Ch.54Is This Really a Monster?

# “Oh, the Black Cat otaku is here.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Black-taku.”

“Wow, if it isn’t the S-rank hero Black Cat fanboy.”

The day after the report on the Bad Cats attack ended.

Yu Anna glared at the heroes teasing her and drew upon her ability.

“You high-recovery A-rank guys want some second-degree burns? Lower ranks, get in line behind them. I’ll give you first-degree burns.”

After earnestly explaining the differences between Black Cat and Bad Cats, Yu Anna checked the chat window and realized her mistake.

But what could she do? The citizens were already excitedly teasing her.

Better to laugh than cry; citizens needed entertainment.

Yu Anna tried to endure it, but when even the heroes started teasing her, she finally snapped.

“Argh!”

“The hero is setting fires!”

Whoosh! Heroes touched by the lightly spewed flames ran away laughing.

And shortly after, they shoved their phones in Yu Anna’s face, showing community reactions.

“They’ve already made emoticons on the community sites. Have you seen them?”

“I liked that meme saying ‘This is Black Cat, this is Bad Cats.’ Like ‘This is the S1 phone model, this is the S1a model, they’re clearly different.'”

“So, are you going to accept the position of honorary chairperson of the Black Cat Mom Café?”

“You guys really… sit down!”

When Yu Anna got angry, the heroes chuckled and sat in their places.

After confirming everyone was seated, Yu Anna sighed and looked at one hero.

That hero’s name was Sound Waver.

He had the ability to manipulate sound waves at will.

When Sound Waver clapped his hands, a transparent barrier spread throughout the operations room.

Inside the meeting room where no one could eavesdrop by any means,

a secret meeting shared only among W City’s heroes, unreported to the government, began.

“Did you read the cell analysis report on the Bad Cats?”

Parts of exterminated monster corpses are sent to research facilities in each city for analysis.

Today’s secret meeting was called because of those analysis results and Black Cat’s behavior during the Bad Cats attack.

The cells of Bad Cats and Black Cat were partially identical.

In other words, they weren’t completely the same species, but close subspecies.

When monsters of the same or similar species came, Black Cat chose to protect humans rather than join the monsters, just as before.

“The one we caught was female, right? And Black Cat is male? Does he not have reproductive instincts?”

“Maybe it’s because the other monster Black Cat dealt with was male?”

“The monster flesh collected from Zone 4 had both female and male parts. The genetic information was almost identical except for gender.”

“It’s natural to assume it could change gender at will… there was only one corpse, and if by chance there had been another Despair-rank monster, Black Cat would have been the one to suffer.”

“The gender change might mean it tried to court Black Cat when it realized it was losing…”

“And Black Cat killed it.”

Two females were less important than humans it wouldn’t even eat.

What was Black Cat doing? Nothing made sense.

Sharing the same questions, W City’s heroes put aside problems they couldn’t solve as combatants and brought today’s topic to the surface.

“What do you think about Black Cat?”

“Honestly… I’m starting to think we can trust him.”

“I agree. We should still be cautious, but… this is definitely not a normal monster.”

“What kind of monster rejects its own kind’s advances and chooses humans?”

“There are humans like that too, right? ‘Monsters are beautiful,’ ‘Monsters are friends’ types.”

“You mean those idiots in D City with that monster cult or whatever?”

“From a monster’s perspective, Black Cat must be a truly terrible mutant.”

“For us, he’s a thankful variant… honestly, I like him.”

“The problem is that he’s still a monster.”

A variant that helps humans is still a monster.

Heroes who mistook Bad Cats for Black Cat feared that someday Black Cat might rampage like Bad Cats did.

But at the same time… the reality was that they didn’t want to kill him.

Looking at everyone, Yu Anna sighed.

“Everyone knows we’ve had fewer monster casualties thanks to Black Cat… but he’s also a time bomb that could go off anytime.”

“We know that, but if it’s a bomb that doesn’t explode even when thrown around and placed between other bombs…”

“It’s defective, a failure, I guess?”

