Chapter 41
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Reunion in the Woods
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A palpable tension. The longer the standoff continued, the heavier the air became.
The Chimeras flinched as the four-tiered Mandragora tower waved its fine roots.
Even the sapling, which had been the most vocal, lost its nerve, its leaves drooping.
The initial confrontation ended in a decisive victory for the garden residents.
The Mandragoras roared. Sasa roared. Only Guu questioned the current situation.
‘What’s this? They’re too weak.’
He had surrounded them on instinct, sensing the sudden rush of monster energy.
He’d also been half-asleep, having just woken up. But now, fully awake, Guu felt a sense of unease about the situation.
No matter how weak he had become, he was once a monster who reigned as a figure of terror in the volcanic region.
Were these pint-sized creatures really invaders to be wary of?
-Hmm…
It might have been a case of an adult stepping into a children’s squabble.
Guu discreetly took a step back.
You guys handle the rest. He gave Sasa and the four-tiered Mandragora root tower a look that said just that.
With Guu’s departure from the formation, the situation changed rapidly. The absence of Guu, the largest among them, gave the Chimera legion a boost of confidence.
-Ssssssk.
The withered sapling stood up straight. A palm-sized ant peeked out from behind it. The ant and the sapling looked at each other.
A silent exchange of glances. The ant crawled up onto the sapling.
The sapling used its elasticity to bend a branch far back. The ant, perched on top, prepared to leap.
As the sapling released the branch, the ant jumped in perfect time.
Its own leg strength combined with the branch’s elasticity. With these two, it could attack with blinding speed.
Confidence swelled within the ant.
Swoosh. The palm-sized ant flew in a round arc.
The ant stretched its front legs forward. Its back legs stretched behind.
A stable posture that minimized air resistance. The ant landed in front of the four-tiered root tower.
I’ll bite the root at the very bottom. Then the tower will lose its balance and come crashing down.
The ant opened its mouth wide, ready to bite down on the root. At that moment, a silver root shot out and took the bite instead.
Clang. The ant’s powerful jaws clamped down on the metallic root.
The ant stumbled back in shock. It had bitten something so hard that its mouth ached. The pain was comparable to biting its own tongue.
-Chzzzt…!
Unable to bear the pain, the ant collapsed on the spot.
-Huuung!
-Hung, hung!
We won. Victory is ours. We have protected our home. The four-tiered Mandragora root tower waved its fine roots, celebrating its triumph.
-Huuung!
Don’t you ever come near us again. With that declaration, the roots returned to the garden.
The dignity of a victor emanated from their retreating, tower-shaped form.
“Well… that was something else. I’ve never seen a battle like that.”
“You said it. I’ll never forget the fight I saw today.”
The siblings, who had witnessed the whole thing, wore expressions of amusement and admiration.
“The specimens in my garden are quite brave. I’m raising them as elites, feeding them high-grade demonic energy, you see.”
The siblings burst out laughing at Cheon Doun’s words.
Everything had ended peacefully. At least, that’s how it seemed on the surface.
‘Has Kim Nari not faced the Chimeras yet?’
Cheon Doun glanced at Kim Nari, who was hiding behind the siblings. She was clearly avoiding her former peers from the institute.
This wasn’t something that could be forced. Deciding to pretend he hadn’t noticed, he surveyed the yard.
The defeated Chimeras sat about, lost and dejected.
Cheon Doun looked at the piles of yellow ore stacked in the yard.
The angular stones were piled haphazardly, creating plenty of crevices.
“They can hide in there for the time being.”
Cheon Doun pushed the Chimeras one by one into the gaps between the ore.
The Chimeras felt a sense of relief in the terrain, which offered plenty of good hiding spots.
A few fell asleep the moment their heads touched the ground, a side effect of the intense battle.
Only one creature—the fox—sat bolt upright, staring at the siblings. Or more accurately, at Kim Nari, who was hiding behind them.
It couldn’t see her. But the fox, with its keen sense of smell, knew its friend was cowering there.
Hiding like that must mean she doesn’t want to see me. The fox’s ears drooped, its face crestfallen.
“Just wait. She’ll need some time, too.”
