Ch.5Adopted (1)

The symbol of humanity that must never lose.

S-class Hero.

A figure ranked 3rd among S-class heroes.

Hero name: Flash Fox.

Her real name is Okami Makoto, and originally, she was destined to fight the Level 1 monster that appeared in Y City.

The Monster of Violence.

But as soon as she arrived, what on earth was going on?

“The situation is already over?”

The outskirts of the city were more damaged than the central area, with a gaping crater, and the target she had spent a month searching for had already been eliminated.

In other words, she had rushed here, missing all her other duties, only to find it had been a wasted trip. This fact made her, who was also a “fox beastkin”—

“Awoooooo…!”

“Eek?!”

“P-please calm down, Flash Fox!”

According to records, the Okami family had been renowned as monster slayers even before Hero City was established.

Okami Makoto, the current head of the Okami family, perked up her fox ears and flashed her beast-like crimson eyes, tinged with irritation, through her black hair.

However.

“Haah…”

All things considered, a human city had been protected.

“So the monsters fought each other and both perished simultaneously?”

“Ah, yes. That’s correct!”

Looking around at the women of the 27th Unit who had been at the scene—not a scratch on any of them—she judged the outcome to be truly satisfactory.

So just this once, she decided to let it go with a smile.

“I see. Well, even though there was no need for me to come, such a coincidence is actually something to celebrate.”

“Ah, hahaha… yes, that’s right…”

“So, about that other monster that supposedly fought equally against the Monster of Violence. Could I hear about its identity?”

The situation was over, one way or another.

Even if she wanted to return to her original mission of “pioneering activities”—

According to hero guidelines, all heroes, regardless of rank, could only leave the city once per quarter.

The reason was obviously for safety.

As a result, Makoto would have to return to her family compound for the next two months. Before leaving, she became curious and asked about the monster that had been able to match the Monster of Violence.

“Well, about that…”

“?”

“Actually, we were officially informed by the Hero Association that it was ‘eliminated,’ but…”

A title worthy of facing the one called Violence.

She had asked the question out of simple curiosity about that title, but as if they had been silenced—

The squad leader of the 27th Unit, who had been hesitant to speak, finally shared as much information as she knew with Hero Flash Fox.

“Actually, we haven’t been given any information about that monster either…”

“Haven’t been given? Surely there must have been a corpse left behind, and with the Hero Association’s technology, identifying a monster’s title from its remains should be simple, right?”

“Yes, about that… Actually, the body of the monster that is ‘presumed’ to have died along with the Monster of Violence still hasn’t been found.”

“…What?”

***

I had somehow managed to defeat the Monster of Violence.

But the truly surprising thing happened next.

As I hurriedly escaped from the crater and headed toward the central area to hide from people again—

Whoosh…

“Huh?”

As if there was no longer any need to be a monster, white smoke began to pour out from my body, which had been in this state for a week.

And then.

“I’ve… turned back into a human?”

As my line of sight gradually lowered, my unnaturally large black hands had already returned to soft human hands.

I carefully touched my face.

What I felt wasn’t the hard bone mask, but the softness of skin.

I quickly ran to a collapsed building’s wall to find a glass window where I could see my reflection.

My brief moment of joy was interrupted when I realized—

“…A child?”

Literally a naked boy.

Not only had I been reincarnated into a doomed game, but I’d become a smooth little kid without a single hair down there. I didn’t know whether to be happy about this or not.

“Wait, this is exactly what I looked like in kindergarten?”

Well, I had returned to human form, but…

I was stunned at suddenly becoming younger when—

Click.

Clack.

“Hands up!”

“A child?”

“HQ, do you copy? We’ve discovered an unidentified naked young boy.”

Somehow, heavily armed female soldiers had surrounded me.

If I were still a monster, it might be different.

But now that I’d transformed into a human, resisting these people pointing guns at me would be nothing short of suicide.

Moreover—

“P-please spare me…”

“Captain, isn’t that really just a child?”

“Don’t be hasty in your judgment! This is a child who survived in a city where a Level 1 monster had been living for a month. He could be a monster disguised as a human.”

As expected of soldiers in a monster world.

They had a level of intuition far different from the forcibly conscripted soldiers of South Korea.

But still.

‘I’m human!’

Despite everything, I wanted to live as humanly as possible.

So I decided to use this pitiful image of a young, naked child to pretend to surrender.

“Hic, hueeeng…”

“?!”

“…!”

“P-please help me!”

I started crying, acting like a poor child as best I could. Unlike the real world, the world of <Monster Front> wasn’t one where men protected women.

“Ugh!”

