Ch.128Park Refugee

“The man who laughed at the mention of the Wae-ong Faction moved again after hearing the notification sound from his phone.

“Well, I need to go for my next delivery. Let’s meet again on the road sometime. And then, give me some money if you can.”

“Try giving it to me if you can.”

“Scary…”

After the man I’d been friendly with at the construction site left, I remained alone in the park, thinking.

Everyone seems to be living well enough.

While I felt relieved about that, I noticed the cardboard box houses that had appeared in the corner of the park.

Suddenly, a question came to mind.

People who can’t find proper jobs, called the Wae-ong Faction.

How do those people manage to eat and survive?

#

“Hey, over there.”

“A superhuman…”

Curious, I went to find the humans living in tents and box houses built in a corner of the park.

Everyone immediately became wary upon seeing me. When I touched and collapsed a pile of boxes they were looking at, they approached with fierce eyes.

“Who are you? Demolition crew?”

“Even if it’s cardboard, this is a home! According to emergency shelter housing law, refugee protection law…”

“This is a home?”

I’ve slept on the streets before, but I never built anything this interesting.

Finding the cardboard boxes fascinating, I squeezed my body into one of them.

Just from that, the small house was completely destroyed.

“Filthy W City bastards, trying to destroy our homes again!”

“Everyone gather! It’s the demolition crew!”

“This is fun.”

“Stop breaking them! You jerk!”

While I was breaking more boxes due to an irresistible urge, one of the humans threw a glass bottle at my head.

With a click, I caught the bottle and, feeling some contents still inside, I twisted off the cap and drank what was left.

“Eek?”

“It is a superhuman! Enhancement type!”

“It’s the demolition crew!”

“It was alcohol.”

Of all things, tasteless alcohol—I really don’t understand why humans like this stuff.

After spitting out the alcohol, I threw the glass bottle into a trash can far away, then asked the humans who looked like beggars.

“How do you manage to eat and live in W City?”

“W-what! We can’t leave this place, there’s water here, and electricity! Food too! We have the right to use at least that much…!”

“Water and food? Are you digging through the park trash cans?”

“Y-yes! It’s discarded food, isn’t it!”

As a human pointed a sharply broken wooden stick at me while shouting, I recalled a nostalgic time.

“If you like alcohol, I recommend the park next to this one. There are many middle-aged humans drinking by the stream there, so you’ll find plenty of alcohol and side dishes.”

“What?”

“If you like snacks, go to the park in the apartment complex where there are many children. You’ll find dropped candies and snacks there.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Still, parks like this have a good variety of food. I understand. Hmm, hot dogs today.”

After saying that, I rummaged through a nearby trash can, and the humans who had been wary of me gradually put down their weapons.

“W-what? He’s a beggar? With that build?”

“Looking at him now, a hero wouldn’t walk around wearing just pants like that. He’s even barefoot.”

“So there are humans in W City who live by digging through trash cans too…”

“Ha, how good must life be in W City that even a beggar has a body like that?”

“A superhuman beggar…”

I pulled out a half-eaten hot dog from the trash, discarded the soiled bread and vegetables, extracted just the sausage, and approached the water fountain.

If I wash it with water, I can eat it.

As I was about to eat the sausage, people approached and grabbed my arm.

“Hey, are you thinking of eating that as is? Give it here.”

“It’s mine.”

“I know.”

Curious about what they were going to do, I followed their instructions. The man brought out a small frying pan and some strange metal plate from his box house.

“What is this?”

“It’s heated by sunlight. Wait three minutes.”

“Interesting.”

After cutting off the part someone else had eaten, the man sprinkled ketchup from his pocket onto the sausage that had been warmed by the sunlight.

I took the restored sausage and ate it.

Delicious.

“He’s a W City citizen. Do we have to go that far?”

“What citizen? He’s just a beggar digging through trash cans, same as us—just another hungry person.”

“That’s true, but…”

“If you’re hungry, follow me. I haven’t received my rations today either. I’ll share some with you.”

“Rations?”

“You’re going to share your rations?”

“Just my portion. I’m full because I luckily found and ate a whole pizza today.”

