Ch.28How About We Call It a Draw? (Interlude)

Lee Jin-ah and Sir Lancelot ran until they were out of sight.

Only then did I release my kaijufication and return to human form, starting to search for the baby monster.

“Hey! Where are you!”

I thought it would be fine since we only fought within the intersection.

But fighting in the middle of the city rather than over the sea meant that even with maximum caution, the impact of two National Disaster-Level beings colliding exceeded my imagination.

The empty landscape of Gangnam was as desolate as a ghost town.

Even high-rise buildings far beyond the intersection had all their windows shattered and were tilting precariously, and I could see the asphalt road split all the way to the horizon.

‘I didn’t even notice while we were fighting…’

It seems I made the right decision by not fighting properly from the start.

If I had immediately unleashed Kyokushin Karate repeatedly, I might have turned not only the baby monster who hadn’t yet escaped Gangnam, but also ordinary citizens sheltering in building basements into pancakes.

“But where on earth did that kid go…?”

I was currently heading to none other than my home.

I figured there was nowhere else the escaped baby monster would return to.

My home was the only safe haven for that child… at least that’s what I thought.

But was I wrong?

“…! My house…”

The baby monster wasn’t at home.

No, before that, my house was gone.

When I arrived at the detached house, I was dumbfounded.

When I first escaped, only the roof of my room had been broken through, but now I saw nothing but ruins completely collapsed without a trace.

And that was my house.

“S-Sophia?”

After a moment of blankness, I immediately started searching for Sophia who had fought here.

Though unlikely, there was a possibility she could be trapped underneath.

After all, the monster she faced was the Näscher Snake, a Danger Level B+ creature.

Originally, it should have been hunted by an A-Level Hunter, not a B-Level Hunter like Sophia.

“S-Sophia! Sophia!!”

I dug through the collapsed house frantically.

But no matter how much I called out, Sophia’s voice didn’t respond.

With each passing moment, my anxiety grew stronger, and tears began to form in my eyes at the possibility that something terrible might have happened.

‘Should I have transformed into a monster right away?’

If she found out I was a National Disaster-Level monster, she might have been put in danger.

If my identity was ever revealed later, she might be mistakenly branded a traitor along with me.

That’s why I deliberately kept it hidden.

But if I had known we would part like this, I would rather, rather…!

“Are you sad?”

“Yes…”

“Are you sorry?”

“Yes…”

“Then, do you want to… leave your mark on her body?”

“……”

…I definitely made the right decision keeping it secret.

“So-phia?”

“…Why didn’t you answer the last question?”

“O-ppa! Oppa!”

“Ah, you’re safe too!”

I jumped up from where I had been kneeling on the ground.

Then, wiping away my embarrassing tears, I looked to the side and surprisingly saw the baby monster and Sophia holding hands amicably.

“Shinwoo, just like you said, the Näscher Snake had a nucleus the size of a chocolate ball in its body. I targeted that and cut it, and it evaporated before I knew it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Oppa! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“That’s right. Are you okay?”

“Yes! I’m, fine!”

Hearing that I was safe, the baby monster immediately ran to me and hugged me tightly.

It made me smile involuntarily, feeling like this must be what raising a daughter feels like.

Meanwhile.

“……”

“……”

Sophia was staring at us intently.

…I wonder if she’s already figured out that I’m the Monster of Jamsil.

I suppose it would be stranger if she hadn’t realized it from the moment I said I picked up an escaped baby monster from the street.

I had asked the baby monster to keep my identity secret, but it seems that was already a futile effort.

Just then.

“Ah, Oppa.”

Whispering softly.

“…What?”

“That human woman… I think she suspects you’re the same species as me.”

“……I see.”

She’s openly whispering right in front of us, so now she’s bound to be suspicious.

Gulp.

I guess I have no choice but to reveal it now.

With that thought, I slightly closed my eyes.

If I’m going to keep receiving these piercing glances, I might as well open my mouth, even reluctantly.

Just as I was thinking that.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“…Huh?”

Sophia suddenly spoke with half-open eyes and an indifferent tone.

“Shinwoo, I’m not going to listen to that until you tell me naturally.”

What’s this?

Is she upset?

But she didn’t seem particularly angry.

She was just nodding to herself as if she had made some kind of decision.

Then Sophia pointed at the baby monster pressed against my stomach and face, and asked.

“By the way, what are you going to do with her now?”

“What do you mean…?”

“She’s still a monster after all. You’re not thinking of releasing her into the wild, are you?”

“O-Of course not!”

Release a monster into the wild, even if it’s a baby!

Do you want to see all the wild boars and roe deer in Korea go extinct?

For the sake of the ecosystem, that shouldn’t be done.

So I really had no choice but to raise her myself.

“Hey, you…”

“Absolutely not! You wanted to raise her, right? But it’s clearly illegal for an ordinary person to keep a monster. In America, that’s at least the electric chair, in Japan it’s hanging, and in China, you’d be tied to horses and torn apart.”

For reference, Korea doesn’t execute people, so it would be life imprisonment.

I think the setting book mentioned France uses the guillotine or something.

“Oppa. Does this mean I can’t live with you anymore?”

“W-Well…”

Is there really no way?

The baby monster was hugging me so tightly my ribs might break, with tears welling up in her eyes.

“But I can raise her.”

“Huh?”

“…?”

“After all, I’m a Beast Hunter.”

