Chapter 50 : The Place Where the Shark Appeared (2)

In the Kaiju Frontline universe, kaiju generally have two main dispositions.

Most of them are ‘hostile’ towards humanity, and individuals with a benevolent nature are extremely rare.

In fact, in the ten years I’ve encountered kaiju, the only benevolent ones I met were those that had gone missing or turned into weapons.

Well, in the original work, there were a few more, but I’ll get to that later.

Anyway, the one standing before me now is neither of the two.

If I had to categorize her, she would be considered ‘neutral.’

“Are you… a hero?”

“No. I am Kang Jang-hoon, a candidate for the sidekick of Hero Creator Girl.”

“Ah, I see. So, you’re a sidekick.”

A girl with blue hair flowing like waves, standing in front of a glass wall reminiscent of the ocean.

However, one must not be deceived by her cute appearance.

Even though she looks like that, as long as there is ‘water’ around her, under specific conditions, she could display strength ranking at the highest level among first-class dangerous kaiju.

“If you follow me, I will safely escort you to the surface.”

“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you, Jang-hoon.”

Deep-sea phobia.

A deep-sea kaiju born from the unknown horrors of the abyss.

During the third-anniversary event, she shed her girl-like appearance and emerged as a grotesque monster, the boss enemy.

And at that moment, the Kaiju Frontline community went into an uproar.

Of course, in a bad way.

[“Wait, what the hell? Why is the deep sea a monster?”]

[“Wasn’t she supposed to be a gacha character like the missing ones?”]

[“Did all the DMs lose their minds?”]

[“They said something big was coming, so I was waiting. And they really made a massive monster, those bastards.”]

In truth, the deep-sea kaiju had been gaining attention long before she was introduced as the third-anniversary boss.

Since the first anniversary, she had gradually established a presence, gaining a low-key fandom among players as a ‘heroine candidate.’

A famous saying in subculture communities:

“I’m cute, after all!”

Despite the fact that she slowly shared her power with her fish-like kaiju followers and committed mass slaughter.

Well, as you know, in this industry, if a character is well-designed, does it even matter? People forgive anything…

“No, what the hell?! My playable character?!”

The deep-sea kaiju, whose only ‘crime’ was sharing a bit of power with her subordinates who wanted to become stronger.

In this way, she was put through extreme justification, and since she had never directly killed anyone herself, she became a character who simultaneously drove both her fans and detractors crazy.

Then came the fateful third anniversary.

“KRAAAH! KRAK!”

“Wait, she can’t even talk anymore?!”

In the much-anticipated third-anniversary update, she was no longer the same.

As if she had been ‘disciplined,’ she had lost the ability to speak human language and was reclassified as a ‘quasi-special class kaiju.’

No—rather than an upgrade, it was a downgrade.

At that moment, every player’s enthusiasm was instantly frozen.

‘Thanks to that, the amount of deep-sea kaiju fan content decreased significantly afterward…’

She was once a character so beloved that even famous doujin artists in the secondary creative market drew her relentlessly… or rather, ‘loved’ her.

Anyway, on the surface, she was a neutral kaiju.

She was willing to share a bit of power with the fish-like kaiju born from her, but she herself did not harbor hostility toward humans.

“This place is dangerous. You need to escape immediately.”

In the original story’s first chapter, she wasn’t even mentioned.

She was likely long gone from the aquarium by the time the shark kaiju started wreaking havoc two days later.

Yet, here she was now.

…This was dangerous.

The deep sea was the domain of the shark kaiju’s ‘master.’

If she worried about her followers and decided to intervene, Carmilla would be killed in an instant.

So, there was no other choice.

Just like releasing a wild animal back into nature,

The best course of action was to evacuate her as quickly as possible while pretending not to notice her presence.

‘Hunting her down… would be a waste, given all the unresolved mysteries from the original story and other factors.’

But then—

“Hey, Sidekick. Your name was Kang Jang-hoon, right?”

“Huh? Uh… yeah, that’s right.”

As I was leading her through the aquarium hallway, she suddenly stopped using her superhuman strength.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Something was off.

The deep-sea kaiju was supposed to be neutral—she neither protected humans nor killed them.

Yet, she suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace so strong that I couldn’t move.

Sniff, sniff…

‘…Hoshino? Is she acting like Miss Hoshino in heat?’

She started sniffing me as if she were a cat in heat.

“You… have eaten too many of my children.”

“…What?”

The Mother of the Sea.

Another title given to the deep-sea kaiju.

True to that name, maybe it was because I’d spent the past five days eating nothing but omakase in an aquarium surrounded by fish.

The deep fishy scent had sunk deep into my insides.

