Ch.11It Was Delicious

Yu Anna flew toward the monster and attacked with both feet.

Her super-accelerated drop kick tore away part of the monster’s body with its powerful physical force and shockwave.

Seizing the slightest opening, Yu Anna immediately grabbed the corpse the monster had been mauling and escaped.

Heroes, who risk leaving nothing behind if defeated by monsters, try their best to recover each other’s remains.

It’s a sign of mutual respect, even if only a chest and right arm remained…

At that moment, Lee Han-yeong’s right hand opened, and something fell out.

Yu Anna reflexively caught what he had been clutching even after death, recognized it as the mandatory micro-cam that heroes wear in button form, and slipped it into her pocket.

In that instant, the Despair-rank monster rushed past her at a terrifying speed.

Startled by its nearly imperceptible velocity, Yu Anna raised both hands to block the attack.

This caused her to lose her grip on the corpse, allowing the monster to snatch Lee Han-yeong’s remains.

“Ah…!”

As if mocking Yu Anna, the monster bit Lee Han-yeong’s arm in midair and shook its head.

The remaining upper body tore away and fell, which Yu Anna caught and carefully placed on a nearby building.

Rage boiled within her.

This was indeed a monster, humanity’s enemy.

What nonsense that such a thing could protect humans.

“Grrrr…grrrr…”

The sound of bones being crushed by molars. Yu Anna took a stance facing the monster, which had stopped on the rooftop of the opposite building and was glaring at her.

“Hoooooo…”

She assumed the position from which she could launch herself most quickly—the energy from the infinite solar furnace burning endlessly in her heart, ready to be unleashed as she charged forward.

Yu Anna’s most powerful technique against monsters, her ultimate move named Flare Drive.

“Die, aaaaaahhhhh!”

The human bullet shot forward at light speed, creating a sonic boom as it struck the monster.

But the monster ignored Yu Anna and plunged toward the ground.

Literally into the ground, as if sinking.

That was an ability Yu Anna recognized from memory.

Lee Han-yeong’s special ability, Floating.

One of the most highly regarded superpowers among the rescue heroes, allowing one to sink below ground level and escape.

It had stolen this from Lee Han-yeong.

“That’s not an ability you’re allowed to have…”

Her anger, having reached its limit, burst through all boundaries and ignited her superpower.

Human Sun—Yu Anna began drilling into the ground, spinning the powerful heat waves enveloping her entire body like a drill.

“Don’t use the power meant to save humans to escape, you bastaaaaard!”

This monster—she would definitely kill it this time.

Having already won one pursuit on the surface, Yu Anna began a desperate underground chase.

A Despair-rank monster versus an S-rank hero.

The human champion capable of facing a Despair-rank alone and the monster said to be able to destroy an entire city by itself.

They tore through the underground of W City, leaving it in complete chaos.

#

[…I apologize for letting the Despair-rank monster escape.]

In a ramen shop in one of the intact areas of the devastated downtown.

I was eating ramen while listening to the TV.

According to the news, the battle scars left by the recent fight between a Despair-rank monster and an S-rank hero were enormous.

They say an entire district was completely destroyed, though fortunately the shelter where citizens had evacuated suffered no damage.

The surviving citizens emerged from the shelter to face their ruined city, and now they were making the hero apologize in front of cameras.

The destroyed district, particularly the underground portion, had completely melted down, necessitating extensive foundation work for some time.

Well, people these days are used to quickly relocating and resettling anyway.

Even with property damage, they can somehow recover as long as there’s no loss of life.

[Was it really a Despair-rank monster? According to hero communications, two Despair-ranks were fighting! Does this make any sense? Only one district was destroyed!]

In fact, other cities were spreading conspiracy theories that it couldn’t have been a Despair-rank battle if only one district was damaged, suggesting it must have been just Disaster-rank monsters.

If four Disaster-rank monsters had been rampaging, the claim that heroes had contained them to minimize damage would be convincing, but two Despair-ranks and two Disaster-ranks with only one district destroyed?

This defied common sense.

[Ms. Yu Anna, you’re an S-rank, right? Were you just venting your anger on that district?]

[Most of the destruction was caused by heat-related superpowers! According to previous reports, the Despair-ranks code-named Code 0 and Code alpha had lightning and wind abilities, didn’t they?]

[Please explain, Ms. Yu Anna!]

[The monster you mentioned, Black Cat, is currently protecting humans! Weren’t you just provoking the monster and increasing the damage?]

“Slurrrrrp!”

I sucked in ramen noodles while watching the news with interest.

Everyone else in the shop was also eating ramen and whispering about Yu Anna.

