Chapter 97
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97
It was the dead of night.
“……”
She was bundled in every scrap of rag she could find, but as a destitute 4th-Grade Citizen, she couldn’t afford a proper set of clothes.
The eighteen-year-old woman, who had just come of age, fingered a scarf that felt like it was made of animal fur.
“Haa…”
Her white breath plumed in the frigid air.
“…At least it’s not freezing.”
Christmas was just around the corner. Lately, it had barely snowed.
Was spring finally on its way? With the temperature rising day by day, fewer slum dwellers were freezing to death.
She’d nearly died that way herself, but thanks to the scarf someone had given her, she had managed to survive the winter.
Spring will be here soon.
It was still bitterly cold, but…
Still, if I just hold on a little longer…
From the perspective of a 4th-Grade Citizen, her spot wasn’t all that bad. For one, being in the city meant she was safe from the threat of monsters. Moreover, the people in this neighborhood were kind-hearted, so she could occasionally get some help.
Once spring comes, I won’t have to worry about freezing to death. As for food, weeds and other plants will start to grow, so I can get by. If I’m lucky, I might even get a meal provided by the city…
Growl.
She was hungry.
“……”
Maybe she should eat some snow.
Winter was incredibly harsh for the poor. Unlike other seasons when they could at least forage for plant roots, there was absolutely nothing to eat, and it was freezing on top of that.
The only consolation was that snow was everywhere, meaning they could at least get drinking water.
It would be hard to eat if my body were freezing, but…
She had been lucky this winter, managing to keep her body warm in various ways.
“…Is it because of the scarf?”
Small strokes of good luck had been coming her way ever since she received the scarf from an unknown stranger.
She scooped up a handful of clean, untouched snow and put it in her mouth. Since it was snow from the ground, she occasionally chewed on dirt, but she didn’t care. Fortunately, she was quite resilient to the cold.
“……”
Seeking a spot sheltered from the wind, she ventured deeper into an alleyway, where she spotted other slum dwellers.
“Did you hear about that?”
“Hear what? I’m freezing to death over here…”
“No, I mean the Black Cloak.”
The Black Cloak?
…Come to think of it, the city folk have been talking about that, too.
Usually, slum dwellers hid in the alleys to avoid the contemptuous glares of the city folk, but she liked the clean, orderly atmosphere of the city, so she often lingered near the edge of the alleys.
The name the slum dweller had just mentioned was one she had also heard from people strolling in the park.
Didn’t they say the Black Cloak was a monster?
To a slum dweller who naturally lacked access to information, it was an unfamiliar name, but having heard it once or twice, she found it intriguing. She quietly settled down in the alley and eavesdropped on their conversation.
“The Black Cloak? Why bring that up all of a sudden? I thought that was a monster.”
“But from what I heard… it supposedly grants wishes or something.”
“That’s ridiculous. Since when do monsters help people?”
“But there are harmless monsters that live in places like parks… so couldn’t there be beneficial ones, too? Right?”
“So what about it?”
“I was thinking of looking for the Black Cloak.”
The other slum dweller snorted.
“Don’t be stupid. You want to get eaten in one bite?”
“They said it’s the kind of monster that doesn’t eat humans…”
“Then it’ll tear you to shreds. Since when does a monster leave a human alone?”
“I-is that so…?”
“Anyway, things have been noisy because of it lately.”
Unaware that she was listening, the slum dweller continued.
“I heard a ton of Hunters died because they trusted that Black Cloak, or Red Cloak, or whatever.”
“Huh? That happened?”
“That’s what I heard. Apparently, an S-Rank Dungeon opened up somewhere, and that Black Cloak fellow showed up there often. He even saved people in danger…”
“Then isn’t it a beneficial monster after all?”
“But then it suddenly vanished. And now, some guy claims to have spotted the Black Cloak in some other alley.”
“A monster from a dungeon suddenly appearing in an alley? Does that even make sense?”
“Of course it doesn’t.”
The slum dweller clicked his tongue.
“It’s probably just a rumor made up by bored city folk or 4th-Grade maggots like us. Otherwise, it means it’s a dangerous monster that can pop up anywhere, anytime.”
