Ch.123It Belongs to W City

“Seriously… you’re not going to eat it?”

“What are you talking about! There’s no way Black Cat would eat food from A City but refuse food from W City!”

“This dish was made with the combined effort of everyone in W City! Black Cat!”

“I was cooking even during the monster alert just now! I put my life on the line for this dish! Eat up!”

“W-waoong…”

Unable to resist the pressure from W City’s citizens, I bit into the kebab in front of me.

With a slurp, I pulled out the skewer with my front paws and ate it, causing the citizens to move even more frantically.

“She’s eating! Feed her more!”

“Feed her everything!”

“The food is getting cold! Cook faster!”

“We need more heat! Fire-type heroes! Come help quickly!”

“What are the flying heroes doing! Hurry up and deliver the food!”

“Waoooong…!”

I was eating quickly to finish everything, but why was the food multiplying?

I howled for them to stop bringing more as I continued to devour the food.

I had always wanted to eat to my heart’s content in monster form, but not like this.

This wasn’t a meal anymore.

“Anyaongong…”

“Look, she’s lying down because she’s full.”

“Look how round her belly is.”

“Ha, did those A City bastards actually feed her or starve her?”

After finishing what must have been countless portions, I collapsed on the ground as I sensed the citizens’ anxiety gradually subsiding.

Surely they must be satisfied after feeding me this much.

Seeing my bloated belly, the hundreds of W City chefs slowed their pace and wiped their sweat with the towels around their necks.

“It was W City, not A City, that filled Black Cat’s belly!”

“Woooaaah!”

“Yaaay!”

The citizens who filled the park rejoiced as if they had defeated a giant monster as they watched me sprawled out on the grass.

Even Starlight, instead of calming the citizens, was shooting celebratory fireworks into the sky with her ability.

“But is it okay to use our food like this?”

“And this isn’t even lab-grown meat but actual livestock…”

“Everyone, please calm down.”

“Who cares! Do you want A City to take Black Cat from us?!”

“What? Are you part of the ‘Wae-ong’ faction?”

“Hey! There’s a ‘Wae’ here!”

“No! No! I’m not Wae! I swear!”

“Black Cat belongs only to W City! We must protect Black Cat at all costs!”

The frenzied feast ended with no one trying to stop it, and the park grew increasingly rowdy.

More and more citizens gathered in the park upon hearing that Black Cat had returned, joining those who had been huddled in the corner to avoid interfering with the chefs.

“Huh, senior?”

“Is this really okay?”

“Wait… this is too many people!”

As the crowd and commotion grew, the heroes who had been helping the chefs began to take flight one by one.

“What happened to crowd control? Where are the police?”

“The police are all coming here too!”

“What?!”

“Ahhh! Stop pushing!”

“Citizens! Please calm down! You shouldn’t gather in one area in such large numbers!”

“Is it safe to have this many people in one place? What about monsters?”

“We have Black Cat!”

The heroes began crowd control too late, but they couldn’t stop citizens from flooding into the park.

Doubt and anxiety, questions about whether Black Cat had truly become an Annihilation-rank monster, whether she was really in W City’s park.

Citizens gathered in one place to see with their own eyes, filling not just the park but also roads and buildings to capacity.

“Get out of your cars! Walk! What car is that anyway!”

“Please don’t climb on top of the police bus! You’ll get hurt!”

“Our company building is now open! Let’s welcome Black Cat who has returned to protect W City even after becoming an Annihilation-rank monster!”

“Our company is open too! Don’t stay dangerously on the roads, come view Black Cat from our building!”

“Isn’t that more dangerous?”

“All the heroes are here, so even if someone falls, Black Cat or the heroes will save them!”

As more and more citizens gathered, various drones and mini news helicopters flew above the park.

“Wow, this feels weird. I didn’t know W City had this many people.”

“Is that Black Cat? That black furball? She’s huge!”

“She’s Annihilation-rank! Of course she can grow bigger!”

“Citizens of W City! And you shameless citizens of A City! I’m reporting live from the park where Black Cat has returned! Can you see! Black Cat, who is lying down with a full belly, not on A City’s hard concrete rubble but on W City’s soft grass…!”

