49

Chapter 49

“…….”

“…….”

Wh-what should she do?

‘I blurted it out, but….’

Cha Ara’s legs trembled like those of a newborn fawn.

‘Damn it.’

Cha Ara’s knees, endlessly servile before the strong, were already prepared to kneel. In most life-or-death situations, however, human knees did not possess enough value to guarantee their owner’s survival.

‘That must be especially true when the other party isn’t human.’

At least she knew that he was not human. No, she could not help but know.

His face was merely concealed by the darkness, yet it felt so completely absent. How could she fail to notice this unfathomable sense of wrongness?

‘…Fuck, fuck, what do I do? Still, the fact that he’s talking means he intends to converse with me, doesn’t it? Of course, he could kill me instantly if he doesn’t like me… But for now, at least….’

Cha Ara was not what one would call an ‘educated Hunter.’ She had received only the Association’s basic training and did not know the precise ecology of Monsters or how to respond to them.

Even Cha Ara, however, knew how dangerous Humanoid Monsters were.

‘They told us that anyone C-rank or lower should simply pray for a painless death if they encounter a Humanoid Monster….’

At home, her pig of an older brother and rabbit-like youngest brother were waiting for her. Unable to die obediently, Cha Ara decided to beg first.

‘At least we speak the same language, and he intends to communicate… He does. It looks like he does. Right? He does, doesn’t he?’

Cha Ara opened her mouth despite trembling violently.

“I-I’m… I’m a Porter. Do you perhaps need a slave…?”

“…A Porter?”

“Ah.”

Not every Humanoid Monster was knowledgeable about human culture. Cha Ara remembered this belatedly, but the fact that he showed interest in her words was good news.

Cha Ara brightened as she answered. She could faintly see a path to survival.

“Someone who carries luggage. I-I can do many other things too. I’m good at cleaning, and I’m good at cooking, and I can run errands incredibly well. If you spare me just this once, I’ll do everything in my power….”

“I am good at them too.”

“…Pardon?”

“I am good at cooking and cleaning.”

“…….”

What sort of mindset led someone to respond, ‘I am useful too,’ to a human desperately advertising her value so she could survive? Cha Ara felt like coughing up blood.

‘What in the world does he want from me with that phrasing? Is he saying he won’t spare me? That I’m useless? Or, or….’

Throughout her fairly long career as a Porter, Cha Ara had believed she possessed a certain talent for currying favor. Before a Monster, however, even those max-level social survival skills proved useless.

‘…N-no, it’s too early to give up. As long as we speak the same language and he shows a willingness to communicate, I can surely interpret what that Monster wants and why he said that. I can do this… Humanity will triumph….’

Cha Ara soon thought of something.

‘…Is he trying to find something we have in common?’

Between exchanging names earlier and what he had just said, it was obvious that he was trying to guide Cha Ara into feeling goodwill or familiarity toward him.

“…….”

It was simply so awkward that it instead intensified her sense of wrongness.

“Uh, well….”

Forcibly suppressing the retort that reflexively arose in her mind, Cha Ara obediently yielded before overwhelming power.

“…I see! That’s amazing!”

“Thank you.”

“Not just anyone can cook and clean! You must be incredibly skilled! That’s so impressive!”

“The same is true of you, Ms. Cha Ara.”

“…….”

She was lost for words.

‘I ended up elevating myself in front of a Humanoid Monster, and they’re supposed to be incredibly proud.’

She desperately needed a Return Stone.

‘Oppa, little brother, I’m going on ahead.’

As Cha Ara faltered while preparing for a painful death, she heard fabric rustling from the opposite side. Judging by the black cloak he wore, he had probably tilted his head.

‘So he does have a head.’

As a strange mixture of relief and terror struck her simultaneously, the Monster spoke.

“I am sorry, but I do not need a slave.”

“…….”

Little brother, I’m sorry. You bastard Oppa, I love you. Cha Ara once again braced herself for a fucking horrific death.

‘Ara dies here.’

May the bastards who abandoned me appear on the nine o’clock news, be torn apart by the entire nation, and never show their faces in this industry again.

