Chapter 55

“…….”

“Hm? Why.”

“…You idiot brother….”

“Yeah.”

“What is that?”

At Cha Ara’s question, her older brother, Cha Eun-hyeok, tilted his head.

“…A gem?”

“No, I can see that it’s a gem. How did you get it.”

“Ah, that’s….”

“Oppa.”

It looked like he was preparing some kind of excuse, but long-winded talk was not to Cha Ara’s taste.

“Look at this.”

“…That’s a gem.”

“I got it as a gift from some humanoid monster.”

“…….”

The eldest son, Cha Eun-hyeok, silently pressed his forehead, and the youngest, Cha Isold, dropped his spoon.

Letting out a long, deep sigh, Cha Eun-hyeok spoke.

“…Sorry for trying to pass it off with a lie. Let’s talk this through, step by step, no bullshit.”

This was two days before the youngest’s initiation ceremony.

***

“Ah, so….”

The Cha family’s eldest son, Cha Eun-hyeok, nodded his head.

“So that was the insurance money you brought in.”

“Yeah, it was money the Collectors guild gave as a sort of damage compensation.”

“Thanks to that, we were able to buy the youngest’s priestly robes, but why are you telling me this now.”

“Because I had no intention of telling you, you fucker….”

“Do you not trust us that much?”

“What are you talking about, you normal people who’d get bruised if I so much as tapped you.”

Cha Ara grumbled with her usual sensitivity.

It wasn’t that she was particularly angry or hurt; it was just a habit of Cha Ara’s to act like a very wary wildcat.

Though she herself was unaware of it.

With a slightly softened expression since it was her family, Cha Ara continued.

“I wasn’t going to tell you originally. The youngest’s job has manifested, but he’s a, uh, non-combatant… not a field worker but an office worker… that kind of feeling, you know, where we don’t know when he’ll be chosen. And Oppa is a complete civilian.”

“That is true.”

“It seemed the Collectors guild also wanted me to keep it quiet as much as possible. It’s because I’m thoughtlessly blabbing like this, but it actually felt like a very important secret.”

“For something like that, it doesn’t seem like you even signed a non-disclosure agreement?”

“That part was a bit strange. It felt like, ‘We’d prefer it if you didn’t talk, but it’s a story that will eventually spread someday, so if your mouth is really itching, go ahead and talk…’ That kind of feeling? Conglomerates are run more carelessly than I thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

Cha Eun-hyeok pressed his throbbing temples.

“And in the middle of all that, you saw me with that… that gem, and that’s why you told me?”

“They said there’s only one gem in the world with that kind of crystal structure. So what does that mean? It means you’ve already met that monster too, Oppa. If that’s the case, I figured there was no point in hiding it, so I spilled.”

“The youngest is listening too.”

“So should we leave him out? Hey, why are you making him sad.”

“No, that’s not what I meant….”

Cha Eun-hyeok, who was about to say something, soon nodded his head.

“Isold.”

“Yeah, Hyung.”

“You can’t go around telling people this stuff, okay?”

“I’m good at that.”

“It’s a bit worrying that you’re already good at this, but anyway, I’m proud of you. If things go wrong, your sister and I might get captured by a big guild in Seoul and end up as test subjects.”

“Then I really won’t tell!”

“So cool.”

Watching the youngest cheerfully give a thumbs-up and her older brother praising him, Cha Ara took a moment to reflect on her life.

What karma did we accumulate in our past lives to have only these fucking idiots gathered here?

‘I have to protect them.’

Unaware that all her family members saw each other as someone to be protected, Cha Ara stirred her white rice and mumbled.

“Ah, this isn’t the right taste….”

“You went and ate a seven-dish meal after being dragged away by a monster, and now you’ve just become a picky eater. Look, our youngest eats well without being picky. How commendable.”

“This is so fucking unfair. When have I ever been a picky eater? And he’s my youngest brother too, you know? Why aren’t I commendable, after rolling around here and there to get insurance money?”

“You may have contributed to the household, but you should have realized that my own sense of shame grew just as much. I’d rather barely scrape by than live off your insurance money.”

“You pushover, are you going to starve the youngest? If you live so nicely, does money fall from the sky? Does our grandpa who went to the afterlife bestow you with lottery numbers?”

“Look who’s talking, acting all high and mighty.”

The Cha family were pushovers for generations.

It wasn’t a situation where one could say who was better.

Cha Eun-hyeok and Cha Ara worried about whether the youngest, Cha Isold, would get scammed somewhere, but considering Cha Ara was a little better than that and Cha Eun-hyeok was slightly better than her, it was like acorns measuring their height.

