Chapter 70 Korea’s Worst Monster
The nightmare of California had been exterminated.
However, upon seeing the being that emerged after tearing through its belly, even Danjo, who stood right in front of her, was shocked.
“Oh my God…”
“Wait, could that figure be?”
“?! Isn’t that Lee Hee-jeong?”
Inside the monitoring room of the Korean branch, which was observing the scene through a drone, the researchers and hunters couldn’t hide their astonishment as they recalled a familiar face.
“The, the monster in Hongdae has transformed its appearance! But, that figure is just like…!”
“Lee Hee-jeong! It looks just like Deputy Team Leader Lee Hee-jeong, who was working as a monster researcher in the research building!”
“Crazy… Are you saying a person turned into a monster!?”
An unbelievable phenomenon.
However, it was also difficult to explain it as simply a monster resembling a human.
“Puh!”
“…?”
“Ha, haha, hahahahaha! This is amazing! What is this?! With this kind of power, I could research day and night without any problem!”
The officials, who were watching, were left speechless at the incredibly familiar voice they heard a few seconds later through the video.
Lee Hee-jeong, who had inherited the body and strength of the monster, was brimming with energy.
Laughing wildly, she seemed eager to test her newfound incredible power.
“Take this!”
Swinging her arm playfully, she created a tremendous gust of wind that extinguished the surrounding flames completely.
“Ha, haha, hahahahaha!”
“…Miss Lee Hee-jeong?”
Since the monster before him still had a ‘human’ mind, Danjo thought he might be able to end the current situation without further sacrifices and called out to Lee Hee-jeong.
“…Hah. With this, I no longer need to hold back.”
“…?”
“First, I need to kill all the soldiers in this country cleanly. After that, I’ll establish an equal nation just for myself!”
…She was no longer the Lee Hee-jeong that Danjo knew.
Had she developed new instincts because she became a monster?
Or had she been hiding such ambitions all along?
That, they couldn’t know.
The only certain fact was that she remained an enemy.
“Miss Lee Hee-jeong. Can’t you stop at this point?”
“Stop? Hahaha. Me? Hahahaha. Even with this power, I have to live with the same rank I was born with?”
“…Being a researcher seems like a fairly successful life to me.”
“Shut up!! I deserved to live much better! I should have been buying and discarding Gucci bags every day! Eating and discarding steaks with one bite! And not having to speak in formal language, damn it!!”
As her speech continued, Danjo could feel Lee Hee-jeong’s energy becoming increasingly ferocious.
“After all the effort I’ve put in! Becoming just a researcher is absurd!”
Had she already given up being human and succumbed to the monster’s instincts?
At least, that’s what Danjo thought.
“…Ok. Then, for the sake of US-Korea relations, I can’t let you live.”
The <Korea Alone Excels! Project> had already failed.
…No, it wasn’t just a failure.
The situation had escalated to the point where they had to bear losses, and if this ‘monster’ called Lee Hee-jeong, created by America, rampaged further, nothing good would come of it.
Clang!
Had she absorbed even the memories from the nightmare of California she had taken in?
Lee Hee-jeong leaped straight above Danjo and transformed one of her legs into a sharp blade.
Then, in that state, she aimed to strike him down the middle, slicing him in two.
However, the opponent was a Hunter of national power-level from America.
Danjo, accordingly, shielded his head with his hardened arms to block the attack.
Rumble.
Though a large mark was left on the ground where the two had stood.
Rumble.
Even with a slash that could have split the entire Hongdae street in half.
“I’m… your nemesis!”
Clang!
“?!”
“Hmph.”
The unbreakable black shield of America.
Sparks flying, Danjo deflected Lee Hee-jeong, and immediately charged at her with a tackle like a football player, aiming at her still airborne form.
Crash.
Piercing through several burning high-rise buildings, Lee Hee-jeong was sent flying backward.
“Spit.”
Of course, being of national disaster level herself, this was only enough to make her spit out blood mixed with saliva.
‘With this much, I can win…!’
At a similar level, with a superiority in compatibility, Danjo smiled, feeling the tide of victory.
Indeed, Lee Hee-jeong, not yet fully accustomed to her monster body, wore a dissatisfied expression, unlike Danjo.
“Then, let’s finish this.”
“…”
Danjo’s strongest ability, durability, was a whopping 12.
According to records, the abilities of the California Nightmare – Alien Beth did not exceed the number 12.
‘Mindless charge! In a frontal battle, I overwhelmingly dominate!’
Taking a football tackle stance again, Danjo charged at Lee Hee-jeong, who was slowly walking towards him, intending to end the fight.
