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Chapter 61

A few minutes earlier.

On the rooftop of the main building overlooking the Special Response Headquarters grounds.

Banana listened to Carrot's radio in his left ear while waiting for Apple's instructions in his right.

The security room where Carrot was stationed was a kind of decoy.

They needed to deceive the eyes of the Special Response Headquarters people, including the Director.

Today's mission was twofold: protect Young Mistress Sol-a and capture a suspect in the Awakened terror incident.

While retrieving equipment installed in the kindergarten last night, they had discovered footage of an individual presumed to be a terrorist entering and leaving the Special Response Headquarters.

It had been caught on the surveillance cameras they'd installed around the kindergarten (which is to say, throughout the entire neighborhood).

Who would have guessed that the trio's overprotective nature would help catch a terrorist?

In the end, it had paid off handsomely.

"We'll make them pay dearly for interrupting the Young Mistress's kids' cafe outing."

Ever since they first appeared, Geumho had been continuously cooperating in hunting down the terrorist organization, determined to show them hell.

"Just wait until you're caught."

Based on the camera footage, the individual was estimated to have been entering and leaving the Special Response Headquarters continuously over the past week.

Their route was via the underground parking lot.

They primarily used the rear parking lot entrance, which was less frequented. After entering and exiting the parking lot, they'd walk a few blocks along the back road and then disappear into the mountain path near Milky Way Kindergarten.

They appeared twice a day.

Once in the busy morning hours, and once at night when no one was around, using the same method.

And soon, it would be time for them to appear.

At the parking lot entrance, Uncle Apple and other guild members were infiltrated.

They could have requested cooperation from the Special Response Headquarters, but since the terrorist had been found there, they couldn't be trusted.

The plan was to capture him and hand him over directly to the police.

"If only there weren't so many unsettling things."

They hadn't noticed a terrorist entering and leaving the building for a whole week, and on the day of the City Hall terrorist incident and afterward, their slow response and poor handling had helped miss the golden opportunity to catch the terrorists.

Banana habitually reached for a cigarette in his inner pocket, then startled himself and slap! slapped his own cheek.

"Are you crazy?"

Today marked day 60 of quitting smoking.

He'd quit the day he was assigned as Young Mistress Sol-a's personal bodyguard.

Determined not to let any harmful substances or particles near the Young Mistress.

Above all, smokers were disqualified from being bodyguards, so quitting was essential to keep his position.

Since there were plenty of people eyeing his spot, he'd be dragged down the moment he let his guard down.

Beep.

Finally, a radio message came through his left ear.

— This is Apple. Target spotted. Proceed as planned, locate the destination, then capture.

Shortly after, a commotion was heard from the parking lot entrance.

— Capture complete.

Uncle Apple seemed to have succeeded in catching the suspect trying to escape.

Waiting police officers were pushing the suspect into a transport vehicle.

"A clean finish."

Just then, the Young Mistress, who had been in the special wing for some kind of simulation, was coming outside.

'No!'

The creature hadn't yet been loaded into the transport vehicle.

The police and suspect seemed to be facing off, as if some problem had arisen.

Then, seizing an opening, the creature moved quickly, slipped out through the back gate, and started running.

Despite having his hands and mouth bound, the culprit broke free from the police with a speed hard to track with the eye, as if making a final desperate attempt.

"Does he have a movement-type ability?!"

The creature crossed the outdoor parking lot of the Special Response Headquarters in an instant, heading somewhere.

'Damn it.'

It was towards where the Young Mistress was!

Banana threw himself over the railing without hesitation.

His ability was [Body Petrification] —no matter how high he fell, he'd be fine.

And he could confidently block any attack with his body.

"Get back!"

Barely blocking the attack, Banana threw a punch at the creature's abdomen.

[Meteor Punch] !

It was a skill name he'd come up with when he was young, so it was childish, but it lived up to its name.

"Kyaaak!!!"

The creature, sent flying by Banana's punch, collapsed onto the cement floor, writhing in pain.

Banana let out a sigh of relief.

The Young Mistress had almost been in danger again, like during the dragon attack.

If Banana hadn't quickly blocked the creature's path, it would have pounced on Sol-a in an instant.

With the build of an adult male, wearing a black hood and hat, and nondescript clothing, the creature was now being bound by the pursuing police, struggling against them.

The mask covering his face had long been removed when Apple caught him.

A restraint gag was placed over his mouth, from which pained groans escaped.

That restraint was likely to prevent him from using a bomb device hidden somewhere in his mouth to commit suicide.

His appearance was grotesque, as if his nose and eyes had melted.

He was wearing clothes, but looked unmistakably like a monster.

When exploring S-rank dungeons, you occasionally saw humanoid monsters that looked like that.

Even Banana had initially mistaken them for monsters pouring out of a dungeon break.

But that wasn't the case.

Because some of them could use abilities like Awakened.

Just like how that one had used a movement ability, like short-distance teleportation, to escape.

There were monsters that breathed fire or sprayed water, but there were no monsters that could use abilities like Awakened.

He didn't want to believe they were human, but it was a situation he had to accept.

'I have no idea what kind of people they are. Well, we'll find out soon enough.'

Inside his black, rotting skin, his eyes, rolled back so far the whites were visible, were fixed on the Young Mistress.

"Don't even think about it."

Before Banana could block his view—

A small body stepped forward in front of Banana.

"Gun-yul, no!"

There was no time for the adults to stop him.

He'd produced a toy axe, as big as himself, from somewhere and raised it.

And thwack! the axe blade came down swiftly towards the creature's head.

"Eek!"

Banana looked down in shock at the little black bean-like back of the head.

'This fearless Jeong family brat!'

---

Sol-a watched the creature being dragged away limp with complicated feelings.

Save me.

The faint remaining focus in his whites seemed to be saying that.

'He was suffering.'

Sol-a recalled his face, which looked more like a monster than a human.

Black skin, as if crusted over with oozing fluid.

It was no wonder rumors of 'zombies' had spread.

But his expression, filled with pain like an ordinary person, lingered in her mind.

"I don't like this..."

Sol-a flinched, thinking she'd spoken her thoughts aloud, and looked around.

"Gun-yul, why is your mouth sticking out like that?"

Having just been caught by the teachers and scolded, Gun-yul plopped down next to Sol-a.

The children were sitting on the stationary bus, waiting for the adults.

The creature whose head had been hit by Gun-yul's toy axe had ended up unconscious.

People might overlook it, thinking, 'How strong can a kid be?' but an Awakened child's fist could break a lamppost.

Of course, it was a relief that, since he was wearing a Nerf necklace, the unfortunate incident of the creature's head being crushed by a toy axe didn't happen.

The reason Gun-yul had fearlessly charged at the creature was simple.

"It was staring at Noona with that ugly face."

They'd just come out of a fun dungeon experience, and then this thing suddenly appeared and startled Sol-a—it must have displeased him.

"I don't like that ajusshi either."

Gun-yul said, glaring coldly at a man outside the window.

It was in front of the transport vehicle where the creature was being held captive.

It was a man Apple and the uncles were talking to—someone they'd seen at the kindergarten before.

Because he was Park Se-bin's father.

"He's been glancing at Noona all along."

She'd been feeling it too.

She felt the same unease.

The gaze that had been fixed on Sol-a since before she got on the bus.

The head that tilted just enough to meet Sol-a's eyes when their gazes met.

It was a dry gaze without particular emotion, but it was a clear expression of intent.

It was unmistakably a greeting directed at Sol-a.

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