Ch.4848. Interlude

17th floor of the Seonggwang Guild Headquarters.

The newly established 7th Division’s lounge, which was completely renovated and rebuilt after casualties occurred due to the sudden appearance of Mountain Beasts.

The lounge, featuring a clean interior primarily in black and white, is equipped with various amenities.

A plush sofa that can also be used as a bed, top-of-the-line massage chairs, the latest gaming console French Fry Station 37, and a refrigerator packed full of snacks.

On the sofa in this room—which is essentially used as a personal space by the 7th Division’s captain—a woman, none other than Captain Lee Sujin herself, was lying face-down, quietly sobbing.

‘…Unnie.’

This was the aftermath of the death of Choi Seorin, her senior colleague and close sister figure. Having inherited the lounge that Seorin used to frequent, Sujin had fallen into depression.

Of course, the symptoms she suffered after witnessing acquaintances and countless others being helplessly slaughtered before her eyes weren’t limited to just depression.

Early PTSD, mild paranoia, and mild auditory and visual hallucinations were tormenting her.

Being a psychic user meant she had slight abnormalities in brain function, which prevented her from completely breaking down despite experiencing such a catastrophe… but being a psychic user also created problems.

The psychic energy that circulated through her body, enhancing all physical abilities, also strengthened her brain, making regular medications ineffective no matter how strong the dose.

Physical injuries could be healed with specialized medications made from monster byproducts for psychic users, but drugs that directly affected the brain were prohibited.

They had been banned after an antidepressant made from monster materials caused abnormalities in users’ brains, resulting in deaths due to residual monster factors in the medication.

So as she lay there depressed, covering her ears and closing her eyes on the sofa, a light knock came at the door, followed by a familiar voice reaching Sujin’s ears.

“Excuse me.”

A voice devoid of any emotion or wavering—so cold it felt chilling in its calmness—belonged to none other than her subordinate and 7th Division Vice-Captain, Theresia, who had opened the door and entered the lounge.

“You’re here, Theresia?”

“Yes.”

Trying to hide her tears as she greeted her, Sujin watched as Theresia—famous for her terrible social skills despite her appearance—headed straight for the lounge kitchen after that single word.

“Dumplings? You’re going to eat those?”

“Yes. I’m hungry…”

Theresia took out a 3kg bag of frozen dumplings from a famous food brand, opened the enormous package, poured all the dumplings into an auto-cooking bowl, and inserted it into the automatic cooking device.

Whirrrrrrrr…

While a newcomer might be shocked at the eccentric behavior of cooking 3kg of frozen dumplings all at once, Sujin was used to Theresia’s occasionally odd actions that contrasted with her otherwise cold demeanor.

Ding!

As Theresia took out the bowl full of cooked dumplings and sat at the table to prepare her meal, Sujin suddenly realized she hadn’t eaten anything for two days.

‘…I’m hungry.’

Feeling the pangs of hunger finally hit her as the aroma of well-cooked dumplings wafted through the air, Sujin lifted her heavy body and trudged over to open the refrigerator door.

Chicken, spicy chicken, soy sauce chicken, cream udon, jjamppong, dumplings, various other frozen and convenience foods, and all sorts of snacks filled the refrigerator.

‘Cream spaghetti… no, maybe I’ll just have some canned soup.’

After briefly contemplating what to eat for her first meal in two days, Sujin finally took out what she had wanted from the beginning.

“…This is the one.”

A frozen but insanely expensive food item with bizarre technology packed into it, yet absolutely delicious—the ultimate frozen food.

The latest product released just four weeks ago by E&E (Eat and Eat), a subsidiary of Nano-Tech, a strange food that supposedly uses nanomachine technology to heal internal injuries and promote digestion just by eating it.

A dish that seemed impossible to come in frozen form—bread bowl pasta, specifically pane pasta with cream sauce.

Beep.

[Starting cooking process.]

The moment she pressed the button on the packaging, the translucent wrapper turned opaque and steam began to rise.

