“Somehow, I arrived early!”
“The class is already over, miss.”
“W-What!? Seriously!?”
After finishing her hero activities in City G, where a monster appeared, Hoshino rushed back to her university in City H, the neighboring area.
However, by the time she crossed one district and arrived, the sun was already high in the sky.
“In the end, I barely attended any classes today…”
“But thanks to you, miss, Hero City is much more peaceful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah… I suppose so… but still, it’s a bit disappointing.”
“Are you talking about university life?”
“No…”
Janghoon, who remained an ordinary human even after reaching adulthood.
What she truly regretted was not having enough time to spend with him, someone who could never assist her in hero work.
That’s what Hoshino wanted to say.
But no matter how many times she chanted “sex!” in her head, she was the type to shrink back when it came to the real thing.
Just facing his now mature-looking face made her heart race, and avoiding his gaze became second nature.
Just like right now.
“Y-Yeah, I think so. University life… I just want to enjoy it a bit more.”
“Hmm… then should we ask Lady Makoto for advice? Maybe you could get some time off somehow?”
“?! N-No way! Mom would just say I’m not a kid anymore and that I can’t rely on her forever!”
And so, another day passed with Hoshino leaving university without attending any proper classes.
The only one who could comfort her was always Janghoon, who was her friend, butler, and servant.
“…Would you like a drink?”
“Yes!”
Even though she couldn’t handle alcohol well…
Even though she was the type to strip down to her underwear after just one bottle of soju…
Yet she loved drinking so much.
For reference, in the original story, the “darker” version of Hoshino was actually a strict teetotaler.
So the sense of discord she felt wasn’t just in her imagination.
Gulp, gulp!
“Ahh! I’ll pay today as well, so Janghoon, you just drink!”
“Even so, I should pay too…”
“Hey! If you take out your wallet, I’ll smash this bar to pieces. Just sit still, got it?”
“Yes, ma’am…”
By the time the sun had completely set and evening arrived.
Hoshino, who always stayed at her family’s home, would come to drink with me near my university dorm.
Since she didn’t stay out often, whenever she did, she would sometimes end up passed out on the street completely drunk.
I always felt guilty about it, and I really wanted to at least pay for the drinks.
But even that was a no-go, as she would say that a woman getting treated by a man was embarrassing.
She’d even half-jokingly draw her monster-slaying sword to keep me in check.
“Miss… you shouldn’t drink too much, even for the sake of avoiding a hangover tomorrow.”
“Aww, don’t worry~! I always wake up just fine in the morning, don’t I?”
“…Well, that’s true.”
The funny thing was that although she was weak to alcohol, she never actually got hangovers.
Anyway, after entering a beer pub near campus, we clinked our glasses together.
“Cheers! Is this already the 39th time we’ve drunk together, Janghoon?”
“You’ve been… keeping count?”
“Of course! It’s already been half a year since we became adults! If two young adults like us are going to do anything, drinking is the way to go, right?”
“Uh… I guess?”
To be more precise, it was what usually followed drinking that was the main event…
But for now, I decided to stay quiet.
Now that I thought about it, it had been quite a while since I started drinking with her.
Maybe because today’s morning marked the start of the prologue.
I suddenly realized that ten years had already passed.
“Janghoon, did you know?”
“Know what, miss?”
“Today… I met that Horned Mask monster who terrorized the Hero Association ten years ago.”
“Pfft?!”
That was when we were about three beers in.
Hoshino, now tipsy, suddenly dropped a bombshell.
She clenched her fist in frustration as she spoke about my monster form—specifically how I had fled the moment we crossed paths.
“Hey, we’re old acquaintances, you know?! That guy met me before!”
“O-Oh… really?”
“Yeah! He saved my mom… and even patted my head…”
Ah, so she’s talking about that.
The incident ten years ago when the Sword Monster revived and tried to wipe out the Okami family.
If I had let things play out as in the original story, Hoshino would have turned into her “dark” version.
But since I wasn’t a fan of tragic stories, I had twisted the plot, saving District D—which should have been destroyed.
That happened when we were just kids.
And yet, Hoshino still remembered it like it was yesterday.
“Damn it, did he run away because I’m a hero?”
“Uh… maybe? They say he’s a monster with some level of intelligence.”
“Ugh…! That makes it even worse! Why did he run the moment he saw me?!”