“Black Cat! How about some dessert! Chicken pudding! It’s a recipe I prepared just for you! I arrived late, but I’ll do my best to make it!”

“Black Cat! Black Cat!”

“Disperse! Please disperse!”

Phones thrust forward, flashes, spotlights shining from all directions, and the noise of drones flying overhead.

Despite heroes trying hard to send people away, not a single person left, and they kept moving closer to where I was.

The heroes hastily created barriers around me, and I was trapped by the surging crowd.

“You shouldn’t gather in one area in such large numbers!”

“Bwack Cat! It’s me! I’m stuck! Throw me a meatball! Eat a meatball! Bwack Cat!”

“Don’t push! Don’t push!”

“It’s dangerous! Don’t come closer!”

“If the full Black Cat rolls over, we’ll all be crushed!”

I had planned to take a nap with my full belly, but I got up to escape the approaching citizens.

This caused all the citizens’ emotions to boil over intensely.

“B-big…!”

“This is an Annihilation-rank?! She’s really huge!”

“Oh my! She just moved her front paw! Her paws are so big! Her toe beans are huge!”

“Black Cat has risen!”

“Waoooong!”

I howled for the citizens to back off and stretched out my wings that had been folded at my waist.

“Kyaaa! Black Cat’s cry is so cute!”

“Wings! She has wings! They’re huge!”

“The wind smells like Black Cat!”

“Almighty our kitty~ Spread wings of salvation~ Heaven’s land arrives~!”

“Ahhh! Stop pushing already!”

Some people turned up their music, children sitting on their parents’ shoulders threw food with all their might, and humans leaned against windows and railings of buildings as if they might fall at any moment.

This was the limit.

Woooong! As the uncontrolled core resonated, alarm systems throughout the city made strange noises: Beeeep! Keeeeek!

“Waaaah! What’s that sound?!”

“Kyaaaaa!”

“Is this what an Annihilation-rank alert sounds like?!”

With the sound of detection devices malfunctioning, I flapped my wings once and flew high into the sky, escaping to another location.

The people in the park below all shouted in unison.

“B-Black Cat…”

“No! Don’t gooooo!”

“Chase after her! Chase her!”

“Kyaaaaa! Kyaaaaa!”

The citizens moved en masse in the direction I flew.

“Calm down! Everyone, calm, calm down! Please!”

“Please! Calm dooooown!”

The heroes’ attempts at control were completely ineffective.

#

After the full Black Cat left W City park and lay down in the outskirts, in a closed-off area.

Some citizens who had gathered in this dangerous place near the fortress city’s outer wall, where no one would ever come without Black Cat, shouted with all their might toward the distant sleeping Black Cat.

“Black Caaaat! We’re sorry!”

“Come back to the city! Come sleep inside!”

“Eat! We’ll feed you! Come eat with us!”

Despite the citizens’ calls, Black Cat was sleeping far away, flicking her large ears.

And in W City, now filled with calmed citizens and an unprecedented number of injured people both major and minor.

While Black Cat slept, Yu Anna appeared at an official press conference and bowed deeply in apology.

“I sincerely apologize for not only failing to control the commotion in advance but for causing it in the first place…”

Announcement of injuries due to crowd control failure.

That day, approximately 6,000 people suffered injuries, both major and minor, from being pushed by the crowd.

This marked the highest casualty count from monster damage in W City in the past year.

[Should we call this a man-made disaster or what?]

[Went to see the giant Black Cat and broke my arm…]

[I’m bruised all over. Wow, first time I almost died from being pushed by people rather than monsters.]

[Being in danger of being crushed by a crowd, is this something that should happen in this day and age?]

This incident occurred because everyone who should have been controlling the citizens—police, military, and heroes—had all gathered to see the Annihilation-rank monster Black Cat.

“When I heard that A City was trying to take Black Cat away, I was momentarily blinded…”

Meanwhile, Starlight, who should have been controlling them, was grilling kebabs.

Such foolishness caused an accident that shouldn’t have happened, so she would surely be angry.

Yu Anna, feeling belated shame for her actions, announced countermeasures for this incident to everyone.

