Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: It Wasn't Because I Wanted To (4)
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'Hungry... hungry...'
The Hungry Mouth was tormented by ravenous hunger right from the moment it was born, living up to its name. So it shoved anything that carried even a hint of life force straight into its maw.
The sharpening senses and clarifying thoughts that came with every bite were an addiction, endlessly tempting the Hungry Mouth onward.
Keep eating without end, swallow without pause.
Yielding to that temptation, the Hungry Mouth coiled its tongue around the life force and gulped it down. Wishing this moment could last forever, for the pleasure surging through its head to never stop.
Then the Hungry Mouth slipped a chunk of someone's shoulder meat into its mouth—and recoiled at a flavor it had never tasted before.
'What is this? It's too good!'
A taste like every umami in the world condensed into one burst.
All the humans it had eaten so far felt utterly bland by comparison. This was powerful, addictive stimulation.
And to think such potent vital energy was coming from part of its own body!
How amazing, how blissful would it feel to swallow the whole thing? Lost in that thought, the Hungry Mouth lashed out with its tongue.
Whoosh.
"Kyaaaaaaaack!"
This time, it wasn't flavor—it was pain.
"Hot! Hot! Hot! It's hot!"
"You're so damn noisy. Shut it."
Fire.
Flames that reduced everything to ash were wrapping around its tongue.
"What are you! What are you! It wasn't tasty? It is tasty! The taste changed! The taste changed! Die! Die!"
Its tongue wasn't fully charred yet, so the Hungry Mouth whipped it out again like a lash, desperate to kill the source of its agony.
'Tormenting me like this—I've done nothing wrong. I just eat when I'm hungry, take what I want. That's all.'
Pure malice surged forth. Growth triggered by devouring a critical mass of life.
Whoosh.
But even that was being devoured by the flames.
"I strike even mid-transformation."
Kim Geon-ho spotted the exact instant the Hungry Mouth tried to evolve and cranked his lighter to maximum.
Pure white flames, fierce enough to incinerate anything in a heartbeat, stretched out in a straight line like a blade.
Stab.
The flickering blaze plunged straight into the Hungry Mouth's ravenous gullet. It was like one of those street circus acts where the performer swallows a sword.
The Hungry Mouth thrashed and writhed in fury, while Kim Geon-ho grinned darkly, pinning down its rebellion and jamming the fire deeper until it burst.
The merchants, legs gone limp as they watched, felt like evil was devouring evil before their eyes.
"Die pretty, you fucker! Shame the corpse won't hold up, but can't be helped!"
Flames erupted inside the Hungry Mouth's body. Black smoke poured from its jaws, and Kim Geon-ho inhaled it casually, chuckling like it was nothing.
"What... what the hell."
And then Baren arrived, leading the crowd belatedly.
"Oh, you're here? Guess we need to talk, huh?"
Everything was unfolding exactly according to Kim Geon-ho's plan.
"What the hell is going on here...!"
Baren couldn't believe the scene before him. He was supposed to capture the Hungry Mouth. He had to.
But when he finally reached the site, the Hungry Mouth was gone—replaced by a foul-smelling roasted hunk of meat and a man huffing on the ignition part of his lighter.
"What else? I caught it."
"Caught it?"
Slaying a monster born from a dungeon collapse—solo? Did that even make sense? Baren floundered, unsure where to hook his doubts.
He'd secretly sunk a fortune into disposable private soldiers ready to die, and now this guy claimed to handle it alone? Worse, it didn't seem like a bluff.
If that meat lump was the monster, anyone arriving now would swear the man in front of them was the slayer.
"Yeah, I did. But man, you're curt... We past first intros or what?"
And that brazen attitude? Pure confidence from someone who'd just bagged the beast.
"Ah... apologies. I was flustered... I'm Baren Mayribel."
"Yeah, happens. Kim Geon-ho."
Kim Geon-ho? Rang a bell. Where from?
Baren couldn't place it, but if it wasn't lodged in his brain, the guy probably wasn't high up the chain.
'Luck of the draw?'
