Ch.56There Are Limits

“You’re back again.”

“Is she bad at math or Korean? She’s talking about what’s the better choice between killing 10 people or 50 people, and she’s saying neither? Those are the kinds of kids who say ‘this is a gun’ during rock-paper-scissors.”

Gu Seo-ryong yawned and stuck her finger into my food tray, picking up a piece of meat and eating it.

“Seriously, why are you quietly listening to someone who knows nothing about reality? Aren’t you bored?”

“Stop picking at my food with your fingers.”

“Ideals, compromise, rules? That’s ridiculous… Why would monsters follow such things? Superhumans don’t need to either. Those are just things weak creatures made to put leashes on monsters and superhumans like us because they’re afraid.”

Slurp. Gu Seo-ryong swallowed the meat in one bite without properly chewing it, then stabbed another piece.

“Just because her sister is an S-rank hero doesn’t mean she should be this ignorant about the world. Kids like her always end up crying ‘I didn’t know reality was this cold and scary’ when thrown into the real world, and then they die.”

“Gu Seo-ryong.”

“I tried having a conversation with that greenhouse lady, but instead of wasting time listening to that nonsense, why don’t you make babies with me?”

She kept stabbing and stealing my food without pause.

I grabbed Gu Seo-ryong’s finger and ripped it off with a crunch.

“Ouch!”

“Stop eating my food.”

“Oh my? What’s wrong with eating a little? It’s free here, isn’t it?”

“Are you starving or something?”

“I’m hungry, thanks to having to fight Despair-rank monsters after monsterization because of someone.”

Gu Seo-ryong swallowed her torn finger in one gulp and regenerated it.

It seems her monsterization, like monster transformation, significantly increases hunger.

I wonder why she chose monsterization when it seems to have no advantages compared to monster transformation.

“If you want to eat, go get your own.”

“Hmph, so someone can swallow a Despair-rank monster core, but I can’t have a few pieces of meat?”

When I pulled my tray toward me and pointed at the serving counter, Gu Seo-ryong pouted and wrapped her tail around my leg annoyingly.

“Besides, aren’t you being too harsh? You haven’t properly thanked me for helping you, but you thank her?”

“You got something out of it too.”

“What? A Despair-rank monster to use as my limb? The latest information about the Laboratory? Those are results of me risking my life to fight for you! I want compensation for my feelings. Make babies with me.”

“If your ability hadn’t worked on them, you would have abandoned me and run away.”

“Oh my, you can be quite perceptive sometimes. That’s attractive.”

Gu Seo-ryong showed slight surprise at being hit right on the mark.

“But in the end, I did everything you wanted, didn’t I? I fought the experiments, I brought Sa Gu-gu without killing her—don’t I deserve at least a thank you? I’m even putting up with your hypocrisy.”

“Hypocrisy?”

“Not killing Sa Gu-gu means letting an uncontrollable Despair-rank monster loose here. What if more humans died? What if she’d been killed by Starlight right after you released her?”

Gu Seo-ryong licked her lips with her split tongue and stared at me with sharp eyes.

“You didn’t think about the complications—you just did what you wanted to do, right?”

“Hmm.”

“You were relieved when I said I’d take Sa Gu-gu, weren’t you?”

Slither. The tail wrapped around my leg crawled up like a living snake.

“Your true nature is just a curious monster who does whatever it wants. Listening to that bitch’s nonsense is just entertainment. No matter how hard she talks about humanity, you’re a monster. If you don’t like something, you’ll kill it, right? That’s what you want to do, isn’t it?”

“You might be right.”

“Ugh…!”

Despite stealing my meat earlier, she’s saying nothing but unpleasant things that get on my nerves.

But she’s not wrong.

Half agreeing with Gu Seo-ryong’s words, I firmly grabbed her tail that was crawling between my legs under the table and crushed the tail bone inside.

“W-what… did I hit a nerve? Are you angry?”

“No, I just felt like breaking your tail.”

Because I’m a monster who does what I want.