Exactly ten seconds later, the nanomachine-composed packaging disappeared, leaving behind a steaming large bread bowl of pane pasta.

Munch. Chew chew…

Though she ate in small bites, Sujin, defeated by her appetite, devoured the pasta with relish. After finishing her meal, she returned to the sofa, intending to lie down again.

But then.

“…Hang in there, Captain.”

These unexpected words of comfort came awkwardly from Theresia, someone Sujin had never once imagined would say such a thing.

“—?!!!”

Shocked by Theresia’s completely unexpected words, Sujin froze in place. Perhaps embarrassed by Sujin’s reaction, Theresia promptly left the lounge.

‘Anomaly detected. Emotional variable identified. …I must report this to Mother.’

Tetra, who had been monitoring Theresia as part of her duty to manage monsters that had infiltrated the human world, happened to witness this scene and made this internal judgment.

※ ※ ※

That evening, at the Seonggwang Guild dormitory.

In the quiet hallway of the dormitory, mostly empty as everyone was on leave, a woman with slightly damp hair from a recent shower was making her way to her room.

‘I wonder if Sujin… is okay.’

This woman—Park Sirin, childhood friend of Seonggwang Group’s youngest daughter Lee Sujin and an impressive mid-level Hunter (Pilot)—was worried about her friend who had become increasingly depressed lately.

Though she herself wasn’t feeling great after losing several acquaintances in that terrible tragedy, she knew that Sujin, who had lost most of her team members before becoming a division captain, must have suffered unimaginable shock.

Anyway, setting aside her worries for her friend momentarily, she was heading to her dormitory room (a luxury single) intending to spend her rare vacation resting.

But then.

..cr…■..!! b….■■….!

As she walked down the corridor, her enhanced senses (hearing)—a result of the augmentation procedures she underwent as a Pilot—barely detected a small, strange sound.

‘…What’s that?’

The bizarre sound piqued her curiosity, and after searching for its source for a while, she stopped in front of a certain room.

‘This is… Theresia’s?’

The room she stopped at belonged to Theresia—a Hunter famous within the guild for her unusual background, characteristics, and high achievements.

Having a relationship that couldn’t quite be called close but was more than mere acquaintances, the kind-hearted Park Sirin felt a twinge of concern.

‘Just to be safe…’

Worried that something might be wrong, Sirin pressed her ear against Theresia’s door—and what she heard exceeded her imagination.

Crunch! Crack! Snap!

Explicit, feral sounds of bones and flesh being crushed—sounds that should never occur in normal daily life.

Thud! Squelch! Crunch!

‘…What the hell.’

Naturally alarmed by these sounds that couldn’t possibly have a normal explanation, Sirin flung the door open—

—BANG!

Crunch!

“Munch munch… delici—

—??!”

“Wh-wh-whaaaat??!!!”

What she witnessed was Theresia, drenched in bright red blood, sitting in the middle of a blood-soaked room, tearing into some strange lump of meat.

“Wh-wh-what is… this…”

Both were too stunned by the sudden situation to react immediately, but unfortunately for Sirin, Theresia was the first to regain her composure.

“…You saw, didn’t you?”

Speaking in a chilling voice, Theresia suddenly used her psychic powers to immobilize Park Sirin, then closed the door with tentacles extending from her back.

Click!

“Mmph! Mmmmph!!!”

Though Sirin tried desperately to alert someone to her situation, her strength was useless against that terrifying monster—Theresia, who was eating meat while growing horns and carapaces.

As Sirin could only make muffled sounds, several tentacles from Theresia’s back—their ends shaped like strange metallic instruments—approached her—

[CENSORED]

“Good morning! It’s a beautiful day!”

“Hmm… you’re as energetic as ever.”

The day after the vacation ended, Park Sirin greeted her superior with her usual vigor immediately after arriving at work.

Today somehow feels like it’s going to be a wonderful day for her.