29
Ch.29 I'm Park Deun-deun.
“Uh... What kind of name is…”
“Yes! My name is Park Deun-deun!
“Park Deun-deun the fighter! Just looking at him makes you feel reassured!”
"Brother~! I bet other things about you are reassuring too! Forget the arena, come up to my room!"
"I'll give you even more money in my room! Over here~! Over here~!"
[His physique is quite impressive! He might be quite skilled! And he doesn’t even have a weapon! Wow, he’s overflowing with confidence! I wonder what kind of monster he’ll face!]
A loud laugh, the host spun the roulette and handed me a button.
I raised a single finger and lightly pressed the button, and the spinning roulette gradually stopped, pointing to a monster.
"Ah…"
"Oh, shit."
"No!"
The needle pointed to the only Crush-class monster in the roulette—the Stone Lion.
A monster with a body like a stone statue, was impossible to defeat unless one's superpower output was sufficient.
Especially for a human, not a monster—unless one's physical enhancement ability surpassed a certain level.
[What will you do? If you surrender now, the penalty is 10 million won! Ah! Of course! Life is more important than money, right?]
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Don’t waste that size! Coward!"
"Ooooooh!"
"Brother! Come up to my room~! I’ll give you more! Room 402, Building 103~!"
Without even answering, I stepped down from the stage, and the audience, thinking I had surrendered, booed.
But when I headed toward the iron bars instead of the tent, the boos turned to cheers.
[Unbelievable! Are you planning to fight?! Park Deun-deun!]
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Park Deun-deun! Park Deun-deun! Park Deun-deun!"
Amid the noisy cheers of the audience, a rough-looking man scowled as he stepped out of the tent and headed toward another tent with other men.
The men who brought out a large iron cage placed the Stone Lion inside, then set up several syringes similar to the ones used on the Blade Cat before leaving.
[The betting results are 28 for the human and 72 for the monster! Fighter Park Deun-deun! If you win here, it’s 10 million won! Can he really hunt the Stone Lion?]
"Grrrrr…"
The Stone Lion, waking from its slumber, growled at me and slowly lowered its upper body.
The posture of a feline monster right before pouncing.
I waited for the Stone Lion with my hands on my hips.
Previously, in human form, my raw strength was between Terror-class and Crush-class.
But now… I was certain I could exert Crush-class strength.
I grabbed the Stone Lion’s head with one hand as it lunged at me.
[The Stone Lion charges forwa—huh?]
"Grrrr…! Grrrrrrr…!"
"Hmm…"
As expected, it’s possible.
Maybe the practice of controlling the monster’s energy helped—my strength in human form had increased.
My body’s durability also seemed slightly better… The Stone Lion kept slashing with its claws, but not a single scratch appeared on my arm.
As I pressed down on the Stone Lion’s head, it seemed to sense something strange, and its demeanor changed.
"Groooowl…! Kyang?! Kek, keh…!"
Crush.
As I kept pressing, cracks slowly formed on the Stone Lion’s head.
Squelch, squelch.
Pink flesh oozed from the cracks, and the Stone Lion’s head split apart.
Its hind legs flailed as it tried to escape, but the moment it crossed its limit—crunch—it stopped moving, its head shattered.
[Uh… Uh… Ah, the Stone Lion… Is… Is dead. It was Park Deun-deun!]
I wiped the monster’s blood off my hands onto its corpse and stepped out of the cage.
The audience was eerily silent, not a single cheer. Unsure where to go, I returned to the tent.
The people inside immediately distanced themselves from me.
"You bastard… What are you?"
Then, men in suits rushed into the tent.
"That just now… You’re at least a B-rank superpower human, aren’t you? Are you a villain from another organization? No, among the villains in W-City who use physical enhancement abilities at that level, I’ve never seen one who looks like you…"
The men grew wary, slowly activating their abilities.
"Where are you from?! A hero?! You dare come to Guryongseong without fear…!"
"10 million won."
"Wh-what…?"
"...Are you not going to give it?"
At the men’s rough demeanor, I thought, as expected.
This happened sometimes at restaurants too… Some places would advertise special events like ‘free meal if you draw the winning lot after eating’, but in reality, no one ever won.
I think they call this false advertising…
Sighing, I said, "I figured this would happen. As expected, society is governed by cold laws."
"What the hell are you talking about…?"
"Don’t worry, I’m not going to throw a tantrum like Karen demanding money."
While talking, I gave up looking for a towel to wipe my hands and just rubbed them on a suitable surface.
The taut wall of the tent next to the suited men—when I wiped my hand across it, a bright red handprint remained.
"In exchange for the entrance fee, I’d like to look around inside. I assume it’s fine to wander freely?"
Now, I should be able to go find my chain necklace and the thief.
As I implied this, the man in front of me reeked of fear and raised his weapon.
"Are you… Picking a fight?!"
"Hmm? You want to fight?"
"No, I’m not saying I want to fight, I’m asking if you are!"
"So, you want to fight?"
"No! I’m not saying I want to—ah, damn it!"
"Are you intellectually challenged? The way you talk is strange."
"You—you bastard! Are you seriously picking a fight?!"