Crunch, crunch. As I gradually moved up the tail and crushed it bit by bit, Gu Seo-ryong’s head trembled.

“Let me correct a few misconceptions you seem to have.”

“Ugh, ah, hah, ungh… heck…”

“I can kill an experiment subject anytime I want.”

I chose not to kill 444’s sister who hadn’t done anything wrong. If she indiscriminately attacks humans, then she’s no longer human from that point.

Then, I’ll kill her.

“The same goes for you.”

Even if Gu Seo-ryong and 499 attacked me simultaneously, I would win.

I didn’t let her go without thinking—I merely allowed her to stay within my territory.

So, don’t cause trouble in my area.

“Haah…♥”

Crack. When I tore off about half the length of Gu Seo-ryong’s tail, the severed part flopped around like a live fish.

Gu Seo-ryong’s tail was like a lizard’s—not much blood came out when torn off.

I placed the severed tail on my seat and stood up with my empty tray.

Gu Seo-ryong, still sitting, gently scratched the severed end of her tail with her fingernail and spoke.

“Haaa… ah, really… that’s so sexy…?”

A strong scent of ecstasy that made my nose tingle and a deep, resonating vibration.

Perhaps it’s a monster thing—my demonstration that I could subdue Gu Seo-ryong anytime seemed to excite her as if a strong male monster was displaying his power.

Ignoring Gu Seo-ryong’s sticky courtship vibrations, I nodded toward the serving counter.

“You’re noisy. If you came because you’re hungry, eat quietly and leave.”

“Hmm… I want to eat something else.”

“If you’re not hungry, get out.”

“Oh my, so cold.”

Gu Seo-ryong licked her lips regretfully and calmed her core’s vibrations.

Leaving her behind, I refilled my tray and returned to find a black-haired girl sitting in my seat.

“Meow?”

The unfamiliar girl was holding Gu Seo-ryong’s tail in her hand.

As I looked down at the girl eating a monster’s tail, she blinked her large eyes and stared up at me.

Woong, my monster core reacted involuntarily to the small vibration.

A phenomenon of similar wavelengths resonating—this is due to the curse left from eating 444.

“It’s big brother! Hello! Have you eaten? Aren’t you hungry?”

“Are you 499?”

“That’s right, I came today because of her.”

“I’m not 499, I’m Sa Gu-gu!”

“That’s right, good job.”

“Sa Gu-gu did well!”

When 499, four-hundred-ninety-nine, introduced herself as Sa Gu-gu, Gu Seo-ryong patted her head.

She showed no hostility and seemed quite docile—it appears Gu Seo-ryong’s mind control is already complete.

“What’s Sa Gu-gu? Did you give her a name?”

“That’s rich coming from Park Deun-deun.”

“Huh? Where did my food go?”

Just then, one of the residents under Gu Seo-ryong’s control placed a food tray in front of Sa Gu-gu, then walked back to the serving counter looking confused.

Sa Gu-gu began eating with her bare hands, and when I sat across from her, Gu Seo-ryong sighed and said:

“This kid, I don’t know who she takes after, but she eats an enormous amount. So I thought we’d stay here until we can manage her meals.”

“Eat a lot, grow a lot!”

“Listen to her talking like that.”

“Yu Hye-na won’t be happy about this.”

Judging by her eating speed, Sa Gu-gu will consume a considerable amount, though not as much as I do.

Yu Hye-na had mentioned that the volunteers were much more exhausted because of how much I eat, and now Sa Gu-gu is added to the mix.

Still, it’s better than having her starve and lose control of her instincts.

“Don’t eat too quickly, eat slowly. If you eat too fast, Yu Hye-na will get angry.”

“Slowly, chew a hundred times!”

“What are you saying, Gu-gu? You can just swallow it, maintaining my ability is tiring.”

“Delicious! Mommy eat too!”

“Mommy?”

“…I don’t know, I’ve told her to call me sister many times, but she won’t listen.”

Gu Seo-ryong wore an unusually tired expression as she wiggled her fingertips.

