“Phew….”
Yuanna finally immersed herself in the bathtub after a long time.
Her body relaxed in the warm water, and the sharpness in her mind, which had become so numbing that it felt blunted, slowly unraveled like a tangled thread submerged in water.
Crack, crack. In the water, she bent her wrist, and the accumulated fatigue in her bones emitted a painful sound.
Since the appearance of Monster Code 0, W City had experienced continuous warnings of despair-level monsters.
Every time, Yuanna responded to the monsters’ appearance locations, but she failed to eliminate them.
It was a repetitive task. Moreover, it seemed that the monster would retreat promptly whenever she approached, as if avoiding her presence.
Was it a code α monster she avoided? That creature had attacked her fiercely in midair, leaving clear wounds four times, but she still managed to dodge.
Oddly, the traces left at the warning-sounded locations were closer to Code 0 than Code α.
The distinct characteristics of the beast-shaped monsters—like the special explosive power known to creatures that originated from animals—differed here. Any monster corpse left behind was completely obliterated where the alert had rung out.
Other heroes considered this Code 0’s hallmark, but why would it then avoid Yuanna?
Yuanna quietly hypothesized about one possibility.
If it was indeed one monster, neither beast-form nor phantom-form, but indeterminate-form instead…
The monsters that evolved from animals would typically consume others, transforming into strong beasts or phantom-form monsters when they consumed humans, or sometimes into shapeless indeterminate forms if they swallowed beings with unique knowledge.
Monsters are known to evolve according to the knowledge and fears of the humans they consume. Consuming fellow monsters often leads to becoming a powerful beast-like entity, devouring humans may turn them into phantom-creatures, and those with specific knowledge will evolve twisted versions into indeterminate forms.
Indeterminate-type monsters are considered the most complex for humans to combat among all the monster types. This was why the information about monsters and phantoms was becoming more restricted.
If both Code 0 and Code α… or rather, it was one entity that could transform into two forms, then everything would make sense.
Whether there was one or two despair-level monsters hidden within W City would determine a different approach from the heroes.
That’s why Yuanna rushed to every alert to investigate the entity.
But neither Code 0 nor Code α had appeared any more before the heroes.
A momentary monster alert, then hiding without a trace again.
All that remained was the monster’s traces.
This situation made the possibility of the existing entities being two despair-level monsters stronger.
If the W City indeed concealed two despair-level monsters, the current situation was effectively a three-way deadlock with Yuanna.
If these intelligent monsters were conserving their strength, not engaging the hero side by feeding on low-level, easily-hunted monsters, it implied they might be growing into extinction-level entities.
Assuming they would become extinction-level entities, and if this worst assumption was indeed correct, it was highly likely that the two would commence combat once they reached that level.
Thus, W City was like a ticking time bomb that could explode any time.
“Haah…”
Yuanna splashed water on her face irritably and then drew her superpowers. The warm tub water bubbled and boiled at the touch of her heated skin, filling the bathroom with steam.
In the hot vapor-filled bathroom, scarred across her body, Yuanna’s eyes closed and her focus was on the code α with which she had battled.
“Had I just a little more time, I could have captured it…”
She had been gradually cutting down the code α during the high-speed battles flying around downtown.
Four precise hits that clearly ripped through flesh—Yuanna herself hadn’t suffered even a single scratch in return.
And that continued to bother her.
There had indeed been chances to attack her back.
She had even given him a chance for a fatal blow due to her excitement.
Could it have already injured itself while battling Code 0, or maybe that’s why it hid?
With the repeated escapes, Yuanna concluded that this was the right opportunity and pushed her superpowers to the limit.
The result was a power surge that enveloped the citizens.
And in that attack… the monster was hit.
The scene wouldn’t leave Yuanna’s mind.
Monsters are supposed to treat humans as enemies.
So why…
Could it have been protecting someone from her own attack?
Moreover, the entity that had delivered fatal blows to her… If there were two of them and they were bound to fight, where exactly was she hiding?
“Phewrurrruuuup!”
Oh…I can say it with certainty.
Anyone I tell this to, I can confidently say that I’m right.
Ramen is the ultimate.
If there is a supreme food on earth, wouldn’t it start with the letters “L” “a” and end with the word “noodles”?
A famous ramen shop in W City, where although ramen and ramen are different cuisines, here they boil instant ramen bags with special spices.
The pungent spiciness is complemented with rich umami, beef broth, beef, chicken, dried shiitake mushrooms, and roasted garlic.
The proprietor insists that this combination creates a taste they call “Five Aromas Ramen.”
This is what I endured the hellish experiments in that research facility for.
With a sense of contentment that fills the void in my heart, I couldn’t help but exclaim involuntarily.
“Kruererrr…”
This stimulating flavor, now I can firmly say it.
The gruel I had been eating was probably like soaking a mop in dirty water and adding it to more dirty water.
Ramen, on the other hand, must be food created by the gods…
After satisfyingly finishing my meal, I took out whatever money I grabbed from my pocket and placed it on the counter.
“Boss…no change needed.”
“Ho! You’re short! You ate five bowls but only paid for four!”
“Oops…”
After re-paying the proper cost for the ramen, I stepped out of the shop and shook my hands.
Though the smell had tempted me greatly, eating the ramen was still a bit difficult at my current state.
The shop owner didn’t notice, but I had broken five pairs of wooden chopsticks, and three out of the five ramen bowls had cracks.