Hmm, he’s definitely not very bright…
I placed a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of encouragement to live well.
"Hyiiik!"
The man grabbed his shoulder, collapsed, and scrambled backward on the floor.
Now he was even convulsing. As I looked down at him with pity, a woman in a suit similar to the men entered the tent, exuding a strange aura.
"That’s enough. Even if he looks like this, he’s still my subordinate. It’d be troublesome if you killed him."
"B-Boss…!"
"Hmm?"
When the smiling woman entered, the suited men suddenly reeked of tension. I frowned at the strange scent.
The woman, somehow familiar yet unfamiliar, adjusted her suit sleeve and spoke.
"Who are you? The Villain Association didn’t mention anyone coming, and there’s been no word from the hero side either…"
"Hmm."
I sniffed the air, sensing an unusual presence.
The smiling woman’s scent was similar to those around her, yet distinctly different.
At the same time, it carried a familiar sense of otherness that made me think.
"Sorry, but our Guryongseong operates on a reservation system for B-rank and above superpower humans. It’s not too late now… Would you mind telling us who you are?"
"I’m Park Deun-deun."
"Sigh… Drop that ridiculous alias."
The smiling woman slowly raised her hand and held it out in front of me.
"If you’re not going to talk, I’ll have to resort to force."
Snap. With the sound of a finger flick, my vision flickered.
This is… A confusion ability, a superpower that mixes senses.
The hearing became sight, sight became smell, smell became touch.
But with my monster-like hypersenses, I could still perceive the woman in front of me without issue.
"I’ll take you to the meeting room like this and figure out what kind of bastard you are…"
"Now this is definitely picking a fight, right?"
"Huh?"
When I raised my hand, the woman, who had been speaking in an annoyed tone, flinched and stepped back.
She flicked her fingers again—snap, snap—and a different ability overwhelmed my senses.
An illusion ability—dozens of copies of the woman surrounded me, and a burning sensation engulfed my body.
But no matter what, sensory-disrupting abilities could only tire a monster, not harm it.
I grabbed the woman’s arm.
"W-wait…!"
Crunch, crunch, squish. As I tightened my grip, she panicked and tried to pull away.
Just as I was about to crush her arm muscles, her arm transformed into a tentacle-like shape and slipped free.
Mollification—an ability to alter one’s physical composition.
Having confirmed her third ability, I felt something was off and heightened my monster senses.
Then, the woman in front of me blinked in shock.
Humans shouldn’t be able to sense the low-frequency vibrations of a monster core, so her reaction puzzled me. But what I sensed next left me stunned.
"You… Don’t tell me…?"
"Hmm?"
An extremely faint low-frequency vibration—undetectable even to superpower humans—was emanating from the woman.
Impossible without a monster core.
"Everyone, out!"
"Huh? B-Boss?"
"Get out now! I think I know who this is."
"Wh-where should we wait…?"
"Wait outside and leave on your own!"
The moment the smiling woman sensed I was a monster, she kicked everyone out of the tent.
Now alone with her, I quieted my monster core and asked,
"What are you?"
In response, she unbuttoned her shirt slightly, revealing a tattoo below her collarbone.
A barcode with the letters G3 written above it.
The woman in front of me was an experimental subject from the same lab as me.
"Alphabet series, huh?"
"And you?"
I brushed back my messy hair and showed my neck.
G3’s eyes widened, and she gasped.
"C… CXI? The one from Romania?"
Romania referred to subjects numbered in Roman numerals—one of the terms for lab-created monsters.
I’d overheard researchers using it. My number, in digits, was 111.
The alphabet series’ G3… Was 73.
"This is unexpected. I never thought I’d meet another subject."
"Same here… Wait, why is a subject here? To eliminate me?"
"What are you talking about?"
"So that’s not it… Then why? Did you come looking for me by chance?"
When I nodded, G3 sighed and sat on a bench.
"Phew… I thought the lab sent Romania’s strongest to assassinate me."
"Strongest? Never heard of it."
"It’s famous among the alphabet series. Remember when the lab made us fight sometimes? Every time, CXI would just lie there, completely unharmed no matter what anyone did."
"That’s how I got labeled the strongest? Ridiculous."
I knew the other monsters were also subjects, so I never felt like fighting. I’d just lie down, let them hit me, dodge, or take the hits.
Eventually, the researchers would give up and stop the experiment.
But to think that earned me a reputation…
"What do you mean? You know what it means when a monster doesn’t go berserk no matter how much it’s attacked, right?"
"Hmm."
Ah, so that’s why.
If a monster doesn’t go berserk despite countless attacks, it means those attacks pose no threat.
I guess my non-resistance came off as disregard.
Most of them were too weak to bother with anyway.
"If you’re CXI… Then I can believe you’re not here to kill me."
Since G3 knew I never fought any monsters in the lab, she lowered her guard.
Seeing no need to stay wary either, I completely suppressed my monster core’s vibrations.
G3 held out her hand.
"If you’re not here as an enemy, let’s introduce ourselves. CXI? I’m Gu Seo-ryong. And you?"
Following human etiquette, I shook her hand and said my name.
"I’m Park Deun-deun."