Chapter 52
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Don't Become My Comrade
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Nuna has one comrade who can see the opponent's 'memories.' But she can only use that ability once a week."
I think I know who that comrade is...
No, more than that—if this is the 'kidnapping event' I saw in the original story, then I'm in real danger.
"Right now, we've got about a hundred people locked up inside the hideout who witnessed the Jamsil Monster just like you."
"A h-hundred?! Like, a hundred people?!"
"Yeah. So you won't be lonely while you're locked up. There's even a doctor among them, so you can leave your condition in their hands or whatever."
She was clearly doing this to peek into as many memories as possible at once, since that ability could only be used once a week.
And that made sense, because the Freak Squad's kidnapping event was one of the grindy contents I farmed the most.
True to their evil organization roots, the Freak Squad kidnapped anyone who had the info they wanted first and asked questions later.
Recruitment or threats came after the kidnapping.
Of course, sending people back unharmed if they weren't needed later was part of the Freak Squad's twisted aesthetic...
But I'd definitely be useful...
This wasn't just some connection to the Jamsil Monster—I was the Jamsil Monster.
The moment they drag me away, it's a bad end for sure...!
My body was in such bad shape, I didn't even know if I could properly monsterize.
And even if I did fully monsterize, that would basically be confessing my identity outright to Catarina.
More than anything, the second she figured out who I was, no matter what I did, I wouldn't be able to silence her.
Not even if it meant 'killing' her—I could never keep my secret from her that way.
Because Catarina was the kind of person who wouldn't die even after death, and could never forget anything she'd once seen.
"I-I don't wanna go!"
She was still a decent villain, at least.
With a faint hope, I curled up like a frightened mouse, trying to tug at Catarina's guilt.
But.
"...Huh? So what?"
"...Pardon?"
"I'm not exactly asking for your permission here."
A decent villain? No—first and foremost, she was the leader of the Freak Squad.
She just nodded indifferently, like what do you expect me to do?
"Don't worry. We're just gonna pluck out the Jamsil Monster's memories from your head. We won't eat you or anything."
That's exactly the problem.
I couldn't even twitch a finger, so I was on the verge of being dragged off to the Freak Squad's base right in this hospital bed, without any resistance...
Crash!
The moment I sensed it.
"?!"
As they dragged me right up to the VIP room's entrance, a golden flash shattered the window and burst inside like it had been waiting.
By the time the startled Catarina turned around, Sophia was already leaping straight at her chest, scythe gripped in one hand and poised to swing.
"Who do you think you're dragging off...!"
"How did you even...?"
"You can drag that guy off, but take me instead!!"
Whoosh.
A horizontal slash from point-blank range, meant to cleave her in two.
The reaper's blade seemed ready to claim Catarina's neck at any second.
But she held an official title as one of humanity's strongest freaks in history.
Thud.
"...!"
"Hoo."
Catarina effortlessly caught the B-rank hunter's ambush with one hand, right before it could sever her neck.
Gazing down at the flustered Sophia with her glowing red eyes, she raised her other hand like a guillotine, ready to knock out the sprout in front of her in one blow.
Crack!
"...Guh?!"
The moment that happened—a baby monster summoned from the shadows where their intertwined figures overlapped pierced her abdomen first.
"Don't touch Oppa."
"Th-this... a monster? Does that mean you're...?"
"Too bad. This was a pincer attack with my familiar beast."
"...! A Beast Hunter?!"
What kind of Beast Hunter fought in close quarters like this?
Catarina had assumed it was a close-combat specialized hunter job since she'd charged in with a scythe.
But to think it was the ultra-rare Beast Hunter...!
And the monster quietly summoned from the shadows was a humanoid so high-quality, it could be mistaken for a human girl at a glance.
"No way anyone falls for this..."
"Stay still. Or I'll make Lia pull her hand out of your gut."
Sophia warned Catarina, who wore a wry smile.
If Lia pulled her hand out of Sophia's abdomen right now, there'd be an absurd amount of blood loss for sure.
No matter how much of a nation-toppling supervillain she was, she was still human—surviving that would be impossible for more than a few minutes.
"Who are you? Why are you after Shin-woo?"
"......"
"If you don't answer, I might just kill you for real."
The look in Catarina's eyes as she faced Sophia was already set on killing.
She'd felt the vast gap between herself and the girl in front of her.
Whatever the reason, the opponent had only tried to 'subdue' her, and the ambush had barely succeeded because Catarina hadn't known she was a Beast Hunter.
In other words, this situation could flip at any moment.
Even with her life on the line, Sophia pressed for an answer, knowing she couldn't let her guard down or she'd be the one to fall.
