Chapter 5: Commotion – 2

A giant, easily standing at 2.5 meters tall. Not just tall, but a monster with the size of a mountain.

A Minotaur-type mutant.

Its head wasn’t fully that of a cow, more like just having cow horns, so calling it a Minotaur from mythology didn’t quite fit, but… the destruction it caused with its massive body was far from ordinary.

Boom! CRASH!

And every piece of sculpture or structure around it was being smashed.

Its eyes were bloodshot, as if it had lost all sense of reason.

It looked like it had lost its mind.

The ground was being torn up, and the asphalt was cracking.

Along with it, the café I often visited.

I clearly remembered seeing something online about a Minotaur-type mutant going on a rampage recently.

The situation was starting to come together.

A mutant had caused chaos, was subdued, then escaped, and now it was wreaking havoc.

And with mutant traits, once they lose their rationality, it might be hard to regain it.

Otherwise, there’s no way they could destroy so much around them.

How much would the damages be?

If it were in its right mind, it wouldn’t be causing this level of destruction.

So, I could only conclude that it wasn’t in its right mind.

“UWWAAAHHH!”

The deafening roar of the creature sounded as it locked eyes with someone in its line of sight.

It was… a young girl.

“KAAAAAH!”

The poor girl, unfortunately, had become the target simply because she made eye contact with the Minotaur.

As I watched her flee in terror, I realized that her face seemed strangely familiar.

Wait.

Isn’t she…

A freshman in our department?

I vaguely remembered hearing from my classmates that a pretty girl had joined the department.

Her name was probably… Lee Si-hyun?

I had seen her once at the freshman orientation, but I never thought I’d run into her in such a situation.

What are the odds of such a crazy coincidence?

Lee Si-hyun, wearing the same uniform as the café staff I used to visit before my transformation, seemed to be working at the café and had gotten caught in this mess.

If I had been a little later, things could have gotten a lot worse.

Anyway… the situation was clear now, and it was time to stop that reckless idiot.

First-year freshman at Hanguk University, Lee Si-hyun, was despairing at the unexpected situation she found herself in.

It was just another normal day.

She was busy working at the café near her studio apartment.

Then, a disaster alert suddenly went off.

Of all places, it was in the area around Hanguk University Entrance Station.

She was conflicted, wondering if she should avoid it.

But just as she was thinking this, the mutant suddenly burst into the café, and people started running in panic…

She screamed and ran as well.

Because she was working at the time, she was the last to leave the café.

Luckily, the Minotaur-type mutant was focused on causing destruction, so it didn’t immediately go after her, and she managed to escape without a problem.

However… while fleeing, she thought it might be safe to stop running and looked back.

In that instant, her eyes met the Minotaur’s.

The Minotaur, which had been destroying everything around it in a mindless rage, now locked onto her as its target.

It had found its next object to unleash its fury upon.

And Si-hyun felt that murderous intent.

Screaming, Si-hyun kept running.

But the distance between them was closing.

No matter how hard she tried to push herself, Lee Si-hyun’s weak body betrayed her will.

Her legs gave way.

“Ugh…”

She fell, and though she tried to get up again, she couldn’t.

Fear had completely drained her strength.

She glanced behind her.

The mutant was already right in front of her.

She thought to herself, I’m going to die.

Shivering, she couldn’t do anything.

The Minotaur’s hand was coming closer.

At the moment when its gigantic hand—big enough to throw a car with one swipe—was about to reach her, Lee Si-hyun closed her eyes in fear.

But then…

Nothing happened.

‘…?’

Si-hyun slowly opened her eyes, confused.

The pain she had expected to come never arrived.

And what she saw, with her half-opened eyes, was a woman dressed in all black with long black hair.

She was wearing a hood, and muttered something.

“Whew… That was close. I almost got here too late.”

Just before the Minotaur’s hand reached Si-hyun, I grabbed its wrist.

Crack!

A brutal sound rang out as my small hand gripped the mutant’s wrist, twisting it.

Luckily, it seemed my misplaced confidence had some basis after all.

The doctor’s words—that mutants become stronger the longer their transformation takes—seemed to be true.

Even the beast that had been wreaking havoc in the city center couldn’t shake off my small grip.

“UWWAAHH!”

The mutant, likely in intense pain, became even more enraged and started thrashing about.

With its free hand, it tried to grab me, but… I could see every movement it made.

I hadn’t learned any martial arts, and I’d long forgotten the self-defense techniques I learned in the military, yet I instinctively knew what to do.

I could see everything the mutant was doing, and since it was slower than me, there was no reason I couldn’t react. I grabbed its other wrist as it reached out toward me.

