110
Ch.110 Huh…?
"As expected, was I too late?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"Uh…?"
At the scene where Kage and Yeo Woon-jae stood, the boundary lights painted the dark night sky.
Both the soldiers being pushed back by the heroes and the heroes pushing back the soldiers were frozen in shock.
In the damp air that even the smell of gunpowder and blood couldn’t mask, I landed on a nearby building unnoticed—everyone was too stunned by the spectacle before them to notice me.
"Ghk…!"
A sharply extended hand, like a spear, pierced through Kage’s chest, skewering his heart. His supernatural ability melted away like snow under heat.
"Schk—!"
Yeo Woon-jae pulled out his hand, scattering a red-hued shockwave, and stared down at his blood-soaked fingers.
Then, slowly, his reason returned.
"Jung Ho-young…?"
Confusion, shock—the sensation of a monster clashing with the human within.
Regret, chaos, despair—Yeo Woon-jae’s inner turmoil raged as he looked down at Kage, who had collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
He hadn’t meant to kill him.
Thump, thump. The sound of his heartbeat grew increasingly distant from that of a human’s.
"Kage… Sir?"
"Teacher?"
"G-get back…!"
Realizing the abnormality in his own body, Yeo Woon-jae’s gaze shifted toward the heroes and soldiers, who were still frozen in disbelief.
Boom!
The moment another intense shockwave erupted, a transformation began in Yeo Woon-jae’s body.
"Everyone! Stay away from m—!!"
Before he could finish, his eyes rolled back, and he stood motionless.
The heroes and humans, unable to comprehend the situation, remained paralyzed.
In front of them, Yeo Woon-jae’s neck slowly twisted—nearly 120 degrees.
"... Teacher Yeo Woon-jae?"
"Ah…."
Yeo Woon-jae let out a hollow, drained sound.
Right now, in this place, I was the only one who understood what was happening within him.
The pill given to Yeo Woon-jae by the lab—an awakening agent containing dormant monster cells.
The researcher hiding in A-City had handed him the pill along with a single red tablet.
False information: that it would restore his former power for three minutes at the cost of severe side effects.
"Ahh…?"
The moment the monster’s core, already nested within him, took full control of Yeo Woon-jae’s body—
The roots of his spiky gray hair turned brown, and his pupils lost their human form.
His hands thickened with wrinkles, his nails sharpened into black claws, and his prosthetic arm fell away as a new one regenerated.
The monster core had completely taken over his heart.
"His… Arm…."
"It grew back…?"
The researcher’s memories I had absorbed told me the name of the monster now born.
Test Subject Code: E55.
Following the tradition that began after my creation, CXI, it was given a triple-digit designation.
The finest fifth-generation monster, crafted from the strongest hero of the previous era.
"Ah, ah~? Hmm…."
The newly born monster began walking indifferently in the direction Kage had been heading.
None of the heroes, soldiers, or anyone else present dared to stop it.
In the chaos and terror of seeing the revered hero Yeo Woon-jae kill Kage—their pillar of support—their minds had gone numb.
"Teacher Yeoooooo!"
At that moment, a hero dropped down in front of Yeo Woon-jae.
"What did you do to Kage?!"
"You are…."
The moment Yeo Woon-jae blinked and paused upon seeing the hero—
His hand pierced through the hero’s skull.
"A villain, then."
Bang!
A shockwave exploded from the hand embedded in the head.
Flesh and skull fragments were scattered like buckshot, striking soldiers and heroes alike.
Fallen soldiers, fear and terror spreading among the heroes as they were splattered with blood and gore—
The quiet silence was shattered as the waves of chaos lurking beneath the surface erupted.
"Ah—ahhhh!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Y-Yeo Woon-jae has lost his mind!"
Perhaps due to his reputation as the strongest hero of the previous era, seeing one of their own effortlessly obliterated made the other heroes immediately distance themselves without even considering a fight.
Meanwhile, the soldiers, perhaps thinking Yeo Woon-jae—who had killed Kage—might be on their side, didn’t flee but instead moderately raised their guns and shouted.
"Step aside."
"Q-Quake, sir! This area is currently under lockdown—!"
At those words, Yeo Woon-jae raised his hand as if to strike but suddenly froze, trembling.
His body wasn’t obeying. His brow furrowed before he raised his other hand—the one still functioning properly.
Fwing!
A thin, blade-like energy seeped from the monster’s fingertips and slashed toward the soldiers’ heads, killing about ten of them.
"Uwaaaah!"
"Run!"
I quietly observed the scene, deep in thought.
From a human perspective, Yeo Woon-jae appeared completely insane.
But even from a monster’s viewpoint, something was off.
He wasn’t attacking all the heroes or killing all the soldiers.
Only some—and he wasn’t devouring them either.
He even engaged in conversation, however briefly.
This wasn’t normal monster behavior.
His form, too, remained eerily human-like, unlike Gu Seo-ryong.
The researcher’s memories in my head—the possibility of E55’s awakening failure.
Perhaps Yeo Woon-jae’s mind was still fighting the monster core.
If by some chance he overcame it, he might retain a human consciousness within a monster’s body.
For the researchers, that would be the worst outcome.
If possible, I didn’t want to fight Yeo Woon-jae.
Not out of affection or fondness for him as a person—
But out of a monster’s instinctive wariness.
This monster was no pushover.
Thud, thud.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the passage leading underground.
Yeo Woon-jae continued deeper into the empty government building.
As if he had a goal, he suddenly stopped in the hallway.
"I remember now. That guy with the ridiculous name."
Twitch.
