121
Ch.121 Woof Woof?
After evolving my existence, several changes occurred in my body.
The first was the expansion and amplification of my senses.
The unique senses of a monster, which detect the emotions and memories of living beings, greatly increased, and the innate physical senses like smell and vision became extremely sharp.
The second was the stabilization of my monster form.
My body, which originally could freely mix and change between various monsters, adapted to a form called the Black Cat.
A head resembling a mix between a tiger and a leopard, claws closer to those of a raptor than a cat, wings tightly folded against my waist, and multiple tails.
Among these, if there's anything that changed from the original the Black Cat form, it's the mane.
A fluffy, lion-like mane now sits around my neck.
Now, this form—the one called the Black Cat—is my complete default form.
Taking on the appearances of other monsters now feels closer to transforming parts of my body.
I am no longer Experimental Subject CXI but a monster named the Black Cat.
Third, something different from a monster core has appeared in my head.
It reacts when I try to activate my abilities, but I don’t know what it is.
It feels like I can’t properly control a part of my body.
Because I forcibly suppressed the monster’s instincts to evolve, I have an intuition that something wasn’t fully conveyed to me.
Finally, the fourth change.
My abilities and physical body grew rapidly.
This has become a huge problem for me right now.
Even though I can adjust my body into other forms, I keep staying in this massive form because of this issue.
I can’t properly control the power of my body and abilities.
Just like how I struggled when I first escaped the lab and had to get used to a human form, I’m now unable to adapt to my monster form.
It’s like trying to eat with a spoon that suddenly turned into a ladle—everything feels awkward, and I can’t control them.
If I breathe just a little too hard, the gust from my nose might blow people away. If I make even a slight mistake in adjusting my ability output, I might cause an earthquake around the city.
I tried adapting by hunting monsters from a distance, but it’s still not working well.
Monsters I tried to cleanly decapitate with spatial cutting ended up exploding entirely, and those I tried to burn with fire melted into liquid from heat comparable to Yoo Anna’s abilities.
This output control issue has been bothering me ever since my existence evolved.
In this form, my strength is excessively high, and my stomach empties incredibly fast.
So, I want to quickly shift back to a human form where eating just 300 servings a day is enough to sustain me.
But I can’t.
If my original human form was like suppressing a monster core within a human body and neatly organizing the monster’s flesh and cells, now the amount I need to organize has become overwhelmingly large.
Before, it was like neatly fitting everything into a pot, but now I have to force it all into a pressure cooker just to achieve humanization.
And if I fail at humanization, I become something that’s neither a monster nor a human.
"...It’s not going well."
Late at night, after dinner, I confirmed that Electress was bringing Meister to A-City. I head to W-City.
If I returned to W-City like this, I’d likely remain in my giant cat form, so I attempted humanization in a closed-off area.
The result was a furry cat-monster human, about twice the size of my human form.
Unlike Gu Seo-ryong or Sagugu’s monster forms, mine is closer to a full-fledged monster.
Gu Seo-ryong burst out laughing when she saw my cat's ears twitching.
“Ahahaha! Yeah, that’s it! Humanization is supposed to be hard, you know?”
“Don’t laugh.”
Gu Seo-ryong and Sagugu, who had been hiding in the closed-off area to avoid the heroes’ eyes, saw me leaving A-City and followed.
I focused, looking down at my hands, and managed to turn them into human hands.
But it was short-lived—as fur began covering them again, Sagugu, who had been dozing in Gu Seo-ryong’s shadow, mumbled sleepily.
It was already past Sagugu’s bedtime.
“Mmm… Brother became stupid… Worse than Sagugu…”
“Our dependable one, should Noona give you some medicine to make humanization easier?”
“Do you really think something like that would work on my body?”
“Hmm… Well, probably not, since you’re an Annihilation-class.”
Eventually, I gave up on achieving full humanization for now and tried to maintain this cat-human form as best as I could while talking to Gu Seo-ryong.
“So, how does it feel to be an Annihilation-class?”
“Not particularly great.”
“Oh? Not happy about getting stronger or anything?”
