I Became a National ‘Disaster’ Level Monster

Chapter 28: How About We Call It a Draw? (Intermission)

They had run far enough that Director Jin-ah Lee and Sir Lancelot were no longer in sight.

At that point, I released my monster transformation and returned to human form, beginning my search for the young monster.

“Hey! Where are you?”

I thought it would be fine since we only fought within range.

But it wasn’t over the ocean—it was a battle right in the middle of the city. No matter how careful I tried to be, the aftermath of two national disaster-level entities clashing had far exceeded my expectations.

The desolate landscape of Gangnam felt like a ghost town.

Even the outer walls of high-rise buildings, far from the intersection, had all their windows shattered and were leaning at odd angles. The asphalt roads had split, reaching the horizon.

‘I didn’t even notice it while we were fighting…’

It was clear now that holding back from the start was the right choice.

If I had gone all out with Kyokushin Karate right from the beginning, not only would the young monster that hadn’t escaped Gangnam have been obliterated, but so would the civilians hiding underground. They’d have been crushed like pancakes.

“Anyway, where on earth did it go?”

The first place I headed was none other than my own home.

I figured the young monster, having fled, would have no other place to return to.

My home was the only refuge it had… or at least that’s what I thought.

But I was wrong.

“…! My house…”

The young monster wasn’t there.

No, before that, my house was gone.

When I arrived at the single-family house, I stood dumbfounded.

The last time I saw it, only my room’s roof had been damaged. Now, the whole place was nothing but a pile of rubble, completely collapsed.

And that was my house.

“S-Sophia?”

I shook off my daze and began searching for Sophia, who had fought here.

It was unlikely, but there was still a chance she was buried underneath.

The monster I had faced was a B+-level Nasher Snake.

Normally, it would take an A-level Hunter to hunt such a monster, not someone of Sophia’s B-level caliber.

“S-Sophia! Sophia!!”

I frantically dug through the collapsed house.

But no matter how much I shouted, I didn’t hear Sophia’s voice.

With each cry, my anxiety grew, and tears started welling up in my eyes at the thought that something irreversible might have happened.

‘Should I have just transformed into a monster from the start?’

If Sophia found out that I was a national disaster-level monster, she could have been put in danger.

And if my identity was exposed later, she might be wrongfully branded as a traitor alongside me.

That’s why I didn’t tell her and kept it a secret.

But if I had known we’d part like this, I would have… I would have…!

“Sad?”

“Yeah…”

“Sorry?”

“Yeah…”

“So, do you kind of… wish you’d left your mark on her?”

“……”

…I was right to keep it a secret.

“Sophia?”

“…Why aren’t you answering at the end?”

“Oppa! Oppa!”

“Ah, you’re safe too!”

I quickly got to my feet, wiping away the embarrassing tears.

When I turned around, there they were—the young monster and Sophia, holding hands in an oddly harmonious manner.

“Shin-woo, you were right. There was a core the size of a chocolate ball inside the Nasher Snake. Once I aimed for it and cut it, it evaporated in no time.”

“Oh, really?”

“Oppa! I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“Right. Are you okay?”

“Yeah! I’m fine!”

The young monster, relieved that I was safe, ran straight into my arms and hugged me tightly.

For some reason, it felt like this must be what it’s like to raise a daughter, and a smile crept onto my face.

Meanwhile.

“……”

“……”

Sophia was watching us silently.

…Had she already realized I was the monster from Jamsil?

Come to think of it, it was strange she hadn’t noticed sooner, especially when I told her I had picked up the young monster on the street after it escaped from the research facility.

I had asked the young monster to keep my identity a secret, but it seemed that was in vain.

At that moment.

“Oppa.”

Whispering.

“…What?”

“That human woman… I think she suspects you’re the same species as me.”

“……Yeah.”

Now that we were whispering in front of her, she had every reason to be suspicious.

Gulp.

Maybe I had no choice but to reveal the truth now.

I squeezed my eyes shut, debating whether to come clean, rather than endure these sharp looks any longer.

Just as I was about to speak.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“…What?”

Sophia spoke indifferently, her eyes half-open in a bored expression.

“Shin-woo, I’m not going to listen until you tell me yourself, naturally.”

What was this?

Was she… sulking?

But she didn’t seem angry.

It was more like she had made up her mind, nodding to herself.

Then, she pointed at the young monster, who was still clinging to me.

“Anyway, what are you going to do about her?”

“Do… about her?”

“She’s still a monster, after all. You’re not seriously thinking of releasing her into the wild, are you?”

“O-Of course not!”

Releasing even a young monster into the wild? That’d wipe out all the wild boars and deer in South Korea.

For the sake of the ecosystem, that was out of the question.

So, the only option left was for me to raise her myself.

“Hey, you…”

“No way! You were planning to raise her, weren’t you? Sorry, but it’s illegal for ordinary people to raise monsters. In the U.S., you’d be looking at the electric chair, in Japan, it’d be the gallows, and in China, you’d be quartered alive by horses.”

For reference, South Korea didn’t have the death penalty, so I’d be facing life imprisonment.

According to the lore, France still used the guillotine.

“Oppa. Does that mean I can’t live with you anymore?”

“Well, that’s…”

Was there really no way?

The young monster was clinging to me so tightly it felt like my ribs would crack, tears welling up in her eyes.

“But I could raise her.”

“Huh?”

“…What?”

“Well, I’m a Beast Hunter, aren’t I?”

