Ch.42I Want to Meet You Again

# The incident happened about 10 minutes ago.

Only three people were guarding Princess Kurumi’s mansion.

Because of this, the most important main gate was guarded by the three people rotating shifts.

When it was Yoo Cheran’s turn.

“Excuse me…”

“Princess?!”

When Princess Kurumi, who usually stayed inside the mansion, poked her head out beyond the main gate, Yoo Cheran immediately turned around and greeted the princess.

“Yes, what can I do for you, Princess?”

“So, your name is…”

“Yes! I’m C-rank Hunter Yoo Cheran from the Korean branch of the Hunter Association. You can just call me Cheran.”

“Cheran… C-rank Hunter…”

Yoo Cheran spoke with a bright smile, trying to make a good first impression.

But to Princess Kurumi, who wore a blindfold, she was just one of many disgusting beings.

Even though she heard the energetic voice, and despite the hunter’s salute that ordinary people would find impressive, to her it was just a nauseating act.

However, she had to swallow that nausea because there was something she needed to do.

“Cheran.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Could you come over here for a moment?”

“…Pardon?”

Her expression momentarily twisted with guilt.

But Princess Kurumi quickly smiled brightly and beckoned the disgusting presence before her to come closer.

And when she came within one meter of her.

Grab.

“…Huh?”

She’d heard that Beast Hunters extremely disliked physical contact with others.

As Yoo Cheran was confused by the princess’s sudden action of grabbing her hand.

“Tenome, please.”

An old man without a face appeared above Princess Kurumi’s head.

It was a humanoid monster with two eyeballs embedded in its palms. Yoo Cheran wanted to react immediately, but one of her hands was still held by the princess.

Thud!

“Uh, uh…?”

With a sound like something falling deeply, the strength drained from her eyes.

“Prin…cess…!”

Thump.

Affected by the status ailment “Hypnosis,” Yoo Cheran lost consciousness and collapsed on the spot.

At the same time.

“Uweeeeeegh!”

She had only grabbed her for a moment.

Princess Kurumi shuddered with disgust and vomited from the overwhelming feelings of revulsion and humiliation that rose within her.

“…! Hic, huk…!”

How pathetic.

So pathetic.

It was just brief contact with another person, yet why was she born as someone who couldn’t do such a “normal” thing despite being human herself?

“Actually… I too… with this body…! Huk…!”

Her emotions welled up with frustration.

But if she let out all those emotions here, the other two guards might hear her.

So.

“…!”

Princess Kurumi barely managed to push down the rising frustration deep into her throat.

Then she hurriedly headed toward the place she really wanted to visit.

…No, the place she now had to go.

***

“I never thought the princess would leave the mansion on her own… This makes the ‘Teleport Gate’ I secretly installed in the princess’s mansion useless…!”

“Why not just station more guards! Why did you make such a thing?!”

“Because an ally who appears in moments of crisis becomes a more deeply trusted figure.”

That’s why he had deliberately arranged for only three guards and was waiting for the right moment.

If an attack occurred, he planned to appear at the critical moment to save Princess Kurumi and naturally become her mental mentor.

But who would have thought she would escape beyond the observable area on her own?

It was clearly a mistake.

“If Princess Kurumi, who has Beast Hunter traits, went outside, where might she be heading?”

“…I don’t know. Director Lee Jin-ah, do you have any ideas?”

“No… I guess we’ll have to send out our people to search! In the meantime, Shinwoo, please track the princess in your own way.”

“I was going to do that without you telling me!”

The two of us began moving to our respective positions without even a brief greeting in the association lobby.

I immediately ran outside the building and started heading straight for the mansion.

‘What on earth is going on?!’

Princess Kurumi leaving the mansion on her own was definitely not in the original story.

This meant it was a branching point that occurred because of my existence, which wasn’t in the original story.

‘Is there any reason she would leave the mansion because of me?’

I don’t know.

I have no idea.

I still haven’t fully figured out why she sent me away the day before yesterday when we were getting along well.

‘Why would someone with so little time left…!’

Someone who still has so much to enjoy.

