Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: 10 Years Have Passed
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The sea... split apart.
'Is this for real...!'
This wasn't some game graphic—it was real. My single punch had parted the sea like the miracle of Moses.
The angel's headless corpse tumbled powerlessly from the carrier's edge, plummeting into the depths below.
It was truly the moment when everything came to an end.
'What a relief.'
Busan Port, which would have been reduced to a sea of flames in the original story, was unscathed. So were all the people who would have lost their lives.
Though I couldn't see them, the original story's heroines somewhere out there would now have a chance to grow up safely, thanks to this.
As that thought crossed my mind, I glanced down at my right fist—the one that had shattered the angel's head.
"......"
'C-Captain! Please send me to the hospital! My leg's all messed up! It's not malingering!'
'I-I've got competitions I have to enter after discharge!'
'You bastards! You begged me to join! And now that you're crippled, you wanna ditch me?!'
Memories... or rather, nightmares that couldn't be called memories.
The catastrophe that unfolded in that 'prison' I entered right after turning eighteen, having only won silver or bronze medals as a teen.
A minor ligament strain in my leg went untreated at the time and tore completely, leaving me unable to practice Kyokushin Karate—or even run—ever again.
Squeeze!
I had reached Kyokushin once more, something I'd long given up on.
The angel's movements had been so blindingly fast that my body instinctively assumed the 'Kyokushin Karate Basic Form - Sanchin Stance.'
'I can train in Kyokushin again...!'
Just regaining that dream was the greatest blessing I could imagine.
But joy would have to wait.
"Hold it right there, Jamsil Monster."
Click.
Now that the humans had confirmed the situation was under control, Commander Rolling had emerged from inside the ship, aiming a monster-grade rifle at me.
Turning my head, I saw the remaining U.S. soldiers on high alert, staring me down.
Among them, one figure stood out especially.
An old man with a bushy beard, puffing on a pipe.
He looked like the carrier's commanding officer at first glance.
He pushed past his soldiers—even bypassing Commander Rolling, who was guarding the front—and strode right up to me.
"A-Admiral?!"
"Hmph..."
He planted himself boldly in front of me.
"Hah!"
To my expert eyes, it was a clumsy move, lacking polish.
Bang!
His feet formed an eleven shape. Legs spread to shoulder width, lowering his hips into the Horse Stance—one of karate's basic postures.
From that straight punch he threw at me, I could tell.
Despite our different species, we shared the same style. This was the admiral's way of thanking me, since words wouldn't work.
"Grrrk!"
"...!"
"The m-monster..."
"Took the same stance as the admiral...?"
In return, I mirrored him with my own Horse Stance, extending my fist to accept the greeting.
Everyone stared at me in stunned silence.
Thud.
"...Ah!"
"The Jamsil Monster has left the carrier!"
"It's sprinting across the ocean at incredible speed!"
The naval base watching via monitors scrambled to track the Jamsil Monster belatedly.
But the equipment that couldn't even detect the angel once it moved was hopeless against something even greater.
"W-What do we do? Should we form a separate pursuit team?"
One crew member gulped and glanced at the base commander, Navy Chief of Staff Yoo Jun-young.
"No, that's not necessary."
Instead, Army Chief of Staff Lee Seok-gyu answered.
"Prioritize rescuing the U.S. personnel on the carrier and my wife first."
"...! Yes, sir!"
The naval base shifted from pursuing the humanoid monster to life-saving operations.
"Senior, are you sure we shouldn't track that humanoid monster from earlier?"
Navy Chief of Staff Yoo Jun-young—Lee Seok-gyu's junior from their army days—asked, uneasy about the abrupt end.
Lee Seok-gyu replied with conviction.
"It's fine. It didn't seem interested in humans from the start."
"Not interested... in humans?"
"Yeah. On that carrier deck earlier, it could've killed everyone aboard if it wanted. But for whatever reason, it just backed off."
"True enough."
"No need to poke a quiet hornet's nest. Besides, even if we found it with our current forces, we couldn't catch it."
"...Y-Yeah, you're right..."
Lee Seok-gyu patted his junior's shoulder—a warning not to charge ahead blindly and die pointlessly—then walked on.
His face lit up with excitement as he headed toward his daughter, who was still staring at the blank monitor.
"Sophia... weren't you scared?"
"Nope! That monster uncle actually saved Mom, and he was super cool!"
"R-Really?"
'Uncle' instead of 'monster'...
Even if it was humanoid, it was still a monster in the end.
Her father could only feel awkward watching his daughter treat it like a person.
But that 'monster uncle' had saved his family, debts be damned.
'If he hadn't shown up then, Rolling would be... I owe him big time.'
With his whole family safe, Lee Seok-gyu scooped up Sophia with one arm as always.
And with the other, his son Shin-woo...
"...?"
Where was Shin-woo?
"Sophia, have you seen Shin-woo?"
"...! Oh, right! Shin-woo!"
Sophia tilted her head at her dad's question, then landed on the floor with a serious look.
