NOVEL NEXT Chapter 41 - The Shadow (7)
As I sat panting on the ground after defeating the monster mimicking a human, shuttering sounds accompanied by murmuring arose.
A hero must be dignified before the cameras!
Saying that, Greed forcibly stood my body upright.
Still awkward at controlling the human body, the movements resembled those of a skydancer performing in front of a store.
Was this really right?
…Ahem.
Clenching my teeth, I tensed my whole body.
A hero isn’t merely a janitor exterminating monsters and villains.
As an idol for the people, I must instill a sense of reassurance.
Spreading my legs slightly, I raised my right fist skyward.
Waaaaaah!
The civilians who had secretly observed my battle burst into cheers and applause.
Hearing those voices reinvigorated my legs, which had nearly buckled moments ago.
So this… is what a hero is…
Greed muttered that in a dazed tone.
Just as I was about to respond, Jieun approached.
Her running makeup made for quite a comical sight as she sniffled, reaching towards my injuries.
“I’ll be fine. It’ll heal up soon.”
“Th, this, huk, ik, what, do you mean, fi, ne…”
My body was in no condition to dismiss so lightly.
It was harder to find an uninjured area than the opposite.
Still, the pain didn’t feel that severe.
“Stop crying. Your makeup is smearing everywhere.”
“Huk, huik, loo, k.”
Heeding my words, Jieun sniffled as she took out a handkerchief.
Then she used it to wipe my face.
“Yeah, your makeup is all smeared, so I won’t worry about it,”
“Be quiet!”
“…”
For some reason, Jieun felt more daunting than the monster in that moment.
As we were wrapping up the incident, the heroes who had belatedly responded to my emergency call began appearing one by one.
The protagonist and heroes are supposed to arrive late, but wasn’t this too late?
The arriving heroes glanced at me before surveying the surroundings.
Then they stared at me again with gaping mouths.
A feeling they were silently questioning how I had created this unbelievable scene within 5 minutes.
The road where the monster and I had battled was in such a dreadful state.
The asphalt was utterly shattered like a crumbled cookie, more akin to an off-road trail now.
Over six buildings, including the jewelry store I had crashed into, were barely maintaining their shapes.
It resembled the devastation of a rampaging giant monster trampling everything.
Yet the monster’s body was nowhere to be seen.
They probably couldn’t make sense of the situation.
…Wait a minute?
I gazed at where the monster I had been battling should be.
It had definitely been human-sized, but was that just my imagination making it seem smaller now?
No, something seems off.
Even Greed, basking in the surrounding cheers, sensed something amiss.
Wondering what it could be, I scanned my surroundings when an ability response team and ambulance arrived, immediately taking me to the hospital.
It seemed about 1/4 of the monster’s body had vanished.
An inexplicable unsettling feeling remained.
After reaching the hospital for emergency treatment, my bandage-wrapped body resembled a mummy.
Seeing that, Jieun burst into tears again, creating an indescribably awkward atmosphere.
That strange mood was finally broken when someone from the ability response team arrived to assess the situation.
I recounted the events of the past week.
The peculiar gaze that had followed Jieun and me for a week.
Initially, I had thought it might be one of the sexual assailants recently making headlines.
Since Jieun was an attractive woman who drew men’s attention.
So I had tried to apprehend the culprit, but whenever I reacted, that gaze would instantly disappear.
But today, that gaze had followed us from campus all the way to our neighborhood.
We were stunned when the person appeared from around the corner.
Someone with the appearance of my university friend.
“How did you realize that person was a monster?”
“Well, he’s a friend who had gotten grease stains on his clothes from eating sizzling beef during lunch. But he was wearing a fresh outfit without those stains. And despite being a classmate, he addressed me as ‘Sunbae’.”
“Ah… a mimicking monster?”
“Yes.”
“But the scale of damage seems too…”
“It was likely the main body behind that mimicking monster.”
Saying that, I showed the man the monster’s core I had seized.
“A core?”
“It didn’t trigger monster detectors while in human form, but once it transformed into a monster, the detectors reacted. I’m still unsure of the principles behind it.”
In any case, the man before me now knew he was dealing with a monster.
So I had asked the accompanying Jieun to call for a hero, leading to this situation, I explained.
“A hero…”
He said that while gazing at my chest area.
“Ah.”
My badge was missing.
It must have been lost or damaged during that intense battle.
If a hero personally loses their badge through negligence, reissuing it incurs a fee. But if lost or damaged while fighting monsters or villains, free reissuance is possible.
Somewhat inconvenient, but I should be grateful it’s free at least.
“You must have endured quite an ordeal. Please rest well.”
The ability response team member said that before departing, leaving an eerie silence in the hospital room.
