Internet forums were positively aflame with the news surrounding Grace.
[Moderation’s stream was goated today.]
[The girl staying at that dip-ass Moderation’s place appeared on stream again]
[She claims to be a homunculus, and since he’s pretty close with Evangeline, the daughter of the Saint of Tionis? A homunculus, the product of the Tionis civilization, is whatever]
[The important thing is that the crazy chick isn't human, so she possesses special abilities]
Another post attached a gif that showed Grace transforming her appearance.
[As you can see, her body is based on slime, so her transformation is surprisingly unrestricted. She says her original form is the true original, but honestly, that's not important. The important part is what this crazy chick did while transforming into various things]
The next image showed Seung-Hyun freaking out and restraining Grace the moment she transformed into a certain character.
[LMAO I'm just going to keep my mouth shut broooo]
The post ended there, but the reaction elsewhere was explosive.
[LMAO that crazy chick really messed up loools]
[Seriously, of all the things to transform into, she had to turn into that one gg loools]
[What’s that character from?]
[Hello? You can’t tell? It's so famous that everyone knows it just by its name... have you been living under a rock?]
[I will say it's certainly eye-catching...]
[So what’s it called?!]
[Black... Ahem... I'll stop here.]
[Why can't you just say it?!]
[You think Moderation will get banned? looools]
[You idiot, they won't ban him just for someone transforming into a character DUMBASS]
The character Grace transformed into was the title character of a media with a less-than-savory nature, one highly recognized by many people.
[Wait, is it okay to just let something like that in the wild? I mean, if she can transform like that, who knows if she commits a crime. Real talk]
[What do you want to do about it?]
[What CAN we do? Imo, we should catch her and monitor her. It's chilling to think about something like that walking around. What if someone I know turns out to be a homunculus, too?]
[You're insane! Do you really think she has nothing better to do than mess with you DUMBASS]
In another corner, some people felt extremely drawn to Grace just from her brief appearance.
[Wow... she can even transform into my favorite character. Mom! Where do I buy one?]
[You're crazy, talking about buying and selling a person]
[Bullshit bro, how’s that a person? She's a homunculus! Do you not know what a homunculus is? It's an ARTIFICIAL LIFE FORM. What kind of human rights do artificial life forms have???]
[Better think twice before taking a stance like that. That thing’s from Tionis.]
“So not these guys...”
There was another group of people.
[Wait, an artificial life form? Wow, I didn't think the Saint of Tionis would come up with something like that. I'm disappointed...]
[Exactly. It's disgusting. Isn't he basically sexualizing women? Isn't that crazy? Just like you'd expect from some barbaric monarchy...]
[You guys have no chill. Where’d you get the stupid logic that a monarchy is just barbaric? Is democracy perfect?]
[If you’re dumb, go study and get your facts straightened...]
[I'm a guy, and honestly, that kind of thing is hella gross. I wish they wouldn't bring that stuff to Earth.]
[Bruh did someone drop a pin or something? Why are so many people flooding in here and causing a commotion?]
“Not these either... and reading these comments is driving me crazy! Seriously...”
The mere existence of a homunculus was causing endless commotion.
Of course, the situation was also the result of a calculated move by the association. The dagon parasites moved based on whatever Grace did, and the association planned to use it to their advantage.
Hyun-Ah watched with satisfaction when Seung-Hyun's stream caused a bigger stir than expected, but then immediately regretted it. She turned and asked, “So, Davey, what are your thoughts?”
“About what?”
“About all the noise people are making just because a homunculus came over from Tionis.”
“What does it matter? They're really jumping the gun.”
Some were saying it was a precursor to the destabilization or even destruction of Earth's economy. Some claimed that the Saint of Tionis was crossing the line. From some experts’ perspective, his intentions were terrible.
All sorts of stories were going around, but fundamentally, they were mistaken about two things. One was the fact that Grace wasn't a simple homunculus, meaning it was very unlikely for a homunculus like her to ever appear again. The second was that Davey had no intention of mass-producing beings like homunculi, no matter what kind of requests Earth might make in the future.
“I looked into the dagon parasite that Grace got a hold of. As expected, it's a fragment broken off from the main body,” she told him.
He casually replied, “I figured.”
“The problem is the main body... It seems to be pretty different from the dagon parasite we know and hate.”
He simply mumbled, “Hmmm.”
She was growing frustrated with his responses. “Can't you help?”
“I don't want to.”
