Creator’s Favoritism

As soon as the monster turned its head toward me, I saw its red eyeballs, bulging as if ready to burst. The monster charged, its tongue lashing out, reaching down to its thighs.

‘Damn.’

Just as I reached inside my coat for the box cutter I’d brought as a weapon, a blue light flashed across my vision. A whip made purely of ability energy skillfully wrapped around the monster’s ankle.

-Crack!

The monster’s head, which had been airborne, shattered against the marble floor.

The remaining five monsters let out piercing screams as Chan-yu grabbed my nape and casually tossed me behind her into the donut shop.

-Crash!

As the glass showcase displaying donuts shattered, I glimpsed the monsters blindly charging toward me.

Chan-yu stepped onto the showcase frame without hesitation and leaped high, causing the metal frame to crumple completely.

Oh boy. Sugar Engine is getting totally destroyed.

Airborne, she swung her whip horizontally and vertically. A blue cross-shaped light traced the whip’s path.

The monsters’ bodies split and shattered where the whip struck. Blood, flesh, and unidentifiable chunks rained down.

Dark red monster blood stained Chan-yu’s shirt collar.

-Flash

Right then, Tito’s panel captured our two-shot. I examined my disheveled state with dismay.

While Chan-yu calmly wiped blood from her forehead, my already messy appearance must have gotten even sweeter from rolling in Original Glazed donuts.

‘It’s like they only take shots when I look like this.’

While grumbling internally and dusting sugar powder off my clothes, I felt movement squirming in my coat’s inner pocket.

Nemo emerged through the fabric and crunched on a piece of hardened sugar syrup.

“Why are you eating that now of all times?”

Chan-yu glanced at me as I hastily stuffed the slime back in.

Just then, the large digital display showing train arrival times flickered and went dark. I caught my breath and surveyed the surroundings.

The station, now empty of staff and civilians, was plunged into complete silence. Perhaps due to the monster prevention shutters, sounds from outside were barely audible.

Thankfully, due to quick initial response, despite having six monsters, there miraculously seemed to be no civilian casualties.

Chan-yu showed no signs of fatigue as she withdrew her blue light whip.

“Where’s the remaining one? If it’s in the subway transfer passage, the damage could be severe.”

Chan-yu assessed the situation coldly while forcefully shaking blood off her whip.

With natural light completely blocked, the station interior was so dark we could barely make out objects’ outlines in the dim emergency exit lights.

The darkened Seoul Station was pure chaos, as if bombed. It was hard to believe that just minutes ago, this train station had been bustling with people.

“I wish we had flashlights.”

Chan-yu muttered while checking an overturned stroller.

Unlike flashlights that could be held in the mouth if needed, using a phone’s flashlight would be quite cumbersome.

“…Can you ask? It might know where the monster is. It’s a monster too, after all.”

Chan-yu’s suggestion was unexpected. Her words tempted me slightly. Chan-yu lowered herself, placing both hands on her knees, and made direct eye contact with the slime.

“Hey. Do you know where the monster is?”

Chan-yu asked with a serious expression that contrasted with the slime’s vacant features.

◉﹃◉

However, the slime, appearing to have lost all intellectual capacity, only drooled and wobbled on my palm.

“Seems it doesn’t know. Or maybe it didn’t understand the question at all.”

Chan-yu, not hiding her look of disdain directed at Nemo, turned away without hesitation. I awkwardly zipped up the pocket containing the slime.

「Tito tries applying various sketch-ups of the Seoul Station platform background with rampaging monsters. A toppled KTX train…」

I quickly looked up after reading that far. There was a high probability that’s where Park Sang-oh would be.

“Chan-yu. Let’s check the ground platform.”

“Which ground platform are you talking about?”

She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly.

“Where the KTX arrives.”

“Why do you want to go there?”

Ah, really. Such persistent questioning.

I desperately wanted to shout ‘Because he’s there!’

