Ch.90You Only Listen When You Get Hit

Gu Seo-ryong also listens for about three seconds when spoken to.

Even when I talk to her, she just goes on about “my ability,” “my power,” insisting she’s right and correct.

She’s truly being controlled by her ability.

“Gu Seo-ryong… that cat woman experiment I saw before.”

[If I eat your ability, I wonder if Starlight would really just stand by and watch.]

“I’ve already written my will, I’ve asked my ability too. We might fight a little, but ultimately it says they’ll understand you and me, so you won’t be harmed.”

[Yeah, goood job.]

“Ugh, ack, ugh, ugh.”

Consecutive forehead flicks—Meister tried to cover her forehead to stop the hitting, but telekinesis can’t be blocked by hands.

Meister rubbed her forehead, now red from too many telekinetic flicks, and said:

“My ability is absolute. This is right, following the ability.”

[If your ability is absolute, why have you failed so many times?]

“That’s because my skills are lacking… I don’t have the technical ability to create what my ability tells me to. I’m only conveying theory and technique, so errors occur in the process, but if you eat me…”

[You talk too much. That’s not conversation. It’s persuasion.]

“Eh…”

[From now on, if you don’t speak briefly, I’ll hit your head.]

“Y-you’re still hitting me anyway.”

When I raised my front paws and swung them around, Meister flinched.

[Your ability is not absolute. From what I’ve seen, it’s the worst garbage ability among all abilities I’ve encountered.]

“What?”

[Because of your ability, you neither think for yourself nor ask questions of others. You’ve become inhuman. How is it any different from having a talking parasite in your head?]

“But I do think… I worry a lot and question things.”

[Have you ever come up with answers on your own, without using your ability? When?]

“That’s…”

Silence. After thinking deeply, Meister mumbled with a blank expression.

“But if there’s even a slight delay… people die. Asking my ability can save many more people… Ack!”

[You’ve compromised with your ability. Instead of thinking of better methods, you’ve been desperate to just prevent immediate situations. This is the result. A defective product who can’t even use their ability properly, an ability vending machine.]

The answer is too long.

As promised, I delivered telekinetic head-hitting and shared what I felt while eating humans infected with parasites.

[A human who doesn’t think for themselves or act on their own cannot be considered alive. You’re a walking corpse.]

“Is that… a monster’s perspective?”

[Yes.]

But Meister doesn’t actually have a parasite in her head, so she might be able to come back to life.

I poured out everything I’ve felt since becoming a monster.

[Don’t be controlled by your ability. Even the most garbage ability becomes strong in the hands of a strong person, and even the strongest ability becomes trash in the hands of the weak.]

“So in the end, it’s best if Black Cat takes my ability…”

[What I’m saying is that you are the master of your ability, not the other way around. And why do you trust a monster anyway?]

“What?”

[What will you do if my mind changes after I swallow your ability? What if I become like other monsters?]

“But my ability…”

[Didn’t your ability answer that? How many humans I could kill if my mind changed and I became like other monsters.]

Meister’s face turned pale. This truly is a garbage ability.

It only answers questions—it only responds to what the user specifically asks.

It doesn’t answer anything the user hasn’t thought to ask about.

If you were to ask questions covering absolutely everything, your head would explode.

To show Meister how useless she and her ability are, I posed a hypothetical question:

[Answer this. If seventeen disaster-rank monsters appeared in the city, what’s the first thing you should do?]

“What? Such an impossible number… If that happened, I’d first close off the area, sacrifice some sectors…”

[Wrong. The monster alarm was broken. They weren’t actually disaster-rank but seventeen homicide-rank monsters. I’ve already eaten them. Starlight killed the rest, and Cage finished them off. The first thing you should do is prepare smoked tuna for me to eat. Your ability is garbage.]

“Eh… but you didn’t say the monster alarm was broken. Why would it suddenly break? And this is W City, no, even if it were A City, Ms. Anna and Black Cat aren’t here.”

[Does your ability not even know whether I’m talking about W City or A City? I broke A City’s alarm while playing with it, and Starlight came looking for me. Does your ability not know that I might suddenly want to break A City’s alarm? It’s garbage.]

“How could it know that…”

[Exactly, so why do you think your ability’s answers are correct? If your ability is so absolute, why are you in this state now? Why are monsters still overrunning everything?]

Frozen in place, Meister mumbled.

“My ability answers based on the information I’ve observed.”

[Your ability is not absolute. After experiencing this so many times, why don’t you think for yourself instead of just believing in your ability?]

Meister probably knows the reason best.

An imperfect ability, her own capabilities, and yet, the reason she relied on her ability was because there was no other way.

[You’ve saved many people with that mere ability. I think that’s impressive.]

An undeniable fact—Meister is a hero who has saved countless people.

But she’s also human.

[But why try to handle everything alone? You weak human.]

“Because if not me, there was no one else who could think of ways to save people. If there was even a slight delay, people would die. Asking my ability could save many more people.”

[And now?]

No need to answer.

The surviving humans have built fortress cities, and heroes’ combat methods have been systematized, moving beyond mere survival to fighting against monsters.

S-rank heroes can now single-handedly subjugate Despair-rank monsters—a rank named when there seemed no way to deal with them except to hope for survival.

They’ve been able to hold out this far thanks to the foundation Meister built.

