Monster Taming Broadcast

In the distant past, an ancient labyrinth.

In the deep darkness of a cave, a being woke up.

His name was Psycho Clown.

Having just been born, the clown wandered aimlessly through the maze-like labyrinth without knowing the reason for his existence.

As he grew consciousness alone and adapted to the labyrinth, one day.

[Kirik?]

[Kirik?]

[Who are you?]

[You tell me, who are you?]

[I am me.]

[So am I.]

[Got it. Kirik.]

[Kirik.]

By chance, he encountered another being that looked exactly like him.

That being’s name was also Psycho Clown.

It was the first kin he had ever met.

From that day on, the two were together.

They hunted together, shared meals, and even shared sleeping spaces.

As some time passed.

Just when their friendship started to blossom.

An unexpected tragedy struck the clowns.

A monster they couldn’t possibly handle, even when they combined their strengths.

They encountered a creature far too powerful.

The clowns unleashed their psychic abilities and barely succeeded in escaping, but one of them received a fatal injury in the process.

The wound was such that it wouldn’t be strange if life left him at any moment.

The clown couldn’t stop his tears as he looked at his dying friend.

[Kirik… Don’t die…]

The death of a precious one.

For the still young clown, it was a pain far too great, and it was an experience too hard to bear.

[…………]

In the endlessly flowing clear tears.

The other clown, standing on the threshold of death, struggled to move his body.

[Here, take this…]

He offered a part of his own body.

[Use our ability on this… here…]

[Kirik…?]

A psychic ability that prevents decay.

He was told to use it on this body.

[Even if I die, my body will always be by your side. That way, you won’t be alone…]

They were too young to understand.

That the psychic ability preventing decay was linked to the owner of the body and their life.

If the owner of the body died.

The preserved body would decay, that was a fact.

[…Even in death, I’ll always be by your side—]

Thunk.

He couldn’t finish his words and closed his eyes.

[Kiriiiiiik!!!]

The first friend of the clown breathed his last.

In that moment, the clown wept loudly.

Though their bond was short, the sorrow was deep and intense.

*

After the friend’s death, a while later.

[Kirik? Nowhere! Nowhere!!]

The clown began to rummage through his temporary hideout like a rat.

The reason he was doing this was simple.

His first preserved specimen and his friend’s keepsake was nowhere to be found.

Of course, the keepsake of his friend was right where it always was.

It had simply decayed along with its lifeless owner.

The clown lifted the decayed body and shook his head violently in denial.

[This isn’t it!!!]

He screamed in anguish.

This wasn’t his friend, he insisted.

[Hah, hah… This isn’t it…]

After sobbing for a while and getting exhausted.

The clown panted and muttered quietly.

[I’ve lost it… I can’t lose it… I must retrieve everything… again…]

From this day forward.

The clown developed a habit of collecting and preserving the bodies of other creatures.

*

The preserved specimens held special meaning for the clown.

They reminded him of his lost friend.

And brought him comfort that he was not alone.

However.

As many years passed, those memories began to fade.

The existence of his friend.

The bond with his friend.

The short but joyful memories.

As he continued to explore deeper into the labyrinth and faced countless dangers and shocking experiences, the clown started to forget many parts of his past.

Even the purpose of his collecting began to fade away.

Only the habit of collecting remained, devoid of meaning.

After that.

More years passed again.

Yet the clown could not make new friends.

Everyone avoided the insane weirdo with a hobby of stealing and preserving other people’s bodies.

Nevertheless, the clown did not stop collecting.

He continued to cut and steal the bodies of other creatures, preserving them day by day.

It was the only way to soothe his loneliness, and he didn’t know any other method.

But that was no longer the case.

After meeting Labyrinth Explorer Kang Geon.

Becoming friends through the bond they formed.

Establishing strong friendships with other monsters as well.

He learned other ways to appease his loneliness.

He was happy.

He never knew that being with so many friends could be this blissful.

He hoped this happiness would last forever.

But misfortune once again came without warning.

While subduing and taming a monster, the clown was suddenly cursed by the monster’s desperate struggle.

And instinctively, he realized.

He couldn’t escape this curse.

He couldn’t run from death.

The realization that he could no longer live was despairing.

It was frightening and terrifying.

He didn’t want to die.

He didn’t want to part from his friends.

………

But at the same time, he felt relief.

That it was he who took on this curse.

The comfort that Kang Geon and the other friends were safe brought him solace.

