Shin So-mang returned home, taking a deep breath while holding the hedgehog in her arms.
As soon as she opened the front door, she quickly dodged her parents’ gaze and headed straight for her room.
Creeeak.
With the sound of the door closing.
Phew.
A sigh of relief escaped her.
[It smells nice here! Sniffle sniffle.]
“Dochi.”
[Doom Bar?]
“Umm… I’m sorry for shouting earlier. I was startled… I should’ve thanked you first.”
Shin So-mang carefully put the hedgehog down on the bed.
She belatedly expressed her gratitude that she hadn’t managed to say before.
“If you hadn’t come, it would have been a big problem. Thank you so much. And sorry again.”
[It’s okay! I’ll forgive you if you dance the butt dance with me!]
At the hedgehog’s innocent response, Shin So-mang burst into a giggle.
It felt like she was looking at a pure and innocent child.
“Alright. Let’s dance after we eat together later.”
[Doo Doom Bar!]
Only now did she feel the tension ease.
Shin So-mang gently petted the hedgehog’s fur.
And while doing so, she stared intently at the hedgehog.
[Why are you staring so hard? Is there something on my face?]
“No… I’m just amazed at how cute you are. I’ve never really seen a monster before. I always just watched them on broadcasts.”
[Doo Doom Bar? You’ve never seen a creature like me before! You’re a country girl, aren’t you!]
“I’m not a country girl! In our world, there aren’t any species like you. Of course, there are ordinary hedgehogs that look similar to you… but they can’t talk, nor do they have summoning abilities.”
[Doo Doom Bar? A hedgehog that can’t summon a spirit? That’s a weird hedgehog!]
“That’s the norm. You’re the special one here.”
[Hehe. I am a bit special, aren’t I?]
“Pffft.”
A talking hedgehog.
A hedgehog summoning spirits.
A creature, a monster, with special and odd powers.
Shin So-mang’s impression of seeing a monster for the first time was, ‘How cute.’
If it were another monster, she would have felt awe.
But among the monsters tamed by Kang Geon, the hedgehog looked particularly adorable.
Of course.
The spirits she had summoned earlier were not cute at all.
Just looking at them made her legs give way, and she felt like she could faint.
If those spirits had appeared with malice, Shin So-mang and all the other humans would have definitely passed out.
“By the way, Dochia.”
[Doo Doom Bar?]
“About that monster your spirits munched on earlier. Was it a pretty strong monster? Like a Psycho Clown?”
[Doom Bar? That guy was incredibly weak compared to others! I’ve never seen such a weak monster in my life!]
“Oh, really? So it was a weak monster…”
[It was super duper weak! If Psycho Clown found out it was compared to him, he would get really mad! You might have won if you had just held a weapon!]
“Then why did you summon such big spirits? You could have summoned smaller ones instead.”
[Those were the smallest spirits I could summon!]
Shin So-mang blinked in surprise at the hedgehog’s answer.
And she tilted her head, asking.
[Those were the smallest spirits?]
[I asked the spirits directly, and they said so!]
“Then what about the spirits you summoned in the labyrinth?”
[In my home, they shrink in size! The spirits told me directly that when summoned in the labyrinth, they become super duper small!]
Hearing the hedgehog summoner’s explanation, Shin So-mang’s eyes gradually lit up with understanding.
“Oh right. They said labyrinth monsters sometimes get size nerfed too. I guess spirits are no exception…”
The nerf of power and ability applies only around explorers.
But size nerf is always applied throughout the entire labyrinth.
Shin So-mang recalled what Kang Geon had told her while reading the explorer’s journal.
After that, Shin So-mang and the hedgehog sat side by side on the bed, happily chatting.
In the process, Shin So-mang unconsciously started petting the hedgehog’s fur again.
Fluffy fluffy.
The soft texture flowed between her fingers.
“Should I call this fur or quills…”
[It’s fur! It may be prickly to enemies, but it’s endlessly soft to friends!]
