By Zephyria “Thank you. Come again!”
With the cheerful voice of the employee, the automatic doors of the mart opened. A young man, wearing a gray hoodie and carrying a strawberry-patterned shopping basket filled with all sorts of groceries, headed towards the bus stop.
“Currently, a Gate has occurred at the intersection, and traffic is being controlled. Please cooperate.”
The young man tilted his head at the unfamiliar scene unfolding on his usual route. Someone wearing a fluorescent green safety vest over a suit and a yellow hard hat was blocking the passage while waving a red glowing light stick. Beyond his head, the entrance of a Gate shimmering with blue light could be seen.
And beneath it, Hunters were desperately fighting Monsters that were crawling out of the gap.
“Kyaaaaak!”
“Kkeuek! Not yet?”
“Just a little…!”
A lizard the size of a car swung its fiercely spiked tail, emitting a bizarre cry. A Hunter with a shield blocked the attack, but the lizard was extremely agitated and thrashed its tail in the air as if to sweep away the entire area. Bang! Bang! The Hunter barely defended against the relentless attacks and cursed.
“Damn it, die! Fireball!”
A bright red flame engulfed the lizard. Taking advantage of the momentary pause, someone else shot an arrow at the lizard. The lizard, with an arrow piercing its eye, writhed and screamed.
“Kieeeek!”
“Wow, that’s insane…”
“Don’t approach the barricade!”
“I’m going to upload it as a YouTube short, let me film a bit.”
“Yeah, I’m already doing it.”
People were filming and watching from a short distance away from the barricade. The young man hurriedly moved on without joining the commotion. The strawberry-patterned shopping basket in his hand swung back and forth.
The moment he stepped into a deserted alley, he encountered a massive figure blocking the narrow path. A purplish Marsh Toad was rummaging through a pile of trash when it sensed someone and abruptly turned its head towards the young man. A long green tongue slid out of its mouth and deftly tossed an empty plastic bottle into it. It was clearly a Monster that had emerged from the Rift.
“Ah, those Bureau of Rift Management guys. Can’t they do their jobs properly….”
The young man muttered irritably, rummaged through his shopping basket, and pulled out something long as if drawing a sword. From the gently curved end to the straight stalk, and the firm root nestled beneath it.
In his hand was… a fresh green onion.
The Marsh Toad croaked and turned its body towards the young man. Each time its heavy legs hit the ground, the entire alley shook as if an earthquake had struck. The young man carefully placed the shopping basket down and skillfully spun the green onion once, gripping it firmly. Then,
Stepping on the lid of a trash can, he leaped like a butterfly—
And smacked the Marsh Toad’s head with the green onion!
Paak!!
A clear and cheerful striking sound echoed loudly through the alley. The Marsh Toad couldn’t even utter a death cry and trembled, its limbs flailing, its eyes rolled back. Sadly, the very center of its head was dented in the shape of a green onion.
The young man took a breath and dusted off his hands. As the hood was pulled back by the force, the cool face hidden beneath it was revealed.
“Green onions are expensive…. What a waste.”
The young man squatted down in front of the Marsh Toad and roughly stuffed the remnants of the green onion into the Marsh Toad’s mouth with his bare hands, then picked up his phone. After some time, he opened his mouth as if the other party had answered the call.
“Hello, um…. There’s a dead Monster in this alley, you see? It looks like some Hunter caught it and just left….”
The young man’s voice trembled at the end. He even sounded a little tearful, like someone who was very scared. However, unlike his voice, which made him sound like he would faint if poked, his touch was indifferent.
“It’s, uh, the alley leading to the Two-for-One Mart…. What kind of Monster? It looks like a Marsh Toad, but it’s too, too big and grotesque, so I can’t see it clearly. Please do something about this. No, there’s no need to contact me separately… Ah, you’ll be here in 5 minutes? Thank you, no problem. Yes, thank you….”
The young man sniffled and hung up the phone. Even after the call ended, the young man remained sitting there, pushing the green onion scraps into the large mouth that was pathetically sticking out its tongue. The young man’s eyes, which had claimed to be unable to see the Monster clearly because it was too grotesque, were staring directly at the Marsh Toad.
The Hunter will be here in 5 minutes.
‘It would be troublesome to run into them.’
The young man got up and wiped away his footprints from the trash can lid. The Marsh Toad seemed to have died instantly without any other external injuries, except for the green onion-shaped dent in the middle of its head. With this much remaining evidence, it would be impossible to track down the person who dealt with the Monster.
Now that the evidence was destroyed, it was time to escape. The young man picked up the shopping basket again and lightly jumped in place a couple of times, reviewing the phone call from earlier.
‘…Should I have sounded more surprised when I reported it?’
Well, it’s too late to regret it now. The young man leaped over the wall, which was taller than him.
“Is this the alley?”
“Yes, it is!”
A few minutes after the young man disappeared, a man and a woman wearing fluorescent vests over their shirts arrived at the scene. However, the hurried expressions that had been on their faces vanished like snow melting as soon as they saw the Marsh Toad’s corpse.
The woman who entered the alley first, Yang Hye-jin, an A-rank Hunter affiliated with the Rift Management Bureau, sighed as she looked at the Marsh Toad lying dead with its tongue sticking out.
