༺ The City Life (4) ༻
1.
Siwoo’s gut churned with a sickening disgust.
The person being eaten was just a random guy.
Just a stranger he happened to come across in the park.
If it wasn’t for this messed up situation, they would’ve gone about their own business, not even knowing that the other person existed.
But then this Homunculus appeared, his jaw stained bright red from the man’s blood.
Siwoo felt a strong killing intent emanating from it.
This was a common occurrence in the wild.
Every living thing would eat one another to survive.
But because of modern civilization, we often failed to realize this fact since the place where we got our food was separate from where the animals were butchered.
And so, this inhumane sight was a big shock to him.
This place was a small park.
Maybe, that person being eaten was someone who came here for the sake of his health, trying to make his body stay fit.
Or, one of his family members forced him to go outside to lose some fat.
And those people were probably worrying about him by now, because it was late and he still hadn’t come back home.
That person was alive.
He held a story of his life.
And that person’s story ended by becoming this thing’s meal.
“Haaap!”
The shadow spear slipped from his hand and flew at a faster speed than he expected.
It left a dark trail in the air, as if someone had drawn a black line with a brush.
But the Homunculus’ reaction was just as quick.
It swiftly twisted its body to dodge the spear.
A surprisingly smooth movement coming out from it despite having such a huge body.
After seeing that strike, it seemed like the Homunculus recognized Siwoo as its enemy. It kicked the ground with its hindlegs and quickly closed the distance in a blink of an eye.
-Bang!
“Tsk!”
They collided with a loud crash.
Siwoo held his shield forward to defend himself, stumbling backward in the process.
Before the clash, he had created an armor and shield out of his shadow.
Unlike the ordinary armor and shield made of plates, the ones he created worked differently.
They could react to external impacts, actively disperse and deflect the force they received. Not only that, they could also nullify magic.
But, despite all that, the body slam from the Homunculus still made him fly backwards, as if he had been hit by a truck.
This reminded him once again that right now he was facing a Homunculus.
Although it only looked like a huge ass dog, it was still a weapon created by the Witch of Creation herself.
He quickly got up and readjusted his shield.
There was a tingling pain in his spine.
‘If I didn’t wear the armor, my spine would’ve probably snapped in two.’
“Grr…”
On the opposite side, the Homunculus seemed surprised by his resistance.
Now, instead of attacking like it did before, it lowered its body and growled, all while keeping an eye on him.
Perhaps it was because he had been living a mostly boring life for a while.
Siwoo could hear his pounding heart to the point that it made his head hurt.
He lifted his shield, positioning it so it could protect his chest and vital organs. Then, he adjusted the shape of his spear.
The spear he currently wield could only be used for stabbing and poking someone with its pointy end.
That clearly wouldn’t work on a monster who bounced around like a rubber ball, all while launching quick attacks.
He reckoned that he needed a weapon with a wider reach and the ability to ‘cut’ to fight against this monster.
And the weapon that he came up with was a sword.
A long blade extending over a meter in length appeared in his hand.
Its hilt was embedded with a crossguard to prevent his hand from slipping and to help him firmly grasp the blade.
He had no experience in Western-styled swordsmanship and he had never even held a real sword before.
But, he wasn’t concerned about that.
After all, shadows had no weight.
As long as he could reach his opponent and slash it with its sharp end, it was enough for him.
At that moment…
The Homunculus, which had been crouching its body, started its attack once again.
It didn’t only run on the ground, it also freely jumped around diagonally, skillfully doing various maneuvers in the darkness.
And its speed was terrifyingly fast.
It was as if it was a motorcycle that could defy gravity, twisting and turning everywhere while going full throttle.
-Whooosh!
Meanwhile, Siwoo calmly watched its every step. The moment it was about to launch an attack from above, he swung his shield towards it.
Of course he didn’t do it whimsically.
He knew that among the spells he could use, body reinforcement wasn’t included in the list. If he were to swing his arm aimlessly, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that arm ended up getting broken.
So, he came up with a clever idea. He infused mana into his armor, adding to its toughness and resistance towards impact. At this point, it was like he was wearing a power suit.
-Clang!
Previously, he stumbled backward from the impact, but this time, it didn’t even budge him.
On the other hand, the Homunculus, which had trusted its snout at his shield, wiggled like a broken toy and fell to the ground with a thud.
This was the moment Siwoo had been waiting for.
He swung the longsword he created earlier with all his strength.
-Wooosh!
Its sharp edge plunged deeply into the monster’s neck.
‘This feels strange.’
‘It feels like I’m cutting through thick rubber…’
Heavy vibrations traveled through the sword’s hilt, giving him an uncomfortable feeling.
“Grrr…!”
As he saw foams started appearing on the Homunculus’ mouth, realizing that its death was approaching soon, he exerted even more force on his blade.
The sword had already cut deeply into his neck to begin with.
Now that the pressure from his armor was added to it, the Homunculus head got cut cleanly.
“Haah…”
Even after its head was cut off from its body, the Homunculus’ limbs were still twitching like a fish out of water for a while.
Meanwhile, Siwoo was trying to calm his racing heart as he took off the armor covering his whole body.
‘It’s dead…’
‘I won…’
“Fuck…”
He plopped down on the spot.
The Homunculus wasn’t as strong as he had expected, but he didn’t have such an easy time killing it.
He wondered what would happen if he were to miss his first swing and got hit by its first attack…
Gradually, he felt fatigue catching up to him.
