Ch.48Ultimate Karate Technique (Interlude)

“Ladies and gentlemen, please evacuate promptly following the hunters’ guidance in case of any emergency.”

It was right after the battle between two monsters that nearly ended the history of the Korean peninsula.

The hunters who had entered Lotte World to rescue Princess Kurumi were slightly disappointed to find the situation already resolved, but they were still hunters after all.

Besides combat, they had mountains of work to do, so they were quickly rescuing people first.

And then there were the National Authority-Level figures who personally experienced and survived this crisis.

“Oww… that hurts.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll need to wear these handcuffs.”

“Fine. But I did help a little in defeating that thing, didn’t I? Where’s that famous Korean hospitality gone?”

Lorensky, who had nearly been reduced to bones after having his energy absorbed, had managed to survive at the last moment before all his life force was drained.

Bang!

He had triggered an internal explosion at his rooted core and had just regained consciousness, reporting his survival while being handcuffed.

Rummaging sounds.

“Um, senior…”

“Yes?”

“That person… I mean, that thing… isn’t it a monster?”

“Well… judging by skin color alone, it does appear to be a humanoid monster…”

Lancelot was busy rummaging through debris alone in the ruined amusement park crowded with hunters.

Since he was already dead, even if his current life force was completely absorbed, he could revive as a zombie as long as his body remained intact.

Thanks to this, as soon as he opened his eyes again, he began searching for something earnestly, ignoring the stunned hunters.

Eventually.

“…! Found it.”

“Huh, what?!”

“That head…!”

A woman with blood-red hair trapped under the debris.

He had successfully found Lee Jin-ah’s severed head.

“Director Lee Jin-ah?!”

“We knew she was gone when we saw she had no head… but seeing it confirmed…”

Lancelot carefully embraced Lee Jin-ah, whose eyes were closed.

Meanwhile, though they had realized the truth when they saw the headless body, seeing the dead director’s face directly…

“Director Lee Jin-ah…!”

“She was always leading by example…”

“Just the other day at the company dinner, she was talking about running for president!”

“And now she’s gone like this…”

Since Lee Jin-ah had maintained strong trust with her subordinates publicly, the hunters began to shed tears one by one, each expressing their emotions.

The atmosphere had turned into an impromptu funeral.

Meanwhile, regardless of this…

“Excuse me, could you step aside?”

“What? Oh, yes…”

Passing through the hunters who were hugging each other and sobbing, Lancelot arrived in front of Lee Jin-ah’s body covered with cloth.

With a bright smile to the female hunter who appeared to be a healer, he knelt down on one knee, removed the cloth from Jin-ah’s headless body, and…

Thud.

He attached the head he had brought.

Then.

“Hmm… how long have I been out?”

“Aaaah?!”

“D-Director Lee…”

“Jin-ah?!”

As if by magic, her neck reattached itself, and Lee Jin-ah opened her empty eyes and asked.

At this, the mourning hunters all wore expressions as if they had seen a ghost at the sight of their superior who had literally come back from the dead.

Regardless of the surrounding reactions, as Lee Jin-ah got up insensitively and stretched…

“Mom, you idiot!!”

Whack!

A child who had jumped out of Lee Jin-ah’s shadow delivered a spine-breaker to her.

“Kuhak?!”

“I was crying so hard inside thinking you were dead! If you had this ability, you should have told me earlier!”

“Eve, is that any way to treat your mother?”

The being who had headbutted Jin-ah’s back was a girl with a snow-white body, ruby-red eyes, long ivory-white hair, and dark red horns protruding from either side of her forehead.

Clearly a humanoid monster.

But with her cute clothes and doll-like appearance, the watching hunters didn’t perceive this “Eve” as harmful at all.

Especially since her angry expression was exactly like that of a human child.

“Mom. Are you trying to make me an orphan? You need to think about what happens to me if you die!”

“Eve. No matter what, speaking so rudely to your mother Jin-ah is too…”

“Shut up! Stay out of this, Uncle Lancelot! Go over to the medical team and flirt with married women or something!”

Jin-ah could only sigh.

Lancelot, now unable to do even that after being fact-bombed along with the sighing, also sighed.

And so, regardless of how the humans around her viewed her, Eve continued shouting at her mother who had nearly died.

“Seriously! And hurry up and show me my sister! I need to eat her quickly so I can get stronger and protect you!!”

***

This was before Shinwoo entered the amusement park.

“Then please help me sneak into the amusement park.”

“…What?”

“That way my identity won’t be exposed, I’ll be safe, and it’s a win-win situation. Right?”

It was when Yoo Cheran was trying to stop Shinwoo from transforming into a monster.

