Ch.14It’s Too Different From the Original

I had been momentarily dazed while looking at the fake heroine who would soon die.

“Everyone, please follow me.”

“W-what? The sewer?!”

Yoo Cheran opened the sewer lid and guided the group of survivors while speaking to them.

Everyone made disgusted expressions, but then…

“…! I see! If we move underground, we can avoid being spotted by those flying monsters.”

As the saying goes, ‘Even rolling in a manure field is better than dying.’

People who wanted to live began climbing down the ladder into the sewer one by one, despite how dirty it was, following Yoo Cheran’s directions.

“Brother, let’s go.”

“Oh, right.”

I also entered the sewer last, along with the little kid who had somehow woken up.

Once inside the sewer…

I hadn’t realized it when seeing sewers in movies or games, but watching sewage flowing right next to us made me feel sick.

However, there wasn’t even time to feel disgusted.

“I’ll take the lead, so please follow me.”

“Are we heading toward the large shelter?”

“Yes. If we go above ground, we’ll encounter that monster again, but underground we should be able to safely reach the entrance.”

“I see…”

When I played “Hunter’s Blood,” I always solved everything above ground, so I never thought there would be a method like this.

I learned a lot.

By the way, I never thought I’d see the original Yoo Cheran in person.

I was so fascinated that I kept looking at her, even though I knew it was rude.

‘A heroine I’ve only seen on a monitor is now real…! No, calm down! Stay calm!’

But perhaps she noticed my uncomfortable stare.

“Mr. Shinwoo. Could you come over here for a moment?”

“M-me…?”

When did she learn my name?

When Yoo Cheran, who was leading the way, beckoned me to come beside her, I quickly rushed to her side, feeling intimidated.

I wondered if I had been staring too intensely.

I was about to apologize to avoid any misunderstanding about visual harassment, when…

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Teacher Rolling.”

“…Pardon?”

“I hear you’re currently applying to become a Meister?”

“Yes…”

“Hunter Meister is a profession that has an inseparable symbiotic relationship with Hunters. So next time we meet in the field, I’ll make sure to greet you properly.”

“What? Oh, yes…”

What was this conversation about?

It was as if she knew me very well… No, before that, what caught my attention was that she called Rolling “Teacher.”

“Um, what exactly is your relationship with Ms. Rolling?”

“I’m her disciple.”

“Oh, disciple…”

Rolling had a disciple?

And that disciple is Yoo Cheran, the fake heroine who’s about to die?

In the original story, both of them were either dead from the start or died immediately. So I never imagined they would be connected in this kind of relationship.

I never expected this butterfly effect to reach me after saving Ms. Rolling, who should have died 10 years ago.

‘…Is that why she seems nicer than in the original?’

The original Yoo Cheran.

She was the protagonist’s senior Hunter who had lost her entire family in “The Smiling Monster Incident” 10 years ago—a typical traumatized character.

She was better compared to the heroines who would appear later, but that’s just saying she was better than them.

It means she wasn’t normal either.

Whenever she saw a monster, she would rush in without thinking and keep fighting until her bones broke or her flesh tore.

‘Thankfully, that madness from the original seems to be gone.’

Normally, when part of your body gets damaged during battle, you’d retreat or scream, but…

“This doesn’t hurt or itch at all.”

The scene where she used her severed arm as a weapon to smash a monster’s head after her arm was cut off.

Even thinking about it now, her insane judgment makes my spine shiver.

Then she disappeared without a trace in a scene where the prologue boss tore her body to pieces, leaving only her head, which the protagonist held in his arms.

“I saw you on CCTV while tracking the monster around Myeong-dong.”

“Oh… you saw me?”

“Yes. Despite being a civilian, you recklessly tried to save someone from a monster. Please don’t do that again. Life is precious.”

“Ah, yes…”

To think I’d hear such “sensible advice” from Yoo Cheran of all people.

She was clearly the old lady’s disciple, and somehow I felt proud.

“By the way, did you know about me? You seemed to recognize me before we entered the sewer…”

“What? Oh, that. That’s just… I’m such a Hunter fanboy. I have a habit of memorizing all the ‘promising Hunters.'”

“…! P-promising Hunter, you say…!”

It was when the group of survivors stopped, with Yoo Cheran at the lead, while walking through the sewer.

As a fan of the original work, I never imagined seeing her embarrassed expression.

