LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 24 - Should Have Never Been Born
Chapter 24: Should Have Never Been Born
A man with glass shards embedded in his face.
Descending from the window, he immediately began to change his body color to a green hue.
Then, as if paint were falling, he lost his form and splattered to the floor, becoming a liquid.
“Is it… dead?”
“…No.”
Sophia tilted her head in confusion at the sight, but I could tell from the creature’s color, characteristics, and the current scene before me.
This guy was a B+ grade danger level monster.
A ‘Nasher Snake.’
‘…But the Nasher Snake’s habitat isn’t supposed to be in Korea, is it?’
The places where it usually appeared were typically like the Amazon rainforest, where snakes of similar size lived.
The fact that such a creature had appeared in my room, in Korea, in my house, did not seem like a coincidence. I decided to share my knowledge with Sophia.
“Sophia! That thing is a Nasher Snake!”
“Nasher… Snake?”
“It’s a monster that comes from Africa or the Amazon rainforest! Its characteristic is that it has no solid form, so physical attacks don’t work on it at all.”
“What?! Then I can’t catch it?”
“No. Somewhere inside its body, there’s a small ‘core’ about the size of a choco ball. You just have to destroy that.”
The problem was that the core didn’t stay in one place like a human heart but moved all over the body of the long snake.
But Sophia wasn’t just any hunter; she was a B-grade hunter recognized in the top hunter nation, the United States.
‘There’s a chance…!’
I believed we could defeat it with my extensive knowledge and Sophia’s physical abilities. Just as I was thinking this and smiling, Sophia spoke.
“Hey, Shin-woo.”
“Yeah?”
“First, you should explain this.”
Sophia turned to me with a cold gaze, holding out a baby monster that seemed half-asleep.
The baby monster, hanging limply like a kitten, yawned and rubbed its eyes, seemingly unaware of its situation.
“This is a monster.”
“Ah, no. That’s…”
“This is the baby monster that escaped from the research wing the other day, right?”
“Well, it is, but…”
“I heard that the baby monster was taken away by the monster that intervened in Jamsil. So why was it in your room?”
“……”
Sophia, reminded of the ‘Han Shin-woo Monster Theory’ that had been quiet for a while, stared at me with suspicion.
What should I say to explain to her?
“I, I found it on the street and picked it up…”
“……”
This game genre isn’t something like Ace Attorney.
I didn’t have the brains to deceive her with a plausible lie while shouting “Objection!”
“And, besides, it’s pitiful!”
“?! Are you, who works at the Hunter Association, feeling sorry for a monster?”
“No, what I mean is… And besides, it’s cute!”
“…! Th-this…! I’m cuter than it is, though?!”
Our house was under attack by a monster, yet here we were, having a pointless argument over the baby monster.
“Hmm… Oppa… what’s going on?”
“A monster can talk?! No, wait, did you just call you oppa…?”
“It didn’t know what else to call me, so…”
This happened last night.
It was right after we had finished eating together.
“Um…”
“Yeah?”
“Monster, you… Mom, no, I mean… Monster, what are you?”
“Oh, you mean my name?”
The baby monster referred to me either as ‘not Mom’ or ‘monster.’
Not the first option, but the latter could be a bit dangerous, so I told it a ‘title’ it could use to call me.
“If it’s too hard, just call me oppa.”
“Oppa?”
It would be a bit strange if the monster called me by my name anyway.
I introduced myself as ‘oppa,’ a two-syllable word that would be easy for the baby monster to say.
But Sophia didn’t seem to like it at all.
“Calling you oppa to a monster… What kind of madness is this!”
“I’m sorry…”
“…! Just take this for now!”
Whizz!
In the middle of scolding me, Sophia suddenly tossed the baby monster to me.
Then, she summoned her specially-made scythe and sliced the Nasher Snake in half as it charged at her.
“We’ll talk later! If you want to save that thing, just run away!”
“…! Okay. Thanks, Sophia!”
“Idiot! And throw that thing away as soon as you can!”
I grabbed the baby monster’s hand.
Then, I quickly ran down the stairs and out the front door.
By then, I could already see Sophia and the Nasher Snake fighting on the roof, having broken through my room’s ceiling.
‘I’ve already told her the monster’s weak point and strategy. Staying here would only get in her way.’
Thinking that, I ran with the baby monster to a place where there were no people.
“Oppa.”
The baby monster stopped and pulled away from my arm.
“Am I… a burden to you, oppa?”
Its ruby-red eyes looked up at me sorrowfully.
It must have known it was a situation where it should be running away.
The first person to ever show it kindness.
The person who fed it, talked to it, and protected it. The baby monster wanted an answer from him.
Was this really a place where it belonged?
“……”
In response to the baby monster’s question, I couldn’t answer hastily.
The ‘kind monsters’ that appear in the later part of the story are referred to that way because they can negotiate despite being monsters. A purely innocent child monster like this didn’t exist in the original work.
Was this child a hindrance to me?
Honestly, yes. Regardless of purity, an ordinary person keeping a monster as a pet was an unthinkable concept in this world.
In my current state, I could be called a traitor to humanity without excuse.
Yet, knowing this full well…
‘Dad… am I a burden to you, Dad…?’
“Damn it…”
It was truly brutal.
It felt like forcibly reliving a past memory I didn’t want to recall.
And, that’s why I wanted to hold on.
I had wished countless times that I could have a place to stay when I uttered such words.