Then, with a powerful swing, I slammed both of its arms down, driving the mutant into the ground.

CRASH!

The already broken asphalt cracked even more.

I really hoped they wouldn’t charge me for this damage.

Well, even if it’s a messed-up country, there’s no way they’d hold me responsible for this incident, right?

Anyway, the mutant, slammed into the ground, didn’t move.

It seemed like it was knocked out cold.

I quickly turned around.

Lee Si-hyun was looking at me with a confused expression, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just seen.

Yet, her whole body was shaking, so it seemed like the fear still hadn’t left her system.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, right?”

“Ah, yes? Yes, th-thank you.”

“Glad to hear that.”

“By any chance… are you a mutant?”

“Well, that would explain how you were able to take down such a monstrous creature.”

“Ah.”

“Can you stand up? Should I help you?”

“Yes, yes! I can stand. I’m okay. Thank you.”

Mumbling, Lee Si-hyun tried to get up but collapsed back down, as if her legs gave way.

It seemed she couldn’t fully regain her strength.

I reached out to her.

“You don’t look okay.”

“Ah, it’s just… I’m still so scared…”

“I can understand. I would’ve been terrified too if I was working at the café and a monster like that barged in and destroyed everything. Come on. I’ll help you up.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Give some strength to your legs. Can you walk?”

“Yes. The trembling has stopped a bit. Thank you so much for saving me…”

“No, well… It’s the least I could do.”

“…The least you could do?”

At her question, I smiled awkwardly.

“When a monster like that is rampaging, I wouldn’t be able to walk down the street either. I wanted to show that not all mutants are violent, so I stepped in.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, you should go home quickly. There’s nothing good about staying in a place like this for too long…”

Boom!

Before I could even finish my sentence, a loud noise came from behind.

Oh, this guy.

His endurance is ridiculously strong.

Seeing it get up after taking that level of impact, it’s no wonder it was able to escape.

I remembered what the doctor had said.

Some mutants are incredibly tough.

“Hee, heeek….!”

Oh no. It seems like Lee Si-hyun’s legs gave out again.

Well, it’s not surprising.

The fear that’s been imprinted on her probably won’t disappear that easily.

There’s nothing I can do about it.

I’ll have to use more strength.

The mutant shook its head once and then glared at me.

Its bloodshot eyes were now so red that the whites of its eyes had almost disappeared.

I suddenly felt pity for it.

At this point, it was clear that its mind had become so unstable from the transformation that it could no longer control itself.

It’s possible that it was just an ordinary person before it transformed.

Maybe, I could have turned out like it.

Thinking that way, I realized it was only right to bring it back to its senses, at least mentally.

Instinctively, I understood what I needed to do to knock it out.

The doctor had said that once the medical check was complete, I would naturally know what my abilities were.

And those words were true.

I could feel something bubbling inside me.

And when I released that bubbling energy, I also understood what would happen.

Lightning.

Yeah.

I realized I could control lightning.

No one had told me, and I hadn’t tried it before.

It just felt natural.

Come to think of it, didn’t the doctor say that taser guns worked on mutants?

If that’s the case, then a well-aimed burst of electricity should be enough to subdue even this mutant.

If it’s that tough, this should be enough to handle it.

Si-hyun collapsed again, but this time, it didn’t feel like panic or desperation.

There was a strange sense of calm.

She had this inexplicable belief that the beautiful woman standing before her would protect her.

As the black-clad woman faced the reawakened Minotaur-type mutant, a fierce gust of wind whipped through the area.

“Kyaah!”

The woman’s hat was blown off by the sudden wind and landed in front of Si-hyun.

She looked up to see the woman’s face.

Above her flowing black hair were twisted horns, even darker than her hair.

Crackle!

Electricity crackled from those horns.

The black horns gradually turned white, glowing with energy.

Then, from her horns, a bolt of lightning shot up into the sky.

Though the day had been clear just moments ago, dark clouds began to gather in the once-blue sky.

Her appearance alone had already seemed unreal, but what was happening now was beyond that.

Not a single mutant Si-hyun had ever seen had displayed an ability like this.

RUMBLE—!

A thunderous roar came from the clouds.

Then, a bolt of lightning, far greater in scale than the one released from her horns, struck down toward the Minotaur mutant.

FLASH!

A blinding light lit up the surroundings.

The Minotaur, who had been standing boldly, was struck and collapsed backward in that exact stance.

Smoke rose from its body.

BOOOOM!

A deafening sound followed, like a bomb had exploded nearby.

The thunder and lightning caused a brief blackout in the area.

Si-hyun stared blankly at the woman, her expression filled with awe.