Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Constellation Gallery EP.35
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"Alright, before we head out, let's grab some armor first."
"Armor?"
At Harin's puzzled question, I jerked my chin toward the armor.
More precisely, toward the corpse of that insanely hard-shelled monster.
"This exoskeleton here. You could make something great with it, right?"
"Ah! Yes!"
Her eyes lit up in an instant.
Kang Harin gazed at the exoskeleton with the intense look of a researcher struck by inspiration.
She fiddled with the carapace, seriously checking the material's texture.
Soon, the corpse vanished from her hands.
Tulip, watching the scene, tilted her head.
"But if you can store corpses like that, why did the ghoul's fang drop separately?"
"Good question."
"Is it different from the fangs you can extract from high-grade ghoul corpses?"
Tulip might be onto something.
In the Constellation Gallery, all I'd seen about high-grade ghouls was that their attacks caused bleeding that wouldn't stop.
"Anyway, that's not important right now. If everyone's ready, get in the car."
"Huh?"
Tulip and Kang Harin spoke in unison, their eyes widening.
"You're saying we're riding that?"
"Of course."
"Mister, that's safety negligence."
"Right, Juhan."
"What are you talking about? It looks like that, but it's perfectly fine..."
BOOM!!
"Eek!"
"......"
Everyone except me flinched at once.
'Ah, crap, the car key.'
I'd gotten out in a rush without pulling it out.
My car key, which I'd made in a fit of madness...
"Tulip, can you get the car key out?"
"Huh? From there?"
Crackle—crackle—
The car was making a bonfire sound.
Complete with roaring flames, of course.
"You can do it. I know you. I believe in you."
Tulip wore a face that screamed, 'What crazy nonsense is this guy spouting?'
What the. If they're sponsoring, then it must be true.
If the info I dug up is right, and that guy's not bullshitting, then Tulip can definitely pull this off.
"Tulip, what I mean is..."
"Juhan, is this what you're talking about?"
Kang Harin cut me off, holding the car key in her hand.
"What? Did you make another one?"
"No! When we got out of the car, I took it out and stored it."
"You little genius!"
I grinned broadly without thinking, then my expression hardened.
I felt a bit embarrassed for asking Tulip to dive into a fire pit like that—a totally inhumane request.
"Mister... that's too much.... Even if I said I'd risk my life, not like this...."
"No, no. You're resistant to fire, right? Not just resistant—no problem at all. I just have a feeling."
"What kind of logic is that?"
"I saw something in your contract that makes me think of a certain Constellation."
To be precise, it was the Constellation Gallery, not the contract.
"It's not certain.... We haven't even tested it yet...."
"True. I'm sorry."
"No.... If you really want it that badly, I could jump into the flames.... Seriously...."
"......"
An awkward silence hung in the air.
Then the man beside us awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Um...... We don't have to take the car. It's not far from here."
"We're almost there."
As we entered the alley, a desperate cry rang out.
"Big bro! Don't do it!"
"You kids stay inside!"
At the sound, the man guiding us bolted ahead.
His steps were frantic, like he was throwing himself forward.
Desperation poured from his entire body.
'......What's going on?'
I instinctively followed.
Tulip and Kang Harin chased after me.
And finally, as our view opened up...
I stopped dead in my tracks.
There was a familiar creature facing off against unfamiliar ones.
The funny part? The familiar one was the monster, and the unfamiliar ones were humans.
Little kids confronting a Crustler.
One of them looked about my age.
More precisely, my age from my previous life.
The young man glared at the monster, his whole body tense.
Poised to unleash an attack at any moment.
But he had no weapon in hand.
Then, a few of the kids' eyes turned to us.
Spotting the man with us, they wailed toward him.
"Director!"
Ah, so he was the orphanage director.
The director, already grasping the gravity, shouted urgently.
"Why are you kids out here?!"
"The monster's trying to smash this place, and big bro's stopping it!"