“You even gave the scarf the youngest knitted for you to a complete stranger the other day.”

“Ah fuck, so am I supposed to just watch someone about to freeze to death?! What are you, a fucking psychopath?!”

“Then you should have just huddled like a penguin instead of spending money, Hunter Cha Ara! That would have been much more economical!”

“He’s a complete stranger, what’s with the creepy huddling? Stop talking such bullshit!”

“Yeah, and you gave the scarf the youngest knitted to that complete stranger, didn’t you?!”

Watching the two of them, the youngest, Cha Isold, just happily shoveled in the long-awaited white rice.

“This is really delicious.”

“Your hyung made it.”

“I made the vegetable broth.”

“Yeah, it’s delicious! It’s the best!”

At the innocent sight of the youngest giving two thumbs up, the two heads of the household gained strength and were able to stop their meaningless fight.

“When our youngest goes to the dorms, will we not be able to see his face?”

“It’ll be tough.”

“Cha Isold, don’t you miss your sister’s face already?”

“I’m looking at it right now, sister.”

“Fuck, I can’t even talk to him.”

Cha Eun-hyeok chided his younger sister.

“Don’t swear at the youngest.”

“When the youngest goes to the dorms, I’m the youngest.”

“Did you get a hole in your head after meeting a monster? The second is forever the second and the youngest is forever the youngest….”

“Let’s fight.”

In the midst of the unfolding chaos, the youngest, Cha Isold, just ate his rice.

“Hehe.”

The white rice he was eating after a long time was very delicious.

The monster his sister had met seemed to be a very kind monster.

***

“…….”

Cha Eun-hyeok, who had stepped outside for a moment, was lost in thought.

‘…The person I saw that day was a monster?’

It had been strange from the beginning.

‘Of course, when I met him at dawn, I also thought he was a kind of… monster.’

The dark dawn, with no one around.

The man who appeared wrapped in a pitch-black cape did not look human at all.

‘He had an atmosphere similar to those wraith-like things that only I can see, so I guessed he was one of that kind.’

But he was visible not only to Cha Eun-hyeok but to other people as well.

His extreme bluntness was a personal trait, and I had considered the sense of otherworldliness I felt to be merely the holy power of a devout follower.

“…….”

But what if he was just a humanoid monster?

“…Still, that doesn’t make sense, does it?”

Something was strange.

‘I’ve seen monsters too.’

In the world, there were not only monsters that could only be seen by entering a dungeon, but also monsters one could encounter just by being on Earth.

Even if they were weak enough to be caught by a civilian, their ferocity did not change.

Cha Eun-hyeok was a civilian, not a Hunter, but he had hunted monsters, and so he could tell that the aura he felt from them and the aura of the Black Cape were disparate.

‘That wasn’t the aura of a monster.’

Cha Eun-hyeok, sitting in the yard, looked up at the dark sky.

“…….”

He could see a large, pitch-black snake-like thing slithering past beyond the dark clouds.

It had human hands and feet, and was slow and enormous.

“…He was definitely one of those things.”

He couldn’t figure out the Black Cape’s identity.

‘If I consider the situation objectively, it’s definitely right to see him as a humanoid monster. He said he has his own personal dungeon, too. But the aura itself is strange, and… to consider him that kind of monster… he’s too….’

He acted like a person.

“It feels like he’s a mishmash of all sorts of things.”

He seemed like a monster, like the monsters only I could see, and a little bit like a human.

Because so many characteristics were felt together, it paradoxically felt more natural.

It was as if that Black Cape was the source of everything.

“…What nonsense….”

To say he was the source from which monsters, ghouls, and humans were derived would be to say he was no different from a god.

‘No, even a god would have a hard time with that.’

It was an absurd thought.

‘After looking into things for the youngest’s case, the beings called gods aren’t as omnipotent as I thought….’

Cha Eun-hyeok thought to himself.

‘In that sense, should I consider the Black Cape that Cha Ara and I saw to be a being of a higher class than the gods served by priests?’

But.

“…….”

Thinking about that.

“Umm….”

The holy power he had felt last time was bothering him.

No matter how much of a civilian he was, there was no way Cha Eun-hyeok, with his varied experiences, would fail to distinguish a god’s holy power.

That was definitely the aura of a god.

Something different from the aura Cha Eun-hyeok had felt from the Black Cape.

“…Considering how warm it was, it must have been related to the sun or fire….”