It was rather a good outcome; if he hadn’t fallen under the curse, perhaps one of his friends might have someday.

His sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain.

He had blocked a potential danger lurking in the labyrinth with his own life.

He would slowly decide to accept this death.

And before dying.

He wanted to hold Kang Geon’s hand one last time.

Trapped within the mushy jelly of a mush-room, the clown squeezed out the remaining strength and reached out for Kang Geon.

Kang Geon willingly took his hand.

It was warm.

With Kang Geon’s touch, the fear of death vanished.

The clown closed his eyes gently, satisfied.

Thinking it was now time to leave.

As the clown sank into the swamp of death.

Black substances began to pour from his body and envelop him entirely.

*

*

*

In the process of evolution.

Deep within the clown’s blurry consciousness, forgotten memories slowly revived.

The meeting with his first friend.

The explorations with his friend.

Memories flooded in until his last moments.

As the origins of that bizarre habit and the memory of his lost companion sharpened, the clown recalled that his actions were expressions of longing and a means to soothe his loneliness.

When he realized that he no longer needed that bizarre hobby.

In the evolution process, the curse disappeared.

The clown’s body began to slowly reconstruct over time.

「Astral Code (Fox-777) intervention has occurred.」

「Evolution to Astral Code (Demon-4444) has been canceled.」

「Evolution to Astral Code (Human-4404) will resume.」

「Starting evolution to Astral Code (Demon-4445).」

………

「Synthesis ability has been added.」

*

Day 38 in the labyrinth.

The Psycho Clown had awakened.

To be precise, he had completed his evolution and emerged from the black egg.

[Pururu]—Look at that freaky appearance. That’s just savage.

[Yumi]—It’s scary…

[Rize Nova]—It only looks cool, so why are you scared?

[Mysticism]—

[Mysticism]—Just looking at the face makes it seem invincible…

[Boglebogle]—Wow. An SS-Class was born so easily. Truly amazing.

The curse of decay, which even the clown’s psychic abilities could not do anything about, had vanished.

After completing the evolution, it felt like part of his body was still rotting, so at first, he thought the curse was still present, but fortunately, it turned out to just be a physical characteristic.

Upon closer inspection, it was not rotting at all.

The evolved clown was now at Danger Level A-Class.

The actual danger level was SS-Class, and he could use all the psychic abilities he had before.

The newly added ability was the power to raise the dead.

Note that this is far from resurrection.

Think of it like controlling corpses similar to a necromancer.

Of course, he’s not your typical necromancer.

He used threads to control the corpses.

Just like puppets.

The threads connect the corpse to him, making it impossible for others to interfere with it.

The threads can be made visible to others or kept hidden as desired.

Additionally.

While the corpses are soulless puppets, they still have a semblance of self.

They retain all their memories from their living days.

The one who just woke up.

[We meet, my master! Yohoho!]

Just like the Curse Devil Gentleman.

[Pururu]—That bastard was resurrected!

[Mysticism]—So, is he our subordinate now?

[Rize Nova]—For now, let’s punch him since it’s annoying.

As mentioned earlier, puppets lack a soul.

They have memories but aren’t the same beings they used to be.

Puppets do not recognize the memories of their past lives as their own; it feels as if they are peering into someone else’s memories.

They have a sense of self, but they are lifeless beings without a soul.

A somewhat ambiguous existence that is difficult to call a corpse.

To me, it was a completely new concept of a life form.

[Gauntlet. There are other possibilities.]

“Other possibilities?”

The evolved clown nodded and shifted his gaze to the Curse Devil.

[You, die again.]

[Yohoho… ]

The thread connecting him to the Curse Devil snapped.

As a result, the Curse Devil’s body crumbled into pieces.

The evolved clown surveyed the surroundings, then appeared to detect something as he waved his hand lightly.

In an instant, bones buried underground rose up from the earth and floated in the air.

[It’s also possible to combine several into one.]

The bones crumbled and began to intermingle with what had once been the Curse Devil.

Before long,

[Yohoho!]

The Curse Devil was resurrected as a puppet again.

In a slightly different form from before.

It seemed like a power to merge multiple corpses into one.

I spent quite some time confirming the abilities of the evolved clown before returning to the hideout to catalog it, deciding to give it the name.

■Necro Puppetmaster

─Actual Danger Level: SS-Class.

─Current (Nerfed) Danger Level: A-Class.

─Ability: Psychic Ability / Puppet Corpse Control / Corpse Synthesis

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