“No, Captain! He’s just a boy! And a child at that!”

“That’s right! Even if it costs me my life, I must first give my vest to that child!”

Instead, it was a world where women naturally protected men—a female-dominant society.

Thanks to that…

Boy + Child.

Though unintended, this combination was an almost fraudulently optimized formula for evoking sympathy.

Feeling somewhat relieved, I was able to leave the ruins of Y City with the kind female soldiers who treated me well.

“You don’t remember anything?!”

“No… except for my name, I don’t even know why I was there.”

“This is serious. Amnesia?”

Typical of monster stories.

Most things that need to be glossed over can usually be covered by claiming amnesia.

Using this world’s convention, I was able to get by without trouble even at the Hero Association in A City, receiving candy from the female researchers and—

“Okay, let’s just do a simple health check and then you can stay with us, alright?”

“Yes… what?”

I thought they would just let me go.

‘A check-up?’

Why were they being excessively kind?

The other girls who came from Y City with me were sent away without any examination.

Could it be because I appeared to be a “weak boy without parents”?

I had mistakenly focused too much on monster story conventions and underestimated the conventions of this reversed world.

“I-I’m scared of needles…”

“Hehe, I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt. Just give me your hand.”

“R-really, I’m fine…!”

Though I looked younger, my brain remained the same.

Wait, was that not right?

Anyway, despite my appearance, I was no longer an ordinary human.

I could instinctively tell.

Inside my body lurked a dangerous power capable of easily killing even the Monster of Violence.

If that fact were to be discovered during the examination, what would happen?

No matter how female-dominant the society was or how young a boy I appeared to be, the Hero Association in a monster world would show no mercy to monsters.

“C-can’t we just skip this? I’m perfectly healthy…”

“Hehe. I know. But just to be safe. Big sister is giving you special service~.”

In a bar, I would bow deeply for service, but here—

In the research wing of the Hero Association’s basement, where various dead monster corpses were preserved in giant glass tubes, I needed to beg for my life in a different sense.

‘Don’tGetFoundOutPrayDon’tGetFoundOutPrayDon’tGetFoundOutPrayDon’tGetFoundOutPrayDon’tGetFoundOutPray.’

Still, my current form was that of a young boy.

Surely these chivalrous women of the reversed world wouldn’t—

Bang!

…immediately put a bullet in me the moment they discovered I was a monster.

“I’m screwed.”

“Oh my, our little Jang-hoon! You’re still so young, you shouldn’t use such bad words! If you do it again, big sister will give your bottom a spanking, okay?”

I’m about to get my head blown off, so cut me some slack on this one.

Having concluded there was no way out, I reluctantly prepared for Plan B, which I had just thought up—

To escape from A City in the confusion that would ensue after they drew my blood and saw the results—

“Can’t we just finish this quickly if everything seems normal?”

That’s when it happened.

“Ah, y-you’re here!”

“I’ll have the blood test done at our family compound. So I’d appreciate if you’d refrain from further ‘kindness.'”

“O-of course! If an S-class hero says so, we must comply!”

Did I hear that right?

S-class hero?

The researcher in front of me holding the syringe was so startled that I finally noticed the heavy, overwhelming presence behind me.

I carefully turned around.

“Hmm… I heard he has amnesia, but perhaps he can’t speak either?”

A fox-eared woman in a kimono with red eyes, perking up her ears as she looked down at me.

At first, because she was an S-class hero and a fox beastkin, I thought she might be the character I had spent 300,000 won on, spinning the gacha ten times and fully upgrading her when I played <Monster Front>.

But she only looked similar.

I was able to quickly hide my surprise when I realized her eyes were red, not yellow.

“Ah, no. I can speak…”

“Hmm, and your age… I suppose you don’t remember that either?”

“No… I think I’m about kindergarten age…”

“Kindergarten, huh…”

I was clearly somewhere between early elementary school and kindergarten age, but it was difficult to pinpoint exactly when, even though it was my own body.

So I told this “S-class hero” whom I’d never met before everything I knew truthfully.

Then—

“I understand. Well, you appear to be about the same age as my daughter anyway.”

“…What?”

The fox hero seemed to have reached her own conclusion.

Eventually—

“Then, as promised, I’ll take this child’s adoption as compensation for making me waste my time.”

“Ah, yes. Of course! Please take him.”

“Huh?”

Without any input from the adoptee, she finished the adoption conversation on her own.

After a swift transition—

“Hoshino, this is Kang Jang-hoon. From today, he’ll be your playmate.”

“Ah, hello?”

“…Huh?”

Somehow, I had become the dedicated playmate for a princess from a powerful hero family.