Chapter 49 : The Place Where the Shark Appeared (1)

I had been coming and going from the city’s aquarium for five days now.

The total amount of money spent so far was over 2 million won.

“I never expected such a huge loss…!”

Just the entrance fee for two people alone was 240,000 won in total.

Multiply that by five, and since we had to stay inside the aquarium from morning until evening, we also had to cover our meals here.

But, as expected of a tourist district.

The 30,000-won grilled squid I had on the first day now seemed cheap in comparison.

Later, at an omakase restaurant located in the basement of the aquarium, we realized just how insanely expensive things could get.

“Uh, uhh, how much did you say…?”

“Yes. For dinner, it’s 580,000 won per person.”

“Oh, that’s alri—”

“Hurry up and go in, Janghoon.”

“Carmilla?”

“I already made a reservation.”

“Uh, huh?!”

If there was one thing that made tracking the monstrous shark difficult, it was my own conscience.

For the past five days, the total amount of money I had spent was exactly zero won.

I still couldn’t believe it, but for five days, I had been shamelessly enjoying an aquarium experience, complete with omakase meals, without spending a single cent.

“Carmilla… I promise I’ll pay you back…”

“I don’t need that! Like I told you before, I’m treating you because I want to!”

“But… my heart aches too much…”

“Is it because you’ve been freeloading too much?”

“Yeah… I feel like I should at least give you something…”

“Hmm, so you’re saying it feels like you’re in debt to me?”

Nod nod.

Just today, what had I eaten again?

Right, shark fin soup and freshly caught fugu sashimi.

I had never tasted such a luxurious feast, not even in my past life.

Back when I lived with the Okami family, I mostly ate meat.

So, while I was familiar with top-tier Korean beef, seafood like this was a first for me, and even though my brain was processing the situation, my mouth and stomach were still ecstatic.

Then—suddenly—

“C-Carmilla?”

As we left the restaurant after lunch, Carmilla clung tightly to my arm.

Her neatly tied twin drills waggled like a puppy’s tail.

“Then, let’s go on a date next time.”

“…Huh?”

“This time, not because of some monster—just a real date where we meet up and have fun.”

She was essentially suggesting that I clear my 2 million won debt with a simple date.

‘After all that freeloading, just a date?’

Wow, that’s… sweet…

Is this the charm of a reversed-gender world?

Back on Earth, a girl would expect something from a guy, but in this <Kaiju Frontline> world, the roles were reversed.

Maybe that’s why my heart pounded at this fresh new experience.

“Ahem, alright. Then, next time, I’ll make sure to plan the perfect date.”

“…? Janghoon, if we’re going on a date, shouldn’t I, the girl, be the one to prepare it? Why are you the one planning?”

“Because I’ve been mooching off of you all thanks to that shark monster. This time, I want to do something for you.”

“No! All I want is for you to say yes to the date! Nothing else matters!”

Even though I could never return to my life on Earth, there was one thing I could say with certainty.

Carmilla.

If I had met you back on Earth, every Korean man would have been jealous of me.

“By the way, today marks the fifth day, and we still haven’t seen anything, huh?”

“Yeah… I thought it would be near the seaweed stalks, but there’s nothing.”

With our date now planned, we returned to our original goal and resumed exploring the now-familiar aquarium.

However, whether it was the seaweed-covered area or the opposite side of the tank, there were no traces of the monster anywhere.

I would have settled for even a faint whiff of that classic kaiju stench…

‘Maybe it’s too weak of a kaiju? Like scentless food, there’s nothing to smell…’

Unlike the radioactive kaiju, this shark monster seemed to lack that high-level monster stench.

So… are we going home empty-handed again today?

“Hm?”

…Just as I was about to sigh in disappointment before closing time—

“Why did you suddenly stop, Janghoon?”

“Now that I think about it, why did the shark kaiju hide inside this aquarium?”

A sudden realization struck me.

“Think about it. That thing is a kaiju shark, not a regular shark.”

“Uh… well, that’s true.”

Before being classified as a fish, the shark kaiju was, biologically, a kaiju first.

It wasn’t some weak sea creature that could only survive in saltwater—it could even walk.

‘Just like how the radioactive kaiju wasn’t in a nuclear power plant, kaiju don’t necessarily stay in places that match their name.’

So why did it deliberately hide in a giant aquarium that simulated the ocean?

Could it be… because of that?

“…I think I know where it’s hiding.”

“You really do?!”

Maybe it was my five years of being a veteran player, but once I figured out one thing, everything else clicked into place.

