Ch.53Explanation and Labels

# Enhanced Translation

“First, I would like to apologize to the citizens of W City for the delay in eliminating the Despair-rank monster.”

Starlight, Yu Anna, bowed deeply before the reporters, then raised her head only to bow once more.

“Additionally, I extend my sincere apologies to the families of the 524 citizens who lost their lives in this monster attack.”

As she performed her respectful bow, the reporters also fell silent, taking a moment to mourn the loss.

But the mourning ended there.

Death had become too common in this era to spend more time grieving.

“Starlight! How do you plan to take responsibility for this incident?”

“The 524 deaths! People are saying these citizens wouldn’t have died if Black Cat had been dealt with earlier!”

“Isn’t it true that you weren’t unable to catch Black Cat, but rather chose not to catch it?”

“Was it because the monster was hunting other monsters in place of heroes, so you wanted a little break? Were you passing your heroic duties onto a monster?”

As Yu Anna raised her head, the reporters bared their teeth as if they had been waiting for this moment.

These were all the suspicions that W City citizens had been voicing about Yu Anna.

Taking a deep breath, Yu Anna did what she always did—she slammed her hand on the table with a loud bang!

As the rowdy reporters fell silent at her command, Yu Anna spoke in a subdued voice.

“I apologize for the increased damage caused by my delayed judgment.”

“Are you admitting that heroes could have killed Black Cat but chose not to for their own comfort?”

“Now, I will begin my report on the new Despair-rank monsters, Bad Cats.”

“What?”

Yu Anna displayed data on a large screen along with the shocking news.

She honestly explained everything that had happened.

The first alert, responding to reports of Black Cat attacking people, immediately attacking the monster at the scene.

Then, how monsters kept disappearing and reappearing throughout W City, causing casualties to mount as they struggled to keep up.

And finally, how she realized the enemy wasn’t Black Cat but different monsters altogether.

“The reason we couldn’t prevent casualties in multiple locations is because Bad Cats are a pair of Despair-rank monsters. They use abilities similar to Black Cat’s and can even evade monster alerts, which was known as Black Cat’s signature trait… We repeatedly deployed to catch Bad Cats, attacked Black Cat by mistake, and during that time, they escaped to other areas and increased casualties.”

“Uh…?”

“Wait, Bad Cats? You said they move in pairs?”

“Two Despair-rank monsters? Of the same species?”

At this moment, public opinion that had been criticizing Yu Anna began to shift.

It was common knowledge that monsters of the same species don’t fight each other but join forces.

What happened in W City wasn’t a chase between Black Cat and Starlight, but a chaotic guerrilla war between a pair of Despair-rank monsters, Black Cat, and Starlight.

In such a confusing situation, having only 500 deaths in W City was an unbelievable miracle.

“…If I hadn’t attacked Black Cat initially, if I had realized sooner that Black Cat and Bad Cats were separate entities… the casualties might have been zero.”

Though Yu Anna said this, everyone watching the screen knew it wouldn’t have been that simple.

The screen was filled with footage of black cat monsters using their abilities, but no one could distinguish which was Black Cat and which wasn’t.

Similar appearance, similar abilities, and only one monster alert for their appearance time—they were never even captured together on surveillance cameras.

Seeing all this, people wondered how Yu Anna had managed to distinguish between them at all.

“Wh-what happened to Black Cat then?”

“Black Cat is alive.”

“Black Cat is alive?”

“Well, if it wasn’t Black Cat causing havoc, then of course it’s alive…”

“Don’t tell me Black Cat helped hunt the Despair-rank monsters?”

As the reporters grew noisy, Yu Anna glanced at the reporter who had asked the question.

It was a reasonable question, as it was common sense that heroes alone couldn’t have contained two Despair-rank monsters with such minimal casualties.

“Saying it ‘helped’ isn’t quite accurate. But it did contribute. We offloaded one of the Bad Cats onto Black Cat and defeated them separately.”

Yu Anna gave an ambiguous answer that contained no lies but concealed some information, then sighed and bowed her head once more.

“Since Bad Cats are presumed to be the same species as Black Cat, passing one of them off to Black Cat was nothing short of a gamble. But I thought it was the only way to reduce casualties, so I made this reckless choice. Though the outcome was good, I apologize for gambling with citizens’ lives.”

Despite her continued apologies, no one blamed Yu Anna anymore.

The reporters put down their microphones and began to applaud in unison.

It was praise for a hero who had made the best decision for the best outcome.

“This is… wow, I need to change my article title.”

“I’m speechless. Forget sensational headlines… even with two more S-rank heroes, they couldn’t have ended this better.”

“Starlight! Great job!”

When it came down to it, everyone would have died without an S-rank hero anyway.

The reporters focused on the survival of W City’s citizens except for the 500, rather than the 500 deaths.

[Decisive hero Starlight! W City’s pride!]

[Is that really enough?]

[Two Despair-rank monsters rampaging, and last time an entire district was destroyed, now people died too—what’s there to be proud of?]

[How can you compare? That time different species were fighting so heroes could control the battlefield, but this time they were cooperating?]