Cheon Doun’s words gave the fox strength.
Right, I’ll wait. I’ll wait and wait. If I do, the day will come when she’ll look me in the eye.
-I will wait.
The fox said.
-I will wait. On and on. And on.
That was its duty. The fox looked toward where Kim Nari was, its expression resolute.
* * *
Night fell, and everyone was asleep.
The fox crawled out from a crevice in the yellow ore. It sat before the log cabin, perfectly still.
That child is sensitive to presence. She must already know I’m here.
I hope you come out. I want to see you. I want to talk to you. I wish you’d smile like you used to.
-I… I’m here.
The fox whispered softly.
-I’m here.
It tried saying it a little louder, hoping to be heard.
Did she hear me? She must have. Yet, there was no response. The log cabin remained silent.
The lack of reaction brought tears to the fox’s eyes.
It had resolved to wait, but for the small fox, it was an agonizingly long time.
The words “I’m sorry” rose to its throat, but it held them back.
These words had to be saved. They had to be said face to face. It wanted to look her straight in the eye when it said them.
So I will wait. I’ll sit here and wait until she comes out.
There was no way Kim Nari was unaware of the fox’s presence.
Tossing and turning restlessly in her sleeping bag, Kim Nari quietly got up.
She headed not for the door, but for the window. She still didn’t have the courage to face the fox.
Kim Nari climbed through the window and out of the log cabin.
“This isn’t the door.”
A voice from right beside her made Kim Nari jump. Cheon Doun was standing next to the window.
“Why are you here… sir?”
“Just taking a walk.”
Why would someone taking a walk be leaning against a wall, standing perfectly still? Kim Nari tilted her head.
“I… I was going for a walk, too.”
“I see. Shall we go together?”
Kim Nari nodded.
The two walked along the forest path. The night air, the cold wind, the heavy silence. It was Kim Nari who spoke first.
“Did you go to the Coconut Family, sir?”
Instead of answering, Cheon Doun just smiled quietly.
Kim Nari had the mental age of a child, but she wasn’t so naive as to not know where Cheon Doun had been in a situation like this.
“Yes. I went to the Coconut Family.”
“Then, sir, you must have…”
Known I was a Machine Lifeform? Kim Nari couldn’t bring herself to ask. Her lips moved, then closed.
There was no need to ask a question when she already knew the answer.
‘He knew.’
Her eyes grew hot. She sniffled, touched that he had accepted her, knowing everything.
This man wasn’t trying to capture and turn her in like other Hunters. That made her happy. I can stay here. She was relieved by that thought.
The guilt she always carried, from no longer having to lie, melted away like snow.
“Sir. The Coconut Family… is it gone now?”
“It is.”
“So no one is coming to get me?”
“That’s right.”
At the unhurried reply, Kim Nari’s feet stopped. She squatted down on the spot as if her strength had left her.
She bit her lip, as if trying to swallow something on her own.
“If you have something to say, say it. Keeping it in will only let it fester.”
Kim Nari sniffled and looked up at Cheon Doun.
“I’m… grateful to you, sir. Thank you.”
“Alright. And?”
“The ones who came today are all my friends.”
“I thought so. What else?”
“There… I mean. A lot of painful things happened there.”
“You can forget about all that now. Anything else?”
Kim Nari rubbed her eyes with her forearm.
“I fought with my friends.”
Cheon Doun listened quietly.
“I didn’t want to hurt them. So I just. Just.”
Just took the hits. The rank battles. The thing Kim Nari hated most at the institute.
“We all promised. We promised not to attack each other.”
Cheon Doun thought of the Chimeras he had seen in the yard.
Most of them lacked human-like intelligence. Only a very small number, like the fox, could communicate.
There was no way a promise like that would have been kept.
Faced with repeated training to attack Kim Nari and electric shocks, the promise was broken.
The fox was one of them. It was afraid of the pain. So very afraid. They did as the researchers commanded, not even knowing what a rank battle was.
Cheon Doun stared blankly past the forest for a moment.
‘I should have killed them.’
This was different from the rank battles he had experienced.