I couldn’t understand what she was thinking to do something so reckless…

“…Huh?”

Wait.

I stopped.

I stopped running toward the mansion and realized the source of this incomprehensible feeling I was having.

“Much to enjoy…?”

She’s a Beast Hunter, so even if she wanted to enjoy things, she could only stay inside the mansion.

Her only joy recently was the brief time spent with me.

So why would someone with so little time left deliberately remove Han Shinwoo, who had become a new joy in her life?

That morning.

Princess Kurumi’s face when she told me it was enough and I should leave.

Looking closely, her smiling lips were trembling slightly, and her eyes were particularly bright.

And I knew that face, that expression very well.

“I’m fine! Director.”

“Shinwoo…”

“Really, really! I’m fine, Director. I’m just going to the military to clear my head! I’m really okay, Director! So I’ll just… I’ll just give up my Olympic qualification!”

When you’re absolutely not okay, but the person in front of you is precious.

So you put on a forced smile to send them off in good spirits.

When you smile widely while holding back tears that are welling up in your eyes, your pupils look particularly bright and beautiful.

“…Damn, I can’t believe I only noticed it now.”

Back then, I was half out of my mind from the shocking news and couldn’t catch such details.

But now that I know her circumstances, all the puzzle pieces fit together, and I seemed to have figured out Princess Kurumi’s—no, Kurumi’s—true feelings.

“You were afraid of parting, just like me…”

That’s why she deliberately separated us before it happened.

She probably thought it would be less painful than the inevitable parting later.

But that choice was wrong.

I’ve already experienced the cruel regret that comes from such a decision.

It’s a choice that fits more with “running away” than “parting.”

And the place Kurumi, who had parted with me, had to go alone.

The place she was trying to go to fill her empty heart with anger toward herself couldn’t possibly be a normal place from her perspective…

‘For me, it was the military, so for the princess…’

For Princess Kurumi with her Beast Hunter traits, there was only one place nearby where she could push herself to the limit.

So I turned and headed straight for that place.

***

The sound of people laughing.

The sound of bustling footsteps.

This was a place where any ordinary person—man or woman, young or old, adult or child—couldn’t help but be happy.

And Kurumi, who couldn’t be like others even in such a place, hated herself as much as her surroundings.

“Isn’t that a yukata…?”

“It’s really pretty…”

“But why is she wearing a blindfold?”

“Who knows? Maybe she’s that type of hunter?”

It felt like unpleasant, bumpy tongues were licking every inch of her exposed body.

She felt like she would go crazy if she let her guard down even a little.

But Kurumi had come to this place of her own volition.

Because she hated herself—Kitsune Kurumi—who couldn’t even endure such a normal thing and had thrown away her last remaining hope, and wanted to kill herself.

This was punishment directed at herself for feeling guilty and not fulfilling even one of her desires.

It was a beating, humiliation, and also “self-harm” to replace the previous pain with new pain to forget it.

“Hup…! Huh…! Heek…?!”

The place where Princess Kurumi sat on a bench, hugging herself.

It was Lotte World, one of the most crowded amusement parks in Seoul.

“I’m, I’m scared…! Why…? We’re, we’re… the same… p-people…!”

If I had been a normal person.

Then could I have enjoyed the amusement park like everyone else in a place like this?

Together with the person I liked…

Something she wouldn’t have even imagined before.

But having experienced “normality” for a moment, even though it was an opportunity she had pushed away herself.

“Shinwoo… I miss… Shinwoo…”

Even though Princess Kurumi knew she shouldn’t, she wanted to hold onto him again—the one who had made her feel like a normal woman for a moment.

Even though she knew that all that would remain later would be a bitter farewell.

However, she, lost in sadness, didn’t yet know.

“Grrrr…”

“Clararararack!”

Today marked exactly three weeks since the mansion attack.

The wheel of fate had unfortunately begun to open gates to release monsters to kill Princess Kurumi, just as in the original story.

“Uh, uwaaa!!”

“M-monsters!”

The horde of monsters that should have been faced in a siege at the mansion was now released in the middle of the amusement park.