“As I grew stronger, the monster’s instincts grew stronger too.”
“That sounds annoying. So that’s why you asked the humans for food? To fill your stomach even a little?”
“Yeah.”
The monster’s instincts—the urge to kill and devour humans.
To suppress these far stronger desires, I had to keep my stomach full somehow.
Before leaving A-City, the citizens suddenly gave me a lot of food, so I’m managing for now… But if I stay in this massive form, it’s obvious I won’t be able to handle my appetite.
“But, it’s kind of unexpected.”
“What is?”
“I thought the lab’s goal might have been to create an Annihilation-class. But seeing you now as one, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.”
“Explain.”
“You say you’ve become an Annihilation-class, but… You don’t seem much different from when you were a Despair-class? You’re just stronger—there’s nothing special.”
As she said, I’ve definitely gotten stronger than before, but that’s all there is to it right now.
“If the lab’s goal was simply to create strong monsters they could control and use as weapons, they could’ve just made multiple obedient Despair-class by breaking their minds, like Sagugu. But Sagugu was also a failure. The E55 they made this time, and the other Despair-class monsters, were all disposed of—treated as failures.”
“The Alphabet’s goal was to find a way to completely dominate monsters. E55 and the test subjects released in A-City were all uncontrollable.”
“Right, but I don’t think they treated those monsters as failures just because they wouldn’t obey.”
“Why?”
“If they really disposed of them just for not obeying… Then why did they keep you imprisoned for so long?”
“Hmm…”
In other words, the lab’s ultimate goal wasn’t just to create strong monsters they could use as needed.
“I think you were an experiment close to the lab’s goal—a failure that was infinitely close to success.”
“So the goal was an Annihilation-class?”
“More precisely, a monster that fulfills some special purpose… I thought the standard for that might be the Annihilation-class. Even when you were in the lab, you were on a different level from other Despair-classes, right? Almost an Annihilation-class. So I thought becoming an Annihilation-class must mean there’s something special about it, and that creating one was their goal.”
“But you don’t see anything particularly special about me.”
“Right. You’re just a much stronger monster than a Despair-class—that’s all.”
“That’s not true.”
I pointed to the new organ that had appeared in my head after becoming an Annihilation-class.
“Something that wasn’t there as a Despair-class has appeared in my head.”
“Something appeared? What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“…Can’t exactly dissect you to find out. Well, even if we don’t know what it is, my guess might still be right.”
But even if the lab’s ultimate goal was to create an Annihilation-class, we still don’t know why they wanted one unless we figure out what this new thing in my head is.
“That’s as far as speculation goes. Thinking more won’t give us any answers right now. You should try moving whatever’s in your head. I’ll look for the next lab city based on the researcher’s memories…”
“Are you going right away?”
“I’d like to, but you’ve become too noticeable to use as a safety net like before. I tried keeping Kage alive to divert the lab’s attention, but he collapsed. If I go alone and run into a bunch of Despair-classes again, I might die. So for now, I’ll move quietly in the background and just confirm which city the lab is in.”
Once she finds the location, she’ll call me to crush the lab.
“Thanks to you, I luckily got the master code, so investigating shouldn’t be hard.”
“The master code.”
I recalled the A-City citizens talking about losing the master code.
“Give the code back to A-City.”
“No. I’ll use it to find the lab. This is a rare chance to dig through city records without leaving traces. If I give it back, they’ll change all the access codes immediately. It’ll make finding the lab harder.”
“I see.”
“Meister went back to A-City, right? They’ll figure out food, city restoration, and system issues on their own. If it really doesn’t work out, I’ll return it as you want.”
Well, then there’s nothing I can do.
A-City isn’t completely out of food, so it doesn’t seem like there’ll be any problems following Gu Seo-ryong’s plan.
With that, Gu Seo-ryong finished talking and gave me a slow, sticky once-over with a strange look in her eyes.
“Hmm…”
“What?”
“Nothing. When I helped you as a monster, we made a deal, remember? You promised to let me pet your belly and head later. Does that still apply in this form?”
“What are you talking about?”
“In this form, where exactly counts as the belly…?”
