Ch.22Secretly Decided to Raise It

Once we discovered the route through the map, the complex sewer system actually became an advantage for us.

If we had moved aboveground, they would have tracked us to the end, but underground, they couldn’t follow us easily.

By the time the Hunters checked which path we took, we had already passed through that section of the sewer.

After safely escaping from Yeongdeungpo, we finally arrived in front of my home.

“Phew…”

Yes, so far so good.

We both escaped safely, and all the Hunters who encountered us ended up with only minor(?) injuries.

Just avoiding capture was essentially a victory for us.

However, the real problem was just beginning.

“Grrrr…”

‘Is anyone home…?’

Thankfully, Mr. Lee Seokgyu, Ms. Rolling, and Sophia weren’t home.

If they had been, something terrible would have happened.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I quickly headed to my room on the second floor with the baby monster I had been carrying on my back.

So, problem solved now?

Not at all.

‘I need to undo my kaijufication…’

I was still in my monster form.

The baby monster seemed to be following me because I was a much stronger monster than it was.

This meant that in our hierarchical relationship, if I reverted to being Han Shinwoo the human, in the worst case, it might attack me again.

“Sigh…”

“…?”

I quietly looked down at the baby monster.

After taking a deep breath to fully prepare myself, I exhaled black smoke from my entire body and…

“…! You, changed?”

I returned to my original form.

As expected, the baby monster seemed surprised by the fact that I was human.

Now, how would it react?

I watched the baby monster carefully, ready to make a monstrous roar and transform again if necessary.

At that moment, it rushed toward me and buried its face near my navel.

‘Is it planning to rip out my intestines?!’

As I thought…

As I thought, a monster is just a monster after all.

It was stupid of me to have grown attached to it, even for a moment.

I was about to transform into a monster again to kill this little one.

But then.

“Don’t, go…”

“?!”

“I, don’t, care, if, you’re, human, or, monster. Please, don’t, abandon, me.”

Though its speech was awkward because it had just been born, I heard it clearly.

The baby monster, with its face pressed against my abs, carefully raised its head and looked at me with teary ruby eyes, pleading:

Please don’t abandon it.

It didn’t care about species; it just wanted to stay with me.

“…Hey, you. I’m human, don’t you feel anything?”

“Feel, what?”

“Yeah. Like wanting to kill me or eat me or something like that.”

It shook its head.

In response to my words, it shook its head and wrapped its arms tightly around my waist.

“Nothing, like, that.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. If, eating, humans, is, bad, I, won’t, eat, them, anymore.”

Is that something that can be stopped just by deciding not to do it?

According to the lore, monsters attacking humans was supposed to be a completely natural instinct.

But this baby monster right below me.

Did it have such an instinct?

‘Is it because it was just born and hasn’t developed instincts yet? Or is there another reason?’

For now, I didn’t sense any hostility. Rather, the more I looked at it, the more I felt an inexplicable sympathy.

Even as someone well-versed in this world’s lore, I couldn’t say anything with certainty in this situation.

But one thing was clear.

“…Alright, don’t attack humans and just be good. Then I won’t abandon you. Got it?”

“…! Yes!”

I could no longer bring myself to kill this little one that acted so human-like.

***

The Monster of Jamsil.

Ten years ago or now, whenever it appeared, the Hunter Association and military units were always busy.

As they say, when you’re famous, people will applaud even when you defecate. Was it because it was a National Disaster-Level monster that everything it did was given meaning?

Lee Seokgyu and Rolling, who had been summoned to the Monster Countermeasures Committee as the Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Director of the Korean Hunter Association respectively.

After finishing a completely useless discussion late into the evening about “why the Monster of Jamsil appeared in the second toilet stall on the right in the bathroom on the fifth floor of the Korean branch of the Hunter Association.”

“Who cares what a monster does…”

“I know, right…”

They arrived home in an extremely tired state.

At the door lock that opened with fingerprint recognition, they saw their daughter who, unlike them, looked equally exhausted from being in the field.

“Sophia, you’re home…?”

“Mom… Dad…”

“You look tired…”

“Yes… We couldn’t find either the baby monster that escaped from the research facility… or the Monster of Jamsil that appeared with it…”

“I see, good work… Let’s eat dinner together…”

“Okay…”

The three half-dead people trudged into the house.

Their bodies ached all over, and they were so tired that they felt like they would fall asleep the moment they lay down on their beds.

But still, the three family members endured.

Because the only time our busy family could gather together, including weekends, was now.

This dinner time was all they had.

This was especially rare—no, nonexistent—in a household with two Beast Hunters.

But the couple who overcame their aversion with sincere love. The daughter born from such a couple, and the adopted son who didn’t trigger any aversion at all.

The family was happiest when they gathered together for meals.

Especially for Mr. Lee Seokgyu and Sophia, who were Beast Hunters and felt drained whenever they went outside, this was their best time to rest.

