The Ominous Oath
“…Mommy…!”
At first I thought my heart would plummet when Cro suddenly lunged at me right after chewing on her meat.
She looked so cute on the outside, yet she was still a monster. Even if she suddenly bit my neck, it wouldn’t have been strange at all.
I had been cautious the moment I remembered the savage reports of how she had turned the experimental personnel into bloody paste.
‘Damn it! Was that really an alligator’s tear? The heart-sensing skill didn’t pick up anything at all!’
Preparing the grilled pork belly for Cro had only been possible thanks to Poyu’s ability—heart-sensing.
I had just cooked it because she wanted to eat the finished dish…
But then why…?
“Crooooong…!!”
“Ghh?!”
I couldn’t escape it.
The speed was simply too fast for my reflexes to keep up. By the time I finally regained my composure, Cro had already glued herself to my chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Even my heart, which housed Poyu’s core, seemed to be racing in panic.
“Hoooww…! Cro…! Kraaaang…….”
“Cro…?”
Fortunately, nothing painful happened—no choking, no heart-piercing.
She simply nestled in my arms, shedding tears that fell like chicken droppings.
There was no trace of aggression.
Then, in a slightly steadier voice:
“…It tasted like Mom’s.”
She chewed on the words, repeating them slowly.
“So good, huh?”
“Yeah. Heavenly taste.”
Cro suddenly stared at the pork belly on the pan with serious eyes and nodded.
She had been looking back and forth between the pan and me for a while, then—
“Mom! Food!”
“???”
She made an absurd request to me.
“…What?”
“Mom! Want food! Waap…!”
She opened her tiny beak like a baby bird and demanded it proudly.
This was way too far gone.
“Who’s your mom?”
“…Then Dad?”
“Huh?”
“The taste was exactly like what Mom gave me. So she’s Mom!”
What kind of miracle logic was that?
On the other hand, she must have had a mother.
“Did your mom hunt and cook the meat?”
“Yeah! Super crispy and delicious!”
“How? Did you start a fire yourself?”
“No! Fire from my mouth! One puff and it’s done!”
The moment her mother’s story was told, the gloomy atmosphere vanished and Cro began chattering excitedly.
“Fire from your mouth?”
“Yeah! Like this!”
She suddenly opened her mouth wide and prepared to spew something toward my face.
‘…Crazy?!”
I quickly turned my head away, but—
Shwoosh!
“Hm?”
The flame that erupted was the exact opposite of what I had expected.
It was so weak it could barely light a cigarette.
Cro couldn’t even sustain that feeble flicker for long.
“Cuhuhk…! C-cough! H-hurts…!”
“Is this its true power?”
“Cro! Cro’s still young, so she can’t use it properly yet.”
…
What exactly was this creature?
Was it really a dragon?
No, it was still a hatchling?
“How was your mother?”
“As long as I wanted, I could turn an entire mountain into a sea of fire! When it got cold, I warmed the weather for everyone….”
The moment her mother’s story came up, Cro’s eyes welled up again.
I didn’t want her to burst into tears right here.
“Cro? You should finish eating what’s left.”
“Croong?”
“It’ll taste bad once it cools down, so hurry up.”
“Uh-huh! Aaaaa~~~!”
I picked up a piece of meat and Cro naturally opened her beak in my arms.
She gulped it down greedily.
As if it weren’t a lie that she had gone half a year without food, she finished a whole pound of pork belly in no time.
“More.”
Her appetite was absurd for her small frame.
“Are you that hungry?”
“No. Cro doesn’t feel hunger much.”
She pointed at the hole in the tattered doll onesie.
“Mom said I have to eat well… but I don’t want anything except what Mom makes.”
“──.”
The mood sank again.
I wanted to ask about Cro’s mother, but now wasn’t the time.
“So you want me to be your mom.”
“Huh?”
“If Mom doesn’t want to, then Dad….”
Cro grabbed my collar and hugged me tight.
She was really pitiable.
But I couldn’t lie to her.
“That’s impossible.”
“Croong…….”
I had to say it clearly. If I kept indulging her cuteness, she’d end up locked in the foundation and used as a toy when she grew up.
“Still, I can be your friend, like I said yesterday.”
“F-f-f-f-friends…!”
“I’ll make food that’s just for you as a friend. How about it? Okay?”
“Waaah…!! Cro is sorry.”
She nodded, then jumped down from my arms.
“Sorry for what?”
“Ehehe! I almost asked too much from a friend…! One friend is enough for Cro!”
Her tone changed completely, as if she were the one at fault, and she crossed her arms.
But unlike that arrogant act—
Ding!
System alerts rang out one after another.
But something felt off.
With Poyu it had only reflected after I absorbed her core.
‘Cro didn’t receive anything from me. What’s going on?’
Just as I thought that, I heard Cro’s inner voice through heart-sensing.
And at the same time, a foreign sound.
Screeech!
“C-Cro? What are you…?”
Cro suddenly stuck her hand into the chest area of her doll onesie.
Now I noticed a zipper I hadn’t seen before.
She pulled it open and pulled something out.
“Here, take this.”
In her hand was a heart-shaped cushion.
Upon closer look, it was a cheap, slightly worn red heart cushion with stuffing peeking out.
“W-what is this?”
“The most precious thing to Cro.”
