Chapter 144 – #31_City Life (4)
#142
1.
The raw disgust churned my stomach.
It was an old man I didn’t know.
Just a stranger I happened to meet in the city park.
If it weren’t for this, we would have ignored each other and gone our separate ways.
But when the homunculus, its snout stained red with that stranger’s blood, bared its teeth at Siwoo,
Siwoo felt an intense urge to kill.
It’s natural in the wild.
Every creature in nature eats to live and runs to survive.
With the separation of dining tables and slaughterhouses due to advanced civilization, not many modern people would realize that fact today.
And that’s why the inhumane dining scene unfolding before his eyes was a huge shock to Siwoo.
The city park was just a small hill.
This old man probably came here for his health.
Maybe one of his family members pushed him out to lose some belly fat.
Maybe they’re worried about him being late coming home.
There is life.
There is a story.
Is it right for a human life to end as a single meal?
“Haaap!”
The shadow spear that left Siwoo’s hand flew faster than the shout.
The afterimage looked like a black line brushed across the air.
The homunculus’s reaction was swift.
It twisted its body nimbly to avoid the attack.
It was a level of flexibility that was unimaginable for its massive body.
Perhaps it had clearly recognized Siwoo as an enemy with that one blow, as it kicked off the ground with its hind legs and closed the 20-meter distance in the blink of an eye.
-Bang!
“Ugh!”
A collision occurred.
Siwoo, who had held up his shield, was thrown backward.
The shadow armor and shield created by magic.
Its performance was different from that of ordinary plate armor.
It not only actively dispersed and deflected external impacts but also had some magic nullification effects.
But to be sent flying backward as if hit by a truck just from a body slam.
Siwoo was reminded that his opponent was a homunculus.
It might look like just a big dog, but it was a combat weapon created by the Witch of Creation.
He scrambled to his feet and adjusted his shield.
His spine was tingling.
If it weren’t for the armor supporting his entire body, wouldn’t his spine have snapped backward?
“Krrr…”
Meanwhile, Siwoo’s resistance seemed unexpected to the homunculus.
Unlike its previous momentum when it was attacking a defenseless prey, it was now crouched low, growling and looking at him.
Was it because he had been living in a state of lethargy and inertia for a while?
The sound of his heart pounding so fast that it hurt his head was particularly clear in his ears.
Siwoo raised his shield to his chest to protect his neck and heart while changing the shape of his spear.
The effective attack range of a spear is limited to the ‘point’ of a stab.
Meanwhile, that monster bounced around like a rubber ball and attacked at high speed.
In this case, he judged that a weapon with a wider attack area and capable of a ‘line’ attack would be more efficient.
The optimal form for that was a sword.
A long blade extending more than 1 meter.
A cross-guard to prevent the hand from slipping and gripping the blade.
Siwoo had no experience in Western swordsmanship, nor had he ever held a real sword.
But that was not a problem.
After all, shadows have no weight.
As long as he could stab or cut his opponent with a sharp blade, that was enough.
Then.
The homunculus, which had been crouching low, launched another attack.
It moved freely not only by running on the ground but also by jumping and kicking off trees, moving flamboyantly in the darkness.
It was fast indeed.
It was like a motorcycle ignoring gravity, bouncing around while pulling a full throttle.
“Hoo-up…!”
Siwoo calmly watched its movements and then swung his shield at the homunculus that was pouncing from directly above.
He didn’t just swing it.
If Siwoo, who didn’t have any tricks like strengthening his body with magic, did that, he would break his arm or dislocate his shoulder.
Therefore, he injected magic into the armor itself, as if he were wearing a powered suit, to increase its hardness and strength.
-Bang!
“Yelp!”
Unlike before, when he was thrown backward miserably, Siwoo didn’t budge.
On the other hand, the homunculus, which had its snout smashed into the shield, yelped like a dog on a hot day and fell to the ground.
Now was the time Siwoo was aiming for.
He swung the longsword he had created earlier with force.
-Thud!
The blade of the longsword, swung haphazardly, dug dully into the monster’s neck.
It was a truly bizarre sensation.
Was it because of its appearance? It felt like cutting thick rubber.
The heavy vibration transmitted to the hilt was unpleasant in itself.
“Krrk…Krrrk…!”
Watching the homunculus foaming at the mouth and dying, Siwoo pressed the blade down harder once more.
It was a shadow sword that had already dug deep into the cut.
The pressure added by the armor cut deep into the homunculus’s head like a factory cutter.
“Hoo…Hoo…”
Even after its head was cut off, the homunculus convulsed its limbs like a fish for a long time before dying.
Siwoo, still calming his pounding heart, deactivated the armor that had been covering his entire body.
He killed it.
He won.
“Shit…”
He slumped to the ground.
It wasn’t as strong as he thought, but it wasn’t something he could kill easily either.
If Siwoo’s shield strike had missed and he had been crushed by its weight and speed, no one knew what would have happened.
He felt exhausted and heavy, as if his whole body was wet.