Wanting to stop him from doing something that seemed dangerous, and hoping he could continue living a normal human life, Cheran stood in Shinwoo’s way despite knowing it wasn’t her place.

But Shinwoo didn’t blame her.

Instead, despite having far greater power than Hunter Yoo Cheran who was trying to stop him, he asked for her help.

“Please help me, Cheran.”

There was someone he absolutely had to protect inside the amusement park.

And Cheran, who knew Shinwoo better than anyone…

“Grrrr.”

“…Then follow me quietly.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you! Cheran.”

Using her position as a C-rank Hunter, Cheran successfully brought Shinwoo, who was only a Hunter Meister, as close as possible to the amusement park.

Then, as she secretly let Shinwoo through the back entrance of the amusement park, which was taped off since they didn’t yet know the situation inside…

“Mr. Shinwoo.”

“Yes, Cheran.”

“Please come back safely.”

“Yes, I will!”

Cheran reluctantly waved goodbye to Shinwoo, who ran inside with a bright smile.

But on the rooftop of a high-rise building some distance from the amusement park…

Boom!

Later, at the meeting place they had arranged for after the battle to prepare for escape, when she saw him return in monster form…

“M-Mr. Shinwoo?!”

Cheran deeply regretted her earlier actions.

“Grrrr…”

She had thought that in his jet-black monster form, he would just walk a bit awkwardly and uncomfortably.

But when he reverted to his human state…

“Ugh…”

“Relax your muscles! Your muscles are torn!”

There were bruise-like minor injuries all over his body, and worse, his right arm was dislocated with torn muscles.

“I’m going to set the bone. Relax!”

Crack.

“Urgh?!”

“I’ll call an emergency helicopter. Just stay still.”

She managed to reattach his dislocated arm with first aid, but professional medical treatment was still needed.

As Shinwoo soon lost consciousness and fainted, Cheran hurriedly took him inside and called 119.

And while waiting for the emergency helicopter to arrive on the rooftop, she made a promise.

“Mr. Shinwoo. I won’t let you carry this burden alone anymore.”

Her benefactor who saved her that day.

Her hero who breathed dreams into her that day.

She wouldn’t let Han Shinwoo fight alone anymore.

“I’ll definitely become stronger so I can stand beside you!”

***

In a dimly lit but cozy bar with sophisticated red lighting.

“Everyone! The footage you’re seeing now is absolutely not fake! This is all real!”

News was broadcasting footage that looked like it was shot with a broken camera—poor resolution and only a few seconds long.

The quality was so low it wouldn’t even be suitable for Instagram or YouTube Shorts.

However, the content captured in it had the entire world, not just the United States where the news was being broadcast, focused on the jet-black monster in the video.

“It’s a very short clip, but from what I can see, this monster appears to be ‘protecting’ humans, doesn’t it?”

“Yes… it’s a very brief video so I can’t say for certain, but that’s how it looks to me too.”

“According to additional information, the source of this footage is from CCTV at Lotte World, an amusement park in Korea, and the monster appearing in the video is called the Monster of Jamsil in Korea—a National Disaster-Level monster!”

National Disaster-Level monster.

That title could make people tremble anywhere in the world.

However, right now, it was making humanity tremble for a different reason.

“According to BBC’s investigation, this monster known as the Monster of Jamsil has been appearing in Korea for 10 years. But its actions since then have been, how should I put it…”

“It eliminated a humanoid monster that was also a National Disaster-Level threat, defeated the A-rank danger Twin-Head, and while there are records of it clashing with hunters, the number of people injured by encounters with it is zero! Not a single person!”

“In other words! Could this be a true Dark Knight of our era who has possibly turned to humanity’s side?!”

At the news desk, a host and an expert sat facing each other, deliberately throwing out unconfirmed speculations to capture people’s interest.

Then they showed again the less-than-5-second scene captured by Lotte World’s CCTV.

The jet-black monster tearing apart tree branches that were trying to extend toward people, as if fighting for them.

And the people in the bar watching this scene on a 90s analog TV…

“La la la~”

“Bartender, another drink!”

They were just going about their business as if they weren’t of this world, showing no interest whatsoever in what was being shown.

Except for one person.

“Interesting. That.”

“?!”

“Boss…?”

Their leader, wearing the same black coat as everyone else.

Except for a woman with short black hair and candle-like eyes, the leader of the “Villain’s Troupe.”

As she went outside the bar to smoke, about a dozen people who had been doing their own things followed her out.

And as the leader, walking down the alley, exhaled cigarette smoke and turned around…

“Should we try to recruit that one into our organization?”

As if they had been waiting for this, all the members of the organization—the “Villains”—began smiling and preparing for illegal entry into Korea.