This seems about right.
After evading pursuit for a while, I canceled the monster transformation once I no longer sensed the presence of any heroes.
The unpleasant sensation of returning to human form, combined with the gnawing hunger from not tasting blood, echoed uncomfortately in my stomach.
“Phew…”
Having returned to my original form, I first checked if my pants and necklace were intact.
Even though I had transformed into such an enormous monster, both items remained undamaged.
Perhaps, subconsciously, I had willed them not to break during the transformation.
A monster’s ability defies the laws of nature, causing phenomena that contradict physical principles.
Though I didn’t intentionally preserve them, I was relieved to find they were fine. Only then did I notice I was standing there bare-chested.
There’s nothing to be done about it. With just my firefighter pants on, standing barefoot and shirtless, I patted my pockets.
Luckily, the money inside my pants was still in perfect condition.
If I were to transform again in the future, everything except these pants and necklace would likely be torn apart.
Unless I could finely control my ability, which I have no idea how to do.
I vaguely remember being made to experiment with various things in the lab, but I had never considered controlling a monster’s ability.
“Hungry…”
As a side effect of the monster transformation, an endless hunger wracked my insides.
From the monster’s perspective, they are always famished, endlessly suffering from the desire to eat humans and the drive to become stronger.
It’s as if this hunger defines their very existence.
That’s why, even after returning to human form after a transformation, the hunger remains.
I sharpened my sensitive perception, eager to fill my stomach.
In the distance, I could detect the smell of food. As I moved, there was a convenience store by the side of the road.
Standing in front of the convenience store, I couldn’t open the glass door, which felt like sugar sculpture to my heightened senses, and remained standing there.
Noticing my blocking the entrance, a clerk frowned and opened the door for me.
“Excuse me, customer? What are you doing?”
“…Here.”
Carefully, I took out the cash so it wouldn’t crumple or tear, then dropped it on the floor.
The clerk didn’t take it.
“Food…whatever matches the price.”
“…Hah.”
Offended by my rudeness, the clerk seemed angry for a moment but closed his mouth after looking at my body.
He took out a few triangular rice rolls, some fried food, and a hot dog, placing them in my hands.
After nodding my thanks and turning around, the convenience store clerk muttered while closing the door.
“Hey…what are you doing, weirdo…And, come again!”
I glanced back to see him bowing deeply.
Though I felt a bit apologetic, I didn’t know how to properly apologize, so I stepped outside and ate the food.
“Hmm…?”
Is this what they mean by something not sitting well?
But…it really was delicious.
Especially the hot dog—the bread, sausage, ketchup, and mustard—why had I never realized how tasty they were? This was a taste worlds apart from the identity-erasing stew laced with various drugs that I had consumed before.
At that moment, amidst the persistent void within me, a single purpose arose.
I wanted food—good-tasting food—other than humans.
For that, I would need money.
“Money…”
What job could I get to earn money?
Having had no prior experience with work, I had no idea what I could do.
Would a part-time job like the convenience store clerk I’d just encountered work for me?
However, I had a serious problem, regardless of any job.
While not activated, my monstrous core makes my body only slightly stronger than a regular human, but still too much according to human standards.
Even now, it feels like walking on an icy surface. Metal feels to me like it has the hardness of mere cookies. Can I even get a job like this?
Could I even live among people as a regular person?
I know myself well enough that this is impossible.
Even now, the tantalizing smell of humans in the distance makes my monstrous senses salivate.
If I were to work, I’d frequently be bumping into people, wouldn’t I?
I have no confidence that I wouldn’t accidentally crush anything I touch.
I am no longer human.
“So, again, why did that Despair-class monster appear there?”
Inside the monster countermeasures department of the W City government, high-ranking heroes gathered, their heads buried in despair after hearing what sounded like a thunderclap.
The Despair-class—a monster so dangerous that abandoning an entire city was considered more wise than fighting it—had appeared in W City…and then had fled.
“But why did a Despair-class monster flee? Is it really a Despair-class? Wasn’t that equipment malfunction?”
“The fleeing skills were undoubtedly that of a Despair-class monster. No matter how hard we chased, we couldn’t get any closer.”
“Listen, now’s not the time for jokes.”
Most of the heroes gathered at this moment were summoned urgently to head to a cemetery. Some were also the city’s largest fighting forces capable of handling serious threats.
Sharing their observations, they were planning to devise countermeasures against the powerful monster.
But however much they discussed, they couldn’t come to any conclusions.
Whether the creature that appeared was truly a Despair-class monster was confusing right from the start.
“I can’t understand…A cemetery, where there’s no dense population to justify a monster like that appearing…”
“Equipment malfunction, I tell you.”
“Even if it wasn’t a Despair-class, the fact that it so casually killed a high-ranking monster, suggests it’s at least a Calamity-class, but that it appeared in an area with that population density is theoretically absurd anyway.”
“Do monsters follow theory anyway?”
“No matter what, a monster of that caliber appearing, doing nothing, and then fleeing…it just doesn’t make sense.”
There was nothing about the behavior of temporary code 0, the Despair-class monster, that made sense.
Clearly beast-like in form, and certainly running across the ground while fleeing, this wasn’t a being capable of turning into gas or energy to move.
With monster detection sensors installed in every area today, a beast-shaped monster is one of the easiest types to track.
