Ch.6Angel’s Monster

The doorbell rang.

“Honey…!”

“Yes?”

“Are you crazy?!”

Bonk!

“Ow!”

Naturally, a spicy knock on the head came flying after he called their adopted son a monster.

“How could you call Shinwoo a monster?!”

“W-well… I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Then what did you mean?”

“As I’ve told you before… we Beast Hunters always get wrapped up in inexplicable feelings of disgust when dealing with people.”

Even toward the parents who gave birth to us.

Even toward comrades who fought alongside us through life and death.

Even toward my beloved partner and daughter.

The intensity just varies depending on the person.

That’s what Beast Hunters were—feeling disgust toward anyone who was “human.”

But.

“But with that kid, Shinwoo, I felt comfortable for the first time.”

“Comfortable?”

Lee Seokgyu explained as he sat back down at the table across from Rolling, who had calmed her excitement.

“Yes. It felt incredibly comfortable, like encountering a monster. Of course, if it were a real monster, I would have attacked right away. Haha!”

“…So that’s why Sophia likes Shinwoo too, right?”

“Yes. That’s probably it. It’s a completely new experience for our daughter.”

“That disgust that’s felt even toward birth parents…”

“Is completely absent with that child. With Shinwoo.”

What exactly was the identity of this child?

What could he be?

Ordinary people would have started investigating that first.

“So let’s lovingly take care of our adopted son who has become our benefactor.”

“…And don’t call him a monster.”

“O-of course! A soldier always keeps his word!”

The couple simply rejoiced in the fact that their daughter, who they thought would live as a loner forever, had found someone she could open her heart to.

***

It had already been three days since I was adopted into Rolling’s home.

How should I describe life here?

“Child juggling—possible only when you have two children!”

“Wow!”

“Hahaha.”

“Honey-!”

Perhaps because I’d never experienced such harmonious joy in my life before.

Three days passed as quickly as if they were just an hour—it was so enjoyable that time seemed to fly.

But I was both a possessed person and a rare individual who had returned from 10 years in the future.

I had things to do.

“Shinwoo, what are you doing?”

“Oh, just thinking about something.”

“Think…ing?”

“Anyway, I have something to think about. Kids would get hurt if they knew.”

“…! Hmph!”

In Sophia’s pink room decorated like a princess’s chamber, I had already finished all the kindergarten workbooks long ago.

Meanwhile, Sophia was still struggling to solve 1245+634.

Taking advantage of this leisurely study time, I tried to jot down important future events in the corner of my workbook.

‘It’s still 10 years ago in the game setting… Was this only shown in character flashbacks? Probably.’

South Korea 10 years later.

The main heroines of this world that you meet right at the beginning of “Hunter’s Blood.”

At the same time, those girls—mostly with broken personalities—all mentioned one common incident whenever they mocked me for being so vicious.

‘The “Smiling Monster Incident” that wiped out the entire city of Busan.’

This incident, which caused the worst human casualties and territorial loss in South Korea’s history in this world, left deep trauma in most of the heroines.

It happened exactly now—10 years ago in the original work.

On a snowy day.

Korea’s first “National Disaster-Level monster,” codenamed “Cheonsa” (Angel), appeared at Busan Port.

Most military units and Hunters went all the way down to Busan to eliminate it, but the result was a crushing defeat.

Korea lost almost all its power to fight monsters and regressed from a developed country to not just a developing country but a backward nation like those in the 1900s.

And the monster “Cheonsa,” which survived until the end, was supposedly destroyed by a nuclear missile launched by the United States.

‘As a result, Busan was completely wiped out, and the nearby cities of Ulsan and Daegu became uninhabitable death zones due to radiation exposure.’

Childhood is the period that has the greatest impact on personality formation and character development.

That incident destroyed the life values of heroines who should have grown up normally.

I planned to prevent the Smiling Monster Incident that would definitely happen in the first half of this year.

And to do that, I first needed a reason for an elementary school student to go to Busan where the monster would appear…

“Sigh…”

“…?”

“I can’t think of anything.”

“Hmph! Acting all smart, but even you don’t know everything, Shinwoo! But I won’t show you mine!”

“……”

“I-if it’s too difficult, I might show you a little…”

Should I just run away temporarily?

But just imagining how my new family would react when I returned filled me with guilt that tore at my heart.

“Sigh…”

“Sob…sniff… S-Shinwoo… don’t sigh… I’m sorry… sob…”

“?! Sophia, why are you suddenly crying?”

“Weren’t you sighing because of me?”

“Of course not! I just have something on my mind.”

“Wor-ry.”

I wonder if there’s a good solution.

As I was trying to comfort the inexplicably depressed Sophia while continuing my thoughts, that’s when it happened.

“Huh?”

“Wow!”

When I looked up at the window to clear my head.

“Shinwoo, look at that! Snow! It’s snowing!”

“…Snow?”

It was early June.

The middle of summer.

Snow suddenly falling in a season when you’d be drenched in sweat without air conditioning?

Come to think of it, the heroines would always frown whenever they mentioned the word “snow” when talking about the Smiling Monster Incident.

“That day… it was snowing heavily…”

“The snow was falling unusually heavily. It was so cold…”

“I hate snow. Whenever it snows, it reminds me of that incident.”

At first, I thought they were just talking about snow falling in winter.

But now I finally understood the true meaning behind those words.