“Wow, that’s insane.”
“What’s wrong? I also… Huh.”
The rookie who followed behind was startled and clung to her mentor, whispering in a small voice.
“Wow…. Is it even possible to take down a Marsh Toad this cleanly, Senior?”
“It’s impossible. Just by looking at it, you can tell it was taken down in one hit. That crazy brat sprays strong acidic liquid if you’re even a little late. It melts buildings and people, so it’s a pain in the ass….”
“That’s really amazing.”
The rookie, impressed once again, adjusted the yellow hard hat that was crooked from rushing over. Hye-jin, with sharp eyes, surveyed the surroundings and instructed.
“See if there are any traces left. With this level of skill, they’re no ordinary person.”
“Understood!”
The rookie rummaged through the trash cans and the piles of trash nearby, saying.
“I don’t know who they are… but they took it down so cleanly that the cleanup won’t be difficult.”
“Right. It’s so clean that we could donate it to the Monster research team. I wonder why someone with that kind of skill didn’t take care of the corpse and just left.”
Hye-jin, speaking sarcastically, put on white gloves and opened the Marsh Toad’s thick mouth. Marsh Toad-type Monsters were troublesome creatures that swallowed anything that touched their tongues and spat poison or strong acid everywhere. The kind Marsh Toad that gives you a new house when you give it your old one was a unicorn that only existed in fairy tales.
Anyway, there was a need to check carefully in case the Marsh Toad had swallowed someone while running out of the Gate and coming all the way here. Hye-jin took out a flashlight from the air and shone it into every corner of the Marsh Toad’s mouth. Fortunately, instead of a human corpse, only some half-melted plastic bottles were visible. She breathed a sigh of relief only after completing the confirmation.
“It doesn’t look like it swallowed anyone….”
Meanwhile, the rookie, who was holding a machine with a radar and pointing it around the alley, called out to Hye-jin with a distressed expression.
“Senior, the person who caught the Marsh Toad must be a real pro. There’s nothing left.”
Hye-jin, who dusted off her hands and stood up, tilted her head.
“They must have used their ability, right? There’s no trace of them using their ability either? Take a good look.”
“I’m looking! But there’s no trace of any ability at all detected by the detector. There’s really nothing.”
“What, did they catch something this big with their bare hands?”
She made an inference that was close to the truth by accident, but she shook her head, not knowing that fact.
“Ugh, it must have been some Power Sealer who took care of it again. Why are there so many Hunters hiding their power in the world? All those useless things like comics and novels have ruined the kids.”
As she turned off the flashlight and stood up, the rookie also put the machine into the air. Hye-jin stretched out and relieved her tired body.
“Anyway, we should be grateful that a level 4 Monster came out but didn’t eat anyone or destroy any buildings. Let’s take the Marsh Toad and go back. You write today’s report.”
“Yes. Who should I write as the Monster handler?”
“You have to write ‘identity unknown,’ what else.”
“Understood. But, Senior….”
“Yeah. Why?”
The rookie asked with an awkward face.
“Don’t you smell green onions somewhere?”
“…Come to think of it?”
Hye-jin, who sniffed around for a while, shrugged her shoulders.
“The Marsh Toad must have picked up some green onions that fell on the ground and ate them. Anyway, are we going to have dinner together after work?”
“Understood. The usual place, right?”
“Yeah, Hanover Soup Restaurant.”
At that time, at a shabby and old Hangover Soup Restaurant that looked like it was several decades old.
—I am against this marriage!
—Father! How could you do this!
—Actually… you two are siblings!
“Oh dear….”
On the old CRT TV, a rerun of 『Couple Clinic: Love and War』 was playing on a cable channel. Someone was sitting in a prime spot where the screen was easily visible, fixing their eyes on it while peeling garlic.
—Husband! Don’t say anything to the kids! You haven’t done anything right either!
—Mother-in-law, please don’t stop me! It’s my child’s marriage!
—I was going to keep it a secret from you for the rest of my life. But since it’s come to this, I have no choice but to tell you. Actually… we’re also siblings!
“The mother-in-law and son-in-law are siblings?”
The busy hands dropped the garlic they were holding. Before they could worry about the next scene, a bald lawyer was already declaring a mediation period, saying, “See you in four weeks.” The hands, which had been as stiff as stone, started rustling again after a few commercials had passed. Once a certain amount of garlic peels had accumulated, the body that had been sitting in the seat rose up.
“Trashy trash~ I’m throwing it away~”
The voice humming while looking for the trash can was a pleasant baritone. The height, which far exceeded the average, strode across the hall, but the head didn’t quite touch the ceiling, so there was no difficulty in moving.
The young man, who had thrown the peels into the trash can, glanced at his watch. It was still a bit early before the evening time opened. He shifted his gaze to a corner of the store and frowned for a moment as he stared at it.
“Ah, I should have hit it with something else….”
With a sigh, the young man tidied up the area around where he had been sitting and headed towards the door. Then, he took down the break time sign that had been attached to the sliding door and threw it where he had been looking earlier.
‘Material preparation time from 2 PM to 5 PM.’
Under the sign that was lying haphazardly, a strawberry-patterned shopping basket, shriveled and empty, was placed.