“Well, in that case…”

The man gestured for me to follow him.

Among the wary people, the man led me to a small warehouse building located in the center of the cardboard box houses.

Around it, several superhumans had set up sturdy tents, distinct from the cardboard houses.

“What’s going on? Who is this? A superhuman?”

“Nothing special. Just here to get some rations.”

“Wait, which city is he from? We weren’t notified about more superhumans coming.”

“Is he an undercover W City hero?”

The superhumans, now highly suspicious of me, emitted faint ability waves to call others.

“He’s a W City beggar. I found him digging through trash cans.”

“Why bring a W City beggar here? And this is supposed to be a beggar? That’s ridiculous.”

“Wait, I’ll check now.”

One of them held a phone up to my face to scan for identification information.

“He’s not a W City hero?”

“What? Check against other city records too.”

“Wait, found it. A City A-rank superhuman, Park Deun-deun?”

“A-rank?”

“If he’s from A City…”

After searching for my information that was registered when I became a superhuman in A City, they looked at each other, then suddenly approached me with broad smiles.

“So A City sent someone after all! And an A-rank at that!”

“Yeah, no one wants to take Black Cat away more than those A City bastards!”

“Park Deun-deun, truly solid as your name suggests. Is that an alias? Can’t be your real name, right?”

“Let’s get along well, we’re in the same boat!”

“Hmm.”

Same boat? There seems to be another misunderstanding.

However, when they offered me food, I decided not to correct their misunderstanding.

“Eat up, these are things we bought cheaply at today’s market.”

“W-wait, he’s just a W City beggar…”

“I’m not a beggar.”

“Ha, I knew it. Did you approach us disguised as a beggar? That’s clever.”

“True, we came in too openly as superhumans and now we’re being monitored by W City people.”

“That’s A City for you.”

“Hey, you came for rations, right? This is today’s portion.”

“Ah…um…”

The superhumans, thinking I was an A-rank superhuman from A City, completely dropped their guard and opened the warehouse building behind them.

Inside what appeared to be a storage facility for park cleaning equipment, there were stacks of canned goods and other long-term preservation foods.

“What are those foods?”

“Huh? Supplies.”

“Supplies?”

“Don’t tell me A City didn’t mention they’d provide supplies?”

“Well, A City’s situation is a bit difficult right now.”

“Still, sending an A-rank superhuman in that situation shows effort.”

“Ha, I was hoping we might get to eat some fish.”

“What are supplies?”

“Wait… you don’t even know that?”

After sending away the man who had brought me here, the superhumans explained about the supplies.

The canned goods stacked in the warehouse were provisions sent by the governments of each city for the heroes they had dispatched here.

They said that whenever goods enter W City, these supplies are smuggled in together, ensuring that heroes sent from each city don’t go hungry.

“Originally, everyone came to find work in W City, but with this Wae-ong Faction thing, we couldn’t get jobs.”

“When the situation became known, each city started sending supplies, but only for superhumans like us.”

“Citizens who snuck into W City on their own have nothing to eat, so they dig through trash cans.”

“So superhumans don’t go hungry.”

“Even without A City supplies, you won’t starve. We’ve agreed to help each other with food issues since we’re in the same situation. Since Black Cat became Annihilation-rank, markets have been opening.”

“Getting this much food at that price is a miracle.”

The superhumans raised their drinks and pointed to a refrigerator next to the tent.

“With the activity support money from A City, don’t buy anything else, just food when the market opens…”

“I don’t have money.”

“What? Wait, A City doesn’t give you money either? Did they really just send one A-rank superhuman?”

“With the situation as it is, I guess they had no choice.”

“Our city doesn’t give us money either, telling us to manage on our own.”

The superhumans sitting around me all sighed in unison.

“If it weren’t for this Wae-ong Faction thing or whatever, we could at least work and worry less about money.”

“This is all because you G City people kept saying Black Cat should be dissected.”

“No, it’s because those E City idiots got caught doing sabotage.”

“What’s sabotage?”

“Well, it’s a plan to make Black Cat hate W City citizens by poisoning its food, so E City could take it in. Of course, it didn’t work well.”

“I see.”

