Ch.171171. Connection and Disconnection

“Hey, you can tell by watching me work, right? You’re a real talent, a real talent!”

“More like a human disaster…”

“Haha! Hey, Bine! Just yesterday, I was with my heaven-sent wife and my precious child, and they were like, ‘Dad! You’re home?’ And wow. Looking at their report cards, not a single bad grade! I hear they want to go to medical school.”

“Medical school, you say?”

“Yeah, medical school. Our daughter says she doesn’t want her dad to get sick. It feels like just yesterday she was bringing me candy in medicine envelopes from kindergarten. Well, if I’m going to pay for medical school, this dad needs to work harder, right?”

Mr. Kim took his empty coffee cup, spat into it thoroughly, then stubbed out his cigarette in it before leaving his seat.

“Phew. It’s not hard at all, Bine. Right? When you have family, and then they’re gone, you miss them. Yeah, you end up looking for them whenever things get tough.”

“…But I don’t have a family?”

“Ah, was that so? Sorry. I passed all my smarts to my daughter, and all I have left is my strength. Come on, let’s get back to work!”

“Ah, yes…”

“Oh, is it heavy? Should I carry it for you?”

“I think I might be stronger than you, sir?”

“Hooh… You want to test that, huh?”

“…Please don’t be competitive about such strange things. I’m a monster, you know. Even with this small body, I can exert strength completely different from normal humans.”

“Is that so? Still, I can’t lose to a kid your size!”

“Geez… You said you have a child. Please take care of your body.”

“Ha! Even getting health advice from a former villain! This construction worker has really lived a good life!”

“…”

Well.

Even with such pointless conversations.

I thought it was a decent enough job.

I worked there for quite a while.

Really, quite a while.

Just…

The problem was when a supervisor who only handled paperwork came to the construction site.

It became more of a problem when I learned he was an inspector.

And when he saw me there, he threw a fit about why there was a kid on the construction site and demanded I be sent away…

Then he stared straight into my eyes.

And said, isn’t that a villain?

How could they bring a villain onto the construction site?

This apartment is important to our company.

What would happen if the company found out a villain was building this apartment?

Who knows what a villain might do while making this apartment?

Maybe I planted bombs somewhere.

Or who knows what I might do during construction. How could they so easily let someone like me onto the site?

…

Without even looking properly.

Sigh.

“…I’ll leave quietly. Just give me today’s wages.”

“Is that all you’re worried about!? If the apartment value drops, how much will the prospective residents…! How much!!! No… I’ll be fired from the company…”

“I said I’ll leave quietly, come on. Neither of us benefits from making a scene. And about tampering with the construction site… the site manager has been watching me the whole time. Ask him. You wouldn’t believe me anyway. I’m going. Goodbye.”

…

It was nice being able to receive cash instead of a bank transfer.

Since I don’t have a bank account in the first place.

Well…

Sigh.

Even if I tried to make one, the banks would refuse me entry.

That’s why I needed cash.

So, after going around to several construction sites like that.

I ended up being banned from construction sites altogether.

Hmm…

How should I put it.

I guess they share some kind of blacklist.

Among the site managers.

Without some kind of connection, I shouldn’t have been caught in just one day.

Or I shouldn’t have heard from the manager that they don’t hire villains.

I was thinking about finding different work.

Like…

Warehouse work?

Loading and unloading packages?

When I went to try loading work.

Yeah, I went with my hat pulled down low.

I wasn’t kicked out.

But…

Well.

Getting paid was too complicated.

To get paid, I had to take off my hat.

And then, my identity.

Sigh.

In the end, I quit that loading job after a few days too.

Well, even if the bosses didn’t know, the other… part-timers.

Yes, those people.

If they discovered my identity, wouldn’t I get lynched?

Well…

If you ask whether I’ve been lynched before.

Even wearing a hat. I happened to go to that area once.

And unexpectedly, my hat came off.

…

I drew people’s attention.

Since I went there regularly, they must have figured out where I appeared from.

I got robbed by thugs.

People who realized I couldn’t fight back tried to use me as a punching bag, which I barely escaped from.

Phew.

So maybe that’s why.

