Ch.77Hero’s Synonym

# Enhanced Translation

“How long has it been since a monster wiped out an entire city?”

“Isn’t this the first time among cities that survived after the City Fortification Plan?”

“D City was already lacking in people, attractions, and infrastructure—we used to joke about it being ‘D-grade City,’ but I never thought it would actually disappear…”

“I just can’t process this; am I the only one?”

“These days, if it’s not your own city, I guess it might not feel real.”

Some people simply focused on the fact that a city had vanished.

Among them, those who remembered the chaos when monsters first appeared seemed traumatized, insisting that Black Cat must be eliminated immediately.

“It reminds me of when my entire family was wiped out by monsters…”

“My hometown was destroyed when Level 1 monster with identification code 005 came.”

“Wow, numerical rankings and identification codes? That’s ancient history.”

“A monster that destroyed an entire city should be the highest priority for extermination.”

“It’s seriously dangerous; we absolutely need to kill it.”

In today’s relatively stable era, how powerful must a monster be to completely obliterate an entire city?

Some more level-headed citizens focused not on Black Cat but on the existing parasitic monster.

“It was Baal that destroyed D City, not Black Cat.”

“They say insect monsters tend to swarm, but has there ever been one that grew this large?”

“We shouldn’t underestimate Homicide-rank monsters.”

“Baal is Homicide-rank but has a danger level of 1-rank. That’s equivalent to Annihilation-rank.”

“Its detected rank is below Homicide. Has there ever been a monster with such inconsistent rankings?”

“No, that doesn’t mean it’s equivalent to Annihilation-rank. It means it’s safer than Annihilation-rank but more dangerous than Despair-rank.”

“Is that what it means? Well, I guess it’s not quite Annihilation-rank.”

Strictly speaking, it was Baal that destroyed D City, and Black Cat that eliminated the monster nest that D City had become.

To these people, Black Cat was a grateful presence that had eliminated the threatening monster that was secretly devouring the city.

Those who thought this way were particularly concentrated in W City.

“Holy shit, God Cat is now hunting down dangerous monsters from far away on its own!”

“Simply the Great Cat!”

“My boyfriend is a hero, and he says Black Cat is actually hunting monsters remotely even while taking naps!”

“So it went to exterminate the bugs because it was annoyed by all the insects coming to W City?”

“Black Cat…? It is not a monster… It is the GUARDIAN of W City!”

“The fact is, if it weren’t for Black Cat, W City would still be under movement tracking and social distancing.”

“The monster auto-detection strike system ‘BLACKCAT’ is W City’s pride. Are other cities afraid of W City’s Black Cat?”

W City citizens, who had been directly exposed to the terror of the parasitic monsters, were busy praising Black Cat.

It was always a joke among W City citizens, but citizens of other cities took these posts quite seriously in various ways.

“So W City is saying that a monster called Black Cat is actually protecting their city?”

“And it’s a monster so strong that it makes ordinary S-rank heroes look ridiculous?”

According to Cage’s report, Vector, an S-rank hero infected by the parasite, was even able to use his abilities normally.

In fact, he emitted an alien wavelength as if receiving help from the parasitic monster inside his body, boasting output beyond what Vector was capable of in memory.

Black Cat, a monster that completely destroyed D City despite the opposition of such an S-rank hero.

A nightmare-inducing monster protecting humans and cities?

For those always suffering from a shortage of heroes, there could be no sweeter story.

“So this wasn’t just W City’s escapist fabricated videos or memes, but the truth?”

“I thought W City was just making self-deprecating jokes because they couldn’t catch Black Cat.”

“Me too.”

“A City citizens already knew about Black Cat in detail. But a monster is still just a monster.”

“I know, but precisely because it’s a monster, it can be more useful in some ways, right? I can think of so many applications just off the top of my head. Like deploying it to dangerous places where even heroes are difficult to send?”

“If we could use monsters as weapons, pacifying closed zones wouldn’t be just a dream.”

“That’s terrifying… If W City gets into a fight with another city, couldn’t this monster Black Cat go berserk and destroy it like it did to D City?”

“What has our city been doing all this time?”

“Why don’t we have a monster like Black Cat?”

Powerful monsters scattered throughout closed zones, and the greed to potentially use them as guard dogs for protection.

Citizens of other cities, as well as those in high positions, reached the same conclusion.

“Wasn’t weaponizing monsters deemed absolutely impossible?”

“But looking at Black Cat, hasn’t it succeeded?”

“That’s not an experimental subject, just a mutant monster.”

“Reading through all these posts, it seems like Black Cat is just an extremely unique variant monster?”

Weaponizing monsters—a failed plan abandoned long ago.

It was time to try it again, they thought.

“Then we should capture Black Cat, dissect it, and find out what caused this mutation.”

For that, of course, they needed Black Cat.

#

“Rejected. The risk is too high.”

“But Cage… if you just eliminate Black Cat in A City, all cities would benefit…”

“If you’re thinking of dragging A City into this gamble, forget it. I’ll be honest—we’re not confident we can subdue it either.”

“Then… that…”

“Electris and I have already been defeated by Black Cat once. I recommend you read the battle report on Black Cat that Starlight and I wrote again and reconsider.”

Beep. As soon as Cage hung up, the phone rang again.

“This is Cage. I’m busy, so skip the pleasantries. State your business.”

“Thank you for taking my call. Cage, I am Yoon Gil-sang, the mayor of G City.”

“I said skip the pleasantries.”