I mean, it’s not like we could’ve had a conversation in monster language.
Besides, it was Hoshino we were talking about.
Someone who had been by my side for almost a decade.
Even if I had transformed into a monster, would she really fail to recognize me?
It was best to nip doubts in the bud—just like I did this morning.
“I’m considered one of the fastest among heroes, you know? But I couldn’t even keep up with that guy…”
“Haha… well, he’s known as a pretty dangerous monster.”
“I’m telling you, he’s not dangerous at all!”
After accidentally slaying a three-headed monster, I had fled at top speed.
I had even managed to break through the military’s containment perimeter, which was set up to capture second-tier monsters.
Thanks to that, I returned to university before noon, avoiding any issues with my grades.
Meanwhile, Hoshino, now chugging beer and looking dejected, was nearly in tears.
“Ugh… I just want to meet him properly again…”
“Miss…”
“I just wanted to spend a bit more time with him… It had been ten years since we last met, and that’s how it ended? That’s not fair.”
Even if she said that, this was one request I couldn’t grant.
Clinking our glasses together once more, I prepared to carry her home as she was about to pass out.
“Oh, that reminds me…”
“Yes?”
“You know, I often work with the military during hero activities.”
“I’m aware.”
If heroes were the ones who exterminated monsters in Hero City, soldiers were the ones who protected the citizens.
Two similar yet entirely different roles.
Some people even looked down on the military, saying it was just for “dropouts who couldn’t become heroes.”
But as a veteran player of Kaiju Frontline—no, as a man born in a conscription-based country, I could say this with confidence.
It was thanks to them that Hero City was still standing.
“They may not have any special powers, but they’re the ones who risk their lives for us.”
“Yeah, yeah! Everyone is such an amazing person!”
For a moment, we tilted our beer glasses in agreement with my words.
“But no, that’s not what I was trying to talk about!”
Like a woman who suddenly remembered a story in the middle of a drinking session, Miss Hoshino, slightly tipsy, recalled something from this morning.
A certain soldier.
“Hey, you know what? I saw a really talented rookie this morning.”
“A talented… rookie?”
“Yeah. Just an ordinary soldier, but… should I say he had extensive knowledge about monsters? Anyway, he was a really smart soldier.”
“!!”
At the prologue scene, just an extra soldier A.
Yet, he managed to make an impression on Miss Hoshino, who was an SSR gacha character in the game.
So if I were to make a guess, there was only one person who could come to mind.
The ‘protagonist’ of this <Monster Frontline> world.
“What did that soldier look like?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, any distinguishing features, Miss!”
“Dis…tinguishing features?”
“Yes! Like hair color, eye color! Or at least even their voice tone, can you tell me anything?!”
When I left the prologue scene, I thought I had come up empty-handed, unable to find him.
But, as expected, Miss Hoshino!
She always unknowingly lightened my burden in moments like this.
After all, since this was a reincarnation story, the protagonist had to survive until the end of the work.
To ‘protect’ him if necessary, I needed to know his identity—something I had no clue about.
So I asked Miss Hoshino about the protagonist’s personal details.
But then.
“…Why should I?”
Was she that drunk?
Her half-closed eyes, her face as red as a tomato, her body swaying slightly.
Yet, there was something about her expression…
Like she had just seen a ‘monster,’ an eerie chill ran through the air.
“Why should I tell Jang-hoon what he looks like?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s just… I was curious.”
“Are you interested in him?”
“Wh-what?!”
Uh… Of course, I’m interested?
He’s the protagonist of this world, after all.
But something about the mood made me feel like if I nodded now, my life would be over.
That couldn’t be the case, right?
Well, it’s better to be cautious, just in case.
“No way~ It’s nothing like that. I was just curious, Miss.”
I laughed it off, trying to move past this situation.
Whoosh.
“Huh?”
I was about to brush it off, but—
Lick.
“W-wait, Miss?!”
At some point, Miss Hoshino had moved from sitting in front of me to right next to me.
Was it because she was in human form?
I couldn’t even follow her movement with my eyes.
While I was still in shock, she suddenly started licking my ear.
Then she said—
“This taste is… the taste of a [lie].”
“!!”
All of a sudden, it felt like I was dealing with some kind of zipper mafia from Italy.
Her beast-like, slit pupils locked onto mine as she intensely glared at me.
“Be honest.”
“Huh?”
“Why are you asking about him?”
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