20
Ch.20 It's Annoying
The name Black Cat was given to me because I often take the form of a black feline monster.
The reason I take this form is purely for ease of escape.
As an anomaly that devours abilities, my body must assume the form of a monster to use its powers.
Other abilities can be summoned as needed, but for sound suppression—specifically, the ability to mute the noise of leaping and landing—I require the physiology of a feline.
If I use Shadow Dive to hide underground, Yoo Anna will track me with her heightened senses, groping through the darkness like hands searching blindly.
Shadow Dive is an ability that shifts touched objects into a liquid-like state, but due to resistance, the sinking speed isn’t instantaneous.
To compensate, I developed the ability to sink into my own shadow and vanish—which also necessitated maintaining a form with numerous tentacles.
So, while I can retract wings or horns as needed, I’ve kept the form of a black panther with multiple tails.
Nothing else allows for such an easy escape.
Everything is for slipping away safely after killing a monster.
To return to human form, I must completely vanish from Yoo Anna’s perception.
But now, that’s no longer necessary.
I can sink into shadows, hide underground, and erase my presence.
I can even fake my disappearance by shifting between shadows.
As long as I touch the ground, I can escape.
At some point, the rules of my chases with Yoo Anna changed.
It went from winning by escaping beyond her detection range to winning by just touching the ground a short distance away.
To catch me, Yoo Anna has been developing long-range attacks, but for now, sacrificing a tail or two is enough to get away safely.
Now that shadow concealment matters more than sound suppression, I no longer need to maintain a feline form.
But I still do—for one reason,
The meat people give me after I save them.
"KYAAAA! It's eating it, it's eating it!"
"So cuuuute!"
Suppressing my presence limits my strength, but I can still easily kill Terror-class monsters in this state.
More and more people reward me with meat after I eliminate monsters without triggering alarms.
Some even approach me with backpacks, refusing to evacuate even when alarms blare—are they insane?
If heroes arrive too late, things could get ugly.
Yoo Anna seems to share my frustration, shouting the same thing while chasing me,
"Can’t you just not take the meat? Do you know how much trouble you’re causing heroes? People aren’t evacuating properly!"
"KYAAAK!"
Since she said it while hitting me with an ability, it didn’t sound very convincing.
But she wasn’t wrong, so I’ve started refusing meat more often.
Except when it looks really expensive and delicious, I can’t resist them.
Because of this, news reports say the Black Cat’s tastes have grown refined.
"T-this is the infamous Black Cat… Hehe…"
"Do you think it’ll eat this?"
"It’d better! Khehe… Eat up, you little—think of the bounty we’ll get!"
Thanks to rumors of a monster that helps humans for meat, weirdos have multiplied.
Some lace offerings with sedatives or sleeping pills—not that it affects me, but it’s annoying.
Others set traps in monster hotspots, even using trapped civilians as bait.
Using fleeing people as bait crosses a line, so I track the trappers by scent and bite their arms off.
Still, the rich have terrible tastes. Many seem to want a monster that devours other monsters as a pet.
I’ve overheard enough conversations to know some have even placed bounties on me.
Do they really think I’d obey if caught?
I’d just bite off a few limbs and escape—are they insane?
Some grow increasingly obsessed with capturing me, and outsiders flock to W-City to try.
Non-S-rank heroes attempting to catch a Despair-level monster… Have they all lost their minds?
Since I don’t kill them, they’ve grown way too bold.
"Black Cat! It’s Black Cat!"
"Where? Where?!"
Terror-class monster alarms. Since I began appearing without additional alerts to kill monsters, people now turn toward the commotion instead of fleeing.
It’s absurd—monsters should send people running, not drawing crowds. But by now, I’m used to it. I slip into the shadows.
Then Yoo Anna descends from the sky, aiming light at my shadow.
"Grrrr…"
"Everyone! What are you doing?! Evacuate now!"
"KYAAAA! It’s Yoo Anna! Run!"
"Go! Go!"
They fear Yoo Anna’s collateral damage more than me.
Even she looks exasperated, glaring at me but not giving chase.
I stay put, wary of causing panic if I flee abruptly.
"Unbelievable… Since when is a monster less scary than a person?!"
"KYAA!"
As Yoo Anna vents, a tranquilizer dart shoots from the city center.
