Chapter 42
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: I Want to See You Again
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The incident had happened roughly ten minutes ago.
There were only three people guarding Princess Kurumi's mansion.
Thanks to that, the most important front gate was covered by the three of them rotating shifts.
And when it was finally Yoo Cheol-ran's turn...
"Over there..."
"Princess?!"
Seeing Princess Kurumi—who always stayed inside the mansion—peeking out beyond the front gate, Yoo Cheol-ran immediately turned around and bowed in greeting.
"Yes, what is it, Princess?"
"Um, your name is..."
"Yes! I'm Yoo Cheol-ran, a C-rank Hunter with the Korean branch of the Hunter Association. Feel free to call me Cheol-ran."
"Cheol-ran... C-rank Hunter..."
Yoo Cheol-ran flashed a bright smile, hoping to make a good first impression.
But to the blindfolded Princess Kurumi, she was just one more loathsome presence among many.
Even the crisp salute—that any ordinary person would find cool and impressive—just made her want to vomit.
Still, there was something she had to do right now, even if it meant swallowing down that nausea.
"Cheol-ran."
"Yes, Princess."
"Could you come here for a moment?"
"...Pardon?"
Guilt twisted her expression for a split second.
But Princess Kurumi quickly smiled brightly and beckoned the repulsive presence before her.
And the moment she stepped within one meter...
Grab.
"...Huh?"
Beast Hunters were said to abhor physical contact with others to an extreme degree.
Yet in that moment of shock as the princess suddenly seized her hand, Yoo Cheol-ran froze.
"Take care of Tenome for me."
A faceless old man materialized above Princess Kurumi's head.
As soon as Yoo Cheol-ran registered the humanoid monster with eyeballs embedded in its palms, she tried to react—but one hand was still gripped by the princess.
Thud!
"Uh, ugh...?"
It felt like something heavy had dropped deep inside her, her eyes losing strength.
"Pri...ncess...!"
Thump.
Afflicted by the abnormal status 'Hypnosis,' Yoo Cheol-ran collapsed unconscious on the spot.
And at that exact moment...
"Ugh, uweeegh!"
It had only been a brief touch.
But overwhelmed by the disgust and humiliation surging up, Princess Kurumi shuddered violently and vomited.
"...! Hic, heuk...!"
Pathetic.
So utterly pathetic.
She despised herself for being unable to even do something so 'normal' as touching another person, despite being human like everyone else.
"The truth is... I... in this body...! Heuk...!"
Her pent-up rage boiled over.
But if she let it all out here, the other two guards might hear.
So...
"...!"
Princess Kurumi barely shoved the rising fury back down her throat.
Then she hurried toward the place she'd always wanted to visit.
...No, the place she now had to go.
"To think the princess would leave the mansion on her own... This makes the 'Teleport Gate' I secretly installed in her place completely useless...!"
"No, just station more guards! Why'd you even make something like that?!"
"Because an ally who swoops in at the moment of crisis builds the deepest trust, of course."
That was why he'd deliberately limited the guards to just three and bided his time.
So that when the raid happened, he could swoop in, rescue Princess Kurumi, and naturally become her mental mentor.
But who could've guessed she'd flee beyond his observation range?
A blatant miscalculation.
"If Princess Kurumi—a Beast Hunter by constitution—has gone outside, where do you think she's headed?"
"...No idea. What about you, Branch Chief Lee Jin-ah?"
"Nothing comes to mind... We'll have to send out the underlings to search. Shin-woo, you track her down your way in the meantime."
"You don't even need to tell me—I'm already on it!"
In the association lobby, we exchanged brief words and headed to our posts.
I bolted straight out of the building and started sprinting toward the mansion.
'What the hell is even going on?!'
The princess leaving the mansion on her own was something that never happened in the original story.
Which meant my existence—the one not in the original—had created this divergence.
'Is there any reason she'd leave because of me...?'
I had no clue.
Absolutely none.