[If Black Cat was fighting these Bad Cats things too, then three Despair-rank monsters were rampaging]

[500 casualties with three Despair-rank monsters going at it is an impossibly low number]

[The deaths are tragic, but anyone blaming Starlight for this outcome is an idiot]

[Even three Disaster-rank monsters could easily kill 500 if handled poorly]

[So Black Cat wasn’t the crazy one but other monsters?]

[Black Cat is alive? Black Cat is alive? Black Cat is alive?]

Citizens watching the broadcast also praised Yu Anna.

After learning the full story, even the citizens had to admit that 524 deaths was a miraculous number.

It was still an unbelievable turnaround in attitude, but perhaps people had simply been waiting for answers before speaking up. Yu Anna felt her heavy heart lighten a little.

[Black Cat ㅠㅜ I knew it wasn’t Black Cat!]

[Our kitty would never do that!]

[Blackie! Blackie! Blackie!]

[Wait, so those posts on the community were true?]

[Where’s that post about something being weird when Black Cat protected people from another Black Cat when the shelter was breached?]

[I saw that too, where did it go? Anyone have a link?]

When it was revealed that it wasn’t Black Cat rampaging in W City, Black Cat supporters who had been keeping quiet raised their voices.

The chat scrolled faster than ever before, as if everyone claiming Black Cat should have been killed earlier had been lying.

[What exactly is Black Cat? Two Despair-rank monsters of the same species came to W City and rampaged, and it fought them?]

[And listening to Starlight, she initially attacked thinking it was Bad Cats, not Black Cat—why would it help us even after getting attacked?]

[Black Cat: It wasn’t me ㅠ I’m innocent ㅠ Ha, you’re all dead]

[Black Cat! I believed in you! Jenzang!]

[Is this thing really a monster?]

[I’m grateful but this much…? Excuse me, they’re your own kind, Black Cat?]

[Black Cat is just afraid of Starlight]

People were relieved that Black Cat had done nothing wrong and wasn’t dead.

Yu Anna, who was watching the real-time reactions through a laptop on the table, cleared her throat at the intense response.

“Ahem, let me clarify again, Black Cat didn’t fight for us—it’s more accurate to say we offloaded one onto Black Cat. Citizens should never forget that Black Cat is a monster, and its current behavior is simply abnormal…”

[Ah, yes, sure thing ^^7]

[Loyal to you, Starlight ^^7]

[Why are you all doing left-hand salutes? <^^ Loyalty!]

[<^^ Loy! Al! Black Cat has never once fought monsters to protect people!]

[A City envies, B City kneels, C City is shocked by W City’s pride Black Cat ^^7 Oops! Loyalty to Starlight! <^^]

People now completely believed Black Cat was safe.

After all, Black Cat chose to fight monsters and protect humans even when monsters that appeared to be its own kind arrived.

But if another monster resembling Black Cat showed up, people might approach thinking Black Cat was harmless, resulting in casualties.

Yu Anna, hoping citizens would always remain cautious of Black Cat—or more precisely, of monsters—left a warning.

“Additionally, I warn all citizens that Black Cat is somewhat angry, so we expect increased damage during pursuit for a while. Please avoid approaching to prevent harm…”

[Is it sulking because you mistakenly attacked it first? That’s so cute, like a feisty cat]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Black Cat is angry so damage will increase ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ What, is it going to stick three more metal poles into building walls?]

[Making an angry cat tower ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I was so depressed until just now but suddenly this is hilarious]

[I feel like we shouldn’t laugh while watching news about people dying but this is just so funny suddenly]

[I just went to the bathroom, why did a funeral turn into a festival?]

The more she spoke, the more it backfired—even people who had been saying Black Cat should be killed were now turning into Black Cat supporters in the chat.

It might be too late to control public opinion now…

As Yu Anna moved her lips with a complicated feeling, a reporter who had been staring at the screen showing Black Cat and Bad Cats raised his hand to ask a question.

“Starlight? There’s something I don’t understand. May I ask a question?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“It seems the key point in this incident was distinguishing between Black Cat and Bad Cats… how did you tell them apart?”

“Even looking at the screen, we can’t tell the difference. It seems like you made a reckless gamble based solely on your hope that Black Cat hadn’t changed!”

Indeed, if Yu Anna hadn’t been able to distinguish Black Cat from the other two, they would have continued to be led around by the monsters and casualties would have kept increasing.

“That’s a good question. Let me explain why I determined Black Cat and Bad Cats were different species of monsters.”

Yu Anna picked up a laser pointer and began explaining as she pointed at the screen—addressing the question everyone in W City except herself was curious about.

“As you can see, Black Cat has a slightly smaller nose and a more beautiful facial structure. Here, Bad Cat A has wider-set eyes and different fur texture.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Bad Cat B has longer fur under the chin than Black Cat, and it’s more curly than Bad Cat A’s. The ear shape is also different—while Black Cat’s ears are closer to an ideal trapezoid shape, Bad Cat A’s are triangular, and Bad Cat B’s are conical… Oh, the tail shape is obviously easy to distinguish, but the pattern of fur splitting at this part of the tail…”

But as Yu Anna’s explanation continued, the reporters could only make expressions of incomprehension.

Citizens in the chat also filled the screen with question marks, perplexed.

[What is this?]

[What…? Seriously, what?]

[How does she know all this?]

And then, one person’s comment attached an irreversible label to Yu Anna.

[Is Starlight a Black Cat otaku?]