The Wild Hidden Boss Appears (2)

Pure... or foolish?

"H-Help... me!"

A mere human, begging for aid from a ferocious monster like herself.

To save fellow humans, no less.

Staring at the massive monster before her with unwavering faith that it would help.

Trusting so easily, just because of a fleeting moment of fondness.

...Help me.

Just like that girl from long ago.

The world's most foolish, stubborn idiot, pleading with her past self in the exact same way.

Help me, Fenrion.

And so, Fenrion asked—just as she had back then.

The reason she should help.

"...They're all gonna die someday anyway. For them, it's just today."

What makes you different from those humans?

You're human too—destined to die eventually. Yet you beg me not to kill, and now to save your own kind?

Fenrion said it plainly.

"Heh. Why should I help?"

In truth, Fenrion didn't care if those monsters over there lived or died.

They weren't even kin anymore—twisted beyond recognition.

And the reverse held true for humans as well.

She hadn't always been indifferent, but now she was again.

This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went beyond the divide between humans and monsters.

"In the end, all life dies, child...."

Even if she helped those humans as requested, they'd all die someday anyway.

What meaning was there in escaping death today? She asked the child—just as she'd asked that girl long ago.

"…………."

A brief silence fell.

The child's face looked up at Fenrion wordlessly.

Unable to find a proper answer to the questions, she barely opened her mouth.

Of course, this was within Fenrion's expectations.

Even that girl from long ago hadn't answered properly.

But.

"There are... still things I want to do."

The child finally spoke.

The reason it couldn't be today, even if death would come someday.

Eyes laced with fear, tail curling under the monster's overwhelming pressure.

Still, she forced the words out.

"Those people probably feel the same... I bet."

If everyone's dying anyway, why were those humans fighting so desperately?

The monsters battling them would die someday too—why resist so fiercely?

She said it with her eyes, not her mouth.

"...I."

Life isn't born just to die.

"I didn't live to die like this."

A pretty idealist's answer.

Yet even that.

It resembled the response from that fool long ago.

Forcing the memory to resurface.

No, Fenrion. It's never meaningless....

The gentle voice claiming even the faintest struggle was precious.

Look at us now. We lived on without dying, so we could become friends like this.

Pure... or foolish?

Even though it was just a worn fragment of an old memory.

...Right?

Just that—it made her remember.

For that one reason alone.

A mutter.

"......Then you shouldn't have died like that."

Fenrion realized instinctively.

She was about to make a terribly foolish choice.

Just as she had once, long ago.

Another silence passed.

The child, quietly gauging Fenrion's mood.

"If you're not gonna help, fine."

A hint of pouty disappointment in her voice as she turned away.

Gazing at the humans still desperately fighting for survival.

She'd help them alone, she declared.

"Why?"

"To save even one. ...So I can live too."

As if that were enough.

Just a half-grown little thing, yet she bolted forward resolutely.

As she'd said herself moments ago—for the sake of saving even one.

"Hey, you—shitty mutt—come here—!!!"

Deliberately baiting them, she yelled loudly and dashed into the plains beyond.

A calculated move, exploiting monsters' habits of targeting the weakest first.

Once they noticed her, they'd turn toward the child.

And charge at the frailest-looking human.

"Th-there! Look over there, hyung!"

"Wh-what the...? Why's a kid there?"

"—Danger!! Run!!"

"Seokchan! Get that kid outta there now—!"

The humans, spotting the running child yelling from afar, looked utterly panicked.

They had no idea what she was thinking.

Fenrion was the same in that regard.

"......Reckless too, just like her. You are."

The humans' faces drained white at the sudden child.

Monsters already lunging.

Tiny feet that didn't stop running.

Surveying it all, Fenrion finally admitted it.

"Yes... too alike."

Moved by the child, who only mimicked the girl from her memories.

Unable to let go of the foolish hope they'd meet again someday.

-Stumble.

-Wobble.

"Eek?!"

The comical sight of the child tumbling flat.

Perhaps, just perhaps.

She might truly be the one Fenrion had waited eons for.

The thought flashed through her mind.

-Rooooaaar—!!

The sky.

The earth.

The world shook.

-Thud.

-Plop.

-Stagger, collapse.

An overwhelming presence that crushed even the briefest resistance of will.

The roar tore through the heavens' silence, felling all creatures in the area unconscious.

Humans.

Monsters.

All succumbed to the savage bellow.

"Uh, um...."

Only the child, shielded once more by that bizarre power, stood on her own.

Fenrion's gaze deepened as she lightly kicked off, leaping to the child in one bound.

Fate or mere coincidence—who knew.

But it wasn't a meeting to brush off lightly.

"No harm to their lives. Just knocked unconscious."

Gazing down at the fainted humans, Fenrion asked.

Is this the 'help' you wanted?

"Ah, th-that... um...."

Had she never expected Fenrion to actually help?

