Chapter 13
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Try to Catch Me
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That was when a man approached, supporting someone who was gravely injured.
"Anyone here a healer or a doctor? We've got a critical patient right now!"
"I'll take a look."
Chan-seong stepped forward and tended to the patient.
"With my abilities, all I can do is emergency treatment. He's stable for now, but he needs proper medical care soon."
That guy... he's a healer, huh?
Healers were top priority recruits regardless of rank.
High-rank Awakeners handled on-site support, while low-rank ones worked outside the gates.
Such a burly guy... and he's a healer?
Guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.
"Excuse me, but what happened?"
"We ran into a monster I'd never seen before. It looked like some half-formed creature..."
"Are you two Hunters, by any chance?"
"Yeah, I'm D-rank, and this guy just hit C-rank last week... Sigh."
The news that a C-rank had been carried out critically injured spread ripples of unease among the Awakeners.
"...Everyone, listen up for a sec."
The Hunter who'd first rallied the group quietly gathered the Awakeners.
Su-hyeon secretly watched Hyeon-seok flash a sleazy grin.
"That healer over there...? With a body like the Terminator?"
Pfft.
Ga-eun asked Chan-seong as he returned after healing the injured man. Su-hyeon, caught off guard, barely stifled a laugh with her hand.
Thankfully, neither seemed to hear her.
"Yes, E-rank healing Awakener."
"Why's someone like that working under a thug like him? People must be lining up to poach you."
She nodded toward Hyeon-seok amid the group of Awakeners.
"When my mom was sick, our guild was the only one that helped my dad out. They gave me a job too... So I'm paying back that debt."
"A debt of gratitude? Hmm..."
Ga-eun looked skeptical but soon dropped it.
It was rude to speculate about people she barely knew.
"Anyway, enough of that. Let's introduce ourselves properly. Sorry about earlier. I'm Lee Ga-eun. I do NewTuber stuff and streaming."
"Kang Chan-seong of the Pitbull Guild."
"K-Kim Su-hyeon. Twenty-three."
They both turned to her expectantly, so she blurted it out without thinking.
At the mention of her age, Chan-seong's eyes widened oddly. He was so stoic that any hint of surprise stood out.
"...Sorry. People always say I'm blunt. I'm not great with jokes."
"For real. She said her body changed a few days ago. Even got tested at the health center, but nothing showed up, so maybe a big hospital next."
As she watched Chan-seong's rock-solid expression turn dumbfounded, someone shouted.
"You fucking bastards! They ditched us!"
The chatting Awakeners had vanished.
"Damn it, I knew it! Trash like them!"
"Sniff... What do we do...?"
As despair gripped the remnants again,
Su-hyeon sensed that strange presence nearby once more.
Looking closely where it came from, there was a monster.
Or... a monster?
Elongated limbs of bone and sinew, a body like clumps of rotten meat.
It was inside a gate, so sure, call it a monster—but unlike goblins or orcs that resembled living creatures,
this thing's form made you question if it was alive at all.
Su-hyeon felt a massive sense of wrongness from the unidentified monster.
It was so devoid of presence that it stood out more. Like holes cut from blank paper amid empty space.
"Ga-eun, over there."
Su-hyeon tugged urgently at Ga-eun's sleeve.
Ga-eun peered intently, then paled in silence.
"...You can see that? How?"
"Looks like we should avoid it too."
Hearing her, the two spotted the monster and quickly calmed the group.
"Everyone, stay quiet and listen. The monster's close. We need to move."
"Hey, aren't you that streamer...?"
"Ah, yeah. Can we talk later? It's urgent."
"Y-Yes! Of course!"
A few recognized Ga-eun and made a fuss, convincing the rest she was legit. They followed without protest.
Or maybe it was Chan-seong beside her.
Either way, they quickly regrouped and prepared to move.
"Alright, then... Huh? What's wrong?"
"Not that way. Over there."
Su-hyeon grabbed Ga-eun, who was heading toward an empty hallway, and pointed elsewhere.
"...You sense something?"
Nod.
Huff, huff, huff.
About thirty people ran through the pitch-black department store, breathing raggedly.
Only the little girl at the front occasionally spoke, with the slim woman beside her relaying to the group.
Su-hyeon, leading the way, furrowed her brow.
The monsters had picked up their presence and were closing in overall.
The store's layout kept them apart for now, but it was only a matter of time.
At this pace, they'd get spotted at that T-junction ahead.
"We gotta go faster, or we'll run into them."
"Everyone, push a bit harder! Or we might bump into them!"
Footsteps quickened without reply.
"Oof, oof!"
But an elderly man couldn't keep up and tripped at the corner.
Chan-seong was helping stragglers from the rear, but even he had limits.
He rushed back to help the man up—but it was too late.
A monster rounded the corner and spotted them.
"Damn—!"
"W-What the—!"
Su-hyeon had a soft spot for elders.
Maybe because her grandma raised her alone.
So when the monster appeared, she couldn't hold back and dashed between it and Chan-seong.
She saw its pointed snout thrust forward.
Countless teeth.
A head big enough to swallow her whole without chewing.
She'd charged in without a plan.
As the monster snatched and swallowed her, she glimpsed Ga-eun's despairing face.