At that moment.
With a slicing sound…
“Gah?!”
Before he crashed into the ground, Danjo took damage from a blade that emerged from inside his body.
“This, this is…?”
A technique not recorded anywhere in the California Nightmare’s abilities.
Bleeding from the unheard-of technique of a blade emerging from within his body, Danjo slowly raised his head.
And there, he saw.
“Ha, haha, hahahahaha!!”
Just like even the sturdiest shield can easily break when struck from the inside, Lee Hee-jeong looked down at Danjo, who was exactly in that situation, with a wicked grin.
“I only imagined it, but it worked! Amazing! Just how much stronger have I become?!”
Did she have a talent for being a monster by birth?
Lee Hee-jeong’s actions, which went beyond absorbing strength to even ‘evolving,’ left Danjo speechless.
“Ugh…!”
“The ability to extract blades from an opponent’s body once touched…! This really makes me feel like a queen! I love it so much!”
Hurry up.
He needed to stop her.
Danjo’s grip, which was reaching forward, was gradually losing strength.
And to him, as if delivering the final blow.
“Hoiyt.”
With a simple thrust.
With a blade protruding from the top of his head, the American shield fell coldly.
At the same time, the monitoring room of the Korean Hunter Association plunged into the abyss of despair.
***
How to enter the Hongdae street?
At first, he thought of transforming into a monster right away and pushing through to the inside in one go.
But the peculiarity that arose this time was truly unprecedented.
“Everyone, please step back!”
“Save, save me!”
“Mom!!”
The living hell unfolding before his eyes was on a completely different level from the Yeongdeungpo intersection, where he fought with Branch Manager Jin-ah Lee, or the Lotte World amusement park, where he went to rescue Princess Kurumi.
“Ugh?!”
Just arriving at the outskirts of the street, the smell of burning corpses and the sight of countless personnel moving the injured made him dizzy and nauseous.
It was literally a ‘national emergency,’ with not only hunters and soldiers but also paramedics and police forces fully mobilized.
‘If I transform into a monster here, the scene will become even more chaotic…’
In the end, the only way was to sneak inside and transform into a monster like last time…
“Sir! It’s dangerous here!”
“I am a Hunter Meister! Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Hunter Meister? There’s nothing to do! Rather, step back! We need to move the injured right now!”
“Ah, yes!”
Last time, Che-ran was there to help him sneak into the amusement park, but.
“Damn it…”
This time, even Che-ran was nowhere to be seen.
Should he wait until Sophia arrives?
But who knows when she’ll get here?
Every minute and second was crucial right now.
Just as he was contemplating whether to transform into a monster and force his way in, even if it caused some confusion.
“Shin-woo!”
At the sound of a voice that shouldn’t have been audible in such a crowded place, he quickly turned around.
“Miss Kurumi?!”
“Ugh…! First, your hand!”
“Oh, okay!”
Princess Kurumi, whose face had turned pale as if she had vomited several times, was seen staggering towards him.
To calm her nerves, he tightly held her cold hands.
Then, regaining her composure.
“I was waiting because I heard you were working at the Hunter Association today. I wanted to have dinner with you after work. But then I heard you suddenly ran to Hongdae Street, so I came looking for you…”
She spoke with her usual bright expression returning to her face.
As if she had put a tail on him, Miss Kurumi spoke confidently.
Simultaneously, she looked around at the horrifying scene and said.
“Shin-woo.”
“Yes.”
“Are you planning to go inside?”
“Yes. Can you help me?”
“Of course. But I’m going with you.”
“P-Princess, too?!”
It was fine for her to clear the path, but she suddenly requested to accompany him.
‘This is troublesome…’
But is this the right thing? He thought, but considering the situation, he didn’t even have time to refuse and persuade her.
“Okay. But if it gets dangerous, you must escape immediately. Understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Assuring her repeatedly, he finally stepped into Hongdae Street with the princess.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The moment he was about to step in, his phone rang with an ominous alarm, and he paused for a moment.
‘Another safety alert message?’
To silence the annoying alarm, he opened his phone.
But the scene displayed on the live broadcast.
Had the drone filming inside Hongdae Street been hacked by someone?
Otherwise, how could such a scene be broadcast live?
The entire nation, including the Hunter Association, military leaders, and the National Assembly, was shocked.
And among them.
“Huh, huh…?”
The one particularly stunned was Shin-woo himself.
No wonder, because the woman Lee Hee-jeong, who had become a monster, was holding by the neck as if she was about to break it at any moment, was Yoo Che-ran, who had been on the scene rescuing people all along.