Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Should Not Have Been Born
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A man with glass shards embedded in his face.
He climbed down from the window, then his body color began to shift to green.
And then, like paint dripping, he lost his form and splattered onto the floor as a liquid puddle.
"Dead...?"
"...No."
Sophia tilted her head at the sight, but I could be certain from its color, features, and the scene unfolding before my eyes.
This thing was a monster equivalent to B+ danger level.
A 'Nasha Snake'.
'...But Nasha Snakes aren't supposed to appear in Korea, their habitat.'
The places it typically emerged were dense jungles like the Amazon, where snakes of similar size lived.
For one to show up in Korea, in our house, in my room of all places.
It didn't feel like coincidence, so I decided to share what I knew with Sophia first.
"Sophia! That's a Nasha Snake!"
"Nasha... Snake?"
"Monster from Africa or the Amazon jungle! Its defining trait is that it has no solid form, so physical attacks don't work at all."
"What?! Then I can't kill it?"
"No. Somewhere inside its body, there's a small 'core' about the size of a chocolate ball. Destroy that."
The problem was that the core didn't stay in one spot like a human heart—it slithered around inside its long snake body.
But Sophia was a B-rank hunter acknowledged even in America, the world's top hunter nation—not just anywhere, but Korea.
'Odds of winning... there are some!'
With my insider knowledge and her physical prowess combined, we could take it down. That's what I was thinking, smiling to myself,
when—
"Hey, Shin-woo."
"Yeah?"
"Before that, explain this one first."
Sophia turned a cold glare my way and held out the dazed baby monster toward me.
The baby monster dangled limply like a cat picked up by the scruff.
Clueless about its situation, it yawned and rubbed its eyes.
"This is a monster, right?"
"Ah, no, that's..."
"The baby monster that escaped from the research building just the other day."
"True, but..."
"From what I heard, the Jamsil Monster that barged in mid-transport took it and ran. So why was this in your room in our house?"
"......"
Sophia's mind flashed back to the 'Han Shin-woo Monster Theory' that had quieted down for a bit.
How was I supposed to explain myself to her suspicious stare?
"I-it was on the ground, so I picked it up..."
"......"
This wasn't some Ace Attorney game.
I didn't have the sharp wits to bamboozle her with a convenient lie and an 'Objection!'
"A-and it's pitiful!"
"?! You're working for the Hunter Association, and you're pitying a monster?"
"No, I mean... And it's cute!"
"...! Th-this...! I'm cuter!!"
Our house under monster attack, and here we were, putting the baby monster front and center for a full-blown argument.
"Uh... B-bro... what's goin' on?"
"M-monster talkin'?! Wait, 'bro'...?!"
"It didn't know what to call you, so..."
It was last night.
Right after we'd finished dinner together.
"Th-that..."
"Yeah?"
"Monster, you... not mom, hey... monster, what're you?"
"Oh, my name?"
The baby monster referred to me as 'not-mom' or just 'monster.'
The former was whatever, but the latter felt risky, so I taught it a 'name' to call me by.
"Just... uh... 'bro' is easy."
"B-bro?"
Hearing my name from a monster's mouth felt weird anyway.
To make it easy for the baby monster, I'd introduced myself with the two-syllable 'oppa.'
But Sophia clearly hated it.
"'Bro' to a monster... what insanity!"
"Sorry..."
"...! Take this first!"
Fling!
Mid-scolding, Sophia chucked the baby monster straight at me.
Then, as the Nasha Snake lunged at her, she sliced it in half with her custom scythe—summonable on command—and shouted,
"Talk later! If you wanna save that thing, run!"
"...! Yeah. Thanks, Sophia!"
"Idiot! And dump stuff like that quick!"
I grabbed the baby monster's hand.
Then bolted down the stairs and out the front door.
By then, I could see Sophia fighting the Nasha Snake on the roof, having burst through my bedroom ceiling.
'I've already told her the weakness and strategy. Sticking around would just get in her way.'
Thinking that, I fled with the baby monster toward some deserted spot.
That's when—
"Bro."
The baby monster shook off my arm and stopped.
"Am I... hinderin' bro?"
Its ruby eyes looked up at me mournfully.
It knew this was a time to run.
Yet here was someone who'd shown it kindness for the first time since birth.
Fed it, talked to it, protected it. The baby monster wanted an answer from him.
Was this the place for me?
"......"
I couldn't answer hastily.
Even the 'good monsters' from the late game were just bargaining types for story purposes.
There was no such pure childlike monster in the original.
Was this kid a hindrance to me?
Honestly? Yes.
Pure or not, a civilian keeping a pet monster defied common sense in this world.
I had no defense if called a human traitor right now.
