Chapter 58
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: No More Tampering with the Original!
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Ten minutes earlier.
"The Freak Syndicate... and the Angel's lower body started moving..."
Lying alone in the VIP hospital room, I'd been feeling uneasy about this story development that had no place in the original plot ever since yesterday.
And for good reason. The Freak Syndicate was an evil organization that only showed up in the mid-game, and there was no episode where the Angel's corpse came back to life.
Then, hearing that the Angel's corpse was actually being manipulated by a puppeteer made one person spring to mind.
"Who would've thought that Rivern would come to Korea..."
Rivern of the Freak Syndicate.
She would later be known by another moniker: the Avenger.
I still vividly remembered her from the first time I infiltrated their hideout on the Freak Syndicate route—always tinkering with her dolls in the corner.
She was constantly preparing modified puppets stitched together from half human corpses and half monster ones.
'In the end, she succeeds in her revenge at the original story's close, but overcome by loss, she slits her own throat... the tragic heroine, right? Something like that.'
Her true identity? A direct descendant of one of the world's top ten families.
The Bellpes family from Germany, renowned for their Marionette Hunters.
Unlike Princess Kurumi, who was an illegitimate child, Rivern's status as a direct heir was precisely what set her misfortune in motion.
...Anyway, that was enough reminiscing about the original plot. Why had Rivern, who never even set foot in Korea in the story, shown up here instead and stolen the Angel's corpse?
The reason was obvious to me, since it tied directly to her goal—me.
'No surprise there. She stole it on Catarina's orders to lure me out...'
I'd suspected as much. Catarina hadn't come to Korea alone, after all.
But Rivern as her companion? Of all people.
"Please, leave it to me."
"I have a mission I must fulfill, no matter what."
"For something so trivial, so pathetic...! Ah, aaaaaaah!!"
"...I don't want to live. I'd rather just die."
Despite her beautiful appearance, Rivern became the heroine exclusive to the Freak Syndicate route—a story so relentlessly bleak it inflicted PTSD on every player at one point or another, cementing her as an infamous relic of the game.
The back half ramped up the melodrama hard, and the Rivern route was packed with such grotesque scenes that it got slapped with an R18 rating all its own.
Especially that moment when she faced the protagonist head-on, slicing her own throat wide open on-screen—no mosaic, just raw butchery...
'...I need to meet her first.'
One of the few normal heroines in the original Hunters Blood.
She falls apart at the end, but in this world that's become reality, I wanted to see Rivern now, before it was too late.
Besides, all these sudden original-plot deviations cropping up at a time when nothing should've happened were causing me no end of headaches.
'Since I'm meeting them anyway, might as well chase the Freak Syndicate right out of Korea!'
Dump the Angel's corpse that never even appeared in the original! Scare off the Freak Syndicate, who weren't due until mid-game!
With that in mind—even though I still needed crutches to walk—I headed alone to the quiet hospital rooftop with its clear view of the sunny sky.
After a deep breath.
"Rooooaaar—!!"
With a roar, black lightning crackled from my body, and the monsterization succeeded.
Pat pat.
Wriggle wriggle.
I tested my body with some light movements.
Thankfully, with my physical stats pumped up all at once, I seemed perfectly fine in this monsterized state.
'Phew. Alright, let's go.'
I had no idea where the Freak Syndicate or the Angel's corpse were, but who am I?
I'd cleared every Freak Syndicate route in the original game—a true veteran.
'If it's where the Freak Syndicate first set up their Korean hideout, it has to be that abandoned factory.'
A place I could find blindfolded.
I leaped straight toward the derelict factory built deep in the deserted mountains.
But what the hell was going on here?
Mid-leap, arcing through the sky toward the factory—high enough to touch the clouds—I heard it.
"M-Mommy... Mommy...!"
A child's cry echoing from the mountains, where no such thing should be.
At the same time, a figure like Lia came into view below.
'Lia?! Why are you here...?'
My leisurely thoughts ground to a halt.
Seeing a sword-wielding human about to kill the trembling Lia, I dove like a meteor.
Boom!
"M-Mommy...?"
And Lia—who spun around in a panic to look...?
'Who're you?'
She was unmistakably a baby monster with skin as white as Lia's and ruby-red eyes.
But this kid wasn't Lia. She looked uncannily like her, yet...
Her clothes were different, her hair longer—and above all, her vibe was completely off from Lia's.
If Lia was a haughty child who kept her emotions bottled up, this one was...
"Waaaah! S-Scary! Save meee!"
Cheerfully honest with her feelings—a perfect little kid.
And she really was one, too.
"Krrk krrk."
'Don't worry. I have no plans to hurt you.'
"R-Really...?"
"Krrk."
'Yeah. So for now, stay behind me.'
She seemed to understand my monster "krrks" just fine.
But seriously, what a mess this was...
Hiding the Lia-lookalike behind me, I faced forward—and there was Seok-gyu Uncle, locked in combat with what looked like Catarina.
Paul, sweating bullets at the sight of me.