Tail swaying slowly, the child looked up at Fenrion with dazed eyes.

"Th-thank... you."

A timid mumble of gratitude.

This part wasn't 'like her,' but it hardly mattered.

"...Better clear these out first."

Whoosh. The monsters felled by her roar were casually flung to distant mountains.

When they woke, humans and monsters together would just fight again.

Better separate them physically.

That was surely what the child wanted.

No one dying.

-Whoosh whoosh.

"Um, Fenrion... sam?"

"They won't die from this. No need to worry."

"...Ah."

Her stiffened tail finally began to sway gently.

Afterward, the child watched the flying monsters with curious eyes.

"You're... kinder than I thought."

"...Than you thought."

"Eep."

Even enduring this trouble, and the child said that.

She clamped her mouth shut upon realizing her slip.

"It's been ages... since I heard that."

For a brief moment, the tiny silhouette from memory overlapped with the child before her.

Fenrion's massive tail swayed faintly.

The emotion: fondness.

Probably why.

An old habit resurfaced slowly.

-Rustle.

Unthinkingly folding her legs to sit on the plains, she extended just her head toward the child.

As if asking for pets.

Mistaking her for that fool in the moment.

-Flinch.

By the time she realized her posture, it was too late.

The child, more startled than Fenrion, was already petting her forehead fur with a terrified face.

She'd misunderstood something.

-Pat pat. -Pat pat.

"…………."

Tail curling between her legs again.

Ears folding back tight.

Gathering courage to pet Fenrion's forehead, but her body betrayed honest fear.

The one awaited across eons seemed quite timid.

"...Rawr."

"Eek!!"

Thud. The child toppled backward at Fenrion's sudden wide-open maw.

Her tiny limbs trembled in full submission pose.

...A twinge of guilt.

***

"Are you sulking, child?"

"...Not sulking."

Really.

I'm not a kid who pouts over one prank.

Just startled.

How could I not be, with a truck-sized mouth gaping right in front of me?

Anyway, falling on my own doesn't count as an attack, huh.

My S-rank invincibility didn't trigger.

Butt's still stinging.

"Child."

"Y-yes!"

"Come to think, I haven't heard your name yet."

'Cause you didn't ask.

I couldn't boldly retort, so I gave my name to Fenrion.

She did help me, after all—feels weird not introducing myself.

"Lee Jiwoo... nim."

"...Lee Jiwoo. Got it."

The first-ever hunter-monster introduction lasted about five seconds.

However.

"Huh?"

Just said my name, and message windows popped up.

Even the status window I never called appeared.

"...Status updates with the name too?"

The name in the status changed to my real one.

Feels random.

Anyway, I'm saved now.

Once the fainted hunters wake, I can escape the dungeon with them.

The monsters they fought? Fenrion yeeted them far away.

"Um, Fenrion-nim?"

So I spoke to her.

That huge bulk looming when the hunters wake would freak them out.

Some might faint again.

Maybe piss themselves.

Especially since.

"You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can probably head back now... Unless you have more business?"

Fenrion was still a monster.

Before I could explain, hunters would panic and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attack first.

They'd get chomped one by one, no doubt.

"Business, you say...."

Fenrion, who knocked out hunters and monsters with just a bark.

Hunters struggling against smaller monsters stood no chance.

This wasn't even a regular boss.

A hidden boss.

Even America's top S-rank hunters barely survived ones like Fenrion.

"...Greed beyond this would be too much."

Muttering cryptically again, Fenrion slowly closed her eyes.

She seemed to grasp what I meant.

"Ah, goodbye then."

Still, thanks to her, I survived this vast dungeon—that's fact.

I gave a sharp 90-degree bow, East Asian courtesy with gratitude.

No sense angering a powerhouse hidden boss.

Utmost polite respect.

Kept my head down till she headed home.

...Couldn't quite navel-bow.

-Sparkle.

"...Lee Jiwoo."

Then Fenrion's voice rang again.

In my ears, not my head this time.

Something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to say? I timidly looked up.

And doubted my eyes for a moment.

"Will I see you again later?"

Hand stroking where I'd boldly petted earlier.

Scars etched across her body.

A faint smile blooming on her strikingly beautiful face.

Transformed into a form that'd be insanely popular with suspiciously rich folks.

"Ah, um....... If there's a chance......?"

"...Yes. I'll wait."

A relieved expression at my answer as she stepped closer.

Bowed her head slightly.

And finally said.

"Please... this time, don't vanish."

-Smack.

"...Eh?"

Something warm brushed my forehead briefly, then pulled away.

Realizing what, Fenrion had already vanished.

Only more floating message windows left in her place.

Scanning the vast plains, not even her shadow remained.

Only then, as Fenrion evaporated like a mirage, did I realize my massive blunder.

I forgot to take a photo.

For my Helji Gallery anon post.