Ch.126No Place to Work

Not only me, but all the construction workers at the city restoration sites are broke.

It’s only natural, since I’m affecting the entire city by preventing monster damage in advance.

“We don’t accept whatever superhuman registration card you’re talking about. What even is that? It’s not even a hero-exclusive card.”

“There’s 10 million won in this.”

“No, what do you expect me to do? Please stop… if you keep disrupting my business like this, I’m going to call a hero.”

Even my superhuman registration card from City A wasn’t accepted in City W.

A citizen who was eating a hot dog before I blocked the hot dog stand told me that the support policy for my superhuman registration card is something like a local currency.

What’s a local currency?

“There really is 10 million won in this.”

“I get it, so please just go… I already gave you one. I need to sell a lot right now. Please.”

The store owner begged with a voice that sounded like he might cry at any moment.

Since I kept standing in front of the store, they gave me one hot dog, and I was hoping they might give me more.

Reluctantly, I moved away from the front of the store after 30 minutes, feeling disappointed.

“Huh? What’s that, there’s a hot dog stand over there.”

“I was wondering where it went. That place is really good.”

“I already bought something else to eat.”

“W-wow. That person is seriously tall.”

“I guess we couldn’t see it because that person was blocking it… must be a superhuman?”

Lunchtime, people who came out from nearby companies to buy simple meals from food trucks in the park.

Those who belatedly discovered the hot dog stand leave the food truck area with food already in their hands.

I want to eat too.

This morning, I had already eaten food prepared by citizens, but I was hungry again.

Previously, I only consumed a lot of energy when I monsterized, but now I also use considerable energy to compress my body for humanization, so I’m hungry right after humanizing.

But I don’t want to go back to my Black Cat form and eat noisily again.

I want to eat something quietly, but I have no money…

Just then, I noticed citizens throwing away leftover food in the trash can.

Even in times like these, humans who will throw away food still throw it away.

I was thinking about rummaging through the trash can after a long time when—

“Mu, Mu-ryo siiir!”

A familiar voice jumped up and down in the crowd of the food truck area, waving her raised arm.

I reflexively perked up my cat ears once, then turned away from the trash can and approached Yu Hye-na.

Since people were surprised and stepped back just from my movement, it wasn’t difficult to approach Yu Hye-na.

“Yu Hye-na.”

“Huh… huh… where on earth have you been?! Do you know how worried I was?!”

“Hmm.”

Looking like she had been running from somewhere in a hurry, Yu Hye-na caught her breath in front of me.

There was a faint smell of blood coming from Yu Hye-na’s shoes.

“Did you scrape your foot?”

“Eh, ah?!”

“Oh, my goodness! What’s that?!”

When I grabbed Yu Hye-na’s waist with one hand like holding a flat liquor bottle and lifted her up, she was startled and opened her eyes wide.

While people walking by made surprised noises, I moved Yu Hye-na to a bench on the grass.

“Whoa! Kyaa! Wait, don’t lift me so much! Ah…”

“I’m jealous, her boyfriend must be a superhuman.”

“Did he just do that to seat her on the bench?”

“He’s way beyond just being a beast of a man.”

Yu Hye-na, who had been tightly pulling down her skirt, quieted down the moment she sat on the bench.

I crouched down in front of Yu Hye-na, who had her hand covering her rapidly beating heart.

The bench is too weak.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes… it’s been… a while…”

Yu Hye-na, who answered absentmindedly, fixed her disheveled hair by combing it with her hands while kicking her feet.

“I was worried because you haven’t been coming to eat free meals lately, but then I saw someone who looked like Mu-ryo suddenly appear from my company window… it really was you.”

“You were worried about me? Why?”

“Is, is it wrong to worry? Black Cat was away from City W for a while, monsters are appearing more and more, and you weren’t around, so naturally…”

“I see. No need to worry.”

“Really, you’re the same in so many ways. I suddenly feel drained.”

It seems she thought I might be dead since my human form hadn’t been seen at all at the soup kitchen I used to visit weekly.

Yu Hye-na, who glanced up at me awkwardly while I was crouched in front of her, spoke in a voice that tasted like cotton candy.

“But somehow, you seem to have gotten bigger… or is it my imagination?”

“I did get bigger.”

“Why did you grow so much…? Because of your ability?”

“People naturally grow when they eat well and sleep well.”

“No, that alone wouldn’t make you grow this much.”

Just as Yu Hye-na cut me off, a growling sound rumbled from my stomach.

“That animal-like growl from your stomach… are you hungry?”

“Hmm.”

