Shedding the Skin
“Night-bloom scent!”
The shocking word slipped from Cro’s mouth.
The scent of night-bloom flowers—nothing like hydrangeas or any other flower.
The moment those words left her lips, a streak of lightning pierced straight through my brain.
[Popopopo… that was delicious—♥]
The line I’d spoken earlier after Cro refused the invisible gnats’ natti. Even then, a faint floral scent had clung to Poyu.
Thinking back, the smell felt strangely familiar.
“Popopopo…? No, no. That’s a misunderstanding.”
Poyu hurriedly shook her head, snatched the meat Cro had been offering, and gulped it down in one bite.
It looked like she was trying to wipe out the lingering aftertaste with the meaty aroma.
“Cro? How do you know about the night-bloom scent?”
“Crong? Lots of night-bloom trees around Mom’s nest. That’s why I know them well.”
“Nest…? Where did you used to live with Mom?”
Now that I thought about it, this kid had been missing her mother.
Ever since I’d received the Dragon Heart, there’d been too many things to worry about, so I hadn’t been able to ask.
“Krung… I don’t remember.”
“What?”
“Cro couldn’t fly back then, so I never got close enough to see the nest properly. All I know is that there were lots and lots of night-bloom trees and other flowers blooming around…”
Cro suddenly looked gloomy, lost in memories of the past.
━Will I be able to find Mom all by myself if I escape here…?
Focusing on what she was thinking, her inner voice reached my ears.
From what I could tell, Cro’s mother was still alive.
“Are there any other special features?”
“Uuu… the whole area was decorated with animal bones. It was covered in blood that looked so bright red and beautiful. Sometimes they’d hang the heads of monsters they’d never seen before from the ends of nests so that other guys couldn’t bother them… Ah! There were tons of sparkling stones too!”
Cro rattled off the horrifying description with a completely innocent expression, as if it was nothing at all.
Just listening to her talk made me imagine the nest like some demon king’s palace.
Still, gathering gems inside it made me think she really was a dragon.
“Oh, right. Last time you said you roasted the meat by breathing fire from your mouth, didn’t you?”
“Yep, yep! What you cooked tasted great too… but what Mom roasted was the real—”
The kid was tailing off while carefully watching my reaction.
━Cro’s fine. I’m sure her Mom will come looking for her.
And then, without a care in the world, she turned her head and grabbed another piece of beef.
“It’s tasty! I wish you’d bring it every single day!”
Pretending to be totally normal, she kept glancing between me and Poyu.
“Popopopo… poor thing…”
Poyu immediately pulled Cro into a hug from behind, stroking her head.
Then she blew on the meat and fed it to her mouth. It was almost as if she’d become Cro’s real mother.
“Crong crong! Cro’s fine! Now there’s another Mom!”
The kid was babbling nonsense with the most childlike face imaginable.
I didn’t feel the need to ask any more questions.
After all, my chest had felt strangely heavy without me realizing it.
Probably because Cro’s Dragon Heart had synced with my body.
That was why it was so hard to treat it like someone else’s problem.
“Cro?”
“Hmm? Can I have one too, Han-sung?”
“No, I’m good. But if we end up getting out of here together someday, I’ll help you find your mom.”
“C-Cro…? R-Really?”
“Yeah. We’re friends, right?”
“Friend…! And friends always help find their moms?”
“If someone you care about is in trouble, you can’t just turn your back. To be a real friend, you have to do everything in your power to help.”
“R-Really friend…?”
Cro swallowed the meat and her emerald eyes sparkled with something like joy at my words.
I’d only been trying to comfort her, but I suddenly felt myself getting caught up in it.
It had to be the effect of the Dragon Heart I’d swallowed yesterday.
—Thump! Thump!
The heart was beating faster than usual. That was the proof.
Just as the lab settled into a slightly more serious atmosphere.
—Ding!
[Friendship level has increased slightly!]
[Soul resonance has increased slightly!]
—Current resonance: 13 → 14
As Cro gulped down the meat still in her mouth, the system message appeared.
Had the roasted meat moved her, or had the words “real friend” touched her heart?
“…Cute.”
I murmured that to myself and was about to start tidying up. The meat was all eaten.
But right then—
“Eek?!”
Cro’s little hiccup sound rang out.
She’d been so absorbed in chewing over “real friend” that she hadn’t even properly chewed the meat before swallowing it.
But the truly unbelievable part was…
“…Hic!”
—Ding!
“Hick?! Hic!”
—Ding! Ding!
“Huh…?”
What the heck?
Every time Cro hiccuped, the system alarm overlaid it.
And it didn’t stop there.
—Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
[…Friendship level has increased slightly!]
[Soul resonance has increased slightly!]
[Friendship level has increased slightly!]
[Soul resonance has increased slightly!]
[Friendship level has increased slightly!]
[Soul resonance has increased slightly…]
At the same time, both friendship level and soul resonance were rising.
“Popo…? Little one? Are you okay?”
Poyu kept patting Cro’s back until the hiccups finally stopped.
It felt like there was a bug in the system.
