Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Enemy or Ally?
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Enemy... or ally?
It hurts.
It hurts. It hurts so much.
Why...?
What did I do wrong?
All I did was fight back.
I sensed the killing intent and reacted. And as the victor, I devoured the loser. That's the natural order of things.
Are you trying to eat me too?
Then why don't you just kill me right away? Why stab and claw at me, torturing me with wounds?
"Haha. Even in human form, it's still just a pup."
"Let's kill it quick and head home."
"Wait! We can't kill it! It's a valuable test subject!"
"...Fine. We'll just neutralize it enough, then."
It hurts.
Stop it.
I was wrong.
"Ah, th-that..."
That's enough.
You won. Just kill me and eat me already.
Why keep targeting my limbs so obsessively?
"Aa, ah...!"
It was incomprehensible behavior.
A thrown dagger embedded itself into the thigh of the pup monster, which had begun to falter.
"Gyaak?!"
Strength drained from its legs.
Seizing the opening, the hunters who had grabbed it from both sides forced the pup monster helplessly to its knees on the floor.
"Are you okay?!"
It hurts.
It hurts so much.
Trembling uncontrollably, the pup monster turned to face forward.
A human rushing toward it with a worried expression...
"Uh-ah... ah..?"
Why the sad face?
Why the concern?
Having been born after its mother was already dead, the pup had never felt goodwill toward others.
So seeing Lee Hee-jung worry for it regardless of species made its heart stir.
But that spark in its eyes was fleeting.
"Phew. Good thing its reproductive organs seem fine."
"Come on, we're not heartless. That's why we targeted the limbs on purpose."
"Aren't you underestimating B-rank hunters a bit too much?"
A human kneeling to eye level but refusing to meet its gaze, only inspecting its lower body.
An inexplicable disgust welled up.
For the first time since birth, it trusted... and was betrayed.
The pup monster let out a rage-filled cry.
"Aaa! Aa!"
"Mommy?!"
"Whoa there."
"Hold still."
But it couldn't shake off the hands gripping it.
And that wasn't all.
"Damn... you scared me!"
Pow!
Suddenly its vision spun sideways, one cheek burning.
As it faced forward again, a human stood breathing heavily, one foot extended in the direction it had turned.
The pup realized it had been kicked.
And it hung its head low.
Not content with betrayal from the one who showed concern, it had even suffered violence.
An indescribable agony surged within.
But as if true suffering was only beginning...
"Hold that monster steady."
Lee Hee-jung turned her back on the pup monster.
Issuing orders to the hunters, she headed toward the center of the brutally slaughtered monster corpses.
"Let me see... Hmm, this one died pretty intact."
"What are you planning?"
"What else? Extracting genes."
True to her role as a researcher at the lab building, Lee Hee-jung skillfully plunged a syringe into one of the dead monster corpses.
She successfully extracted genes that were still viable.
Then, walking back toward the pup monster, she spoke to the hunters holding it.
"This monster wiped out almost all our lab samples. So we're restoring them ASAP."
"You mean... artificial insemination right here?"
"Yes. Monster genes only survive about two hours outside a living body. We have to breed them right now."
"Even so, that beast-type monster and this pup are different species. You think crossbreeding will work?"
"It will. There's a paper on how humanoid monsters can breed with other species to create 'chimera' individuals."
Lee Hee-jung knelt on one knee again, meeting the pup monster's eyes.
As she raised the syringe in her hand, the pup instinctively thrashed in unknown terror.
"Ah, aaa...?! Aaa...!"
"Tch. Hold it tighter. I'll just inject straight into the reproductive organs."
"Got it."
"If it keeps thrashing, cut off an arm or leg... or gouge out an eyeball."
"We can do that?"
"Yes. We're only using it for breeding, so as long as the reproductive organs are intact, it doesn't matter what we break."
The pup monster felt utter helplessness and extreme fear, no matter how it screamed.
It was too scary.
So scary that, for the first time in its life, it lost control of its bowels.
"Hmm. Not just reproductive—its excretory organs look human-like too? We'll need a separate dissection later."
"Aaa...! Aaaaa!!"
Scary.
Save me.