A lifelong black-market bottom-feeder who lucked into the kill and got cocky?
'Plausible.'
Better to play it that way—easier to manipulate for profit.
"Ah... Mr. Kim Geon-ho. On behalf of this market, my deepest thanks. Without you slaying that monster, the damage would've been..."
"Right? You never could've. And you'd have sealed folks in, turning it into a bloodbath."
"Pardon?"
"I can hear those gears grinding from here. Hey, you don't even know who I am, do you?"
Baren wanted to snap back 'How the hell should I?' but the man's presence crushed him silent.
His plan had crumbled from the first button, mentality already shattered. Now this thug-looking powerhouse shows up.
No more scheming against the family—just creeping dread from deep inside.
Like a first-grader terrified of a sixth-grader.
To Baren, Kim Geon-ho screamed local delinquent big bro. And not just looks—he was strong enough to solo a monster.
Bluntly put, Baren was spooked.
"Little punk pulling off dumbass stunts... Didn't even know how to take it down, just planned to swarm it with bodies, huh? That ever gonna work?"
I basically saved your ass.
Pinned under the onslaught and the disappointed stares from behind, Baren finally pried his mouth open.
"That's too harsh... Regardless, my thanks—and our family will reward you handsomely. So leave the scene to us for now and..."
He had to show control. Yield here, and it was over. This was his shot to skyrocket his standing.
Lost in that, Baren forgot this was a negotiation. No reading the room, no grasping intent—just pushing self-interest.
Predictably, it flopped. And Kim Geon-ho saw right through it.
"Bullshit. You don't have the authority anyway."
"Pardon?"
"Your rank? Merchant wrangling at best. No say over a scene like this. Where do you get off stealing credit?"
Kim Geon-ho's brutal fact-bombs flushed Baren's face crimson in seconds.
Plan derailed was infuriating enough—now this humiliation? No one could stomach it, no matter who.
Even a mutt gets scraps at its own yard. This insult in his family's black market? Unforgivable.
"You'll regret saying that. I swear I'll make you..."
"That's enough."
Right as Baren lost all restraint in his rage.
A voice rang out—one he absolutely did not want to hear now.
"Apologies for the poor reception. All rights to the monster are hereby yielded, and I've been ordered to escort Mr. Kim Geon-ho with utmost respect."
"...Persis?"
The one instantly crushing his greedy swallow-everything scheme.
"Ah, forgive me—urgency delayed the intro. I'm Persis, overseeing all Mayribel operations."
The Mayribel family proxy had arrived.
Persis led me straight to the mansion's bathhouse, promising it'd soothe my fatigue.
The bath was massive—practically a swimming pool.
Splash, splash.
As I soaked away the tension, I slowly pieced together what had just gone down.
"Nothing ever goes smooth."
The second Baren showed, I'd been sizing up how to spook him into coughing up the max haul.
Never expected the proxy head to drop in at that exact moment. Even I hadn't seen that coming.
'But something bugs me.'
The biggest itch? The proxy arriving way too fast.
Even on the normal timeline, for the family head to catch wind and dispatch the proxy would've been after the Hungry Mouth devoured dozens in the black market.
This was quick—meaning the head knew about its excessive growth from round one ahead of time.
'Knew it all, blocked escape anyway, and let Baren blunder into no-return territory...'
What the hell did that imply?
Swish.
Lost in thought, I heard someone slip into the bath from the far side.
"...?"
Didn't they say relax solo and chat slow? Who's crashing now?
Squinting through the steam to make out the figure.
"It's me, Geon-ho."
There stood Marren, striding confidently naked, breasts bouncing with each step.
"Missed you so much... Searched forever for you... Wanted to bathe together, and here you were waiting... I had no idea..."
I'm really sorry.
With that, she closed in without a shred of hesitation, clamping my thigh between hers and pressing her body flush against mine.
"I'll do better next time..."
"What the—"
Why are you here? I tried to ask, but she beat me to it.
"Wanna touch my breasts?"
"Uh? Yeah."
I couldn't resist.