Noticing that smell, she, who usually had a refined and ladylike demeanor, smiled briefly—

Then, like an angry cat, she radiated killing intent.

And now, she was hugging me so tightly it felt like she was about to snap my spine.

Squeeze…

“Why did you eat so many fish? This smell is unbearable…”

“Well, it’s just that recently, I only had access to fish… Ugh?!”

“Even so, this is too much. And cod roe, too?! How could you so cruelly season and eat newly born babies?!”

SQUEEZE!

A pain shot through my back, bending it like a bow.

Pollack roe, Myeongran-jeot.

Even those little babies have been eating it so much lately, even getting refills.

Perhaps because of that, the deep-sea monster, which was like the grandmother of pollack roe, was about to completely fold my waist, making me unable to walk ever again.

“I personally like humans who make the best use of the sea.”

“Wait a second…! Uh,”

“But at the same time, I despise humans, the only animals that pollute the ocean.”

Two emotions at extreme ends.

Liking yet hating, loathsome yet lovable.

Humans.

To the deep-sea monster, humans were such contradictory creatures.

Like a ‘cat mom’ who can’t raise a pet at home but loves feeding strays outside.

The reason she didn’t hunt humans herself was also because, as much as they polluted the sea, there were also humans who dedicated themselves to preserving it.

Crunch!

To the point where she loved them enough to want to kill them.

So, as a last shred of conscience, she did not personally hunt humans.

Except, of course, in cases like this.

Eating unborn ‘eggs’ like pollack roe or caviar.

“Did you say your name was Janghoon? I didn’t kill you. But I certainly repaid the debt on behalf of thousands of baby pollacks.”

The deep-sea monster twisted the sidekick of the so-called ‘Creator Girl’ into an ‘impossible angle.’

She then tossed the bent-over Kang Janghoon roughly into a corner of the aquarium and prepared to leave for where her subordinates were.

“Still, as a mother in name, I should help out a little, right?”

Wouldn’t this turn me into a ‘mama’s boy’? That concern crossed her mind.

But even so, she didn’t want to see the baby shark she had empowered get ruthlessly hunted by a hero.

She had originally planned to leave this place by tomorrow.

But now, looking at the situation, her baby shark seemed quite lucky.

Since its mother was nearby, the risk of being hunted had vanished.

Crack. Crackle.

“Hm?”

…Just as she was thinking that.

“Janghoon?”

A grotesque cracking sound came from the man whose body had been bent completely backward.

Then, as if defying all logic, he began to rise from an impossible angle.

“KRAAAHHHHHH!”

Letting out an inhuman screech beyond what a human vocal cord should be capable of.

“…Huh?”

The deep-sea monster, momentarily caught off guard, turned to face him again—only to find something unexplainable had happened.

“Grrr…”

“A monster…?!”

The man, who had looked somewhat appetizing, had transformed into a golden-haired humanoid beast wearing a horned mask.

“Janghoon, you were a monster?”

“Grrr…”

“Don’t tell me you were just disguising yourself as a human all along?”

The man she thought was human turned out to be a monster!

Of course, that alone was shocking.

But for the deep-sea monster, there was something even more astonishing about Kang Janghoon’s true form.

It was—

“That face…”

“…Krkk?”

“That horned mask… Is it real?”

“Krkk?!”

The moment she saw Kang Janghoon’s appearance, her eyes widened in disbelief.

In the original story, his half-lidded blue eyes never fully opened—until now.

Now, they were wide open in shock.

At the same time, Janghoon, who had unwillingly transformed into a monster to survive, was equally confused.

‘What is this reaction? …Does she know something about me?’

Well, the deep-sea monster was ancient—she had lived longer than even the monsterized weapons.

Maybe this was just the vibe that came from experience.

“I can’t believe it!”

Watching her face twist in shock like a character in a rice cake commercial, Kang Janghoon gulped.

“That form…!”

Honestly, even Janghoon himself had been curious.

For the past ten years, no matter how much he investigated, he could never uncover the truth about his alias.

What was it, really?

Like a child searching for their unknown parents, he had always been unknowingly drawn to uncovering his identity as a monster.

And then, the deep-sea monster spoke to him.

“You’re telling me you massacred baby pollacks in that hideous form?!”

“…Krkk?”

‘…What?’

She’s the one who’s shocked?

“How dare you?! A mere monster—not even human—dares to eat my precious babies?!”

Oh, right.

The deep-sea monster despised monsters more than humans unless they were ocean-related species.

“I’m going to kill you.”

So much for learning about my true identity.

I, who had done nothing wrong except eat some Myeongran-jeot, had suddenly become her mortal enemy.