Because there was a Temple of the Sun nearby, he was certain he was a follower of the Sun God.

Surely it wasn’t possible to have a second job as a priest while having the job of a Tamer, so he must have been a devout follower who gained holy power.

But if he was neither a follower nor a human, then what was that aura from back then?

“The aura of a god….”

There was no way a mere monster could possess that, right?

“…….”

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a topic beyond his capacity to ponder.

“…For now, it’s certain that he’s not just a simple monster. The Collectors only confirmed that he wasn’t human.”

A monster that can handle the aura of a god could no longer be called a monster.

‘Is the only choice that makes the most sense, those monsters I’ve been seeing all this time?’

While he knew a lot about monsters and humans within the bounds of common sense, he knew little about those ‘monsters.’

Perhaps among them, there was a monster that could use a god’s power.

‘Though I’ve never seen one until now.’

A monster with such gentlemanly conduct.

Even if he was a humanoid monster and not that, he was a remarkably friendly being, having personally picked up his lost and abandoned sister, fed her, and sent her home.

‘But if I think this way, he could be a higher being than the gods of Earth. The Black Cape I saw that day possessed the aura of a god, but the god did not possess the aura of the Black Cape….’

The train of thought that had reached that point came to a halt.

He didn’t want to waste his energy.

“…I won’t be able to figure out anything more about his identity by thinking about it.”

Cha Eun-hyeok just thought about the future ahead.

“Cha Ara said she even went to that person’s dungeon.”

Cha Ara was openly treating the man in the black cape as a monster, but for some reason, Cha Eun-hyeok was referring to him as a ‘person.’

It was something Cha Eun-hyeok himself was not aware of.

“Then does that mean we might run into him again one day.”

For one, Cha Eun-hyeok had invited him to the initiation ceremony.

Now that the youngest’s initiation ceremony was decided, the probability of meeting him again was high.

‘He seemed quite interested, so I don’t think he won’t come.’

The misunderstanding of him being a follower of the Sun God was now gone, but he was, in any case, a person who handled holy power close to the sun.

They would surely meet at the initiation ceremony.

“…I hope I haven’t invited someone too dangerous….”

After a night spent worrying like that, the next morning.

“…….”

“…….”

Cha Eun-hyeok’s mind went blank for a moment.

“…Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

The Cha family, who had come up to Seoul together for the first time in their lives, came face to face with none other than Jio.

The strange man in the pitch-black cape.

“It’s been a while.”

It was a composed greeting.

‘Even though I thought the possibility was high, I didn’t think we’d meet again this quickly.’

The Black Cape they met again was still cloaked in a bizarre atmosphere.

It wasn’t for nothing that Cha Eun-hyeok had thought, ‘This isn’t human,’ from their very first meeting.

In the meantime, the white-haired man next to the Black Cape also greeted them.

“Nice to see you again. Looks like the whole family came up together?”

“What, you and Oppa knew each other, Mr. Yu Seong-un?”

“We met a few times while buying bungeoppang.”

“Ah, fish shaped pastry….”

Cha Ara, who had nodded, soon looked at the Black Cape with a strange expression.

“…….”

“Is there a problem?”

“…I’ll buy you bungeoppang later, too.”

Cha Eun-hyeok finally thought his flower pig had gone crazy.

To openly offer a gift of bungeoppang to such an intimidating opponent.

Of course, the Black Cape had bought bungeoppang from Cha Eun-hyeok himself, but that must have been as part of a social experience….

But surprisingly, the Black Cape accepted it meekly.

“I do not know the reason, but thank you.”

“Um… yes.”

He likes fish shaped pastry?

‘…He’s more easy-going than I thought, is… he?’

With that kind of atmosphere?

‘It’s an atmosphere like he’s about to put a sinner on the gallows and judge them.’

The Black Cape was being cloaked in a noticeable air.

Perhaps because of the pitch-black cape, he was like an evil spirit or a grim reaper.

That much, he resembled not a human but a ghost, and was ominous, cool, and empty.

He looked as beautiful as an exquisitely crafted ornament, but at the same time, he felt a strange grotesqueness.

It wasn't just Cha Eun-hyeok.

“…….”

Looking around, the gazes of people on their way to work were occasionally fixed on the Black Cape.

“Don’t mind it too much.”

“…Ah, yes.”

“He always has that kind of atmosphere.”

“I see.”

At Yu Seong-un’s words, Cha Eun-hyeok felt a strange anxiety.

‘It’s the youngest’s initiation ceremony.’

This will end well, right…?

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