“What can I do? My ability doesn’t always work the way I want. During the mind control process, I made her feel like I’m someone she should follow above all else and protect even before her own life, and now she’s like this. Her mind has so many holes that there’s nothing I can really replace them with…”

“So I’m big brother, and you’re mommy.”

“Oh my, is that right? Gu-gu? This person isn’t big brother, he’s daddy.”

“Big brother isn’t daddy…? Big brother.”

“Tsk… you’re not helping. Gu-gu? Your cheeks are covered in food, roll it up well with your hands before eating.”

“Nyum nyum.”

Gu Seo-ryong clicked her tongue and took out a handkerchief from her chest pocket to wipe Sa Gu-gu’s mouth.

“You seem to be taking good care of her.”

“Of course! She’s like my fang now, isn’t she?”

For Gu Seo-ryong, Sa Gu-gu is a blade that supplements the limitations of Gu Seo-ryong’s abilities and their lack of destructive power.

If that’s the case, she’ll take good care of her.

As I was feeling somewhat relieved, Gu Seo-ryong brought up something concerning.

“By the way, when I was going through Sa Gu-gu’s memories, I found some recent information about the Laboratory. Interested?”

“…Tell me.”

Gu Seo-ryong rested her chin on her hand, swishing her tail, and spoke as if discussing something unremarkable.

“The researchers who disposed of CXI apparently didn’t expect you to survive this long. They calculated that Starlight would be enough to catch you.”

“Because of Starlight’s ability?”

“Probably? That ability really makes no sense. Besides that, they probably didn’t think you’d be such an oddball who not only disobeys but also avoids attacking humans. Come to think of it, it’s strange—how can you ignore your instincts to that extent?”

“I just do it.”

“Ahah, what an irritating answer.”

“Aren’t you showing considerable restraint yourself?”

“You and I are different, aren’t we?”

When Gu Seo-ryong was in Kowloon Walled City, she left her villain subordinates alone without eating them.

She did keep human flesh in the refrigerator, but even that shows she’s quite good at restraining herself.

Among intelligent monsters, some use humans as bait to get more food, but Gu Seo-ryong’s case seems a bit different.

“I… control it with drugs.”

Hearing that, I recalled the question I had when I was in Gu Seo-ryong’s room.

Gu Seo-ryong makes drugs and maintains a human form despite the inefficiency of monsterization.

I wonder why Gu Seo-ryong goes to such lengths.

As if covering up that question, Gu Seo-ryong continued talking about the Laboratory.

“Alphabet seems to be increasingly focusing on drugs to control experiment subjects… and Numbers like this child appear to be most active in creating experiment subjects. Romania, which disposed of you, seems to have suffered catastrophic damage from a recently created monster. In Alphabet, they call it ‘The Fall of Romania.'”

“That’s a grandiose nickname.”

“Oh? I think ‘Romania’s Strongest’ is even more grandiose. Both sound like nicknames children would come up with.”

“I didn’t even know I had such a nickname.”

“Hehe… well, that’s not important. What’s important is… that the Laboratory is aiming to create a second you.”

Grinning, Gu Seo-ryong voiced the concern I’d been keeping to myself.

“Don’t you think they’ll send another experiment subject to W City?”

Probably.

For combat data, to confirm if a monster stronger than me exists, surely.

Seeing my silent agreement, Gu Seo-ryong whispered:

“What will you do, my dear? You’ll be so upset if those humans you care for so much get killed by another Laboratory experiment.”

“Next time will be different.”

“By joining hands with Starlight? Hmm, won’t they already anticipate that after what happened? Next time, they’ll probably send an even stronger monster that can kill you for sure. What will you do if the Laboratory creates something beyond you, an Annihilation-rank success?”

“Then…”

If that happens, I would need to become Annihilation-rank myself.

But to do that… there’s a limit to what I can do as just a monster.

To me, who became Despair-rank after eating many humans and monsters, my core’s instinct was saying:

I must accumulate more curses and fear.

Only then can I become Annihilation-rank.