Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Reunion with the Immortality-type Monster
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Could someone be so happy over a single piece of bread?
Anyone else would have found the sight strange, but not Cheon Doun.
‘I know that feeling.’
Something of my own. A home of my own. Anything of my own.
There’s a special joy in having something that is entirely yours. Even more so when it’s the fruit of your own labor.
Cheon Doun watched Kim Nari for a moment before tearing open a piece of bread for himself.
“Are you eating too, mister?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I eat next to you?”
“Sure.”
Kim Nari scurried over and sat beside him.
The small chimera and the large man. Two beings with similar pasts, they sat side by side and ate their bread.
* * *
Thanks to Kim Nari’s efforts, the garden was quickly completed. Transplanting the Mandragoras into it was a simple matter.
Cheon Doun placed both hands on the garden plot. As he infused the earth with mana, a pot in the distance rattled.
-Huuung!
Pop! The Mandragoras poked their heads out and looked around. After identifying the source of the mana, they leaped out of their pots.
-Huuung!
-Huung, huung.
The Mandragoras ran to the garden and tapped the ground with their fine roots, as if inspecting it.
They gathered as if in discussion, huung-ing amongst themselves.
A different reaction from when they were planted in pots. Their light green leaves swayed merrily. Their fine roots moved nonstop.
-Huuung!
Their discussion concluded, the Mandragoras found suitable spots and burrowed into the ground.
In an instant, their roots were buried in the soil. Only their leaves, rising above the ground, rustled in the wind.
“Looks like they’re taking to it well. I’ll have to infuse the soil with mana every now and then until they’ve fully adapted.”
Cheon Doun dusted off his hands and stood up. Kim Nari, who had been watching, looked fascinated.
“So there are plants that can move. That’s amazing. What’s it called?”
“Mandragora.”
Kim Nari’s eyes sparkled. She had the expression of a child delighted to recognize something.
“It has the same name as a plant I know.”
“What plant do you know?”
“It’s a plant that sometimes shows up at auctions. I was taught it’s a medicine that can heal an awakened person’s tangled mana core.”
“You were taught correctly. That’s the one.”
Kim Nari, who had been speaking excitedly, suddenly froze. She looked back and forth between Cheon Doun and the Mandragoras, her eyes widening.
“This is a Mandragora?”
“It is.”
“So this is that incredibly expensive weed?”
Cheon Doun laughed at her calling them ‘weeds.’ Realizing this was a confirmation, Kim Nari’s face filled with astonishment.
“Demon World natives are amazing. You’re rich, mister.”
“Rich? Hardly. If I don’t sell them, they’re just huung-ing weeds.”
Even if he had a reason to go to the human world, he had no intention of selling the Mandragoras. He had simply brought them along while wondering what would be suitable to plant in his garden.
Cheon Doun smiled as he looked at the garden taking shape. A sense of satisfaction washed over him as he saw the well-made plot.
It was a truly peaceful moment. That peace was shattered by the cry of a monster from somewhere in the forest.
Kim Nari shot to her feet and looked toward the sound.
“Five hundred meters ahead. I hear the sounds of multiple monsters.”
“So I hear.”
“It sounds like a group of them are attacking a single one.”
“Ignore it. It’s just monsters hunting.”
It was a common occurrence in the Demon World. Cheon Doun paid it no mind, but with each new cry, Kim Nari’s expression grew more troubled.
“It sounds like it’s in pain.”
“Well, it probably is.”
“The cry changed. I think it was bitten.”
“It would be. It’s about to be eaten, after all.”
There was no need to worry about every little thing like that. Cheon Doun was about to say so, but he stopped.
This was the Demon World. The sounds of monsters hunting could be heard anywhere.
In a way, it was just the law of nature.
‘Come to think of it, this isn’t the first or second time we’ve heard sounds like that nearby.’
He’d never paid it any mind before. Why was she so anxious this time?
Cheon Doun studied Kim Nari’s reaction and asked.
“Do you know that monster?”
The idea of knowing a monster was ridiculous, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation.
“I don’t know it. But I’ve seen it before. The one being attacked right now is a small monster. I ran into it a few days ago.”
“And?”
