Ch.18Newly Born Disaster?

“Shinwoo! I mean, since you’ve graduated now, should I call you Mr. Shinwoo? Anyway, good job!”

“Yes. Good work to you too, Team Leader.”

A month has passed since my kaijufication in Myeong-dong.

During that time, I graduated from school, successfully became a Hunter Meister, and now I was working as a proper member of a workshop.

A Meister who quietly repairs equipment used by Hunters.

…That was the ordinary craftsman’s life I had envisioned.

But.

“Shinwoo! Good work.”

“Mr. Shinwoo. Your girlfriend… no, your little sister is here.”

“Hehe. What a wonderful time~”

“This is the most fun part.”

I never dreamed it would turn out like this.

It was right after I had reversed my kaijufication and met Sophia.

“Waaaaaaaaah! I’m so sorry! I was wrong about everything! I can’t live without you! I’m sorry for calling you a liar!”

“S-Sophia. I’m fine, really…”

“Huuuuuung! Hueeeeeng!”

Thinking she had almost lost me, Sophia immediately bowed her head when she saw me.

That’s not a figure of speech—she literally bowed down to me first, turning the ground beneath her feet into a sea of tears.

Thanks to that, our reconciliation ended remarkably quickly.

After that, well.

When Sophia returned home, she apologized to Uncle Seokgyu and Aunt Rolling, saying she was sorry.

And naturally, thanks to my parents accepting her apology, we were all able to sit around the dinner table together for the first time in two years.

A true happy ending.

I had planned to live quietly as an extra, keeping a low profile as a human, and only standing out when I kaijufied during major incidents.

But as soon as I became an official employee of the Hunter Association and started working as equipment manufacturer…

“Let’s eat lunch together!”

Somehow, I had become Sophia’s exclusive Meister, mostly handling only her equipment.

When work came in and I was warming up my hands, nine times out of ten it was Sophia’s large scythe.

And now I was even going out to the field, having cozy picnics on top of monster corpses that Sophia had killed… a normal(?) daily life.

“Mmm! Is it because this is a 10-meter class monster? The view from up here is great!”

“I have to agree!”

I wondered if it was okay for an extra like me to be openly hanging out with Sophia like this.

Though I was concerned, whenever I ate the lunch she packed for me—apparently she had studied cooking in America—I honestly wanted to stay like this forever.

It was just that delicious.

‘I should be meeting the main heroines soon… I really hope they’re all okay…’

As I chewed on a homemade chicken nugget, I recalled the nightmare of experiencing this world through a keyboard.

Though it seemed like I was living an ordinary life—working, eating, sleeping—I was actually always mentally preparing myself.

The main quest chapter 1 would be starting soon.

The “Riot Incident” where captured monsters would be simultaneously released from the research wing in the basement of the Hunter Association building.

There, I would meet one of the main heroines from the original work for the first time.

Lee Heejeong.

A researcher character who lives with her grandfather, her only surviving family member, after her parents died in the “Smiling Monster Incident” in Busan.

And at the same time…

“Hunter. Because you didn’t sacrifice yourself, my grandfather died. Couldn’t you have died instead?”

Well, with just a slight misstep, she was a crazy woman who would glare and stab the protagonist in the back.

‘In this world, the protagonist is… probably non-existent?’

When I was in the prologue, Ms. Cheran was acting alone.

In the original work, she moved as a pair with the protagonist who had joined as a new Hunter.

So I was only making an “assumption” that there was no protagonist in this world.

“Hmm…”

“…? Shinwoo, what’s wrong? Why are you suddenly sighing?”

As I was thinking, Sophia stared at me with sparkling eyes.

At times like this, I doubted whether she was really a Hunter who slaughtered monsters with a huge weapon like a scythe.

“Huh? No, I was just… wondering if Cheran has recovered safely.”

“……”

Why did she suddenly change?

Seeing the life drain from her eyes, I could conclude that Sophia was indeed a B-rank Hunter.

“Are you two… close?”

“Hmm? I don’t know. I might consider us close, but would she say the same?”

“You might consider…?”

“Yeah. Personally, I feel a connection with her.”

She was the only character in “Hunter’s Blood” who couldn’t be saved no matter what you did.

I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Yoo Cheran was safe.

That’s when it happened.

“Hah!”

Bang!

Suddenly, with a sound like air being sliced, Sophia’s fist passed right above my shoulder.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Did I really do something wrong today?

As I broke into a cold sweat, realizing that if I had tilted my head wrong, it would have been smashed…

“Why… why didn’t you dodge?!”

Why are you more scared than I am?!

Sophia’s expression was even more panicked than mine, looking like she might foam at the mouth any second.

“Well, I didn’t see it coming…?”

“Th-that can’t be right! You subdued me so easily back then…”

“Subdued you?”

“A month ago in Myeong-dong…”

“Wh-what are you talking about?!”

A month ago was when I kaijufied and first encountered Sophia.

I quickly closed my gaping mouth.

I thought it was just a passing suspicion, but it seemed she still suspected I was a humanoid monster.

‘I shouldn’t have patted her head back then…!’

