Chick 151

Episode 151

“Open, Yorang!”

At Mephisto’s command, a snow rabbit popped up atop his head, its sprout-like ears fluttering.

“Kyung!”

With a resounding reply, a small window appeared before their eyes.

[Emergency! Cradle transformation failed!]

‘It… it failed?!’

What should I do? Grue stole a glance at Beilak for his reaction.

Beilak wore an expression as if to say, How could this happen?

[Request updated. Creating a subspace to replace the cradle.]

[Would you like to open the entrance to the temporary cradle?]

Alright, this should do.

Grue pressed ‘Yes,’ and the space split open, revealing a small entrance.

“To think you can’t even manage this much…”

Beilak shook his head, and Grue puffed out his cheeks in indignation.

“Grue is still a child…”

Clicking his tongue, Beilak obediently stepped inside.

“Hmph…”

Pouting, Grue hurried after him.

Inside the subspace was a dazzling white snowy field.

‘It’s not cold at all.’

You could build as many snowmen here as you wished.

While Grue gazed around in wonder and delight,

Beilak took a few steps, his feet crunching over the snow.

At that moment, his body darkened, and his great true form began to emerge—horns spreading like branching boughs, a mask hiding his face, and a pitch-black veil enveloping him down to his toes.

—Ha…!

Beilak inhaled deeply, the air so frigid he felt it would freeze his very lungs.

The cradle where he had been born was such a snowfield as this.

It felt like returning home.

An overwhelming sense of liberation!

‘I’m back.’

Power!

Smiling upward toward the sky, Beilak shifted his gaze.

At the far edge of his vision, a child was busily building a snowman.

Grue, humming a tune, gathered up handfuls of snow.

He’d meant to make a daddy snowman and a Grue snowman, but just then, the sprout-ears of the snow rabbit perched on Mephisto’s head began to tremble.

‘Hm?’

Suddenly, the subspace began to collapse.

So soon?!

“Kyu…”

As the snow rabbit wilted, Mephisto delivered a swift kick to its belly.

“Kyoo…”

“Pbit!”

Mephisto pointed at the entrance, urging them to return.

Crunching through the snow, Grue walked toward Beilak.

“Bei—”

Behind the mask, Beilak’s sharp gaze shimmered with intensity.

“It’s time to leave.”

Grue held out his hand.

Beilak stared at the small hand before him.

‘The cradle collapsing…’

And then—

‘A tiny monarch of another world.’

To him, the child was nothing more than a morsel.

He turned his gaze toward Mephisto.

When that child had sealed her own father, he had never truly submitted—defying the world’s laws, falling into corruption.

In his world, a monarch was a god—one who gave birth to all bloodlines and civilizations in the cradle of the beginning.

Defiance of such a monarch’s order brought corruption. Corruption brought curses, and the curses brought agony that felt as if they would melt one’s very bones. Horrific screams tore from his lips as the curse burrowed deep within his flesh.

Yet the indifferent ruler of the snowy plain hadn’t spared him so much as a glance.

She simply sat in the snow that had become his prison, eyes closed, her face reflecting nothing but boredom.

At the end of agony, when at last he opened his eyes again, Beilak knew his world had been destroyed.

And he found himself contained within the vessel of a small child of another world.

“…Why?”

As Beilak simply gazed at him, making no move to take his hand, Grue asked softly.

“…”

The cradle the little monarch had opened resembled the snowfield of his suffering.

With a crumbling snowfield behind him, Beilak knelt before the little child.

All of it felt meaningless now.

He had lost his monarch, pride long since stripped away, and was now confined in a fragile vessel.

—My name is Beilak Shados. The first bloodline, created by the first monarch Shea. First Shield of the Hesed Order.

He understood it instinctively even as things began to collapse: even this form was naught but a fleeting mirage of subspace, and the moment he returned to the real world, he would once more be trapped in a child’s body.

He set his fingertips lightly atop Grue’s outstretched hand.

—From this moment forth, I will become the vassal of the little monarch.

