Ch.19Friend or Foe?

It hurts.

It hurts, it hurts so much.

Why?

What did I do wrong?

I just fought back.

I sensed killing intent and reacted. Then as the victor, I devoured the defeated. That’s the natural order of things.

Are you trying to eat me too?

Then why don’t you just kill me quickly instead of stabbing, clawing, and wounding me?

“Haha. Even in human form, a baby is still a baby.”

“Let’s kill it quickly and go home.”

“Wait! Don’t kill it! It’s a valuable test subject!”

“…Then let’s just neutralize it. Whatever.”

It hurts.

Stop it.

I’m sorry.

“Ah, gah…”

It’s enough.

If you’ve won, just kill me and eat me quickly.

Why do you keep attacking only my arms and legs so persistently?

“Aah, ah…!”

It was incomprehensible behavior.

A throwing knife was lodged into the baby monster’s thigh as it began to falter.

“Gyaak?!”

Strength started draining from its legs.

Taking advantage of this opening, Hunters grabbed the creature from both sides and forced the baby monster to its knees on the floor.

“Are you okay?!”

It hurts.

It hurts so much.

The baby monster turned to look ahead with its trembling body.

A human… running toward it with a worried expression.

“Uah…ah..?”

Why does she look sad?

Why is she worried about me?

Born after its mother had already died, the baby had never experienced kindness from others.

So its heart swelled seeing Lee Heejeong worry about it, regardless of species.

But the light in its eyes lasted only a moment.

“Phew. Fortunately, the reproductive organs seem intact.”

“Come on, we have our priorities. That’s why we deliberately targeted only the limbs.”

“Aren’t you underestimating B-rank Hunters?”

The human who had knelt down to the same eye level was only examining its lower body, not even making eye contact.

An inexplicable feeling of disgust arose.

For the first time in its life, it had trusted someone and been betrayed.

The young monster howled in anger, but…

“Aaaah! Aaah!”

“Oh my god?!”

“Whoa.”

“Stay still.”

It couldn’t break free from the hands holding it down.

That wasn’t all.

“Damn… you scared me!”

Whack!

Suddenly its vision shifted sideways and one cheek stung.

At the same time, looking forward again, it saw a human standing with one foot extended in the direction its head had turned.

The young monster realized it had been kicked.

It hung its head low.

Not only had it been betrayed by someone who had shown concern, but it had even suffered violence.

An indescribable, painful emotion welled up.

However, as if the real suffering was just beginning…

“Hold that monster right there.”

Lee Heejeong turned her back on the baby monster.

Giving instructions to the Hunters, she headed toward the center of the brutally hunted monster corpses.

“Let’s see… hmm, this one died relatively intact.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“What else? Extract genes, of course.”

Like the researcher she was, Lee Heejeong skillfully inserted a syringe into one of the dead monster’s bodies.

Then she successfully extracted genes that were still intact.

She walked back toward the young monster and spoke to the Hunters holding it.

“This monster killed almost all the samples in the research wing. So I need to restore things quickly.”

“Does that mean… you’re going to perform artificial insemination right here?”

“Yes. Monster genes can only survive outside a living body for about two hours. So we need to breed them right here.”

“But that beast-type monster and this baby monster are different species. Can they really breed?”

“They can. There’s a paper showing that humanoid monsters can breed with different species of monsters to create entities called ‘Chimeras.'”

Lee Heejeong knelt on one knee again to meet the young monster’s gaze.

As she raised the syringe in her hand, the young monster began thrashing instinctively from an inexplicable sense of dread.

“Ah, aaah…?! Aaaah…!”

“Tsk. Hold it tightly. I’m going to inject this directly into its reproductive organs.”

“Yes.”

“If it keeps struggling, you can cut off its arms, legs… or gouge out its eyes completely.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes. We’re only using it for breeding anyway, so as long as its reproductive organs are intact, it doesn’t matter what else we damage.”

The young monster felt extreme terror at its helplessness, unable to do anything no matter how much it screamed.

It was so scared.

So scared that it soiled itself for the first time since birth.

“Hmm. Not just the reproductive organs, but the excretory system is similar to humans too? I’ll need to dissect it separately later.”

“Aaaah…! Aaaaaaah!!”

I’m scared.

Save me.

Stop it.

Why are you doing this to me?

Its teeth chattered. Hot liquid flowed from its eyes. As the syringe approached below its navel, the baby monster thrashed its body desperately.

“Ugh…!”

“This thing!”

“Hold it properly! How can you men be so weak against a baby?!”

Then.