“It looked pitiful. It seemed to have no energy.”
“And?”
At the repeated question, Kim Nari fell silent.
She seemed to want to say something, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak.
‘She wants to go save it. Why can’t she just say so?’
She might look young, but Kim Nari was a chimera built for combat. If she wanted to save it, she could just run over and do it herself.
Cheon Doun observed her reaction and understood the reason for her hesitation.
‘The effects of her conditioning. Is she hesitant to act on her own without someone’s orders?’
It was a typical reaction for a test subject who had lived under constant control. Kim Nari was afraid of making her own choices.
She was waiting for Cheon Doun to suggest they go help.
“Do you want to save it?”
“Yes.”
“I have no intention of saving it.”
Kim Nari’s expression crumbled at his casual words. She stomped her feet, looking toward the source of the noise.
“B-but it’ll die if we don’t save it.”
“It probably will.”
“It’s pitiful if it dies.”
“It is pitiful. A shame. It might have lived if someone had helped.”
At Cheon Doun’s words, Kim Nari began pacing in circles. Unable to decide what to do, she kept glancing at him.
How had she managed to escape the research institute with a disposition like this? Cheon Doun gave a wry smile.
She was just a child who had barely escaped the shadow of the institute.
He decided to give her a little push to make the choice easier. Looking toward the sounds, Cheon Doun spoke.
“It might live if you help it. Why don’t you at least go check on the situation?”
“I-I’ll go check it out!”
The moment she replied, Kim Nari vanished. All that remained were her deep footprints, pressed into the ground.
She had taken off with such explosive speed that she disappeared instantly.
‘Fast. A speed-focused type, perhaps?’
She might not look like much, but this was the child who had effortlessly crushed five B-rank Hunters. Kim Nari could handle it on her own, so there was no reason for him to rush.
With a leisurely expression, Cheon Doun headed toward the commotion.
* * *
By the time he arrived, the situation was already over.
On the ground lay a swarm of dead, giant crane flies. In the center of them, Kim Nari was holding a small, silver-gray monster.
“Mister. It’s not waking up.”
Kim Nari ran over, a tearful look on her face. The monster in her arms was limp and unconscious.
Fluffy fur, a round body, and small wings.
‘What is this? It looks strangely familiar. Where have I seen it before?’
Cheon Doun examined the monster.
Its body was small, about the size of a soccer ball. Below it, he could see horse-like legs covered in fluffy fur.
On either side were tiny, pathetic wings like a chick’s.
“Ah… right. I remember now. It’s that thing from back then.”
Cheon Doun looked at the fur hide he was wearing. This monster was the same immortality-type monster he had skinned.
The hide he wore was a dark gray. In contrast, the monster before him had fur that was a silvery gray, almost white.
The color was different, but that was only due to whether the hide had been stained by poison or not. It was undoubtedly a monster of the same species.
‘It looked to be at least two meters tall back then. Could this be its offspring?’
Cheon Doun scanned the monster’s body with his mana. The demonic energy a monster was born with had traits that never changed over its lifetime.
It was like a person’s national ID. After scanning the monster’s energy, Cheon Doun looked puzzled.
‘It’s the same one. Why has it gotten so small… Ah. Could it be because it died and came back to life?’
Cheon Doun’s guess was correct.
Although it had escaped death by shedding its skin, it had been unable to deal with the poison that had seeped into its body.
Ultimately, its body had been reconstructed. The parts contaminated by the poison had naturally sloughed off, resulting in its current size.
It was a process similar yet different to how Cheon Doun’s own body had been reconstructed.
Its life was saved, but its body, once nearly two meters tall, had shrunk to the size of a soccer ball.
“Mister. This… um, this.”
Kim Nari glanced nervously at Cheon Doun.
Making a decision and voicing her own opinion was a difficult thing for her. It was a simple task for some, but not for Kim Nari.
“It will die if we leave it here.”
After a long hesitation, Kim Nari bit her lip and spoke.
“Look. It’s like a beanbag. Completely limp. So…”
“You want to take it with us?”
He helped her along, seeing how much she was struggling.
With just that, Kim Nari looked as if she’d been saved, nodding her head vigorously.
“It’s still a monster, even if it’s small. It could be ferocious.”