Beast Hunters were the only ones in the world legally allowed to raise monsters.

And we had Sophia, the one and only!

“Since Shin-woo wants it, I’ll make an exception and raise her.”

“…! N-No! I belong to Oppa!”

“Hmph. Then she’s mine anyway. By the way, Shin-woo belongs to me.”

‘…?! R-Really?’

“Yeah, really.”

“As if!”

It seemed like they were about to bicker, yet their chemistry strangely clicked in the oddest ways.

“Haa…”

I couldn’t tell if I should be worried or relieved.

Still, since everyone was safe, maybe I should lean towards relief.

Just as I was thinking that.

“By the way, how long are you going to keep calling her the ‘young monster’?”

“Huh?”

“Now that she’s my familiar monster, she needs a proper name, doesn’t she?”

“That’s true.”

“A… name?”

Sophia looked at the young monster with a smile.

It was almost as if she’d had the name ready for some time, just for a moment like this.

“From now on, your name will be Lia!”

“L-Lia…?”

“Why Lia?”

“Because my name is Sophia! So it’s derived from my name!”

And just like that, she gave the young monster the name “Lia” on the spot.

***

The monster warnings issued for Yeongdeungpo and Gangnam had been lifted.

In the aftermath, key personnel from the Association were dispatched to the scene for cleanup.

“Haa…”

Jin-ah Lee returned to the research building, looking as if she was going to lose her mind from the losses incurred.

Her reason for coming here was clear: to erase all records of the angel’s pregnancy that she had secretly been researching for the past eight years.

“How am I supposed to replenish the national disaster-level monsters now…”

She was busy retrieving files she had hidden all over the research building and personally burning them.

But just as she was sighing over the immense loss of power.

“…Eh.”

“Eek?!”

Beaten by the Jamsil monster, beaten by Sir Lancelot.

Her mental state was in shambles after being crushed by two national disaster-level monsters simultaneously.

So, when she heard an unfamiliar noise in the research building, where she thought she was alone, this Hunter, who was supposed to be part of the nation’s elite, let out a shriek

that was most unbecoming of her status. She immediately began swinging her fists wildly at her surroundings.

“W-What the hell?! D-Did the Jamsil monster follow me here?!”

Jin-ah frantically punched at the air, cold sweat dripping down her face. She arrived at the center of the research building, where the sound was coming from.

“…B-Baby…?”

“……What.”

The lower half of the angel’s body, which had fallen from the test tube due to the aftermath of the young monster’s birth.

It had been left in that state since the other day.

Yet from the completely ruptured womb, there was a faint but unmistakable sound. The cry of a baby.

“No way… Could it be…?”

‘It’s nothing short of a miracle.’

Though not physically present, Sir Lancelot, who was sharing his vision with Jin-ah, silently marveled.

Jin-ah hastily searched through the remains, her hands covered in blood, and cradled the figure she found.

It was a tiny white baby, not even able to open its eyes, letting out a soft cry.

***

A dark, secret room.

Not in South Korea, but in Japan.

This was a hidden underground facility of the Hunter Association’s Japanese Branch in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Inside the dimly lit room, where only a single candle illuminated the tatami mat in the center, sat some of the highest-ranking figures in Japan—those powerful enough to dismiss A-rank Hunters as mere “fodder.”

Currently, there was only one topic on their lips.

“Recently, China and Russia have been increasing pressure on the Japanese archipelago.”

“And North Korea has been causing a stir nearby, making things even more tense! Prime Minister!”

In the middle of the dark tatami room, the Prime Minister of Japan sat on a cushion.

He listened seriously to the concerns of those around him, nodding his head in agreement.

Then, a voice spoke up.

“In that case, I have a good idea. How about this?”

Opposite the Prime Minister, on the other side of a laptop screen, a powerful figure chuckled loudly and opened his mouth to speak.

“After all, our family has ‘princesses,’ don’t we?”

“…What do you intend to do, Lord Kitsune?”

“It’s simple.”

North Korea, Russia, and China.

If these three dangerous nations were all targeting Japan, then the answer was to forge an even stronger alliance with another nation in Asia that was also in their sights—Taiwan, Mongolia, India, or, most importantly, their closest neighbor, South Korea.

And Japan had a powerful ally, too: the U.S. military, stationed right on their soil.

“We’ll demonstrate to the world an even stronger Japan-U.S.-Korea alliance.”

“But… aren’t we already in a tight alliance with the U.S. and Korea? How much closer can we get?”

“Oh, we can get much closer, Prime Minister! We can become more than friends—we can become like lifelong companions or even family.”

“How do you propose to do that?”

The Japan-U.S.-Korea alliance was already so closely tied, even through military exercises and joint defense forces. How could they deepen that relationship even further?

As the Prime Minister pondered what sort of treaty this could involve, the sliding door to the secret chamber opened.

A figure entered, stepping quietly into the room.

Dressed in a neat red yukata, her long, glossy black hair shimmered like obsidian.

She wore a mysterious blindfold over her eyes, yet her elegance and beauty radiated.

“Ah…”

“W-What…!”

Everyone, including the Prime Minister, was so stunned by her appearance that they could only hold their breath.

And then.

“We’re going to send her as a ‘gift’ to South Korea.”

The voice came from beyond the computer screen.

“To forge a stronger relationship between Japan and Korea than ever before.”

Even as her father spoke, the woman, the second daughter of the Kitsune family—Princess Kurumi, known across Japan and even the world—remained silent. Silent as ever.