But then, in a way that made all that resolve pointless.
"A Beast Hunter in close combat... That's just dirty..."
"Forget that—answer my question first...!"
"Little one. Wanna go again?"
Where the hell had that come from all of a sudden?
Everyone in the hospital room froze in shock as Catarina brought a knife from her hand between herself and Sophia's eyes.
But the real shock was just beginning.
"Alright, then. See you in the next 'round.'"
"...! Sophia! Grab her quick!"
"Uh, yeah?"
Splat!
Lia, sensing the danger, yanked her arm out of Catarina's gut.
A waterfall of blood gushed from the gaping hole, and normally, this would be the point where someone begged for their life.
Slice.
But Catarina drew the knife straight across her own throat.
Her smiling, eyes-closed head slowly detached from its place.
Thud.
"...Huh?"
It rolled limply to the floor.
"Damn it!"
The moment Shin-woo clicked his tongue, the world drowned in white light.
A horizontal slash from point-blank range, meant to cleave her completely in two.
The reaper's blade seemed ready to claim Catarina's neck at any second.
But she held an official title as one of humanity's strongest freaks in history.
Thud.
"...!"
"Hoo."
She effortlessly caught the B-rank hunter's ambush with one hand, right before it could sever her neck.
Gazing down at the flustered Sophia with her glowing red eyes, she raised her other hand like a guillotine, ready to knock out the sprout in front of her in one blow.
And that moment.
Crack!
"Urk?!"
"Lia?!"
Catarina smashed the crown of Lia's head, who had burst from the shadows between them as if targeting Sophia.
Stunned by the sudden counter-ambush turning the tables, Lia bled from her eyes, ears, and nose before collapsing unconscious on the floor.
"H-how did you...?"
"Know you were a Beast Hunter?"
"...?!"
An ambush method impossible to fall for without prior knowledge of her.
The fact that it had been countered left Sophia flustered, and she blacked out just like Lia from the hand blade reaching her neck.
"Of course I didn't know. That's why I got hit once in the last 'round.'"
Less 'last round' and more like something from another 'parallel world,' but whatever.
Catarina Bullet.
Her hunter ability was 'interference with parallel worlds.'
If she died in this world, she moved to a parallel world with the same setup but different outcomes, perfectly retaining only those memories.
She could sense the near-infinite parallel worlds where other results could emerge at any time.
"Took a little time this round."
Only Catarina Bullet, who knew of parallel worlds' existence, could notice her own ability.
She planned to drag Shin-woo's bed out of the hospital and back to her business.
But.
"...?"
Was there a scene like this in the previous parallel world?
The kid who'd been lying there even as she died was somehow propping himself up, aiming a glass shard at his own neck.
Like he was trying to take himself hostage, no matter what.
"I... won't go with you!"
"Hmm... A 'branch point'? This is a problem..."
Even if she wanted to subdue him, the sharp glass tip was already slightly embedded in Shin-woo's neck.
Rushing in recklessly could cause it to slice his throat from the recoil.
So Catarina drew her suicide dagger from her thigh holster and pointed it at her own neck, just like Shin-woo.
And she'd already seen what she'd do right after subduing Sophia.
Next round, after subduing her, no slacking—knock this kid out right away.
The moment she tried to slit her own throat alone again, as always, to reset from the beginning.
"Don't go to the next round."
"...What?"
Words she shouldn't be able to hear rang out right in front of her.
Shin-woo's words, as if he knew her ability, made Catarina sheathe the blade she'd held to her neck.
She glared at him with a grim expression never shown in the original story.
"What the hell does that mean?"
But as if he'd seen through such threats long ago.
"Parallel worlds."
"...!"
"I can feel them too."
"What did you say?"
Cold sweat dripped, but Shin-woo forced a casual smile.
"Abandoning this world and jumping to the next won't help. The starting point's always when you run into Sophia. That's how you set it up today."
"How do you even know that...?"
"But I've been clutching the glass shards from when Sophia broke into the room since that moment. In other words, no matter if it's the next round or the one after, my suicide's already a done deal."
Catarina's face, filled with hostility, soon filled with surprise and wonder instead.
And gazing at her, Shin-woo said.
"Catarina. I don't know why you're after the Jamsil Monster right now, but the Freak Squad's ultimate goal—the one you formed—is curing 'Monster Sickness,' right?"
"You... what the hell are you?"
"I'll help with that. But there are two conditions."
"Two conditions?"
Shin-woo paused, holding up two fingers.
This was how to dodge the Freak Squad route while steadily building Freak Squad affinity.
"First, don't take me into the Freak Squad. And second, drop all interest in the Jamsil Monster completely."