Dorothy, on the verge of foaming at the mouth from terror.
And Rivern, swallowing hard—plain as day.
"Aaaah! Stop stepping on me already!"
...And what was with that dragon?
Was that Seok-gyu Uncle's summon monster?
'He mentioned raising some impressive monster before. Guess it was a dragon.'
Anyway, setting the dragon aside for now, it was nice to see these familiar faces again.
Old man Paul was still in top form for the early game, and Dorothy was doing her usual "eyes darting everywhere, desperate to survive" routine...
"That's the Jamsil Monster we've heard so much about...!"
Rivern.
Early-game her looked healthy enough.
Relieved to see the Freak Syndicate still mostly intact(?),
"Leader, what do we do?!"
Rivern whipped her head from me to Catarina, who was facing off against Seok-gyu Uncle.
One of the few glimpses of her vulnerability, with Catarina still alive to see it.
Knowing the future hurts in moments like this.
I knew their fates all too well, and it made my chest ache.
Whatever.
"Don't provoke it! That's no ordinary monster!!"
Who're you calling a monster, huh?
Fortunately or not, Catarina eyed me warily, her gaze trembling slightly.
Paul slowly backed away in front.
"Do not provoke it!"
"Y-Yeah! Running away is the best option right now!"
"For once, I agree with Dorothy."
Did the strong always recognize each other?
Personally, I hoped the Freak Syndicate survived to the game's true ending.
This could even be a golden opportunity.
To look as intimidating as possible, I spread my arms high in the most fearsome pose(?) I could muster.
"I-Is that a threat?!"
Yeah, a threat.
So please, just leave already.
"Krrng! Krrng!"
"Eek?!"
Dorothy always delivered peak performance in situations like this.
"It looks kinda sloppy, though...?"
"P-Paul! That's exactly the t-trap!"
"A trap?"
Having her around made even safe things feel ominous, like you had to stay on guard.
"Yes! It's playing 'dumb and clumsy' to lure us into dropping our guard, then it'll gobble us all up...!"
...Take it back.
Dorothy, you're getting one solid conk on the head later—not enough to kill you.
Anyway, between my threats and Dorothy's survivalist gaslighting, the Freak Syndicate began inching backward.
"Jamsil Monster...!"
"...Hey, old timer."
"What."
"You really gonna fight each other like this? Don't you think it's time for humanity to 'unite' against a common foe?"
"......"
Seok-gyu Uncle's side, facing Catarina, was pulling back too—thanks to me.
'Once the two groups are far enough apart, I'll grab Seok-gyu Uncle and bail from here.'
The rest of the plan was simple.
The moment the Freak Syndicate turned their backs, pretending to fight me.
I'd snatch Seok-gyu Uncle and bolt with his summon monster—the dragon—leaving this place behind.
Then drop Uncle off somewhere far from the Freak Syndicate, and I'd dip too.
'I'll keep the Lia-lookalike baby monster with me till the end.'
Freak Syndicate trait:
They'd pretend to fight alongside you, but bolt at the first sign of an ally charging in.
I'd been burned by it countless times in the game.
"Even terrorists are human. Let's join hands just this once."
"Yeah! Just don't die on me, old timer!"
Seeing Catarina flash that brazen grin—like I should trust her even as she plotted her escape—gave me the sudden urge to grab her.
But no.
Any more tampering with the original could get dangerous.
Stick to the plan.
"Krrrrk...!"
"Eek!?"
One more monster krrk from me, and Dorothy started shaking all over, tanking her allies' morale again.
"We're gonna die... We're all gonna diiiie...!"
She was just a debuff nuisance begging for conks when she was on my side, but right now? No better 'teammate' in the world.
'Keep it up, Dorothy! Just like that!'
Her sobbing voice made our "allied" Freak Syndicate and Seok-gyu Uncle's group tremble even more.
"We'll get eaten alive...!"
Sob sob sob.
"We're done for...!!"
Sob sob sob sob sob.
Perfect.
Doing great.
Once the Freak Syndicate and Seok-gyu Uncle's side both hit rock-bottom morale, I'd seize the chance to nab Uncle.
But then.
"See...? 'Living like a dead rat' really is the answer...!"
"Krrk?!"
"......What?"
Dorothy, who'd been spewing nothing but negativity.
But she'd unwittingly pulled the trigger.
Live like a dead rat?
She shouldn't have said that.
Because those words were...
"You should've lived like a dead rat..."
Rivern's berserk button.
"Rivern!"
"I won't... live like a dead rat."
"Wh-what?!"
"I'd rather die fighting."
"Rivern, calm down! We need to time our escape!!"
"Es-escape?!"
As the Syndicate's leader, Catarina knew Rivern's trigger all too well.
She called out urgently, worried.
But...
"Th-that human's coming right at us...?"
"Krrk..."
There was Rivern, scowling as she advanced on me—manipulating the Angel's lower body.
"Perfect! Monster Uncle! Let's take that one out first!"
The Lia-lookalike egged me on toward the fight.