The only person in the world legally allowed to raise monsters.

We had Sophia right here!

“Since Shinwoo wants it. I’ll specially take care of her.”

“…! N-No! I belong to Oppa!”

“Hmph. Then you’re mine anyway. For your information, Shinwoo is mine too.”

“…?! R-Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“As if…”

The two seemed like they might bicker, but they had an odd chemistry in strange ways.

“Haah…”

I wasn’t sure whether to worry or feel relieved.

Well, everyone’s safe, so I guess it’s better to be relieved.

As I was thinking that.

“By the way, how long are you going to keep calling her ‘baby monster’?”

“Huh?”

“Now that she’s become my service monster. She needs a proper name, don’t you think?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“N-Name…?”

Sophia smiled gently at the baby monster.

She looked as if she already had a name in mind for this child.

“From now on, your name is Lia!”

“L-Lia…?”

“Why Lia?”

“Because my name is Sophia! It’s derived from that!”

Right there and then, she gave the baby monster the name Lia.

***

The monster alert issued for Yeongdeungpo and Gangnam was lifted.

While the Association’s main personnel moved to those areas for cleanup.

“Haah…”

Lee Jin-ah, who had returned with losses rather than gains, was in the research wing with a troubled expression.

The reason she came here was obviously to conceal all records of the Angel host’s pregnancy that she had been secretly researching for the past 8 years.

“How am I supposed to replenish a National Disaster-Level monster again…”

She was personally searching for and burning files she had hidden throughout the research wing.

But as she was sighing deeply while thinking about the massive power loss, suddenly.

“…eh.”

“Eek?!”

Having been robbed by both the Monster of Jamsil and Sir Lancelot.

Being simultaneously robbed by two National Disaster-Level monsters had severely damaged Lee Jin-ah’s mental state.

As a result, when she heard an inexplicable sound in the research wing where she should have been alone, despite being a National Authority-Level Hunter.

She screamed “Eek?!” and started throwing punches around her.

“W-What?! D-Did you follow me here? Monster of Jamsil?!”

Lee Jin-ah continued punching the air repeatedly.

With cold sweat dripping down her face, she arrived at the center of the research wing to find the source of the sound.

“…waa, waah…”

“……What.”

The lower half of the Angel that had spilled out of the test tube due to the baby monster’s birth.

It had been left in that state since the day before yesterday.

But from around the completely ruptured uterus, there was a very faint but definitely audible sound of a baby crying.

“That’s impossible… really…?”

‘This is truly a miracle.’

Though not summoned, Lancelot, who was sharing Lee Jin-ah’s vision, quietly marveled.

And in Lee Jin-ah’s arms, as she hurriedly searched through the corpse, covered in blood.

There was a white baby who couldn’t even open its eyes properly yet, letting out small cries.

***

A dark, sealed room.

This was not in Korea, but in Japan.

It was a secret underground space in the Hunter Association’s “Japan Branch” located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

In the center of the dark interior lit only by a single candle in the middle of a tatami room.

There sat the greatest figures in Japan, who could classify the top 1% of Hunters, A-Level Hunters, as mere “underlings.”

And the current topic passing between their lips was just one thing.

“Recently, pressure on our Japanese archipelago from China and Russia has been increasing.”

“With North Korea next door also making noise lately, we’re concerned that our enemies are too close! Prime Minister.”

In the middle of the dark tatami room.

The Prime Minister, who could be called Japan’s representative, sat on a cushion.

And he too seemed to sympathize with the concerns of those around him, nodding his head with a serious face.

It was then.

“Then how about this good method I have?”

Opposite the Prime Minister.

Due to circumstances, this figure was meeting with Japan’s powerful figures through a laptop, and in this serious atmosphere, he alone laughed heartily and spoke.

“My family has ‘princesses,’ don’t we?”

“…What do you want to do, Head of the Kitsune Family?”

“It’s simple.”

North Korea, Russia, China.

If these three dangerous countries all target Japan, then we should form stronger alliances with other Asian countries that are also targeted by them.

Taiwan, Mongolia, India, and especially our close neighbor, “Korea.”

Moreover, Japan had the U.S. forces stationed in Japan, which were considered the strongest in the world.

“We should strongly promote an even tighter Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance to the world.”

“But… isn’t the Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance already tight? Can it get any tighter?”

“Of course, Prime Minister! We can go beyond simple friendship to become lifelong friends or even family-like relationships.”

“How do you mean?”

The Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance was already militarily bound with the United States at the forefront.

In this current relationship where even the defense forces of each country train together, how could it become even more intimate?

What kind of peace treaty could this be? As the Prime Minister waited for the next answer.

Slide.

A figure entered demurely, sliding open the door to the secret space that only Japan’s powerful figures could enter.

She was a woman in a neat red yukata with beautiful black hair that shone like obsidian.

She wore a mysterious blindfold over her eyes, yet still exuded beautiful femininity, and as soon as they saw her.

“Oh…”

“What…!”

Everyone in the room, including the Prime Minister, held their breath in surprise.

And.

“I plan to send this child to Korea as a ‘gift’.”

The voice coming through the computer.

“For the sake of an even more intimate relationship between Korea and Japan than we have now.”

Listening to such words from her ‘father,’ she who was called a princess not just in Japan but worldwide.

Kitsune Kurumi, the second daughter of the Kitsune family, could only remain silent.