Ch.2Delicious

This should be enough.

After fleeing and evading pursuit for a while, I deactivated my monsterization once I could no longer sense any heroes nearby.

The unpleasant sensation of returning to human form, the hunger that rumbled loudly in my stomach without having tasted blood.

“Phew…”

Back in my original form, the first thing I checked was whether my pants and necklace were intact.

Given how enormous the monster I’d transformed into was, they should have been destroyed, but both were fine.

Perhaps it was because I unconsciously wished they wouldn’t break when I transformed.

Monster abilities ignore the laws of the world, causing phenomena that defy physical reality.

Though I hadn’t intentionally protected them, I was relieved and only then noticed my bare upper body.

This can’t be helped, I thought, now barefoot and shirtless with only firefighter pants on. I checked my pockets.

Fortunately, the money in my pants was still there, completely intact.

If I transform into a monster again, everything except these pants and necklace will be torn away.

If I could control my ability in detail, it might be different, but I don’t know how to do that.

I have vague memories of being made to do various things in the laboratory, but I never thought about controlling monster abilities.

“I’m hungry…”

A side effect of monsterization—endless hunger squeezes my stomach.

From a monster’s perspective, monsters are always hungry.

They constantly suffer from the desire to eat humans and the urge to become stronger.

As if that were a monster’s very reason for existing.

Perhaps because of this, even after returning to human form, the hunger remains.

Wanting to fill my stomach quickly, I heightened my already sensitive senses.

I detected the smell of food in the distance, and as I walked, I found a convenience store by the roadside.

Standing in front of the store, I couldn’t bring myself to open the glass door, which seemed like it was made of sugar art.

Noticing me completely blocking the entrance, the clerk frowned and opened the door.

“Um… customer? What are you doing?”

“…Here.”

Carefully, so as not to crumple or tear the cash, I took it out and dropped it on the floor.

The clerk hadn’t accepted it from me.

“Food, anything that matches the price.”

“…Sigh.”

The clerk seemed momentarily angered by my outrageous rudeness but closed his mouth after looking up at my body.

He took out several triangle kimbap, some fried foods, and a hot dog, placing them in my hands.

As I nodded and turned away, the convenience store clerk closed the door and muttered.

“Damn… what a troublemaker… Come again!”

When I glanced back, he quickly bowed his head in greeting.

I felt a little sorry, but I didn’t know how to apologize properly, so I went outside and ate the food.

“Hmm…?”

Is this what they call something that doesn’t even register with your liver?

But… it was surprisingly delicious.

Especially the hot dog… bread, sausage, ketchup and mustard—were they always this tasty?

The taste was on a completely different level from the mysterious porridge filled with various drugs.

At that moment, amidst the endless emptiness I felt, a purpose emerged.

I want to eat something delicious.

Something delicious, excluding humans.

For that, I need money.

“Money…”

What kind of work do I need to do to earn money?

Having no experience whatsoever, I didn’t know what job I should do.

Perhaps I could work part-time like the convenience store clerk I just met.

But… whatever job I did, I had a major problem.

A monster’s body—before activating the monster core, it’s just slightly stronger than an ordinary human’s body, but by human standards, that “slightly” is quite severe.

Even now, it feels like walking on ice; only metal has enough hardness to feel like a cookie to me.

Could I find a job to earn money with this body?

To begin with, could I live as a human among people?

I know myself that it’s impossible.

Even at this moment, the delicious smell of humans in the distance makes the monster’s senses drool.

If I were to work, I’d frequently come into physical contact with humans.

I’m not confident I could avoid crushing those cookie-like beings that bump into me.

I am no longer human.

—

“So what I’m asking is, why did a Despair-rank monster appear there in the first place?”

Inside the Monster Countermeasure Office in W City.

The high-ranking heroes gathered here were all clutching their heads at the thunderbolt news.

Despair-rank—a classification where abandoning an entire city is considered wiser than fighting if one appears.

Such a monster had appeared in W City and then fled.

“I mean… why would a Despair-rank run away? Is it really Despair-rank? Isn’t the equipment malfunctioning?”

“Its escape ability was definitely Despair-rank. No matter how much we chased, we couldn’t get closer.”

“Excuse me, this is no time for jokes.”

Most heroes gathered here were those who had rushed to the cemetery after the emergency call, along with W City’s most powerful forces.

They were sharing eyewitness information and trying to formulate countermeasures against this powerful monster.

But no matter how much they discussed, they couldn’t reach a conclusion.

There was confusion about whether the monster that appeared was truly Despair-rank.

“I don’t understand… the cemetery isn’t even densely populated enough for a Despair-rank to appear…”

“I’m telling you, the equipment malfunctioned.”

“Even if it’s not Despair-rank, seeing how easily it killed a Homicide-rank, it must be at least Disaster-rank, but theoretically it doesn’t make sense for one to appear in an area with that population density.”

“Do monsters follow theory when deciding where to go?”

“Still, it doesn’t make sense that a monster of that level would appear and then run away without doing anything.”

The behavior of the Despair-rank monster, temporarily designated Code 0, made no sense at all.

Its form was beast-like, and it was clearly running on the ground when it fled, so it wasn’t a gaseous or energy-based entity that could transform to move.

With monster detection sensors installed in all areas now, beast-type monsters are the easiest to track.