Monsters basically had a set range of activity. Although the slum dwellers knew little due to their lack of education, they at least knew that monsters followed certain rules.
But the Black Cloak was a monster that didn’t even follow those rules.
“Maybe it saved some Hunters a few times by chance. But doesn’t its sudden disappearance tell you everything? In the end, it’s just another evil monster that doesn’t care about human lives. Or maybe it was a trap to lure the Hunters in.”
“But they said it grants wishes…”
“Don’t make me laugh. Even the Gods only show mercy to believers who are useful to them. Maybe a Traditional God would offer unconditional kindness… but this is a monster.”
The slum dweller huddled closer, warning the other not to harbor useless hope. As a cold gust of wind whipped through the alley, they shivered and pressed together with their acquaintances.
“Ugh, it’s freezing. Stop talking nonsense and huddle closer.”
“Ah… I was hoping to ask the Black Cloak for a set of clothes if I ran into him.”
“You’re still on about that nonsense.”
In the dead of winter, it was a common sight to see slum dwellers huddling together like penguins. The larger the huddle, the more power that group was perceived to have, but she didn’t even have a friend left to huddle with.
Her only friend in the slums had died while they were trying to survive the winter.
“……”
If she were still alive, would it have been warmer?
“Ugh…”
Clutching her scarf tighter against the chilly wind, she curled her body into a ball.
She thought it might be nice to find a new companion once spring arrived. It was only hard now because the winter made it difficult to move around; once time passed, she would surely make a new friend.
…The Black Cloak.
So that was what it was.
I wondered what everyone was whispering about lately.
She had heard it was a humanoid monster, the first to appear in years. She also recalled hearing some absurd rumor that if you did a good deed, the Black Cloak would give you a gift.
Not that I believe it.
The slum dweller from earlier was right. There was no such thing as a monster that helped humans. Having lost her village, family, and friends to monsters before fleeing to Seoul, she knew this all too well.
Monsters were objects of terror.
“……”
Her gaunt body slipping quietly from the alley, she wandered into another one closer to the brightly lit city.
She had no other reason. She was just hoping that, if she was lucky, she might find some leftover food discarded by the city folk.
Sitting still wouldn’t cure this agonizing hunger. Even if moving around exhausted her, she was bound to starve to death if she didn’t act.
After wandering for a bit, she ran into another slum dweller.
“……”
“…Oh…”
The figure was much smaller than her, looking younger than eighteen at the very least.
Was this child born here?
If they were this young, they were usually born to people in the slums, but there was no guardian in sight. No matter how cold-hearted the slums could be, it was rare for such a young child to be left entirely alone.
But it’s not like I can just go up and talk to them…
Ever since she was demoted to a 4th-Grade Citizen, she had lived a highly individualistic life. She had no desire to involve herself with the child.
She knew all too well that taking in a child during such hard times would only mean another mouth to feed.
The city folk might call her dirty and vulgar, but everything she possessed now was what she had desperately scraped together just to survive. If she gave any of it away, she wouldn’t last a single season.
“……”
But.
“…Mmh…”
At the very least, this scarf wasn’t something she had scraped together herself.
“Do… do you want to wear this?”
“……?”
“Wear it. Here…”
It was a stroke of luck that had come to her by chance.
“You wear it.”
It had been so long since she had spoken to anyone that the words came out awkwardly, but her meaning was clear. Though the young child cast a wary glance, they must have been freezing, as they hesitantly took the scarf.
Her neck felt a bit bare, but it was fine. She was resilient to the cold and wouldn’t die just because she lacked a scarf. It hadn’t belonged to her in the first place, just a passing piece of good fortune, so she felt no regret.
“Yeah.”
“……”
Perhaps unable to comprehend the situation, the young child remained silent, clutching the scarf tightly. Seeing this, she felt a sudden wave of embarrassment and quickly hurried away.
Trying to talk to someone after so long really made her tongue-tied. Once she had put a good distance between them, a budding sense of pride bloomed in her chest.
Still, I did the right thing.
Her parents had always taught her to share whenever she had a little extra. Though they were gone now, doing a good deed in accordance with their words made her feel good.
