Ch.79They See Me as a Cat

The Mi-ong Faction members who insist that no one should touch Black Cat, take photos without permission, or call her cute.

While the Black Cat Mom Café members rejected the Mi-ong Faction for their different approach, they acknowledged one thing about them.

[The quality of merchandise made by the Mi-ong Faction is amazing…]

[The Mi-ong Faction members definitely make their merchandise with devotion! They never cut corners!]

[They’re absolute works of art ㅠㅠㅠ.]

[Are there any more Black Cat mosaic tiles available? I’m fine with second-hand!]

[Looking for a Mi-ong Faction mug!]

[When is the next batch of Mi-ong Faction Black Cat sculpture accessories coming?]

Their DIY skills were honed in the harsh environment of D City.

The refugees from D City found a way to make money in W City, while W City citizens got their hands on the Black Cat merchandise they so desperately wanted.

Over time, the Mi-ong Faction and the Black Cat Mom Café developed a symbiotic relationship—neither too close nor too distant.

“Believe in Black Cat~! There’s only one savior in this era, believe in Black Cat and go to heaven! Don’t believe and go to hell~!”

“Free Black Cat! Dissect Black Cat!”

“Let’s protect our Black Cat! Cherish Black Cat!”

And so, the three-way battle in W City’s park continued.

The heroes watching over the situation to prevent civilian clashes looked at each other and said:

“What a complete mess.”

“How did W City end up like this…”

#

As I continued practicing making surveillance cats, I learned several things about my division ability.

There’s a high risk that when something split from me dies, I lose that power completely.

Trying to minimize this risk means creating very weak monsters.

Even if they’re not even Homicide-rank, they can still share vision with me.

A monster that’s no different from an ordinary cat.

If I send it beyond the limits of my ability’s range, I can still get information when it returns within range.

There’s no better ability for exploring dangerous places.

“Nyaan.”

“Nyaoong.”

Now able to create two cats at once, I sent them running in opposite directions.

One toward Zone 4, the other toward Zone 0.

Places where Starlight and Gu Seo-ryong might be.

Though they were cats, the two monsters ran tirelessly, quickly reaching their destinations.

In this state, if I couple it with a tiny bit of space manipulation ability, I can instantly teleport to where the cats are.

“Nya~”

The cat that went to Zone 4 tracked Gu Seo-ryong’s scent like a dog, searching for her hiding place.

It arrived at the orphanage in Zone 4.

There, Gu Seo-ryong was chasing after Sa Gu-gu.

“What are you holding in your mouth again? Come here right now!”

“I’m not holding anything! Gulp…”

“You just…! Hey! Gu-gu, do you want another stomach pumping?!”

“I hate stomach pumping! Brother! Brother!”

“This! I knew it! The moment things get quiet, you cause trouble!”

“Uwnyaaaa!”

When Gu Seo-ryong subdued Sa Gu-gu and jabbed her finger down her throat, a bundle of gloves popped out from Sa Gu-gu’s throat.

“Are you crazy? Why are you eating cooking gloves?!”

“Meat smell tasty…”

“I cook for you! I grill meat for you! Just eat what I give you! Haah… what are you doing just because dinner was 3 minutes late?”

“Nyat.”

Gu Seo-ryong grabbed Sa Gu-gu by the scruff of her neck and plopped her down in a chair. Sa Gu-gu drooled and swung her legs.

“Eat.”

“Ungnyanyanya.”

“Put your ears away and eat. How is it that you still can’t maintain your human state properly? CXI is… well… he’s the strange one.”

“Nyawung.”

Gu Seo-ryong stood behind Sa Gu-gu and tapped her head, causing the cat ears that had popped out to retract.

Just then, Sa Gu-gu, who was chomping on meat, looked at me with sparkling eyes.

More precisely, at the cat sharing vision with me.

“It’s brother!”

“What? Where?”

