Ch.122Experiencing This for the First Time

After my existence evolution, several changes occurred in my body.

First, the expansion and amplification of my senses.

The monster’s unique ability to detect emotions and memories of living beings greatly increased, and my physical senses like smell and sight became extremely sharp.

Second, the stabilization of my monster form.

My body, which originally could freely mix various monsters, has adapted to the Black Cat form.

A head that looks like a mix of tiger and leopard, claws closer to birds of prey than cats, wings folded tightly against my waist, and multiple tails.

Among these, if anything has changed from the original Black Cat form, it’s the mane.

Something like a lion’s fluffy mane has settled around my neck.

Now this appearance, the form called Black Cat, is completely my default form.

Bringing out the appearances of various monsters feels more like changing parts of my body.

I’ve become a monster named Black Cat, not Experiment CXI.

Third, something different from a monster core has formed in my head.

It reacts when I try to draw out my special ability, but I don’t know what it is.

It feels like I can’t properly control a part of my body.

I have an intuition that something wasn’t properly transmitted to me because I evolved while forcibly suppressing the monster’s instincts.

Finally, fourth.

My special ability and physical body have grown rapidly.

This is causing me serious problems right now.

Even though I can control my body into different forms, I’m constantly in this enormous form because of this.

I can’t properly control my physical and special ability power.

Just like when I was first released from the laboratory and struggled to get used to human form, I’m currently unable to adapt to my monster form.

It’s like suddenly using a ladle instead of the spoon I used to eat with—everything I do feels awkward and I can’t control the amount.

Even breathing a little deeply feels like my breath might blow people away, and the slightest mistake in my special ability output might cause earthquakes around the city.

I tried to adapt by catching monsters from a distance, but it’s still not working well.

Monsters I tried to cleanly behead with spatial cutting had their entire bodies explode, and ones I tried to burn were liquefied by heat similar to Yu Anna’s ability.

This output control problem has been troubling me continuously since my existence evolution.

This form consumes energy so quickly that I get hungry very fast.

I want to change back to human form, which only requires about 300 people’s worth of food daily to maintain, but I can’t manage it.

If my original human form felt like suppressing the monster core in a human body and neatly organizing monster cells and tissues inside, now there’s an excessive amount of things to organize.

If before it was like simply filling a pot, now it’s like trying to force everything into a pressure cooker.

And if I fail at humanization, I become something that’s neither monster nor human.

“…It’s not working well.”

Late at night after dinner time, on my way to W City after confirming that Electris was bringing Meister.

Worried I’d remain in giant cat form if I returned to W City like this, I attempted humanization in a closed area.

The result was a furry cat monster-human about twice my human size.

Unlike Gu Seo-ryong or Sa Gu-gu’s monsterization, it’s closer to a monster form.

Gu Seo-ryong burst into laughter seeing me with my cat ears twitching.

“Ahahahaha! That’s right! Humanization is difficult, I told you!”

“Don’t laugh.”

Gu Seo-ryong and Sa Gu-gu, who were staying in the closed area to avoid heroes’ eyes, followed me when they saw me leaving A City.

Looking at my hands and concentrating, I managed to make them human hands.

But only briefly—as they became covered in fur again, Sa Gu-gu, who was dozing with her head peeking out from Gu Seo-ryong’s shadow, mumbled.

It’s already Sa Gu-gu’s bedtime.

“Umyamya… brother became stupid… worse than Sa Gu-gu…”

“Our Deun-deun, should sister give you some medicine to help with humanization?”

“Do you think something like that would work on me?”

“Hmm… I guess not, since you’re Annihilation-rank.”

Finally giving up on complete humanization for now, I tried to maintain my cat-human state as much as possible while talking with Gu Seo-ryong.

“So, how does it feel to be Annihilation-rank?”

“Not particularly good.”

“Oh my, not feeling good about becoming stronger?”

“My monster instincts have grown as strong as I have.”

“That must be annoying. Is that why you asked humans for food? To try to fill your stomach a bit?”

“Mm.”