When I meet Mom and Dad again… they’ll praise me, right?
Just as her lips curled into a slight smile, she froze.
“……”
“……”
A pitch-black frame had caught her eye.
The frame, which looked as though it had been carved from golden wood, was elegantly sculpted.
Inside, lush greenery was painted in calm tones. She wondered why she had perceived it as “black” until its true essence revealed itself.
“……”
It was a portrait of a man dressed in an all-black suit, his face obscured by paint as smooth and dark as ink.
A black portrait.
“…Huh?”
Instinctively, she knew. This was the “Black Cloak.”
“U-uh… uh…”
“……”
“M-monster…”
Her breath caught in her throat.
It’s a monster.
The very thing that had stripped away everything she had was standing right before her.
Her breath hitched as if she had been struck in the solar plexus. Her heart pounded violently in a final, desperate struggle, and the blood rushing through her veins made her entire body tremble.
With so many organs working so hard, why was her brain refusing to function? As she instinctively recoiled from this gloomy, oppressive disaster, the crimson lips within the frame parted.
“……”
“I apologize for startling you.”
How could she describe it?
It was an incredibly polite voice, one that a mere coward of a slum dweller like her should never have had the privilege of hearing.
“Please accept my apologies.”
“……”
She got goosebumps. There was no emotion in the Black Cloak’s voice.
It was as quiet as a funeral, so hushed it could hardly be called a “voice,” yet as clean and clear as a machine’s.
Despite possessing such a voice, despite speaking without a shred of feeling, this bizarrely beautiful figure was mimicking benevolence from within the shadow of his hood.
…W-what do I do?
Her feet were frozen to the ground.
I’m scared…
She was a coward by nature, always terrified of monsters, and even more so after her village was wiped out. To encounter a humanoid monster, which she had only ever heard stories of, was enough to make her entire body shake.
Because she hadn’t wanted to die, she had hidden alone during that chaos. That was how she had survived to reach the city. She had scraped by, living like a parasite in this massive metropolis.
“Ah, ah…”
“……”
“…D-don’t… don’t come… don’t come near me…”
“……”
“Sob, hic…”
She felt so utterly miserable.
“I-I did a good deed today…”
Talk about terrible luck.
The positive things people had said about the Black Cloak flashed through her mind, but only for a second. To a woman who knew exactly what monsters were, encountering one was nothing short of a living nightmare.
How am I going to die? Will I be swallowed whole by a massive mouth, just like my parents? Or impaled on countless teeth? Or crushed underfoot? Or, or, or…
As she wept, the Black Cloak asked, “Did you perform a good deed?”
“Hic, ugh…”
“I imagine you must have been greatly startled by this frightening situation.”
“…Sniff…”
“I promise I will not harm you.”
Even as she wept, she thought his voice possessed a strange, merciful resonance.
In fact, her crying had stopped at some point, though she hadn’t realized it herself.
“……”
“Here.”
The Black Cloak reached out and offered her something.
Normally, she would never have accepted anything from a monster.
She would have been too busy crying or fainting to utter a word, but as if possessed, her racing heart calmed, and she found herself listening to his steady voice.
Before she knew it, she reached out and took it.
“……”
“These are cookies.”
Rustle.
A savory aroma wafted from the thin paper bag.
“I apologize once again for startling you.”
“……”
“I acknowledge your good deed.”
Placing one hand over his chest and the other behind his back, the Black Cloak bowed deeply, like a gentleman from a fairy tale or a nobleman from a faded film.
Following the brief, deliberate bow, the Black Cloak’s low voice followed.
“Thank you.”
For what?
“……”
When she raised her head, the frame was gone.
Only a bag of freshly baked cookies remained.
“…Huh?”
It was the day the name of the “Black Cloak” began to spread among the slums.
* * *
The portrait, still unable to make a new friend, wept sorrowfully.
“Today, too, I failed to find anyone to be my pen pal…”
“Ah, if you are that distressed, shall I capture one for you?”
“How dare you try to rob this Teacher of his pleasure?”
“……”
…If Teacher said so, then so it was.
Iser nodded solemnly, a benevolent smile on his face.