Chapter 17

The place Bora led me to was an exhibition hall next to the research institute. Maybe because it was closing time, there weren’t many people around.

I felt like people were glancing at me occasionally, so I hid behind Bora’s legs as we walked. The way they looked at me felt a bit off.

“Hello~”

“Long time no see, Bora.”

“Yeah, I’ve been so busy lately…”

“Is the person behind you your niece?”

“Ah… she’s a kid who lives at our research institute.”

“I see… she’s cute.”

The people working at this exhibition hall were all hunters who had retired from the Hunter’s Guild. Even if they didn’t have the same strength as in their prime, they weren’t to be underestimated.

Bora’s connections were impressive—she greeted every employee we passed. I was just staring at her, seeing a side of her I hadn’t seen before.

As we walked a bit further, we came across a section of the exhibition hall that was under construction.

With all sorts of construction equipment lying around, I wondered who this was being built for.

Curious, I gave Bora a look, and she patted my head as she explained.

“This is where Hana will be working.”

“Huh?”

I was planning to live as a freeloader, but now I have to work? I made a face, but Bora just shrugged and kept patting my head.

“I don’t mind suffering alone, but if Hana doesn’t step up, there’s nothing I can do.”

Seems like there’s some adult stuff going on that I don’t understand. I didn’t care if my hair got messed up—I just leaned into Bora’s patting hand.

Bora told me something else. She said that if I wanted to be recognized as a person and not a monster, I had no choice but to do this.

From my perspective, if I hadn’t met the Starlight Guild at the Gate, I would’ve ended up as a meal for the monsters there. In a way, they were my saviors—though I won’t forget how they leashed me up.

They were just following the rules, so I couldn’t complain. If I were a monster inside the Gate, I’d probably be restrained too. The monsters I’d encountered before I ended up in this body were unpredictable and dangerous.

—

When Bora first saw Hana, she didn’t feel much. Just another cute test subject, she thought.

In a way, it was natural for a research institute employee to think that way. Researchers had to view monsters from the Gate with a certain mindset.

Many researchers had gotten hurt or killed because they got too attached to the monsters.

In a way, it was inevitable. Even animals, which are relatively docile compared to Gate monsters, could be unpredictable.

Even if you raised an animal with all the care in the world, it was still just an animal. It wasn’t human.

There were plenty of cases where animals hurt or even killed the people who cared for them. It seemed foolish to try to domesticate wild animals.

But as Bora spent more time with Hana, she began to understand why some researchers got attached to monsters. She had become fond of Hana.

Even when Hana acted immature, she was endearing. And unlike other monsters, Hana knew how to show gratitude. She wasn’t like the monsters that just ate whatever you gave them.

If Bora ever had a child, would it feel like this? That’s why Bora regretted revealing the effects of Hana’s hair and being too harsh on her at first.

She had wanted to keep Hana all to herself, and when Hana’s special abilities were discovered, it drew attention from the institute.

But if those abilities hadn’t been found, Hana would’ve been stuck in the exhibition hall all day, living like an animal in a zoo. The government’s regulations and paperwork made it expensive for the institute to keep Hana.

A few strands of hair were nothing compared to what other monsters went through. Some monsters were tied up all day, having their blood and flesh harvested. At least Hana only had to cut her hair. The thought of Hana being used like that was unbearable.

Luckily, Hana had special abilities, and thanks to constant appeals from Bora’s department, she escaped the fate of being stuck in the exhibition hall all day.

Now she only had to be there for 2-3 hours on weekends. It was a big difference from being there all day.

And to have Hana accepted not just as a test subject in the institute but as a member of society outside, a lot of effort was needed.

Most people didn’t care about using monster byproducts or abilities, but…

Many people naturally felt rejection and hostility toward Stu itself.

Given that people had lost their homes to monsters due to the appearance of the Gate, it was understandable. However, seeing them use its byproducts without hesitation seemed somewhat hypocritical.

But Bora herself was also hypocritical, so she had little to say. She was solely focused on freeing Hana from the fate of being a monster.

Yet, society had never once accepted monsters as part of it. Watching monsters safely on TV or in exhibition halls was entirely different from hunting them directly in the Gate.

Laws and regulations were in place, but there was no guarantee that monsters wouldn’t suddenly turn on people. From the government’s perspective, there was no reason to accommodate them.

The research institute was ready to accept Hana, but the government and the public were not.

So, the first step was to win the public’s attention and affection.

If the public moved, the government would follow. Bora was confident that nine out of ten people who saw Hana would be captivated by her charm.

That’s why Hana needed to be shown in the exhibition hall, even if just for a little while on weekends. Staying cooped up in the research institute wouldn’t help her gain favor.

From the perspective of the Starlight Research Institute, Director Kim Jaeman and Bora’s colleagues already had a favorable view of Hana.

However, the hunters of the Starlight Guild, who fought monsters, were likely to view her with disdain. To them, monsters were a threat to humanity.

This was a problem Bora had to solve. Fortunately, Hana didn’t have a terrifying or threatening appearance.

Wouldn’t that at least provide some reassurance to the hunters? Bora thought as she watched Hana relax under her touch.

If asked why she was going to such lengths, Kim Bora simply wanted to protect Hana out of guilt for having spanked her earlier. That was all.

—

Director Kim Jaeman laughed heartily for the first time in a while.

“This is huge! We sold 2 billion won worth of green tea in just one month!”

After Starlight Green Tea hit the market, the first month’s sales came in. It was a massive success. If only they hadn’t run out of stock, they could’ve made even more.

Online, people who had tasted Starlight Green Tea were going wild, scrambling to buy more. Eventually, hoarding led to a single box being sold for 30,000 to 40,000 won.

The reaction in the market was intense, and companies were no different. When Starlight Green Tea arrived in office pantries, it was gone within hours. Once you tasted it, no other green tea could compare.

Now, it was unclear whether his department was a research or sales team, but it didn’t matter since the research institute had more than one research department.

Lee Haru also chimed in excitedly.

“The online and real-world reactions are overwhelmingly positive. It’s a miracle we achieved this without any production infrastructure!”

“We even covered all the promotional costs in just a month. Maybe we didn’t even need promotions. At this rate, it would’ve sold out anyway.”

Kim Jaeman rubbed his smooth scalp as he spoke. He was a balding man with hair only on the sides—a sacrifice he made as a family man to keep his job and support his household.

His bald head was a badge of honor, proof that he had kept his family secure without losing his job.

In any case, Kim Jaeman could laugh so heartily because he had achieved something no one else in the institute had done. All thanks to Hana.

“Where did this treasure come from?”

Hana happened to be visiting the research department at the time. Kim Jaeman tried to pat her head, but she screamed and ran to Bora, clearly disliking his touch.

It probably wasn’t because he was bald…