108
Ch.108 Things That Has Outlived Their Usefulness
A pool of red blood spread across the pure white room.
Having devoured the researchers, I came to understand many things.
This was one of the three laboratories labeled by Alphabet.
They had been relocating elsewhere, fearing that Kage would become the ruler of A-City.
The decision-makers of the lab, referred to as executives, had long since left this place.
[So it was a bluff.]
It wasn’t that there was nothing to eat, but rather that there was nothing of importance left.
Suppressing my disappointment, I slowly chewed and swallowed the researchers’ heads.
From the memories of humans dissolving within my monster’s body, I directly sought answers to my questions.
The next lab to visit, the place where the researchers had moved—B, C, D, and F Cities.
The remaining facilities, monsters, and researchers were left behind for a single purpose.
That purpose was… Potato-pig-sugar-squid-carrot…
[Huh…?]
The researchers’ memories were strange.
D-City had already been destroyed, and yet the other locations were B, C, and F Cities—why three places?
More than anything, why was the purpose listed as a series of random food items?
As I pondered this, an answer surfaced from within a researcher’s memory.
Dummy Memory—a countermeasure against Meister’s ability.
It was a defensive mechanism designed to overload Meister’s ability by associating dangerous information with unrelated thoughts.
All researchers who might come into contact with Meister used a technique called Dummy Memory to create obstacles in their memories.
So this was how they blocked it.
As expected, Meister’s ability was trash.
I sat down and began peeling away the layers of useless clutter obscuring the researcher’s memories.
These memories were like tough meat that required long chewing to swallow, like fruit that took time to peel.
Factions divided into Numbers, Romania, and Alphabet.
Over time, each lab had developed different objectives.
Alphabet’s goal was complete domination over monsters.
Ordinary monsters were too wild to control, and experimental subjects were too rational to dominate.
Thus, the recent theory was to reduce the intelligence of experimental subjects to strike a balance.
As a byproduct of this research, Alphabet specialized in mental manipulation of both humans and monsters.
“Hmm…”
After carelessly chewing through uninteresting memories, I savored another memory like dissolving a hard candy in my mouth.
Then, Gu Seo-ryong appeared beyond the torn-apart door.
“Eek…! Eeeeeek…!”
“Oh? You’re fast, as expected.”
“Omnomnomnom!”
[You’re late.]
Holding a researcher high above her head with both hands, Gu Seo-ryong twisted her body left and right to dodge Sagugu, who was lunging at the researcher.
As if excited by the rare hunting game, Sagugu couldn’t control her desire to eat the human.
“Nya?! Brother ate all of this?! Sagugu wants to eat too! Wants to eat!”
Then, upon seeing the corpses in the room, Sagugu angrily leaped onto Gu Seo-ryong’s head.
Gu Seo-ryong, who had been desperately shaking the researcher to avoid her, wrapped her tail around Sagugu’s neck.
“Sagugu, if you keep not listening, no Pipikung for you.”
“Unya… Pipikung…”
“I told you, this isn’t food, so I can’t give it to you. If you behave, I’ll give you something tasty when we get home.”
“Nyauu.”
As Sagugu pouted her lips and obediently sat down, Gu Seo-ryong approached me and plopped the researcher onto the ground.
[Why didn’t you eat them? Don’t you need their memories?]
“You ate the ones you killed near the exit. I didn’t kill this one because they’re useful, so don’t touch them.”
Saying this, Gu Seo-ryong plunged her finger deep into the researcher’s temple.
Memory manipulation.
“Ugh, ah, aaaaah…!”
[What are you doing?]
“You said this place is already an empty shell, and they were planning to move to another lab after finishing up here, right? Even if we can figure out which city they’re going to, we won’t know where in the city the lab is hidden. So, I thought I’d let one live and plant them there to make it easier to find.”
Hearing this, I searched through the memories and found that none of the researchers knew the exact location of the next lab.
Upon arriving in the city, researchers would naturally learn through contact from the lab.
We could eventually find it by searching the city, but Gu Seo-ryong’s method seemed more convenient.
“I expected as much, but the researchers’ memories are full of interesting things… Like the fact that Alphabet was in A-City, and their goal was monster domination.”
[So the other labs have different objectives.]
“Hmm, but the big picture probably isn’t that different. It’s common for the original purpose to drift over time. That’s how factions form.”
[The original purpose…?]
Then, what was the original purpose of the labs?
I searched through the memories, but all the researchers here had joined after the factions split, so they only knew about Alphabet.
To satisfy my curiosity, I’d have to devour researchers from other labs.
“By the way, you’re really lucky, huh? How convenient that Kage staged a coup and cut off all external communications.”
“A purge of government pigs.”
The derogatory term government pigs slipped out of my mouth as I recalled the atrocities committed by high-ranking officials.
Right now, in A-City, Kage is moving to kill all the incompetent leaders.
Among Kage’s targets was someone who provided children to researchers to be turned into test subjects.
A rare collaborator among high-ranking officials—to protect them, the lab prepared beef potato stew with pork curry…
More Dummy Memory?
“Speaking of which… I thought bringing you along would make this easier, but it’s almost disappointingly simple. Even if it’s an empty shell, there’s not a single Despair-class monster here?”
[Isn’t that strange?]
“Yeah, it is. I’m pretty sure this lab had Despair-class monsters too.”
Gu Seo-ryong and I quietly sat and focused on unraveling the memories.
This lab had Despair-class monsters.
Uncontrollable test subjects—monsters kept asleep with drugs.
Their current location was not the lab, but… A-City’s…
“Nya? Mama! Is this a TV?”