“Don’t push it.”
I glared coldly as Gu Seo-ryong’s gaze slowly drifted downward, making me uncomfortable. She clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“See you later, then. Practice moving that weird thing in your head and humanizing hard. Oh, and don’t forget about the petting. Preferably while Sagugu is asleep.”
“You mean now?”
“Huh? No, not today. I’m tired, so I’ll pet you properly later. Sagugu? Let’s go home and sleep.”
“Myaoaoaang…”
Gu Seo-ryong pulled the drowsy Sagugu out of the shadows, carried her on her back, and entered W-City first.
After Gu Seo-ryong disappeared, avoiding surveillance cameras, I also walked toward W-City.
It was quite late, but lights were brightly lit all over W-City.
Heroes flew through the air, and Starlight was already busy zooming around despite having just returned.
Sensing monsters hiding all over W-City, I returned to my monster form and resonated my core loudly.
Beyond my heightened vision, I could see W-City.
To block weaker monsters, A-City had spread ability wavelengths throughout the city using multiple heroes.
The moment I replicated that extermination method, the monsters hiding in the city began fleeing in a panic.
“The Black Cat! Why are you only coming now?!”
“Uoongoo?”
Then, Starlight, who had been visible in the distance, changed direction and flew toward me.
From Starlight, I sensed panic and anxiety, but also a growing relief.
“No, I’m not mad at all! You know that, right? It’s just that you were late! The citizens of W-City were all worried, so now, haaa…!”
[What were they worried about?]
“J-just follow me. Be careful not to step on the city.”
Confused, I spread my wings and floated up gently.
As I flew a little further into the city, the windows of the lit-up buildings burst open.
“It’s the Black Cat!”
“The Black Cat!”
“Kitty!”
As I flew, citizens rushed outside, chasing after me on cars and bicycles.
Starlight, glowing in front of me, guided me to W-City’s largest park.
There, a thick, sticky sense of unease lingered in the air.
“The Black Cat…!”
“The Black Cat is hereeee!”
“Fuck! Those A-City bastards said you weren’t coming! But you’re here!”
“Everyone! The Black Cat is here! The Black Cat came!”
“Waaahhh!”
“Yayyy!”
Like with Yoo Anna, the citizens’ unease instantly turned into relief, and loud cheers echoed throughout the city.
Blinking in confusion at this situation, I landed in one corner of the park and pieced together what was happening from their conversations.
“They said they took the Black Cat? What the hell! W-City has so much delicious food!”
“Turn on the broadcast! Show those shameless A-City bastards that the Black Cat belongs to W-City!”
“Just because he went for a walk! They said he changed location to A-City? Delusional idiots! Spouting nonsense like it’s the truth…!”
Apparently, after A-City broadcasted me eating, rumors spread that I wasn’t returning to W-City because I was staying in A-City. The unease filling W-City earlier was because of that.
Then, Yoo Anna approached me, holding what looked like meat skewers—kebab sticks—in both hands.
“Black Cat! Look! Kebabs! Kebabs! You like these, right?”
“Uh, sister? Calm down a little.”
“Do I look calm?! I said I’d help right away, but the moment I left, they—they—! What are you doing? Hurry up and pour the sauce!”
“Sigh…”
Behind her, Yoo Hyena carried a pot full of sauce suited for kebabs and sighed as she ladled it onto the kebabs with a chak, chak sound. The delicious smell wafted through the air.
Soon, heroes busily carried various dishes from buildings and brought them to me.
“Black Cat! How about some soup with rice? We’ve prepared an entire pot for you!”
“Pork cutlets! We fried 300 servings! We believed you’d come!”
“Two whole roasted pigs! What are you heroes doing? Move them now!”
“Here’s the third one!”
“Uoongooo…”
Having already eaten 8,000 servings in A-City, I was quite full and let out a weak cry as the food piled up before me.
This was the first time since becoming a monster that seeing food accumulate didn’t bring me joy.
Under the pressure of the W-City citizens’ eager stares urging me to eat, I thought:
Maybe… give it to me tomorrow….