143
Ch.143 I Don’t Know my Story
"You don't need to know."
"I don't need to know? Wasn't that you just giving drugs to Sagugu?"
At that moment, an indescribable sensation washed over me.
Reacting to the strange aura around me, my fur bristled reflexively as I stared down at Ui, the source of the discomfort.
"The type of drug... I see. A sedative, a tranquilizer, or a custom-made drug from the research institute? This scent... The volatility is much higher, but the potency is even stronger."
"You...!"
"So you're using drugs to make them obey your orders. Sagugu's ego has been whittled down, so it must be easy to control. Was making her call you 'Mom' part of the same plan? To increase dependency."
The ground trembled faintly, and my head spun with sensory confusion.
The space around Ui twisted strangely, as if slowly melting.
"Treating her like a complete tool, huh, Gu Seo-ryul? If you really cared about Sagugu, you wouldn’t have just given her one Pipikung. How shameless, pretending to care while doing something like this."
"What do you know? If you don’t know anything, shut up."
"Unus! Did you know about this? That Gu Seo-ryul was doing this to Sagugu?"
At the accusatory words, I silently stared at Ui.
Then, Ui blinked in shock.
"Wait... You really knew?"
"I’m giving her the medicine for her sake. Stop with the weird delusions."
"You’re drugging her to control her as you please, and you call that 'for Sagugu’s sake'?"
"Sagugu was an experimental subject sent to kill the Black Cat. I’m keeping her alive by controlling her. Originally, she was supposed to kill CXI."
"That’s a lie! Unus doesn’t kill children!"
After listening quietly, I spoke firmly to Ui.
[That’s right. I don’t kill children.]
But even if they take the form of a child, a monster is still a monster.
[I kill monsters.]
Hearing that, Ui clenched his mouth shut, closing and opening his eyes for a moment.
"...Understood."
Returning to his usual expression, Ui smiled and said,
"If it’s to prevent a rampaging monster from being hunted down by heroes, then using drugs to make her obedient is unavoidable."
"Right. We can’t have her running around in monster form and getting exterminated by heroes."
"Gu Seo-ryul. Didn’t I just say I understood?"
Rarely speaking as if making an excuse, Gu Seo-ryong was cut off by Ui, who glared at her with narrowed eyes, though his face remained smiling.
"Save the excuses. Seems I misunderstood you. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?"
"Excuses? Misunderstanding? You call that—"
"Let’s stop. Sagugu and Unus are watching."
"Tch...!"
In the frozen atmosphere, the two silently glared at each other while Sagugu, who had been quietly looking back and forth between them, suddenly raised her hand.
"Ui and Mom fought?"
"We didn’t fight. Just a slight disagreement."
"We didn’t fight."
"Pipikung said if you fight, you have to make up!"
"Oh, you—!"
Sagugu grabbed Gu Seo-ryong’s wrist and dragged her over, then took Ui’s hand.
"Say sowwy~!"
"Ughhh...!"
"Sagugu, it’s fine. No need for apologies."
"Say sowwy! Now!"
Then, she forcibly pressed Gu Seo-ryong and Ui’s hands together.
Like magnets repelling each other, the two tried to pull away, but seeing Sagugu’s earnest efforts, they both clicked their tongues in unison.
"Sorry."
"It’s sorry, not sowwy."
"Sowwy!"
"...Sowwy."
Their fingertips barely touching, the two muttered their apologies. The moment Sagugu let go, they yanked their hands back and wiped them on their clothes.
***
Late at night, as bedtime approached, Sagugu received two toothbrushes from Gu Seo-ryong and trotted over to Ui, wagging her tail.
"Ui know how to brush teeth?"
"Brush teeth? Yes, I know how."
"You know how?!"
"Not very well."
Sagugu’s ears and tail drooped, and Ui quickly corrected himself.
At that, Sagugu wagged her tail again.
"Sagugu hates brushing teeth. But if you don’t brush, you’re a bad kid. Ui is a good kid, so Sagugu will teach you."