At that moment, Sagugu, bored from sitting still, picked up an intact tablet from among the corpses and came running over.
“Sagugu, can you play by yourself for a bit? Mama’s busy right now.”
“Wanna watch TV!”
“Sigh… Give it here. This isn’t a TV—it’s a device for controlling the lab’s systems.”
Using the researcher’s memories, Gu Seo-ryong operated the tablet and connected it to surveillance cameras, the closest thing to a TV.
Most of the lab’s internal cameras were destroyed, showing nothing.
After some adjustments, Gu Seo-ryong switched the feed to A-City’s surveillance cameras.
***
[Waaaah!]
[Kill! Kill them!]
Sagugu lay on her side, wagging her tail as she focused on the screen.
A-City was currently in the midst of Kage and the heroes’ coup.
To be precise, it was just Kage.
The incompetent leaders had hidden behind the military, and soldiers were firing a barrage of bullets at the superpower humans.
But bullets were useless against superpower humans.
Even a D-rank superpower human would only feel slight pain and bruising from gunfire—not enough to kill them.
[Hahahaha! What do you think you’ll accomplish with outdated weapons like these?!]
[Stop them! Don’t cease fire! Hold them back!]
Superpower humans confident in their physical strength laughed at the soldiers, walking forward boldly as bullets ricocheted off them.
Some even caught bullets midair—to the soldiers’ terror, the superpower humans treated it like a game.
Then, Kage, leading the superpower humans, stepped forward and raised his hand.
The endless barrage of bullets stopped.
A translucent barrier of ability—all the bullets fired in that brief moment had crumpled against the wall.
[This is your final warning. Cease fire and drop your weapons.]
Kage spread his arms and spoke not to the superpower humans behind him, but to the soldiers.
[Can’t you see and feel it for yourselves? The difference between humans and superpower humans. We are strong. We have evolved into a different species.]
[So superpower humans will lead humanity—what’s the problem with that?]
[Move. If you don’t open the bunker now, who knows what they’ll do to the city’s systems.]
When the soldiers hesitated, Kage sighed and lowered his arms.
[I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to indulge you.]
[You made your choice.]
Clad in armor of ability, Kage lowered his visor and aimed his spear at the humans.
At that moment, like a guiding light in a fog-obscured path, the blocked memories broke through the Dummy Memory.
“Gu Seo-ryong. I know why the researchers stayed here.”
“I just figured it out too.”
Even after relocating to avoid Kage, the researchers had stayed for this day.
Normally scattered throughout the lab, they had all gathered in the White Room upon hearing news of Kage’s coup.
They had been waiting to witness something.
[Stop!]
On the screen, a human figure rushed forward from afar and landed in front of Kage.
Kage flinched in surprise upon seeing them.
[…Professor Yeo.]
The person who appeared before Kage was Yeo Woon-jae.
Driven by the swallowed researchers’ memories and a desire to see what was happening in A-City, I turned my gaze toward the tablet Sagugu was shaking her legs in front of.
Gu Seo-ryong, too, was staring at the tablet while kneading the researcher’s brain like dough.
[Who contacted you? Today’s the day you never leave the house no matter what, isn’t it?]
[What the hell are you doing?! This is…!]
[Exactly what it looks like. I’m draining the pus from this city.]
[Pus? Pus?! Do these soldiers look like pus to you?!]
Kage sighed at Yeo Woon-jae’s furious voice.
[When draining pus, even healthy skin gets hurt. It’s an unavoidable sacrifice.]
[Then your method is wrong. If your way requires sacrifice to cut out the rot, then it’s the wrong way!]
[Professor Yeo… After all you’ve suffered, you still don’t understand? If we don’t cut it out now, the damage will only grow.]
[These soldiers are just hostages! Hostages with families!]
[We don’t have time to play along with hostage situations.]
[Jung Ho-young!]
Yeo Woon-jae called Kage’s name in a trembling voice.
[You were the one who told me. That I was wrong. That the idea someone had to be sacrificed was flawed. That no one should have to die…! You said you’d prove it! So why?!]
[I simply realized that belief was also wrong.]
[…What?]
[It was an unrealistic thought.]
A cold silence. A brief standoff.
The one to break it was Kage, gripping his spear.
Walking past Yeo Woon-jae, he spoke.
[This conversation is over. Go home and continue mourning Yeo Ryeong’s soul.]
[My daughter, Yeo Ryeong, died for you.]
[…It was a necessary sacrifice.]
Yeo Woon-jae’s lips trembled before he spoke, his voice laden with emotions palpable even through the screen.
[A necessary… Sacrifice?]
A flinch. Yeo Woon-jae’s shaking hands stilled.
[The deaths of citizens devoured by monsters because of your choices, the deaths of soldiers here, those who were already doomed, even my daughter’s death—were they all necessary to you? For what? Your power?]
[…Enough wasting time. Move.]
Clenching his fists, Yeo Woon-jae unleashed a wave of energy so intense it was visible on-screen.
[You’ve truly fallen… You, of all people.]
[Professor Yeo. What are you thinking?]
[I can’t stand by and watch you walk this path any longer.]
Steeling himself, Yeo Woon-jae took a stance against Kage.
[Do you really think you can stop me by force? You’re no match for me anymore.]
[Is that what you think?]
[Even if you die here, I won’t stop.]
Yeo Woon-jae pulled a small pill bottle from his pocket.
[How arrogant. To think challenging you is suicide.]
The moment the pill bottle appeared on-screen, the obscured memories of the researchers resurfaced.
That pill—
It wasn’t some stimulant to amplify abilities.