“If we try to detonate it before it causes harm and it explodes incorrectly, we’ll be the ones suffering.”

So let’s not touch it unnecessarily.

Previously, the consensus was to monitor and eliminate at the first sign of trouble, but now the opinion to postpone action had grown stronger.

“In a way, hasn’t Black Cat already proven himself? That he prioritizes humans over his own kind?”

“Listen to yourself talking about a monster proving anything.”

“It’s not something a hero should say, but I actually want to trust him.”

“If he becomes an Annihilation-rank monster, we won’t be able to handle it ourselves.”

“On the other hand, if he becomes Annihilation-rank and still tries to protect humans, what could be better?”

“That’s too much of a gamble. Why did everyone think Black Cat was rampaging this time? If Black Cat becomes stronger than W City’s forces, do you think he’ll stay quiet? He’s only docile now because Starlight is stronger.”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s already stronger than us and still acts this way. He is a variant after all.”

“Alright, enough. We didn’t gather today for this kind of debate.”

Seeing opinions diverging, Yu Anna clapped her hands, and the heroes’ attention focused.

In the end, there was only one issue to decide today.

Black Cat’s fate.

“Who thinks Black Cat should be killed as soon as possible?”

Only three heroes raised their hands, and even they seemed reluctant.

“Who wishes to treat Black Cat as part of W City’s forces and utilize him for the time being?”

This time, everyone raised their hands unanimously, including those who had raised their hands earlier.

With such a clear result, Yu Anna concluded:

“…From now on, the alert level for Black Cat will be lowered by three levels. Our response will remain the same as before, but priorities will change… No reporting to the government, information shared only among W City heroes, no records to be kept, that’s all.”

“Senior, does that mean you’re stepping down from Black Cat duty? With a three-level reduction, even B-rank heroes could respond…”

“I’ll… still handle it. The government might get annoying if they see the dispatch records.”

“Wow, truly a Black Cat otaku. Well, you’d better apologize to Black Cat soon or he’ll avoid you like last time… Ow!”

Yu Anna shot a small spark at the hero who kept teasing her.

What angered her most was that what he said wasn’t entirely wrong.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of meeting Black Cat to apologize as soon as possible.

“Be careful not to leak internal information to citizens, especially you—stop using community sites.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Everyone? Please share this with heroes who aren’t in the operations room, and prepare warning broadcasts to alert citizens that monsters resembling Black Cat might appear.”

“I’m worried about how to educate them. No matter what we say, people don’t listen.”

“We still have to try. I’ll go on patrol for a bit…”

As Yu Anna was organizing her things, a Despair-rank monster alarm sounded in the building.

[Black Cat…]

“I’m heading out now! Clean up here!”

Immediately, Yu Anna opened the window and jumped out.

The heroes watching Starlight’s distant figure from the window laughed dryly at the alert broadcast that followed.

[…has appeared!]

“Wow, she’s really fast.”

“She’s not going to catch Black Cat, but to apologize, right?”

“Apologizing to a monster, seriously.”

At that moment, the operator broadcasting the alert spoke in an embarrassed voice without turning off the microphone.

[Um… but… is this really worth sounding the alarm? Ah, s-sorry! Black Cat has appeared! Napping in the park! There’s no m-monster separately, it’s a citizen report!]

“…Is this guy even really a monster?”

It was beyond absurd—it was becoming comical.

#

After devouring 444, the city was still damaged.

Small monsters that had fled from the vibrations of the powerful Despair-rank monster were returning, causing minor disturbances that prevented city restoration from beginning.

This meant I had no way to earn enough money to eat my fill.

I wasn’t completely broke, but few restaurants were open, likely due to lingering anxiety from the commotion.

Even those restaurants were crowded with people who had survived on emergency rations in shelters for three days, so I had no choice but to go without food.

I could endure a little hunger, but people couldn’t.

Finally, I headed to Black Cat Playground after a long time and ate food given to me by residents who recognized me.

It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

“Black Cat! Black Cat doesn’t do bad things? Right?”

“Black Cat isn’t a bad cat! He’s a good cat!”

“Black Cat! Want this? I drew it!”