"Oh no, Doh an! You can't do that! Get inside now!"
"And do what?! If this thing hits, it'll collapse and crush us inside!"
"......What?"
"Even if it doesn't crush us, we'll have nowhere left to live!"
I drew in a sharp breath.
The kids' desperate cries.
Sweat beaded on my palms.
Then, I felt a tug on my wrist.
It was Tulip.
She looked at me silently.
Her eyes said it all.
What she wanted to say. What she hoped for.
I gripped my warhammer tightly.
"......Hoo."
This time, it'd be much easier.
I took a light breath and stepped forward.
Thud! Thud! Crack!
The monster's shell shattered.
I didn't stop, hammering again and again.
Splack! Crunch! Cracksplode!
It was over in a flash.
Once I knew the trick, it was definitely easy.
Embarrassingly so, compared to stabbing away with a sword earlier.
"Wooooaaah!!!"
The kids' cheers erupted suddenly.
"Whoa! Did you see that?!"
"Like Superman!"
"No! Lightning Man! He went boom! and took it down in one hit!"
The kids looked at me with sparkling eyes.
That bright gaze made me feel oddly warm.
'These the same kids who were staring down a monster just now?'
Well, compared to ghouls, it doesn't even look monstrous.
Just a big crustacean.
Still, it must've been pretty scary.
I hesitated, trying to muster an awkward smile, when I spotted one unusually quiet kid among them.
Dohan, was it?
The one who'd stepped up to protect the orphanage.
'Looks like he has something to say.'
He finally parted his fidgeting lips.
"Um, bro......"
"Yeah?"
"Are you...... a god sent to save us? I wanna get strong like you, bro."
His eyes were pure, beyond what you'd expect from someone my age.
"Nah, nothing like that."
The director sighed in agreement.
"Right. These folks aren't gods."
Yeah, yeah.
"They're grim reapers from the afterlife, here to take the dead."
"That's not it either!"
Tulip and Kang Harin quickly denied it.
I let out a short sigh and rubbed my brow.
The orphanage settled into a lull.
And somehow, we all ended up boiling and eating ramen together.
"Here, careful, it's hot."
Harin handed out steaming bowls of ramen one by one.
"Whoa! Ramen!"
"Thanks for the food!"
The kids excitedly blew on it and slurped the broth.
"Whoa! So good!"
"Is this really ramen?"
"What else would it be, fake ramen?"
"Feels like something special's in it!"
"Nah, you're just hungry."
Tulip sat with the kids, while I ate ramen a bit apart with the director.
"......"
I quietly slurped the noodles, then glanced at the director.
His face was still full of worry.
Yeah, can't be helped.
I pretended to scoop ramen and murmured just loud enough for him to hear.
"As you saw, there are no safe places anymore."
The director's hand trembled faintly.
"But don't show it."
"......"
"It'll just confuse the kids. Though you'd handle it fine anyway."
After a brief silence, the director sighed lowly.
"......So what should we do now?"
I swallowed a mouthful of broth and pretended to think deeply.
Then answered honestly.
"I don't really know."
The director's face darkened.
Yeah. Totally expected reaction.
The weight of the kids' survival had just been dumped on him.
He was already troubled, and maybe I'd made him shoulder too much worry.
'No......'
Better to be cautious.
People get startled even when prepared; without any prep, panic hits harder.
I quietly turned my head.
Dohan eating ramen in the corner caught my eye.
"By the way, that kid looks a bit older."
The director followed my gaze and smiled faintly.
"Ah, Dohan? He's an independence prep youth."
"What's that...?"
"Means he has to leave this place."
"Ah...... So he's having trouble adjusting...?"
The director shook his head.
"No. Dohan's doing well. But he still comes back whenever he can, bringing snacks for the kids or playing with them before leaving."
"......I see."
I swallowed the ramen in my mouth along with my words.
And steeled my resolve.
'That kid's mine.'