Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: It Wasn't Because I Wanted To (3)
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Inside the video archive room.
Drurrrr... click.
Drurrrr... click.
Drurrrr... click.
The same scene played on repeat. On the screen was a rampaging Lee Seung-jun and Kim Geon-ho dealing with the rampage.
Professor Ran kept rewinding and replaying the official match footage from the previous bout.
"This... can't be right."
At first, she'd dismissed it as mere déjà vu, but as time passed, that feeling twisted into anxiety, driving her to the video archive.
In truth, until she'd cracked open the lid, Professor Ran had been absolutely convinced one hypothesis was impossible.
No way, it couldn't be. If anyone had any common sense, why on earth would they do something like that?
But the truth had poked out like a needle from a pocket, stabbing her thigh and proving itself undeniable.
"Why...?"
She'd thought Kim Geon-ho had subdued Lee Seung-jun before the professors could intervene, preventing a resonance rampage.
Neither Kim Geon-ho nor Lee Seung-jun had been seriously hurt, so she'd assumed it was just a normal rampage. Or maybe she'd wanted to believe that.
'Because it wrapped things up quicker that way.'
Who would want to dredge up a cleanly resolved incident with no issues and stir up trouble?
Drurrr... click.
In the video, even as the artifact caused resonance, Kim Geon-ho calmly watched Lee Seung-jun.
With a relaxed expression like he was eating dinner or strolling in the park amid the chaos, Kim Geon-ho approached Lee Seung-jun, smacked him on the face—thwack—and it was over.
It ended so quickly, so anticlimactically with Lee Seung-jun collapsing, that no one had noticed the truth until now.
"Kim Geon-ho..."
He'd been hiding his power while attending the academy.
Deep inside the black market.
There, it was clearing away corpses killed by the monster, pocketing goods and money.
"Money? All mine! Goods? All mine! I'm a really, really, really, really happy person!"
All monsters ultimately yearn to become human. The reason was unknown, but speculation held it stemmed from a deficiency in humanity itself, mixed with human negative emotions.
But as with most cases, no true human-form monsters existed. The majority were beasts that spoke human words, which made the creature before them all the more shocking.
"A... human?"
"Yeah, I'm human too! Me too! I'm human! I'm human!"
Its protruding belly fat overflowed excessively, covering the lower body, while its gaping maw drooled saliva nonstop.
Its skin wasn't normal—smooth and glossy like a toad's, bumpy and warty.
"I want it all! I want everything humans have! 'Cause I'm human too!"
Its face had only a mouth among its features, and a long tongue from that massive maw coiled around scattered money on the floor, scooping it up.
Even draped in jewelry stolen from its human victims, it couldn't hide its grotesque form or stench. The nose-piercing odor made the weak-stomached vomit.
"Please, spare me, please, please, please..."
People near the monster begged for their lives, but it naturally refused.
"No way, you kill and take everything, right? That's how it works!"
"What the hell is wrong with you, you psycho."
Clang!
The monster tried to kill someone, and I wasn't about to let that slide.
I blocked its whip-like tongue with a palm strike midway and signaled people to flee quickly.
Some had already fainted, so I had no choice but to kick them away to safety.
"What are you? Why are you taking my stuff?"
"Never imagined the signs of the main story kicking off would pile up this fast."
Hungry Mouth.
The name of that monster. It's the second Incomplete Humanoid Monster to appear since the one from the academy.
Born in the black market, it's extremely materialistic and greedy by nature. It has a habit of shoving anything rare nearby into its mouth.
Main weapon: Uses its extendable tongue like a whip to kill people and steal items.
Caution: Tough, thick outer hide gives high resistance to external damage.
However, vulnerable to internal damage and fire. Recommend targeting those weaknesses.
The encyclopedia in my head auto-updated the moment I encountered the Hungry Mouth.
"Don't take my stuff!"
"You didn't have anything to begin with, so what's the issue."
Shwick! Shwick!
I dodged the incoming tongue whips while checking the info. Dodging by watching the tip was nearly impossible; I had to track where it moved from the base.
Normally exhausting work, but maybe because I'd sparred with Kim Jang-seok once—the Hungry Mouth's attacks felt comparatively easy to evade.
'Internal shocks won't work with Mountain Lord power.'
Besides, I only had a surface grasp of that anyway, so to wield real power, I'd need Ferocious Tiger's strength. But using it here would be insane.
No matter the info independence, even with no bystanders right now, the black market had eyes and ears in the walls and floors. I needed maximum caution.
But did that mean I'd just keep dodging forever? Hell no.
'This fight has a time limit anyway.'
The reason no major response despite the Hungry Mouth in the black market? All because of that Baren bastard.
He'd probably sealed all exits by now, isolating the sector where the Hungry Mouth appeared.
His plan: let his clan capture it to prove his worth, then spread the word to boost his rep among black market folk.
Motive, obviously: keep the clan from Marren and claim it himself.
'In the first run, this incident killed at least a few hundred people.'
A punk who'd never managed a clan couldn't dream of commanding a monster hunt. Life's no game; the mess spiraled until the fully grown monster was caught in tragedy.
"Well, not like I came here to stop that."
Somehow it turned out this way.
I muttered self-deprecatingly while closing in on the Hungry Mouth, dodging tongue whips. Freshly born, it was at its weakest now—had to catch it.
'Plus, the key's right on it.'
Step by step, I approached. Each time, the Hungry Mouth slurped its tongue and shrieked.
"Why! Why! Won't you die! Why won't you die! You look loaded! So much shiny stuff! I want it all! Why won't you die!"
The ear-piercing screams battered my eardrums, and the stench from its body stabbed my nose up close.
Toad-like glossy skin oozed viscous fluid nonstop, and its jiggling belly swelled in real time.
Like a greedy, corrupt merchant turned monster. History had exactly one such figure, with a similar weakness.
"Time to die."
Once close enough, I charged with a do-or-die mindset.
Goals: claim full loot rights on the Hungry Mouth and screw over Baren. Only one way to hit both.
"Why! Why! Why! Why! Won't you die! Why! Won't you die?! Why won't it hit?!"
My whip is fast! Super strong! It bursts people's heads! Why won't you die?!
The Hungry Mouth, with its regressed mental age, pressured Kim Geon-ho with childish speech. Or tried to—reality was, it wasn't pressuring at all, not even inflicting meaningful damage.
Newly born, not yet knowing its body, it only used tongue whips despite varied potential attacks.
Kim Geon-ho, knowing this well, charged the moment distance closed. Result?
Splurt—!
"Hit! Hit! Hit!"
When charging the Hungry Mouth, he arranged for only a chunk of shoulder flesh to tear off—the best outcome.
"Yeah, happy you landed that one, punk."
Despite bulky arms it never swung, a belly ignoring most damage it never moved, celebrating a single tongue whip hit.
Kim Geon-ho thought if it grew even a bit more, that shoulder chunk might've been a head.
'No, focus on now.'
Thud!
Shaking off distractions, Kim Geon-ho reached the Hungry Mouth and finally grabbed what he wanted.
Why get close enough to expose bone on his shoulder? For this.
"Huh...? Lighter? Why a lighter? That lighter looks valuable!"
"Yeah, valuable. It's gonna kill you."
A plain, elongated Zippo lighter.
Which, in a way, resembled a sword hilt.
Whoosh!
The moment Kim Geon-ho lit it, flames erupted long and blade-like.
"No extra fuel needed, burns great."
With your oiled-up navel, you might burn for a fortnight?
Saying that, Kim Geon-ho swung the flames without hesitation.
"Gaaahhh!"
Time to make some flame-grilled pork stir-fry.