The Fate of a Mob Monster

"Raebi! What on earth are you doing!"

"Just a second, really!"

Essence Absorption!

A little more...!

Impatience gnawed at me. The more essences I absorbed, the less each percentage point ticked up. The magical beasts weren't going anywhere, and there were still plenty of them left, but compared to the start, that gauge was crawling upward now, and it was driving me crazy.

Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd drained the very last beast in sight, I glanced around.

"Okay, next one is... huh, none left? Mister, hurry up and catch one!"

"Hwak... huff. Wh-what?"

"Catch one quick! I've got business with the corpses."

"......Ha—this little— have you lost your mind? Why does everyone these days keep making me curse at my age?"

Kekeke, sorry, mister.

Still, it was frustrating. Not that the one being carried has any right to complain, but Lee Chang-jin had clearly worn himself out, because the tempo of his fighting had slowed noticeably. He'd dropped his pace so much that even I could track his movements with perfect clarity now.

Leap over behind the beast's back, slash down the spine. Good.

Huh? Ambush from the side...!

CRUNCH!

Fortunately, he shoved his body into the attack instead, dodged it, and drove his longsword deep into the beast's belly.

"......."

And right at that moment, a strange feeling washed over me.

Wait, hold on.

...That doesn't make sense.

Fine, Lee Chang-jin was tired. But what about the other beasts? Were they really slowing down along with him? A nagging sense that something was off began to surface.

The beasts' speed looked far duller than before. Unlike the beginning, when they'd been too terrifying to even consider joining the fight, I found myself thinking that at this point, I could dodge their attacks with ease and counter right back.

Tap— tap—

I bounced in place a few times.

I-I'm light...!

My body moved exactly as I willed it, like something out of a dream. Only then did it dawn on me.

Ninety-eight percent meant the penalty was practically gone, didn't it? For a moment there I'd been obsessing over hitting a full 100%, but my physical abilities had already been raised to match it. Which meant I no longer had any reason to cower before a mere C-rank.

"Wow... I really am an idiot."

"Hiyaaaa!!"

I charged straight into the thick of the battlefield where Lee Chang-jin was fighting. I picked out the beast gunning for him and leveled an emerald-green dagger at its heart.

Right there!

The vital point I sensed instinctively—my strike landed without a hair's deviation.

THUNK!

"Kgh! Huk...?"

The werewolf's startled eyes went wide. It stared blankly at my wrist, buried deep in its own chest.

"Th-this is..."

...Shlick!

THUD!

I yanked my hand free and the creature crumpled. Blood gushed sluggishly from the corpse, and the furnace-heat of battle that had blazed around us cooled in an instant. Lee Chang-jin, and even the magical beasts themselves, began staring at me with ghosts sucked out of their faces.

"...Raebi?"

"One moment, mister."

Essence Absorption.

WHOOOSH—

The battlefield was littered with far more corpses than the one I'd just made. I drained every last drop of their essence in one go. Electricity surged and crackled through my whole body, and then the message bomb went off.

...What the hell, why are there so many?

And on top of that.

'......'

I cast my gaze down at the ring. I could feel power flowing out of it, greater than before. And a pulse beating from within.

Are you... happy?

Somehow, I just knew. The Pygmies inside the ring were frolicking with joy, clamoring to be let out right this second. And the waves of that power told me they'd grown incomparably stronger than before.

"What are you?"

The language of magical beasts. I looked at the werewolf that had spoken.

"......."

"I know it for certain. You are not human. Our prey is humans alone. Why do you attack us?"

"Hm."

No real need to chat, is there.

Ignoring the creature entirely, I turned to Lee Chang-jin.

"Mister."

"Talk."

Lee Chang-jin stood with his back to me, sword raised, scanning our surroundings with an air wound tight as a bowstring—yet even then, I could see his ears straining toward me. I chuckled and pressed a sneaky little kiss to the ring.

"Shall I show you something fun?"

"......Something fun?"

Only attack the beasts. If you hurt a human, I'll seal you away forever.

"GRAAAAGH! What the hell are these things!"

"KYEEE!!"

SPLOOSH—!

The werewolf's blood fountained into the air. The one that had slashed its throat toppled with a crash, and a Pygmy drove a dagger into its fallen head for good measure—a proper finishing blow.

"UH! UH! UH! Uga! Uga!"

"GRK—!!"

The Pygmies spilling out of the ring set about butchering the werewolves, plain and simple. Five wooden spirits alternating freely between dagger and poison dart. Somewhere along the way they'd grown to around ninety centimeters tall, and their frames now radiated a magical pressure far mightier than their old one, befitting their bulk.

Probably B-rank...?

At worst, top-tier C-rank. They were, truly, reassuring allies. I moved along beside them with a contented smile, and Lee Chang-jin—who'd been standing frozen in a daze—snapped back into motion as well.

The Pygmies, plus the two of us. Counted together, there were effectively seven B-rank hunters on this battlefield. The embassy, and every werewolf in the vicinity, was mowed down like autumn leaves in a matter of moments.