“This! This! It’s the new Papakung! Look!”

“The children have grown a lot.”

“Their pronunciation has improved too. They talk about Black Cat all day.”

Chomp, chomp. Behind the playground, out of sight, I devoured whole pieces of meat as they were given to me. The children, seeing me after a long time, were delighted, while their mothers swallowed hard.

“Sorry we don’t have much to give you.”

“The supermarket isn’t open yet…”

“How hungry must he be… look how defined his abs are.”

“…Gulp, eek!”

Just then, a woman touched my body.

Instinctively, I grabbed the mother’s wrist, pinned her arm against a wooden post, and bared my teeth, before suppressing my instinct with a trembling hand.

Slowly releasing her hand, I exhaled hot breath and warned the mothers:

“Don’t come too close. You look delicious, and it’s difficult.”

“Oh, oh my, oh my… I… my husband went to work…”

“Honey, don’t you know he’s a monster? That’s not what he meant.”

“But he’s male, so it could mean something else, right?”

“He’s really an animal… my heart is racing…”

What was this? I expected them to be afraid, but I was confused by the mothers’ sweet, sticky emotions.

Come to think of it, didn’t Yu Hye-na emit similar emotions? Perhaps “looking delicious” meant something different from what I understood?

Puzzled, I moved away, and the mothers sat at a distance and brought up recent events.

“You must have been upset recently? Because of those… Bad Cats.”

“There seemed to be quite a few victims…”

“We even created a Black Cat Mom Café to support you, but now everyone knows it wasn’t you, so don’t worry too much.”

Hearing this, I paused from tearing at the remaining meat and warned the mothers:

“Tell your children to be careful. To monsters, children are just easy prey. If another monster like me comes, it’s best to just run away.”

“That’s… right. Okay, we’ll do that.”

“We should tell the café too.”

“Should we say to move away from Black Cat when the alarm sounds?”

“I suppose so. We’ve been teaching that everyone should evacuate to shelters when alarms sound, but lately because of Black Cat…”

It’s better to be wary of monsters than to get close to them.

As I watched the mothers agreeing with my words and discussing what to tell people, I suddenly realized someone I usually saw here was missing.

“Is that police officer dead?”

“Oh my, no. He got promoted and is moving to Zone 1.”

“It’s a bit troublesome, as thieves have been appearing again.”

“He was such a good person~”

“I see.”

Relieved that he wasn’t dead, I stood up and transformed into my monster form.

The sudden transformation startled the mothers, but the children excitedly ran from the playground and clung to me.

“Black Cat!”

“Black kitty!”

“Is a m-monster coming?”

[Not here directly. But it’s close… I’ll earn my meal. Take the children and go.]

A group of Homicide-rank and Destruction-rank monsters swimming up from deep underground. I nodded and drew upon my ability, and the mothers picked up their children and left the park.

The ability gained from 444, spatial manipulation… I detected monsters deep underground, tore them into pieces, and burst them.

This is… definitely a useful ability.

“Uwaah…”

After eliminating the monsters, I yawned and lay down on the park’s sandbox.

I planned to use spatial manipulation to gradually pull up the monster corpses scattered deep underground and eat them.

Chewing… as I ate the monster like squid tentacles, various thoughts came to mind.

Among them, the most concerning was the monster from the laboratory.

Why would they send monsters after me now?

What were they thinking…

“Black Cat!”

Just then, Starlight flew over the park carrying a bag.

Spotting Starlight, I stopped eating the monster and sank into the shadows.

Yu Anna made a sad face and called out urgently:

“I’m sorry! I was wrong! I was wrong! But, but you were wrong too! Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

At those words, I peeked my head out to stare at Starlight, then hid back in the shadows.

Then Starlight rummaged through her bag and pulled out beef.

“B-beef…! Right, I’ll give you beef… Ah…!”

Starlight held out fresh beef and beckoned me to come, but the spot where her fist had hit me still tingled, so I left the beef and ran away.

Behind me as I retreated, I heard Starlight’s dumbfounded voice:

“Aaaah…”