"Oh, okay."
"Brushing is this way! Water comes out!"
Though it was a closed-off district, clean water still flowed from a rare underground water tap.
After the unusually excited Sagugu disappeared with Ui, Gu Seo-ryong, who had been leaning against me with her arms crossed, finally spoke.
"...That brat is seriously annoying."
Still irritated from being called out for drugging Sagugu, Gu Seo-ryong looked displeased.
"But... Aside from disliking him, I think he might be trustworthy."
[Changed your mind?]
"His sense of self is too strong for someone sent by the research institute."
Gu Seo-ryong watched as Sagugu squeezed a small amount of toothpaste onto her own brush and a mountain of it onto Ui’s.
"No matter what Sagugu does, he stays calm and keeps insisting, 'I’m on your side, trust me'. But the moment he saw me giving Sagugu drugs, he got angry—hostile toward me, disappointed in himself."
[You trust him because he's imperfect?]
"When someone tries to deceive you, they’re thorough, aiming for perfection. On the other hand, showing imperfection suggests it’s their true self, not an act."
Gu Seo-ryong clicked her fingers, muttering with sunken eyes.
"He still seems to have some other goal... But Ui genuinely admires you and likes Sagugu. So, I think it’s fine to leave him be."
[You still dislike him, though.]
"Oh, that doesn’t matter. As long as he likes me, that’s enough."
Shrugging, Gu Seo-ryong twirled my fur around her finger. I swallowed my words.
That wasn’t what I meant, but Gu Seo-ryong seemed to understand and didn’t care.
"More importantly, did you see that earlier? The way the space wavered."
[Hmm.]
When Ui showed hostility toward Gu Seo-ryong while looking at Sagugu, the space around him seemed to melt.
"Is that his ability? I’ve never seen space distort like that. Can spatial manipulation do that?"
[Not sure.]
It might be possible to mimic something similar, but it felt different from spatial manipulation.
Was that Ui’s ability? Just as I wondered—
"Huh? What’s wrong?"
I lifted my head, my whiskers twitching forward.
A distant presence, the resonance of monsters, the thickening stench of human blood.
"Unya? Smells yummy?"
"It’s humans."
Sagugu and Ui, rinsing their mouths, stepped out, followed by Gu Seo-ryong, who turned her head in the same direction.
"Hmm, must be refugees."
Refugees sneaking out of cities, risking their lives to reach the safe district I created.
The presence of those being chased by monsters grew closer.
I rose to help before the monsters could hunt them down.
"Wait."
Gu Seo-ryong stopped me.
Realizing why, Ui frowned and spoke.
"You want me to go help the refugees instead of Unus, don’t you? Your goal is information on my ability, and if I’m truly acting for Unus’ sake, you want proof. Right?"
"My, you catch on quick. That’s one thing I like about you."
Curious about Ui’s ability, I stayed put as Ui sighed and stepped forward.
"Fine. I’ll go. But on one condition."
"Condition?"
"Let Sagugu come with me."
"Unyanyang?"
Ui grabbed Sagugu’s wrist.
"I don’t want witnesses seeing me use my ability in this form. Young superpower humans get taken to facilities. And I don’t want attention as a monster helping humans either. I’ll hunt while hiding my form as much as possible, but even if seen, if Sagugu is with me, they’ll think the Black Cat helped."
Sagugu’s monster form resembles mine.
As I nudged the hesitant Gu Seo-ryong with my paw, urging her to hurry before the refugees got hunted—
"...Fine."
"Good. Sagugu, let’s go. Monster hunting."
"Nyaa? Sagugu brushed teeth? If we hunt, have to brush again? Unya... Unyanyaa... nyat!"
Sagugu agonized between hunting and brushing before transforming into her monster form.
She must’ve decided hunting was worth brushing again.
[Only kill the monsters.]
"Nyaaang!"
"Impressive. Then—"
Sagugu, in full monster form for the first time in a while, dashed ahead.
Meanwhile, Ui’s body melted into liquid.
Splash.
