I Became a National ‘Disaster’ Level Monster

Chapter 143 Season 2 – Is this the place?

Ah, so these children are just like me.

Sophia realized this the moment Harumi started talking about Shin-woo.

“Is it hard for you?”

“…Pardon?”

“If it’s tough, come here. I’ll give you a hug.”

“A hug? You’ll hug me? Me, the Empress?”

Children who, desperate to be recognized, tried hard not to become just “ordinary” children, seeking love from a father who never acknowledged them.

And herself, born into a detested world, struggling to survive and live as normally as possible.

It might be a pain she couldn’t fully empathize with.

The points of connection might differ.

But if there was one common thread, it was this:

No one could ever share this pain with them.

Not even their parents… Even if they understood, in the end, it was a burden only they themselves could bear.

So, even if it was just a little…

Sophia spread her arms towards Harumi, signaling that she could release her pain.

After all, even though she was born from Kurumi, this child was also Shin-woo’s.

It was an act of kindness, knowing she couldn’t completely hate her.

But—

“Empress…”

“Hm?”

“Do I seem like an easy target to you?”

“What?”

“Did you think I’d open up and take your side just because you’re acting kind?”

Harumi’s voice was cold, her usually eccentric demeanor now gone, as if such kindness was a luxury she couldn’t afford.

“No, no! That’s not what I meant at all…!”

“Today, I’ll leave it at that. But please don’t say things like that again.”

Sophia, unsure why Harumi was acting this way, tried to clear up the misunderstanding.

But before any proper reconciliation could be made, Harumi quietly stood up.

And as she opened the door and left, she didn’t say another word.

It wasn’t until she was completely out of Sophia’s room, sitting in a deserted hallway of the palace, that the girl spoke again.

“A hug…?”

A hug, really.

I never knew something like that.

Because she had never once received such a thing from her parents, neither from her mother nor her father.

Her father didn’t even seem aware of her existence.

And she had only heard that her mother was kept in some separate chamber, never seeing her once since the rebellion against His Majesty’s plans to destroy humanity.

So, being held when she was having a hard time?

Not even her peers, who were close to her age, had ever done such a thing for her.

Which is why…

“Why does it hurt so much…?”

Harumi, having never received such ‘kindness’ before, clutched her chest as though her heart was aching, feelings she had buried deep inside now stirring within her.

And, feeling an inexplicable pain in her heart, she began to cry, shedding tears she couldn’t understand.

“Huh…? Why am I sad? There’s no reason for this…”

***

“A D-level monster, the Fururuku, is charging from the front!”

“Furururururu!!”

“Father! Now’s your chance! Transform only your arms into monster form and take it down!”

“Oh, right. I got it. I’ll give it a shot!”

The creature charging at me was none other than ‘chicken’.

A monster called Fururuku, which supposedly tasted just like chicken when fried.

However, the reason no one had ever tried cooking it back when we still had livestock wasn’t just because of its taste. It was because it was such a dangerous monster.

Think about it.

A chicken, but 10 meters tall, with three heads, coming at you.

This was no ‘holy chicken’; it was just a deadly ‘chick-enemy’.

And now, that chick-enemy had its sights set on me as prey.

“Focus on monsterifying just the arms… Imagine only your arms transforming… Just the arms…!”

“Father, hurry!”

“Shin-woo, do it, or it’ll trample you to death!”

“Oppa?! Do you want to die?”

“Shin-woo, quick! Hurry!”

“Everyone, shut up! I can’t focus!”

I was supposed to be imagining monsterifying my right arm, like Jae-won told me, but every time I tried, the rest of our group kept cheering from behind the rocks, pretending to support me but really just distracting me.

And while I was shouting at them, that chick-enemy, Fururuku, leapt up, its massive beak poised to slice me in half.

“Furururu!”

Boom!

The ground shook as Fururuku slammed its beak into the earth.

I barely managed to dodge, but had I been just a bit slower, I would have been split in two.

“Partial monsterification! Partial monsterification! Partial monst—!”

Thud! Wham! Thump!

“Kieeek?!”

Taking advantage of the creature’s beak being stuck in the ground, I threw all my strength into my fists, landing three solid blows on its body.

