Chapter 208. Beast (6)
March 2, six years ago.
On this day, Beast and Brooklyn Morgan’s husband was fatally attacked.
They had always been stingy about keeping track of dates or celebrating anniversaries, yet oddly, this March 2nd lingered in their memories.
“Hmm…”
Brooklyn actually had two distinctly different personalities, like changing a mask since her teenage years.
Because of this, she couldn’t blend in with society, spending a long time alone in the deep mountains.
Then one day, a stranger appeared and showed her affection.
Her abnormal childhood led to her low social skills.
Unlike her kind and humorous first personality, the second impulsive self was always ready for a shooting spree if it knew anything about weapons.
How could the stranger love even the ugly side of the beast within her?
The two women living quietly in their cabin soon fell for the same man.
The man understood and embraced the identity of Beast. Thus, the three of them were able to lead a peaceful married life.
No. It shouldn’t simply be called peaceful; had that life lasted just a bit longer, Brooklyn’s inner turmoil might have gradually stabilized, possibly leading to the natural extinction of the problem-child in her mind.
“March 2.”
That day eventually came.
A stranger died.
The voice in her head grew clearer.
The anniversary of gaining the power to resurrect a corpse that wasn’t really her husband.
*
Beeep! Beeep!
Let’s continue the dream someone usually has.
One day, Brooklyn Morgan received a call from the police on her old mobile phone.
They told her that her husband had been involved in a murder case and to come to the hospital to identify the victim.
Morgan soon found herself facing a cold corpse lying there, like a cadaver in a typical crime show.
The rigid body with wide-open eyes was indeed her live-in stranger.
But her beloved husband’s appearance had dulled.
“Oh.”
I liked it when this man smiled. Does that mean I can never see that face again?
She found the situation extremely sad, yet strangely didn’t react beyond that.
Unlike other victims who cried out upon receiving the call, she remained oddly stoic, neither crying nor wailing.
Brooklyn often displayed such atypical emotional reactions.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t shocked by the situation.
It simply wasn’t expressed well. Brooklyn experienced immense psychological damage due to her husband’s death, twisting one of her selves completely.
Yet, did God exist in this world? Soon enough, Brooklyn was bestowed the gift of an S-Class Awakening Level after losing so much.
Unfortunately, she felt no excitement about the suddenly bestowed superpowers.
She had no desire to become a superhero. Ultimately, she quietly held her husband’s funeral and confirmed that the boy responsible for the indiscriminate murder was sentenced to life in prison before returning to her previous life.
She locked herself in her cabin in the deep forest, tending to a small vegetable garden.
Living a simple life, occasionally butchering wild animals that fell into her traps.
Moreover, ever since her husband’s death, the previously troublesome violent self had not reared its head.
While Brooklyn had never directly conversed with the woman in her head, she instinctively felt this was due to excessive sadness.
What a foolish way to cope.
Mourning wouldn’t bring her dead husband back. What point was there in wasting emotions on that?
-Thwack!
Brooklyn brought the axe down onto the dry firewood.
Life in the mountains could be repetitive and boring, but it wasn’t leisurely.
Preparing firewood to cook was busy enough every day.
The new S-Class Awakened in America continued her old-fashioned life without revealing her identity to anyone, not even watching a common TV show.
“Hmm.”
About four months later.
Her long-held peace was disrupted once again.
One day, an incident occurred where all the rabbit traps she had set around her home were destroyed by someone.
But who on earth would do such a thing?
In the past, she’d heard her husband’s advice that laying traps this way could get her sued, so she had placed signs stating the land was private and traps were set…
It was at that moment.
As Brooklyn inspected the broken trap, something was thrown behind her.
A bright red, unique-level restraint item.
Someone was ambushing her.
Unbeknownst to her, Brooklyn’s solitary life in the cabin had been discovered by others, throwing her into a certain crime.
“I’ve got you…!”
As the woman got caught in the net, the assailant emerged from behind, brandishing a weapon.
But what followed was a scenario the assailant could never have imagined.
Soon, Brooklyn tore through the net that bound her with sheer strength and struck the assailant’s wrist with her firewood axe.
“UAAAH!”
-You can’t kill people. My dear.
-You’ll never be able to return to this cabin.
Brooklyn remembered what her late husband had said. Thus, she subdued the assailant without inflicting excessive pain.
Ironically, she didn’t realize the criminal she had captured was a serial killer who had already committed those “forbidden acts” multiple times.
“Ah… Ugh…”
“Thank you so much for your assistance, ma’am.”
The awakened assailant that attacked her was actually a scoundrel of the new era, hoping to steal the powers of strong people, a possessor of [Enhancement Heart].
Years ago, Brooklyn had personally captured a serial killer in Texas.
To be more precise, back then, the concept of S-Class Awakened wasn’t established yet.
The B-Class Awakened criminal had assumed Brooklyn was just a slightly stronger A-Class and foolishly attempted the crime, not realizing the opponent had simply never used her power.
If she set her mind to it, she could have turned the entire state of Texas into chaos.
“Are you okay? You must have been quite startled.”
“Well…”
“You seem to possess considerable power to subdue that murderer; may I ask your name…?”
As a victim of the incident, Brooklyn exchanged a few words with the officer.
The Texas murderer cried out from the side.
“Please spare me! I just wanted to see what kind of abilities I had. I didn’t plan to kill this time! I swear, I merely wanted to ask what I realized from the shock!”
Having meticulously prepared for a crime and now babbling excuses late in the game.
