139
Ch.139 Not Like a Child
Gu Seo-ryong stroked my cat’s ears instead of flicking her fingers and said,
“I already think he’s close to being a moving lab experiment.”
[Why?]
“He’s excessively cooperative. Especially the part where I asked him to look after Sagugu—that’s pretty suspicious, don’t you think? Yet he just says, ‘Yes, understood’. Isn’t that strange?”
[Couldn’t it be because he wants to show you, who’s close to me, that he’s not an enemy?]
“If that’s the case, he shouldn’t make me feel so uncomfortable. He dislikes me. Wanting to get close and wanting to approach with ulterior motives are different.”
Gu Seo-ryong was already half-convinced that Ui was moving according to the lab’s intentions.
“What’s his goal? Why did he offer to tell me about the Annihilation-class? If Ui is the lab’s successful creation, why would he come to me specifically?”
[If he’s their success, there’s no need for him to seek out a failure like me.]
“Is the lab’s goal not about him? Then is their goal to create an Annihilation-class monster that obeys them? Are they trying to manipulate something by teaching me about the Annihilation-class?”
[Hmm.]
There were still too many unknowns to find an answer.
Gu Seo-ryong and I were lost in questions with no clear direction.
Then, I sensed Sagugu’s wavelength in my core.
[Gu Seo-ryong.]
When I looked up after feeling Sagugu seeking me with negative emotions, Gu Seo-ryong immediately returned to where Sagugu was.
At the corner of the refugee camp, in a playground where rare groups of children gathered among the refugees, Sagugu was sniffling while holding a broken Pipikung doll.
“Mom!”
Seeing Gu Seo-ryong, Sagugu ran over and clung to her leg.
Startled by Sagugu’s sniffles, Gu Seo-ryong hugged her head and glared at Ui.
“You’re neither playing with her properly nor tolerating her—what’s the meaning of making her cry?”
“It’s a misunderstanding.”
As Ui spread his hand to show the doll’s broken leg, Sagugu raised the shattered remains of the Pipikung doll she was holding.
“You broke Sagugu’s Pipikung!”
“She was gripping it tightly while playing, so I thought that was how she played with it.”
“Pipikung No. 110 is ruined!”
“Wasn’t the joint already broken before I touched it? No. 499, you need to learn how to control your strength…”
“Sagugu’s Pipikung! Pipikung!!”
“No, sigh…”
As Sagugu buried herself in Gu Seo-ryong’s arms, Gu Seo-ryong gave Ui a thoughtful look.
“Gu Seo-ryong, your partner is even more annoying than you.”
“Huh? Are you, a child yourself, calling another child annoying?”
At Gu Seo-ryong’s remark, Ui frowned.
“I see. So that’s why you suddenly left No. 499 to me. You’re not throwing a tantrum because I’ve been with Unus longer, but testing whether I’m really a child, aren’t you?”
“The fact that you caught on so quickly is anything but childlike.”
“Sagugu’s Pipikung!”
When Sagugu waved the broken Pipikung in Gu Seo-ryong’s face, the glaring match between Ui and Gu Seo-ryong instantly shifted to her.
“…You suspect I disguised myself as a child to exploit you and Unus’s weaknesses. Let me clarify—I am genuinely a child of this age. In fact, I’m even younger than No. 499 clinging to you.”
“Not convincing at all. Do you think your behavior right now is childlike?”
“Is being a child that important? Hmph, then there must be another reason…”
“Pipikung!”
Again, Sagugu shook the doll as if demanding attention.
“Pipikung! New Pipikung!”
“She’s serious!”
“Nyaaak!”
Eventually, as Sagugu climbed onto Gu Seo-ryong’s unresponsive body, Gu Seo-ryong lightly bonked her head.
“We’re talking right now! Didn’t I say good kids stay quiet when adults are talking?”
“Sagugu’s Pipikung is broken… You promised a new one if it breaks…”
Unable to hold back, Gu Seo-ryong scolded her, and Sagugu pouted while rubbing her head.
At her whining voice, Gu Seo-ryong sighed and pulled out a new Pipikung doll from her chest pocket.
“Fine, here. Go play over there.”
“Give one more.”
“One at a time!”
Instantly, as if she hadn’t been sniffling, Sagugu widened her eyes, accepted the new doll, and held out an empty hand.
When Gu Seo-ryong refused, Sagugu silently patted the grass to tidy it, then lay down and flailed her limbs.
“Give one more! Give one more! One more!”
“Where did this kid learn to be so spoiled?! Fine! Take it and go play!”
“Pipikung!”
Finally securing two dolls, Sagugu raised both Pipikungs triumphantly.
Delighted, she hopped around, while Ui shot Gu Seo-ryong a baffled look.
“You weren’t manipulating your partner’s mind? What’s with that self-centered behavior?”
