4
Ch.4 I adapt.
To eat freshly made hot dogs, I started heading towards the apartment complex every day, and gradually, I stopped rummaging through other trash bins.
No, lately, I’ve reached a point where I don’t even need to dig through the trash at all.
The reason was quite complicated.
The police, tired of dealing with complaints about my daily visits, ended up telling the apartment residents that I was a superpower human.
As a result, the residents’ glares softened slightly, and baseless rumors began spreading as they whispered among themselves.
Some said I was an incredibly powerful superpower human who ran away due to PTSD, others claimed I lost my lover to a monster and my intelligence declined, and some even spun a story that I originally lived in this apartment but lost my child to a monster in some incident, leaving me with no reason to live.
The fact that I kept coming to the park, that I didn’t move a muscle when children approached, and now that I was called a superpower human—they crafted their own reasonable narratives, and a wave of sympathy emerged.
From the hushed conversations, some even said it wouldn’t be so bad to catch a glimpse of me washing myself.
Finding pleasure in watching someone bathe—what an unusual hobby.
“Hey… Use only this faucet, got it?”
“Mm.”
“The other faucets are for the kids, so don’t touch them!”
“Understood.”
Among the mothers who brought their children, some even designated a faucet exclusively for me.
Since I followed their instructions, they seemed to think I could understand them, and their attitude toward me improved slightly.
“Since he’s always here in the park, doesn’t he seem pretty clean? He washes every day.”
“Last time, I even saw him hand-washing his pants… So carefully…”
“Huh? He took his pants off? You saw that alone?”
“No, at night… Outside the window—ugh, seriously! My apartment just happens to have a view, so I saw it by chance!”
“Lucky spot, huh? Maybe I should ask to move there.”
One day, a half-used shampoo and body wash were thrown into the trash bin.
Even I knew what these were, so I happily used them to wash myself.
The bottle’s neck broke after one use, but it worked perfectly otherwise.
“Anyone have a spare razor? Should I throw one away?”
“That’s dangerous! If you’re going to throw one out, an electric razor would be better, right?”
“My husband has an old one he doesn’t use, but would he even know how to use it?”
“He’s not an animal, he’d probably figure it out.”
After a razor was thrown away, I clumsily tried shaving, and the next day, a broken mirror was discarded too.
So I propped the mirror up in a corner, neatly shaved, and even attempted to cut my hair with the razor before giving up.
Just one shave was enough to dull the blade completely.
“…Seriously… Doesn’t he look kinda handsome?”
“What size of clothes does he wear? Would my husband’s old clothes fit him?”
“Oh my, seriously! At this rate, we’ll end up buying him a bed!”
Somehow, the things being thrown into the apartment park’s trash bins kept increasing, and soon, pillows and blankets appeared.
I didn’t mind sleeping on the dirt ground, but out of curiosity, I tried using the pillow and blanket to see how it felt.
After that, shoes were thrown out, but they didn’t fit, so I just left them.
Then, the decisive change happened one day.
“Ahahaha! Whoa?!”
“Oh my, honey! Are you okay?! Oh no, oh no!”
A child who had jumped off a swing flew too far and was about to hit the metal railing when I quickly bundled up the pillow and blanket and threw them to cushion the fall.
The child wasn’t hurt at all, and I just lay back down to take a nap.
That night, the trash bin was filled with food.
“See? I told you he was really a superpower human! The blanket just flew like that in an instant!”
“Seriously, if it weren’t for him, the kid would’ve been badly hurt!”
“Just think of it as hiring a playground safety guard. It’s not a bad deal, right?”
“If he’s a superpower human, maybe he’ll even catch monsters if they show up. Think of it like keeping a big guard dog…”
“Wait, are you really into that kind of thing?”
Somehow, the park’s trash bins started getting cleaner, and the things being thrown away seemed more like gifts for me than actual trash.
A while ago, I even found scissors and tried cutting my hair.
My beard and hair didn’t cut easily, but I managed to trim my bangs somewhat.
“He’s really good-looking, isn’t he?”
“How is his body so perfect?”
“Should we give him some clothes?”
“No, don’t give him clothes. They’ll just cover him up.”
“Oh my! Oh my! Did you see that? When he pulled up his pants, his lower abs—”
“You’re the only one who notices those things!”
Sleeping bags, blankets, parasols, tents, pots, gas stoves, sausages, even an icebox—
Since it was too difficult to set up or use these things without breaking them, I got help from the police.
“Ah… I really don’t get it… If they were going to do this, why did they file so many complaints about you before…?”
Around this time, the police stopped coming every day.
Seeing that I had practically settled into the apartment park, the people who had filed complaints found it absurd.
Now, there’s even talk of building a guard post for me to stay in.
“What… Like a doghouse…?”
“I’m not a dog.”
“Lately, you’re not much different from one, though.”
I took the hot dog the police offered and ate it.
He doesn't come every day, but he always brought hot dogs when he did.
Now that I had not just food but also daily necessities, I no longer felt the need to visit other trash bins.
Having fully settled in, I spent my days playing with the children.
“Hey, beggar, don’t you know this?”
“This is Peepeekung… This is Yuiikung…”
“No! This is Peepeekung Origin! This is Yunakung! Yuiikung’s twin sister!”
“What’s the difference? Aren’t they all the same?”
“They’re totally different! That’s why you’re hopeless!”
Even without physical contact, the kids found it fun just to talk, laughing and running around the playground.
Sometimes, they even shared their snacks with me, and I’d carefully accept them with both hands and eat happily.
