The Saintess of the Beast Race Has Imprinted on Me
I was born to be loved! That's what Hunya always says. The game I play, Ravius Online, is in such terrible shape that it wouldn't be surprising if they posted a shutdown notice tomorrow. Yet suddenly, a queue of [5,411 players] popped up. I wondered if they were so broke they could only afford to let about a hundred people connect at once. But that wasn't it.
Had they done some kind of update? Checking the patch notes, it was just the usual routine maintenance. So why was the queue this massive? While digging through the forums in disbelief, one post with an overwhelming number of views caught my eye.
The side profile of the girl in that photo was... unfairly beautiful. And that photo... was of me. The version of me that had turned into a girl earlier. In English, it would be [ME].
Skepticism. Or insane cheers. The original poster claimed she was carrying a scythe bigger than herself and instantly killed monsters, or that she caused a blizzard in the city, but everyone just told them to stop talking nonsense. Or maybe that didn't matter. She was a beautiful girl. And not just any beauty — the ultimate pinnacle of beauty. An otherworldly girl with eternal youth, the ultimate fantasy for every guy. That's what mattered.
Because of me, Ravius Online — a game that only had queues like this during its launch — suddenly had one again. The servers were on the verge of exploding.
'The power of an otherworldly beautiful girl... it's no joke.'
Everyone was going crazy over her appearance and desperately trying to find me, but thanks to the Serena Union Protection Act — which prohibits uploading or publicly sharing images of Serena Union members without their consent — every single post was deleted almost instantly. Nothing remained online.
'Still, even with the protection law, the speed of deletion is way too fast...'
Maybe it had something to do with the two high-ranking daughters of the Serena Union living near me — Sorcia and Daisy. While I was thinking that, the enormous queue finally ended, and I stopped pondering it.
The moment I logged into Ravius Online, what greeted me was an inbox that had exceeded its maximum capacity and could no longer receive any more messages.
From complete nonsense to incomprehensible messages. Negative comments. Invasive personal questions. People claiming to be from entertainment agencies — whether real or fake — begging to meet me. Every kind of message imaginable flooded in, and private whispers were going completely crazy.
I switched my whisper settings to reject all and muttered,
"MusclesAreGreat: Humans have lost their minds."
"ChapsalRiceCake: A beautiful girl who's also an otaku gamer? The otakus are going feral lol"
"RadioactiveZzang: Agreed."
"MusclesAreGreat: Me... a beautiful girl...?"
"RadioactiveZzang: Just pretend MuscleGuy didn't see the chat."
I tried to deny being a beautiful girl, but... even I had to admit the appearance was pretty. Still, unlike other humans, I didn't feel any particular emotion about how beautiful that form was.
"RadioactiveZzang: By the way, MuscleGuy. Do you like muscular guys?"
I wanted to reply, but another message arrived.
"Hunyang! Huhuhunyangnyang!"
If she wanted to say something, she could just come over instead of sending messages. Probably because Daisy, Sorcia, and Hunya were all talking about something right now. Hunya must be complaining that she couldn't play because of the other two.
When I went to Hunya's room, she was baring her teeth warily at Daisy. Sorcia was smiling elegantly while sipping the tea she'd brought, watching the two of them.
"You damn brat!" Daisy shouted.
Hunya responded in an angry voice, "Hunya is not a damn brat! This room is the one Master gave to Hunya! It's full of Master's and Hunya's scent! So you have to leave!"
Sorcia sighed at Hunya's words and said, "Miss Hunya, we would love to leave so you wouldn't be tired, but there is an unavoidable reason why we must find out why you are staying in this house where Lord Haru resides."
"Hunya is here to roll around beside Master all day! Hunya won't work anymore!"
Since they were in a standoff like that, I spoke up.
"Hunya."
At my voice, Hunya's ears perked up. She came running toward me with a pattering sound and threw herself into my arms like a child.
"Hunyanghunya!!!"
Hunya pointed at the two of them with her finger, demanding I kick them out quickly.
"Hey... wait, why are you hugging that guy?!"
"Hunyanghunyang!"
Completely ignoring Daisy's words, Hunya pointed at her several times, insisting I send that demon race girl away even faster.
"Hunya, I got it. So calm down."
I stroked Hunya's head and patted her until she settled down. She stayed quietly in my arms, glaring at Daisy.
"That cold-hearted Hunya is clinging to you like that!! What the hell did you do to her?!"
"What do you mean, what did I do? We just happened to meet on the street, and then we ended up living together."
"You live together just because you met by chance?! Then if I had met you by chance, I would've said I really wanted to see you... that I like you... ugh...! Just die already, you bastard!"
"Wait, why are you suddenly trying to hit me?!"
"Shut up! Shut up! This is all your fault!! You don't even deserve to breathe in this world!! So just die already!"
While dodging Daisy, who was trying to hit me again for no reason, I thought back to the day I first met Hunya.
It was three years ago. On a day when rain poured down as if the sky itself had a hole in it. I happened to find a Kasif girl named Hunya getting soaked in an alley.
She stood still, staring straight at me.
"Hunyang."
It was as if she was telling me to look at her. Seeing her completely drenched like that made me feel bad, so I reached out my hand. Even though I was a complete stranger — and a human male, the very race the Serena Union warned their people to avoid for safety — Hunya grabbed my hand without any suspicion.
"Hunyang."
She said it like a kitten. Back then, I couldn't just leave her there. Especially since leaving a young otherworldly girl alone in a place like that was even more dangerous. So I brought Hunya home.
Once we arrived, Hunya perked up her ears, looked around the house curiously, then turned to me and said,
"I've come to meet you."