To be fair, the werewolves did try to fight back, but to slow-footed bruiser types like them, the Pygmies were a worst-case matchup. They ascended to heaven without managing to land a single scratch on their killers.

And so, a short while later.

"Wow... seriously, Raebi, you..."

The battle having died down, I finally came face to face with Lee Chang-jin and his perfectly stupefied expression. He looked like he couldn't even organize his thoughts enough to figure out what to question me about, let alone how.

But...

I don't know ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠anything either, you know.

I just smiled sheepishly and let it slide.

"I did say I'd show you something interesting, didn't I?"

"Interesting doesn't cover it. I nearly collapsed from the shock. What on earth are those things?"

"They're Pygmies."

"......That's the whole explanation?"

Nod nod.

At that, he slumped to the ground like all the strings holding him up had been cut.

"......Ha, I'm exhausted."

"You worked hard. I'm sorry we should've headed out sooner."

"That's not it—it's my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind that's tired. My body's perfectly fine now."

"Ah... keke."

I understand, I understand. This kind of thing probably suits Lee Chang-jin about as well as a fish suits a bicycle. And it made sense—he was a man who'd lived his whole life by scientific evidence and logic. Being a detective, someone like me, an outright anomaly, was never going to be easy to accept.

He took a moment to collect his breath with the face of a man achieved enlightenment, then looked over at me.

"Raebi."

"Yes?"

"......What did that beast say to you just now? You understood it, didn't you?"

"......."

He'd caught on, huh. Well, hiding it would've been pointless anyway.

I answered him carefully.

"It asked why we were... attacking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them."

"Why we attack. So they saw you as one of their own?"

"Probably. Though even they didn't seem sure of it—the whole thing felt kind of ambiguous."

"......Even they don't know what you are?"

"No."

Lee Chang-jin sank deep into thought. He rubbed his chin, muttering something under his breath, then turned his eyes toward the distant sky.

"......A crisis, or an opportunity."

"Sorry?"

"Never mind. In any case—you're on the humans' side, right? Raebi."

"Hmm."

Maybe the most clichéd question in existence. But the answer didn't come easily. After all, I wasn't even certain whether 'Na Jihun' had truly been me.

Still... there was one thing that bothered me.

I gave a slow, deep nod and told him,

"I'm probably on the humans' side."

"How can you be sure?"

"Well, that's..."

...Because I said I'd tear the magical beasts to pieces. And that's when the Gate opened.

I remember that day with perfect clarity. The words I'd spat out, choked with indignation and despair, on the verge of death. Words I could never forget.

A body siding with the magical beasts—and it grants a new form to someone who despises them? That doesn't hold up as a story.

But how am I supposed to explain this...

KWAAAANG!!

"Whuh?"

"......?"

A massive explosion from somewhere far away. Lee Chang-jin and I turned our heads at the same time. It came from the direction Vincent had gone off to fight.

"So it's not over yet?"

"Looks that way. Should we head over?"

"Well, that's..."

Lee Chang-jin's words died mid-sentence. His gaze drifted somewhere and locked in place—on the sight of the Pygmies having a pillow fight with chunks of werewolf corpse. He seemed to swallow down the words we'd only be a hindrance.

"......We can go, right? Mister."

"No."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I..."

"Don't you dare pull some crusty line like 'as Ambassador I must protect the embassy.'"

Lee Chang-jin stared down at me for a long moment. Then he grinned.

"Your claws are short right now, aren't they?"

"What?"

SMACK!

"Ow!"

"You really do pick only the most infuriating things to say. And don't get any ideas—I only promised to protect you because Vincent asked me to. The embassy was completely cleared out ages ago."

...Oh ho.

"Wasn't that my doing, though?"

"It was Vincent's doing. You, me, and those Pinocchios of yours all rolled into one couldn't take him."

"And who was it that persuaded that Vincent? Me."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks a bunch. I was planning to thank you properly later anyway... What are you doing?"

He asked as I brushed off my clothes and stood up. An anxious shadow had fallen over his face—he'd clearly guessed what I intended. I pointed one finger toward the direction of the explosions.

"I'm going."

"Why on earth?"

"Because my brother is fighting."

"......Huh... since when were you two so close?"

"Heh."

That's right—it's not about brotherly love at all.

It's about the loot.

I pressed down on my pounding heart. The aura of an enormous essence had been rolling toward me for a while now—a monstrous power on a completely different tier from anything I'd consumed until this moment. Just eating a few C-ranks had raised my level by six... so what if I could claim that colossal thing? How much strength would that give me?

I made up my mind, firm as iron.

I have to have that one, no matter what.

"Don't go."

"I'm going."

"I'm telling you, I'm spent."

...Figures.

However he phrased it, Lee Chang-jin's entire body must have been running on fumes by now. It was a situation where an ordinary B-rank hunter would've already lost his life. I didn't need him to say a word to know he was exhausted.

But the solution was simple.

"If your stamina's drained, we just top it back up, don't we?"

"What?"