Yet why did it appear so suddenly on sensors with no prior reaction? Why did it disappear from them afterward, leaving no trace?
It didn’t suddenly fall from the sky, surely. If it could fly, it would have flown away instead of running.
Neither did the form recorded by the cameras attached to the heroes’ bodies leave any identifiable mark. It was a new mutant, possibly hiding somewhere in W City.
Somehow, they had to find it, eliminate it, or issue evacuation orders. But this monster hadn’t caused any damage thus far, puzzling the heroes.
“Are there cases where monsters don’t attack humans?”
“No, every monster attacks humans.”
“Any exceptions? Most monsters come from animals, right? Like ones raised in zoos.”
“In old records, even a beloved pet dog that turned into a monster immediately attacked and ate its owner. Attacking humans is an innate monster instinct.”
“If it’s a true Despair-class monster, it would have wiped out all of you instantly, right?”
“It’s not a Despair-class monster, I say. It’s an equipment malfunction.”
The hero who continuously repeated the dismissal of a Despair-class monster’s existence wasn’t helping, but others wished desperately that it were true.
However, the machine had properly reacted to the premonitory dragon’s appearance just before the monster did.
So it was hard to claim it was a machine malfunction; if it wasn’t, then the conclusion was truly despair itself.
“Should we call it a new species, or a special case monster…?”
Among the monsters, some surpassing certain levels exhibit unique behavior beyond monster instincts.
There’s the cloud-flying Celestial Dragon, the Eight-Oak Fox who built a shrine in the forest and stays away, the Draken drifting on the surface of the ocean—they are all Annihilation-level.
Thus, perhaps the monster they’ve encountered was a creature straddling the Despair-class and Annihilation-class.
“There’s no actionable plan we can take now… We can’t evacuate all W City’s citizens to other cities.”
Humans are monster fodder, and evacuating large numbers might trigger unexpected monster behaviors.
Moreover, if they evacuated only for the monster to have relocated to the nearby city, they’d be essentially feeding humans into its jaws.
Since temporary code 0, the Despair-class monster, remained quiet for now… W City could do nothing.
“Let’s report higher up and maintain a hotline until further notice. If code 0 appears, it’s top priority recall.”
Top priority recall meant leaving any other threat in other areas unresolved to immediately attend here.
Such a threat could cause enormous damage and was classified as Despair-class.
The heroes, having heard the mayor’s and government’s decisions, all sighed.
Among them, a woman with fiery red hair resting her head on the table muttered,
“Ah… no more sleep for the foreseeable future…”
Since the Despair-class monster had disappeared, until it reappeared, she would need to be on standby 24/7.
W City’s strongest S-class hero, Yuanna, was the only one who could single-handedly take on a Despair-class monster in this city.
While some high-ranking heroes monitored W City vigilantly, on the surface it appeared normal.
Yet, perhaps because of the unusual movements of those high-ranking heroes, the police and other heroes were on high alert.
Though the information regarding the Despair-class monster’s appearance was restricted, rumors were circulating that one had indeed shown up – a special entity lurking somewhere in W City, its movements unpredictable.
The heroes aware of the facts were tensely anticipating an inevitable disaster, feeling the mental strain.
Currently, the monster all W City’s heroes were searching for was within the city.
“Hmm…Delicious.”
To be precise, the monster was rummaging through trash cans in the city center.
Considering the possibility of accidentally killing someone simply by being near them, I gave up on finding a job.
But it was hard to give up on delicious food.
Trash cans are magical boxes.
They produce tasty food daily, for free.
Despite the chaos of this age dominated by monster rampages, the wasted food I found wasn’t pitied. After opening a cardboard box, I found a pizza slice with just a touch of spice, with which I filled my stomach.
Though I had only been scavenging for a short while, I’d already discovered a few notable spots.
First, the trash can beside food shops—these are good but other homeless people also target it, so it’s best not to overstay or eat too much.
I let them have some space as people often get scared and hostile if I linger too long.
Next, by the hamburger shops—rarely, uneaten hamburgers pop up here.
And by the park’s trash can next to the apartments—here, the variety of food available increases drastically.
Even now, there was a pizza left behind, presumably during a picnic, and a carbonated drink whose cap was closed after only a sip was taken—so delicious.
“Ah! A vagrant!”
When I rummaged through garbage, park-goers occasionally pointed and shouted at me, but in those moments, I waved and greeted them with a smile.
“You want some?”
“Eww…no! It’s dirty!”
“It’s delicious though…”
“What…what are you doing? Don’t touch him!”
When I offered the pizza I had been eating to the kid, the child’s parent immediately came running, likely having been chatting idly with fellow parents nearby.
Given how many people were made homeless due to monster attacks, the parents’ gaze wasn’t harshly cold.
Actually, given the cautious expressions, it seemed the parents were more on guard due to my imposing stature, but at any rate, I didn’t feel the weight of disdain.
“Uncle, would you like this?”
“Thank you.”
Strangely, some of the children, who’d come to discard leftover food, ended up giving it to me instead.
When that happened, I’d squat down and extend both of my hands to make it easier for the children to hand me their offerings.
The softness of these little ones was something I had to handle with extra care, as I might accidentally crush them if I wasn’t careful.
“Hmm…Tasty.”