I still hadn't even figured out why she'd kicked me out the other day after we'd been getting along fine.
'Someone with so little time left—why would she...!'
Someone with so much left to enjoy.
I couldn't fathom what madness had driven her to this reckless act...
"...Huh?"
Wait a second.
I halted mid-stride toward the mansion.
And that's when I pinpointed the nagging sense of wrongness I'd been feeling.
"So much left to enjoy...?"
She's a Beast Hunter—confined to the mansion her whole life, no matter what.
Her only joys were those brief moments with me lately.
So why would someone with so little time left deliberately push away Han Shin-woo—the new source of joy in her life?
That morning.
The face of Princess Kurumi as she told me to get out, that it was enough.
Looking closely, her smiling lips had trembled faintly, and her eyes had sparkled unusually bright.
And I knew that expression all too well.
"It's fine, Coach."
"Shin-woo..."
"Really, really! It's fine, Coach. I just need to clear my head—maybe enlist for a bit! I'm seriously okay, Coach. So... just... don't give me that Olympic spot."
It wasn't fine at all—but because the person before me was precious, it was the forced smile I put on to send them off happily.
Holding back tears welling up as I grinned wide made my eyes sparkle that much brighter.
"...Fuck, only noticing now."
Back then, the bolt-from-the-blue news had left me half-dazed; I couldn't catch those details.
But now, knowing her full situation, every puzzle piece clicked into place. I saw right through Princess Kurumi—no, Kurumi's true feelings.
"You were scared of parting too, just like me..."
That's why she'd pushed me away first, on her own terms.
Thinking it would hurt less than an inevitable goodbye later.
But that choice was wrong.
I'd already been through that cruel regret.
It wasn't a parting—it was just 'running away.'
And the place Kurumi had gone alone after cutting me off...
To fill her empty heart with self-loathing, it had to be somewhere utterly abnormal for her.
'The military was that place for me... so for the princess...'
For a Beast Hunter like Princess Kurumi to torment herself, there was only one spot around here.
I whipped around and headed straight there.
Laughter from the crowds.
The bustling footsteps.
This was a place where anyone—man, woman, child, young or old—couldn't help but be happy.
And Kurumi, who couldn't blend in even here, loathed herself as much as the world around her.
"Isn't that a yukata...?"
"So pretty..."
"Why the blindfold, though?"
"Some hunter concept, maybe?"
It felt like slimy, repulsive tongues were licking every inch of her exposed skin.
She felt like she'd snap any second if she let her guard down even a little.
Yet Kurumi had walked into this place of her own accord.
Because she despised—and wanted to kill—the version of herself called Kitsune Kurumi, who couldn't endure even this 'normal' thing and had thrown away her last hope.
This was punishment for the guilt she'd felt back then, for not even fulfilling her own desires.
It was flogging, humiliation, and at the same time, 'self-harm' to overwrite old pain with new.
"Hup...! Hn...! Hic...?!"
The spot where Princess Kurumi sat on a bench, hugging herself tight.
It was Lotte World, one of Seoul's most crowded amusement parks.
"Sca... scary...! Why...? We're... all... hu... humans...!"
If only she'd been normal.
Could she have enjoyed the park like everyone else?
With the person she loved...
Something she couldn't have even imagined before.
But because she'd tasted 'normalcy' for a fleeting moment, even though she'd pushed away that chance herself...
"Shin-woo...! I miss you, Shin-woo... Shin-woo..."
Princess Kurumi knew she shouldn't, but she yearned to hold onto the man who had made her feel like an ordinary woman, just once.
Even knowing all that awaited was a bitter farewell.
But lost in her sorrow, she had no idea yet.
"Grrr..."
"Grarararak!"
Today marked exactly three weeks since the mansion raid.
In other words, the wheels of fate had turned as in the original story, opening a gate to unleash monsters and kill Princess Kurumi.
"Aaaah!!"
"M-monsters!"
The horde that should have laid siege to the mansion was now rampaging right in the heart of the amusement park.