“All other areas should have shutters down by now. Since it’s an enclosed space, the monster would have nowhere to escape. But the ground platform connects directly outside, so it could escape and cause additional damage anytime. Even if we’re wrong, going there is our best option.”

Chan-yu listened quietly to my words before nodding briefly. She seemed convinced by my hastily constructed explanation.

“Alright. Let’s go with your plan.”

Fortunately, the distance from our second-floor location to the train platform wasn’t far. Chan-yu and I flew down the stairs.

“Get out of the way!!”

Just then, a group of people scrambled up the stairs in a tangled mass, looking ready to topple at any moment.

They were so panicked they didn’t even recognize the hunters before them. Chan-yu frowned as someone roughly shoved her shoulder.

“Wait…”

Suddenly, a hot, bloody smell wafted up. Chan-yu must have noticed it too, as she stopped speaking. The ground platform spread out before our eyes as we turned our heads.

An abandoned train with open doors, people collapsed and groaning everywhere, the dim interior twisted by gate energy and ominously red air.

In the distance, ear-piercing sirens wailed. In the center of this hellish scene stood a monster on two legs.

All the monsters I’d seen until now looked like half-rotted corpses.

But this monster was completely different. A humanoid monster with an unpleasantly flashy appearance.

It stood about 3 meters tall, wearing a black and red suit on its skeletal frame.

It looked exactly like a casino dealer. Red light flickered in its sunken eyes.

The monster, which had been staring at something, crossed the platform with its grotesquely long legs in an ungainly gait.

“Take this.”

Chan-yu pulled my arm as I stood momentarily dazed by the sight before us. She handed me an emergency fire ax she’d found somewhere.

We carefully tracked the monster’s every movement while maintaining our composure.

Most civilians seemed to have fled, but bodies of those who’d unfortunately encountered the monster lay scattered across the platform floor.

-Flash!

A bright rectangle formed where the monster was. Narrowing my eyes, I spotted a familiar face where the light faded.

Park Sang-oh was less than 5 meters from the monster. With a heavy black backpack on his shoulders, he was desperately trying to climb the fence at the end of the railway tracks.

As expected, he showed no intention of using his ability.

From his perspective, needing to escape with the money, disappearing as quickly as possible was the best option.

Once a gate opened, it was natural that both police and hunters would rush here.

Having finished my assessment, I gripped the axe handle tightly and started running. As I suddenly picked up speed, Chan-yu beside me ran like a horse.

Gravel crunched under our shoe soles, and both the monster and Park Sang-oh turned to look at us simultaneously.

「Tito decides to introduce a monster that would be difficult to defeat without luck. He thinks there would be no reason to activate on ‘Maeng Sun-woo’ otherwise.」

Damn, damn, damn.

We made a grand entrance, but I’d completely forgotten that our god was a webtoon artist obsessed with following up on foreshadowing. My panicked gaze turned to the narration box.

Park Sang-oh, grimacing while holding the wire fence, stretched his hand toward me. There was no time to zone out.

[SYSTEM: ‘Park Sang-oh’ has used . As a result, the F+ rank monster turns its eyes to you.]

Chan-yu’s expression hardened dangerously as she realized the fleeing person was a hunter. However, a knowing smile appeared on my lips.

F+? This is doable!

I confidently rolled up my sleeves. It was a level that didn’t match its rather impressive appearance.

In ‘Gate Disaster Response Theory’ class, they teach about monster ranking systems.

The alphabetical grade literally indicates the monster’s destructive power, and typically when monsters and hunters of the same rank clash, hunters have a slightly higher chance of victory.

The emergency fire ax handle fit perfectly in my palm.

However, strangely, the monster stretched its hand toward me with a deep smile.

As if proposing some kind of interesting game.

Just as I was staring, mesmerized, at the monster’s slowly approaching hand.

[The PD’s recent words flash through Tito’s mind again: “Chagyeong hasn’t had much chance to shine in the story so far, he’s actually being overshadowed by Sun-woo’s character…”]

-Whoosh!