‘Become so fucking infamous that eggs fly at your faces whenever you go to the convenience store for snacks without covering up, you bastards.’

As she showered them with love and curses in her heart, cold sweat streamed down her like tears. The other party continued.

“Is your occupation slave?”

“…No…?”

She had merely meant, ‘Oh, you may work me like a dog catching rats, so please just spare me, hehe.’ What slaves could there be in a modern country governed by law?

“Ah, of course, well… I have heard stories about rich people secretly… you know, illegally buying and selling slaves….”

“How terrible.”

“R-right. It’s terrible. Truly awful people.”

“I am frightened.”

“…….”

At the excessively courteous and refined ‘I am frightened,’ which contained neither fear nor a single mote of emotion, Cha Ara was truly rendered speechless.

But she began to understand.

‘…Is he doing this to imitate a human? Is he pretending to be afraid?’

It was so utterly unexpected that she understood only belatedly, but upon reflection, it made sense.

‘The earlier greeting, exchanging names, and the way he’s trying to empathize with me….’

It was so formulaic that she could not even tell what he intended and it merely felt strange, but….

‘Could he have been trying, in his own way, to behave like a human?’

No—ah, no.

‘This is unfair, isn’t it??’

Fuck, even an imitation needed to seem slightly human for her to pretend to fall for it with an ‘Ah, fuck, I see’…!

‘This isn’t even some twisted exam question. Fuck, imitate us well enough that I can at least understand what the examiner intended. Who could possibly fall for this?’

Even the leader who abandoned her made jokes whose intent was easier to grasp.

‘If he’s actually feeling proud of himself for performing an amazing human imitation after all that, it would be absolutely ridiculous.’

Feeling a bizarre injustice she was unlikely to experience twice in her life, Cha Ara stammered.

“Y-yes, well, that’s right. It is frightening.”

Once she realized the other party was imitating a human, she could roughly understand the situation.

‘Maybe refusing to respond—or repeating himself—until I returned his greeting was similar. As if learning how to operate a machine….’

After all, he knew that when one human greeted another, the second human returned the same greeting, yet Cha Ara had not reacted that way.

‘Is it like hitting a malfunctioning television until it works…? Or repeating the same question to an AI that won’t respond…?’

Examining every detail this way made her feel somewhat apologetic because he appeared to have diligently studied and imitated humans. In all honesty, however, she did not understand him in the slightest.

Whether or not he knew how Cha Ara felt as she stammered, utterly unsure how to respond, the Monster stroking the Anti-Cat in his arms spoke again.

“I will not kill you, Ms. Cha Ara.”

“…….”

“Nor will I hurt you or make you sad.”

“Uh….”

“I did not wish to frighten you either.”

The Monster in the black cloak continued.

“I wanted to make a friend.”

“…A friend?”

What?

‘Does he mean he’s wandering around searching for a sacrifice to drag into the afterlife?’

The word itself was exceedingly mild, but the other party’s atmosphere was nothing of the sort, so suspicion arose naturally.

She could barely see him, yet his oppressive stature made her breathing catch and her heart feel ready to stop. If such a being wanted a ‘friend,’ it hardly seemed likely to mean an ordinary friendship.

‘He looks like the chief mourner at a funeral or a grim reaper too. Could it be…? Is he truly looking for a companion on the road to the afterlife…? Something like that…?’

Before Cha Ara could finish her suspicions, the Monster continued.

“You are too young for me to make you my friend, Ms. Cha Ara.”

“…….”

If being young disqualified her, perhaps he truly had been seeking a companion for the journey to the afterlife.

‘…No, more importantly.’

Cha Ara faintly furrowed her brow at the Monster’s apparent use of ‘young’ and ‘weak’ as synonyms.

‘I’m not that young. I suppose he doesn’t understand such things because he isn’t human.’

At eighteen, Cha Ara was already old enough to have married. She was fully treated as an adult, yet his perception of her as merely young once again filled her with alienation.

‘…Still, he said he wouldn’t hurt me….’

Trusting a Monster’s words would be foolish, but she could not help feeling slightly reassured.

“Are you here alone?”

