Ch.111E55

# Enhanced Translation

Indeed, I was late.

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“Uh…?”

At the scene where Cage and Yeo Un-jae stood, security lights dotted the dark night sky.

Everyone was shocked—both the soldiers being pushed back by the superhumans and the superhumans pushing them.

In the humid air that couldn’t be masked even by gunpowder and the smell of blood, no one noticed me landing on a nearby building, as they were all too stunned by the sight before them.

“Cough…!”

Cage’s special ability melted away like snow as Yeo Un-jae’s sharpened hand pierced through his chest like a spear, impaling his heart.

Splash! After pulling out his hand, Yeo Un-jae looked down at his blood-soaked hand as red waves radiated from him.

And slowly, he began to regain his senses.

“Ho-young…?”

Bewilderment, shock, and the inner feelings of a monster perceived through monster senses.

Regret, confusion, despair—Yeo Un-jae’s inner turmoil was evident as he looked down at Cage who had collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.

He hadn’t meant to kill him.

Thump, thump—the sound of his heartbeat was gradually becoming less human.

“Cage, sir…?”

“Teacher?”

“St-stay away…”

Yeo Un-jae’s gaze turned toward the superhumans and soldiers who were frozen in disbelief as he noticed something wrong with his body.

Boom! As another intense wave spread out, changes began to manifest in Yeo Un-jae’s body.

“Everyone! Get away from me…!!”

Unable to finish his sentence, Yeo Un-jae’s eyes rolled back, and he stood frozen in place.

The superhumans and humans remained motionless, unable to comprehend the situation.

Before them, Yeo Un-jae’s neck slowly turned, bending almost 120 degrees.

“…Teacher Un-jae?”

“Ah…”

Yeo Un-jae let out a dazed, weak sound.

I was the only one who understood what was happening inside him at this moment.

The pill from the laboratory given to Yeo Un-jae—a stimulant containing dormant monster cells.

The researcher hiding in A City had handed over the medication along with a single red pill.

False information claiming it would restore his previous powers for three minutes at the cost of severe side effects.

“Aah…?”

The moment the monster core took over Yeo Un-jae’s entire body, having entered a nest already prepared for it.

The roots of his gray hair turned brown, and his pupils lost their human form.

His hands thickened with wrinkles, his black nails sharpened to points, and his prosthetic hand fell off as a new hand regenerated.

The monster core had completely taken over his heart.

“My, my arm…”

“It grew back…?”

The researcher’s memories being digested within me revealed the name of the monster just born.

Experiment Code E55.

A triple number given according to the tradition that began after I, CXI, was created.

The greatest monster of the 5th generation, made from the strongest superhuman of the previous era.

“Ah, ah~? Hmm…”

The newly born monster casually began walking in the direction Cage had been heading.

None of the superhumans, soldiers, or anyone else present tried to stop those footsteps.

The respected superhuman Yeo Un-jae had killed Cage.

Confusion and fear paralyzed the minds of those who had lost Cage as their pillar of support.

“Teacher Un-jaaaae!”

At that moment, one superhuman dropped down in front of Yeo Un-jae.

“What have you done to Cage, sir!”

“You are…”

As Yeo Un-jae stopped and blinked at the superhuman.

His hand pierced through the superhuman’s head.

“A villain, I see.”

Bang! A shockwave erupted from the hand that had penetrated the head.

Fragments of flesh and skull scattered like shotgun pellets, striking soldiers and superhumans.

Soldiers fell, and superhumans were gripped by fear as blood and flesh splattered over their bodies.

Silent stillness—the wave of chaos that had been churning beneath the surface now rose above it.

“Ah…aaaaaaah!”

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Y-Yeo Un-jae has gone mad!”

Perhaps due to his reputation as the strongest superhuman of the previous era, the superhumans who witnessed one of their own burst apart so easily didn’t even think of fighting Yeo Un-jae and instead created distance.

And, perhaps thinking that Yeo Un-jae who had stopped Cage might be on their side, the soldiers didn’t flee but desperately shouted while aiming their guns.

“Move aside.”

“Q-Quake, sir! This area is currently restricted…!”

At those words, Yeo Un-jae raised his hand to swing it down but suddenly stopped and trembled.

Realizing his body wasn’t obeying him, he frowned and raised his other hand that was still functioning properly.

Ping! A thin blade-like energy leaked from the monster’s fingertips and swept toward the soldiers’ heads, killing about ten of them.

“Uh, uwaaaaah!”

“Run away!”

I was quietly observing the scene, contemplating.

From a human perspective, Yeo Un-jae could only be seen as having gone insane.

And even from a monster’s perspective, something seemed off.

Yeo Un-jae didn’t attack all the superhumans, nor did he kill all the soldiers.

He only killed some of them and didn’t try to devour them.

He even engaged in conversation, albeit briefly.

This wasn’t normal monster behavior.

Even his form remained close to human, like Gu Seo-ryong.

The researcher’s memories in my head suggested the possibility of E55’s awakening failure.

Yeo Un-jae’s consciousness might still be fighting the monster core.

If by some chance Yeo Un-jae overcame the monster core, he could retain a human mind in a monster’s body.

That would be the worst outcome for the researchers.

If possible, I didn’t want to fight Yeo Un-jae.

Not because I had grown fond of him or liked him as a human.

It was the wariness that came from a monster’s instinct.

This monster was not an easy opponent.

Thud, thud—footsteps echoed in the corridor leading underground.

Yeo Un-jae continued into the empty government building.

As if he had a goal in mind, Yeo Un-jae suddenly stopped in the hallway.

“I remember now. You’re the one with that funny name.”

Flinch—I had been following in monster form with my presence completely concealed, but I stopped behind Yeo Un-jae who had somehow noticed me.