Just getting into a fistfight on the street would drain his energy, let alone a life-or-death hunt.
He swept back his sweat-soaked bangs and took a breath.
He felt like he needed some time to think.
As he sat there, calming his mind, the bizarre corpse of the homunculus peeled away layer by layer, leaving behind only a charcoal-like stain before disappearing.
In the middle, there was something that looked like an empty crystal.
Siwoo silently picked up the crystal.
At first glance, it looked very similar to a Gnosis egg.
The difference was that he couldn’t feel any magic or magical effects.
It was just a glass bead.
“………”
Siwoo roughly shoved it into his pocket and turned his gaze to the observation deck.
The old man was in such a terrible state that his intestines were hanging out, so the chances of him being alive were slim.
Nevertheless, he had to check.
There was always a chance.
Maybe he could save him if he took action now.
Siwoo, staggering, arrived at the observation deck.
There was nothing there.
Neither the corpse that had been torn apart by the homunculus just a moment ago, nor even the bloodstains or pieces of intestines that had stained the floor dark red.
Nothing was visible.
It had disappeared cleanly as if it had never existed in the first place.
Instead, only the vermilion lights illuminated the empty surface.
“……….”
He didn’t know what to say.
Would it be too trashy to be relieved that he didn’t have to see the gruesome corpse?
“Ha…ha…”
For some reason, he laughed.
It was an empty laugh.
2.
As soon as Siwoo returned home, he took a cold shower.
His clothes, dirtied with soil and sand that had gotten inside his armor during the tumble, were put in the laundry basket.
“Homunculus…”
Siwoo didn’t know much about homunculi.
Guardians who protect the legacy of the Witch of Creation.
They usually exist in a crystal state, and when they randomly awaken, they roam the world surrounded by an otherworld barrier.
Each individual uses different magic, making them very difficult to hunt, so it is not recommended for most witches to hunt them.
That was all.
That was all the information in the books Siwoo had read.
But what was the scene he had witnessed today?
The homunculus was eating a human.
Moreover, the corpse had completely evaporated while he had turned his gaze away for a moment.
“Ha…”
Siwoo chuckled.
According to Count Jemena, the number of homunculi in the present world is increasing dramatically.
He had also been told to be especially careful since he had been branded.
He didn’t know why the homunculus was hunting humans instead of witches.
However, it was hard to think that the scene Siwoo had encountered today was special.
It meant that similar things were happening all over Korea and all over the world.
Then why haven’t people been aware of this?
“It’s obvious.”
The inference based on the given information easily led to a conclusion.
Hadn’t Siwoo experienced it before?
Being eaten by a homunculus, his ties were severed, and he became a non-existent being in this world.
He became prey for a mere beast, without even the right to be mourned.
Siwoo turned off the shower, dried himself roughly, and went to his room.
He plopped down on the sofa and opened a can of beer.
It was the first time he had seen someone die.
It was as if he had seen it from afar, so it wasn’t that shocking.
Or maybe he wasn’t shocked at all.
His mind was just blank, and all he could think about was the sound of the homunculus chewing and tearing at the intestines.
Siwoo suddenly remembered.
The dark, murky shape that had been hanging on the electronic billboard at the department store when he returned to the present world.
It had already disappeared when he had rushed over.
“Was that also a homunculus?”
How many homunculi are still left in this world?
Are many people really dying because of them?
If so, what can he do now?
“………..”
He wouldn’t have known before.
Even if he had known, there was nothing he could have done.
But now it was different.
Siwoo had the eyes to see the homunculi, and he also had the power to fight them.
He had too much to just be a bystander.
Then shouldn’t he kill the remaining threats?
“It’s someone else’s problem.”
Conversely, Siwoo wouldn’t be easily defeated by an ordinary homunculus.
He could avoid them and had the power to resist.
At least, there were no disadvantages to the choice of ‘not hunting homunculi.’
Moreover, Siwoo was currently hiding in the present world.
If he were to go around trying to catch them, he didn’t know how things would get twisted if he were to be noticed by another witch.
Siwoo glanced at the ring on his index finger.
It was a ring of twisted silver, dyed black and white.
A ring symbolizing that he was a guest of Jemena.
He might be able to solve most problems with this…
“Let’s not.”
Siwoo shook his wet hair.
He might need to get some sleep for the first time in a while.
It was an act of heroes in textbooks to take on risks out of a flimsy sense of justice, based on information that wasn’t even certain, and when there was a way to avoid it.
Siwoo didn’t think he was that great.
Siwoo went back to his room and lay down on the bed.
“………”
He should just think that those people were caught in a natural disaster.
He should just think that they were just a little unlucky.
Of course, what happened to the old man he saw today was very unfortunate, but what could he do?
It was a cowardly excuse and self-rationalization for someone, but it was a matter of life and death for Siwoo.
3.
“Damn it, I’m crazy.”
Siwoo, who had eventually gotten out of bed, cursed and headed to the hill where he had caught the homunculus earlier.