Hyun-Ah's face wrinkled up. “I knew it. Ha! You ugly squid.”
“Hey, you. What ever happened to that cold vibe when you first met me again?”
“Well, I'm living good these days because I met you again.” She said the embarrassing words with a calm face. “How is your younger sibling doing in that world?”
“Baris is busy taking care of state affairs, and I hear Winley is all over her husband these days.”
As long as they were doing well, that was all that mattered. Although it was sad that they couldn’t meet often, they also had to find their own happiness.
“Back to the parasite, though. That's strange... Even for a variant, this goes beyond simple.”
“You could call it an entirely new species,” Davey declared.
“A new species?”
Instead of confirming, he asked her, “What is the risk level of the dagon parasite?”
“It has no combat ability, yet due to its high transmission rate, it's at least B-Class or higher. However, since it infected an S-Class Awakener this time, its rank will likely be upgraded to S-Class as well.”
If it were simply infectious, the association wouldn't be quite so nervous. Instead, an S-Class Awakened individual was infected without anyone knowing.
In other words, they had no idea how many people the escaped entity had already infected.
“This could become a serious problem.”
Hyun-Ah sighed, clutching her head. “Ugh, whoever the first infected person was, we should feed that jerk some good jail time the moment they’re caught! Hey Davey, how about you finally stop goofing off and give me some advice, huh?”
He just smirked, saying, “You can't even solve one simple thing like this?”
“Oh, well excuuuuse me. Sounds like you have a way?”
“I do.”
Getting confirmation, her eyes sparkled. “What is it?”
Davey faintly smiled and raised his middle finger, mocking, “Trying to get a free pass, are we?”
“You asshole!” She delivered a flying kick and then sighed. “I guess I’ll first need to call all the high-ranking Awakened together. I hate that we can't even properly confirm the infection status...”
Originally, the dagon parasite could at least be tested for and detected.
“Come to think of it, maybe the person who was initially infected didn't even know they were infected.”
“I don't think so.” Davey picked up the report about the parasite and laughed coldly. “This thing entered a human's body and caused a mutation. The dagon parasite isn’t typically that malicious of a creature.”
She smirked, teasing, “Well, well, well, look who’s talking like they know everything.”
“There have been reports of similar cases. For your information, the dagon parasite is from a different world, not Tionis.”
The probability was extremely low, but the situation had just so happened to occur.
“And, I'm just telling you now...” he said as he stood up. “I don't know if I should call it luck or coincidence...”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm talking about Grace.”
She was surprised to hear the topic shift to her. “Grace? The one the parasite is after?”
“Have you thought about why it suddenly became obsessed with Grace?”
“I just thought... that her body was the best one for them to parasitize, unlike humans?”
“The Slime Lord that makes up her body is an entity seen in other worlds, not just Earth.”
“And?”
“In some worlds, a Slime Lord is the natural predator of the dagon parasite.”
It all came back to Slime Lords. There were slime populations in Tionis, as well as other continents and worlds. Slime Lords were similar to those slimes, but much more refined and possessing many more abilities.
As far as Davey knew, in the world where the dagon parasites popped up, Slime Lords mainly consumed dagon parasites. That gave a natural path of inference regarding the dagon parasites’ obsession with Grace. The dagon parasites felt something from Slime Lords that made it difficult for it to resist its temptation. The dagon parasites were instinctively drawn to Slime Lords, and tried to parasitize them even though they knew they would try to eat them.
“You should make sure to be quick about tracking them down. Although her body is based on a Slime Lord, Grace barely knows how to control her power. That uninhabited island could actually prove a dangerous battleground.”
* * *
Exhausted, Grace lay sprawled on the vast sandy beach.
‘They called it Behemoth... right?’
It was one of the Mythical Beast Kings contracted to the creator of her body, Davey O’Rowane.
While the current appearance was that of a boy, having seen its true form, she could feel the instinctive fear it put off just by being present. The sight of its true form growing large enough to easily cover an entire island remained deeply etched in her memory.
It called itself the Tyrant of the Undersea, or the Primordial Predator, but, to Grace, it was just a grumpy white-bearded whale who just blew off steam.
For instance, it said it’d teach her how to use her power and help her, then simply beat her for two hours without any instruction. Throughout the whole ordeal, she still couldn't manifest her power even once.
She didn't know why it was so hard for her. She couldn't figure out the exact trigger for her power, nor what else was hidden inside her.