Monster instincts—the murderous intent and appetite toward humans.

To suppress these much stronger urges, I needed to keep my stomach filled somehow.

Before leaving A City, citizens suddenly gave me lots of food, so I can manage for now… but if I stay in this giant form, it’s obvious I won’t be able to handle my own appetite.

“But something seems unexpected.”

“What do you mean suddenly?”

“I thought the laboratory’s purpose might be creating Annihilation-rank monsters. But seeing you actually become one, I don’t think that’s it.”

“Explain.”

“You say you’re Annihilation-rank now, but you don’t seem much different from when you were Despair-rank? You’re just stronger, nothing special.”

She’s right—I’m definitely stronger than before, but that’s all for now.

“If the laboratory’s goal was simply to control strong monsters as their own power, making several obedient Despair-rank monsters like Sa Gu-gu by breaking part of their minds would be enough. But Sa Gu-gu is considered a failure. E55 and several Despair-rank monsters were also disposed of as failures.”

“E55 and the experiments released in A City were all in uncontrollable states.”

“Right, but it doesn’t seem like they labeled monsters as failures just because they wouldn’t obey?”

“Why not?”

“If they called them failures and disposed of them simply for disobedience, why would the laboratory keep you captive for so long?”

“Hmm…”

In other words, the laboratory’s ultimate goal isn’t creating strong monsters for their own use.

“I think you were an experiment close to the laboratory’s goal, a failure that was almost a success? They tried to fill in some small error, then gave up.”

“Are you saying their goal is Annihilation-rank?”

“More precisely, a monster that meets some special purpose… I thought that standard might be at the Annihilation-rank level. Even at the laboratory, you were different from other Despair-ranks and closest to Annihilation-rank, right? So I thought Annihilation-rank monsters might have something different, and creating that was their goal.”

“But you don’t sense anything special about me.”

“Right, you’re just a monster much stronger than Despair-rank, that’s all.”

“That’s not true.”

I pointed to where the new organ had formed in my head after becoming Annihilation-rank.

“Something that wasn’t there when I was Despair-rank has appeared in my head.”

“Something appeared? What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“…We can’t dissect you either. Okay, we might not know what it is, but my theory could be right.”

However, even if the laboratory’s ultimate goal was creating Annihilation-rank monsters, we can’t know why they wanted to create them without understanding what formed in my head.

“That’s as far as our deduction goes—thinking more won’t tell us anything right now. You should try to figure out what that thing in your head is. I need to find the city where the next laboratory might be, according to the researcher’s memories…”

“Are you going right away?”

“I’d like to, but you’re too conspicuous now to use as a safety measure like last time. I tried to keep Cage alive to divert the laboratory’s attention, but he collapsed. If I go alone and a bunch of Despair-ranks appear again, I could die, so for now I’ll just move secretly in the background to find out exactly which city has a laboratory.”

And when she finds the location, she’ll call me to destroy the laboratory.

“Thanks to you, I luckily got the master code, so investigation shouldn’t be difficult.”

“The master code.”

I recalled A City citizens talking about losing the master code.

“Return the code to A City.”

“No. I’ll use the code to find the laboratory. I finally have a way to search city records without leaving traces—if I return it, they’ll immediately change all access codes. It’ll make finding the laboratory harder.”

“I see.”

“Meister went to A City, right? They’ll figure out food, city restoration, and system usage somehow. If it seems really necessary, I’ll return it as you wish later.”

Well, I guess it can’t be helped.

A City isn’t completely without food, so there shouldn’t be any problems doing as Gu Seo-ryong says.

After finishing our conversation, Gu Seo-ryong looked over my body with a strange gaze, slowly and stickily.

“Hmm…”

“What is it?”

“Nothing, you promised when I helped the monster, right? That you’d let me pet your belly and head later. Will you still let me do that in your current form?”

“What are you talking about?”

“In that form, I wonder which part is your belly…”

“That’s enough.”

Feeling discomfort at Gu Seo-ryong’s gaze slowly moving downward, I gave her a cold stare, and she flicked her tongue in disappointment.