"Meet who?"
She pointed her finger at me and shouted with all her might, like a general who had just taken the enemy's head.
"I've come to meet you! Haru!"
For some reason, Hunya already knew my name.
"How... how do you know my name?"
"We made a promise!"
"A promise...?"
"That you'd take care of Hunya and feed her later!"
"...Huh?"
I don't remember ever saying anything like that.
"Hunya was born to be loved!"
Love... love.
"No way...?"
"Haru!! Haru has to take responsibility for Hunya! You have to love Hunya! Hunya was born for that!"
Damn it. At the time, Hunya always covered her face and body, so I didn't realize it. But she was one of the six girls — including Sorcia and Daisy — who used to play with me as the 'Demon King' and 'Hero' back in the old days.
I couldn't abandon Hunya after she came all this way trusting in that one memory, so we ended up living together. At first, it felt a bit awkward that I was suddenly living with someone just because of something I did as a kid. But Hunya became my savior. With her ability to see through lies, she protected me from relatives and scammers who were after my money.
To repay that kindness, I decided to take responsibility for her until she could live on her own.
"Hunya did imprint on Master, but Master didn't do anything to Hunya with magic!"
"What... imprint?" Daisy's eyes widened.
"Oh my my my~" Sorcia said with a surprised expression.
Then Daisy spoke in a disbelieving voice, "Hunya. You really imprinted on Haru?"
"It's true! Not a joke!"
"Oh my my my my... Miss Hunya, you've already fallen so deeply into Lord Haru's magic power that there's no turning back. As expected of Lord Haru, how impressive."
Both Sorcia and Daisy were staring at me with shocked expressions at the word 'imprint,' so I asked,
"What's an imprint that you're all reacting like this?"
"It means Hunya has staked her entire life on you, and you're asking 'what's that'?! Your body and mind are both evil — don't you have even a shred of conscience?!"
"Hunya staked her life on me?"
Sorcia explained to me, who clearly didn't understand,
"Lord Haru, when a Kasif finds someone they want to spend their entire life with, they imprint on each other. Only imprinted pairs can have children."
"That's a fascinating biological trait."
"Yes. Because of that imprint, their bond is stronger than any other race. They are said to be as close as lovebirds, but if something happens to one of them, the sense of loss is greater than anyone else's. In severe cases, they even take their own lives. And imprinting can only be done once in a lifetime."
"....Ah... huh?"
When I looked at Hunya, instead of answering, she licked my face with her small tongue as if marking her territory and said,
"Hunya has to play the game! There's an event right now! It's the ranking competition! Hunya has to be rank 1 or she won't get the rewards!"
Since she was basically begging me to wrap this up quickly, I said,
"For that reason, I'd appreciate it if you two would leave now."
"Wait, we were just talking about imprinting! It's a Kasif imprint!"
"Since Hunya wants it—"
"Hunyang!" Hunya nodded vigorously in agreement. Daisy pointed at me and shouted,
"You you you you you you you you!!!"
"What now?"
"Do you even know Hunya's status?"
"Status?"
"Hunya... is one of the Kasif race's Hui-nyeo!"
"Hui-nyeo? What's that?"
Daisy glared at me as if asking how I could not know. Sorcia spoke up on my behalf, saying that since I wasn't from the Serena Union, I might not know, and explained,
"Lord Haru, a Kasif Hui-nyeo holds a position equivalent to a human saintess."
"Whoa... Hunya has an incredible status."
"Incredible status. Is that all you have to say?!"
Daisy yelled at me in a loud voice as if scolding me and continued,
"This is a huge problem! If the Kasifs find out their Hui-nyeo is here, do you have any idea what they'll do? The Kasifs are religious fanatics — there's no telling what they'll do!"
"I heard there are 182 official Hui-nyeo of the Serena saintess that the Kasifs believe in. Isn't Hunya just one of them?"
"My my~ There isn't a single Kasif who would give information about the Hui-nyeo to a human."
Sorcia looked at Hunya and said, "But to Miss Hunya, Lord Haru is special, so she would have told you everything and more."
"Yeah, she's a bit special. Just a bit."
"You damn idiot! If you've imprinted, it's not 'just a bit'!"
I ignored Daisy's words.
"Lord Haru, if I may give you some advice, Miss Hunya is a little different from the other Hui-nyeo."
"How so?"
"Hehehehe, I believe Lord Haru will understand when the time comes."
"Sorcia, shouldn't you tell me now?"
"Miss Daisy, that's something from the past, so it's not very important, is it?"
"Well, that's true, but..."
"Besides, Lord Haru wants us to stop, and since we are not of the Kasif race, we have no need to interfere in their affairs."
"Ugh..."
Daisy made a face like she wasn't satisfied and glared at me.
"Woo-kyak! Woo-kyaaaaang! Humans need to leave! It's interfering with Hunya's daily life!"
Normally Hunya would have ended it with a simple 'Woo-kyaaak' of anger, but this time she even clearly expressed her intention, demanding I kick them out of the house. So I said,
"Meat side dishes twice a week."
"Woo-kyak!"
When she showed signs of refusal, I added,
"150,000 game cash! Bonus!"
"Woo-kyak!"
Hunya immediately accepted with an energetic voice. She really was weak to material things. If the two of them were willing to pay, it would solve our household's biggest problem — money — which was great. But while the eyes of Hunya, Daisy, and Sorcia saw me as 'Haru,' the reflection in the small vanity mirror behind them showed...
The girl I had 'turned into' last time. The appearance of Primrose.
'...This is weird.'
Thinking that, I ended my exhausting day and fell asleep to recharge my energy for tomorrow.