Ch.2Became a Monster (2)

A planet-nation consisting of 26 mega-metropolitan cities.

Hero City.

Divided into cities from alphabet A to Z, the heroes of Hero City were always dedicated to developing unexplored territories beyond the city limits—areas not yet assigned an alphabet—and protecting this sole urban nation where humanity resides.

However, about a month ago in A City, the central hub of these heroes…

At the Hero Association headquarters in A City, emergency alarms were blaring throughout the massive facility that stretched from underground to the clouds above.

“Y, Y City! We’ve detected a Level 2 or higher monster signal!”

“Level 2… Level 2… Level 1.5… Level 1?!”

“C-correction! A Level 1 monster signal has appeared in Y City!”

Not in the unexplored territories outside the city, but right inside Hero City itself.

And it was a Level 1 monster—just one rank below the “Special” class that directly correlates to humanity’s extinction.

“It’s the first Level 1 monster to appear in 89 years since Hero City was established!”

“All S-Class heroes who could confront a Level 1 monster are currently in unexplored territories. It would take at least a month for them to return…”

“Damn it! Of all times for something like this to appear when all five S-Class heroes are away!”

The situation was absolutely dire.

Y City was quite far from A City where the Hero Association headquarters was located, making support difficult. As a temporary measure, they began gathering heroes from nearby Z City and X City regardless of rank…

“C-casualties reported! Casualties reported!”

“B-Class hero육신녀 and A-Class hero Tao Girl have been critically injured!”

“The number of heroes retreating from the frontline has already exceeded three digits!”

…but the Hero Association quickly had to taste bitter defeat.

“The monster has been identified as the ‘Violence’ monster!”

“Violence… just hearing that name gives me chills.”

“Heroes are getting severely injured as soon as they enter Y City, causing a boycott to spread among them!”

“We’re trying to coordinate with the military, but at this rate, all of Hero City could be in danger.”

A Level 1 monster’s combat power was equal to or slightly below that of an S-Class hero.

But this creature was the Violence monster.

Its alias—Violence—was a word that instilled fear in all living beings, including humans.

Therefore…

“…Then we have no choice but to temporarily ‘close off’ Y City.”

“…!”

To eliminate the Violence monster, at least one S-Class hero was needed.

Based on this assessment, the Hero Association in A City isolated Y City that day.

They prevented any living being from approaching the area until an S-Class hero returned to the city.

Three weeks later.

Except for a humanoid monster that suddenly appeared with a “pop!”

***

Naturally, I’d only seen scopes in movies.

Even in the military where they shoot guns, they don’t lend such sniper equipment to ordinary grunts—too precious, I guess.

So when a red laser, presumably from a scope, slowly touched my forehead.

“…Kruk.”

‘Shit.’

Bang.

With that crisp sound, I fell backward.

“Target hit!”

“We’ve neutralized a small-fry monster that appeared alongside the Level 1 Violence monster in Y City, seemingly from ‘another world.'”

“Let’s take the body for research, just in case.”

The chocolate bars and bottled water I was holding scattered everywhere.

Simultaneously, hurried footsteps approached.

“What’s this? …A chocolate bar?”

“Why would a monster have chocolate bars?”

“Whatever it is, humanoid monsters like this are extremely rare. Let’s package it quickly and submit it to the research lab.”

Not only did they shoot me in the head without warning, but they also wanted to use me as a research specimen.

Evil humans! I was about to say, but then I realized it made sense since they thought I was a monster.

But wait, I took a headshot from a sniper rifle, so am I already dead?

…Twitch, twitch.

“?! W-what? This thing is still alive?”

“Everyone, don’t approach! Return to combat positions!”

“I’m sure I hit it right in the center of the forehead with an anti-monster bullet. How…?”

For someone who was supposedly dead, I was just lying there, and my forehead, despite taking a direct headshot, didn’t even hurt.

So I tried getting up, and in front of me—as I casually scratched my horn—were one-star characters armed with anti-monster equipment.

No, they were soldiers who typically appeared as support for heroes in <Monster Frontline>, pointing their guns at me.

“To take an anti-monster bullet directly to the head and be fine…”

“D-does that mean it’s at least a Level 3.5 monster or higher?!”

“Don’t panic! It might just have a tough body like that goat monster we encountered earlier!”

The goat monster? Was that the one whose head was cut off and flew into the convenience store earlier?

I wondered how it died—turns out it was these military guys.