In the moment my attention was drawn to the suddenly appearing narration box, with the sound of tearing air, the blue whip easily sliced through the monster’s shoulder joint.

“Uh…”

I blankly stared at the monster’s form as it melted like cotton candy touching water. Chan-yu, withdrawing her whip, raised one eyebrow as if asking what was wrong.

「Tito decides this time to properly show that ‘Maeng Sun-woo’ is weak, and move toward a development where ‘Kang Chagyeong’ comes to rescue ‘Maeng Sun-woo’.」

(T/N: If I could kill him…. )

Seems like today wasn’t the day to show the heavens a proper fight either. I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the divine favoritism that was destroying my carefully laid plans in an instant.

“You’re a hunter, right? Come down. Are you playing games right now?”

Meanwhile, Chan-yu called out to Park Sang-oh in a chillingly calm voice.

Park Sang-oh, still clinging to the wire fence, twisted his face and jumped down to the ground.

His face was frightening as he glared directly at Chan-yu. Finally, he began making threats with an extremely sharp tone.

“Hey, while I’m still being nice…”

-Zzzap!

Surprisingly, without any warning, Chan-yu used something she’d pulled out to shock Park Sang-oh’s neck.

Park Sang-oh shuddered as if having a seizure before going limp. He seemed to have passed out.

White sparks flew from the tip of the crude-looking taser. My mouth fell open in surprise at the unexpected development.

“Chan-yu… you carry a taser?”

“Mom gave it to me. For self-defense.”

Just as I was wondering why an A-rank hunter would need self-defense equipment, someone’s hoarse voice carried across the platform.

“Help me…”

Across the platform where the train had toppled, civilians with various injuries could be seen groaning.

“Please help me…!”

A young man in military uniform cried out sobbing. His calf was trapped between the fallen train and the tracks.

“Keep an eye on this person over there.”

After carefully examining the unconscious Park Sang-oh, Chan-yu left just those words before running quickly toward the soldier.

As I was dragging the unconscious Park Sang-oh as instructed, an unexpected system message appeared.

[SYSTEM: The game did not end normally. As the player’s attack authority is not recognized, the F+ rank monster opens its eyes again.]

And the monster’s corpse, which had been reduced to pulp by the whip, began to ripple again. As if time were rewinding, the monster’s body regenerated to its original state.

The revived monster smiled, splitting its mouth while looking directly into my eyes.

‘What kind of trick is this?’

So, though I wasn’t exactly sure what, it seemed like the system would only recognize attacks after winning some kind of game with the monster.

Whether the same logic applied to the monster was unclear, as it showed no intention to attack me even when I raised my ax.

[SYSTEM: Starting rock-paper-scissors game with F+ rank monster. Please select your card.]

Right after I barely managed to read the bewildering system message, three reddish cards materialized between the monster and me.

The rotating cards had card backs on both sides, making their contents unreadable.

[‘Sun-woo needs to pull off something here,’ Tito mutters while increasing the monitor’s brightness.]

The monster, like before, stretched its hand toward me.

As if urging me to participate in the game.

After brief consideration, I finally raised my hand over the cards.

‘This monster is only F+ rank anyway… I’ve got nothing to lose even if I lose the game.’

The monster demonstratively pulled back its red jacket. Where its torso should have been, there was a slot machine wrapped in intestines.

With a squelching sound, the slot machine display showed 7, 7, 7 in succession, followed by a playful fanfare.

-Huff

After taking a deep breath, I reached for the first card. The flipped card showed a picture of fingers spread out in a paper shape.

The monster giggled with an unpleasant laugh as it selected another card. The unselected card vibrated briefly in the air before disappearing.

[SYSTEM: activated.]

‘I knew this would happen…’

Right after, another system message appeared with a cheerful notification sound.

[SYSTEM: F+ rank monster’s card is ‘scissors’. As a penalty for losing rock-paper-scissors, the monster’s rank increases by one level.]

Tito, you crazy bastard.

T/N: LET ME KILL HIM!!