I liquefy the syringe midair, dodging, then swat away another volley.
With civilians still nearby, I can’t evade freely.
"Wait, what the—?! What are you doing?!"
"Black Cat hit by tranq—no, missed!"
"Are you out of your mind?!"
The shooters are black-suited heroes clinging to buildings.
Armed with net guns and tranq rifles, they fire relentlessly.
Do they really think this’ll work?
"Stop! Stop provoking it! Who are you?!"
"S-rank hero Yoo Anna, you need to stand down. We’re from the government’s Monster Research Division."
"Monster Research—?! Do you even know what you’re doing?!"
"We’re successfully capturing the Black Cat you’ve failed to catch."
"Grrrrrr…"
Tranquilizers, sedatives, sedatives—the syringes’ contents trigger unpleasant memories.
Noticing my growl, Yoo Anna’s expression hardens.
She snatches a radio from a black suit and smashes it.
"‘Successful capture’ my ass! Do you really think the Black Cat would be caught this easily?!"
"Starlight, can’t you see? The Black Cat is—"
"Grrr… OOOOOOH—"
The civilians are gone.
No need to humor these fools any longer.
I liquefy, dropping all physical projectiles to the ground.
Then I glare at Yoo Anna.
She shakes her head slightly—Don’t.
Too bad.
These idiots pissed me off.
Today, I’ll break a few things.
"ROOOOOAR—!"
"E-EK! AAAAAH!"
"Guh—AAAH! YOU FUCKERS!"
A deafening roar shreds concrete like dandelion seeds in the wind.
I pounce, tearing through limbs—arms, legs—one by one.
I won’t kill them.
But if they attack me, I won’t hold back.
"AAAAH! R-RUN!"
"You said it doesn’t attack! The Black Cat’s an anomaly—It doesn’t hurt humans!"
"WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT?! I’M REPORTING THIS! TO THE PUBLIC!"
"RUN! RUUUN!"
"OH, YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO PROVOKE It!"
Only S-rank heroes can face Despair-level monsters.
That day, Yoo Anna—who usually handles incidents alone to avoid collateral—ended up dragging over thirty idiots to safety.
I, meanwhile, hurled them aside, escalating the damage.
[The Black Cat destroyed 124 buildings today…]
[Zero fatalities, but 32 injured—all C-City heroes…]
[Outsiders flooding W-city to capture the Black Cat—how long will this continue?]
[Starlight blames the incident on reckless provocation. Eyewitnesses confirm the Black Cat initially endured tranquilizers and nets without resistance…]
"Who the fuck do they think they are?! Who’s paying for my store?! You think insurance covers this?!"
[Reports indicate a rise in outsiders attempting to capture the Black Cat…]
[W-City maintains that since the Black Cat is a monster, they can’t legally stop captors. However, Starlight has long warned that provoking it risks unpredictable retaliation…]
[Starlight can’t catch the Black Cat, but she does keep it in check. Shouldn’t the blame fall on the outsiders who caused this?]
Yoo Anna crushes a beer can in her fist.
How many times has she been this furious since becoming a hero?
With the Black Cat’s recent ability to erase its presence, their stalemate has only worsened its temper.
Ironically, even as Yoo Anna’s chase times shorten, W-City’s monster-related damages have plummeted.
Her workload has lightened enough that—honestly—if the Black Cat just keeps killing monsters without incident, it’s not a bad deal.
What does bother her is how civilians now see the Black Cat as safe.
And the outsiders are even worse, duped by the same misconception, keep causing chaos.
[Since when do B-rank heroes from C-City think they can capture what an S-rank can’t?]
[Starlight caught Mirage—the monster A-city failed to—so if she can’t catch the Black Cat, what does that make her? A fucking joke?]
[W-City was peaceful with the Black Cat and Starlight slaughtering monsters—who knew outsiders would ruin it?]
[There’s a 2-billion-won bounty on the Black Cat. Who offers that for a living nuke? Are they brain-dead?]
[If C-City really wants the Black Cat, send an S-rank. Did they actually think B-rank stood a chance?]
[Star Punch! Star Pu—NYA PUNCH!]
Yoo Anna nods vehemently at the forum comments.
She even saves a meme—a buff Yoo Anna punching a kitten, followed by a buff kitten punching C-City.