Flowing into the ground like a torpedo, Ui shot toward the monsters at incredible speed.
"An ability to turn into liquid?"
[No. There was no ability reaction.]
What he showed wasn’t an ability—it was a monster’s trait.
Meaning, Ui is a liquid-type monster.
"Let’s follow him."
"Meow."
Curious about how Ui would fight, I summoned a stronger-than-usual cat to match Gu Seo-ryong’s transformed state.
The sleek, leopard-like creature had speed-related abilities.
Whoosh. Leaving Gu Seo-ryong behind, the cat silently chased after Ui and Sagugu through the ruins of the night.
"B-Black Cat! We’re saved!"
"We’re almost there! Just a little further to W-City!"
"Hold on a bit longer!"
At the outskirts, in an area now more forest than city, stood a six-lane bridge.
Refugees, bloodied and exhausted, staggered toward the bridge’s end as monsters closed in.
Behind them, a pack of feral monsters, driven mad by the scent of blood, charged forward.
"Nyananyanya!"
Wolf-like monsters, their bloated flesh bubbling like foam, drooled thick saliva before being torn apart by Sagugu’s ability.
More monsters, drawn by the energy, rushed past Sagugu toward the humans.
Hairless black-skinned monkeys with grotesquely swollen eyes.
Sagugu froze the bridge, sticking the monkeys’ limbs together.
"Unyanyanyanya...!"
"Screech! Screeeech!"
Sagugu bit off the monkeys’ heads, tore open their chests, and devoured their cores.
Meanwhile, plant-type monsters slithered up from beneath the bridge, lashing out with vine-like tentacles—
Splurt.
A thin jet of water pierced through the vines, bursting them apart.
Creak, creak. The stems shrieked as more water jets erupted from puddles, shredding the plants.
"Water?"
"Meowong."
Gu Seo-ryong, catching up, panted as she watched the water twist midair, scattering beautifully.
Bug monsters emerging from the plants melted upon contact, writhing in agony.
That wasn’t just water.
Once the refugees crossed into my territory and the pile of monster corpses deterred further attacks—
Sploosh.
Ui’s form surged from the water, rising onto the bridge.
Sizzle. His feet melted the asphalt slightly as he stepped forward.
Leaving Sagugu happily feasting on monster cores, Ui turned to Gu Seo-ryong and me.
"Meowmeowmeow."
"An acidic slime?"
I muttered. Ui smirked and nodded.
"I didn’t attack a single human. Do I pass?"
"...Yeah, not bad."
The fact that Ui resisted the frenzy, despite other monsters sensing prey, proved he retained rationality.
Having seen all he needed, Gu Seo-ryong gave a reluctant nod before gesturing to Sagugu.
"Sagugu, come here."
"Nyaa~nya?"
But as Sagugu, still exhilarated from the hunt, stomped toward Gu Seo-ryong, Ui stopped her.
"Wait."
Ui manipulated the surrounding liquid, extracting cores from the dead monsters.
The cores melted into a single mass at her feet.
"Sagugu, eat up."
"Hey, what are you—?"
"Nyat!"
Before Gu Seo-ryong could stop her, Sagugu’s eyes sparkled as she chomped down on the core mass, chewing noisily before swallowing.
"Sagugu, wait—!"
By the time Gu Seo-ryong tried to intervene, Sagugu was already licking her lips, bouncing excitedly.
Delighted by the tasty cores, she nuzzled against Gu Seo-ryong, staining her with blood.
Gu Seo-ryong, frozen, glared at Ui.
"What were you thinking?"
"Sagugu helped hunt. She deserve the cores."
"That’s not the point, you—!"
"Is there a problem? Feeding cores to Sagugu?"
As tensions flared again—
"Meowmeowmeow."
"Nyaaang?"
"This is..."
I let out a cry, sensing more monsters and humans in the distance.
Gu Seo-ryong and Ui broke eye contact, looking in opposite directions. Sagugu and I also turned our heads.
"There’s a lot."
Refugees were approaching from all sides.