Gradually, even mothers who hadn’t brought their kids to the playground before started coming.
And soon, they began leaving their children with me while they went off somewhere.
“I’m going to that park over there!”
“No.”
“But Mom gave me candy! It’s mine! Give it!”
“It’s not time to eat yet.”
I looked after the kids like that, receiving food in return.
Before I knew it, I had become the guy who watched over the kids at the playground.
The only unusual thing was that I always went shirtless.
“Oh, thank you for your hard work~ Did my child brush their teeth well?”
“They didn’t clean their molars properly.”
“I did!”
“Hey! Mom told you to brush properly!”
“And they ate four candies.”
“Ahh! Why’d you snitch?!”
“You’re only supposed to eat two candies a day! No candy for you tomorrow!”
“Waaah!”
“Ah! Sorry, here, payment for watching them today.”
“Ooh…”
“Well then… Uh, eat up.”
I took the large piece of meat from the child’s mother and bit into it right there.
Lately, it seemed like giving me big pieces of meat and watching me eat had become a trend.
It was a little weird being stared at, but the meat was so delicious that I didn’t mind.
“Haah… Really… Like an animal…”
“I’m not an animal.”
“Ah, I know… Do you need anything else?”
“A few more cushions.”
Now, when I asked for something, they’d even bring it to me. This time, I requested cushions to throw at the kids to prevent them from getting hurt.
Maybe because they found it fun to be blocked by cushions, some kids lately had started jumping off things on purpose, so I needed more.
The cushions would tear after just one throw, unable to withstand the force.
“I’ll ask the women’s association. Well then, good night~”
“Mm. Kid, go safely.”
“Snitch! I’m not saying goodbye!”
And so, I settled into the apartment park.
For someone like me, who wanted to eat delicious food but had no way to work, it was a stroke of incredible luck.
Here, delicious things appeared every day.
And there were plenty of things to practice controlling my strength on.
“Hmm…”
Lately, I’d been trying to control my strength as much as possible without transforming into a monster.
To me, the whole world felt as fragile as eggshells or pudding in my memories, making it difficult, but it was worth trying.
I couldn’t just destroy everything and live, and it was a good way to pass the time.
“…Success.”
For the first time, I managed to hold a bottle with both hands and twist the cap off. I carefully lifted it and drank the contents.
If I kept practicing like this, maybe one day I’d be able to pick up an egg without breaking it.
Maybe I’d even be able to eat food from a bowl… If that happened, I wanted to try hot soup.
Right now, I could scoop boiling soup from a pot with my hands and drink it, but I’d spill too much.
This time, I decided to raise the difficulty—just as I was about to try lifting a glass cup…
“What are you doing?”
“Mm.”
I was so focused that I didn’t even notice the police officer’s presence, and the sudden voice made me shatter the glass.
Watching the shards fall without even scratching my skin, I swept them up with both hands.
“What, are you a cat? Why are you breaking glass cups for fun?”
“You made me break it.”
“What did I do?”
“Clean it up. The kids might get hurt.”
“Why should I—ugh… Fine.”
Grumbling, the officer cleaned up the glass shards neatly.
Then, he opened my icebox without permission and took out a bottle of whiskey.
“Wow… These ladies have lost it. They’re giving you stuff like this now?”
“That’s yours now.”
“Huh? Really?”
“It doesn’t taste good.”
“Hmm…? Tastes fine to me. You’ve got the palate of a kid.”
The officer even took out some ham to snack on, sitting beside me and gulping down the alcohol.
“Ahhh~ This is the life~ Night patrol with a drink, nothing beats it~”
“You’re a corrupt cop.”
“The world’s the corrupt one! They make one cop do way too much! Who knows when a monster might appear, and yet they make us patrol alone!”
“Why patrol alone?”
“So that if we die, only one person dies, minimizing casualties. There aren’t many crazy people who’d become cops, so if we die after sending one radio message, that’s one life’s duty done.”
Truly logical.
The officer, already tipsy in that short time, continued ranting about the job.
“Our lives are worth less than toilet paper~ Heroes at least have superpowers, but in this world, the only people who risk their lives like this are cops and firefighters.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s insane, why did I even become a cop… Haah~ My family worries, but I still haven’t quit.”
Hearing that, I completely agreed with the officer’s family.
Why would anyone do such dangerous work when there are people who worry about them?
“If you know that, why are you still a cop?”
“Because someone has to do it for people to maintain their daily lives. Ugh~ Better someone like me, who can handle the hardship, than someone who’d suffer more. I’d rather suffer myself than watch others struggle.”
I was at a loss for words.
Not because it was absurd—but because, somehow, I understood.
“It’s tough work.”
“Damn right, it is! Monsters pop up everywhere, but complaints never stop! No matter how fast we run, people keep dying.”
“But it’s the right thing to do.”
As I tried a few times to pick up something with my hands, I brushed my fingers over the slightly worn-out firefighter pants I was wearing.
“To maintain daily life… Someone has to do it…”
“…Wait, aren’t those old firefighter pants?”
“Mm.”
“You can’t even find those any more these days… Where did you…?”
Then, my senses picked up something unpleasant.
In the air—no, in the gaps of reality, beyond the supernatural.
Something with special abilities had moved near the apartment complex.
“Monsters.”
“…Huh?”
“Get to the shelter.”
The moment I spoke, sirens blared throughout the apartment complex.
And from the officer’s radio, the apartment’s address was mentioned repeatedly, along with the monsters’ threat level.
Grade: Crush-class. Numbers: Multiple.
Lights in the apartments flicked on one after another.