Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Rampaging Minotaur-Type Mutant
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A giant that looked at least 2.5 meters tall. Not just tall, but a monster with the bulk of a mountain.
Minotaur-type Mutant.
Its head wasn't fully a cow's—just sprouting cow horns—so calling it the Minotaur from myth was a bit of a stretch... But the destruction it wrought with its massive frame was anything but ordinary.
Boom! Kwang!
Every sculpture or structure around me was getting smashed to bits, and the thing's eyes were bloodshot red.
As if it had lost all reason.
The ground flipped over, asphalt shattered. Even the café I used to frequent.
I definitely remembered seeing something online not long ago.
A story about a Minotaur-type Mutant going on a rampage.
I could picture the situation.
The Mutant had been subdued after causing chaos, but somehow escaped, and now it was throwing this tantrum.
And due to Mutant traits, once it let go of its reason, it might be hard to regain.
Otherwise, there was no way it'd destroy the area like this. The damages alone—what, billions?
No one in their right mind would cause this much destruction. So I had no choice but to assume it wasn't.
“Groooaaarrr!”
Letting out a deafening roar that could split eardrums, it soon locked eyes on one person.
The thing was staring at... some female student.
“Kyaaaah!”
The student had the misfortune of making eye contact with the Minotaur, turning her into its target.
Watching her flee in terror, I felt like her face looked familiar.
Huh.
Isn't that... one of the freshmen in my department?
Vaguely, I recalled my classmates gushing about a pretty girl who had joined the department.
Her name was... Lee Si-hyun, I think?
I'd seen her once at the student café, but I never imagined we'd cross paths like this.
What an absurd coincidence.
Lee Si-hyun was wearing the uniform from the café I often visited before my mutation—back when I'd drop off side dishes for my little sibling.
Looks like she'd been working there and got caught up in this mess.
If I'd been even a little later, something awful could've happened.
Anyway... I'd sized up the situation. Time to stop that brute.
* * *
Lee Si-hyun, a freshman at Korea University, despaired at the sudden nightmare she found herself in.
It had been just another ordinary day.
Busy working at the café near her place.
Then, out of nowhere, a disaster alert on her phone.
Of all places, right at the Korea University station entrance.
She was debating whether to bolt when...
A Mutant burst into the café. Panic erupted as people fled, and she screamed while running too.
Since it happened right in the middle of her shift, she was the last one out.
Fortunately, the Minotaur was just mindlessly smashing everything, so she escaped without issue.
But... as she thought she'd put enough distance and glanced back, her eyes met the Minotaur's.
The beast, which had been blindly wrecking things, suddenly fixated on her with endless murderous intent.
It had found a target for all that pent-up rage.
And she felt it.
Screaming, Si-hyun kept running.
But the distance was closing.
She tried to push harder, but her frail body betrayed her.
Her legs gave out.
“Eek...!”
She tried to get up after falling, but she couldn't. Fear had sapped all her strength.
She looked back. The Mutant was almost upon her.
I'm dead.
Shaking uncontrollably, Si-hyun thought that. She could do nothing.
She felt the Minotaur's hand closing in.
A hand massive enough to hurl a car one-handed, reaching for her... Si-hyun shut her eyes in terror.
But...
Nothing happened.
‘...?’
Si-hyun cracked her eyes open. The pain she'd expected never came.
Peeking through her lashes, she saw a woman clad head to toe in black, with long black hair.
The woman, hat pulled low, muttered something.
“Whew... If I'd been a second later, that would've been bad.”
* * *
Just as the Minotaur's hand reached for Si-hyun, I grabbed its wrist.
Crack-crunch!
A gruesome sound rang out as my small hand clamped down, twisting the Minotaur-type Mutant's wrist.
Looks like my baseless confidence had some basis after all.
The doctor's words—Mutants grow stronger the longer they've been mutated—must've been true.
Even this thing that had trashed the bustling streets couldn't shake off my grip.
“Groooaaargh-!”
