Lovely Monsters – Chapter 30

Author: nicotine

The second one he encountered was a camera monster that took photos of Kim Heejo and exhibited them. Since it tried to take photos while looking at him again, he smashed the lens and immediately separated the camera from the torso. With just that, the monster died a futile death.

[An announcement for all monsters. A camera monster has passed away on Train 1305. We pray for the deceased monster’s soul…]

While listening to the same broadcast as before, Kim Heejo found and killed another monster in the next cabin. It was the teddy bear monster that had thrust its cock into his urethra. This time, he killed it with a single stroke and tore it to shreds. Since there was nothing but cotton inside its body, he pulled it all out and scattered it everywhere.

It was while Kim Heejo, who had killed about three more after that, was resting for a moment. Suddenly, the front door opened and a black shadow entered. However, it had a slightly different appearance from the other shadows.

“……?”

It had many things in its hands. A mop, a bath basket, new clothes… as he examined the items the black shadow had brought one by one, the black shadow also looked this way and stuck a note on its own face.

[Ah, fuck. —Black Shadow 152—]

[It’s because you’re staring like that that I’m getting turned on. —Black Shadow 152—]

[I’m busy but… ah, forget it. I should just fuck you once before I go. —Black Shadow 152—]

What did I even do, you son of a bitch.

A convulsion rose in the corners of Kim Heejo’s eyes as he watched silently. Even though it was posted as a note, somehow the thought occurred to him that he wanted to rip its mouth wide open from side to side.

[Gheheuk! —Black Shadow 152—]

So Kim Heejo… swung the machete toward the black shadow’s face when it approached near him. Not just once, but countless times afterward.

This time, the sound of a broadcast did not reach his ears. Well, something like that didn’t matter. The smirking Kim Heejo exhaled roughly. It was certain that the black shadow was dead. This was because he had completely mangled its head. Later, when its arm twitched, he made sure that couldn’t move either.

Thinking about it now, it might have been rigor mortis or something, but honestly, it didn’t matter. Kim Heejo only wanted to kill the black shadows.

If I meet the other bastards, I must kill them too.

Just as he was resolving this repeatedly, black shadows swarmed in all at once. The flustered Kim Heejo stepped backward. He wanted to kill them, but there were too many of them. There were more than ten at least, and the black shadows were also holding things like weapons.

“……!”

At that moment, a large hand reached out from behind him, and the wrist that was not holding the machete was grabbed. When he turned around in surprise, Stacked Books was standing there.

Stacked Books instantly pulled Kim Heejo toward itself and closed the cabin door. Perhaps because it was a high-ranking monster, the black shadows did not enter the cabin.

However, Kim Heejo, who ended up sitting on the sofa just as Stacked Books pulled him, felt absurd seeing Stacked Books take out a teacup and a teapot from an empty drawer. It was a sight hard to believe even after seeing it with his own eyes.

But being amazed by every little thing felt redundant now. He suspected it had already been discovered, but he hid the machete behind his back while staring at Stacked Books.

Stacked Books pulled a nearby table in front of Kim Heejo, placed a teacup on it, and poured him warm, fragrant tea. When Kim Heejo, who had no desire to drink, just stayed still, it pulled out the book that was tucked at the very bottom and spread it open.

[“Wouldn’t it be better to stay here?”

The rabbit doll, who had been a guard for as long as the age of this old and ancient city, spoke while scratching the space above its lip.

“No, I will go out.” I snapped back firmly.

Then the rabbit doll belatedly hardened its expression and said.

“You offered seven carrots with living roots to enter this city.”

Seven carrots with living roots were precious items that workers had to toil for ten years to obtain.

“Those are precious items that can only be obtained through great effort.”

Every time the rabbit doll spoke, the smell of cabbage—which I assume was stolen from the backyard of a witch with a mustache—wafted out. Anyway, my answer was the same as before.

“I must go.”

“Don’t be like that; just cross over to this city completely. If you’re doing this because of what you left behind on the island, it’s better to just give up.”

At this point, a small horned puffin, who was the rabbit doll’s friend and also my friend, walked over and said.

“Friend, try to recall your previous resolve. How much effort did we pour in to enter this city together? From the outside, the city gates might not open. Most of all, the island’s seasons are different from what you think. It certainly won’t be the same as before. The fruits will be the same. The island’s strawberries have long since turned into turnips! Perhaps they were turnips from the start!”]

The content shown through the book was too long unlike before, and because it was long, it was hard to understand. Of course, it could simply mean not to go where the black shadows were. It seemed there was no content suitable to convey that meaning.

…That aside, can I kill this one too?

Kim Heejo stared intently at the part presumed to be Stacked Books’ face. The titles written on the spines changed frequently, but today—

<Julie, or the New Heloise>

Kim Heejo, who knew the contents of a few of those volumes, frowned.

Anyway, just as it was with the television monster he killed before, stabbing toward the head seemed like it would be useless. This was because Stacked Books could repeatedly take out and put back books at its whim, and it even inserted completely new books like it was doing now.

Then should he stab the chest?

While Kim Heejo was contemplating, looking at the chest that seemed hard as if it were wearing armor unlike the other monsters, Stacked Books laid down new clothes on the nearby table. Then, it tapped on the table as if telling him to wear them and began to fill the bathtub with water.

Later, it even threw bath salts inside and stirred it gently with its arm. That was all Stacked Books did. When everything was finished, it opened the door and left, as if it had completed its task.

“…….”

He was a bit flustered, but since he was alone for now and saw the warm water before his eyes, he wanted to wash off the blood. Since it was monster blood, the fishy smell seemed to get worse as time passed. Kim Heejo washed his body while holding the machete tightly in one hand. Because he had killed many monsters, it was fair to say he was covered in blood from head to toe.

Perhaps because adrenaline was secreted in abundance at the moment he cut off the monsters’ breath, he hadn’t cared much about other things, but now it bothered him that his body had become dirty and his clothes were a mess.

He wanted to stay as clean as possible. And he wanted to wear decent clothes.

He didn’t know what he was thinking in the midst of monsters swarming and having all sorts of things done to him by such bastards, but that was how Kim Heejo’s heart felt.

This desire felt like the last bastion remaining in his mind. Something like that, which allowed Kim Heejo to remain as a person.

[Perfection __Closest to perfection S/c/u/l/p/t/u/r/e Special Exhibition]

Kim Heejo, who was walking to the next cabin wearing new clothes, halted. He was worried that Stacked Books might be there, but fortunately, that was not the case. Instead, the cabin was packed with identical exhibition posters.

[Period: November 19th — 29th]

Kim Heejo, looking at the date written below, nibbled his lip.

The day he had intended to return home by train was October 6th.

Did it mean that much time had passed, or was it a number written without any meaning? Since his sense of time had long since vanished, he couldn’t tell. The date written on the poster felt like it could be correct, but it also felt like an absurdly small amount of time.

“……Yujeong.”