Ch.7I’m Hungry

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“Phew…”

Yu Anna soaked in the bathtub for the first time in a while.

Her body relaxed in the warm water, and her mind—too sharp to the point of becoming dull—unfurled like tangled thread dissolving in water.

Crack, crack. As she flexed her wrists underwater, her bones, laden with fatigue, made painful sounds.

After the appearance of the monster, Code 0, W City had been under continuous Despair-rank monster alerts.

Each time, Yu Anna rushed to the monster’s location but failed to eliminate it.

The same pattern repeated, and the monster seemed to be wary of her, immediately disappearing whenever she approached.

Did its avoidance mean it was Code alpha? That creature had definitely attacked her four times from the air, slicing away her flesh.

However, strangely enough, the monster traces left at Despair-rank alert sites resembled Code 0 more than Code alpha.

Unlike Code alpha, there was the explosive power characteristic of beast-type monsters. The monster remains at alert sites had been completely blown apart.

Other heroes attributed this to Code 0, but… why would it avoid Yu Anna?

Regarding this, Yu Anna was quietly forming a hypothesis.

If both 0 and alpha were a single monster… neither beast-type nor phantasmal-type, but an irregular-type.

Beast-types evolve from animals, while phantasmal-types can develop from humans, sometimes taking on an irregular form with no fixed shape.

This is known to happen based on the knowledge and fear imagery absorbed from consumed humans.

Monsters that devour many of their own kind become powerful beast-types, those that consume humans become phantasmal-types, and those that consume humans with special knowledge have their evolutionary direction twisted, becoming irregular-types.

And irregular-types are the most difficult for humans to deal with.

This was why information restrictions on monsters and phantasms were gradually strengthening.

If Code 0 and alpha… no, if they were a single entity capable of taking two forms, all the inconsistencies would disappear.

The countermeasures heroes needed to take would differ significantly depending on whether one or two Despair-rank monsters were hiding in W City.

That’s why Yu Anna was rushing to every alert to confirm the true nature of the Despair-rank monster.

But neither Code 0 nor Code alpha appeared before the heroes anymore.

Brief monster alerts followed by disappearances were becoming the pattern.

Only monster traces remained.

This increased the possibility that there were two Despair-rank monsters in W City.

If there were indeed two Despair-rank monsters hiding in W City, the current situation was a three-way standoff including Yu Anna.

If two intelligent monsters were conserving their strength by not provoking the hero side, instead devouring lower-rank monsters to build up power…

Adding to the hypothesis that they might be growing toward Annihilation-rank, if this worst-case scenario was correct… these two monsters would likely initiate combat once they reached Annihilation-rank.

If so, W City was currently a ticking time bomb.

“Haah…”

Yu Anna washed her face irritably, then drew upon her special ability.

The bathwater touching her high-temperature skin began to boil furiously, releasing steam.

In the humid vapor, Yu Anna, revealing her scarred female body, closed her eyes and recalled her engagement with Code alpha.

“I could have caught it if I’d pushed just a little more…”

During the low-altitude flight through the city center and high-speed combat, Yu Anna had been gradually wearing down Code alpha.

Four direct hits that definitely tore through flesh, while Yu Anna hadn’t sustained any injuries.

That point continued to bother her.

There had clearly been opportunities for it to attack.

Even chances to inflict fatal wounds when Yu Anna charged in her excitement.

Could it have already been injured fighting Code 0? Were they both hiding because of that?

Thinking this might be her opportunity, Yu Anna had excessively drawn upon her special ability.

As a result, her power had engulfed civilians.

And the monster… had been hit by that attack.

That scene wouldn’t leave Yu Anna’s mind.

Monsters are hostile to humans.

So why?

Why did it seem like it had protected people from her attack?

And that creature that had sustained fatal injuries from her… if there were two of them, they surely would have had to fight each other.

Where on earth were they hiding now…?

#

“Slurrrrrp!”

Ah… I can declare with absolute certainty.

Truly, this is something I can confidently assert to anyone.

Ramen is the best.

If there were a supreme food on earth, wouldn’t it start with the letter ‘R’ and end with ‘amen’?

This is a famous ramen shop in W City. Though some say ramen and ramyeon are different dishes, this place boils packet ramen with special seasonings.

A rich umami flavor added to the spiciness, bone broth, beef and chicken, shiitake mushrooms, and roasted garlic in harmony.

The owner calls it Five-Spice Ramen…

I endured the hellish experiments at that laboratory just to eat this.

I let out an involuntary exclamation as the fulfilling sensation seemed to fill all the emptiness in my heart.

“Kuuuuh…”

With this stimulating taste, I can now firmly state:

The porridge they gave me at the laboratory, laced with drugs, was like water wrung from a rag with another rag soaked in it, while ramen is a dish created by the gods…

After finishing my satisfying meal, I pulled out whatever money I could grab from my pocket and placed it on the table.

“Owner… keep the change.”

“Hey! This isn’t enough! You ate five bowls but only paid for four!”

“Mistake.”

After properly paying for the ramen, I left the shop and flexed my hands.

I had entered because the smell severely stimulated human appetite, but ramen was still too much for me.

Though the owner didn’t notice, I had broken five wooden chopsticks and cracked three out of five ramen bowls.