"Dad! Come to think of it, I haven't seen Shin-woo since earlier!"
"W-What?!"
At her words, cold sweat beaded on Lee Seok-gyu's forehead too.
Now that he thought about it, Shin-woo had vanished right around when the Jamsil Monster appeared.
Coincidence?
This delay was way too long even for a bathroom break.
Could the Jamsil Monster's true identity be...!
"Uncle! Sophia!"
"Shin!"
"Wu?!"
Right then.
Shin-woo returned, face bruised and swollen like he'd been in a fight—far too casual for nothing having happened.
The father and daughter crumbled in relief at their battered son/friend, minds blank.
"Sh-Shin-woo...?!!"
"S-Son! Y-Your face! What happened?!"
"Hahaha..."
Shin-woo just laughed at their frantic questions.
Trailing behind him was another figure.
"Ah, sir! Hello. I'm Captain Yoon Hee-sun, nurse officer at the naval base clinic."
The female officer with the name tag on her uniform quickly explained to the pair who looked ready to devour her.
"Y-Your son was heading back from the bathroom when he tripped on the stairs."
"Tr-Tripped on the stairs?!"
"Yes. Seems the soldiers on cleaning duty didn't wipe up the water properly..."
In truth, he'd rushed to the base, undone his monsterization, and faked a fall using seawater on his body.
"Daddy..."
"Yeah..."
Sorry, navy brass!
Squish.
"From now on, you go to the bathroom with me. Got it?"
"Uwugh..."
Sophia squished my cheeks with both hands, her eyes dull and lifeless.
And then.
"Honey, what are you doing."
Evidently, her personal comms were still connected, unlike base channels.
"No nagging."
"I was just about to."
Lee Seok-gyu nodded silently at Commander Rolling's words from across the sea and pressed on.
He arrived at his junior, Navy Chief of Staff Yoo Jun-young.
"...? Senior, what's up...?"
"Hey, Yoo Jun-young..."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"You think 'cause I eat at sea, you can treat me like a pushover?"
"I-I didn't hear that right?"
"Yell!"
The dressing-down evoked army PTSD from the troops.
"...and that's why this senior is disappointed in you."
"S-Sorry, sir!"
Classic military letdown: "I'm disappointed in you."
After that, it was open season.
"Any general officers here?"
"Brigadier General Lee Chang-seop!"
"Major General Ko Dae-hee!"
"Lieutenant General Lee Mal-jin!"
"Hoo... This Navy Chief of Staff is disappointed in our generals."
"?!"
"I-I didn't hear that right?"
The Navy Chief of Staff served the same to his flag officers.
"Any field-grade officers here?"
"Major Shin Jae-hwa!"
"L-Lieutenant Colonel Park Ji-hyun!"
"This admiral is deeply! Very deeply! Disappointed in you all."
"...!"
"W-We apologize!"
Generals to field grades.
"Any company-grade officers?"
"Captain Lee Bong-pal!"
"Lieutenant Han Jung-hyeop!"
"Yes. We field grades are disappointed in you lot who can't even manage stairs."
"S-Sorry, sir!"
"Everyone marches to the sea tomorrow!"
"Secure comms all the way to Dragon Palace."
"Yes, sir!"
Field grades to company grades.
...And by tomorrow, the enlisted would pass it down too.
'Still, I stopped a massacre with just a march. Not bad, right?'
Sorry, but it's the best I could do.
"Daddy, Daddy! Anyway, our king crab party?"
"Huh? King crab?"
"Yeah! Mom and Shin-woo are hurt, so king crab'll fix 'em right up!"
Sophia, you think king crab's a cure-all?
But if we could eat that pricey king crab for once...
Gulp.
"Hehe. Shin-woo wants some too, right?"
"Yeah!"
Maybe 'cause I'd just worked out.
My stomach was growling fiercely.
"Alright. We'll three eat it, and make Mom some king crab porridge to take over."
"Yay!"
"No fair~."
"I'll buy you some later. Rest up for now."
"Okaay~."
We walked side by side through Busan's streets, which would've been wiped clean in the original timeline.
Sophia especially gripped my hand tight, beaming with joy.
"Hey, hey. Shin-woo. Guess what?"
"What?"
"I figured out what monster I'll tame as a Beast Hunter!"
"Oh?"
Sophia whispered in my ear.
A girl who chews king crab shells whole? Impressive.
'Whatever monster it is, it'll get worked hard.'
Seeing Sophia's bright future thanks to the changed history, I smiled happily.
And so time passed.
Ten years later.
The year I turned nineteen, eligible for the official hunter exam.
"Liar."
"Sophia..."
"You said you'd always stay by my side. So why are you still so weak?"
Sophia, hailed as Korea's once-in-a-generation talent, had earned her hunter license at just twelve.
In stark contrast, I was a talentless nobody, flunking the exam from round one.
Our reunion—after her two-year mission away—was the worst imaginable.
"I don't even want to look at trash like you..."
"......"
"Get lost, you liar."