Chapter 123

The identity of the less-known brand’s unidentified bread, a crystallization of delinquency that can’t help but be delicious.

A satisfying life filled with chunks of bread and unidentified processed meat instead of rice for lunch.

After that, three hours later, returning home after finishing the seventh period.

Tap, tap, tap, sending a message to Shiyeon via the messenger app on my smart phone.

[I’m going home]

[Is there anything you want to eat?]

[I’ll buy ingredients at the mart.]

“Who are you chatting with?”

While walking and only looking at my phone, I heard Taehyun’s question.

What’s the word that best describes my relationship with Shiyeon? I pondered for a moment.

Looking up at his face, then lowering my head back to the smart phone, I spoke.

“Younger sibling.”

In reality, it felt more like she was my daughter, but since that was biologically impossible and would seem strange, I spat out a suitable answer of ‘younger sibling.’

“Huh? You have a younger sibling? How old?”

Showing interest at the mention of a younger sibling, Taehyun asked how old.

Perhaps because he’s an only child, he thought a younger sibling meant a little kid half his size…

“Same age.”

I firmly shattered that illusion with those two words.

He looked around curiously, as if sensing something strange, and asked again.

“But aren’t you going back with your younger sibling?”

Assuming she went to the same school, Taehyun asked if we weren’t returning together.

Does he think that siblings of the same age must go to the same school?

Well, that would be convenient for management…

Regardless, that wasn’t the situation at hand, so I answered with a deadpan tone as if stating the obvious.

“What do you mean, we go to different schools?”

“Oh, is it a different school?”

Ding! At that moment, my smartphone vibrated.

Other chat room notifications were set to silent.

The only active notification could only be either an advertisement message or a message from Shiyeon.

[Me]

[Tteokbokki]

[I want to eat it]

After a series of short rapid messages, I replied briefly, “Got it,” and turned my steps toward the mart.

“I’ll stop by the mart first.”

“See you tomorrow, bye-”

“Bye-”

After exchanging light farewells, I headed straight for the mart.

The tteokbokki that Shiyeon eats was originally from a snack shop at the end of the market, but it closed about a year ago.

In a way, the reality is that I’m getting the ingredients from the market and cooking it myself.

But, honestly, it’s cheaper this way.

When you get 10,000 Won worth of franchise or market tteokbokki, including various extra ingredients, you can eat enough to feel full from one meal.

‘400 grams of tteokbokki rice cakes, oden for 1900 Won per pack…’

While Mary was busy selecting today’s tteokbokki ingredients, at the same time, in the monsters’ spaceship, today’s sacrifice… I mean, the monster headed for the Black Zone was being chosen.

However, there was a different atmosphere than usual.

“Monsters of the Black Zone, gather up quickly!”

“Ugh, I really hate this.”

The monsters went into fits at the mere mention of the Black Zone.

A hopeful announcement from Medik Tenkl, an officer in the recovery room, was delivered to the monsters.

A glimmer of mercy from Sun, a symbol of terror and a master of torture.

As long as they followed a few rules, there wouldn’t be a terrible death.

Having adapted to that in just a few days, the monsters began to treat the Black Zone as just another regular duty station.

Yet, there’s nothing less entertaining than watching a game where the outcome is already known.

From the fact that they were heading there with certainty of defeat, the difference from other areas was clear.

“If you don’t throw, you’ll be in trouble! Rock, Paper, Scissors!”

Among the monsters, a game related to betting on Earth was trending.

It originated from a combatant who mistook 2 Setre for two days, leading to a task issued to the monsters.

To ensure there’s no problem in information transmission, at the very least, they must know a bit about Earth’s culture, even if it’s just skimming the surface.

Now, the monsters have become capable of distinguishing between Setre and two days, to avoid repeating past mistakes.

Amidst this, cultures of Earth unintentionally spread among the monsters.

But since it was all based on games designed for humans…

“No, this guy doesn’t have fingers.”

A monster with rounded hands and physical traits but no fingers, compared to a human.

“I don’t think Rock and Scissors are the same?”

In other situations, it often became chaotic with monsters that had only two fingers.

Ultimately, the lottery for picking the Black Zone victims turned out to be about choosing or selecting something.

Although it was called drawing lots, it was a modified version more suitable for monsters.