[You’re no longer needed. Humans have survived, and S-rank heroes have taken your place.]

“I am…”

[All that’s left is you—just a weak human.]

“I’m… no longer needed?”

Drip, drip. Tears fall from Meister’s eyes onto the floor.

The torrent of emotions wrapped in those tears can be read through the tangle of thoughts.

Meister is needed, only Meister can do it, if Meister doesn’t ask questions, countless people will die.

A life crushed under the weight of responsibility, an unbearable burden.

The emotion in Nam Gyeong’s tears isn’t sadness but liberation.

[Humans are weak. But they survived by working together. So why do you try to take all responsibility alone? Aren’t you human?]

“Superhumans are stronger than normal humans.”

[Superhumans are still human. They taste the same, just with the added flavor of ability.]

As I recalled what Yu Hye-na had told me, Meister’s tears flowed steadily.

Perhaps no one around Meister treated her as human?

She was too useful to humans with her ability to be left alone as just a person.

“I have to take full responsibility for this power.”

[Taking on responsibility you can’t handle is actually more troublesome.]

“Everyone relies on me, everyone says they need my ability.”

[You brought humans this far. Heroes stronger than you have emerged. Those who still rely on you are worse garbage than you.]

“Ugh…”

[Those who dump their responsibilities on you and tell you to use your ability are worse than parasites. Why listen to garbage worse than your ability? Ignore them.]

Meister has already created such a world.

Yet those who still say it’s not enough are just those who want to use Meister as a tool.

If they don’t treat her as human, why should she treat them as human?

Even a monster—no, even an ordinary cat—doesn’t tolerate those who bare their teeth at it.

[People who can survive will survive without trash like you, and people who will die will die even with a hero like you. You created a world that can survive without you. So why don’t you rely on anyone?]

“Waaah… aaah!”

[You weak human, if you’re human, then act like one and lean on others.]

Emotions churning in all directions—guilt mixed with the desire to stop, the wish to rest, overflowing.

Meister’s true feelings, suppressed under the yoke of having an ability that saves humans and the pressure that she shouldn’t stop.

The overload of her ability is naturally painful.

Nevertheless, she endured the pain because the thought of others suffering because of her was even more painful.

In the end, no matter which way she turned, there was only pain for Meister.

If you’re weak, rely on others. It doesn’t have to be you.

Pushed to her limits, Meister lunged toward the escape route.

[Disgusting. Don’t cling to me.]

“You’re… so mean…”

I used telekinesis to push away Meister who was trying to cling to me.

A face messy with tears and snot—how dare she try to get that on my fur.

[If you’re going to cry, hug that blanket over there.]

“Uuu…”

Meister hugged the already tear-soaked pillow and blanket and continued crying.

Despite the tears, the emotions leaking from Meister were far from sadness.

After crying for a while and collecting her emotions, Meister looked at me from the bed with her messy face.

“…Thank you.”

A quiet expression of gratitude, with multiple compressed meanings that unravel through monster senses.

Comfort that humans who needed to use Meister never gave her.

It wasn’t that there weren’t people who tried to get close, but such people were kept away from Meister by others.

Those who could tell her to ignore such humans couldn’t stay by her side for long.

At least Jeong Ho-young tried to persuade her, and Yu Anna comforted her, but Meister wouldn’t listen.

Meister’s ability spoke of Cage’s danger and the unreality of Yu Anna’s comfort.

The two heroes never said that Meister’s ability was garbage.

To humans, Meister’s ability was that impressive—enough to make Nam Gyeong the person invisible.

So instead of taking time to listen to their conversations, she had to use her ability as much as possible.

Because both her ability and government people said that was more helpful to others.

“Thank you for telling me my ability isn’t needed…”

Ironically, only a monster saw Nam Gyeong simply as a human.

A monster that considers humans only as food.

That’s why it felt convincing.

It’s natural for monsters to see humans as food.

Even superhumans are just unusual humans.

Meister gradually emitted a less appetizing smell and gently closed her eyes.

“So the reason you came back… wasn’t to eat me. That was just my assumption.”

“Wae-ong?”

“I never expected to be comforted by a monster… no, would it be rude to call you a monster? Since you’re… human.”

Meister quietly laughed and activated her ability’s wavelength.

“Your goal is to find the laboratory in A City. I need to stay in W City. A laboratory creating monsters—many humans could get hurt. But I’ll leave it to you.”

Meister understood everything I wanted without needing a long conversation.

Wiping away tears with a sniffling sound, Meister smiled brightly and said:

“Regardless of my ability’s answer, I want to trust you. Please find the laboratory in A City. I’ll buy time here.”

Because she’s a weak human, she doesn’t try to do everything alone but leans on others.

For the first time making a choice befitting a weak human, Meister’s emotions were so bright and comfortable.

[Why did you use your ability again? Are you an idiot?]

“…Ah.”

[Put your head here.]

“Uu, ugh…”

And I began hitting this stupid human’s head.

[You’re truly worse than Gu Seo-ryong. Even Gu Seo-ryong remembers when someone speaks. You’re a human worse than a cat.]

“Ack, ouch, ack.”

[Repeat after me: Meister is garbage worse than Gu Seo-ryong.]

“I think that’s too harsh on Ms. Gu Seo-ryong…”

[Repeat it!]

“I am garbage worse than Gu Seo-ryong…! Ack! Ouch!”