Ch.57Confusing

The drone and human-led government damage assessment had finally concluded.

Various construction and restoration requests were gradually being issued for the damaged areas.

As I entered the labor office to maintain my work-life balance today, the workers blinked in surprise when they saw me.

“Whoa, what’s this guy?”

“Man, I’ve never seen such a beast of a man.”

“Is… is that person the one who…?”

Maybe it was because I stood about two heads taller than other men, or perhaps because I walked around showing off my muscular body.

From the moment I opened the door, people’s gazes were drawn to me, and foremen from various sites tried to persuade me to work with them.

“Hey there, interested in finishing the demolition of partially collapsed buildings?”

“Hold on! This guy would fit better at our site!”

“Are you okay with dark places? I could pay you double if you work well.”

“Hmm.”

Demolition site, construction site, construction labor, underground foundation work.

Just as I was about to choose from the various jobs being offered to me…

“Well, look who it is! It’s Mound of rice!”

Hearing that familiar nickname, I lowered my head to see a man I remembered giving my chest a light tap.

He was definitely the man I used to work with processing monster carcasses.

“It’s been a while.”

“Glad to see you’re still alive! I was worried when you got off that truck and disappeared!”

“Are you earning enough for formula?”

“Haha! We’ve started solid foods now too!”

“You’ll need more money then.”

After asking about his baby, I tapped my head, noticing the red safety helmet he was wearing.

“So you’ve become a foreman?”

“Well, I got lucky and found people I work well with.”

“Congratulations.”

“Hahaha! Thanks, how about it? Want to work together today for old times’ sake?”

Not liking his proposal, I shook my head.

“Monster carcass disposal pays too little.”

“Come on, I’ll pay you extra. I need to pay you back for the formula money anyway.”

“No need. Feed your child instead.”

“Besides, I’m not on the monster carcass disposal team anymore. I’m doing road restoration now.”

“Road restoration?”

This was something new to me. Showing interest, the man made a familiar proposal with a smile.

“I need someone to carry bags of recycled asphalt and break up damaged road pavement blocks to load onto trucks. How about it? Both are your specialties, right?”

“Is personal early release available?”

“Huh? Personal early release? What’s that?”

“If I finish my work first, I get to leave early.”

“What kind of rule is that… Do you have other plans today?”

“I’m very hungry today. I think I’ll need to do early release and find other work.”

“Oh, you still eat enormous amounts? Alright. So if you finish all the assigned work, you get early release? It helps us too if we can break up the pavement quickly and unload new materials faster.”

“Good.”

I shook hands with the man.

At the labor office, where people live day to day, contracts sometimes end with just a handshake.

“When does work start?”

“Ah~ we start a bit later since the equipment hasn’t arrived yet. You still don’t have a phone, right? Can you come to District 3, Street 17 around 1 PM?”

“Understood.”

Well, I should find something to do before then.

As I was about to look for other work, I remembered something I’d forgotten and said:

“My name isn’t Mound of rice anymore, it’s Gwak Chan-sang.”

“So Mound of rice really was a fake name? At least this one sounds more like a real person’s name.”

“It means I want to fill my plate completely full of food today.”

“Hehe, that’s a good name!”

“Mm.”

After introducing myself for the day, I approached other foremen looking for workers and received jobs for the day.

I made the same condition to everyone—if I finished my work quickly, they would let me leave early. Four foremen agreed to this arrangement.

And so, I began earning my meal money from early morning.

“Hahaha! Thanks to you, we’ve already filled the truck! How about it, want to do more later?”

Building debris removal, early release!

“Wow, you mentioned this personal early release thing I’ve never heard of, but you certainly had reason to be confident!”

Construction material labor, early release!

“You’ve already finished two sites and came here? Aren’t you tired yet?”

Plumbing material labor, early release!

“Hey, hey, give me your phone number!”

“Don’t have one.”

“Huh? You don’t have a number…? How can you not have a number! What is this, some convenience store girl excuse?”

Brushing off the persistent foreman, back to building debris removal, early release!

“So you’re telling me you’ve finished four sites since this morning?”

“Construction labor is called ‘quick work’ because it finishes quickly.”

“Who says such nonsense?”

After finishing jobs at four sites and stuffing wads of cash into my pocket, I arrived at the road restoration site at the promised time of 1 PM.

District 3, Street 17—I didn’t recognize the name when I heard it, but upon arrival, I realized I’d been here before.

I hoisted four bags on each shoulder from the truck and placed them in a line at the designated spot with heavy thuds. The workers who were carrying one bag at a time stared at me with blank expressions.

After putting down the bags, I picked up a large sledgehammer and began breaking up the pavement.

Road pavement is designed in rectangular blocks to minimize damage spread when one section is destroyed, making it less durable but easier to replace.

Using this toothpick-sized tool in my hands seems inefficient, but it’s still fun in its own way.

It’s like making those, what do they call them, dalgona candies that children sometimes play with in front of grocery stores.

“Mound of rice! Stop playing and get to work!”

“Mm.”

“This guy works faster than us even when he’s playing.”

“I’ve never seen anyone break up a road in star patterns before.”

As I and the other workers crushed the partially broken pavement with heavy thuds to prepare for new surfacing, others came to fill in the sunken areas beneath the pavement with soil.

Then, pushing a vibrating machine that looked like a lawn mower back and forth, the flattened surface beneath revealed a smooth finish thanks to the metal plate at the bottom.

“You’re quite skilled with the plate compactor.”

“Oh? You know about plate compactors?”

“Learned when doing concrete work. Is loading these pieces all that’s left for early release?”

“That’s right, just a bit more work. I’ll pay you right away.”

I grabbed the broken road pieces with my hands and loaded them onto the truck.