“…What?”
“Mom said if I meet a male I can trust later, I should give it to him.”
A soft, red heart cushion that didn’t even feel like it had any weight.
It looked like a heart.
Giving it to me meant—
Ding!
- Soul connection with the target monster will be established.
- Affinity toward the target monster will skyrocket.
- As a special effect, you will receive a portion of the monster’s abilities based on soul resonance!
Messages floated up like they had been waiting for this.
‘…So that’s what it was.’
I was bewildered.
After just grilling some meat, she wanted to give me her heart?
I finally understood how ridiculous the Monster Friendly Constitution was.
“You don’t want to accept it?”
When I hesitated, Cro asked in a voice that sounded like she was crawling inside.
“N-no. It’s not like that.”
“Then why are you hesitating?”
“You said it’s something precious to me. But you’re giving it to me just like that?”
“No. It’s not just that. I want you to be my friend forever.”
“Forever?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to lose you, like I lost Strong-sung.”
━It’s my precious first friend.
Cro whispered with longing and reached her hand out again.
She wanted me to hurry and take it.
“…….”
There was nothing more to think about.
The only condition for the oath was to be friends forever.
Plus, accepting it would raise my overall survival rate.
“Okay, I accept.”
Just as I reached toward her heart,—
“Popopopopo-?! No!”
—Whoosh!
A large presence suddenly blocked my path.
“Ah? Poyu…?”
“No way! Han-sung is my man!”
Poyu shook her head. Her huge black apron swayed left and right.
“Croooong?”
Cro was shocked too.
A monster had suddenly interrupted her oath.
“You little brat! And that cat too! Why do you keep trying to…!”
Poyu glared at Cro with intense caution, just like she had in the fight against Cho-ray.
She was even adopting the same stance she had shown in battle.
Her aura felt nothing like the three attributes—‘eternity’, ‘madness’, and ‘obsession’.
That aside.
“Croooong…?!”
On top of that, Cro didn’t back down either.
She looked up at Poyu with a very serious expression.
It was a flashpoint situation.
‘This is over. I have to intervene somehow!’
Just as I moved to calm them—
“Mom…!!”
“Hm?”
“It’s really Mom! Mommyyyyyy…!”
“Popo…?”
Cro rushed straight into Poyu’s arms without giving me a chance to stop her.
❈❈❈
“…I wish you had brought her sooner.”
Park So-lim couldn’t tear her eyes away from the special glass wall.
“Cro! Croong…!”
OBM-9595, who hadn’t eaten anything in half a year, was devouring the meat.
Especially the well-cooked pork belly on the grill.
[Please prepare a gas burner, grill, and suitable meat.]
It was strange to think of grilling meat for a monster that looked like it would cruelly hunt living creatures and eat them raw.
At first I thought she was just joking. Or that she had lost her mind.
But it was neither.
“Croooooong…!!!”
9595 was so moved by the taste that tears streamed down her face as she clung to my chest.
‘Huh, my appetite’s back. I almost ate Strong-sung too.’
Park So-lim removed her hand from the red emergency button on the panel and sighed in relief.
The button read ‘Incineration’ in large letters.
It was the minimal device to neutralize a specimen in emergencies.
If I had misjudged and pressed it—
“…….”
Park So-lim silently shook her head and continued observing.
[Crro? Crooo?]
[Crroo..! Croooooong!]
“…What are they even saying?”
They had been talking seriously for a while, then continued eating.
Strong-sung held Cro like a child and personally fed her meat.
It was truly bizarre.
But it wasn’t even that bizarre.
This was only the beginning.
“Haa…?”
The warm atmosphere lasted only a moment.
Puff!
9595 dropped to the floor and suddenly jabbed her own hand into her chest.
[Crrooo…]
She pulled out what looked like an organ that resembled a heart and offered it to me.
“R-records…!”
Park So-lim manipulated the isolation room camera and zoomed in.
It had never been possible to damage 9595’s internal organs enough for them to be visible in any experiment.
Yet here it was, so easily observable.
That pale, faintly beating heart of 9595?
Park So-lim hurriedly opened the record file and continued her notes.
Her gaze remained fixed on the laboratory.
‘What is she trying to do with the heart?’
After quickly finishing her notes, Park So-lim reached for the red button out of habit.
I had no idea what wild situation might arise.
And my bad feeling soon became reality.
[Popopopo-?! No!]
A human-type monster sleeping inside Strong-sung’s body suddenly appeared and looked at us with full caution.
And at the same time—
Zztztztzt!
“…W-what the…?!”
All electronic equipment began emitting static and shut down.
Cameras and microphones alike were dead.
Park So-lim had no choice but to observe with the naked eye through the glass wall.
“Th-this is…?”
Park So-lim’s pupils trembled.
She couldn’t understand the situation at all.
9595 was now safely in Poyu’s arms.
Poyu accepted it without a care and even stroked the creature’s back.
A tall woman who looked like a monster was hugging a small, decayed reptile like a treasure.
It was truly bizarre.
But what surprised Park So-lim even more was—
“Insane…?!”
Strong-sung, who had received 9595’s heart.
He brought it close to his face—
Gulp!
Then swallowed it whole.
No sign of hesitation at all.
And his small, moving lips said clearly:
“Taste… good.”
‘…So he really wasn’t human…’