The sensation of its guts bursting under my punches came with the sight of the monster spewing blood from its heads and collapsing.

“Father, you did it!”

“As expected of Oppa!”

“You were amazing, Shin-woo!”

Everyone rushed toward me, relieved that I had defeated the now limp creature.

But I didn’t look satisfied.

Because—

“I failed…”

“Father?”

“I failed to partially monsterify.”

The punches I had thrown just now had no trace of monsterification. They were purely physical blows.

“I fought it off with just my regular strength.”

“Your regular strength? You mean that attack which took down a D-level monster? Shin-woo?”

“Yes. I didn’t feel any monster’s power coursing through my right arm. In other words, it was a failure.”

I guess peeking into the future’s memories isn’t enough to replicate partial monsterification.

In those future glimpses, I saw my future self using it with ease, but it seemed I couldn’t even come close to replicating it yet.

That made me even more anxious.

“Sigh… At this rate, when will I ever learn it?”

“Shin-woo, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Yeah, Oppa! Next time, I’ll help fight too, so don’t worry!”

Ria and the head of the Kurumi clan encouraged me, trying to lift my spirits.

But that didn’t mean I could relax.

Because, at this very moment, Sophia was right by that guy’s side.

Whenever I thought about that, my nerves couldn’t help but shoot back up.

“……”

“Shin-woo, remember, rest is also a part of training.”

“Che-ran…”

“I know you feel pressed for time because of Sophia, but if you stay tense like this, you’ll lose focus when it matters most and won’t be able to fight properly.”

“…You’re right, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, Oppa! Take a break, okay?”

“And we just caught a monster that tastes like chicken. Let’s relieve some stress by eating it for dinner, Father.”

“Alright, let’s do that.”

At least I was lucky to have good people around me.

If it weren’t for them, I might have been running non-stop like a car without brakes by now.

From Che-ran to the others, everyone stopped me from rushing off to fight more monsters.

The sky was already starting to grow dark.

“Father, even for you, nighttime is dangerous.”

“Because monsters’ stats increase at night?”

“Yes. Most monsters are nocturnal. Besides, this isn’t the past; this is a dead world with no artificial lights.”

In the modern world, cities remained bright even late at night, making it nearly impossible for monsters to ambush under the cover of darkness.

But the future was different.

Here, except for the kingdom, there wasn’t a single lightbulb anywhere above ground—it was pure wilderness.

In other words, as soon as night fell, we would be engulfed in endless darkness, leaving us as prime prey for the nocturnal monsters.

“Look, the sun’s already setting.”

“You’re right… Let’s take this guy and head underground for now.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

I couldn’t risk putting the people around me in danger.

With that thought in mind, I hoisted the Fururuku onto one shoulder and started walking toward the ruins that led to the rebel base.

“Wow… Oppa, you’re really strong.”

“Hmm, am I?”

“Of course you are! Shin-woo! Moving a 10-meter-tall monster like that with just your strength is something not even most pro hunters could do!”

Really? I didn’t feel much awareness of it.

I should’ve been impressed, but since future-me had already experienced it in the memories, I just nodded as if it was no big deal.

We reached the entrance to the underground village, right as I finished thinking about it.

“…! Father, get down!”

“Huh?”

Jae-won, who was leading, peeked around the building and gave us the

signal to stop.

Not sure what was going on, we all halted in place and crouched down.

I gently set the Fururuku’s body down from my shoulder.

“What’s happening?”

“How… How did they find it?”

“Jae-won?”

“…They’re the children of your future self.”

“W-What?!”

“Again? More of Oppa’s kids?”

“But this is the middle of the ruins! If they’re Shin-woo’s children, then that means they’re princes and princesses, right? So why are they here?”

“I wish it were just a casual visit… But they’re digging into the ground.”

“…!!”

“Digging…?”

I quickly peeked around the corner next to Jae-won.

And sure enough, right in front of the underground village entrance, two children, with an aura resembling Han Shin-woo, were recklessly digging around.

“Is it here? Or maybe here?”

“11th Princess, are you sure we’re following the map correctly?”

It seemed they were indeed looking for the underground village.