Edited By: Sebas Tian
"Hyun-Soo!"
Hyuna's voice brought Hyun-Soo back to reality.
The ratio to create the potion was pretty complicated, so that's why he was mentally exhausted.
On top of that, Hyun-Soo was trying something new, so he used up a lot of his energy.
"What?"
"Come over here!"
Since Hyuna was making such a big deal, Hyun-Soo drowsily walked to where she was.
And when he looked at the thing that Hyuna was pointing at, his eyes shot open.
"Look at this. There's a crack, right?"
Like Hyuna had mentioned, there was a slight crack on the egg that was sitting below the red light.
"You're right. I think it's trying to hatch."
His brain was now completely awake.
Crack-
Crack!
"Did you hear that?"
"I did. I think it's starting."
"We can't help it, right?"
"I think it said we couldn't."
He read somewhere that they need to crack the shell on their own.
That we shouldn't help even if we felt bad.
That would actually affect them in a bad way.
Crack!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of the shell cracking and then stopping repeated several times.
Hyun-Soo and Hyuna waited patiently.
Even though it was a different species, they learned the process of an egg hatching, so they knew that it took awhile for an egg to fully hatch.
"Wow, I'm getting nervous. The baby inside. I'm sure it'll be cute, right? The gold pattern on the egg was shining brightly."
"I'm…not really sure."
Was Karazhan pretty?
Hyun-Soo tried to recall his memory.
Karazhan had a small body with dragonfly wings.
Some may think that Karazhan's big, black eyes are pretty.
However.
'I was busy trying to kill it, so I didn't have the time to think about that kind of stuff.'
But Hyun-Soo didn't want to hurt his sister's feelings, so he decided not to talk about the details.
Hyuna was nervous about the new life that was going to hatch, but Hyun-Soo was nervous about something else.
If the thing inside the egg was the same as the other monsters, then he would have to kill it.
And since Hyuna was here, he couldn't put his guard down.
If he was by himself, Lahatlan could assist him, but Hyuna was an ordinary human.
On top of that, she was his precious little sister.
'I do want to tell her to go to her room, but…'
Hyuna had been visiting his room every day for several weeks because she was curious about the egg and asking her to go back to her room right when it was about to hatch was cruel.
'If something happens, I'll have to protect her.'
He wondered whether Hyuna knew how he felt.
He wasn't going to just tell her though.
Crack……crack!
The sound of the shell cracking.
Crack……!
The cracking sound became louder.
When a very small hole appeared, they started it cracking it faster.
Crack!
Crack!
The hole became bigger.
"It's so small……!"
Hyuna's eyes sparkled when she saw a small finger through the small hole.
"You can do it! You're almost there!"
She tightened her fist as she cheered them on.
Hyun-Soo also waited for them completely hatch.
He can then decide on what he needs to do.
After swinging their small hand outside of the hole, they pulled it back in.
After, a small foot popped out of the hole.
Using their small foot, they kicked the shell and tried to create a bigger hole.
But after it failed, it pulled its foot back inside.
Crack!
Crack!
Then they started kicking it from the inside, causing more cracks to appear.
And then.
Crack!
The shell completely broke and moments later, a small thing popped out of it.
"Oh my……!"
On the spot where the shell broke, it revealed a very small fairy.
That's the only description Hyun-Soo could come up with.
It definitely hatched from Karazhan's egg, but they looked totally different.
The dragonfly-like wings looked weak and they were covered in the fluid that was inside the egg.
Ah-choo!
The figure that hatched out of the egg sneezed and then took a deep breath.
"Wow……."
Hyuna kept admiring the fairy.
After taking a deep breath, the fairy slowly opened their eyes.
Hyun-Soo and Hyuna quietly watched.
And.
"Kkyu……?"
Their eyes met.
They looked straight into each other's eyes.
The fairy blinked and then tilted their head.
Once, twice, three times.
The more they blinked, the more their eyes looked alive.
"Kkyuuu……!"
The fairy tried to get closer to Hyun-Soo.
Despite of the fact that they were covered in the egg's liquid, they did their best to move.
"Oh my gosh. It's so cute. Try reaching out with your finger, Hyun-Soo."
"Oh, yeah……."
Since Hyun-Soo didn't have experience with small and cute things, he listened to Hyuna and carefully extended his finger out.
Slap!
If he were to describe their action using sound, that's the sound it would've made.
When Hyun-Soo extended his finger, the fairy stuck onto his finger like a piece of gum.
The fairy moved their arms and tightly hugged his finger.
"Oh wow…it must think that you're its mother!"
"H-huh? Mother?"
Not father?
He questioned it for a moment, but it did seem like the fairy acknowledged Hyun-Soo as a friendly ally.
When the fairy reached the palm of Hyun-Soo's hand, they must've felt relieved because they changed into fetal position.
"……Is it sleeping?"