“To prevent this from happening again, W City’s military, police, and heroes have decided to constantly control citizens’ access to Black Cat.”

Currently, W City citizens are thirsting for the safety zone created by the powerful monster Black Cat.

Since completely controlling this is impossible, they will strictly regulate access within a 500-meter radius around Black Cat.

The only park in W City where the enlarged Black Cat can lie down will have limited entry.

Regarding these measures, none of the W City citizens watching the broadcast expressed any complaints.

[After seeing this incident, we definitely need some control!]

[Hahaha, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many people gathered like this.]

[The heroes did well, right?]

[As we’ve gotten used to the monster era, people have forgotten how scary crowds can be.]

[Who could have predicted something like this would happen in this day and age?]

[It’s a miracle that there were no deaths.]

[People survived because heroes flew around rescuing them one by one whenever someone raised their hand; it wouldn’t have been strange if there had been deaths from crushing.]

Thanks to the heroes’ busy rescue efforts, there were no fatalities.

Those who were injured were classified as monster damage victims due to Black Cat and received substantial insurance payments, and there were no injuries causing major physical impairment.

[The military and police did go to the park at first, but they tried to control the crowd when it got too large.]

[If we have to blame someone for this incident, it’s A City’s fault.]

[Isn’t it actually endearing that Starlight was grilling kebabs? She was desperate not to lose Black Cat.]

[If you think about it, her personally helping to grill meat for Black Cat was her putting W City citizens’ protection first, wasn’t it?]

This was an unusual situation where none of the injured, their families, or other citizens were angry about the incident.

Instead, people raised a different issue.

“Starlight, no one is blaming you right now. Kebabs? Whole pig barbecue? Without your help, could we have grilled all that meat to the proper doneness in time?”

“We don’t need apologies for the injured! All citizens agree with the access control measures for Black Cat! To avoid making Black Cat uncomfortable!”

“This happened because of anxiety that another city might take Black Cat away!”

“Let’s put past events behind us! What are you planning to do going forward?”

What should W City do to prevent Black Cat from being taken by other cities?

Various cities other than W City were boiling with excitement at the news that Black Cat, now an Annihilation-rank monster, could create a de facto safety zone.

[Share Black Cat!]

[The city with the most citizens should take Black Cat!]

[No! The most anxious city! Give Black Cat to the city with the highest unhappiness index!]

[The monster safety zone comes from the presence of the Annihilation-rank core! Let’s dissect Black Cat and share the core among cities!]

[What kind of crazy person is the one above? Damn, are you suggesting attacking Black Cat who’s just minding her own business?]

[Track that bastard’s citizen ID!]

[Bring Black Cat to B City! From today, B City will be Black Cat City!]

Just the day before, A City citizens had even broadcast themselves feeding Black Cat in real-time and declared they would take her away.

The issue that had been gradually surfacing since before Black Cat became an Annihilation-rank monster was now fully upon them.

“We can’t let her be taken away! Black Cat belongs to W City!”

“Excuse me…”

“Starlight! As W City’s proud Black Cat enthusiast, as a Black Cat otaku, what solution do you have?”

“W-wait, I’m not a Black Cat otaku…”

W City citizens united against the imminent threat of Black Cat being stolen.

“According to W City citizen polls, the most popular suggestions are: brushing Black Cat’s fur! Building a cat tower for Black Cat! Making a bed for Black Cat!”

“Wait, please.”

“As long as Black Cat is here, isn’t it possible to occupy and expand the closed areas? We need to expand our area like A City and designate a special Black Cat district!”

“We need chefs specialized in food that suits Black Cat’s taste! Currently, there are over 100 volunteers! The mayor of W City also supports this, what do you think?”

Yu Anna, overwhelmed by the increasingly loud journalists, banged on the press conference table.

“Please calm down!”

However, unlike before, the journalists didn’t quiet down at all.

Instead, they shouted even louder with veins popping on their foreheads.

“Is this the time to be calm?!”

“Even you, Starlight, can’t restrain Black Cat anymore!”

“If we do nothing, Black Cat will be taken from us!”