They were fixated on snow because it had fallen even in the middle of summer.

Which means that right now in Busan…!

Bang!

The door opened roughly, and Lee Seokgyu and Rolling entered with smiling faces.

“Mom? Dad?”

“……”

“K-kids…”

Though they were smiling brightly as usual, I could immediately tell from the cold sweat dripping down their temples and their trembling lips.

‘Something’s happened in Busan!’

“Um… how about we all go on a trip to Busan?”

“Busan?”

“Yes! That’s right. Sophia, you said before that you wanted to see the ocean. Mom and Dad both happen to have free time today, so we decided to go on a trip.”

“Wow! Great!”

How could people dressed for travel be wearing well-pressed military uniforms and formal attire?

Nevertheless, I decided to play along.

“Sounds good. I want to go to Busan too!”

“…! Great! Let’s take our new son Shinwoo along too.”

“Yes!”

And so our family headed straight to Gimpo Airport in a foreign car.

We had a free pass that required no inspection.

The flight time to Busan was only about an hour.

It was nearly three times faster than the KTX.

We even had a free pass when leaving the airport.

After arriving in Busan in just a few hours, the first sight we saw was:

“Aaaahh!”

“Run away! It’s a monster!”

It was absolute chaos.

***

“Sir! I am Major General Lee Chunkyung, commander of the 53rd Division currently defending Busan!”

“Yes, at ease. I’m General Lee Seokgyu, Army Chief of Staff. This is…”

“Hello. I’m Rolling, Deputy Director of the Korean branch of the Hunter Association and a Commander Hunter.”

“Ah, yes! Nice to meet you, Mrs. Rolling.”

As soon as we landed at Busan’s Gimhae Airport, a military vehicle was waiting at the entrance.

The driver was none other than the division commander in charge of Busan’s defense.

Lee Seokgyu sat in the passenger seat, while Rolling, Sophia, and I sat in the back.

“Um, Army Chief of Staff, sir. Those children in the back…”

“They’re my children. My daughter is a Beast Hunter, so I had no choice but to bring them along since there’s no one to look after them.”

“I see…”

Sophia clung tightly to me, avoiding the division commander’s gaze due to the disgust she felt as a Beast Hunter.

In contrast, Lee Seokgyu, who should also be a Beast Hunter, conversed easily with the division commander, which seemed impressive.

“So what’s the current situation?”

“Well… to be honest, I can’t say it’s good.”

“How many troops have been lost?”

“Since there hasn’t been any direct full-scale battle yet, all troops and equipment are intact. However…”

“However?”

“Um… we’ll be arriving at the naval base where the army has joined forces soon. I’ll give you a proper briefing there.”

“Understood.”

It didn’t sound like a good situation just from listening.

Sophia, who thought we were just on a vacation, hated being in this unfamiliar vehicle so much that she clung to her mother’s arm and asked:

“Mom, can’t we just go home?”

“Hmm… then we wouldn’t be able to eat the king crab you love. Would that be okay?”

“King crab?!”

Mothers truly are amazing.

“We’ll finish Dad’s work quickly and then all go to a king crab party together. You’ll come too, right, Sophia?”

“Yes, yes! Sophia loves king crab!”

The gloomy Sophia quickly regained her spirits.

But I could see a worried smile forming on Rolling’s face as she looked at her daughter.

‘The first National Disaster-Level monster to appear since the founding of Korea…’

I was prepared to step in if necessary, but could I transform into a monster without being discovered?

After an awkward silence, the military vehicle soon arrived at the naval base.

“Victory! I am Admiral Yoo Joonyoung, Chief of Naval Operations.”

“At ease. Yes. Let’s skip the formalities and get straight to the briefing, Joonyoung.”

“Ah, yes. Understood, senior.”

Army and Navy, but they’re seniors?

I wondered if they knew each other.

In the headquarters equipped with massive state-of-the-art monitors and various radar equipment, Lee Seokgyu received salutes from numerous soldiers.

We took our seats with Rolling at a long table with built-in hologram functionality and began listening directly to the Naval Chief’s briefing.

“First, at approximately 04:21 this morning, there was a Gate-induced wave at Busan Port.”

“So a monster appeared. What’s its size? If you’re calling me, the Army Chief of Staff, it must be at least Danger Level B or higher, right?”

“W-well, about that…”

“…?”

The Naval Chief stammered briefly during his briefing.

After clearing his throat, his next words shocked not only Lee Seokgyu but also Rolling who was listening alongside us.

“The enemy entity’s size is approximately under 2 meters…”

“What?!”

“It’s presumed to be a humanoid monster with a minimum Danger Level of B… and regrettably, it appears to possess human-level intelligence, which is only found in Danger Level A or higher…”

“Evidence. Do you have evidence that it possesses intelligence equal to humans?”

Gulp.

“Yes… it has currently occupied an aircraft carrier of the United States Forces Korea stationed at Busan Port.”

“W-what did you say?!”

“A monster stole a human weapon? That’s absurd…!”

“And this is an image of the creature captured by a long-range camera yesterday morning.”

With those final words, he showed the monster’s appearance through the hologram.

It resembled an angel, though the only similarity was the ring of light floating above its head.

With two pairs of wings but no arms, it stood elegantly in the night sky—a cursed judge who had descended upon Busan Port solely to deliver the judgment of death to humans.