But… my answer was late.
“Oppa, sorry. And thank you.”
“…?! Hey, hey!”
Tatadadak.
The baby monster turned its back on me and started running at a speed that, in my current human state, I couldn’t possibly catch up with.
Not knowing where it was going, yet feeling the significance of its own existence.
***
Why was I even born?
I had to kill and eat to survive the moment I opened my eyes.
Yet, the world seemed to want to kill me as if I were inherently wrong… and there was no one for me.
“Hic… sob…!”
A home…
A new family to care for me in place of my dead mother…
I thought I found one.
The golden-haired human who protected our nest from an invading fellow monster.
That human had clearly said this to Oppa.
“Idiot! And throw that thing away quickly!”
…That’s what they said.
This is the human world.
It is not our kind’s world.
Yet, even our kind targets me.
Then, where on earth should I go?
“…Huh?”
“…?”
“A monster!”
“Kyahhh!”
“It’s a monster! A monster!”
Running aimlessly, the baby monster stopped upon hearing the screams of humans.
The place where it stopped was the bustling intersection of Gangnam Station in the middle of the busy morning.
Panting heavily, the baby monster finally realized it was among humans.
In its frustration, the baby monster reached out to the woman who had screamed first.
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
All that came in response was an even louder scream.
The cars passing through the intersection began making U-turns all at once, and those who couldn’t started abandoning their vehicles and running away. Pedestrians immediately turned around and fled from the traffic lights.
Before long, the traffic was paralyzed, and instead, a large perimeter formed around the baby monster, with people watching from a distance.
“Ah, no…”
It’s not like that.
I promised Oppa that I wouldn’t harm humans anymore, so there’s no need to be afraid.
Even if the baby monster wanted to explain its feelings, the reaction from humans was always the same whenever it looked at them.
“Disgusting…”
“Scary.”
“Why is that thing in the middle of the city?!”
“Someone should just kill it already, right?”
Everyone feared, hated, and despised it, and in the end, they wanted it dead.
“That’s too much…”
The baby monster gave up on explaining and silently looked up at the gloomy sky.
“Mom… why did you even… give birth to someone like me…?”
It hated it.
It hated it so much.
To the point where it would rather die than live like this forever.
Tears welled up in its eyes out of frustration, but it felt like no one would understand its sorrow, so the baby monster couldn’t even cry freely.
Just then…
“What’s going on here?”
“…! Oppa!”
The one who chased after it to the end.
Indeed, it could only rely on Oppa…
“Oppa?”
…or so it thought.
An icy chill ran down its spine.
For the first time in its life, it felt an overwhelming presence.
Just moments ago, it had wanted to die, but now its body was trembling with a survival instinct.
The human who had approached from behind was beyond just being strong; it was an existence that words couldn’t fully describe.
To put it simply… yes.
It was a being on an entirely different level.
“Huh? Isn’t that Jin-ah Lee?”
“Yeah, it is! It’s Hunter Jin-ah Lee!”
“A National Power-level Hunter! It’s my first time seeing her in person…!”
“She must be here to save us!”
Jin-ah Lee looked down at the frightened baby monster with an indifferent gaze, then smiled and waved at the cheering crowd.
The cheers around them grew even louder.
Thanks to this, she could whisper to the baby monster without being overheard.
“Want to run away? It’s fine if you do.”
“…?! Wh-what…?”
“Yes, try running away. But do you really think a monster like you has anywhere to go?”
“Th-that…”
There was nowhere.
As a monster, it was obvious that it couldn’t even approach human society.
And since it had learned human speech and behavior, it wouldn’t fit in among monsters either.
In other words, this child was destined to be a perpetual loner.
“No one will ever love you.”
“…!”
Jin-ah Lee’s whispered words tore at the baby monster’s heart.
“No one will ever accept you. Even if someone does, they will live their whole life hurt because of you.”
“That’s not true!”
“No, it is. You were helped in the sewer, right? But why are you alone now, like a loner?”
“…!”
Because!
Because…
That place wasn’t where I belonged.
Because of me, Oppa’s home was destroyed, and because of me, Oppa was attacked.
“You should never have been born.”
“……”
The baby monster gave up trying to argue against Jin-ah Lee’s words.
“So, if you have any conscience at all, bite your tongue and end your life right here. At least you can control your death, if nothing else.”
Was it truly an ‘anomaly’ in this world?
Yet, death was ‘fair’ to everyone.
‘If it bites its tongue and dies, I can get an almost intact sample.’
Jin-ah Lee smiled and gestured for the monster to proceed.
The crowd surrounding the intersection of Gangnam Station also…
“””Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!”””
They all chanted in unison for the baby monster’s death.
Not a single person tried to give it a will to live.
So, because it didn’t want to continue living such a lonely, desolate, and terrifying life…
“Ugh…!”
At least in the end, it wanted to do something by its own will.
“Uwoooooooo-!!”
Just as it was about to bite its tongue…
“Ah, aaaaah!”
“Everyone, run away!”
Despite the presence of a National Power-level Hunter, the crowd at Gangnam Station intersection started to scatter in fear.
The baby monster’s cloudy, blood-red eyes began to shine like rubies.
“Ah, ah…!”
“Hmm…”
In contrast, Jin-ah Lee stared straight ahead with her clear, transparent eyes.
There, through the gradually falling raindrops, walked a pitch-black monster approaching them.
The monster from Jamsil had revealed itself once again.