“Ghhk…! Hic! Cough…! Clok! Uuuuh—”
By the time Cro finally stopped hiccuping, the notifications had already shown up.
[Friendship level ascension is imminent!]
—Current friendship level: Dependence (Safe)
—You are pouring your love onto a mysterious creature.
—That creature will not doubt your words.
—Please be careful not to make it feel abandoned!
[Soul resonance has increased slightly!]
—Current resonance: 49 → 50
“…Crazy?”
In that short moment, an absurdly large increase had occurred.
And because the resonance had reached 50—
[Resonance increase has granted enhanced abilities!]
—Current granted ability: Supreme Blood
(automatic wound regeneration / cooldown: 24 hours → 12 hours)
[A new ability is granted through resonance increase.]
—Mini Breath: can create small flames with the power of the Dragon Heart.
I could acquire some pretty decent perks.
And it wasn’t over yet.
“C-Crong? Mom? Han-sung? My body’s itching.”
“Popo?”
“What? Where exactly?”
“I-I don’t know…! My whole body’s so itchy and suffocating! C-Crooooo…!”
After her hiccups finally ended, Cro suddenly scratched her short arms all over her body.
Her back especially was so itchy she rolled onto the floor and wriggled.
But even that just made the old tattered onesie tear even more.
The bigger problem was that the onesie was actually her rotten skin and leather. The more she scratched, the more she was tearing her own flesh. That was serious.
“Cro? Stop. You’ll hurt yourself.”
“Eiiii…! I-It’s itchy…”
Of course, with her ridiculous regeneration, she’d heal in no time, but right now she looked too painful to ignore.
“Stop it! Tell me where it itches and Poyu and I will scratch for you—”
“Aauuu…! That won’t work…! It’s so suffocating! I’ll just take it off!”
“Huh? Take it off? What?”
Cro, who’d been rolling on the floor, made up her mind and reached for her neck.
Then…
—RIIIIIP!
‘A zipper appeared again?’
Just like when I’d divided the Dragon Heart with her yesterday, a long zipper-shaped gap slowly formed from her neck all the way down to between her legs.
And before long, the figure that stepped out of the old onesie was—
Even cuter… no, she’d grown.
❈❈❈
[Kwo! Kwo! Kwoot!]
[C-Cwo?]
[Popopopo…?!]
The voices were transmitted through the microphone installed on the glass wall.
‘What on earth is she saying?’
Watching it, Park So-lim let out a long sigh.
[Popopopo… poor thing…]
The only words she could understand belonged to the monster Poyu—ironically.
The rest were just incomprehensible “Kwo-kwo!” sounds.
‘What am I supposed to record…’
Park So-lim kept tapping the recording device’s keyboard but soon gave up.
It was better to just submit the video recording.
[…Popopopo.]
A human-shaped monster in an oversized hat and clinging one-piece dress.
[Kwooooo…! Kwoot!]
A lizard-like monster whose rotten skin had cracked open, revealing its skull.
[Aha ha-]
Between them, a man was roasting the meat while genuinely laughing.
‘…Creepy as hell.’
A family that looked warm yet grotesque.
Park So-lim nodded to herself, thinking that.
It was easier to accept their existence as monsters from the beginning than to try to understand them.
But before five minutes had passed.
[Kwooooooooooh───!]
A sound that could shred eardrums made the speaker explode.
“W-What’s going on all of a sudden?!”
Park So-lim quickly put on her hearing protection and investigated inside.
[Kwooooo…!]
“Mi-Crazy!”
Inside, something truly horrific was happening.
For some reason, 9595 was rolling on the floor and self-harming.
—RIIIIIIIP!
With the nails that had grown on her front legs, she was slashing long gashes across her chest.
Dark, rotten blood sprayed everywhere as the skin peeled off.
From head to toe.
It looked exactly like the shedding process reptiles go through.
[Krrrrrrr…]
Soon after, 9595 revealed her new form.
“Haa…? That looks like…”
Park So-lim manipulated the recording device to capture 9595 in detail.
Smoother green scales than before.
A body with no visible wounds.
Teeth sharper than ever.
And most of all, her mouth—once shaped like an alligator—had changed a lot.
Plus…
‘Those on her head… are they really?’
As if revealing her true identity, small horns like bamboo shoots had sprouted on both sides of her head.
—Click. Click.
Park So-lim hurriedly recorded it as a document in the server.
‘Han-sung only arrived at the foundation four days ago.’
While writing the report, Park So-lim secretly marveled.
OBM-7979, a monster-friendly existence.
Originally registered as a foundation monster, but thanks to the “prohibition on individual handling” clause in the employment contract, he was no longer classified as an individual.
Of course, records only reflected that; the foundation leadership still viewed Kang Han-sung as one of the monsters.
Truly an amazing man.
It was impressive how he’d tamed 175 by dipping it in his blood yesterday.
—Ziiiing.
At that moment, the observation room door opened and Kang Han-sung appeared.
He’d finished his work and returned while So-lim was writing the report.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yeah. Playing with the kids is tough.”
