”

“Tsk! I should just transform and—!”

But at that moment…

While everyone was wondering what to do…

SLASH.

“SCREECH?!”

Someone cleanly leaped up and cut off the Owl Hunter’s neck with a single strike from an arm that had turned black.

It was none other than the girl who had been following us from behind all this time.

My daughter, Shina.

“I-I’m alive!”

“Are you okay…?”

“No, I’m not okay! If you were going to save me, you should have done it sooner! Just like her father, so slow!”

“What did you say, you bitch?”

“What did you call me?!”

“Both of you, please calm down…”

This crazy woman should at least say thank you after being helped.

And she calls herself a nun.

Her way of speaking is just out of this world.

Cheran managed to calm us down as we growled at each other.

Meanwhile, Jaewon, who had stopped drawing his sword, glared sharply at Shina who was still following us.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I told you before that we can’t let you into our resistance headquarters.”

“I know! Ugh, I know, but… Brother Leon told me to experience it anyway…”

Shina still refused to give up, even in this awkward situation.

Well, I also hoped she would follow us to the end.

Earlier, Leon had decided to stay in the time machine with his family and become my ally.

Meanwhile, he entrusted Shina to us, saying:

“I want Shina to see a broader world. If we end up killing your future self, we might face a situation where monsters and humans have to coexist anyway.”

“So you’re sending Shina to the underground rebel city where humans live?”

“Yes. Yurian, the unconscious Yujin, and I have all graduated from the monster academy. No matter how differently we try to view humans, we already have fixed prejudices. But Shina is just a freshman who recently entered the academy.”

Just as the world is always led by young and capable people.

Leon judged that while it might be difficult for them, the young Shina could surely see humans with different eyes.

That’s why he entrusted Shina to us.

Of course, Jaewon was showing a lot of hostility since she was my future child.

“Jaewon… can’t we make an exception just this once?”

“Father! But she is…”

“Of course, I know Shina is one of the children who followed my future self.”

“……”

“But before that, she’s also an abandoned child, just like you.”

“…!”

“Ah, Dad…!”

‘Dad’ instead of ‘Father.’

The fact that she could call me that so easily meant I had scored some points.

When Shina’s eyes met mine, she seemed startled again and whispered softly, “Your Majesty…”

However, I patted her head and smiled brightly.

“You can call me Dad if you want. And your brother is just acting like this because he’s never had a little sister before. Don’t worry too much.”

“…! Yes, I understand…”

“W-who’s whose brother?!”

“Hmm? According to the family tree, you’re her brother, not her younger brother, right?”

“No, I told you to remove me from that family tree!”

“If I remove you, then Sophia, your mother, would become a stranger too. Would that be okay?”

“Uh, well, that’s…!”

As expected of a mother otaku.

As soon as I mentioned Sophia, Jaewon’s mouth quickly shut.

It was uncomfortable as a father to hear him constantly asking to be removed from the family tree.

But discovering this weakness made me laugh heartily.

“I’ll take responsibility for Shina, so let’s just pretend she’s part of our group and enter together, okay?”

“Sigh… this really shouldn’t be happening…”

“Come on, don’t be like that. If you’re going to be a brother, you should trust your little sister first.”

“Um, excuse me…”

“Hmm?”

“I really won’t betray you! I have nowhere else to go anyway, and betraying you here would just leave me stranded…”

Shina had somehow stuck close to my side and was speaking in the most pitiful tone possible.

With her sparkling eyes, when Jaewon’s gaze met hers, he flinched.

“Sigh, just make sure to hide your origins no matter what. Otherwise, there will be serious trouble.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you! Brother Jaewon!”

“?! Uh, sure…”

It seemed Jaewon had finally accepted Shina.

“So how much longer do we have to walk?”

“Actually… we’ve already arrived at our destination.”

“Huh?”

“Here?”

“But there’s nothing around.”

“Do we have to dig into the ground ourselves?”

“We’re not that primitive!”

After hearing Jaewon say we had already arrived, we were surprised and searched the surroundings thoroughly.

This is the rebel base?

Then where is the entrance?

Under a rock?

Beneath a ruined building?

Or do we really have to dig with shovels as Lia suggested?

“Is it really here? I’m just going to start digging.”

Unable to understand, we finally raised our hands in surrender and were about to dig the ground.

But at that moment…

“W-who are you! Making such a commotion up here!!”

Suddenly, a figure appeared on top of a rock, trying to look threatening but stumbling over their words, making them look silly.

“Ah, Captain!”

“Huh?! Jaewon? Y-you finally came back! Thank goodness!!”

As soon as she discovered Jaewon had returned from the future, the woman pulled my son into her plump embrace.

But Captain?

What kind of future is this where ‘you’ could become a captain?

“D-Dorothy?!”

“Huh? …KYAAAAAAAH! H-Han Shinwoo! Han Shinwooooo!!”

I was shocked to see the future Dorothy, whom I remembered as the only useless character among the powerful Villain’s Troupe members.

The one who always just went “Hieeeek!” – I couldn’t close my mouth in surprise at seeing her.