But knowing that full well—
'Dad... am I a burden to Dad...?'
"Damn it..."
Truly vicious.
Forced to relive memories I'd buried deep.
And that's why I wanted to hold on.
I'd wished a hundred times for a place to stay when I'd said those words.
But... my answer came too late.
"Bro, sorry. Thank you... so much."
"...?! Hey, wait!"
Pat pat pat.
The baby monster turned its back and ran off at a speed no human me could match.
Not even knowing where it was headed, finding purpose just in its own existence.
Why was I even born?
I barely opened my eyes and nearly died, killed it, ate what I hunted—that's all.
Yet everything in the world tried to kill me, like I was wrong, and for me... no one was there.
"Hic... sob...!"
A nest...
A new family to care for me in place of my dead mom...
I thought I'd found one.
The blonde human who blocked the kin invading our nest for bro's sake.
That human clearly said to bro,
"Idiot! And dump stuff like that quick!"
...She did.
This is the human world.
Not our kin's world.
But kin hunt me too.
Then where do I go?
"...Huh?"
"...?"
"M-monster!"
"Kyaaah!"
"Monster! Monster!"
The baby monster halted amid human screams, having run aimlessly.
Right in the bustling morning heart of Gangnam Station intersection.
Panting hard, it finally realized it was surrounded by humans.
In unjust frustration, it reached out to the first screaming lady.
But all that came back was,
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
A sharper scream, of course.
Cars at the intersection whipped into U-turns; those who couldn't piled out and fled.
Pedestrians spun away from the lights.
Soon traffic ground to a halt, replaced by a massive encirclement watching the baby monster from afar.
"Ah... uwaa..."
No.
I promised bro I won't hurt humans anymore—no need to fear.
Frustrated, wanting to vent, but every glance met the same reactions.
"Gross..."
"Scary."
"Why's that thing in the middle of the city?!"
"Someone hurry up and kill it!"
All fear me, hate me, despise me, and in the end, wish me 'dead.'
"Too... much..."
The baby monster gave up explaining, silently gazing at the gloomy sky.
"M-mom... why... was somethin' like me... even born...?"
Hate it.
So much hate.
Prefer death over living like this forever.
Tears welled in grievance, but no one would care, so even crying felt denied.
Right then—
"What's this?"
"...! Bro!"
The one chasing after even me like this.
Only bro would...
"Bro?"
...Or so I thought.
Chill.
First oppression I'd ever felt since birth.
Body that craved death moments ago now shuddered with survival instinct.
The human approaching from behind wasn't just 'strong'—that word fell short.
If anything... yeah.
A being on a whole other dimension from me.
"Eh? Isn't that Lee Jin-ah?"
"Yeah! It's Hunter Lee Jin-ah!"
"National power-level hunter! First time seeing her in person...!"
"She's definitely here to save us!"
Lee Jin-ah gazed down at the terrified baby monster, then waved smiling to the cheering crowd.
The roar around her swelled louder.
Letting her whisper to the baby monster undetected.
"Run? Sure, run away."
"...?! Wh-what...?"
"Yeah. Try it. But as a monster, will there ever come a time when you can?"
"Th-that's..."
No.
Monster, can't even approach human society.
Learned human speech and acts, won't fit with kin either.
This kid: eternal loner.
"No one will ever love you."
"...!"
Lee Jin-ah leaned in, whispering, shredding the baby monster's heart.
"No one will accept you. Even if someone did, they'd suffer lifelong scars because of you."
"N-no!"
"No, it's true. You got help in the sewers, right? So why are you alone now?"
"...!"
Because!
Because...
That wasn't my place.
Because of me, bro's nest destroyed; because of me, bro attacked.
"You should never have been born."
"......"
The baby monster gave up rebuttal to Lee Jin-ah's words.
Was I an 'heretic' to this world in every way?
At least death was 'fair' to all.
'Biting tongue to die leaves an almost intact sample.'
Lee Jin-ah smiled brightly, gesturing for it to hurry.
The crowd encircling Gangnam Station did too.
"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!"
A chant demanding the baby monster's death rose from all.
No one to give it will to live.
Not one.
So... no will to endure this lonely, solitary, terrifying life to the end.
"Hic...!"
At least the end on my terms.
"Waaahhh—!!"
As it tried to bite its tongue—
"Uwaaaah!"
"Everyone run!"
The Gangnam Station crowd fled in terror despite the national power hunter nearby.
The baby monster's dull blood-red eyes began to shine ruby-bright.
"Ah... ah...!"
"Hm..."
Lee Jin-ah's colorless transparent eyes fixed ahead.
There,
in the drizzle of falling raindrops,
a pitch-black monster walking toward them.
The Jamsil Monster revealed itself once more.