“It’s fine. I can train it. I heard even dogs won’t bite if you train them.”
Suddenly, the monster was being put in the same category as a dog.
It had been difficult for her to make the decision, but once her mind was made up, Kim Nari’s words flowed easily.
‘She’s surprisingly resolute. Then again, that must be how she managed to escape the institute despite all the conditioning.’
Cheon Doun smiled quietly at Kim Nari’s choice.
“Then let’s take it.”
“Is that okay?”
“You don’t need to ask my permission for every little thing. If you want to do something, then do it.”
Kim Nari’s eyes darted around.
She didn’t understand what Cheon Doun meant just yet. But she seemed to have gained confidence in her own choice, as she didn’t put the monster down.
“Then I’ll take this and look after it. But it’s still not waking up. What should I do?”
“Hmm. Its hide is pretty tough, so I doubt it has any fatal wounds.”
Cheon Doun parted the monster’s fur. He had intended to check for injuries, but he paused as his hand touched its body.
Beneath the fur, its bones were jutting out.
For a monster to be this starved, it must have gone without a single drop of water for months.
“Malnutrition. It seems it hasn’t been able to hunt properly since its body shrank.”
“Its body shrank? So it used to be bigger?”
“Yes. If you take good care of it, it might regain its former strength.”
“Ooh.”
Kim Nari’s eyes sparkled. Now that they had decided to take the monster in, Cheon Doun also felt positive about the situation.
‘Come to think of it, I was hoping for a dog to guard the garden.’
A pet, so to speak. It wasn’t planned, but a monster of a suitable size had just fallen into their laps.
“Mister. Can I give it a name?”
“Sure. Do you have something in mind?”
“I like Poppy. When you think of a puppy, you think of Poppy.”
Cheon Doun, who had been about to head home, froze. Wasn’t the name Poppy a bit ill-suited for a monster?
He had no experience naming animals himself, but he had enough common sense to stop Kim Nari.
“Poppy is… hmm, let’s think about a name slowly once we get home. You shouldn’t name something on impulse. You have to choose carefully.”
“Carefully?”
“Yes. A strange name can warp one’s personality, you see.”
At Cheon Doun’s words, Kim Nari’s eyes wavered.
“Is that true?”
“Of course. It’s true. There have been actual cases.”
Cheon Doun recalled his birth name as he spoke.
His current name had been given to him by the orphanage director. The one from his parents was different.
He’d been abandoned in front of the orphanage as a newborn. Tucked inside the bundle of cloth he was wrapped in was a note from his parents.
“We will be back for him.”
Next to the short message, the baby’s name was written.
The note explained they had named him ‘Wonman,’ hoping he would live a peaceful and harmonious life.
It was a slightly unusual but otherwise unremarkable name. That is, if you didn’t combine it with his surname, Cheon.
“Cheon Wonman? What were they thinking, naming a child that? Should we change it?”
[No. They might actually come back for him later. Maybe they chose a distinctive name on purpose so he’d be easy to find.]
[Hmm… I suppose so. It’s hard to find a lost child in the slums. A name like this would make it easier to ask around.]
And so, for eight years, he was called Cheon Wonman.
It was when he was eight that the director finally changed his name. The reason was an unfortunate incident caused by it.
[Director. We really need to change Wonman’s name now. The other kids are teasing him mercilessly, calling him a beggar.]
[Every time it happens, he hits them in the head with a brick. His personality is already a bit strange as it is. Someone's going to get killed at this rate.]
And so, in the year he turned eight, his name was changed to Cheon Doun.
‘A name is important. Of course it is.’
Truthfully, he wasn’t particularly fond of the name Cheon Doun either. What did he care about aiding heaven’s will? It was enough just to live his own life.
Still, he never changed it, because it was his only remaining link to the time he was human.
It wasn't that he missed the past. But he didn't want to let go of this final trace of his humanity.
“Anyway. Let’s think about a name when we get back. Think carefully about one that suits that monster.”
“Okay. I’ll think carefully.”
Kim Nari repeated Cheon Doun’s words to herself.
The monster, having dodged the name Poppy, seemed to relax with unconscious relief, despite being knocked out cold.