When I nodded, Yu Hye-na sighed and rummaged through the small handbag hanging on her shoulder, taking out a card.

“You don’t have money either, right? Here. I’ll put some bandages on my feet, so please buy whatever you want to eat.”

“You’re a good woman.”

“Wait, if you say something like ‘yari-kiri’ while lifting me up here, I won’t give you the card.”

Unfortunately denied my yari-kiri, I turned my hand that was heading toward Yu Hye-na’s waist and held out my palm instead.

A little while later, I returned from circling the food truck area with my arms full of food.

I handed the card back to Yu Hye-na, then plopped down in front of her and started eating.

“…Were you that hungry?”

“Mmm-hmm-mmm.”

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

While I was eating, Yu Hye-na, who had put bandages on her heels and toes, wiped her hands with a wet tissue and approached me, picking up a slice of pizza.

Seeing her take food I hadn’t tasted yet, I grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“That’s mine.”

“I bought it for you, didn’t I?”

“That’s true.”

I took a big bite of the pizza and let go of Yu Hye-na’s wrist.

“It’s delicious. Eat.”

“Eh? Eh, eh…”

Yu Hye-na emitted a sweet, sticky scent along with emotions that popped like fizzy candy.

After eating the pizza while constantly glancing at me, Yu Hye-na hesitantly said:

“Um, Mu-ryo? By the way, you don’t have a phone, right? It’s not that you’re just not giving me your number?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Why not?”

I answered Yu Hye-na’s question while crunching chicken bones.

“I don’t need one.”

“But if you had one, we could contact each other. Then I wouldn’t have to worry like this time. And when you’re hungry, you could contact me, and I could buy you food.”

“Hmm?”

The offer to buy me free food whenever I contact her is quite tempting.

However, I don’t need to carry a phone just for that reason.

“Then can’t I just go to your company when I’m hungry?”

“Well, yes, but when I’m worried like this time, I can’t contact you.”

“Also, phones are expensive.”

In this monster era, I don’t know much, but the mechanical components in phones are said to have considerable value.

Even the cheapest phone would cost at least 50 bowls of rice soup for that useless object.

“Then… should I give you my old one?”

And even if all those issues were resolved, there’s one final problem that makes me not want to carry a phone.

I picked up an empty bottle and lightly squeezed it.

“Phones are too fragile.”

“Wow.”

With a crunch, the plastic bottle was completely compressed in my hand, becoming a small bead.

It’s obvious that even if someone gave me a complicated object like a phone, it wouldn’t last long.

Yu Hye-na received the bead from me and put it in her bag like a souvenir.

“I guess it can’t be helped then… When you don’t come to eat, please show yourself on the rooftop near my company sometimes. I get worried when you’re not visible for too long.”

“Understood.”

“By the way, Mu-ryo, are you really short on money?”

“I am.”

“Is it because of Black Cat?”

Yu Hye-na said that lately, many construction workers have been coming to the free meal center.

Just recently, the work that appeared while Black Cat was away was quickly handled, and after Black Cat returned, they became completely unemployed.

Nevertheless, the unemployed workers didn’t blame Black Cat.

Rather, they said it was good that they had no work.

“Still, everyone’s struggling to find new jobs. You don’t have a job either, right?”

“That’s right.”

Unemployed people due to the rapidly decreased monster damage… and I’m one of them.

What irony that there are people who can only make a living when monster damage occurs.

But I can’t deliberately create monster damage just for that.

“Hmm… all the construction workers are waiting for the giant cat tower construction project, but that hasn’t even started yet.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh, right. You don’t have a phone, do you? These days, there’s a vote on the City W government website for Black Cat convenience facilities. Originally, the Black Cat bed had the highest priority, and they were discussing what materials to use, but recently Black Cat reduced its size, right? So the cat tower… wait a moment? I’ll show you.”

A cat tower? Do these humans think I’ll use such a thing if they make it?

As I frowned, Yu Hye-na manipulated her phone and showed me what she called a bird’s-eye view of City W’s Black Cat cat tower.

Looking at the picture, it doesn’t seem bad.

“When will they build it?”

“Well, it’s still undecided. Everyone’s fighting over which district to build it in…”

“Fighting?”

“Everyone seems to want to see Black Cat in front of their own homes.”

“That would be noisy.”

I don’t like meal times because they’re noisy, and now there would be a place that’s noisy even when it’s not meal time.

My interest in the cat tower, which had been gradually rising, completely disappeared at once.

“Is there nowhere else to work besides making the cat tower?”

“I’m not sure? I think it would be good for you to try being a hero, but it’s a dangerous job… These days, there’s talk about sending City W heroes who are resting thanks to Black Cat to other cities. Ah! How about finding a part-time job?”