Just then, while she was scratching the hedgehog all over…
“Oh.”
Suddenly, Shin So-mang’s expression wavered.
“I forgot to thank Geon oppa for his help.”
[You dummy. Doo Doom Bar.]
Shin So-mang hurriedly grabbed her smartphone.
“Dochi, can you see this broadcast?”
[Doom Bar? I can’t see it. It’s just a black screen.]
“Looks like even monsters tamed by Geon oppa can’t see it.”
[Doo Doom Bar.]
Opening the chat window, Shin So-mang thanked Kang Geon and began to slowly explain what she had experienced.
*
Missy’s chat came up.
Instead of her usual emoticon style, she used letters to thoroughly narrate what had happened to her.
She met a monster in an alley.
At that time, it had requested her help.
Then the hedgehog summoner appeared and summoned two gigantic spirits…
And she explained the incident in detail from beginning to end.
Apparently, there were no remnants of the goblin left.
She heard that the spirit had devoured it alive.
And now, the two monstrous life forms that were causing chaos in South Korea.
They say those are the true appearances of the spirits summoned by the hedgehog summoner.
In the labyrinth, they were always undergoing a size nerf, hence their reduced dimensions.
“In the end, it was my judgment error.”
[Pururu]─Huh?
“I didn’t realize that the Abyss Undead Spirit was actually that size. If I had known that in advance, I would have sent a different monster instead of the hedgehog summoner, and this chaos wouldn’t have happened.”
[Pururu]─That’s true.
Since all the spirits that could be summoned were of that size, the incident was unavoidable on the hedgehog’s part.
[Pururu]─But couldn’t you just have not summoned spirits and fought? Even though it resembled a Psycho Clown, it was supposed to be a really weak monster, right?
[Yumi]─Exactly. If it was a really weak monster, the hedgehog summoner probably could have handled it by itself without summoning spirits.
[Pururu]─That’s what I mean.
“The hedgehog summoner has no offensive abilities besides summoning. It has to summon spirits to fight.”
[Pururu]─Is it that can’t even defeat a plain goblin?
“It probably won’t lose, but it also won’t win. Maybe.”
[Pururu]─Without the summoning ability and the capacity to speak, it’s just an ordinary hedgehog.
But it’s not an ordinary hedgehog.
While its attack power is very low, it has nearly maxed-out evasion skills. It dances and mocks its opponents while dodging most attacks.
Its defense isn’t bad at all, although it isn’t as high as its evasion.
Anyway, it was decided that they would not hold it accountable for the incident.
The hedgehog did nothing wrong.
From what she could see in the news, there seemed to be no casualties.
‘The chaos in South Korea… I guess I don’t have to worry too much about that.’
It’s such a big incident that it won’t calm down anytime soon.
But there’s no need for me to take action.
After all, no one other than the assistant knows that I’m involved.
The existence of the hedgehog summoner likely wouldn’t be discovered either since the spirits weren’t summoned near the hedgehog but from high above in the sky.
Missy and the hedgehog were in the alley.
Of course.
There’s one worst-case scenario to consider.
If the spirits devoured the goblin and then tracked its ascending position by looking through the CCTV, it could reveal Missy’s existence.
But I decided not to worry about that.
That’s not something I can prevent.
I can only hope that the investigative powers aren’t that great.
[Mysticism]─[Photo]
[Mysticism]─😤
Missy uploaded a photo.
It was a picture of the hedgehog summoner she brought home.
She probably posted it to show everyone that she’s taking good care of it.
[Yumi]─So cute!
[Rize Nova]─Hedgehog-kun is once again in the dance trance today.
[Pururu]─I want to see it in person.
[Rize Nova]─I too wish to meet my master after so long.
[Pururu]─You recently parted ways, so what do you mean you’ve missed it for long?
[Yumi]─Shall we meet up now?
[Pururu]─Sure.
[Mysticism]─I don’t want to.
[Pururu]─Selfish!
[Yumi]─What a selfish person.
As the assistants exchanged chat messages, I fell into contemplation for a moment.