I pulled my hood down deeper, tried to change my walking style.

Instead of always taking the same path, I created more than 10 different routes.

I was constantly mindful of such things every day.

Then, what the labor office manager recommended was.

Clinical trials.

First, I had to hide being a monster.

Since monsters and humans function very differently physically.

How could a monster like me participate in clinical trials?

First, as a human.

Not me, but someone else.

I applied for clinical trials using aliases and borrowed names.

Getting strange injections.

Taking some medicine.

Using these aliases and borrowed names, I applied for several clinical trials.

Well.

Some medicines don’t affect me anyway.

I didn’t think they would have any effect on me.

It seemed better than becoming what they call a prostitute.

Prostitute.

Yes, if I went as far as selling spring.

That…

That would feel like truly giving up on being human.

With this male mentality, it would be impossible to accept another man.

And…

If I were personally called to such a place.

What would happen to a famous former villain…

Hmm.

A famous former villain, plus the legal opportunity to embrace this body?

Just thinking about it, high-class gentlemen of this country would come flocking to explore the young monster’s body.

And then…

Sigh.

I’m tired of even imagining it further.

So, I offered my arm for clinical trials.

Rubbing my white forearm that had turned blue and swollen from so many injections.

Worried that others might see these eyes.

Anxious.

I got used to this life too.

I thought about ways to survive when money ran out.

Going to a food bank somewhere. Or getting free meals from welfare services.

I’ve been there, but.

It was hard to bear the contemptuous looks from the other beneficiaries.

Even if not contempt, the pitying gazes were too difficult to endure.

“How did such a young child end up like this?”

That kind of pity was too hard to bear.

Phew.

Mixing cornmeal with tap water to eat.

Mixing sugar with water… well.

I couldn’t go through garbage bins for food.

…

The recycling area or used clothing collection boxes often had useful things.

…

Sigh.

Yes.

So, well.

When work dried up.

I really went to the labor office.

Even clinical trials had what they called peak times.

Since I was participating in many at once.

When studies overlapped… sometimes I would meet the same people again.

Trying to avoid that.

When I was desperately out of money.

Really, truly out of money.

With no cornmeal or sugar left.

Living on just tap water.

So, I went to see the woman called Madam.

…

I didn’t expect to actually hear that there was demand even for a body like mine.

So I agreed to start working the next day.

I was going to spend the night at home, but.

…

Someone I hadn’t seen in a long time was standing there.

* * *

“Phew… Eden’s boss. So this is where you’ve been building your power.”

“…You’ve come looking for me again.”

“Of course. Anyone would think that a selfish being who wants to devour human society, build their power, and transcend should disappear.”

“And what you’ve brought with you… Ah. Is that Bine?”

“Yes. But… I don’t see Elise next to you?”

“I’m no longer interested in failures. I’m about to cross that wall soon. There’s no benefit in carrying such heavy baggage, is there?”

“…Is Bine like that too?”

“Well. An artificially created monster. If I take that power. It might help a little.”

…

“So, what are you going to do with Bine?”

“Absorb him. Become my nourishment.”

“…”

“You’re completely insane?”

“Bine, this is for the final realization of our Eden’s ideal.”

It’s getting hot.

Beyond warmth, it’s getting hot.

My heart is forcibly wanting to go to the boss.

Strangely so.

My body, my heart is strangely wanting to go to the boss.

My reason is trying to stop it.

I know this is strange.

“Your resistance is strong, Bine. Come to me willingly. This is our final journey.”

“Ugh…”

Like a string, like a heartstring, being pulled toward the boss.

Just like that.

Just like that…

“Where do you think you’re going!”

It was cut off.

This warmth.

This attraction.

Cut off by Blanc’s hand right in front of me.

I shouldn’t feel regret, but.

Nevertheless, I feel regret for that warmth.

The forced happiness rushing in.

The fear of being forcibly controlled by such things comes over me.

And as regret washes over me.

Blanc is protecting me.

…

That Blanc.

Blanc is.

Protecting me from the boss.

“Bine. Are you coming to your senses!? How about it! Do you really think this is heaven, paradise!?”

Ah.

Really…