“…Ah, ah, yes. I’m alone.”

Surely he would not kill her because she was alone. Cha Ara tensed abruptly.

Every Hunter in the world possessed the basic knowledge that Monsters had rules of their own. Many such rules felt absurd and cruel from a human perspective.

‘They said those patterns were especially strong in Humanoid Monsters….’

Was he a Monster that killed only solitary Hunters?

“How unfortunate.”

Fortunately, that did not seem to be the case.

“I understand that people inside dungeons ordinarily act in groups. Was I mistaken?”

“Uh….”

He described people like a pack of dogs.

She truly thought his manner of speaking was monstrously inhuman, but Cha Ara had excellent intuition. In his relentlessly polite, and therefore even more alien, voice, she detected faint goodwill.

It seemed to be comprehensive and impartial goodwill directed not at Cha Ara personally, but toward the human race as a whole….

‘So he isn’t completely emotionless.’

Her heart eased slightly. Dealing with a Monster that possessed emotions was far less frightening than dealing with one that did not.

“…No, you understand correctly. Well, I wasn’t originally alone either… but somehow, my party abandoned me. I wasn’t strong enough to leave the dungeon alone, so I was wandering around….”

“…….”

“…Then I saw the Anti-Cat….”

Ah, fuck. So that was it.

‘That… that Black Cloak wanted either a friend or a sacrifice, so the Anti-Cat fetched me, a human, for him.’

Read only on MUGEX

Then was this Humanoid Monster the dungeon’s undiscovered boss Monster?

‘It isn’t unusual to see Monsters cooperating, but….’

It was not nearly as common for one to obey another’s orders unilaterally.

‘I haven’t learned anything, so fuck, I can’t even define this. I never imagined I’d see a Humanoid Monster in my lifetime. Ah, fuck. I really want to go home.’

It happened just as she was growing dejected.

Grrrrumble—!

“…….”

It was one fucking thunderous stomach alarm.

“…I’m sorry.”

“You appear to be hungry.”

“I’m sorry…!!”

Today, Cha Ara learned for the first time that embarrassment and terror could strike simultaneously. Perhaps because the other party was trying so hard to accommodate human standards, she had enough composure to feel embarrassed despite her fear.

“I haven’t eaten in the past three days….”

“Three days?”

“Yes. It has been a little over thirteen hours since they abandoned me, but I haven’t eaten since….”

“Three days?”

“…….”

Wh-what was this?

‘Did I touch on something wrong?’

Humanoid Monsters were not predictable creatures that appeared in the Association’s textbooks.

Every Humanoid Monster had different rules, so no one could know what absurd rules the invisible Monster before her might possess.

Fortunately, however, the Monster did not seem angry with Cha Ara.

“They are bad people.”

“Gururuk.”

Cha Ara jumped at the new voice.

“Huh?! Wh-what…?”

“He is my son.”

“What?”

“…….”

The Monster fell silent for a moment, then held the Anti-Cat in one hand and moved his other behind his head. She could not see clearly because of the darkness, but….

Cha Ara soon discovered where that cry had originated.

“Honey.”

What? Excuse me?

“You should say hello.”

“Ggung.”

“She is a good student.”

“…….”

Before the absurd words ‘good’ and ‘student,’ something else captured Cha Ara’s attention.

Resting upon the Monster’s pale hand was a small bird the sweet color of honey, its body filled with every manner of jewel.

“…….”

…C-cute.

“…His name is… Honey?”

“Yes. He bites.”

“He bites?!”

He did not look remotely capable of biting, yet he did?

“But I do not want him to, so he will not.”

“Uh… I see….”

“Honey, let’s go home now.”

It happened at that moment.

Fwoosh—!

“……!”

The small bird’s body shone intensely, illuminating everything inside the cavern.

“…W-wow….”

The jewel cavern revealed itself in full.

‘Amazing.’

It was fantastical.

Faced with a beautiful sight one might struggle to witness even once in a lifetime, Cha Ara forgot that she had been terrified and stared in wonder.

‘So this is what the Vein of Jewels really looks like.’