When doing this kind of work, you need to place large pieces at the bottom and stack smaller pieces neatly on top to maximize space.

Maximizing space shows solid fundamentals.

As I placed stone slabs larger than a person, one in each hand, the people working with me stopped what they were doing and stared in amazement.

“W-wow… who is this guy? He’s incredible!”

“Could this be the person they call… Double portion?”

“Huh? Not Double portion but Lee Yu-han, right?”

“I thought his name was Baepoman?”

“Mound of rice… I mean, Chan-sang? Are all these names you?”

“Mm.”

I gave them a thumbs up, then loaded all the large pieces that would normally require heavy machinery onto the truck and dusted off my hands.

“Done. Early release.”

“You haven’t changed. You did half the work by yourself in no time… Thanks to you, we’ll finish early today. I can go see my baby.”

“Man, I’d like to give him more work if I could.”

“Boss! You still need to leave some work for us too!”

With laughter all around, the man handed me a wad of bills.

After receiving the money, I took out just one bill from the stack and handed it back to him.

Understanding what this meant, the man waved his hands, refusing to take back the money.

“M-Mound of rice, you don’t have to do this. I earn enough now.”

“Feed your baby.”

“Hey, you! You’re always complaining about not having enough for food…!”

“I can endure hunger, but a child cannot.”

“Ugh…! What… what strength…! Hey, if you do this, it looks like I invited you expecting this!”

After forcibly stuffing the money into the man’s pocket, I walked away from the site with long strides at a pace he couldn’t follow.

“Th-thank you! Really!”

Already at a distance too far for him to catch up, I raised my hand in farewell as the man called out with a choked voice.

Seeing that made me feel fuller than if I’d eaten two bowls of soup.

Just a feeling, of course—I’m not actually full at all.

Well, I should go eat with the money I earned.

Today’s dining spot is a tonkatsu restaurant nearby.

I recalled the conversation I had with Yu Hye-na at the free meal center recently.

She asked how hungry I must have been to eat twice my usual amount, and said if I was very hungry, I could visit her company on weekdays.

But she said next time we eat, it shouldn’t be soup—it should be at this place.

Yu Hye-na said it was really delicious and we should definitely go together, but after hearing it was delicious, I couldn’t wait until going with her.

I have quite a bit of money, so I’ll try it first today as a taste test.

“Move out of my way right now! Ah~! This is why places outside A City are such a problem!”

As I headed toward the tonkatsu restaurant, I stopped when I saw a woman causing a commotion in front of the store.

Brown skin, blonde hair, wearing what looked like… a flight jacket?

The sharp-mannered woman was arguing with people waiting in line in front of the restaurant.

“Listen, miss, I don’t know who you are, but can’t you see everyone’s waiting in line?”

“Get in line! Don’t tell me to move!”

“Why should I? I’m telling you I’m hungry! You inferior commoners!”

“C-commoners? What’s with this person?”

After observing for a moment, it seemed the woman was trying to cut in front of the people waiting in line to enter the restaurant first.

Is she so hungry she can’t wait? As I was thinking this, the woman curved one hand like a claw and began drawing up her special ability.

She’s a superhuman, and a powerful one at that.

“Fine, it’s my fault for wasting words on you insects.”

“W-what?”

“Villain! She’s a villain!”

“Who’s a villain? You stupid commoners!”

Crack! Just as lightning surged from the woman’s hand aimed at the people, I grabbed her wrist from behind.

The special ability spreading in her hand had a tingling, spicy, stimulating taste.

“W-what…?!”

The woman’s ability, emotions, and scent all gave off an unpleasant flavor.

Contempt for others, superiority complex, and not a trace of guilt—a selfish taste.

This woman was about to use her ability on people with no power to defend themselves.

I glared at her, showing my displeasure.

“What are you doing?”

#

“Why are you sending that crazy bitch to W City?”

In a government hero headquarters operations room, Yu Anna was in a special communications room with secure lines that couldn’t be tapped, having received a call from Cage.

[I told you, it’s support for capturing a Despair-rank monster.]

“We’ve already caught all the Despair-rank monsters, so why send support now?!”

[…It’s strange to say you’ve caught all the Despair-rank monsters. Black Cat is still there.]

When Yu Anna angrily responded, Cage calmly answered from the video call screen connected to A City.

“Black Cat is…!”

[A mutant, a monster exhibiting unusual behavior, a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. Surely you’re not suggesting Black Cat shouldn’t be eliminated, Starlight?]

“Ugh…”

Unable to answer, Yu Anna gritted her teeth as Cage sighed.

[I thought it was just rumors, but… have you really become a monster enthusiast?]

“Don’t talk nonsense about monster enthusiasts, it’s just rumors…”

[Shut up, Black Cat otaku.]

“I am not!”

[Tsk, how pathetic… Even if those rumors aren’t true, the fact that such rumors are circulating means you’re not properly leading the citizens.]

“Only a minority of people are spreading such rumors.”

[Yes, it’s always a minority that raises their voices. Most citizens probably support you. However, the public tends to be led by the loud voices of the minority.]

Cage beckoned to an A-rank hero in his inner circle.

[You lack the skill to lead public opinion. That’s why I, myself, am going to help you.]

“Help? You call sending an S-rank hero to a situation that’s already resolved help?”

[I received the report. You pitted Black Cat against another Despair-rank monster for divide and conquer… That’s textbook. If monsters don’t cooperate with each other, making them fight and then dealing with the remaining one is the strategy I would suggest.]

As a woman lit the cigarette in his mouth, Cage took a long drag and blew smoke toward the screen.

[But why didn’t you eliminate Black Cat when it was wounded from fighting the Despair-rank monster?]