“Well, see you later. Practice hard with that strange thing in your head and your humanization. Oh, don’t forget to let me pet you. Preferably when Gu-gu is asleep.”

“You mean now?”

“Oh? Not now. I’m tired today, so I’ll pet you thoroughly later. Gu-gu? Let’s go home and sleep.”

“Myaoaong…”

Gu Seo-ryong pulled Sa Gu-gu, who was dozing in her shadow, and carried her on her back before entering W City.

After Gu Seo-ryong disappeared avoiding surveillance cameras, I also walked toward W City.

Despite the late hour, lights were brightly lit throughout W City.

Heroes flying through the air—Starlight is busy flying around even though she just returned.

Sensing monsters hiding here and there in W City, I transformed back into monster form and made my core resonate loudly.

Beyond my suddenly elevated view, I could see W City.

The special ability wavelength that A City used multiple heroes to spread throughout the city to prevent weak monsters from approaching.

The moment I imitated that extermination method, monsters hiding in the city began hurriedly escaping.

“Black Cat! Why are you so late!”

“Uongo?”

At that moment, Starlight, visible in the distance, changed direction and flew toward me.

I could sense her surprise and anxiety, gradually turning into relief.

“No, I’m absolutely not angry. You know that, right? It’s just that you’re late! All the W City citizens were worried, and now, haaa…!”

[What are they worried about?]

“J-just follow me, and be careful not to step on the city.”

Puzzled, I spread my wings and floated up.

As we flew a little into the city, windows of lit buildings suddenly opened.

“It’s Black Cat!”

“Black Cat!”

“Kitty!”

Following the direction I was flying, W City citizens hurriedly came out of buildings and followed in cars and bicycles.

Starlight, glowing in front of me, guided me to W City’s largest park.

There, considerable anxiety was rising thickly.

“B-Black Cat…!”

“Black Cat is here!”

“Damn! Those A City bastards said he wouldn’t come, but he did!”

“Everyone! Black Cat is here! Black Cat is here!”

“Wooooah!”

“Waaaaaah!”

Just as with Yu Anna, the citizens’ anxiety instantly changed to relief, and loud cheers echoed throughout the city.

Wondering what was happening, I blinked and landed in one corner of the park, understanding the situation by listening to the citizens’ conversations.

“What do you mean they stole Black Cat! W City has so many delicious things!”

“Turn on the broadcast! Show those shameless A City people that Black Cat belongs to W City!”

“Just because he went for a little walk! What do they mean he turned toward A City! Delusional patients! Spreading their imagination as truth…!”

Apparently, after A City broadcast me eating food, they were saying I wasn’t coming to W City because I was returning to A City while practicing humanization.

The anxiety overflowing throughout W City until just now was because of that.

Then, Yu Anna approached me holding what looked like meat skewers—kebab sticks—in both hands.

“B-Black Cat! Look at this! Kebab! Kebab! You like this, right!”

“U-unnie? Calm down a bit.”

“Do I look calm?! I said I’d go help right away, but as soon as I left my post, Black Cat, Black Cat…! What are you doing! Quickly pour the sauce!”

“Haaa…”

Right behind her, Yu Hye-na came with a pot full of sauce suitable for kebabs, sighing as she splashed it on with a ladle, making the kebabs smell delicious.

Then heroes busily moved various dishes from buildings all around and flew them to me.

“Black Cat! How about some soup with rice? I’ll bring you a whole pot!”

“Pork cutlets! I fried 300 servings! I believed you would come!”

“Two whole roasted pigs! Heroes, what are you doing! Move them right now!”

“Take a third one too!”

“U-uongoo…”

Having already eaten 8,000 servings in A City and feeling quite full, I cried helplessly at the dishes piling up in front of me.

This was the first time since becoming a monster that I wasn’t happy to see food piling up before me.

Feeling pressured by the W City citizens’ expectant looks urging me to eat, I thought:

I’d rather… they give this to me tomorrow…