I Became a National ‘Disaster’ Level Monster

Chapter 39 Finding True Happiness

Happy.

So happy.

It was happiness he felt for the first time in his life, as if everything he had lived until now was a lie.

What was this feeling?

It was like sitting comfortably on fluffy clouds without doing anything.

When he was among people, it felt like falling into a burning furnace, and when he was among monsters, it felt like being trapped alone in a slightly more comfortable, empty space.

But what was this… feeling?

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Thank you… for the meal.”

A typical Japanese breakfast.

A simple meal of well-seasoned miso soup, a bowl of rice, and well-grilled fish.

Yet, the feeling of sitting across from a ‘person’ and having breakfast together as soon as he opened his eyes was truly novel.

It was entirely different from just meeting briefly and having a meal together.

Of course, even then, having a meal with Shin-woo was really pleasant and delicious.

Thump. Thump.

‘It feels like I’m dreaming right now…’

A pleasant dream.

A dream he didn’t want to wake up from.

A dream he wished to see, even if he could sleep forever.

He was dreaming such a dream even with his eyes open.

After finishing the meal, they walked lightly in the garden in front of the mansion, side by side with Shin-woo.

Something he could never have done in the past.

Even though they met every day, Shin-woo was merely a guest.

He was a being who could never share a meal with him outside of the guest room.

And that was natural.

Shin-woo was a commoner, and even in this modern age where the class system had disappeared, he was still a ‘noble.’

He thought the only connection between them was just looking into each other’s eyes and talking.

But.

“Um, Shin-woo…”

“Yes?”

“That… I feel a bit lonely. Can we hold hands while walking?”

“Hold hands…?”

Walking hand in hand with him.

It was something he could only do in the world of imagination, an unattainable situation like Romeo and Juliet in a play, knowing it couldn’t come true.

“Yes. Of course.”

The commoner prince held his hand without hesitation.

If this scene was captured by some bad paparazzi and spread worldwide, it could endanger Shin-woo’s safety, but he couldn’t resist his desire and ‘commanded’ it.

‘I’m… the worst…’

He wished it was a dream.

It would have been great if everything he was seeing, feeling, and experiencing now was just a dream of happiness without having to think about the future.

Shin-woo probably didn’t know.

How much of a bold act it was for an ordinary person to share a meal, have physical contact, and converse on equal terms with someone from the ten great families.

What he was doing now, following his command, was an opportunity even the heirs of global conglomerates or the next presidential candidates of advanced countries could not easily encounter.

So, if possible, he didn’t want to let Shin-woo know this fact until the end.

Because he wanted to maintain this relationship as it was.

Holding hands at eye level, having meals, and greeting each other before bed in such an ordinary…

“I should have used contraception properly…”

“Still, for an illegitimate child, you’re quite talented.”

“Then let’s use this opportunity to make him the next ‘sacrifice.'”

…He had finally gained such ‘ordinariness’ that he had never experienced before.

‘I’m so happy.’

To the point of madness.

‘It’s enough now.’

He never thought he could be this happy in his life, but he laughed non-stop for a day.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

‘I was satisfied.’

Time, which seemed to stop every day, moved quickly today, and before he knew it, it was already night after blinking a few times.

“Princess, sleep well.”

“Yes, Shin-woo. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow.”

An ordinary life where he could close his eyes and smile just before going to dreamland.

He used to only feel the deepest darkness, unable to sense anything, when he was happiest, in his dreams.

But for the first time today, he even thought he didn’t want to sleep.

‘I hope it always stays like this…’

But he had to sleep.

And then, continue this perfect daily life again tomorrow.

He was already happy enough.

Just being with Shin-woo like this…

Startled!

“……”

…It was truly a wicked thought, but this much wasn’t enough.

“…I want to be happier.”

He wasn’t satisfied yet.

Like miso soup without tofu, it might have been a perfect daily life compared to the life he had lived so far, but.

Princess Kurumi wanted something specific.

She wanted Han Shin-woo, the man himself.

“I want to feel more… feel you more…”

You, sleeping beyond the sliding door.

You, who showed him light in the dark world.

You, who held the hand of an illegitimate child from the ten great families without prejudice.

The thought of losing you during the last attack made the dark world he saw every day turn into a void where he couldn’t see an inch ahead.

And when you appeared in front of him again in that world where he seemed to lose even the reason to live, the princess decided.

She wanted to leave your trace in her body.