When I was still a Despair-rank monster, sometimes food with special seasonings was thrown into my mouth.

“It was a stupid thing to do. Now that Black Cat has become Annihilation-rank, everyone could die if something goes wrong, so they stopped doing such things…”

“These days, are they getting W City community accounts to manipulate public opinion on the Black Cat Mom Cafe?”

“E City’s methods are too extreme.”

“B City is no better. What’s with the ‘offering living sacrifices’ thing?”

“Black Cat is still a monster, right? Even if it pretends not to eat, if we offer food behind the scenes, it’ll eat it happily.”

“It’s because of claims like that that you’re called Wae-ong Faction…”

“What?”

As the conversation grew louder, I quietly got up and moved under a tree.

“This is all because you…”

“I told you to follow B City’s instructions.”

“Listen to yourself, talking about instructions, you C-rank nobody.”

“Demolition crew! It’s the demolition crew!”

Just then, a human came running across the grass from the direction of the box houses, shouting.

Immediately, the superhumans who had been arguing with scowls on their faces all jumped up and ran out.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s the W City demolition crew! Stop eating and follow me! If we leave them alone, it’ll cause trouble!”

I picked up three slices of pizza in each hand and followed slowly.

At the outskirts of the refugee tent area centered around the warehouse, where the box houses made by citizens from outside were located.

Police officers who hadn’t been there until just now were removing the box houses.

Among the police, a familiar face stepped forward in front of the refugees and spoke.

“Now, now, everyone, please don’t come at us with those weapons. We’re not armed either.”

“Liar! You’ve positioned snipers up there!”

“No, what police would position snipers to chase away beggars… Yes, here, removing illegal dwellings, clearing shelter evacuation route obstructions?”

“That’s my home! Don’t destroy it!”

“We’re not destroying, just moving them… Don’t build cardboard houses here, okay? This is difficult, every time… Hey, don’t crush that box! It’s someone’s home~!”

Outsiders holding frying pans and kitchen knives in both hands were warily watching the police force of dozens, while the police, showing signs of exasperation, were moving the box houses carefully.

When one officer accidentally collapsed a box house while trying to move it without crushing it, the outsiders all shouted at once.

“That’s a violation of the Refugee Protection Act!”

“Are police allowed to do this?!”

“This is our territory!”

“It’s not your territory, it’s W City’s administrative district. This is illegal occupation~ As I’ve said many times, this isn’t a residence but a park that all citizens need to use.”

“We’re just staying temporarily! Are you saying even that’s not allowed?!”

“Yeah, once we liberate Black Cat…!”

“Yes, yes, I understand, but please help move the boxes or step aside. If boxes block the evacuation route, it’ll be a disaster when a monster appears.”

“Monsters don’t even appear in W City! Thanks to Black Cat!”

“They haven’t appeared lately. Have you ever seen someone remove fire extinguishers just because fires don’t happen often?”

“Let’s stop here, officer.”

As the park refugees and police confronted each other, operatives spread their ability waves and stepped forward in front of the refugees.

The police officer looked troubled and grabbed the radio on his chest.

“Um… should I call for backup?”

“That won’t be necessary. We don’t want a confrontation either.”

“We apologize that our citizens extended into the evacuation route. However, please don’t move things directly like this. We’d appreciate it if you called us to handle it.”

“They’re our citizens, so we’ll take care of it ourselves.”

“I’ve told you many times that’s a dangerous statement, haven’t I?”

This time, the police and superhumans from other cities cautiously exchanged words while eyeing each other.

“If you come to W City, you should follow W City laws. It’s problematic when you keep talking as if you have extraterritorial rights.”

“Follow the law?! You’re the ones violating the Refugee Protection Act!”

“You selfish bastards, trying to keep Black Cat’s protection all to yourselves!”

“Are you saying we’re not even people?!”

“Wait, you all need to quiet—”

“If you keep this up, next time it might not be me but heroes who come—”

At that moment, the police officer’s gaze turned toward me.

With pizza in my mouth, I waved at the police officer I hadn’t seen in a long time from among the refugees.

The surprised officer opened his eyes wide and pointed at me.

“What are you doing over there?!”