Ch.63America’s Scientific Prowess Is the Best in the World!

Only a Beast Hunter in this world can handle monsters.

That was a natural “common sense” and an “immutable law” created by God.

But humans were the weakest yet most dangerous creatures who flew without wings, dug tunnels without long claws, and traveled underwater without gills.

“Only Beast Hunters in this world can handle monsters… Hm… This is truly an outdated concept, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Dear God…”

“The Wright brothers who invented the airplane, Robert Fulton who invented the submarine, Charles Pearson who invented the subway. They were all ridiculed as idiots or fools and faced public criticism during their lifetimes.”

However.

“But! When they beautifully turned the impossible into possible, people realized who truly deserved to be laughed at.”

Underground hangar at the USFK Base.

Donzo, who had brought Talisman there, showed him a monstrous life form inside a giant glass tube secretly shipped from the American mainland.

A humanoid monster with various mechanical devices implanted in it.

A cyborgified monster with metal core and red skin grotesquely fused together.

“Captain Talisman. Do you know what this monster is?”

“…It’s a monster, isn’t it? The kind that should never have been created…”

“HAHAHA!! A monster! That’s absolutely correct! America’s strongest and worst monster! We invested nearly 100 years to create this one specimen!”

“100 years…?”

Did that mean that for an entire century, America had been creating such monsters behind the scenes?

Area 51, Illuminati, Hollow Earth Theory—America had always been a country rife with conspiracy theories.

But a cyborgified monster!

The fact that the most fictional conspiracy theory that should never be real was actually true made Talisman fall to his knees right where he stood.

And looking up at Donzo hopelessly, he said:

“What… what have you done?! Turning even monsters into weapons… This will be the harbinger of human extinction that can’t even be compared to ‘nuclear bombs.’ Don’t you realize that?!”

“Whoa, whoa. Relax, Captain Talisman. This technology will need at least three more centuries of research before it can be practical, so it’s too early to worry.”

“Three centuries! So in just 300 years! Anyone and everyone will be able to control monsters?!”

Captain Talisman protested with all his might.

But the water had already been spilled 100 years ago.

“The US military couldn’t have participated in this research! If they had, I would have known about it! Then the culprit is… no way?”

“That’s right. The Hunter Association headquarters established on American soil.”

The product of collaboration between the strongest nation and the greatest organization in human history.

That was the monster right before his eyes, and Talisman could only feel despair.

“Monster Weaponization Project. The number of monsters we’ve modified exceeds 10 billion. But the only successful modification is this one before us. This National Disaster-Level monster named ‘Alien Beth’ 48 years ago in America.”

“Alien Beth…? You mean the monster that massacred over 1 million civilians in California?! And you modified that to make it into a weapon?”

“Yes! As expected of a National Disaster-Level monster, it withstood the modifications! Thanks to that, we were finally able to complete it last month after 48 years!”

To do such a thing with a National Disaster-Level monster!

Does the current President not know about this?

Or do all Presidents take this secret to their graves when their terms end?

Talisman was simply confused.

But as if the real revelation was yet to come:

“We plan to activate this monster in one week.”

“…!”

“So Captain, please send all troops at the USFK Base to the outskirts at exactly noon. That is, if you don’t want to see your subordinates killed by this monster.”

Donzo Mykree was foretelling a horrific event.

“…Does the Hunter Association headquarters in America know that such a thing will be rampaging in Korea?”

Talisman tried to find some thread of hope, but.

Smirk.

“They don’t just know.”

“…?”

“How could a mere congressman, not even the President, obtain such a modified monster?”

“!!”

“They needed field data for their test subject, and we needed a monster to rampage. It was what you’d call a ‘symbiotic relationship.'”

The thread of hope Talisman had been searching for was a rope that had rotted long ago.

***

Though she had been in the shadows, Lia had taken a direct hit from the rainbow vomit of the two people.

After returning home with her body completely healed thanks to Princess Kurumi:

“Oppa! Give me a bath!”

“Huh? Should I?”

Lia, who had jumped out from Sophia’s shadow, immediately clung to me with a disgusted expression.

“Lia! Taking a bath with Shinwoo, how enviable… I mean, that would be too much trouble for Shinwoo!”

