LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 112 - Delinquent Schoolgirl?
Chapter 112: Delinquent Schoolgirl?
“Sophia will respect whatever choice I make, huh…”
Che-ran’s advice made me think about many things.
Indeed, as she said, Sophia seemed like the kind of person who would follow my lead, no matter my decision.
But that didn’t mean I could just drag Sophia around according to my whims.
Because of how she supported me as family, I also wanted to support her in return.
“I guess I should talk to her directly.”
“Oppa, have you made up your mind?”
“Yeah. Getting some fresh air helped clear my head a bit.”
“Hehe, that’s good.”
I decided to meet with Sophia again.
With my worries settled and Che-ran having left, we finished our drinks and were about to leave the café…
“What the hell?! Why won’t this work?”
“I’m sorry, but we can’t accept that, ma’am…”
That’s when it happened.
“Huh?”
“…Oppa, is that one of those troublemakers people talk about? It’s my first time seeing one!”
“Ria, you shouldn’t say things like that out loud…”
Ria, with eyes sparkling in curiosity, pointed toward the café counter.
There, a girl holding a yellowish rock was causing a scene…
“This is gold, I tell you! I’m asking for a simple barter. How can a café be so inflexible?”
…No, a schoolgirl holding a lump of gold was making a ridiculous request to trade it for coffee.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have any money to give you as change…”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll just chip off a piece. Can’t you trade it for a strawberry latte? I’m telling you, I’m the one losing out here!”
“Unfortunately, our policy doesn’t cover trading gold for goods…”
“Then I’ll just pay by card.”
“Huh?”
For whatever reason, the girl seemed so desperate for a strawberry latte that she brought gold from home.
I felt a bit sorry for her, so I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
And she looked like a typical delinquent, so it seemed right to try and talk her down and get her home.
“Hey, did you run away from home? If you’re hungry, I can buy you a sandwich or something.”
“Re-Really?! Wow, I like you, Mister! I’m so fond of you I almost want to keep you as a pet!”
“A… pet?”
The girl flashed me a cheeky smile, almost like a wolf.
Her tone was full of that typical adolescent bravado, making it clear she needed some adult guidance.
“Thank you, Mister. I didn’t have any of this country’s money on me when I left home.”
“Oh, you’re a foreigner?”
“A foreigner? Well… yes? Hehe. Anyway, I was in a bit of a bind, so thank you!”
Meanwhile…
“Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
Ria called out to me in a small voice, hiding behind my back.
Feeling uneasy about her reaction, I carefully leaned down to her level.
“She’s… a monster.”
“…What?”
“She’s the same as me, a humanoid monster.”
“What?”
Ria said she could sense a monstrous aura from the girl.
Hearing that, I tried to recall if there was any expansion pack in *Hunter’s Blood* that included a schoolgirl monster, but my mind just went blank.
***
“Chomp chomp~. Mmm! This is good! Wow, this is better than the meals at my academy!”
“……”
“Thanks for buying me food and keeping me company, Mister. Hehe, it’s made me realize that people in this era can be kind!”
“Is that so? I’m glad…”
“E-Eat as much as you like…”
A humanoid monster had appeared in the heart of Seoul.
And this monster had no money for food, so she tried to barter with gold, and now here I was, sitting with her.
…Who would even believe this?
‘But it’s the truth, so what can I do?’
I couldn’t just leave a monster like her alone, so I stayed with her, trying to figure out what to do.
Whisper whisper.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah.”
“She feels kind of weird.”
“Weird how?”
“She’s not like you, but she feels… like she’s both a monster and not a monster.”
“…? What does that even mean?”
If she was a monster, she was a monster, and if she was human, she was human.
Ria’s vague answer, saying she wasn’t quite a humanoid monster nor a monsterized Hunter like me, left me puzzled.
Whisper whisper.
“Anyway… she’s an ambiguous monster.”
“Ambiguous monster? So she might be human?”
“Well… I do sense some human energy, so maybe?”
“This is confusing.”
In terms of the story, we were getting close to the end of the first chapter of *Hunter’s Blood*, which had two parts.
It was almost time for the battle to defend the 38th parallel from the state-level disaster monster that had destroyed North Korea.
But…
‘Where did this expansion pack come from…?’
My head was starting to hurt from the thought that the original story had gone off course again.
Just as I sighed deeply…
“Oh… I’m sorry. Did I eat too much without thinking?”
The girl, who had been happily eating toast with ice cream, suddenly stopped, looking guilty as if she thought she had crossed a line.
“Huh? No, it’s fine. I was just thinking about something else.”
“Thinking? So people… I mean, humans, do that?”
“Yeah? Well, sure. We think about what we need to do or what we need to prepare for…”
“Especially this oppa. He’s got a lot of girl problems.”
“Ahem?! Well, I mean, that’s… one of them…”
Ria’s blunt comment left me speechless, and I ended up clearing my throat awkwardly.