Here, it was modified and conducted under the name ‘X Lottery’.

“Come on, pick, pick! Who will be the unfortunate protagonist this time?”

Piled wide on the cabin floor were pieces of space debris.

In a vessel lacking playthings, even this became a form of entertainment.

The metal scraps, recovered from things that collided with the spaceship, were used beneficially by the monsters.

If it turned over to reveal an X shape, it meant winning the Black Zone.

If there are no signs of any kind on the debris, it meant survival, simple lottery rules.

There were a total of 16 pieces of space debris, matching the number of monsters.

The order of picking was determined by betting, with the first monster to choose having the upper hand in odds.

The chance of being selected was one in sixteen; when calculated, that’s 6.25 percent.

When carrying out a single event, it’s statistically unlikely for someone to be chosen.

The watching monsters didn’t feel particularly tense, thinking, ‘There’s no way I’ll be chosen.’

“Here!”

An X-shaped marking prominently appeared on the turned-over debris.

The monster that had just flipped over the space debris was left wide-eyed.

A moment of silence followed.

An expression mixed with disbelief, absurdity, and embarrassment.

“Bwahaha-!”

“Whoa, look at that luck.”

“Phew.”

Surprised laughter and jeers erupted from the monsters, who hadn’t expected such a situation, and the other fifteen monsters standing behind breathed a sigh of relief.

It does occasionally happen that someone gets chosen with barely any chance.

The reactions of monsters and humans alike when faced with such odds were similar.

A monster, denying reality, erupted with anger.

“Y-you’re kidding! This is all just like that Earth… hidden camera thing, right!?”

“Your luck is really terrible.”

“There’s no way! It must have all been marked with an X!”

The monster, flipping through the space debris scattered everywhere, found no X marks.

In a despondent manner, the first turned-over space debris with the X lay helplessly.

At that moment, there was nothing worse than that for the monster.

“Uaaaaah-!!”

Regardless of how much his own body was hurting, the monster kicked away the marked space debris with reptilian feet.

After deciding which monster would head to the Black Zone, conversations began among the monsters who lived their lives earnestly.

“By the way, has anyone among us recently defeated a magical girl?”

Recently, the monsters had hardly achieved any successes against magical girls.

While it was naturally expected that they were unbeatable for Sun, reports of their appearances were emerging around the world, yet there had been no significant accomplishments.

But if you asked whether they had never defeated a magical girl at all, that wouldn’t be the case.

“There’s probably one, you know… that country called China.”

One monster casually brought up a discussion while they talked.

Another monster, seeming to remember, continued the conversation.

“Oh… that happened, but isn’t it a bit uncertain to say we fought and won?”

“That’s true, right? The police… right? During the fight, the magical girl got captured by those humans.”

“Apparently, after the magical girl was taken away, that guy got killed under some weird steel… tank?”

Even though there were instances of having won in the past, the victory felt somewhat unsettling.

The monster, not even a magical girl, was killed by the national military.

Sure, there were magical girls, but the steel weapons that ordinary monsters wouldn’t stand a chance against were a problem.

Dying to a magical girl wouldn’t be as embarrassing.

If one died to a weapon, it’d be the more acceptable option.

“No, you should have experienced that!”

“Yeah, only against armed citizens.”

A monster that got killed by a civilian was nothing but a source of ridicule on the spaceship.

The two monsters who were eavesdropping on that conversation seemed to recall upon hearing about citizens…

“Ah, by the way, I wonder how that guy is doing?”

“Who?”

“You know, that one… very good at hiding.”

They started to change topics and talk about their comrade monster who had been dispatched to Earth about a year ago as an informant.

Their comrade monster had such a faint presence that even when detected, it could erase traces shortly after.

Since it had never returned to the recovery room, it was clear it was living among human society.

Having perfectly disguised itself as a life form of Earth, able to control its physical abilities like a human, it had left the spaceship majestically.

“Is it comfortably occupying some high-ranking position now?”

“Maybe? Sigh, I envy it. Not having to go on missions.”

As the two monsters sighed while recalling their old comrade monster…

The comrade monster mentioned in their conversation was facing an unexpected problem that the spaceship’s former comrades never anticipated.

“Your name is now Chun-sik.”

“Excuse me?”