“Sophia, I’m fine with it.”

“Oppa says it’s fine. So I want to bathe with Oppa.”

“Ugh…! T-Then what about me! Who’s going to scrub my back?”

“You can scrub your own back.”

Perhaps she was quite shocked by today’s events.

Lia was clinging to me and refusing to let go.

Even when Sophia grabbed her legs and pulled hard, Lia was so strong that she dragged me along with her.

“Tsk! I guess there’s no choice. Then I’ll have to join you…”

“As if! I’ll just wash Lia myself.”

And so, after separating Sophia who was trying to subtly join us despite not being children anymore, I entered the bathroom with Lia.

“Come here, Lia. I’ll wash your hair first.”

“Okay.”

Even before washing, Lia had been making a sullen face with both hands on her head.

She must have been right under the vomit.

Though it didn’t touch her directly, she felt like it had, so she wanted me to wash her hair first.

“Now, I’m going to shampoo your hair. Close your eyes.”

“Okay!”

Following Lia’s wishes, I washed her hair with shampoo first.

‘Doing this reminds me of when Sophia was little…’

Though she’s now an undeniable female general, Sophia was a crybaby and a scaredy-cat in her childhood.

She would burst into tears whenever she was separated from family or me, so I always had to wash her when her uncle and aunt were busy.

‘Both Sophia and Lia have short hair, which makes washing easier.’

Most women had longer hair.

I had never experienced washing such brilliant long hair, and if I had, it might have become quite an unpleasant memory.

In that sense, I should be grateful for their similar hairstyles.

‘…Come to think of it, if her hair were longer, she’d really look like that child.’

Suddenly, I remembered the baby monster that resembled Lia, whom I had somehow saved during the previous Villain’s Troupe incident.

That child who I guessed was Lia’s younger sister, though I never learned her name.

Swoosh.

“Feel good?”

“Yes!”

After washing her hair completely, I carefully decided to tell Lia about that time.

Family matters should be known by family members, after all.

“Hey, Lia.”

“Yes?”

“How would you feel… if you had family?”

“Family? I already have one.”

“…? You do?”

“Oppa and unni! And the uncle who gives me snacks and the aunt who gives me meals are my family!”

“Ah, if you mean that kind of family, then yes, you do.”

When did this child grow up so much?

Is this the feeling of a father watching his child grow?

My eyes suddenly became moist at her meaningful words, realizing she already thought of us that way.

But now wasn’t the time for that.

“Thank you. But I don’t mean that kind of family.”

“?”

“I mean real family connected by blood. Real family.”

“Real family?”

When she first heard my words, Lia’s reaction was simply puzzlement.

She tilted her head, not understanding what I meant.

But.

“Yes. Actually, I met someone who seems like your younger sister.”

“Y-Younger sister?”

As my story progressed, a strange tremor began to appear in Lia’s voice.

And then.

“She called the lower half of a white monster with only legs left her mother.”

“…!!”

Thump!

After hearing definitive evidence that they must share the same blood, Lia stood up abruptly in surprise.

And realizing she had a real family—a younger sister born later from the same mother’s womb:

“W-What’s her name?!”

“Name…?”

“What does she look like? Does she really look exactly like me? Does she speak well? Is she doing okay? Is she safe?”

“L-Lia, one question at a time…”

“I want to see her!”

Lia’s eyes were now sparkling as she bombarded me with questions, not giving me time to answer.

“First of all, she had very long hair.”

“Ooh…! A long-haired little sister! I’ll wash her hair for her!”

“And her height… she seems shorter than you.”

“A younger sister should be shorter than her older sister! That’s even better!”

“And she cries a lot. She seemed quite scared too—when I saved her, there was a slight smell of urine.”

“…! Since she’s a scared little sister, I’ll protect her as her older sister! But she shouldn’t wet her pants when she’s scared! I’ll spank her bottom to correct that bad habit!”

…Actually, there’s a possibility she might be the older one.

But it seemed Lia had already imprinted on that baby monster, whose name I didn’t even know, as her younger sister.

And so, anticipating the day she would meet her younger sister, Lia’s red eyes were burning particularly bright today.