Ch.158Season 2 – Rescue Mission!

In the past, when all monsters escaped from the Gates and worshipped the strongest villain.

There was just one.

A “heretic” who, despite being a monster, stood on humanity’s side.

She was a mutant born with a human woman as her mother.

She could have become history’s worst disaster, but thanks to the appearance of the true worst, she became a hero—a humanoid monster.

Named after the first woman, her name was “Eve,” as I had once heard from Ms. Lee Jin-ah.

“How… how did you know Eve is imprisoned in this underground facility?”

“Well, I heard it from Ms. Lee Jin-ah.”

“You know Ms. Lee Jin-ah?!”

Chu Deukman looked utterly shocked at Jaewon, who seemed to know more about this place’s secrets than he did.

Though he was part of the rebellion, Chu Deukman was just a young man who had barely reached adulthood, and Ms. Lee Jin-ah had died about ten years ago.

They weren’t from the same generation, so he thought Jaewon wouldn’t know her. Do the rebels these days study about Ms. Lee Jin-ah from books?

Even so, knowing about Eve, the humanoid monster, made no sense.

Because Eve’s existence was considered top secret even among the human rebels at that time.

No matter how he looked at it, this young man didn’t appear to be a high-ranking rebel.

So how on earth did he know about Eve?

And moreover… did he call her “sister”?

“…?! C-Could it be?”

That’s when it hit him.

Who exactly was this young man standing before him?

As Chu Deukman pondered this question, memories from the past suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The rebel base’s strategy room.

Among the key human figures gathered there, including Lee Jin-ah, was a small boy.

A boy who received disapproving looks from the officers but followed Lee Jin-ah more devotedly than anyone else, almost like her son.

Later, when he found out the boy was Han Shinwoo’s child, he was truly shocked.

However, the boy worked harder than anyone else and seemed like a decent person somehow.

But who would have thought he’d grow up like this?

“I see… you were that boy who was always by Lee Jin-ah’s side back then.”

“You remember me? From when I was little?”

“Yes. Back then, you seemed quite prickly, but now you’ve grown quite mature. Is that the power of time?”

“Haha… rather than time, it’s because I’ve met many good people.”

In reality, time had nothing to do with it—until meeting his father from the past, he hadn’t been much different from his childhood self.

What Chu Deukman had thought was just a young captured rebel turned out to be Lee Jin-ah’s successor.

That’s how Chu Deukman already viewed Han Jaewon.

Perhaps because of this, the spirit of rebellion, which he thought had died out, began to burn again.

“…I’ll guide you!”

“Guide us? …If you just tell us the location, we can rescue her right away.”

“No, even then, the underground facilities are fortified. There will surely be many difficulties before reaching Eve.”

After a long time, Chu Deukman decided to step up and do something himself.

Although his body was already broken and completely detached from combat.

Because a person’s heart could be repaired no matter how broken it was.

With that resolve, Chu Deukman decided to move the next morning to reunite the two people who, despite being different species, had been like siblings back then.

***

“Is Eve really down here?”

“According to Chu Deukman, yes.”

“Oh! My future little sister? I want to see if she’s still as rude as ever!”

In a corner of the underground prison where human prisoners were kept, there was a small gap carved out.

It was an escape route—or rather, a path leading deeper underground—created by Chu Deukman and other motivated rebels in preparation for a possible situation.

“Shall we go down then?”

“Sure!”

“Let’s hurry.”

“W-Wait a minute!”

After asking his subordinates to keep watch, Chu Deukman was about to guide Jaewon to the path leading to Eve.

But what was this all about?

Of course, there was a case of a monster called Eve who sided with humans, but to think she was none other than Han Shinwoo’s child.

When he first saw Yurian and the past Lia, Chu Deukman had been dumbfounded, wondering if he was being deceived.

Though he eventually heard the whole story, he still couldn’t hide his awkwardness.

Honestly, even if he hadn’t recognized Jaewon, he would never have believed these two.

“I need to confirm one more time before we go down.”

“……”

“Ugh, how many times is this old man going to ask the same question?”

“This question can be asked as many times as needed! Besides, according to Jaewon, you’re Lia! The devil who slaughtered hundreds, thousands of our comrades!”