Writhing in agony, it flew into a greater frenzy. Its free hand lunged for me... but I saw every move.
I'd never trained in martial arts or anything, and I'd long forgotten the basic self-defense from military service. Yet I instantly knew what to do.
When you can see everything your opponent does and they're slower than you, there's no reason you can't counter. I grabbed its other wrist too.
Then slammed both arms down, smashing it into the ground.
Kwaaang!
Cracks spiderwebbed further across the already ruined asphalt. Please don't bill me for this.
Come on, even in this messed-up country, they wouldn't pin this on me, right?
Anyway, the thing lay motionless on the ground.
Looked like it was out cold.
I glanced back. Si-hyun stared at me in bewilderment, like she couldn't believe what she'd seen.
Her body was still trembling, though. The fear etched into her hadn't faded yet.
“You okay? Not hurt anywhere?”
“Huh? Y-yeah. Th-thank you.”
“Good thing.”
“Um... are you... a Mutant?”
“How else could I take down a brute like that?”
“Oh.”
“Can you stand? Need a hand?”
“Y-yes! I can stand. I'm fine. Thank you.”
Stammering, Si-hyun tried to rise but collapsed again mid-motion. Her legs had given out.
I extended my hand.
“You don't look fine.”
“I-it's just... I was so scared...”
“That makes sense. I'd be shaken too if a monster smashed into my café during a shift. Here, let me help you up.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Put some strength in your legs. Can you walk?”
“Yeah. The shaking's stopped now. Thank you so much for saving me...”
“No, no... Just doing what anyone should.”
“...What anyone should?”
I grinned sheepishly at her question.
“If monsters like that roam free, even I can't walk the streets safely. Plus, I wanted to show not all Mutants are violent thugs.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, get home quick. No good lingering here...”
Boom!
Before I finished, a roar erupted behind me. Damn, this thing's tough as nails.
Even after that slam, it was getting back up. No wonder it escaped.
I recalled the doctor's words.
Some Mutants have extraordinarily tough hides.
“Eek...!”
Oh dear. Si-hyun's legs gave out again.
Of course. Trauma like that doesn't vanish easily.
No choice.
I'd have to use more force.
The thing shook its head and glared at me.
Its rage-filled eyes were now pure crimson, sclera vanished.
For the first time, I felt sorry for it.
That level of bloodshot meant its mind was so unstable from mutation it couldn't control itself.
Maybe it was an ordinary person, like me once.
I could've ended up like that.
Thinking that, the least I could do was knock some sense into it—or knock it out.
Instinctively, I knew how to put it down.
The doctor had said it after my physical test.
I'd naturally learn my traits and abilities.
She was right.
Something boiled inside me.
And I knew what happened when I unleashed it.
Lightning.
Yeah. I realized I could wield lightning.
No one told me. I'd never tried. It just came naturally.
Come to think of it, they said tasers work on Mutants too.
So if a jolt to the body could subdue one like this, lightning should be perfect.
With that tough hide, it could probably take this much.
* * *
Si-hyun collapsed again.
But unlike before, it wasn't desperate.
She had this vague sense that the beautiful woman before her would protect her.
Facing the risen Minotaur-type Mutant, a ferocious gust whipped around the black-clad woman.
“Kyaa!”
The wind knocked the woman's hat off, tumbling it forward. Si-hyun looked up at her.
Above her flowing black hair curled horns even darker than her locks.
Crackle!
Sparks danced from the horns, turning them ghostly white.
Then a bolt shot skyward from them. Clouds gathered over the clear sky.
Mutants were unreal enough, but this was beyond.
No Mutant she'd seen had ever shown power like this.
Rumble!
A monstrous peal from the thunderheads, and a massive bolt—far grander than the first—struck the Minotaur-type Mutant.
Flash!
Vision bleached white. The arrogant beast toppled backward in the same pose. Smoke poured from its body.
Kwaaang!
With the flash came a thunderclap like an artillery shell, deafening. Nearby lights flickered out from the strike.
Si-hyun stared blankly at the woman.
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