Neltarid, the god who created her ego, had become difficult for her to meet. The only other person she could ask questions, Davey O'Rowane, had completely washed his hands of the matter, so she couldn't meet him and demand he spill the beans about what he'd hidden inside her.
A sudden surge of frustration made Grace jump up and dust the sand off her body, grumbling, “This is so annoying... Why do I have to do this?”
‘Isn’t this whole thing happening because that association, or whatever it is, can’t manage that damned dagon parasite? The humans are terrible. It's their fault for being bad at their job!!’
Grace strongly rationalized the situation and nodded her head. Feeling annoyed for no reason, she strode into the forest, still grumbling, “It's Seung-Hyun's fault.”
She concluded that she'd only had her ass beat by that damned white-bearded whale outside because Seung-Hyun had messed up during his stream.
She hadn't done anything wrong! Her specialty was transforming into game and movie characters that Seung-Hyun liked, so she’d carefully memorized everything he'd enjoyed.
She’d seen a file marked Black Wolf. The file had even had a clear phrase attached.
[Extremely Important! Do Not Open Carelessly!]
However, judging by the viewers' reactions when she transformed into it, and how Seung-Hyun panicked and immediately threw her out, it seemed that wasn't the case after all.
“Why throw me out when I didn't do anything wrong?”
Since she was beaten like a dog by Behemoth, her melancholy only seemed to grow. She sat on the edge of a cliff and watched the roiling sea beyond.
They had moved to an incredibly remote area. Only a very select few knew the place even existed, none of whom were people from Korea. In other words, there was no way the parasites could ever find Grace there, no matter how hard they searched.
The pure white beach, a rare sight in Korea, combined with the astonishingly transparent water made her want to swim immediately, but she didn't want to get up and move. It’d be too much work.
She mumbled to herself, “Alright. Look at the bright side. I'm here on vacation. Vacation! Seung-Hyun probably didn't mean anything bad by what he did, either.”
Giving her cheeks a few slaps to clear her head, she finally got up. She walked slowly toward the house where Seung-Hyun was staying.
A delicious smell wafted over, and she saw him happily grilling meat on an outdoor grill, talking sweetly with Si-Woo and Elysia. Once he spotted her, he cheerfully called, “Grace! Hurry up! I grilled a ton of pork shoulder, your favorite!”
The instant she heard it, her expression subtly changed. She was clearly feeling down just a moment before. Yet, she suddenly found herself in such a good mood that she even felt the urge to run over, hugging and clinging to him.
She couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from curling upward, and she giggled happily. “I'm coming! I'm coming!”
The anger she harbored melted away like snow. She knew she wasn't stupid enough to be won over by just barbeque.
‘This is because I like Seung-Hyun a lot!’
That was her own self-analysis.
“Seriously, why did you grill so much of it?” she asked him.
“You eat a lot,” he replied. “I have to grill a ton in order for the rest of us to even get a taste.”
Her smile deepened even as she chided him, “Hehehe. No, this is a waste...”
She was like a sulking child who suddenly lit up after receiving an unexpected gift.
Elysia, who had been affectionately chatting, quickly came over and smiled, putting some meat on her plate. “We have a lot more, so dig in.”
“Thanks!” She smiled brightly and picked up her chopsticks. “So, where are the mermaid and that damned whale?”
“So-Ya and Behemoth both left, but they said they'll be back tomorrow.”
“Hehehe. Doesn’t matter.” Just as she reached out her hand, she stopped. Her face suddenly scrunched up.
“What's wrong?”
“...Seung-Hyun. Wait.”
For some reason, Grace sensed something coming from Seung-Hyun that hadn't been there moments earlier.
Grace suddenly pounced and tackled Seung-Hyun to the ground, panting heavily. He shrieked, “Aah! What’s wrong with you?!”
Si-Woo yelled out, “What are you doing?! Seriously!”
“Grace!”
Si-Woo and Elysia also jumped up in surprise, but her expression stayed the same. She ebgan, “I didn't feel anything until just now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do I see it now? Seung-Hyun... why do you have one of those damned parasites inside your body?”
He frowned, as if he couldn't understand, but his annoyance didn't last long. Suddenly, his face turned terrifyingly cold, and he said, “I deliberately didn't take over his consciousness so you wouldn't notice. But you still caught me red handed?”
Her face twisted fiercely, shouting, “You bastard!”