Then Jieun, her face flushed peculiarly, began fidgeting as she gauged my reactions.
“Why are you acting like that?”
“Huh? Ah, no, nothing!”
Abruptly standing, Jieun promptly exited, leaving me blankly watching her departure.
You’re really clueless when it comes to this sort of thing.
From Greed’s snide remark, it seemed I had done something, though I honestly couldn’t fathom what.
Reclining on the bed, I let out a sigh.
At least it was over for now.
Yet no matter how I thought about it, that partially vanished monster body bothered me.
Let’s go.
Huh?
Injuries this minor don’t even count. Stop whining like you got pepper sprayed!
Greed raised his voice, insisting we depart swiftly.
I did want to rest a bit more, but that disappearing body was nagging at me too, so I would need to examine the core once back.
As I prepared to leave, Jieun returned from the restroom, demanding why I was already trying to depart.
Only after repeatedly reassuring Jieun was I able to discharge from the hospital.
Once the human’s awareness was no longer focused on it, the monster carefully moved its body.
The monster retrieved some fallen object nearby as it fled.
Then it headed towards its destination.
Fortunately, there was no pursuit from that human.
Having lost ‘one’ core, the monster could no longer mimic humans this time.
Attempting a human disguise now would inevitably reveal flaws.
After sending avatars to infiltrate human society for investigation, the monster had instinctively realized this.
Hence, the monster transformed into a lifeform commonly seen among humans.
In its relatively mobile feline form, the monster slowly made its way.
“Ah, meow~!”
The monster didn’t understand why humans called out to this lifeform specifically.
Greatly weakened from the previous battle, the monster hurried past the bothersome meowing humans at a brisker pace.
Yet even as a cat, with its different physiology from monsters, walking remained challenging.
It tumbled over ten times despite only traversing a short distance.
Indeed, without ‘that one’, controlling its body was difficult.
Its thoughts grew increasingly simplistic too, reverting to its former self…
“My, you’ve returned in quite an adorable form.”
Meow.
“Yes, yes… Hmm? You’ve lost one core. What happened?”
Meow.
The monster dropped the object it had carried in its mouth.
“Oh dear, seems you tangled with a hero.”
The man stroked the cat-formed monster’s head, examining the badge with his fingers.
Hero badges enabled individual identification akin to citizen registration numbers, allowing lost ones to be returned to their owners.
Basic information was printed on the rear in small text.
“Jinwoo Lee… Ah, the recent TV personality, I presume?”
The man muttered while petting the monster’s head.
“The first to kill one of your avatars, wasn’t he?”
Meooww.
“A rare breed of youth these days, don’t you agree?”
Meooww.
To the monster, the man’s words held divine authority.
It was impossible to refute the words of its creator, as no creation could defy its maker.
“Shall we ‘confirm’ then?”
Saying that, the man clutched the badge, closing his eyes.
Then he chuckled lightly while stroking the cat.
“My my, he was quite the adversary.”
A user of physical enhancement and fortification abilities, and a considerably potent one at that.
Combined with the ability to negate the monster’s movements displayed in their final clash.
The man toyed with the badge in his hand, seeming intrigued.
“At minimum, a triple ability user.”
Demonstrating an uncannily keen intuition alongside stable multi-ability manifestation and control.
The video impressions gleaned via psychometry depicted a flashy yet crude, barbaric battle between the monster and Jinwoo.
Initially, the monster had been a monster, unfamiliar with human combat forms. While Jinwoo lacked martial arts experience, appearing sloppy.
“Yet with ample room for growth, a sense of justice, and the rarity of multiple abilities… is he not practically a protagonist?”
Hearing the man’s words, the monster let out a mournful meooww.
“His timing matches this situation so perfectly, it feels like destiny, doesn’t it?”
Meow.
The man stroked the badge before pocketing it, then caressed the monster’s feline head.
He proceeded to reach into the monster’s body, extracting its core.
Meow…
Even in its dying moments, the monster harbored no resentment towards the man.
It was only natural.
“When you’re reborn, I’ll give you a stronger, sturdier body. You worked hard.”
The monster could barely comprehend half of the man’s words, but they sounded peculiarly gentle.
“With two cores, they seem to interfere and destabilize control.”
The man pondered while examining the extracted core.
One core had suppressed the monster’s inherent wavelengths.
The other had priority over physical control.
Upon sustaining a significant impact, the previously non-interfering cores had acted on survival instincts, causing interference and going haywire.
The resulting phenomenon had triggered the monster detectors, leading to an unexpected outcome.
A relatively successful attempt, but it seemed improvements were still needed.
The man cheerfully smiled, anticipating the future.
An innocently pure smile, like a child receiving a new toy.