The only fortunate thing was that I completely failed to respond to Sophia’s attack just now.

If I had managed to dodge that punch, I would have been caught red-handed.

‘Don’t tell me that’s why she’s been walking around in front of my room with a dog leash?’

Creepy.

Though Sophia was now tearfully apologizing to me again, I felt I couldn’t let my guard down.

I had a feeling I’d be tested again later.

***

Hunter Association Underground Research Wing.

The scale varied by country, but Korea’s research wing, being an advanced nation, was a place with considerable research capabilities even by global standards.

The purpose of the research wing was very simple.

To capture and study periodically appearing monsters to develop faster response and attack methods.

Additionally, most of the weapons and equipment used by Hunters were products that came from the Association’s research wing.

Other tasks included… well, individual research projects for researchers with spare time.

Anyway, being located in the basement of the Hunter Association building, which was said to withstand even a nuclear bomb, there was no safer place than this.

Yes, figuratively speaking, the safest place in the world.

Of course, this meant that the “outside” couldn’t touch the “inside.”

In other words, it was meaningless against slaughter occurring from within.

“Hiiik…! Hik!”

The test tubes displaying monster corpses were all broken, spilling green liquid.

On the floor of the research wing lay fellow researchers who had been chatting with her just yesterday.

The only human survivor still conscious in the blood-soaked research wing.

Lee Heejeong, one of the main heroines from the original work, was hiding under a desk, holding her breath.

“Wh-what should I do…? What should…?!”

How nice it would have been if this was the “Research Wing Riot Incident” from the original work, where captured monsters broke out of defective cages purchased through defense procurement corruption.

If that were the case, despite the momentary chaos, the Hunter Association lobby was right above the research wing.

The large number of Hunters there could have immediately responded and quickly resolved the issue.

But this… was different.

‘How did this happen…!’

Heejeong cautiously peeked out from under the desk.

Beyond the brutally murdered researchers and captured monster corpses.

She swallowed hard as she looked at the bottom of the large test tube in the center of the research wing, which had been the first to break.

A white girl connected by an “umbilical cord” to the headless, limp body of Cheonsa, Korea’s first National Disaster-Level monster.

No, let me correct that description.

A humanoid monster in the form of a white child was sitting there.

And that creature was the culprit behind this incident.

‘A corpse “giving birth”…! How is this possible?!’

It was just 10 minutes ago.

She had been checking the corpse of the monster Cheonsa as usual.

At first, she thought the liquid had entered its stomach, causing it to swell.

But then the corpse began to tremble, and eventually, the dead Cheonsa gave birth to a white offspring with an umbilical cord.

At that time, the entire research wing was in a state of chaotic exclamation.

Monster births were truly extremely rare phenomena.

Especially the offspring of a humanoid monster.

Unprecedented.

It could be a world-first discovery.

A truly supreme “specimen”!

“Is this female?”

“If it’s female… isn’t this a huge breakthrough?!”

“Once it grows a little, we can conduct breeding experiments to quickly increase their numbers.”

“Then let’s use this specimen for breeding purposes and call a Hunter to neutralize it.”

To quickly neutralize it—meaning remove its limbs—they drained all the liquid from the test tube, thinking it was just an offspring.

They called a quick-handed D-rank Hunter from the first-floor lobby.

And that’s when the incident unfolded rapidly.

Just an offspring.

A monster that had just been born.

It casually caught the slash of the D-rank Hunter who had drawn his dagger to cut its wrist, then snapped the Hunter’s neck, killing him.

Then it began to gnaw on the killed Hunter’s corpse with its teeth.

Its body immediately started growing from baby to childhood stage, and by some coincidence,

When monsters that had broken out of their cages attacked, the creature killed and devoured its own kind despite being a monster itself.

It was truly a monster in every sense.

‘Judging by its body size in human terms, would it be about 10? No, 11 years old?’

Even in this life-threatening moment, Heejeong, like a true researcher(?), didn’t stop writing notes in her notebook.

As she occasionally glanced at the creature eating in the middle of the monster corpses while cold sweat ran down her face, that’s when it happened.

Swoosh.

“Huh?!”

The young monster, who had been munching away, suddenly stood up.

It grabbed and tore off its own umbilical cord, and with monster corpses still stuck to it, the creature turned around.

“……”

Being a newborn, its eyes were still a faint gray.

Why was it suddenly acting like this?

Maybe it didn’t like the taste?

No, before that, even if it was a humanoid monster, it was still a monster—could monsters even taste things?

Despite the situation, her researcher’s curiosity was piqued when…

“This situation is a complete mess…”

“What? Are all the smarty-pants dead?”

“H-Hunters?!”

“Oh. One is still alive.”

Three Hunters began walking out of the elevator entrance that the young monster had been staring at.

They were all B-rank Hunters, recognized for their skills within the Association, and Heejeong was acquainted with them.

“We just need to take that thing down, right?”

“A humanoid monster… even if it’s a baby, they’ll promote us if we catch it, right?”

“Then let’s take it down quickly.”

With that, an ice crystal was embedded in the chest of the young monster who had been tilting its head.

“Kyahak?!”