At the same time, she activated her self-defense system almost instinctively, just as she did with Kouna before. Her arms turned into liquid-like slime and wrapped around Seung-Hyun, then extracted a small lump of flesh from inside his mouth.
Ssss.
The thing that looked like a parasite larva quickly burrowed into her body, as if trying to infect her.
The Slime Lord was the one thing that tempted the dagon parasite to parasitize it instinctively.
“Get lost!”
Just as Davey had predicted, the dagon parasite couldn’t infect Grace and was vaporized completely inside her.
Shockingly, no one had detected its presence before then. All infected entities except the original host could typically be detected if someone actively searched for them. Yet, no one had detected the dagon parasite inside Seung-Hyun.
That meant the dagon parasite inside him was either a special case, or could completely evade human detection whenever it chose to. In fact, Grace would never have noticed it either if it weren't for a partial ability she’d awakened as her feelings for Seung-Hyun grew stronger.
“How? How did this happen? We definitely tested him just in case, right?”
His infection status had clearly come back negative, yet he had in fact been infected.
Si-Woo could hardly believe it. “Don't tell me the dagon parasite is already on this uninhabited island...”
“No,” Grace argued. “That's not it. It was inside him from the start, ever since we met those bastards in Alfland.”
It had all been planned from the beginning. The parasite had been hiding all that time, taking advantage of human psychology to stimulate Grace’s affection.
“It must’ve been hiding all this time, concealed inside him without touching his consciousness. It couldn’t have been easy to pull off.”
The parasite's cunning, fueled by the human knowledge and memories it had stolen, was enough to send chills down everyone’s spine.
However, the question of why it had done such a thing still remained unanswered.
Elysia, her face pale, asked, “Why... why would it do that?”
“I wonder... if it wanted to trap Grace here,” Si-Woo suggested.
On the island, there would be no one else who could interfere with its plans. It most likely induced that situation where fewer personnel were around to avoid unnecessary conflict.
“But Behemoth is here...”
“Either it thought it could take control of Behemoth, or it didn't expect it to come to this... The important thing is that they know of this place now.”
Grace began to get extremely worked up thinking that the dirty parasite, which melted and disappeared inside her body, had messed with Seung-Hyun.
“Haaaah. Hah.” She became breathless, and her eyes turned bloodshot.
Si-Woo cautiously called out, “Grace?”
“Ah. Aaaah...”
She'd never lost so much control before, even when other things made her angry. She’d never had such a reaction even when she was beaten to death by Behemoth.
Grace felt an anxiety and rage so intense that it was like her mind would collapse just from the sight of Seung-Hyun lying still.
That stress gradually reached its peak.
At the same time, a large airplane flew overhead, and many figures began to descend rapidly toward the island.
“S-someone’s coming!”
Elysia, instinctively realizing that those were infected Awakened fighters, shoved Si-Woo and shouted, “Si-Woo, we have to escape!”
The uninhabited island they'd thought was the safest place had suddenly become a trap with no escape. The moment the dagon parasite discovered its location and slipped past the association's detection, it was no longer a safe haven.
Grace, weeping hysterically, desperately tried to grab the unconscious Seung-Hyun and escape the area.
Screeeech!!!
Kouna’s frantic voice echoed through the satellite radio.
- Are you there?! The parasites seem to have found your location! Even though Behemoth is there, hide yourselves, just in case!!
Alas, it was already too late.
That idiot Behemoth, thinking nothing was wrong, had taken off to slack off. The infected had seized that gap to make their descent.
A dozen or so diverse Awakened individuals quickly surrounded the four.
Si-Woo hopelessly muttered, “Looks like we’re screwed...”
Elysia, her face pale, put her hands together and prayed.
Grace, holding the motionless Seung-Hyun, sobbed and shook him.
Thud. Thud.
It was just then.
One of the Awakened strode toward the unconscious Seung-hyun, and Si-Woo instinctively stepped forward to stop them, but proved unable to halt their advance.
In reality, there was no one who could help them in that situation.
However, they all failed to notice the one person who was calmly watching this whole situation.
Standing next to a mermaid, he said, “She has to learn to leave the nest and fly on her own. How long can she expect her mother to push her out with her beak?”
“Isn’t... Isn’t that dangerous?”
The young man chuckled at the mermaid's question and shook his head. “Grace might seem unstable, but she's my masterpiece. My magnum opus. Those guys fell right into the trap.”
Davey smiled coldly.
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