Chapter 129 – SSS-Rank Hunter (4)
“How fascinating.”
This world truly had a wide variety of supernatural ability users.
Stopping time, for example?
Considering the size of the universe, that was an absurdly overpowered ability. It would mean stopping time even for planets billions of light-years away.
It was far greater than the magic boy who could move at the speed of light. No—this could be called the power of a god.
However,
“N-nullification?!”
It doesn’t work on me.
“Any other supernatural abilities you want to show me before you die?”
“Eek?!”
The terrified woman couldn’t even think of running and just collapsed on the spot.
“None?”
“Please spare me!”
“If I leave only you intact, wouldn’t it be unfair to the eight who fell first?”
“I’ll do anything you ask! So please…!”
“Really?”
“Yes, yes…”
A fraudulent ability that stops the world’s time, yet also the least threatening one to me.
Wouldn’t it save time if I kept her around?
(Another woman?)
“…Stop time again.”
“I can’t.”
“Didn’t you say you’d do anything?”
“It’s not that I won’t! The time I can stop is extremely short!”
“Useless.”
“Eek?! If you spare me, I’m sure I’ll be useful!”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Eh?”
I placed my palm on the head of the time-stopping ability user.
Senior.
(Pathetic fellow. Break the habit of relying on me soon.)
I’ll try.
(Hoo~ She has the refined hobby of kidnapping handsome boys with her ability and raising them like pets. She’s been doing this for eleven years without anyone finding out.)
“You’ve been kidnapping handsome boys for eleven years?”
“I-I—”
Crack!
I had no desire to hear excuses, so I snapped her neck in one motion.
“Was that too hasty?”
It bothered me a little that I sent her to hell without pain, but there’s no need to get overly emotionally invested in a dream.
(Don’t leave a single one alive. Unless you want to be branded a criminal.)
“Of course.”
I have no intention of forgiving those who aimed for my life.
“Devi—”
“You mons—”
I mercilessly beheaded the ability users who cursed me with their dying breaths.
(Junior, congratulations. You’ve eliminated every SSS-rank supernatural ability user in existence. If powerful monsters invade, humanity won’t be able to stop them.)
“…Huh?”
Is that how it works?
(It’s not an important issue for you.)
“……”
To me, whose only goal is to wake the patient, it truly isn’t important. But why does it bother me?
I felt slightly confused.
(Those who envied Park Hyo-man’s ability conspired and lured him into a trap. It’s not far from here.)
“Let’s go.”
“Guh—?!”
Stab!
After finishing off the very first woman I met by plunging my sword into her heart, I headed toward the place where Park Hyo-man-ssi went missing.
***
(It’s an Ancient Black Elephant.)
“Hmm…”
Was the patient’s imagination lacking?
He called it a monster, but the name was purely English—adjective plus noun. Its appearance was even more ordinary than a deep-sea fish.
A black elephant?
Aside from its size being larger than a soccer stadium and its fierce eyes…
(It’s carnivorous.)
Unlike regular herbivorous elephants, it just eats meat.
‘To maintain that massive body, how much would it need to eat in a day…?’
To avoid starving, it shouldn’t be in a situation to leisurely nap in its nest, yet the gigantic monster was lying down without stirring.
(Don’t try to understand the dream.)
“Hmph.”
(Monsters can survive without eating anything because they have a power source called a core inside their bodies.)
“Aha!”
But then why are they carnivorous?
(The reason monsters eat humans is because humans are an irresistibly attractive delicacy worth the risk.)
Then a city full of people would be like an all-you-can-eat buffet, right?
(Something like that.)
Now comes the real problem.
“Senior. Are you certain that Park Hyo-man-ssi was swallowed into the monster’s stomach?”
(If the memories of those two women weren’t distorted, then yes.)
“Hmm.”
It wasn’t unreasonable for them to conclude he was dead.
But Park Hyo-man-ssi is still alive inside the monster’s stomach, and I’m in the position of having to meet him somehow and persuade him.
There were no other options.
“Let’s do it.”
Shiiing—
Holding the sword in my right hand, I stealthily approached the monster elephant.
‘What the…?’
The closer I got, the more I could feel the monster’s unreal size.
It was way too big!
(SSS-rank ability users gave up hunting it because it’s that powerful. There are only 23 such creatures in the entire world.)
Only 23! That’s plenty!
“……”
I couldn’t even get a sense of how to take it down.
(The choice is yours.)
“…I have to try.”
While searching for a vulnerable spot, the monster’s tail caught my eye.
Even that was as thick as a train, but it was the only part I could even imagine cutting.
‘Focus…’
Recalling the swordsmanship I learned from Valentine, I swung the blade down with all my strength.
Ting—!
“Ting?”
The sword bounced off!
“PPWOOOOO!”
But it was enough to wake the monster elephant.
Whip— Thud!
Struck by the train-like tail swinging like a whip, I was sent flying helplessly.
(Pathetic…)
I bounced across the ground like a skipping stone, rolling and smashing through about three concrete debris piles before finally stopping.
“Guhk?!”
My entire body was wrecked in a single hit, and I vomited up a bucketful of blood.
Pure physical force—the very thing I’d been most wary of!
This super-sized monster elephant was overflowing with it.
“PPWOOOOO!”
“Cough! It’s too strong?!”
I couldn’t even think of recovering the sword I’d dropped somewhere and decided to retreat.
“PPWOOOO?”
The monster that had raised its body looked around to find me.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground shook with every step.
“…Gulp.”
With a pounding heart, I hid under its belly—out of its line of sight—and walked at a similar pace.
“PPWOOOO…”
Kuuumble—
Unable to find the human who had scratched its tail, the monster elephant returned to its flattened nest and lay down again.
“This is insane!”