Seeing her cover her mouth with one hand and blush slightly, I was smiling at the pleasant sight when…

“E-everyone! You can climb up here now.”

Yoo Cheran pointed to a ladder right next to us.

“Once you climb up, you’ll see the large shelter about a five-minute walk away.”

“F-five minutes walking distance! What if those flying monsters attack us again before we get there?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

People were terrified, finding even a five-minute walk burdensome.

To them, Yoo Cheran gave a reassuring smile that wasn’t in the original story and continued.

“Currently, there’s a Hunter team waiting above ground to escort you citizens.”

“…!”

“Hunters! Have they defeated all the monsters?”

“Yes. I just received a report that they’ve caught 7 out of 10 monsters. The remaining three can be easily handled by the D-rank Hunters up there, so you can climb up without worry.”

To think that Yoo Cheran would show such situational judgment ability while cooperating with other Hunters.

At this point, she seemed like a completely different person who just happened to have the same appearance and name.

“Then who would like to go up first?”

“Me, me! Damn it. I want to get out of this filthy place as soon as possible!”

In response to Yoo Cheran’s question, a woman with shopping bags hanging all over her body immediately climbed the ladder.

She muttered irritably and headed straight for the surface.

“Then I’ll go up next.”

“Yes. Oh, and Mr. Shinwoo.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to show your reckless behavior caught on CCTV today to my teacher later. Make sure you get scolded and reflect on it thoroughly.”

“R-really…?”

As I was about to climb the ladder, Yoo Cheran earnestly told me to receive some tough love.

Though I was sweating profusely, I had nothing to say and just nodded.

That’s when it happened.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”

We heard the scream of the shopping bag lady who had gone up first.

At that moment, the relieved expressions of the people in the sewer instantly crumbled.

Even Yoo Cheran’s smiling face showed bewilderment.

She immediately looked up, quickly climbed the ladder, and exited through the manhole cover.

I also climbed the ladder behind her, wondering what had happened.

And then I saw the scene.

The shopping bag lady sitting on the ground terrified, Yoo Cheran who had poked her head out of the manhole waving her hand at me as if telling me not to come.

At that moment, something rolled toward me beside my face.

When my eyes met it, I almost screamed like the shopping bag lady who had gone out first.

What stopped my gaping mouth was Yoo Cheran, who had quickly bent down and placed her palm over my lips.

“Shh. Stay calm.”

I nodded repeatedly.

“And… it’s better if you don’t look at that.”

After hearing those words, I slightly closed my eyes and turned my gaze away from the person who had just made eye contact with me.

…Or more precisely, from the already dead person with only a head remaining.

However, there was nowhere to look outside the manhole.

People wearing Hunter suits just like Yoo Cheran—presumably Hunters—had their headless corpses scattered everywhere, spraying blood all around.

“A-are they all dead…?”

The shopping bag lady looked at us, trembling all over her body.

“W-what, what’s going on…!”

Even Yoo Cheran just lowered her head, showing signs of considerable confusion.

That’s when I saw it.

“T-there…!”

“Eek?!”

“What is that…?”

It was a monster.

However, this monster wasn’t rampaging but sitting quietly with its back turned to us, staring intently at the large shelter where the evacuees were gathered.

With ‘two heads.’

Even sitting down, it had an enormously large body. I could guess it was a ‘giant’ that would be roughly 10 meters… no, 15 meters tall if it stood up.

Its purple skin was grotesquely rugged, and if my guess was correct, this thing was ‘dangerous.’

Why did this monster suddenly appear here?

I didn’t know the reason, but if this monster was the one I thought it was, this place needed someone with at least Ms. Rolling’s level of skill.

Above all, I needed to help Yoo Cheran escape first.

Because that thing was the culprit who killed Yoo Cheran in the prologue of the original work.

The monster that ate her alive and then spat out only her head to the protagonist.

“What on earth is that…”

“It’s an A-rank danger level monster, Twin-Head.”

“Twin-Head…? The one that’s supposedly only been sighted in countries like the US or Russia?”

“Yes, that’s correct. So for now, we should avoid…”

I was about to tell Yoo Cheran to take care of the shopping bag lady who couldn’t get her wits together first.

But at that moment.

*Whoosh*

“…!”

“Huh?!”

Twin-Head, the monster with two heads.

One of its human-sized heads turned around.

Then, with its single eye flashing, it was checking us out.