“No, like I said, I’m Lia from before all that happened! I haven’t done anything!”

“Ahem! Well, that may be true…”

Meanwhile, Kang Mirae was the most frustrated, watching them stall for tens of minutes right in front of the entrance.

“So, when are we actually going to leave?”

“””…!”””

It was only a matter of time before they’d be discovered if they freed Eve, the humanoid monster, but they should at least try to get there secretly.

With time being so precious, how could five people waste it like this?

Besides, Han Shinwoo had been captured by his daughter and there was no news of him since.

“By the way, Han Shinwoo couldn’t come?”

“Ah, we went to his room and…”

“They were playing card games! How unfair! I wanted to join too!”

“……”

Was it a good thing that they had captured the deputy warden?

…It seemed more like they were just slacking off, making the situation quite ironic.

“If these kids were going to betray us, they would have done it already!”

“…!”

As if saying “let’s hurry up,” Kang Mirae pushed Chu Deukman’s back and quickly entered the secret entrance.

“By the way, if we just follow this path, will we reach Eve?”

“Well… since we left it unfinished, there might be some blocked areas along the way.”

“What?”

“Wait, then why are we going this way?”

During the early establishment of the prison tower by the rebel forces.

The secret passage they had diligently created with spoons was stretched out like a small tunnel, just wide enough for one person to stand.

They were passing through it in single file.

The four people were shocked to learn that at the end of this path was not Eve but an unfinished tunnel.

“B-But we dug almost all the way there!”

“Almost all the way?”

“Yes. We’re only about 3 kilometers away from Eve’s prison!”

Was 3 kilometers really not that far?

This was the Korean Peninsula.

A land where digging just a little would reveal granite instead of soil—the most difficult place to build a subway.

And they were talking about 3 kilometers in such a place?

‘Wait, how did they even dig this far with just spoons?’

Normally, one might give up at this point.

But the humans gathered here.

Or the monsters.

Chu Deukman believed that the combined strength of the human-monster alliance could surely break through anything ahead.

“I still can’t be sure if you’re on humanity’s side!”

“…!”

“But! I at least believe in your strength. You can easily break through granite, right?”

Looking at the four people ahead, Lia, who was around the third in line, grabbed a piece of granite next to her, crushed it with her hand, and chewed it while speaking.

“Of course! This is like chewing gum for me!”

As they finally approached the end of the tunnel, the group began digging as instructed by Chu Deukman.

Even the solid granite was easily crumbled like pudding by the three who had already transcended human limits.

Riverine cut the granite into small pieces with her monster-like nails.

Behind her, Lia shattered it with her fists, while Jaewon used his summonable holy sword to shape the tunnel.

“A-Amazing… They’re carving out in seconds what took us decades of effort to dig…”

“By the way, won’t this be heard outside if we’re so obvious about it?”

“But there’s no other way!”

“That’s right. Eve is known as the only traitor among monsters, so this level of risk is necessary to rescue her!”

Riverine was particularly enthusiastic.

As she spent more time with her companions from the past, the different emotions she had learned there were guiding her in the right direction.

Finally, when the last granite wall was broken.

Weeeeeeeeee-!

“?!”

“Oh no!”

“We’ve been discovered, as expected.”

Sirens began blaring from all directions, suggesting they had noticed the missing prisoners.

“Right ahead! Eve is right ahead!”

As Han Jaewon’s group emerged from the forcibly dug tunnel and quickly arrived at a massive door that looked large enough for a giant to enter, intending to rescue Eve.

“Huh?”

“What?!”

They encountered people who should have been at the top of the prison tower.

Shinwoo, who had been taken away alone by the deputy warden, and Rio who had taken him.

“Rio?!”

“Father?”

“Jaewon and Yurian? Plus Lia and Kang Mirae… who’s that in the back?”

“Han Shinwoo? Is this really the Han Shinwoo I know? …Even though you were young, you look too gentle!”

While everyone was wondering why the others were there.

“We don’t have time!”

Rio, who had brought Shinwoo to this most important underground chamber of the prison tower, clearly told everyone present what needed to be done.

“Quickly, let’s go rescue Aunt Eve!”