At that moment, a system window appeared before Grue’s eyes.

[Would you like to register ‘Beilak Shados’ as your vassal?]

The same window as when Ham Honggi was registered.

An SSS-rank subordinate, then?

“Yes!”

Grue grasped Beilak’s fingertips tightly.

‘I have a subordinate now!’

But there was one problem…

“He’s too big.”

If only Beilak were the size of Mephisto or the snow rabbit, Grue thought—

[Skill ‘Mold and Shape’ activated.]

“Oh!”

In an instant, Beilak shrank until he could rest in Grue’s palm.

—…!

Beilak collapsed onto his back in Grue’s hand.

“Hm, I’d like you even rounder and cuter,” said Grue.

[Skill ‘Mold and Shape’ activated.]

With that, Beilak transformed into a hamster with mismatched eyes—as if a child had doodled him.

“Mut!”

—What is this!

“He shrank.”

Grue’s eyes sparkled.

“Myung! Myung myung!”

[Within the monarch’s domain, vassals are subject to absolute control.]

A status window appeared, as if rebutting Beilak’s protests.

“Hmm, I see.”

“Pbee—”

Grue nodded as though she understood, and Mephisto did likewise.

“…Myuhoo.”

Staring at the pair of fools, Beilak let out a long, weary sigh.

---

The machine room beneath the resort.

Gidan straightened up, crushing the remnants of the Neo Legion who had arrived belatedly.

“It was nothing, really.”

After interrogating a straggler who handed over a tablet, he stormed the machine room where the smuggling ringleaders were gathered.

“Looks like they already started spreading the word.”

He confirmed that an emergency message had been sent to all the prospective buyers who’d received a tablet.

‘Trying to round up all the buyers at once is probably impossible.’

Meanwhile,

Jin Siwon and Serhi were searching for something.

After reading one of the stragglers with his leading skill, Jin Siwon shook his head.

“This one doesn’t know either.”

“And Alan Krevis? Are we sure he doesn’t know more about Irina?”

“Hmm, we’ll go check.”

The two of them turned to look at Gidan.

He tilted his head slightly. Whatever it was…

“I’ll stay here. Go on.”

Agents from the Special Investigation Department and the Awakened Task Force continued to pour into the machine room.

Someone had to remain behind to brief them and, just in case, stand ready for any further attacks.

With Gidan remaining, Serhi and Jin Siwon left the machine room and ascended the stairs in pursuit of Irina.

Alan Krevis would be up on the floor with the suites.

With both of them being S-class, climbing the stairs was faster than waiting for the elevator.

They soon arrived outside Alan’s room, holding the railing. As they pressed the bell and waited for a response—

“…Hmm.”

Serhi spoke up.

“Zenya.”

“Yes?”

Jin Siwon turned toward him.

Unable to meet Jin Siwon’s eyes, Serhi scratched the back of his neck.

His bashful posture only made him look younger; Jin Siwon smiled at the sight.

‘If I ruffle his hair now, he might get mad.’

Like a feline, Serhi’s temper was sharp, and he wasn’t easy to approach.

Even without using Barrett’s Whisper, Jin Siwon knew all too well that Serhi was uneasy around him.

It was because he still felt guilty for having deceived Grue and Jin Siwon and then leaving them in the RP dungeon.

He shoved his hand—about to ruffle Serhi’s head—into his pocket.

“It’s nothing much, but… after this is over, there’s something I want to tell you.”

Instead of pressing for details, Jin Siwon just smiled gently.

Perhaps feeling buoyed by Grue’s good influence earlier, Serhi seemed ready to take a step forward in honesty.

“Yes.”

Serhi lowered his head in embarrassment—

Throb!

Jin Siwon clutched his chest.

Pain.

‘Again…’

The doctor had called it a mental issue, but the unexplained chest pains had only grown more frequent since the RP dungeon.

No, to be exact—

Since meeting Irina.

“…!”

A sudden thought struck Jin Siwon with a shudder.

‘What if the seed wasn’t all there was…?’