Jewels of every size and kind gathered together like a single body, while the cave’s passages pierced them like an anthill. It was a space filled with beautiful yet disorderly confusion, dreamlike and surreal.

Cha Ara saw the Vein of Jewels’ true appearance for the first time.

“…….”

This also allowed her to realize what a monster ‘Honey’ truly was.

‘…He drove away every Dark Midge inhabiting the Vein of Jewels.’

The ‘Dark Midges’ did not attack physically, but exterminating them was impossible for anyone other than a Priest of A-rank or higher. They absorbed all light except that of certain glowing jewels, yet this tiny bird had illuminated them all in an instant.

It felt as though immense sunlight had descended.

“…….”

“Ms. Cha Ara.”

“…Uh.”

Only then could she see the Monster’s face.

“We have met before.”

“…Uh, uh…!”

As he said, Cha Ara had seen him before.

“Back then, the jewel…! The portrait…!”

“I am pleased that you appear to remember.”

“…You were a Monster?!”

“I am human.”

“Th-that isn’t—no, I suppose you are…!”

Not wanting to offend the Monster, Cha Ara agreed at once. He apparently desperately wanted to seem human, and she had no desire to die by stubbornly insisting, ‘Don’t lie. How are you human?’

“…….”

After hesitating, Cha Ara asked him a question.

“…Am I… going to die now…?”

“You will not die.”

“…….”

“Good people should be rewarded.”

“Well….”

Cha Ara abruptly realized something.

‘That Monster… tries to treat good humans well.’

He had called her a ‘good student’ and called the party members who abandoned Cha Ara ‘bad people.’ Even someone as uneducated as Cha Ara could understand that he was sensitive to good and evil.

“I apologize for frightening you last time.”

“Uh….”

“It had been a very long time since I saw a good student like you, Ms. Cha Ara, and I followed you without realizing it. It must have been unpleasant, so I would like to take this opportunity to apologize.”

“N-no, there’s no need….”

“I did not intend to frighten you this time either. People seem strangely afraid of me, but you are the first person I have met who feared me as much as you do, so I did not know how to respond. I also apologize for the discomfort my confusion caused you.”

“…….”

He was one fucking courteous Monster.

‘Doesn’t he know that being this polite makes me feel even more apologetic?’

It felt strange.

The Monster who had introduced himself as ‘Seo Gio’ looked like an ordinary human.

‘No.’

He looked like an extraordinarily handsome human.

Yet the overwhelming and unfathomable presence enveloping Black Cloak was so immense that she could not even pay attention to his appearance.

How could a mouse standing before a giant praise the other party’s looks? No matter how fragrant the giant might smell, a mere insignificant creature lacked the presence of mind to assess even that.

“…….”

He was exceedingly gentlemanly.

At the same time, his unfathomable nature made him an alien existence.

‘…It’s as though the universe is pretending to be human….’

She had no idea how she was supposed to treat him.

At that moment, ‘Seo Gio’ adjusted the small Monsters in his arms and addressed Cha Ara.

“I intend to return home.”

“…Ah, yes, I-I see. Home….”

Hm?

‘He has a separate home?’

Was this place not his home?

‘The gift he gave me last time was a jewel too… And the Anti-Cat follows him like that, so I thought this Monster might be the dungeon’s true master.’

Or did he mean that another habitat existed deep within this anthill?

“…….”

“If you do not mind, Ms. Cha Ara.”

“Yes?”

“Would you permit me to invite you?”

Invite her?

“What do you mean, invite…?”

“You are young, Ms. Cha Ara. This place is dark, and there is nothing to eat. You look exhausted and hungry, and I do not wish to simply pass you by. I would be grateful if you permitted me to serve you a meal.”

“…I, well….”

“I swear I will not harm you, and I promise to return you to Seoul after one meal. I say this on the name of my child, Honey, so I sincerely hope you will not doubt me.”

“Ah.”

“Would that reassure you a little?”

She did not trust the Monster.

“…….”

Yet, as ‘Seo Gio’ had said, Cha Ara herself was apparently still young and weak—too much so to reject such openly displayed kindness.

“…Please.”

She was tired of being left alone too.

(To be continued)