Yet he only charged me for five bowls of ramen—the owner is truly a kind person.

…When I earn more money, I’ll come back and pay extra.

“Hey, Mr. Ko! If you’re done eating, hurry up and get in!”

“Yes.”

After leaving the shop and returning to the designated spot, people in a truck waved at me.

I carefully grabbed the edge of the truck bed as if climbing onto a cardboard box and jumped in.

Two people were already in the cargo area.

Including the driver and passenger, plus me, there were five people in the truck.

On the side of the truck, along with a phone number, were words indicating what kind of truck it was.

[Monster Damage Cleanup Crew]

A truck that clears away corpses and debris from monster attack sites.

Perhaps because the work is dangerous, they don’t properly check IDs as long as you show up to work—day laborers.

Having found employment here, I was earning my keep by diligently clearing monster corpses.

“Mr. Mound really eats a lot… Well, I guess it makes sense since he does the work of three people by himself.”

“Wait… that’s not your real name, right? It’s a pseudonym, right?”

“How can someone be named Mound of rice…”

As I finished my meal and pulled out triangle kimbap from my pocket to eat, people spoke as if disgusted.

My temporary name, Park Deun-deun (Mound of rice).

I chose it hoping to eat a lot of rice.

“Hello, boss~ Ah, hello Mr. Mound!”

“Oof… thank you for your hard work.”

“Hello.”

When we arrived at the site, a low-ranking hero of W City was waiting for us.

Her name was Lee Han-yeong, a small woman with black hair who stood about up to my navel.

With a height considered small even by normal human standards, her special ability was Swimming.

Wherever it might be, she could swim through it.

When she activated her special ability, the area around her body existed at the boundary between non-materialization and materialization, distorting like an astral body.

Even piles of monster corpses were like swimming pools to her, and she could dive into thick rock walls.

Though her combat ability was ambiguous, her special ability specialized in rescue and investigation.

“There are no more survivors, so you can use drills and chainsaws.”

After receiving confirmation from the hero, the boss cut the monster’s corpse with a chainsaw, and the manager in the passenger seat broke the rock wall with a drill.

Sometimes I would pick up and move aside prefabricated building parts that remained intact, while the two people sitting with me in the cargo area packed the cut monster pieces into body disposal bags.

As I lightly lifted the bags containing corpses and stacked them neatly in the truck, Lee Han-yeong approached me with her usual question.

“Mr. Mound, why are you so strong…? You don’t seem to have special abilities.”

“Eat a lot, get strong. Hungry, get weak.”

“Is today a full stomach day?”

“Hmm… 40%.”

“So you’re hungry?”

By now, I had become quite accustomed to controlling my strength enough to blend in with people, appearing just as someone very strong rather than at the level of special abilities.

Since Lee Han-yeong saw me as an ordinary person with extraordinary strength, she would approach me like this several times while working.

For some reason, she would also make gulping sounds while looking only at me.

“Wo-would you like some water?”

“This is too little water. I need at least 1.5L.”

“Ah! That’s why I brought several bottles.”

Not wanting to open bottle caps… since I still needed to concentrate a lot to open just one, I reluctantly and carefully drank the water, then went back to work.

Some human corpses were placed in separate bags and set aside in designated places, while monster corpses were loaded into the truck until collection was complete.

This truck specialized in monster corpse disposal, and another truck following behind would collect the debris.

“Man, I wish we had a Mound too.”

“Hey Mound! Load this onto the truck!”

“Could you help over here too?”

“Stop! Mound! Get in!”

Perhaps because I could easily lift heavy monster corpses and debris onto the truck, whenever there was a little free time, bosses from other trucks would try to assign me various tasks.

Since these weren’t particularly difficult to help with, I would assist briefly until the boss of my truck would tell me to stop.

He said if I kept helping, our truck would lose time for receiving the next job.

After loading the cargo, we would go to the corpse disposal site to unload the corpses, where two people would open and empty the bags, then move on to another site to collect more corpses.

After working all day like this, I would receive my daily wages.

“Stingy again today.”

“This is already a lot, you fool!”

“This isn’t even enough for one day’s meals.”

“That’s because you eat so much!”

Although I was evaluated as doing the work of more than three people by myself, I was always short on money despite working hard.

The reason was that I alone ate meals equivalent to more than five humans.

Moreover, on days when I underwent monsterization, I needed meals for about fifteen people.

When would my dream of eating premium beef to my heart’s content come true?

Even in the modern era overflowing with monsters, food ingredients were plentiful.

This was because the government controlled population density in agricultural and livestock farming areas to keep it very low, and deployed heroes capable of killing monsters to ensure food production wasn’t disrupted.

Nevertheless, due to the risk posed by monsters, the price of food ingredients was terrifyingly high.

Perhaps because of this, day laborers working just to survive each day were always short on money.

“Mound, lend me some money.”

“Don’t have any.”

“I’m sorry, please, you get almost four times what I do. Just a little…”

“That’s because I do five times more work than you.”

Sighing, I handed over a little money to the man who was begging me for a loan again today.

This person had started this job after his workplace was destroyed by a monster recently.

Though he was looking for another job, this was temporary.

He had no choice because his wife had recently given birth.

“I’m hungry too, so this is all I can spare. It’s not a loan, so buy some formula.”

“Thank you so much…”