Sophia in particular was finding mental peace just by looking at Shinwoo’s face as he ate…

From Sophia’s perspective, a National Disaster-Level incident suddenly occurred that evening.

“Shinwoo?”

“What are you doing standing there?”

Normally, Shinwoo would have helped set the table while Mom prepared the meal.

Of course, he had done everything up to putting out the rice bowls and serving the soup, just like usual.

But now it was time for the family to sit down together and eat.

Shinwoo was standing awkwardly, far from the dining table.

When the family asked what was wrong.

“Um… Auntie and Uncle. I’ll just eat in my room today.”

“…?”

“Huh?”

“?!!?!?!?!?!??!”

I heard Korea was no longer a drug-free country these days, but who gave him drugs?

This had never happened before.

Sophia was dumbfounded, following her parents’ reactions.

“W-why so suddenly…?”

Let’s at least hear the reason.

With that thought, Sophia asked.

But.

“Um… just because?”

What the hell?

Clearly, the way he avoided eye contact meant something was up, but he wouldn’t say what it was.

That made her even more anxious.

“Alright. Then just take your food and eat in your room.”

“D-Dad?”

Sophia made a face that suggested she didn’t know who to blame when her father unexpectedly gave permission right away.

“Thank you, Uncle.”

Eventually, Shinwoo really took his food…?

‘Did he always eat that much?’

Anyway, after piling his plate high with food, he really went straight up to the second floor.

With their adopted son gone, the cozy family dinner was ruined.

“Dad?! Why did you let him go!”

As soon as she confirmed that Shinwoo’s footsteps had disappeared, Sophia immediately scolded her father.

What was going on, why was he suddenly acting like this, and if he really wanted to eat alone, she wanted to go into his room and have a cozy meal for just the two of them!

Thanks to her dad who had so readily let Shinwoo go, Sophia was glaring with angry eyes.

But despite sweating at his daughter’s reaction, Lee Seokgyu continued to take his adopted son’s side.

Because as a man, there are certain phases you must go through!

‘At times like this, as long as it’s not illegal, it’s right to do as they ask.’

As a father who had gone through the same phase, he empathized.

In fact, during his time, there were kids who held rallies, threw Molotov cocktails, and fought to the death using their abilities against Hunters or soldiers, so this was mild in comparison.

Of course, he felt a little sad and worried that his son, who had been quiet even during puberty when everyone else was going through changes, had now entered this lone wolf phase.

“All men go through this phase~”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

Lee Seokgyu found himself nodding in agreement thanks to his wife taking his side.

As a result, Sophia quietly finished her meal, though she didn’t really understand.

‘I don’t care about that!’

As soon as she finished eating and entered her room on the second floor, despite having promised herself since childhood not to do such things out of respect for privacy.

Since it was Shinwoo(?) who had disturbed her first, she considered this self-defense and.

Swish-.

Sophia immediately pressed her ear against the wall connecting to Shinwoo’s room and began eavesdropping.

‘There’s definitely something going on! Definitely!’

Just this morning, they had been eating together on top of a monster’s corpse.

But by evening, he suddenly became awkward and avoided the dinner table?

There must be something.

Whatever it was, she was prepared to accept everything about the changed Shinwoo.

So what was it…

What exactly had come between them!

As she pressed her ear against the wall so persistently that it left a slight dent.

“Deli… ous?”

“Yes…! De…ious!”

The well-built detached house with no structural flaws made perfect eavesdropping impossible.

But she could faintly hear Shinwoo’s voice and also… a female voice?!

‘No way… is there someone else in Shinwoo’s room right now?!’

A man and woman cozily eating in one room.

What vulgar behavior was this?

No, before that, Han Shinwoo, this bastard, was secretly eating with another woman while leaving me behind?

“I was going to wait until you confessed yourself, but…”

Her whole body trembled with a chill she had never felt before, even when facing monsters.

She had no idea that having what she thought was rightfully hers taken by someone else could feel this bad. A wave of disgust worse than being squeezed in a crowd of people washed over her.

At the same time, she was furious.

So, forgetting about waiting, she left her room to make him deeply feel her presence tonight, flinging the door open.

“…Wait, but is he really with a woman?”

Quickly regaining her composure like the professional Hunter she was, Sophia went back into her room and pressed her ear against the wall again.

She could still hear what sounded like conversation, but it could also be some trendy internet meeting or something.

Of course, that kind of meeting wasn’t acceptable either.

Anyway, the fact that ‘Shinwoo’ was meeting a ‘woman’ in some form was confirmed.

‘I’ll have to search his room as soon as he wakes up tomorrow morning.’

If she barged in recklessly now, she would be revealing that she had been eavesdropping.

She didn’t want to remain in Shinwoo’s memory as that kind of woman.

Crack.

While Shinwoo was feeding the baby monster in his room.

Sophia decided to stay awake all night, in case there really were two people in there who might do something in the early hours of the morning.