“Amaterasu. Come out.”

In the quiet dawn.

Princess Kurumi sat on the futon and quietly called out to it in the empty tatami room.

Then, she quietly asked toward the still silent room.

“How much longer can I live?”

The answer came from behind her.

“One year.”

It was a chilling sensation.

Even though she expected it, the fact that her remaining life span was only a year…

“…Thank goodness.”

Princess Kurumi gently stroked the area below her navel with both hands, thinking about the surprisingly long life span she had left.

“That should be enough to create…”

It was a bitter smile of a woman who had found happiness at the end of her life.

***

The underground detention center of the Hunter Association’s Korean branch.

…It was called a detention center, but it was more like a medieval fantasy dungeon where sewer rats roamed rather than just a prison.

“Damn… I never thought I’d lose…”

Currently, the only inmate there, Lorensky, sighed deeply with Hunter-specialized handcuffs on.

“I underestimated Korea. I thought it would be just slightly stronger than North Korea, but I didn’t expect such monsters to roam here…”

Anyway, now that he was captured, there was nothing more he could do.

Even now, he was already on a tightrope, and if he escaped from here and blew up the entire Hunter branch in Korea?

That would be crossing an irreversible line.

“So, am I retiring here?”

Before escaping from the prison.

He suddenly remembered the last conversation he had with the prison warden who gave him the mission.

“Listen carefully, Lorensky. From now on, until you return to Russia, you will be a criminal even here.”

“…? I was a criminal anyway since I was in prison, wasn’t I?”

“That, well, yes! Anyway! What you have to do now is to commit the same heinous crimes you committed in your home country in a foreign land! And because of you, Russia will become a very unjust ‘victim’ country.”

“…Aha. In simple terms, what I have to do this time is to make it seem like all the actions were solely my own, right?”

“That’s right! Otherwise, it could ruin the Korea-Russia relationship or even sever it completely. Please take care of this again.”

“Haha. Leave it to me! From now on, I will single-handedly cross over to Korea and kidnap a young lady from one of Japan’s ten great families!”

“Thank you, Lorensky.”

As always, he volunteered to take the bullet for his homeland, but this time he had failed spectacularly.

‘This… I guess I’ll get scolded when I return.’

Failing the mission and being repatriated as a criminal was the first since the Soviet era.

Until then, he decided to just sleep until he set foot on his homeland.

As there was nothing he could do, Lorensky was about to leisurely close his eyes when.

“You can’t come in here! Miss.”

“Hey, everyone move out of the way! Do you not know who I am?”

“Th-that’s…”

“I’ll call my dad! You know you’ll be fired immediately, right? If you know, get out of the way!”

“Y-yes!”

There seemed to be some commotion beyond the bars.

“What is it?”

Curious, with nothing else to do, Lorensky naturally walked to the front of the bars.

“Hehe. Found you. You must be the amazing Hunter who came from Russia.”

A cutely dressed girl with pink pigtails.

But the eyes he met looked more evil than lovely.

“…Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know who I am, just do as I say from now on.”

As soon as Yoo Shi-hyun met Lorensky’s eyes, she immediately began to enchant him.

“From now on, you will be my loyal slave.”

“…What?”

Lorensky tilted his head in confusion.

At that moment, he directly saw a very happy illusion where the whole world was dyed pink.

And soon realized it was an enchantment, one of the status abnormalities.

‘?! Does she plan to enchant me now? With just this level…?’

Even if it was an A-class Hunter-level enchantment, since he was already incapacitated, there might have been a very low chance of success.

But with just this level of enchantment…?

It was like trying to set a skyscraper on fire by rubbing a lighter against the wall.

Naturally, it only felt a bit floating, but

it didn’t really enchant him.

However.

“Now, you will go with me to the mansion where the princess of the ten great families is staying.”

“…Oh?”

“Then you will act as a third-rate villain who puts the princess in danger and falls before me! Now, answer me quickly!”

There was no reason to refuse a chance to make up for his mistake.

Therefore.

“Yes. I understand. I will do that.”

“…! Great! Then I’ll give you the key now, so escape from here secretly!”

Yoo Shi-hyun threw the key she had secretly taken from the guards into the cell.

Clang.

“Then, when shall we start? Lady.”

“I’ll decide that. You just shut up and follow my words.”

Lorensky, now a free man, found a second chance and metaphorically shook hands with the daughter of a Korean conglomerate.