Despite of their cute appearance and actions, Hyun-Soo didn't put his guard down.
He thought that this could be another trick.
Hyun-Soo thought the fairy was going to attack the palm of his hand first, but…
"I think so…? I think they're tired from cracking the egg."
The fairy fell asleep.
Hyun-Soo felt like he was the bad guy for being doubtful.
Hyun-Soo felt amazed and at a loss at the same time when he saw the newborn fairy sleeping on the palm of his hand.
He also felt relieved.
At least he didn't have to kill it right away.
"I'm pretty sure it thinks you're its mother."
Hyuna mumbled as she looked the fairy that was attached to Hyun-Soo.
She tried many times to get the fairy to come to her, but she failed each time.
"I want to see it from up close too……."
Hyuna was weak against cute things, so she was pretty disappointed.
Hyun-Soo was actually a bit annoyed.
Since the fairy followed him wherever he went, he couldn't help but focus on them.
Excluding its sleeping time, the fairy refused to leave Hyun-Soo, so he wasn't able to visit the Center Room during the past few days.
Hyun-Soo tried leaving without saying a word, but…
"Hyun-Soo! They just hatched. Where are you thinking about taking them? You have to be careful since they're still a baby!"
Was what Hyuna said, so he quietly gave up.
'This fairy is technically a monster though…'
Hyun-Soo mentioned it to try and convince her and that it wouldn't matter, but…
"I may not know much since I'm not a hunter, but I know this much. Do you see this fairy as a dangerous monster?"
Was what Hyuna replied with and Hyun-Soo ended up staying quiet.
It's because this fairy's appearance and actions was the opposite of a monster's.
Karazhan wasn't this small and cute from what he remembered…
The fairy acted more like a desperate, sad baby duck that was following their mother than a monster.
'I'm sure I saw Karazhan when I checked through Interface…'
Hyun-Soo recalled the information he saw on Interface.
The fairy was weaker than the monster he killed in the portal.
It can't be helped since the fairy just hatched.
And there was one thing that caught his attention.
An interesting description.
'It's dependent on me.'
When the alarm notifying that the fairy hatched out of the egg, it had a description saying that it was dependent on Hyun-Soo.
After seeing several notifications a few days ago, Hyun-Soo checked Interface.
And he was really surprised by the description.
Dependent?
Does that mean a hunter can raise them and then it belongs to them?
The monsters that Hyun-Soo encountered so far were his enemies and had to be killed, so when he saw that description, he questioned his values for a moment.
'I would be lying if I said I didn't have any expectations.'
He had the same though ever since he brought the egg with him.
The environment can change a person, so will it have the same effect on the monster?
So he couldn't say that he didn't have any expectations.
However, he did predict that it would take some time before the egg hatched.
They did have to follow their natural instincts afterall.
'I don't think I need to worry.'
The word, dependent, was what helped him get rid of the anxiety he was feeling.
And the pressure to get rid of it if it became a threat disappeared as well.
Getting rid of the fairy wasn't difficult. He didn't want to see Hyuna cry because of the fairy.
"But, Hyun-Soo. Don't you think we should come up with a name? It's weird to keep calling them a fairy."
Hyuna, who was still feeling disappointed, asked Hyun-Soo while looking at the fairy that was attached to him.
"We can just come up with any…okay, fine. I'll try thinking of a nice name."
In the end, the fairy was still a monster.
Even though they were cute and didn't act like the monsters he encountered in the past, he didn't think it was necessary to give them a name.
But Hyuna had a different opinion and said it was necessary.
"Tinkerbell?"
"……Hyun-Soo.."
He came up with that name after thinking long and hard, but Hyuna reacted coldly.
"It's probably best if you named it."
"Okay. I'm going to think of a pretty name! Oh, Hyun-Soo. You are feeding the fairy, right?"
"Feeding? No……?"
"What? You've been letting them starve?"
When Hyun-Soo saw Hyuna's glaring eyes, he quickly denied it and shook his head.
"No, it's because they're a monster. They don't eat human food."
"Then, what do they eat?"
"I'm not sure, but the fairy has been consuming my energy."
"Your energy?"
"Yeah."
Hyun-Soo recalled the time when the fairy first consumed his energy.
Other than the fact that the egg hatched and that the fairy was following him around everywhere, life was still the same for Hyun-Soo.
Expectation and excitement towards the egg only lasted for a moment.
He started working on the potion again and tried many different things.
While working on it.
The fairy woke up and flew over to Hyun-Soo to grab his finger.
Hyun-Soo was testing to see what would happen if a small amount of a hunter's energy was mixed into the potion.
'Huh?'
When the fairy got close to Hyun-Soo's finger, it suddenly bit it!
Of course he didn't feel any pain.
He was just surprised.
However, there was another surprise after that.
-Ding!
[Karazhan has consumed the user's energy.]
-Ding!
[Karazhan belongs to the user.]
'What?'