Getting into a street fight and trading blows with someone had already taken much energy, but that wasn’t comparable to an actual life-or-death situation he had just experienced.
He brushed his sweaty hair back as he tried to calm his heart down.
As he did so, he deduced that he needed a little more time before he could gather his thoughts.
So, he decided to sit down in that spot for a while longer. At that moment, something strange happened; The lifeless body of the Homunculus started to fade away, layer by layer, leaving only dark, charcoal-like stains, before completely disappearing.
In the middle of its remains, he noticed an empty crystal-like object.
Without a second thought, he picked it up.
At a first glance, it looked like an Egg of Gnosis.
Except that he couldn’t sense mana or anything at all coming from it.
It was literally just a glass bead.
“…”
He stuffed it into his pocket before turning his attention back to the observatory.
Considering the gruesome state the guy who got eaten was in, the chances of him being alive were practically nonexistent.
But, he still had to check, just in case.
Because, though the chance was low, there was still a chance.
The sooner he acted, the more likely he’d save him.
He staggered as he made his way to the observatory.
But, when he got there… There was nothing there.
No corpse that was being torn apart, no bloodstains on the ground, no guts lying around…
Everything had completely vanished.
It was as if it had never existed in the first place.
The only thing he could find there was the crimson light that illuminated the now empty ground.
“…”
Siwoo didn’t know what to feel.
‘Should I feel relieved that I don’t have to see that gruesome corpse?’
“Ha…ha…”
For some reason, he started laughing.
But it was an empty and hollow laughter.
2.
As soon as he got home, he took a cold shower.
He put the clothes stained with dirt and sand that somehow passed through the armor in the laundry basket.
“Homunculi, huh…?”
That was something he didn’t know much about.
He knew that they were guardians of the Witch of Creation’s legacy.
Normally, they’d be stuck in a crystalline state, but when they woke up, they’d wander the world, emitting an Interdimensional Barrier around them.
Because each Homunculus wielded different types of magic, they were extremely difficult to hunt and ordinary witches weren’t supposed to try and hunt them.
And that was the extent of what he knew about those guys.
The books he had read barely contained any more information than that.
‘But, what did I see today?’
The Homunculus he saw was eating someone.
But that wasn’t even more surprising than the fact that the person’s body completely disappeared when he looked away for a moment.
“Hahaha…”
He let out an empty laugh.
According to Countess Gemini, the number of Homunculi in the modern world was increasing rapidly.
She also warned him that he had to be more careful since he possessed a brand.
But, for some reason, that particular Homunculus was hunting humans instead of witches.
It was something that was unfathomable to him.
And, since they were out there, hunting regular people, that meant similar things were happening in different parts of Korea and the world.
So, why hadn’t anyone noticed it until now?
“It’s obvious why.”
Using all the information he knew, he easily found a clear answer.
What happened to them was something that happened to him as well.
The moment they were devoured by the Homunculus, their ties to the world were severed. That was the reason why that person’s body completely vanished.
Anyone who became a Homunculus’ victim was reduced to nothing more than a prey, they lost the right to be mourned by the world.
After turning the shower, Siwoo dried himself and came out of the bathroom.
He plopped down on the couch and grabbed a can of beer.
It was the first time he ever saw someone die.
Since he only saw it from a distance, the event didn’t seem to leave any big impact on him.
…Or no, actually, he wasn’t sure about that one.
His mind went blank, all he could think of was the sound of the Homunculus chewing and ripping out the poor guy’s internal organs.
Suddenly, he remembered something.
The dark figure he saw hanging on the department store billboard back when he had just come back to the modern world.
Back then, when he rushed over to see what it was, it was already gone from that place.
“Was that also a Homunculus?”
‘If that so, how many of those guys are left in this world?’
‘Does that mean a lot of people are dying because of this?’
‘Is there anything I can do about it?’
“…”
This was a matter that he in the past wouldn’t have known about.
And even if he were to know, it wouldn’t change anything.
But now, the situation was different.
He had the ability to see them and the power to confront them.
The various skills and abilities he possessed urged him to do something about them.
So now, it was time for him to act.
“No, no way. Why would I? Someone else could take care of them.”
Except that he didn’t want to fall prey to a random Homunculus on the street.
He had enough strength to resist and he could avoid them to some extent.
There were literally no drawbacks if he were to choose not to hunt them.
Also, there was a matter of him trying to keep a low profile in this world.
If he were to actually hunt those Homunculi, and other witches were to find out about it, things definitely wouldn’t be pretty.
Siwoo looked at the ring on his index finger.
A ring made from intertwining black and white silver.
This ring symbolized his status as the guest of Countess Gemini.
He should be able to solve most troubles that came his way with it, but…
“No, let’s give up…”
Siwoo shook off his wet hair.
He might need to sleep a little for tonight.
The information he possessed was limited and he had a way to avoid troubles. Besides, only heroes in stories would actually take actions in that kind of situation.
And Siwoo didn’t think of himself as someone of that caliber.
He returned to his room and laid down on the bed.
“…”
All he needed to do was to think that those people were caught up in some kind of natural disaster.
In other words, they got bad luck.
While he was saddened by what happened with the guy he’d seen earlier, it was inevitable.
Someone else might’ve seen this as him making up excuses not to fight, but that was only because they weren’t in his shoes. After all, this matter greatly concerned his life and death.
3.
“Shit, there must be something wrong with my head.”
In the end, he couldn’t stand the urge to take action any longer. While swearing under his breath, he headed towards the park where he just hunted that Homunculus from earlier.