“I just wanted a good skill. I only wanted a good skill….”
Brooklyn stared intently into the eyes of the killer.
Snap!
And right after, an unexpected cracking sound echoed through the air of the bright mountains.
“Damn it!”
“What the?”
“This is insane…!”
The officers gathered at the cabin couldn’t comprehend the situation.
Brooklyn, too, took a long moment to understand what had happened.
The Texas serial killer, who had been tied up with special restraints, lay dead on the floor.
As if he had abruptly swatted away a bug that was clinging to him.
With a swift clap, Brooklyn hit the criminal on the head. Thus, this tragedy occurred.
“Oh.”
But the problem was why she suddenly exhibited such violent behavior.
At that moment, Brooklyn finally recognized the hatred that had settled within her.
What had transpired was not the work of the second self that had been dormant.
It was Brooklyn Morgan, who had had some social skills, herself who killed the murderer.
“Oh my God.”
By now, she had grown to loathe the powers that had been handed down to her in this world.
So, she felt repulsed by the scoundrel showing a desire for sorcery; unable to suppress her discomfort, she burst the sorcerer’s head.
What followed was pure chaos.
This incident revealed her as a tremendous being of magical power for having killed the Texas Awakened.
An influential figure in American politics, who would become the future Spectrum Guild Master, soon extended an offer: to become his dog in exchange for covering up the murder.
To which Brooklyn expressed her willingness.
Perhaps because she had spent a long time with her partner, she had remarkably adapted to society.
“Fine.”
Of course, had the terms of the Knight’s Pact been unfair, that day would have produced another global news story.
Fortunately, the demands made were issues that even a new S-Class Hunter could readily accept.
【Do not harm Non-Awakened without permission.】
Naturally, the higher-up also required a ridiculously low salary to hire an S-Class, alongside various irksome commands, but what could she do?
In the end, it was less troublesome than becoming an enemy of a superpower.
Thus, the powerful figure successfully acquired an S-Class healer.
Moreover, the subsequent processes went smoother than expected.
With the violent persona dormant, Brooklyn could adapt to social life calmly.
‘Now there won’t be any boredom.’
As the dog of the Spectrum Guild Master, Brooklyn Morgan took on tasks that everyone else despised without hesitation.
This was how she rose to the top.
Unlike Jeong Ha-seong, she didn’t voluntarily serve the country but tackled numerous gate raids as compensation for evading the murder charge.
Furthermore, items like [Dragon’s Heart], which would have tempted any ordinary hunter, had to all be contributed to her superior as per her oath.
Yet, despite all that, everything was fine.
Ironically, as an S-Class Hunter blessed by the mana of the world, she despised anything mystical above all.
“Hmm.”
It was as if she were role-playing, wearing the social mask of “bright and competent Brooklyn Morgan,” adapting to her new role.
Since she hardly acted impulsively, her personality issues seemed to be forgotten even by her superior.
But then one day.
When her husband’s memorial day returned again.
While checking the calendar, she suddenly heard a low voice in her ear.
-Brooklyn.
It was the voice of that which had long slept within her.
The woman in her head, who had loved the same man as someone else.
“Ah-ha.”
It had significantly improved its eloquence during the time apart.
Once, it could only cry out like a baby. Now, it was managing to articulate its desires with decent social language.
-I want to go back.
This expressed a desire to return to the blank slate era without powers or a husband.
Though Brooklyn seemed to adapt well to the company, part of her longed for the past when she chased rabbits freely, avoiding anyone’s orders.
Yes. Hunting.
It would be wonderful to hunt freely again.
But now, she could no longer just run around thoughtlessly.
Years had passed, and from now on, her violent actions wouldn’t be treated just as whimsical by a confused girl; rather, wielding dangerous S-Class power carelessly could land her on death row.
“Oh.”
At that moment, breaking news played from the TV she had left on absentmindedly.
[Breaking news: A dangerous monster has escaped from the gate, causing panic…….]
It was news discussing the [Nuckelavee] incident in Hawaii.
The Spectrum manager hesitated to send out slaves, fearing the loss of his assets.
Yet, thinking about it, there was a way for her to act without the upper authorities’ eyes on her.
Not in terms of the “Brooklyn Morgan” awakening powers that were publicly known…
-Set me free.
With the powers of that voice with an impressive tone, it should be possible to pretend to be a different Awakened.
What followed was indeed a series of impulsive acts.
Brooklyn Morgan, simply wanting to unleash violence as she wished, slid a new mask over her head.
A relic from a distant past she couldn’t remember where she got it, an ordinary mask.
And a costume she had pieced together over time, made from the black leathers of various animals gathered from her hunts.
‘Done.’
She entered the fight against the Nuckelavee, her face and figure concealed.
Not long after, she was remembered as a hero who had ended the Hawaii incident, earning the nickname “Beast.”
By then, she hadn’t thoroughly planned to hide her dual identity.
Like superheroes from comics with various motifs such as bats, spiders, and crash-landed aliens.
She had simply unstressed herself from the experience of double life.
“Hmm?”
One day.
While flying around the world with her hidden powers, Brooklyn stumbled upon a new dungeon in the cave of a small island, untouched by human feet.
-Wooooo…
A bright tone of light representing EX-Class.
In a way, it could be seen as the source of all evils.
It was also why the Beast suddenly began committing murder.
Why Brooklyn had started to cling to anonymity.
And why, in a C-Class dungeon, she soon faced a young hero and a con artist.
In truth, everything had transpired because of that one gate.