The difference in combat power between Kim Nari and the Chimeras in the yard was obvious. If they were made to fight despite that, there could only be one reason.
‘They were trying to alter Kim Nari’s personality.’
Though built for combat, Kim Nari’s personality was gentle. That wasn’t what the researchers intended.
So they tried to change her. To make her into a machine that faithfully followed orders, just the way they wanted.
The researchers had Kim Nari and the Chimeras live in the same room to foster closeness. Once they became friends, they used the rank battles to have Kim Nari be betrayed.
A plan to change Kim Nari’s personality. Sacrificial lambs to make Kim Nari kill with her own hands. The Chimeras in the yard were created for that purpose.
‘I really should have killed them.’
He had thought that since it was a legal research institute, it would be different from the place he had been.
It wasn’t different. They hadn’t crossed the line of legality arbitrarily set by people, but their actions were the same.
Ninety years had passed since the Gates opened.
There were no more Hunters who cared for the world. There were only merchants, scrambling to fill their own pockets.
The Chimera research institute, too, had long since been corrupted.
An institution that embezzled government subsidies under the guise of serving the world. A laboratory that used those subsidies to satisfy its own research desires.
The institute made money by leasing out completed Chimera Hunters to the Association.
Using Chimera Hunters to acquire and sell resources from beyond the Gates was also a good source of income.
If Hunters were merchants, then Chimera Hunters were the labor exploited by them.
Freed from that coercion, Kim Nari wiped her tears and stood up. She looked Cheon Doun straight in the eye and gave a deep bow.
“Thank you, sir.”
Thank you for destroying the institute. That’s what Cheon Doun thought she meant.
But Kim Nari said something else.
“Thank you for saving my friends.”
Cheon Doun was speechless for a moment.
This child didn’t know how to hate people. A child who had never learned such an emotion. Cheon Doun stroked Kim Nari’s head.
“If you’re thankful, don’t cry. Smile.”
Kim Nari sniffled.
“Like you said, your friends are safe now. You can see them anytime. So smile.”
Cheon Doun looked behind Kim Nari.
Far in the distance, behind a tree, a fox’s tail stuck out, failing to completely hide its owner.
“I’ll be going now. You can continue your walk.”
What remained was for the children to resolve themselves. Cheon Doun turned and headed back to the cabin.
“Go on.”
He said as he passed by the fox. The fox watched him quietly.
He was a strange person. Someone who would give you a push from behind with a few blunt words when you couldn’t find the courage.
The fox slowly emerged from behind the tree.
A forest path. A moonlit night. The cold Demon World wind. And standing beyond it, its friend.
Kim Nari and the fox faced each other. The fox felt the entire moment burn into its mind like a still frame.
-I…
There was so much it wanted to say. So, so much. So much that the words wouldn’t come out.
The unfamiliar human language jumbled in its head.
-I… well.
What should I say?
-I missed you.
That was the only phrase that came out. The fox was flustered. That wasn’t what it meant to say.
It should have apologized first. It should have asked if it hurt a lot when it bit her.
But different words tumbled out, contrary to its thoughts.
-I missed you. So, so much. I missed you so much. So hurry… hurry up and pet me.
What came out of its mouth was its own desire.
-Pet me like you used to. Because I missed you. Because I missed you so much. So. Quick. Hurry.
Would the day ever come when we could meet again? Could I ever meet you, who had gone so far away?
It had hoped for such a day. Hoped and prayed.
The fox looked up at Kim Nari. Tears welled up, blurring its vision.
I wanted to see you so badly. You’re right in front of me now, so why can’t I see you?
The fox squeezed its eyes shut, letting the tears fall away.
When it opened them, its vision was clear. And beyond that clear sight, its friend was distinctly visible.
The fox’s eyes widened as it looked at Kim Nari. An incomprehensible scene was unfolding before it.
-Why are you crying?
The one from whom it had hoped for forgiveness. The one it thought might never forgive it.
-Why are you crying?
The one it expected to be angry was standing there, shedding tears just like itself.
I don’t understand. Why is she crying? If I comfort her with my soft fur like before, will she stop crying?
Hesitantly, the fox walked toward Kim Nari.