Having completely suppressed my presence in monster form, I halted behind him the moment he noticed me.
I wasn’t emitting any energy signatures—even Starlight couldn’t find me when I hid properly.
"Now that I think about it, your heartbeat is strange. Are you even human?"
Scratch.
The sound of feet dragging against the floor.
From his movement and words, I realized how he’d detected me.
The monster’s heightened senses, layered atop Shock Domination—the faint vibrations in the ground transmitted through his feet.
The monster's core had discerned me by sound.
Before he could turn around, I shifted to human form and stood before him.
"Yeo Woon-jae."
"Why are you here?"
"...Are you human?"
"That’s my question. What the hell are you?"
Suspecting I was a monster, Yeo Woon-jae twitched his newly grown hand.
His pupils dilated—the quiet killing intent of a predator locking onto prey.
I couldn’t tell if he still retained his humanity or if it had already been consumed.
"Ignore your instincts."
"Instincts?"
"The instincts of a monster."
"Hmm…."
If even a shred of human consciousness remained—
Perhaps my advice would help.
Yeo Woon-jae lowered the claws he’d raised.
Turning his back to me, he sighed like a human and spoke.
"I don’t understand what you’re saying. I’d prefer if you didn’t follow me."
"Where are you going?"
Clunk, clunk.
As I trailed behind him, he glanced back and answered.
"I’ve thought this before, but you really don’t listen to others. Seeing you do as you please reminds me of my daughter."
"You mean Yeo Ryeong?"
"You remember her? Yes, Yeo Ryeong. A very stubborn girl."
Memories of his daughter—thick with affection and regret.
Was this a fragment of his humanity?
Or, like water lingering on a hand freshly pulled from the depths, were his human memories and emotions still seeping out, not yet fully erased by his monstrous transformation?
"If you’re coming anyway, keep me company, will you?"
"...Fine."
Yeo Woon-jae continued speaking in ways that hinted at his lingering humanity as he headed toward the building’s core.
"Yeo Ryeong… That child grew up so kind despite me failing as a father. She said she’d marry Jung Ho-young, but then… She died."
"Y-Yeo Woon-jae…?"
"Why… Kage?"
As we walked, he passed by heroes who had entered earlier, leaving them untouched.
"Jung Ho-young wasn’t wrong. It was me—and the incompetent leaders, the citizens who wouldn’t listen—who killed Yeo Ryeong."
At the end of the passage, a massive door came into view.
Made of shelter-grade material, yet far thicker than standard, it was locked with gear-shaped mechanisms.
"And yet, I believed that we awakeners had to follow human laws to remain human. Punishment, wrath—everything had to follow human time, human rules, to ensure the innocent weren’t harmed."
Yeo Woon-jae extended his hand toward the locks.
With a circular slash, the gear-shaped locks were cleanly severed.
The moment his ability activated, the core’s pulsation roared loudly.
This wasn’t Yeo Woon-jae’s ability.
"But you see…."
Crunch.
He drove his claws into the door and peeled it open like wrapping paper, hurling it aside where it embedded itself into the wall.
Beyond the door, forced open by the monster’s strength—
The high-ranking officials of A-City, the most corrupt even by the researcher’s memories, huddled together.
"Y-Yeo Woon-jae?!"
"I don’t understand why I ever thought these people shouldn’t be killed."
"What…?"
The moment Yeo Woon-jae saw them, he activated his ability—aimed at their throats.
For the briefest moment, his ability manifested.
I realized belatedly what it was.
Wind.
Thin, razor-sharp wind.
"Why should I care about the suffering of others?"
Thud, thud.
Heads, split precisely at the eyes, tumbled to the ground.
According to the researcher’s memories, these were people who deserved death.
Had I the chance, I’d have bitten them to death myself. Their deaths meant nothing to me.
"What does it matter if the master code is lost and the citizens are endangered?"
The only thing that concerned me was this,
What remained in Yeo Woon-jae wasn’t humanity.
This was a hunt closer to play—unrelated to hunger.
Killing what he wanted to kill.
In that, there was only order.
Like tearing out the throats of prey that might flee first.
"They’ll all die anyway."
The human remnants in the monster core—the things he most wanted dead—were now gone.
Yeo Woon-jae’s body began pulsing more violently.
Maintaining a human form had been camouflage.
To reach this place unhindered.
Just as I sensed he was no ordinary monster, he had sensed the same about me.
He hadn’t killed all the soldiers and heroes because he was wary of me.
Just as I hesitated to attack recklessly, he avoided showing me an opening.
And because I’d tried to talk, he realized I was hesitating, mistaking his lingering humanity for weakness.
So he had disguised himself—to keep me from stealing his prey.
"You deceived me."
At my words, Yeo Woon-jae’s lips curled up.
His body swelled, fur sprouting across his skin.
Now bear-like in stature, his grotesquely enlarged eyes flashed as he swung his arm.
Feathers extended from his wrist—blades that sliced the wind itself.
A razor-sharp slash carved deep into my body.
"Grrrr…!"
The moment I regenerated the wound while shifting into my monster form—
Yeo Woon-jae, now fully transformed, used that brief opening to kick off the ground and shoot through the ceiling.
Steel beams shattered under the force as the monster burst from underground into the moonlight.
Now resembling a giant owl, he spread his wings—and the monster core’s resonance rippled outward in a circle.
And then, in the distance—
From all corners of the city, other monster cores responded.
The researcher’s memories, finally digested, flashed through my mind.
The monsters missing from the lab had been hiding in the city.
Five in total.
All of them—Despair-class.