Feeling our ability wavelengths intertwine, Sa Gu-gu recognized my identity from the cat’s faint wavelength and approached me with meat in her hand.

Gu Seo-ryong was looking for me when she spotted the small cat and stopped, then seemed to realize what it was and crouched in front of me.

“Oh my? What’s this, honey? Is this you?”

“Brother got smaller!”

“Nya.”

“The wavelength is definitely Black Cat’s. Is this an ability you got from eating something? Were you spying on us with this?”

Then, Gu Seo-ryong picked up the cat by the scruff of its neck and pulled at the strap of her underwear.

“How perverted~ If you had such a peeping habit, you should have said so~”

“Unya?”

“Ah, hey! I told you not to tear clothes for fun!”

“Hyaak!”

Next to her, Sa Gu-gu also grabbed her clothes and raised both hands above her head, tearing her clothes.

Once again, there was a commotion as Sa Gu-gu ran away and Gu Seo-ryong chased her through the orphanage building.

They’re doing better than I expected. I sent the cat out of the orphanage and let it roam around Zone 4 on its own, then shifted my consciousness to the cat that had arrived at Zone 0.

Just then, the cat’s vision caught a thunderbolt striking the rooftop of the government building with a rumbling sound.

Climbing up the government building wall with its claws, the cat saw a woman on the rooftop fixing her hair that was standing on end from static electricity.

Brown skin, blonde hair, scars all over her body, a flight jacket, and leather gloves.

“Ahem, hmm…”

After meticulously smoothing out even the wrinkles in her leggings, the woman cleared her throat, and heroes burst through the rooftop door.

“Oh, it’s Electris.”

“Ah shit, you scared me. What’s going on? You weren’t scheduled to arrive for a while.”

The A-rank and B-rank heroes who had rushed out urgently, thinking a monster had appeared at headquarters, frowned when they saw Electris and turned away.

Electris glared at them and waved the small bag in her hand.

“I personally came at W City’s request, and that’s your reaction? Hmph, in A City, you wouldn’t even be treated as heroes.”

“Ah… yes, thank you. We apologize.”

“Take this and get lost. The red case contains biological brain culture medium, and the blue case contains mechanical implants, so deliver them properly.”

As the mutual dislike between them was evident, the heroes took the bag and were about to leave the rooftop, ignoring Electris.

Then, Electris called out to stop them.

“Where’s that bastard Iron Fight or Night or whatever? Did that new hero quit already?”

“Um… he’s on patrol right now.”

“He should have just finished patrol. Isn’t he in the operations room now?”

“You guys get lost, and tell him to come up here right now.”

“…Why?”

“Why do you need to know?”

At the crackling sound of electricity, the heroes made sour faces and muttered as they went down the stairs.

“She’s trying to get revenge, isn’t she? For when he spilled that drink on her.”

“She’s really persistent.”

“Oh, what do you know, he’s coming up.”

“Hey, be careful, Electris seems to be holding a grudge against you.”

“If she attacks, call us, we’ll help.”

“If 3 A-ranks and 5 B-ranks gang up, we might be able to handle an S-rank somehow.”

A moment later, Iron Might opened the closed rooftop door, and Electris gave off a strangely tense scent.

As the footsteps faded down the stairs, Iron Might cautiously spoke.

“Um… about last time.”

“Last time was a mistake, that’s what I came to say.”

“Ah… right.”

With her arms crossed, Electris spoke with a thorny emotion, and Iron Might also gave off a complex scent.

“You haven’t spread rumors, have you? Bragging about what you did to an S-rank hero from A City, making cheap boasts.”

“Why would I spread such rumors?”

“It’s the kind of inferior game W City trash would play, isn’t it?”

“That’s more like what people in A City would do, steeped in superhuman supremacy, thinking superiority justifies anything. As I said before…”

“A City isn’t like that! And what’s wrong with superhumans being revered by the obsolete masses? Despite having this power, we protect them like pets, they should be grateful!”