Despite that, taking only five servings of ramen as payment, the owner truly is a good person.
…When I earn more money, I’ll pay a bit extra.
“Hey, Mr. Ko! If you’re done eating, hop on quickly!”
“Okay!”
Walking out from the shop and returning to the designated area, I saw the people already sitting in the truck gesturing at me.
Carefully grabbing the truck’s edge like stepping onto a paper box, I leaped into the vehicle.
There were already two people sitting in the cargo area.
With me included—plus the driver and the navigator—the truck had five people.
On the side of the truck were inscribed characters explaining, alongside a telephone number, what kind of truck this was.
[Monster Debris Cleanup Crew]
A truck that clears dead bodies and debris from monster-struck sites.
Perhaps due to the hazardous nature of the tasks, no thorough ID checks are made when the casual laborers come in.
I had started clearing out monster corpses and was earning my daily meals.
“Mr. Bongbap really eats a lot, though…well, he does roughly the work of three people, so it’s kind of normal.”
“But…isn’t that his real name? Isn’t it more like a pen name?”
“How can anyone have ‘Gobongbap’…”
While I was munching on a triangular ricecake I retrieved from my pocket, they sighed and muttered.
My temporary name, “Gobongbap.”
It was made because I want to eat a lot of rice.
“Hello, Boss~oh, hello Mr. Bongbap?”
“Um… Good work to you.”
“Hello.”
As we arrived at the site, one of the lower-tier heroes of W City was waiting for us.
Her name was Lee Han-young, a small woman with black hair who stood just above my navel.
Even by ordinary human standards, she was of petite stature but her superpower was swimming.
She could literally swim through anything.
With her power activated, her body would fluctuate between tangible and intangible states, bending like liquid.
To her, even piles of monster corpses were like a swimming pool, and she could easily dive through thick rock walls.
Though her combat capabilities are questionable, her superpower was specialized for rescue and investigation.
“There are no more survivors. You’re cleared to use drills and saws.”
Upon hearing this from the hero, the boss cut up the monster corpses with the power saw, and the manager in the passenger seat drilled through the rocks.
Occasionally, modular building parts were moved by me to the side, and the two people sitting in the truck gathered the chopped bits of corpses into disposal bags.
Then, they would gently carry the bags filled with corpses and neatly stack them onto the truck.
Lee Han-young approached with the same routine inquiry as always while they were doing so.
“Mr. Bongbap, why are you so strong…? You don’t seem to have any superpowers, though.”
“Eating a lot of rice makes you strong, hunger makes you weak.”
“Are you well-fed today?”
“Um… 40%”
“So you’re hungry, huh?”
Now that I’ve gotten pretty good at controlling my strength to blend in with people, I just look like a particularly strong person and not a superpowered one to Lee Han-young.
She keeps asking me questions when we’re working, curious about why such an ordinary-seeming person like me had such strength.
For some reason, she kept staring at me and swallowing her saliva repeatedly.
“D… Would you like some water?”
“This one’s too little. I prefer from 1.5 liters.”
“Ah! That’s why I brought several bottles.”
It’s annoying opening the bottles since I still have trouble doing it delicately. Sipping the water I managed to open gently, I returned to work.
As we collected part of the human bodies into separate bags and placed them in their designated positions, the truck loaded with monster corpses completed its collection process.
This truck exclusively dealt with the transport of monster corpses, and the one following closely behind handled the construction debris.
“Hey, it’d be good if we had one of these Bongbab types.”
“Hey, Bap! Lend me a hand and load this to the truck!”
“Can you help with just this one thing?”
“Enough! Bongbab! Get in!”
Because I easily hefted up and carefully placed heavy monster carcasses and construction waste onto the trucks, the other truck bosses would often call out asking me to help with various tasks whenever some idle time arose.
Since it’s not something I couldn’t help with, I’d do a quick favor before our truck boss would tell me to stop helping.
Doing favors consistently would cause our truck to run late for the next task.
After loading everything, we’d unload the corpses at the disposal facility. The two people would open the bags and dispose of the contents, and then we’d head to the next site to collect more bodies.
Doing this kind of work all day, by the end, we’d receive our wages.
“Tough work today, huh.”
“We’re still getting a pretty good amount, pal!”
“This isn’t nearly enough for a day’s food!”
“And that’s exactly why you eat so much!”
Even though I did the work of over three people, I still never had enough money.
That’s because I ate the food of more than five people alone.
On days when I monsterized, I needed the equivalent of fifteen people’s meals.
When would I achieve my dream of eating premium beef to my heart’s content?
Food supplies were abundant, even in a world infested with monsters.
Due to government control, areas dedicated to agriculture and livestock farming had a very low population density and sufficient heroes to kill incoming monsters, ensuring that production of food remained steady.
Still, the presence of monster threats made food prices skyrocket.
Consequently, day laborers, who work just to eat, were perpetually cash-strapped.
“Hey, Bongbab, lend me some money.”
“I don’t have any.”
“Sorry, but please, you make nearly four times as much as me. Even just a bit…”
“That’s because I do five times the work.”
With a sigh, I handed over some of my money to the man who always came asking for a loan.
His workplace had been destroyed by a monster a while back, and he was just in this line of work until he could find another job.
There’s a reason for it; he mentioned his wife recently gave birth to a child.
“I’m hungry myself, so this is my limit. And this isn’t a loan—go buy formula.”
“Thank you so much…”