But the girl seemed amused by our dynamic.
“Haha. Really? That’s surprising. I always thought humans just kind of drifted through life!”
She quickly regained her smile as she spoke.
“So, are you two family? You don’t really look alike.”
“Oh, well, we’re…”
“This oppa is the groom, and I’m the bride.”
Ria, with a sly grin, proudly answered, linking arms with me.
“Wow~. Mister, isn’t your bride a bit too young? You’ve got a lot of nerve with women, huh~.”
“Haha… Y-Yeah, I guess…”
I could only nod along, unable to find the words to respond.
Whisper whisper.
“Oppa, don’t you think we’re getting on her good side?”
“I think I might die from embarrassment, Ria…”
Meanwhile…
“……I’m jealous.”
As she watched us laugh together, the girl’s smile turned a bit sad.
“I have a family, but I don’t have anyone to joke around with like that.”
“Did you have an older brother or sister? Or a younger one?”
“Both. But maybe because we’re not fully related by blood… there’s no one who would eat with me like this, like you.”
I had unintentionally stumbled upon a sad family story.
Well, no wonder she had brought a lump of gold from home if she came from a family like that.
Just as I suspected, her parents seemed to be the problem.
‘Does that mean her entire family is like her, with some mix of monster?’
Or maybe it was just some unusual trait?
As I watched the schoolgirl, who was so human-like that I questioned whether she was really a monster, I began to doubt myself.
“If you felt that lonely, you could always come to my pavilion, Shin-ah. I’ll eat with you.”
“Yu-Yulian?!”
Suddenly, a woman in a blue military uniform appeared next to our table.
“Oh… Is she your family?”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
Judging by her uniform, she looked like a commander Hunter… or maybe a soldier from another country.
‘But was there ever a country that wore blue uniforms?’
“Sis, how did you find me?”
“You were singing about wanting to visit a human café once you got to the past.”
“You heard that…?”
“Yeah. So, when you disappeared after we crossed the 38th parallel, I immediately tracked you down.”
“You didn’t have to follow me so quickly…”
Shin-ah forced a smile, realizing how quickly she had been found.
Meanwhile, I started to sweat as I listened to their casual conversation, which was anything but normal.
“Crossed the 38th parallel…? But Pyongyang was just hit by…”
“A monster appeared, but don’t worry, Father. We already took care of it.”
“Fa-Father…?”
“Father? Sis, what are you talking about?”
The difficult puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place.
As I locked eyes with the woman in the blue uniform, we stared at each other in silence for a moment.
Only Shin-ah, oblivious to the situation, tilted her head in confusion.
“Still don’t get it, Shin-ah? The man in front of us is our father. To be precise, he’s His Imperial Majesty from 20 years ago.”
“W-Wha? W-Whaaaat?!?! F-Father? This kind and gentle person is our father? Really?!”
“Then you all are…!”
Neither fully humanoid monsters nor monsterized Hunters, but something in between.
These were the emperor’s children that Future Ria had mentioned, sent back in time to retrieve Sophia.
In other words…
“My… daughters?”
“D-Daughters?!”
“…! To think the day would come when I’d hear Father call me his daughter…”
Even though it was in the past, Shin-ah blushed
deeply at hearing ‘daughter’ for the first time, while Yulian’s eyes welled up with tears of emotion.
However, there was still work to be done.
“So, you’re the ones sent by Future Ria…!”
“Father, forgive my rudeness.”
Thud.
“?!”
“Sis?! Are you crazy?!?!”
Before I could react or transform, Yulian swiftly struck my neck, knocking me out.
Shin-ah, her face pale, stammered in shock.
“Don’t worry. I just knocked him out.”
“N-No, but still! What if he had killed you?!”
“That wouldn’t happen. According to Empress Ria, Father was extremely weak during this time, even unable to partially transform into a monster.”
Killing him wasn’t an option, so knocking him out was the best choice for now.
Yulian thought it would be best to keep him safe somewhere until their mission was complete.
“Let’s move Father somewhere else. Shin-ah, grab his legs.”
But at that moment…
“Kujin Karate…”
“Huh?”
“Crescent Kick.”
Crack!
With a blow strong enough to shatter the café wall, Ria struck Yulian’s ribs.
“Ugh?!”
“Huh? You’re… Father’s family?”
“Shin-ah, you idiot! You should’ve mentioned if Empress Ria from the past was here!”
“Empress Ria?! This little girl is the Second Empress?”
“You’re such an idiot!”
Yulian spat out blood as she was flung outside the café, immediately scolding Shin-ah.
To think she didn’t recognize not only her father but also the Second Empress from the past.
But Ria wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.
“Off we go!”
“Huh?”
“Uh…”
“Run run!”
With Shin-woo unconscious on her back, Ria dashed past the two of them through the broken café wall, making her escape.