Yet why wasn’t there even a slight reaction on sensors in other areas when it appeared, and why couldn’t it be detected anywhere after it disappeared?

It couldn’t have fallen from the sky, and if it could fly, it would have flown away rather than running.

The form recorded through the cameras attached to heroes’ bodies was also completely unprecedented.

Its ability was like Thunder Tiger, a new species of monster, and it was hiding somewhere in W City.

They needed to find and eliminate it or issue an evacuation order, but this monster hadn’t caused any damage so far.

This point was leaving the heroes in a maze of confusion.

“Has there ever been a case of a monster not attacking humans?”

“No, all monsters attack humans.”

“Any special cases? Most monsters are transformed animals, right? Like one raised in a zoo?”

“Even in old records, when a lifelong pet dog monsterized, it immediately ate its owner. Attacking humans is a monster’s instinct.”

“Then why did this one run away without fighting? If it were truly Despair-rank, it would have killed all of them instantly.”

“I’m telling you it’s not Despair-rank! The equipment malfunctioned.”

The hero who kept repeating the same denial about the Despair-rank monster wasn’t being helpful, but the other heroes were desperately hoping he was right.

However, the equipment had correctly detected the Earth Dragons that appeared just before the Despair-rank monster.

So it’s difficult to attribute this to equipment malfunction… If that’s the case, the conclusion is truly, literally desperate.

“A new species, a special entity…”

Some monsters, those that exceed a certain level, show unusual behavior patterns beyond monster instincts.

Like the Sky Fortune Dragon that roams the sky, the Eight-Jade Nine-tailed Fox that builds shrines in forests and doesn’t come out, and Draken that floats on the sea surface.

These monsters are all Annihilation-rank, so… perhaps the new species observed is a monster with one foot between Despair-rank and Annihilation-rank.

“We have no countermeasures we can implement now… We can’t evacuate all W City citizens to other cities.”

Humans are food for monsters, and a mass exodus of that food can trigger erratic behavior in monsters.

Moreover, if they evacuate and the monster has already migrated to another city, they’d essentially be feeding humans to the monster’s jaws.

With the temporary Code 0, the Despair-rank monster currently quiet… W City can do nothing.

“Report to the higher-ups and maintain a hotline in the reporting system for a while. If Code 0 appears, it’s top priority.”

Top priority means that even if monsters appear in other areas, they must abandon those areas and come here.

A danger that could cause such massive damage that they’d have to leave monsters rampaging and devouring humans in another area.

That was what a Despair-rank monster meant.

The heroes all sighed after hearing the decision from the W City mayor and government officials.

And among them, a woman with fiery hair buried her head on the desk and said:

“Sigh… I won’t be getting any sleep from now on…”

With the Despair-rank monster having disappeared, she was destined to remain on 24-hour standby until the monster appeared again.

Yu Anna, the strongest S-rank hero in W City.

She was the only one in this city who could face a Despair-rank monster alone.

—

On the surface, W City appeared normal despite some high-ranking heroes heightening their vigilance.

But perhaps because the movements of high-ranking heroes seemed unusual, the police and other heroes were also extremely tense.

Although it was already restricted information, rumors were circulating that a Despair-rank monster had appeared.

And it was a special entity—they couldn’t predict the movements of the monster hiding somewhere in W City.

Heroes aware of this fact were all feeling mental fatigue from the tension of not knowing when trouble might break out.

And right now, the monster that all W City heroes were searching for was in the downtown area.

“Hmm… delicious.”

More precisely, it was rummaging through a trash can in the downtown area.

I gave up on finding work, thinking I might accidentally kill someone if I lived among people.

But I couldn’t give up on delicious food.

Trash cans are magical boxes.

Delicious food appears in them for free every day.

Even in this era where monsters rampage, do people not mind throwing away food? I filled my stomach with slightly stale pizza slices from a paper box.

Though I didn’t have much experience rummaging through trash, I’d already discovered several good spots.

First, the trash cans right next to restaurants—other beggars target these too, so it’s best not to eat too much.

They avoid me because of my size, but if I keep taking food, the atmosphere becomes hostile as if they might pounce at any moment.

Next, beside hamburger shops—occasionally there are leftover burgers.

And trash cans in parks near apartments—these have a wide variety of foods.

Even now, I found pizza that someone had brought to the park and discarded, along with carbonated drinks with the caps closed.

Mmm, delicious.

“Ah! A beggar!”

When children playing in the park pointed at me while I was rummaging through trash, I waved at them in greeting.

“Want some?”

“Eww… no! That’s dirty!”

“But it’s delicious…”

“Hey! W-what are you doing! You can’t have that!”

When I offered the pizza I was eating to a child, a parent who had been chatting with others immediately rushed over.

Perhaps because there are many people in this world who became beggars overnight due to monster attacks, the parents’ gazes weren’t severely cold.

In fact, judging by the fear I sensed, they seemed cautious because of my large size, but at least I didn’t feel hateful stares.

“Mister Beggar, want to eat this?”

“Thank you.”

Some little kids even offered me their leftover food when they came to throw away trash.

At those times, I would sit down and extend both hands to make it easier for the children to give me food.

I had to be especially careful with these cotton candy-like children, as they could be crushed if I grabbed them wrong.

“Mmm, delicious.”