Kang Han-sung plopped down in the chair opposite with a tired sigh.
“What exactly did you do?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“9595. She shed, right?”
“Ah, she got even cuter, huh?”
“Th-That’s cute… H, I can’t understand your taste at all.”
“Too bad. It really is cute.”
“Ah, yes. I respect your taste. But anyway, what exactly did you do?”
“I was surprised too. I just fed her food—They grow up really fast, don’t they?”
Kang Han-sung gave an awkward smile, as if it was nothing.
That was all the explanation needed.
To his eyes, the little guy looked only a tiny bit cuter and cleaner.
“Haa?”
Park So-lim couldn’t help but look stunned.
After all, she hadn’t sensed even a hint of a lie. It didn’t look like he was faking anything to hide something.
“Ah, and 175 will probably be obedient again tomorrow.”
“How do you know that? There’s no guarantee that method will work.”
“Um… you’re right. It’s just a guess.”
For a split second, a faint tremor appeared on Kang Han-sung’s face.
It was a reaction different from when we’d talked about 9595.
“Han-sung, you aren’t… communicating with 175 as well, are you?”
Park So-lim sharpened her tone on that part.
“Um, So-lim.”
Kang Han-sung continued, his expression suddenly serious.
“…Even if your reading skills are too fast, doesn’t it get exhausting to live in society?”
—!
Park So-lim felt an inexplicable chill from his answer.
Her whole body went goosebumps for a moment.
She felt like she was facing something other than a human.
Even though it was only for an instant, she was certain she’d felt it.
“Ahaha… I was just joking to lighten the mood. If you’re that surprised, what can I say?”
Then, just like that, Kang Han-sung smiled and brushed it off.
It was the usual Kang Han-sung she’d seen all along.
‘B-But what was that just now?’
Because the atmosphere changed so smoothly, Park So-lim could only stand there in confusion, unable to answer, and show an awkward expression.
“Anyway, you don’t have to worry about managing Cro anymore. The food problem is solved. If I’m not here, she’ll eat just the roasted meat by herself.”
“Ah, yes… thank you.”
“What for? I basically just ate meat and came back.”
Haha, Kang Han-sung added with an embarrassed smile.
The weird atmosphere from moments ago had vanished.
Now his face held nothing but an ordinary human’s smile.
“Then, are you planning to retrieve 175 tomorrow?”
“Yeah. If it takes longer, there’s nothing I can do. Who knows when she’ll try to drink my blood again if I don’t train her out of it.”
Kang Han-sung shifted his gaze beyond the glass wall and spoke.
“What if she escapes the case because of some anomaly?”
“Don’t worry. I asked Cro to handle it.”
“Huh?”
“My precious item. Please watch over her so the box doesn’t open.”
At the same time, Kang Han-sung pointed with his finger.
“…Huh?”
There, Cro was lying flat on the floor with the 175 case under her.
“And if it does open, Cro is special-grade, so there won’t be a big problem.”
“True enough.”
Park So-lim nodded.
‘Still, she’s cooperating with the foundation for now, so I can relax.’
She also felt the unease she’d sensed earlier ease a little.
Kang Han-sung was a precious talent. Especially in the department that managed monsters.
‘If he even tames 175… maybe he really can tame monsters.’
Even Park So-lim, who had handled monster management for years at the foundation, had unknowingly started expecting things from him.
It felt like she was letting her guard down.
And above all else.
“So-lim, you look tired. Go rest. I can monitor Cro alone.”
A gentle warmth radiated from him.
“N-No, I’m fine. I still have work hours.”
“Then how about I brew you some coffee? Ice? Or warm? With syrup?”
“Just… one mint chocolate latte from the capsule machine would be great.”
Kang Han-sung’s attitude secretly bothered her.
Of course, being kind didn’t make him sway every man.
It was just that her eyes kept drifting to his appearance oddly.
‘I was the one who reported him as a monster—’
‘But I hope Han-sung stays human.’
Park So-lim truly thought that.
❈
A day had passed since the 9595 shedding incident.
—Kwooooooooot…!
“Manager auntie? Don’t you eat this?”
“Meat with three layers of fat and steak for a monster…”
“She’s not eating. Do we have to eat it too?”
The test personnel slid the grilled meat into the cage, but 9595 didn’t even glance at it.
She simply—
—Kwo! Kwooooo! Kwoot! (I won’t eat anything that Han-sung doesn’t cook!)
She just kept growling, as if complaining about something.
“Haa? Why again…?”
Park So-lim, who couldn’t understand a word, was bewildered.
But on the other hand, a chuckle slipped out.
‘He really isn’t perfect after all. That’s good.’
It was because of what Kang Han-sung had promised yesterday.
“…Maybe I was the one who misunderstood.”
Feeling a strange sense of relief that this tiny mistake might actually make him human, I smiled.
‘Should I try asking him to have dessert together later?’
I’d only thought it, but the corners of my mouth lifted anyway.
If he really was human…
Maybe I could indulge a little.
The smile on Park So-lim’s lips refused to fade.