‘Considering that goblins appeared on Earth, there’s a high probability that the slime that was uploaded on YouTube is also real.’
Why have monsters appeared on Earth?
For starters, they weren’t monsters that existed on Earth from the beginning.
If they had, humans would definitely have known by now.
So it’s certain that they are creatures that have flowed in from another dimension.
And probably quite recently.
I don’t know why the monsters are flowing in.
Maybe there’s some problem with the dimensional barrier.
In any case, I have a bad feeling about this.
Almost like a premonition of something.
‘Could it be that monsters are gradually trickling into Earth and then suddenly burst forth at some point?’
It feels ominous.
I worry a bit that my hometown might be destroyed by these monsters.
‘If I were on Earth, I wouldn’t need to worry about this.’
My powers are sealed.
However, if I face beings from the Otherworld or if the dimensional barrier is torn, the seal will be lifted.
Then I could handle the monsters myself.
‘For now, I’ll leave it to the assistants on Earth. If anything happens, I have to dispatch them immediately. That’s the best I can do right now.’
I should search the labyrinth thoroughly for a vending machine.
And I need to stock up on as many designated dispatch tickets as possible.
Just in case.
*
The next day.
[Doo Doom Bar! I’m back!]
The hedgehog summoner returned to the labyrinth.
The first to welcome the hedgehog was the Psycho Clown.
[Doom Bar! I ate a lot of delicious food while I was gone!]
[Kirik. Didn’t you bring food for us?]
[I can’t bring items from other worlds! You know that, Clown!]
[You’re just a bad hedgehog who ate delicious things all by yourself.]
[Doom Bar?]
[You said this to me last time, Kirik.]
It seems that he had been holding onto those old grievances.
[Pururu]─Wow, what a grudge!
[Yumi]─Not cute at all.
[Mysticism]─🤭
[Pururu]─Missy, why were you only using emoticons until now while doing well with the chat?
[Yumi]─I think it’s because she’s quite shy.
[Mysticism]─🙂
[Pururu]─?? Why aren’t you chatting today?
[Yumi]─Missy, can you do an encore for the chat?
[Mysticism]─🤐
[Pururu]─You really wanna die?
[Mysticism]─🤪
The hedgehog trotted over to me.
[Explorer! Explorer! Explorer Gauntlet!]
Then it climbed onto my shoulder and whispered in a low voice.
[You know, this is a secret. You mustn’t go telling anyone!]
“What’s it about?”
[Pururu]─Whisper whisper.
[Yumi]─I can hear everything.
[Mysticism]─🤔
[Missy is super pretty!]
“Is that the secret?”
[And her name is Shin So-mang!]
“Shin So-mang?”
[Doom Bar. Missy said never to tell anyone her name, but since you’re special, I’m telling you in secret. You must keep it a secret, understood?]
“Got it.”
[Pururu]─?
[Yumi]─?
[Mysticism]─Traitor Hedgehog!!!
[Mysticism]─You said it’s a secret!!!
[Mysticism]─You said you wouldn’t tell!!!
[Pururu]─Seems like the hedgehog doesn’t understand what a secret means.
“By the way, who was Shin So-mang…”
[Mysticism]─?
The name doesn’t quite ring a bell.
What kind of connection did I have with this person?
Just then, the hedgehog started spilling information about Shin So-mang.
[Don’t you remember?]
[Missy told me she saw you crossing over the portal!]
[And she said you helped her when some bad friends were bullying her! She even asked for your contact first!]
[Also, she said she secretly followed you for years!]
[And they also spent many nights hugging each other while talking sweetly. Hehe!]
[Anyway! Everything I just mentioned is a secret! Doo Doom Bar!]
[Pururu]─Wait, was Missy the stalker from the last time?
[Yumi]─Oh no!
[Mysticism]─Ah.
After hearing the detailed information, my vague memories began to become clearer.
The scattered pieces of memory started fitting together, and gradually, I began to remember who Shin So-mang was.
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