If I got crushed like this, it would be 100% instant death, so I ran desperately.
KABOOM!
And then the enormous body of the monster fully lying on the ground.
Barely avoiding being flattened, I roughly wiped the blood and dust off my face with my clothes and cautiously slipped out of the nest.
(Your thoughts?)
Unless Park Hyo-man, who was eaten by the monster, dies or I commit suicide, there’s no way out of this dream world.
In other words,
“We’re screwed?”
I was completely trapped in the dream.
***
I have no regrets about massacring the SSS-rank ability users who targeted my life, but it was also true that I’d completely lost any means of defeating one of the only 23 SSS-rank monsters in the world.
Jingle!
“Thank you! Customer!”
I withdrew money from the bank accounts of the two ability users that the senior had stolen a peek at.
‘At least I won’t suffer for money.’
If they had been ordinary accounts, it would have been difficult, but secret accounts used for refined hobbies were set up so anyone who knew the account number and password could withdraw funds.
Thanks to the substantial amount, I got new clothes tailored in the city, washed my filthy body…
Boom! Boom! Crash— Bang—!
And finally headed to the basement where the handsome boys were imprisoned—to rescue them so they wouldn’t starve to death like abandoned pets.
Beyond the iron door shattered by three of my kicks was a luxurious room.
“Pets…?”
“Mmph-mmph!”
“Mmph-mmph-mmph!”
The boys, gagged and unable to speak, all rushed toward me at once, sending pleading looks begging to be saved.
Their arms were twisted behind their backs and bound, completely immobile, and it seemed the only thing they could do with their freely moving legs was wander the basement to eat feed and drink water.
“It’s surprisingly clean.”
If it were me, I would have smashed every visible appliance with kicks.
(If they misbehave, they get castrated.)
“……”
(If you go deeper inside, there’s a training room for turning them into obedient pets. And a torture room for disposing of old or sick pets. Want to take a look?)
No.
From here on, I decided to leave it to the authorities.
An unsolved serial kidnapping of handsome boys for eleven years would normally be a massive incident, yet there wasn’t a single mention of it in the news.
“This is a country?”
(Use your brain. If they imprison or execute SSS-rank ability users, who’s going to stop the monsters?)
“Hmm…”
A necessary evil, perhaps?
That must be why I—the one who rescued the imprisoned boys—was being interrogated like a criminal.
“Hello. I’m a D-rank ability user who can detect lies.”
“I see. Nice to meet you.”
I really meant it!
This human lie detector wouldn’t be able to sense a thing because “my world” blocks it completely.
Lucky for me.
“Please speak only the truth so we don’t have to frown at each other.”
“Understood.”
With the D-rank ability user also present, the investigator began questioning me.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
“No.”
Once again, I used the ultimate excuse that fixes even broken plausibility—the panacea known as “amnesia.”
“Next question. How did you discover that place?”
“I lost my memories and was wandering around looking for a place to rest when I found it.”
The investigator glanced at the ability user before continuing.
“Security cameras show you withdrawing money from a bank and buying clothes.”
“I don’t have it now, but there was a note in my pocket with a bank account number and password written on it.”
“…I see.”
The investigator, finding it hard to believe, looked at the D-rank ability user again.
“It’s the truth.”
“Hmm…”
He had no choice but to accept it.
(Sharp investigator. Be grateful to that ability user. Without him, you’d have had a much harder time.)
Indeed.
“That concludes the questions. It’s common for people to lose memories from the shock of witnessing family or loved ones being devoured by monsters.”
“I see.”
I could understand that sentiment. I, too, want to forget the sight of Song Sun-young falling to her death.
“We’ll also issue you citizenship.”
“Oh! Thank you.”
“And as a citizen’s duty, please keep everything you saw in the basement you accidentally discovered a secret.”
“A duty?”
“Yes. It is a duty.”
Not revealing the crimes of SSS-rank ability users is a duty?
What an impressive country.
“Understood.”
“Words aren’t enough. Please sign this legally binding oath.”
“…Yes.”
Pushing any further here might give me full-blown misanthropy.
***
“Good work, Amolang-ssi!”
“You worked hard monitoring my lies with your ability.”
“Please don’t resent me too much. A D-rank ability user who can’t hunt monsters has no choice but to make a living this way…”
The D-rank ability user whined with a dejected face.
“Don’t misunderstand. I purely meant you worked hard. And the lie-detection ability—I think it’s greater than any SSS-rank power.”
An ability user who catches monsters wearing human skin!
I think it’s cool.
‘However…’
Since the state protects those monsters, the only crimes this D-rank can handle are probably those committed against powerless civilians like me.
“By the way, Amolang-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Is there a special reason you chose the name Amolang?”
“Yes. It’s the name of a pet raised by a legendary great sage said to know all the secrets of the world.”
“Secrets… pet… It’s a meaningful name.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
I hadn’t intended any deep meaning, but now that I said it, it fit.
Keeping the bizarre case of an SSS-rank ability user treating handsome boys as pets a secret…
The reason I chose “Amolang” was simply because it was the name I used in the world of the romance fantasy novel I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family.
“Amolang-ssi. Forget all the bad memories and live a new life.”
“I’ll try.”
Wiiiiing—!
At that moment, warning sirens blared throughout the city.
Followed by a broadcast.
(The second defense line has been breached. Citizens, please evacuate to the nearest shelter! Once again! The second defense line has been breached. Citizens…)
“This doesn’t bode well.”
The D-rank ability user’s expression darkened as he listened to the broadcast.
“Why?”
“Recently, the strongest SSS-rank ability user, Park Hyo-man-ssi, was taken down. If we lose any more SSS-rank users, the city’s defense lines will be breached this easily.”
“…I see.”
This somehow feels like it’s my fault.
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