“I apologize. Could you possibly come to G City to provide support? We have a plan to lure Black Cat…”

“Lure it… We’ve already sent two heroes from A City and still lost it. Black Cat doesn’t even trigger monster alarms. If you provoke it wrongly and it goes berserk, are you prepared to handle the consequences?”

“That’s…”

“And it’s strange… G City’s heroes have sent me their opinion that they don’t particularly want to mess with Black Cat. If you want to proceed, convince your heroes first. But know this clearly… G City’s heroes aren’t stupid enough to provoke a monster that even Cage, Electris, and Starlight couldn’t catch.”

Beep. After demonstratively ending the call, Cage looked at Yu Anna through the video call screen.

“I expected this to some extent, but I didn’t think there would be so many idiots drunk on dreams of weaponizing monsters.”

“…You’re blocking them well.”

“Besides my promise to you, this is my personal disgust. Just stupid creatures wanting to reap benefits without effort.”

“At least they clearly recognize that Black Cat is a special variant and aren’t trying to tame other monsters.”

“I’d almost prefer that—those incompetent pigs would all die.”

Cage’s eyes flashed with killing intent, momentarily losing control of his ability’s wavelength, causing the screen to flicker.

“The fat pigs who never understand the field situation or the reality of monsters just push heroes into life-threatening situations… Heroes are no longer tools for politicians. As long as I stand in this position, I will never allow that.”

“…Because times have changed.”

“Speak correctly. Times haven’t changed—I made them change.”

“Right, I’m grateful for that.”

Yu Anna shrugged her shoulders, genuinely thankful for this.

Since Cage entered a political position with absolute citizen support as a hero, many things had improved for heroes.

Proper wage payments that were previously withheld under the assumption heroes would die anyway, prohibition of secret human experimentation through the hero registration system, strategy development to increase survival rates, passage of special hero laws…

Some heroes even called Cage this:

Not just a shield protecting citizens from monsters, but a shield protecting heroes from the government and citizens.

“Now that Black Cat and Baal have reminded the government bastards of the tension they were starting to forget, I plan to use this opportunity to further expand my authority.”

And Cage intended to use the destruction of D City as an opportunity to further increase his influence for the benefit of heroes.

Cage’s goal was to fill all high-ranking positions with decision-making power in cities with superhumans.

“But… this is still tiresome.”

Sighing at the ringtone sounding again, Cage picked up the phone and tossed it to an A-rank hero in the room.

“They thought they’d always be safe, but government officials were among Baal’s victims too. They must be scared.”

“If they feel fear from just that much, they’re pigs. Just incompetent fools who luckily sat in high positions due to the flow of time…”

As Cage expressed his disgust toward humans who weren’t superhumans yet sat in positions equal to his own, two female A-rank heroes silently massaged his shoulders.

“Starlight, so why did you contact me?”

“…I’ll send you the data.”

After waiting a few minutes with the video call connected,

Cage was finally ready to talk, and Yu Anna sent him her recent research data.

“The parasites’ activity has drastically decreased since the host disappeared. More precisely, their judgment has fallen to the level of ordinary parasites.”

“Research on infected citizens? You’re still doing that?”

What Yu Anna sent was a research report on citizens whose bodies had been taken over by parasites.

Other cities had already resolved the issue by eliminating all infected individuals, so Cage gave Yu Anna a complicated look upon learning that W City was still holding onto infected people.

“All cities think they’ve eradicated the parasites, but they still remain in W City… Give up and kill them, Starlight.”

“There’s a possibility of treatment now.”

“That’s your pathetic point. That’s why I didn’t want to acknowledge you. You’re always unrealistic… stupidly so.”

Cage clicked his tongue and spoke with a voice full of dissatisfaction.

“Are you trying to say my choice was wrong? That we shouldn’t have killed all the infected in D City?”

“No, I think that choice was good. It’s just… I’ve been thinking about a cure all along, so I want to see it through to the end.”

“Even though every city chose to kill the infected… Cutting out the rotten parts—an efficient, quick, and certain choice that a stupid woman like you couldn’t make.”

Cage covered his eyes with his hand, sighing tiredly.

“So, what’s the treatment method?”

“They say they might be able to surgically remove the parasites attached to the brain and organs.”

“Even if you do that, that’s not what I’d call living. Removing parasites that have eaten away at and replaced language centers, memory, and brain is like cutting out parts of the brain.”

“That’s why I want you to put in a production request to Meister. To see if he can make replacement brains… I’ve marked all the organs that would be extracted through surgery. Whether through biological cultivation or mechanical parts, if they can be replaced, people could return to normal life.”

After reading through the data Yu Anna explained, Cage raised the corners of his mouth in a silent smile.

“Alright, I’ll have the replacement brains sent to W City when they’re ready… Hmm, Electris mentioned wanting to visit some restaurants in W City that he hasn’t tried yet. I’ll have him deliver them.”

After organizing the data into a file, Cage stared at Yu Anna through the screen.

“…You’re still an unpleasant woman.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, all of a sudden?”

“Thanks to you, my already bad mood has become worse, you stupid woman.”

“Are you picking a fight right now?”

“It’s a compliment. Hero is synonymous with idiot, after all.”

What is he talking about? As Yu Anna frowned, Cage chuckled and ended the call.

She wasn’t sure whether to be offended or grateful that he would send replacement brains.

Still, they might be able to save even one more citizen.

Holding onto that possibility, Yu Anna left the communications room with an expectant expression over her sour face.

And right after Yu Anna left the communications room,

The new alarm created to identify Black Cat sounded throughout the hero department building.