Stop it.
Why are you doing this to me?
Its teeth chattered. Hot liquid streamed from its eyes. As the syringe neared its navel, the pup shook its body desperately.
"Kuh...!"
"Hey!"
"Hold it properly! You men can't even handle a pup?"
Then.
"Kyaaak?!"
Tilting severely to one side, its arm twisted impossibly—but instead, it flung one hunter aside and broke free.
Lee Hee-jung, knocked down by the flying hunter colliding with her...
Crash!
"Wh-what?"
Despair washed over her as the syringe with the remaining monster sample shattered.
"Y-you...! Fine! Neutralize it now so this never happens again!"
She pulled up the fallen hunter with her and barked orders at the others.
"Just sever the tendons in the arms and legs?"
"Chop them off entirely! Damn it! As long as it doesn't die! Cripple it so it can't pull this twice!"
"Then let's finish the job."
One arm dangled limply, bones dislocated.
As the three hunters closed in, the pup monster retreated in fear.
Its back hit the wall, and it began shedding 'tears' again in terror.
"Uwaa...! Aa, th-that...!"
No kin to protect it.
No parents.
Not strong enough.
Nothing it could do.
"Stay still. It'll end quicker that way~."
Humans eyeing its limbs, each wielding different weapons.
It couldn't win with one arm.
Instinct whispered that surrender meant horrors worse than death.
Right before the end, in that universal déjà vu all life feels...
The pup monster...
...no.
More precisely, in a fragment of genetic memory, it saw.
A way to overcome this crisis.
The perfect strike that felled its progenitor.
"Th-that..."
"...?"
"Kyo... Kushin... Kara... te..."
"...What."
"The monster's talking?!"
From the progenitor's memory: facing straight ahead.
Feet planted, toes inward, knees slightly bent.
Then, neither too strong nor weak—not striking the foe, but space itself—shoulders back, punch extended.
"Straight... Punch."
Bam!
Crude compared to the real technique in memory.
But enough for now.
"Guh?!"
"Eek?!"
The hunter dead ahead doubled over, muscles rippling, spewing blood as it flew back—despite barely grazing.
The flanking hunters were blasted apart like leaves in wind, slamming into the floor.
Lee Hee-jung, watching frozen, collapsed in fright.
Its dim gray eyes regained a ruby sheen.
"I... won...!"
The pup ignored them henceforth.
It just wanted to live.
Spotting the lab vent cover dislodged by the shockwave, it dove in and vanished.
Glancing back at its progenitor, which birthed it.
"M-Mom..."
Body intact, head gone.
"Bye."
A final farewell, and it slipped away from the lab building.
After finishing the monster cleanup and returning to the association branch.
"What's with the atmosphere...?"
"Yeah, weird, right?"
The lobby buzzed like doomsday had arrived.
Sophia and I exchanged blank looks and tilted our heads.
Right then.
"Sophia Hunter! You're a hunter, right?!"
A staff member rushed toward us.
One I'd seen handling lobby duties before.
"Something huge happened!"
"Huge?"
"Yes! All C-rank and above got a quick briefing on the sixth floor and deployed to the scene!"
"Every C-rank and up? What the hell happened?"
"W-well..."
The staffer glanced at me mid-sentence and clammed up.
Clear signal: from here on, not for my ears.
So I tactfully bowed out.
"Sophia. I'll head home first. Catch up later."
"...Yeah. Got it. See you at dinner."
"Sure."
As I stepped away from Sophia, the staffer apologized to her with a sorry look and took the elevator up with her.
Guiding her to the sixth-floor briefing room, probably.
Pretending to head home, I bolted for the stairs instead, racing to the fifth floor.
'This is definitely a deviation from the original plot!'
Panting, I burst into the fifth-floor bathroom.
Checked thoroughly for anyone else—confirmed empty.
The briefing room was directly above, after all.
To 'eavesdrop,' superhuman hearing was essential.
"Uwoooo..."
Quietly, since it's public.
I let out a low roar, black lightning crackling over my body. Donning ebony armor, I monsterized into the beast Urogal.
Then hopped into a stall, locked the door, and pressed my ear upward.