How did he detect me when not even Starlight could find me when I deliberately hid, without even spreading ability waves?

“Now that I listen, your heartbeat sounds strange. Are you really human?”

Screech—the sound of feet dragging on the ground.

From his movement and words, I realized how Yeo Un-jae had detected me.

Enhanced monster senses added to his shock control ability—the subtle vibrations through the ground detected by his feet.

He had identified me by the sound of my monster core moving.

Before Yeo Un-jae could turn around, I transformed into human form and stood before him.

“Yeo Un-jae.”

“Why are you here?”

“…Are you human?”

“That’s what I want to ask. What exactly are you?”

Yeo Un-jae, who suspected me of being a monster, wiggled his newly formed hand.

His pupils dilated—the quiet killing intent of a predator eyeing its prey.

I couldn’t tell if he was still maintaining his humanity or if he had already been consumed.

“Ignore the instinct.”

“Instinct?”

“The monster’s instinct, I mean.”

“Hmm…”

In case some human consciousness remained.

Yeo Un-jae lowered his raised claws after I gave him advice that might help.

Turning his back to me, Yeo Un-jae sighed like a human and said:

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’d prefer if you didn’t follow me.”

“Where are you going?”

As I followed Yeo Un-jae who continued walking with heavy steps, he glanced back at me and answered:

“I’ve thought this before, but you don’t listen to others. Seeing you do as you please reminds me of my daughter.”

“You mean Yeo-ryeong.”

“You remember my daughter? Yes, Yeo-ryeong. She was a very stubborn child.”

Memories of his daughter, deep affection and regret.

A fragment of humanity? Or like moisture remaining on hands just pulled from water, were human memories and emotions leaking out because he had only recently become a monster?

“If you’re going to follow, would you keep me company?”

“…I will.”

Yeo Un-jae continued to speak with glimpses of humanity as he headed toward the deepest part of the building.

“Yeo-ryeong, that child grew up so kind despite me doing nothing for her as a father… She was talking about marrying that boy Jeong Ho-young, and then she died.”

“Y-Yeo Un-jae…?”

“Why, Cage?”

Along the way, Yeo Un-jae passed by superhumans who appeared to have entered earlier without harming them.

“Jeong Ho-young, that boy wasn’t wrong about anything. I killed Yeo-ryeong, along with the incompetent politicians and citizens who wouldn’t listen.”

At the end of the corridor, a massive door appeared.

Made of the same material as shelters, but with visibly greater thickness, the door was secured with gear-shaped locks.

“Nevertheless, I believed that for us awakened ones to remain human, we had to follow human laws. Punishment and anger should follow human timing and human rules, to ensure innocent people don’t get hurt.”

Yeo Un-jae flattened his hand into a blade and swung it in a circle, cleanly cutting through the gear-shaped locks.

The monster core’s heartbeat pounded loudly as his ability manifested.

This wasn’t Yeo Un-jae’s original ability.

“But you know…”

Thunk—Yeo Un-jae drove his claws into the massive door and tossed it aside like peeling off wrapping paper. The door flew sideways and embedded itself in the wall.

Behind the door opened by monster strength.

High-ranking officials from A City, particularly corrupt ones according to the researcher’s memories, were huddled together.

“Y-Yeo Un-jae?!”

“I don’t understand why I thought these creatures shouldn’t be killed.”

“What…?”

Yeo Un-jae used his ability against the throats of the humans who had momentarily felt relief upon seeing it wasn’t Cage who had opened the door.

An ability that manifested only briefly, just when needed.

I belatedly realized its nature.

It was wind.

Thinly drawn, sharp wind.

“Why should I care about the suffering of others?”

Those whose heads were severed precisely at eye level dropped with thuds.

According to the researcher’s memories, these people before us deserved to die.

I didn’t care at all about the deaths of those I would have bitten to death myself given the chance.

“What does it matter if the master code is lost and citizens are put in danger?”

The only thing I cared about was one fact.

What remained in Yeo Un-jae wasn’t humanity.

This was hunting that resembled play, unrelated to hunger.

He killed what he wanted to kill.

There was only an order to it.

Like biting the necks of prey that might escape first.

“Everyone will die anyway.”

As Yeo Un-jae’s body, which had dealt with those he most wanted to kill, began to pulse more strongly with the human remnants in the monster core.

Maintaining human form until now had been a disguise.

To reach this place without interference.

Just as I sensed Yeo Un-jae as a formidable monster, he had been sensing me too.

He hadn’t killed all the soldiers and superhumans because he was wary of me.

Just as I hadn’t rashly pounced on him, he hadn’t shown me any openings.

Because of my attempt at conversation, he had noticed I was hesitating to attack after seeing his humanity.

So he had disguised himself to avoid losing his prey to me.

“You deceived me.”

At my words, the corners of Yeo Un-jae’s mouth turned up.

His body swelled as fur sprouted all over.

Yeo Un-jae, now with a bear-like physique, swung his arm with grotesquely enlarged eyes flashing.

Long feathers extending below his wrists—blades that cut through the wind.

The sharp slash deeply cut into my body.

“Grrrr…!”

The moment I regenerated my wound while monsterizing, Yeo Un-jae, now fully transformed into a monster, kicked off the ground and shot toward the ceiling in that brief opening.

The steel frame burst with the intense impact, and the monster that had erupted from underground through the thick foundation basked in the moonlight.

As the owl-like monster spread its wings, the resonance of the monster core spread in a circle.

And far away.

Monster cores across the city resonated in response.

The researcher’s memories belatedly flashed through my mind.

The monsters that had disappeared from the laboratory were hidden throughout the city.

Their number: five.

All of them Despair-rank.