“Calling citizens pets…”

“How are they different from dogs? They bark noisily, bare their teeth if not properly trained, don’t listen well if not disciplined, and take food for granted without gratitude.”

“Enough, there’s no point in continuing this conversation. We clearly won’t understand each other.”

“Right, I don’t understand you either. Hmph… why did I even do that?”

With an unusually sticky and bitter taste, Electris tapped her toes on the ground like when she was about to bolt.

“It must have been luck upon luck upon luck for you… an A-rank nobody, taking advantage when an S-rank hero was weakened. Did you thank Black Cat? Consider it the glory of your lifetime.”

“What kind of thoughts… Is that all A City has? Such vulgar ideas? What, do people attack when an S-rank hero is injured and weakened?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Superhumans must always be perfect.”

When Electris shrugged, Iron Might, who was about to open the rooftop door to leave, stopped.

“Strong superhumans deserve respect. If you’re not a strong superhuman, you don’t deserve respect.”

“…Then who shows consideration when a superhuman is injured and weakened?”

“Why should anyone show consideration?”

“Because superhumans are just weak humans with abilities.”

“Ha, is that the weak thinking in W City? Or is it Starlight’s idea?”

“Does it matter whose idea it is? Rejecting opinions from people you dislike and accepting those from people you like.”

“The world’s rules have changed because of monsters, right? So the words of strong superhumans are law.”

“So if a strong superhuman tells you to submit, you just do it?”

“You’re no different from those idiots spreading cheap rumors. Are you also deluded into thinking I did something with Cage and received special training to become S-rank?”

“What’s that… sigh, I’m just curious. Whether it was really a mistake, a whim when you were injured, or… something else.”

“I said it was a mistake! I am the S-rank hero, Electris. I…! Eek?!”

As Electris was powering up her ability and glowing, she spotted me in the corner of her vision and jumped up as if having a seizure.

With a crackle, Electris quickly fled and hid behind Iron Might’s back.

“W-what?! Why is there a cat here?!”

“Huh? How did a cat get up here…?”

“Quickly, quickly remove it! Remove it!”

“No, wait, it’s just… sitting there quietly.”

Iron Might looked down at Electris, who was tightly hugging his waist, and smirked.

“For such a great S-rank hero, you’re awfully afraid of cats?”

“I-I’m not afraid! I’m over it!”

“Seeing you so scared, I’m guessing that’s why you came to A City asking to drink together because you couldn’t sleep…”

“What do you take me for? You think I’d do that with just any man…”

“Huh…?”

“G-get lost!”

With a prickly emotional taste, Electris rose into the sky, avoiding the cat and Iron Might, and shouted:

“This is why W City idiots are hopeless! I don’t understand! Why be nice to someone just because they seem weak? Idiots! Fools! Weaklings!”

With a flash, Electris disappeared into the sky with a streak of light.

Iron Might, quietly looking up at her, gave off a complex scent.

“I wonder if it’s the person who can’t be honest, or if it’s the environment that prevents honesty… really…”

Then he picked up the cat that had been sitting quietly watching on the rooftop.

“But how did you get up here? By climbing the wall…? You look like a kitten…”

“Nyaa.”

“Were you trapped because you could climb up but couldn’t get down? I’ll take you down, but don’t come up here again, okay?”

The cat was carried in Iron Might’s hand and released outside the building.

And a little while later, Electris returned outside the building with a flushed face and said:

“I-I’ll be back in a few days… see you then or not, whatever.”

“Um…”

“Meister escort! Didn’t Starlight tell you?! He heard about Black Cat or whatever and wants to see for himself, so he’s coming as an escort!”

Having returned to deliver the forgotten message, Electris shot up into the sky again with a flash.

“…I already received that report.”

With that, the cat escaped from Iron Might’s hand and sank into the shadows between the alleys, returning to me.