“Call it childish. Ah, maybe you don’t recognize it because you’re no longer a child?”
“I already told you, I’ve consumed many researchers…?”
Then, Sagugu, who had walked over to Ui, pressed the Pipikung against his cheek.
“What is this? First, you told your partner to upset me, and now what?”
“Sagugu, what are you doing? Come here.”
Unfazed by the tension between Ui and Gu Seo-ryong, Sagugu rubbed the doll on Ui’s face while looking between them.
“You no have Pipikung? You want Pipikung, so you broke Sagugu’s?”
Perhaps recalling how she had broken the doll while trying to play, Sagugu grinned brightly.
“You like Pipikung too!”
“Gu Seo-ryong, instead of suspecting me, you should focus on adjusting your partner’s mental state…”
“Give Pipikung!”
As Sagugu rubbed one doll on Ui’s face, his cold glare at Gu Seo-ryong twisted into confusion.
“That seemed like something you were quite attached to?”
“Give one! No. 111!”
“The 111th? You’re giving it to me? Uh…”
Dumbfounded, Ui took the doll, glanced between Gu Seo-ryong and Sagugu, then stared at it.
“Am I supposed to thank you for this?”
“Say thank you for gift?”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
“Pipikung playtime starts now!”
Sagugu dragged Ui toward the sandbox by his arm, leaving him bewildered as he was pulled along.
“Ppippippitpippitpippippi~pitpippitpippippi~”
“What on earth is that song?”
“Pipikung group walk! You sing too!”
“I don’t know that song.”
“Sagugu teaches you!”
Watching Sagugu lead Ui away, I silently looked up at Gu Seo-ryong, who let out a dry laugh.
“Gu-gu just made things more confusing…”
Ui, now pushing the Pipikung through the sand, looked no different from the other children.
Gu Seo-ryong wore an unreadable expression.
***
Every morning, construction on the Cat Tower began in the closed-off district of W-City.
To accommodate citizens who wanted to contribute to the tower where the Black Cat would stay and play, even inexperienced workers were allowed.
Even children who needed parental care could earn extra by running errands or moving small debris.
“Unus, was Sagugu originally that kind of test subject?”
Ui, who had followed me to the site, sat on the stairs leading to the Cat Tower’s second floor and spoke to me.
In his hand was the Pipikung doll Sagugu had given him—unlike hers, it was pristine.
“From what I know, Sagugu was heavily invested in, but she’s unbelievably… Unhinged.”
Thud. After dropping ten bags of cement at once, I went up and down the stairs as Ui kept talking.
“Gu Seo-ryong could use her ability to strip away Sagugu’s ego. Is that why? She seems pure beyond innocence.”
Currently, I was the only one working on this building.
Due to my A-rank superhuman stamina, the laborers delegated the heavy lifting to me to speed up construction.
“Gu Seo-ryong seemed wary of me not being ‘childlike’. But if Sagugu is the standard, I’ll never meet it. If only snow-white children count, then I’m just a tainted adult.”
Thud. After moving another crate of bricks, I glanced at Ui.
He was still fidgeting with the doll.
“Is Pipikung that fun? Sagugu isn’t that young, yet she gave it to someone she just met. I thought she was impulsive and selfish, but even with a broken ego, she has humanity to share… Huh. Interesting.”
Ui had been sitting there for ten minutes, talking only about Sagugu.
“Sagugu calls Gu Seo-ryong ‘Mom’. but they’re nothing alike. Not blood-related, but still… That unpleasant woman raised her, yet she’s unaffected. Her original ego must’ve been strong. What did Gu Seo-ryong do to make Sagugu follow her?”
“Sigh…”
After moving another load, I sat on the cement floor and looked down at Ui.
Gu Seo-ryong, after watching Ui play with Sagugu, had decided to wait and observe.
Since Ui wasn’t showing hostility, we could hear him out.
But instead of explaining the Annihilation-class…
“After being called ‘childlike’. I started seeing Sagugu’s actions as cute. And despite her mental state, she controls her strength well. Even if Gu Seo-ryong did something, Sagugu’s…”
“Enough about Sagugu.”
Ui had followed me to the site, promising to satisfy my curiosity about the Annihilation-class.
Yet all he did was talk about Sagugu and Pipikung.
Was a childish monster that shocking?
“You were supposed to talk about the Annihilation-class today.”
“Ah, right.”
At my reminder, Ui stood and brushed off his pants.
After moving the last crate, I sat on a cement pile and chugged a bottle of water from the officials.
Though the weight was nothing, maintaining human form without breaking anything was exhausting.
As I finished, Ui, who had been watching quietly, took the empty bottle and apologized.
“First, I apologize for the delay.”
“So what’s this about?”
I tapped my forehead, signaling him to explain.
Instead, he asked something unexpected.
“Unus, do you know why monsters eat humans?”