Then, Yu Anna slammed the table to get everyone’s attention and turned on a large TV that had been prepared beside her.

[Let me repeat: what was there was indeed a Despair-rank. However, it’s a special case.]

Yu Anna displayed graphs comparing the wave patterns recorded during previous Despair-rank appearances with those recorded by the warning system this time.

Then she showed several videos—footage of me, posts that had appeared on social media.

Images of a giant black panther being filmed while doing nothing despite being close to people, followed by footage of other monsters that had similarly appeared docile.

[Citizens tend to forget the purpose of monsters after a short time, but some monsters possess high intelligence and deceive humans to hunt more prey.]

“Oh, shit…”

“Ugh…”

“Slurrrrrp!”

What followed was a shocking scene that killed everyone’s appetite—a festival of blood and entrails spraying everywhere as monsters rampaged.

For me, it was no different than watching a cooking show while eating, so I slurped up my noodles without issue, but the people around me turned away from the TV.

[The currently observed Despair-rank also appears to hunt in the same manner, and given its abnormal behavior, I believed it would pose a great danger if not dealt with quickly. That’s why I didn’t give up the pursuit, which unfortunately spread the damage. But! If things continue as they are, W City could truly disappear at the hands of a single monster!]

Yu Anna then showed footage of me transforming from a phoenix to a tiger form, and showed everyone the scene of me tearing apart Lee Han-yeong’s corpse.

[This monster is a shapeshifter that can transform into forms humans find appealing. Hero Lee Han-yeong has already been hunted! How long must we endure this? Humans falling prey to such simple deception by monsters!]

Her cry filled with indignation silenced all the hostile public opinion, as the noisy reporters fell quiet before Yu Anna’s persuasive appeal.

[I apologize once again for the extended pursuit caused by my frustration and determination to deal with the threat. However, I urge citizens to quickly abandon the mistaken notion that this monster is harmless. It won’t be long before it reaches its limit in suppressing its instincts for a bigger harvest. Black Cat will soon pounce on humans.]

Finally, Yu Anna promised that heroes would also help with city reconstruction, bowed, and left.

Heroes have it tough too—she looked very tired.

But… why Black Cat?

I’m not a cat.

“Oh man… this is bad… So it’s confirmed that a Despair-rank is in W City…”

“They say it’s showing abnormal behavior, so it might stay quiet for a while… but should we move to another city?”

Everyone in the ramen shop was murmuring.

I, the only one focused on eating, picked up a dumpling and thought.

Hmm, this really is a great dumpling place… this crispness, the juice… truly delicious.

…Beer was supposed to be delicious too, they said.

“Two beers, please.”

“Two beers, sir?”

“And another order of dumplings.”

“Um… you really do have money, right?”

I nodded and patted my pants pocket to show the waiter, who was blinking in surprise that I was still sitting and eating.

He seemed worried I might eat and run because I’d ordered so much food.

To be fair, I’d already eaten 10 bowls of ramen and 22 plates of dumplings.

Sorry, but I have free dumpling coupons and money.

Even if I were broke, I could certainly pay for 10 bowls of ramen.

“Here are your beers, sir!”

“Mm.”

I drank one beer as soon as it arrived, but left the other untouched beside me.

After a moment, I wondered if I should drink that one too, so I drank them both.

The beer everyone said was so delicious… wasn’t tasty at all.

What taste do people enjoy in alcohol?

Starting to feel full, I ordered one last plate of dumplings.

I’d become extremely hungry after sustaining injuries while confronting Yu Anna to eat Lee Han-yeong’s hands.

But that was a promise I made to a dying human, so I had to keep it.

Having finally satisfied my hunger, I took out all the bills and coupons from my pocket, handed them to the waiter, and stood up.

“Check, please.”

“Sir?! W-wait a moment!”

The waiter urgently called me back as he was counting the money I’d given him.

I turned around to see what was wrong, and the waiter held up the free dumpling coupon, pointing at the fine print on the back.

“The coupon is for one plate of dumplings each, sir…?”

“Hmm…?”

That means… I ate 23 plates of dumplings, and with two coupons subtracted, that’s 21 plates…

I don’t have enough money.

“…Do you have any dishes that need washing?”

“No?”

“Anything heavy that needs moving?”

“Sir…?”

This is bad. I scratched my face in embarrassment.

No choice—I carefully pushed people aside and fled toward the exit.

“S-sir?! Sir!”

“I’ll put it on my tab.”

“Hey! Hey you! Th-thief! Stop him!”

“I’ll definitely pay you back!”

Now I had another place to return to with money, besides the ramen shop.

When I earn money someday, I’ll definitely come back and pay.

I carefully pushed through the crowd and disappeared into the mass of people.