Thud.
"No!"
Ga-eun lunged at the grotesque monster.
But a casual swipe sent her tumbling down the hall.
"You okay? Snap out of it."
"Ugh, I'm fine. But Su-hyeon...!"
Ga-eun rose with Chan-seong's help, her face on the verge of tears.
Chan-seong stared grimly at the monster that had devoured the kid.
The weak—children or elders—sacrificed first. It was what he hated most.
Even if Su-hyeon was technically twenty-three.
"...Hm?"
That's when Chan-seong sensed something off.
The monster that swallowed her wasn't moving a muscle.
"What? Why's it just standing..."
Ga-eun noticed too and stopped crying to stare.
The monster, gazing blankly ahead, suddenly bulged its eyes before exploding spectacularly.
"Urk."
Su-hyeon splatted onto the floor amid the gore.
"...?"
While everyone else was dumbfounded, Ga-eun rushed over to check her.
"You okay!? Hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine, urp..."
Aside from dry-heaving from the monster fluids, she seemed unharmed. Thank goodness.
"Whoaaa!!"
"T-Took out the monster in one hit!"
"We're... we're saved...!"
The onlookers from afar erupted in cheers.
"What the heck did you do?"
"Dunno... But I think I can do it again."
Su-hyeon gazed at her now-tiny palms.
After endless oppression and humiliation...
It was time for payback.
Tat-tat-tat-tat.
A little girl in a white cap, mint-green hair, a T-shirt with a big leaf print, and jean shorts dashed energetically through the department store.
Of course, it wasn't peaceful.
Lights shattered, displays smashed— the place was a gloomy ruin.
"Found another one!"
Su-hyeon spotted a monster lurking among mannequins and bolted to tag it.
Like a game of tag.
"Grk?"
The monster tilted its head, too baffled to chase the tiny girl poking it. But the weirdness didn't end there.
The tagged monster swelled instantly—
Boom!
"!?"
Monsters perked up from all directions at the sound.
Su-hyeon spotted the nearest and charged again.
"Grrrk!?"
Having witnessed their comrade explode, the monsters fled from Su-hyeon en masse.
"Hah, huff... Don't run! Fight me!"
She flailed her stubby limbs furiously, but they pulled away.
Her body just couldn't keep up.
"C'mere!"
Ga-eun scooped up the exhausted Su-hyeon from behind and bolted.
C-rank physical Awakener at full sprint.
"Gieeeek!"
The freakish monsters shared similar shrieks.
This chaotic chase ended at a dead end.
Cornered, the monsters clawed walls desperately, then spotted Ga-eun closing in and plastered themselves against it to stay far from her.
Ga-eun held Su-hyeon tucked under her arms.
The monsters stared tensely at Su-hyeon.
She grinned and raised her palms—chaos erupted among them again.
"Grrrrk!"
"Kweeeek!"
Mid-tag with the monsters, Chan-seong halted everyone.
"What's up?"
"Smells like blood."
Replying to Ga-eun, he approached cautiously to check ahead.
"It's those Awakeners who ditched us."
"...Oh god."
Up close, the thick stench and scattered body parts confirmed it.
Ga-eun grimaced and averted Su-hyeon's eyes first.
After all the running, Su-hyeon felt drained.
Just like the first day her body changed.
"I'm the adult here."
"Quiet. Drop that later."
"Huh."
Su-hyeon had gripped Ga-eun's arm tightly without realizing.
Hard enough her hands went numb.
"Kids shouldn't see this. Tsk tsk. You almost got us killed earlier—who knows how scared you were."
The elder who'd tripped approached to distract her.
"Thanks to this pretty little miss, this old man's gonna live longer. Heh heh."
"Haha..."
Su-hyeon just smiled awkwardly. Too weak to correct the misunderstanding.
She closed her eyes and nestled into Ga-eun's shoulder.
Ga-eun stiffened briefly, then gently stroked her back.
"Aww, poor thing's tuckered out."
"No wonder. After all that."
"Such gratitude at her young age..."
She ignored the chuckling crowd.
Ga-eun smiled silently at Su-hyeon's flushed ear tips.
"...Big Brother."
The mantis-like man who'd incited the group earlier.
His corpse lay alone, far off—upper body only.
Nails shattered, eyes bulging in death. He'd suffered terribly.
"Heaven's vengeance! Divine justice. Tsk tsk."
"Fucking trash."
"Still, for the dead..."
"Wrong is wrong. Honestly, feels good."
Stressed out, they vented harshly.
Chan-seong listened silently and closed Hyeon-seok's eyes.
He knew the man wasn't good, but death was always tragic.
They'd come to the store because Hyeon-seok sneaking off alone seemed suspicious.
Chan-seong had stopped guildmates' illegal shit before and gotten beaten for it.
But he'd never wished this end.
Live better next life, sir.
"Hey, someone’s coming out!"
"Ambulance, hurry!"
After looping the store, they found the first-floor exit.
A huge crowd awaited.
"Block the reporters!"
"Folks, cross the line and you're stopped!"
"Here—critical! Stretcher!"
Exhausted to her limit, Su-hyeon succumbed to the noisy crowd's clamor and passed out.
Still cradled in Ga-eun's arms.