“Kyaak?!”

Tilting its body sharply to one side, instead of having its arm broken at an impossible angle, the baby monster managed to throw one of the Hunters holding it and break free from restraint.

At the same time, Lee Heejeong, who collided with the flying Hunter and fell to the floor…

Crash!

“Huh? Oh no?”

She despaired at the realization that she had broken the syringe containing the remaining monster sample.

“T-this…! In that case! Quickly neutralize it so this never happens again!”

While helping up the Hunter who had fallen with her, she gave orders to the other Hunters around.

“Just cut the tendons in its arms and legs, right?”

“You can cut them off completely! Just don’t kill it! Make it a cripple so this never happens again!”

“Let’s finish what we started then.”

One arm hung limply due to a dislocated bone.

As the three Hunters in front closed the distance, the baby monster retreated slowly, already frightened.

When its back hit the wall, it began to shed “tears” again out of fear.

“Uaaa…! Aaa, g-guu…!”

No fellow creatures to protect it.

No parents.

Insufficient strength.

Nothing it could do.

“Stay still. It’ll be over quickly~.”

Humans with various weapons eyeing its limbs.

There was no way it could win with just one arm.

Instinct whispered that if it submitted now, it would suffer something worse than death.

Just before the end, in that déjà vu that all living beings experience…

The baby monster…

…no.

More precisely, from fragments of memory connected through genes, the baby monster could see.

A way to overcome this crisis.

The perfect strike that had finished off its parent, lacking nothing.

“G-ggg…”

“…?”

“Kyo-ku… shin… kara-te…”

“…What.”

“The monster can speak?!”

The frontal stance seen in its parent’s memory.

It brought its feet together pointing inward, slightly bending its knees.

Then, with just the right amount of force—neither too strong nor too weak—feeling as if striking the space itself rather than the opponent, it pulled its shoulder back and extended its fist.

“Seiken, tsuki.”

Boom!

It was crude compared to the real technique seen in its parent’s memory.

But it seemed sufficient for now.

“Guhp?!”

“Hieek?!”

Even though it barely made contact, the Hunter directly in front of the baby monster felt his abdominal muscles ripple before flying backward, spitting blood.

The Hunters on either side were also thrown in opposite directions as if blown by wind, crashing to the floor.

Lee Heejeong, who had been watching the scene, collapsed to the ground in terror.

It was the moment when the dim gray eyes regained their brilliant ruby-like luster.

“I… won…!”

Afterward, the baby monster no longer cared about them.

It just wanted to live.

Just then, noticing the research wing’s ventilation cover that had fallen off due to the pressure wave, it quickly entered the hole and before disappearing…

Its parent who had given birth to it.

“Mo-ther…”

It glanced back at its parent, whose body remained without a head.

“Good-bye.”

With those parting words, it vanished from the research wing.

***

It was when I returned to the Association branch after finishing my monster cleanup job.

“Why is the atmosphere like this…?”

“I know, right?”

The Association lobby was bustling as if today was doomsday.

Sophia and I looked at each other blankly, tilting our heads.

Just then.

“Hunter Sophia! Is that you?!”

Someone rushed toward us urgently.

It was one of the staff who usually worked in the lobby.

“Something terrible has happened!”

“Something terrible?”

“Yes! Hunters ranked C-class and above have already received a brief briefing in the 6th floor operations room and been dispatched to the scene!”

“All C-class and above? What exactly happened?”

“Well, that…”

The staff member was speaking freely but then glanced at me and abruptly closed his mouth.

Clearly this wasn’t something I was supposed to hear.

So I decided to tactfully excuse myself.

“Sophia. I’ll head home first. Let’s meet up later.”

“…Okay. I’ll see you in the evening.”

“Sure.”

As I moved away from Sophia, the staff member apologized to her with a regretful expression and accompanied her into the elevator.

He was probably going to escort her to the operations room on the 6th floor.

So I pretended to leave but immediately ran to the stairs and rushed up to the 5th floor.

‘This definitely isn’t following the original storyline!’

Catching my breath after reaching the 5th floor, I immediately entered the bathroom.

Then, after thoroughly checking that no one else was in the bathroom and confirming I was completely alone…

Since the operations room on the 6th floor was directly above the 5th floor bathroom.

To “eavesdrop,” I needed exceptional hearing.

“Uooooooo…”

Keeping it quiet since this was a public place.

I let out a small roar, emitting black lightning from my body. And transformed into the monster Urogal, clad in pitch-black armor.

Then I went straight into a toilet stall, locked the door, and began listening upward.