We had been thinking of it too much like a fish.

If we had treated it as a kaiju rather than a “shark kaiju,” we would have seen through this trick earlier.

Carmilla wouldn’t have needed to spend over 2 million won!

‘Let’s just leave that part to Carmilla…’

Cracking my knuckles, I finally arrived at the place where I had first discovered traces of the kaiju.

“Huh? Janghoon, this isn’t the seaweed-covered corner, is it?”

It was a dead-end hallway, tucked away in a remote part of the aquarium.

Even in the game’s map, this place was so insignificant that it wasn’t even marked as an exploration point.

But this was it.

“Carmilla.”

“Yes, Janghoon.”

“From now on, can you carry out what I say without any objections?”

“…Huh?”

The timing was just once.

In battle, an ambush was a decisive strike that could determine more than 90% of the outcome.

So even without such an ambush, Carmilla was more than capable of taking down a Grade 3 danger-level shark monster.

“Yes! I can do it!”

As a boyfriend.

I didn’t want to see her get hurt, not even a little.

I wanted to hear a definite answer.

Even though she must have been quite flustered by my seemingly nonsensical words, she soon nodded firmly and prepared to act according to my command.

“Carmilla…”

“Yes.”

“Shoot a shell at the ceiling!”

“Yes!”

At the same moment I shouted—

Bang!

“Kyaaah!”

“What the…?”

“A gunshot…?”

As promised, Carmilla summoned a golden firearm and fired it upward without question.

And then—

“T-th-that…!”

“This can’t be…!”

“Graaaahhh!”

Just like entering the sea, the entire indoor setting had been painted in deep navy blue to create that atmosphere.

Because of that, we hadn’t noticed until now.

As the old saying goes, “The darkest place is under the lamp,” and one of a shark’s primary hunting techniques was “camouflage.”

Living up to its alias, the monster had been hiding all along, blending into the blue surroundings where little light reached.

And now—

The shark monster fell from the ceiling, finally revealing itself before us.

“Grrrrr…”

“This… is the shark monster?”

“Danger level: Grade 3. Multiple B-rank heroes are recommended to fight it, and A-rank heroes should form a team rather than fight alone.”

“For a ‘Super Rookie A-rank’ like me, that means I can handle it solo, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

The shark monster.

True to its name, it had a triangular dorsal fin—an iconic shark feature—sticking out from its head.

But aside from that, it bore little resemblance to a real shark.

It was a grotesque fusion of human and fish.

A muscular blue body with the head of a shark—something straight out of the “uncanny valley.”

“Janghoon, step back now! I’ll handle this monster from here!”

“Got it!”

Typical monster genre trope.

When you tell the heroine to run, she sticks around trying to cheer you on and ends up becoming a hostage.

Now that our roles were reversed, and Carmilla wasn’t in her monster form, I was the damsel in distress.

However, as a longtime fan of monster stories before <Monster Frontline>, I didn’t want to be one of those frustrating characters.

So, I immediately ran out of the battle zone as Carmilla instructed.

“A monster! A monster has appeared!”

“A monster?!”

“Everyone, run away—!”

I also evacuated the civilians, who might have otherwise ended up as hostages, creating the perfect battlefield just for her.

“…! As expected, Janghoon. If he becomes my sidekick, I’ll definitely take maternity leave within a year!”

Inside the CCTV room, I monitored Carmilla’s battle in real time while ensuring everyone in the aquarium evacuated.

Then, as the last remaining civilian under the title of her ‘future sidekick’—

“Found you!”

The emergency alarm had been blaring for a while now.

Yet, there was still one person standing alone in front of a giant tank, watching the fish swim.

A figure with blue hair that matched this place perfectly.

“Hey? The monster alarm is going off—why aren’t you running?”

“Well… I figured I should take you with me, too.”

He had been teased as a major plot thread since the first anniversary.

But I never imagined he’d have a cameo appearance this early in the original story.

The reason why so many monsters with marine-based aliases—like the shark monster—were frequently found in aquariums.

Until I met this “boss monster” in <Monster Frontline>’s third anniversary, I had thought it was just a coincidence.

A being like the mother of all sea creatures.

At the same time, a mystery as fearsome and unknown as the depths of “space” itself.

Danger level: Grade 1.

Monster Name: Abyssal Monster.

In the original story, she was a legendary witch who had, under certain conditions, even been classified as “Quasi-Special Rank.”

Now, she was looking at me with a gentle smile.