‘Whatever the case, I don’t want to fight humans…’

But how was I supposed to resolve this situation?

Currently, as a monster, all that came out of my mouth was “kruk kruk!”—monster language.

Trying to defend myself with such sounds would only make them think I was threatening them, leading to more bullets.

“Captain, that thing isn’t moving at all…?”

“Then this is our chance! For the sake of the S-Class hero coming to Y City, let’s eliminate these small-fry monsters in advance!”

“Yes, sir!”

S-Class hero?

Wait, an S-Class hero is coming here?

And Y City…

I had guessed this was a recently attacked city.

But I never dreamed that these ruins where I first opened my eyes would be Y City—the tutorial location of <Monster Frontline>.

‘Wait, that’s strange. When I was playing, there was no storyline about Y City being attacked in <Monster Frontline>.’

Does that mean this is part of the story after I quit?

But there were too many inconsistencies for that to be true.

First, the chocolate bars scattered around me.

These overpowered items that restored stamina to 100% when eaten were introduced during the game’s third anniversary, if I recall correctly.

They were eventually removed due to their broken performance and the fact they could be used in PVP—a terrible business model.

So if this really was <Monster Frontline> after I quit, these Free Choco Bars shouldn’t exist.

‘What exactly is going on here?’

I understood that I had been transported into the world of <Monster Frontline>, but I couldn’t figure out the timeline.

But I didn’t have time to ponder that because…

Click.

Clack.

Click!

It seemed I was truly running out of time.

“Everyone, fire when I say ‘fire’!”

“Yes, sir!”

This is insane.

The female soldiers in front of me had already finished loading their weapons.

At this rate, conflict with humans was inevitable.

Then an idea suddenly occurred to me.

‘What if I make a gesture of surrender?’

I could use body language to show that I had no intention of fighting them.

So…

Swoosh.

“?! It-it’s moving!”

“What’s it doing?”

In America, where gun ownership is legal, lying face down with both hands and feet raised is seen as a sign of surrender.

As soldiers who use guns, they should understand the meaning of this action.

“It’s lying face down?”

“And raising both hands and feet?”

“Isn’t that… the position we make terrorists take during arrests?”

“Could it be that this monster is showing human-like surrender intentions?”

Yes, that’s right.

I’m surrendering.

From what I knew, in <Monster Frontline>, there were a few rare monsters that formed contracts with humans and cooperated with them.

So even though I had become a monster, there was no rule saying I couldn’t live that way.

‘In that case, my goal is to receive such “special treatment”!’

And according to the lore, monsters who lent their power to humanity lived luxurious lives.

In a way, it could be an opportunity to live an even happier life than when I was human.

So I made my red eyes behind my horned mask sparkle brightly, trying to look cute.

“Um… could this monster be one that can communicate with humans?”

“Y-you think so?”

“Think about it—I already shot it in the head, but it didn’t attack us.”

That’s right!

Exactly!

“Then… it’s not a bad monster?”

Nod, nod, nod.

I was nodding my head while lying down, trying to convey that I was good and they should please lower their guns when…

Crack…

That’s when it happened.

BOOM!

Perhaps because I was pressed against the ground.

I could feel the earth trembling strangely, and suddenly a massive earthquake shook the entire area.

“Kyaah?!”

“W-what is this?”

“An earthquake…?”

“…No.”

At the same time, large buildings in the distance began collapsing one after another like dominoes.

As the buildings disappeared in a straight line toward us, I realized this was definitely not a natural phenomenon.

Just as I suspected.

Whoosh.

When the department store right in front of us split like tofu and collapsed.

Thud.

Something landed on top of the armored vehicle the female soldiers had arrived in.

It was a monster with a grotesque form, as if branch-like horns had grown on its head, with disgusting skin revealing red blood vessels.

“Grrrr…”

With five eyeballs embedded in its forehead, each watching a different target, it looked like a creature obsessed with fighting.

“W-we’ve encountered the V-Violence monster…!”

“Impossible… We were told this area was on the outskirts of the city, and the monster that appeared in the center was unlikely to come here!”

“…! C-could this have been a diversionary tactic by the monsters?!”

In the midst of this chaos.

“Kruk?”

‘What?’

“I-I see! That’s why it pretended to surrender!”

“That small-fry monster… it was just buying time until its leader arrived!”

“Damn it, I was a fool to trust a monster even for a moment!”

Why am I suddenly being treated as this thing’s underling…?