“Part-time job?”

I recalled the conversations about part-time jobs that the construction workers had mentioned.

Jobs that are easier than construction site work but pay less daily.

Plus, there’s no yari-kiri.

“I like yari-kiri.”

“Well, there’s no yari-kiri, but if you work at a convenience store, restaurant, or butcher shop, you can eat meals too. It might not be enough for you, but I think you could fill your stomach a bit.”

Yu Hye-na briefly explained the advantages of the part-time jobs she recommended to me.

Convenience stores have what they call discarded food, restaurants provide lunch and sometimes let you eat leftover food from customers if you want, and butcher shops let you freely take scraps of meat that are cut off during preparation.

“These are jobs preferred by people who have trouble getting even one meal. Since you’re physically strong, you might get hired right away at places like butcher shops where you need to move heavy things.”

Yu Hye-na manipulated her phone again on the spot.

When I moved closer to see the screen, it said “Job Search Board.”

“There happens to be a job opening at the convenience store in front of my company. Want to go together?”

“Good.”

I had almost finished my meal, so after throwing away the remaining packaging in the trash can, I returned to Yu Hye-na.

Unlike me, for whom the crowd naturally made way, Yu Hye-na was struggling to get through the people.

“These days, there are more pedestrians thanks to Black Cat… I wonder if we can make it within lunch break.”

“I’ll help.”

“Eh? Ah, what?!”

“Wow, look at that. That’s crazy.”

“What’s with that height? What kind of body is that.”

“Must be a superhuman.”

“Wow, wow… take a picture, take a picture.”

Hearing her worried voice, I grabbed Yu Hye-na’s waist with my hand and lifted her above my head.

As I pushed forward, people looked at us and stepped aside.

Outside the park, I put down Yu Hye-na, who was covering her face with both hands, and she opened her mouth after keeping it tightly shut, now a ball of shame emitting a spicy scent.

“Mu-ryo, I’m really embarrassed every time you do this…”

“Why?”

“Grabbing a woman’s waist, stomach like that… it’s not that you can’t do it… but at least say something, ask first.”

“Understood.”

I headed to the convenience store in front of her company with Yu Hye-na.

#

“No ID or phone? Then I can’t hire you even if it’s Oh Ha-na’s request.”

“What if I vouch for his identity instead?”

After visiting the convenience store that was looking for staff with Yu Hye-na, the store manager first demanded my ID.

Yu Hye-na offered to vouch for my identity, but the convenience store manager declined to even interview me, saying it was problematic.

“I can’t hire someone whose identity isn’t verified.”

“I do have an ID.”

“You have an ID?”

I took out my City A superhuman registration card from my pocket and held it out.

The convenience store manager’s expression completely distorted.

“What, you’re a City A thug? Think I’ll be intimidated because you’re a superhuman? Your rank is… A, A-rank…?”

With sticky hostility, the manager who had been clicking his tongue just at the form of the registration card blinked and changed his attitude when he saw the rank.

“Why would an A-rank superhuman look for a convenience store part-time job? Even if jobs are scarce, still.”

“Mu-ryo, you were a City A resident? Your name is… why is your name Park Deun-deun?”

“Park Deun-deun is also my name.”

Yu Hye-na and the manager blinked in disbelief at my answer.

Then, after hearing Yu Hye-na’s words, the manager cleared his throat and spoke more firmly.

“I’m sorry, but this definitely won’t work. From what I’m hearing now, Oh Ha-na, you don’t know much about this person either, do you?”

“He’s not a bad person, he even helped me against a robber.”

“Sure, since Oh Ha-na introduced him, he’s probably not a bad person. But… these days we don’t hire non-City W citizens. An outsider might be trying to get a job to settle in City W. Especially from City A? Absolutely not. They’re the worst of the Wae-ong Faction. Besides, if he were an ordinary person, I might consider it since he could be a refugee, but an A-rank superhuman? Why did you come to City W anyway? Suspicious.”

“What do you mean Wae-ong Faction, for such a joke-like reason from some community…”

“It’s not a joke to me. I can’t feed people who are trying to take our cat away. Now, outsiders, please leave. Our convenience store prohibits Wae-ong Faction members.”

The manager mentioned the strange term that Starlight had also mentioned and kicked Yu Hye-na and me out of the convenience store.

Outside the convenience store, I looked down at the bewildered Yu Hye-na and said:

“So they won’t hire without a City W resident certificate?”

“Sigh… everyone’s sensitive about the Black Cat issue these days.”