“Why do you always lend money to that person, Bongbap? And not to me?”
“You use it for gambling, so no.”
There exists an illegal gambling game where participants guess the location of the next monster appearance based on alarms. I know that the man in front of me always engages in this sort of thing, so no matter what, I never lend him money.
Rather than wasting money on that nonsense, I might as well buy six pieces of something very expensive whose price I don’t understand—sulan—and put it in my ramen. Just thinking about ramen makes my stomach rumble. Swallowing the saliva pooling in my mouth, I consider the situation.
If I were the one participating in this monster alarm gambling, wouldn’t it be easy money for me?
My senses are incredibly sharp; I can detect far more broadly and sensitively than any alarm when I focus them.
But gambling is bad… I shouldn’t do it. I distinctly remember being told as a child that it’s something I must avoid.
At that moment, through my sharp senses, I detect a monster approaching.
“Hm.”
The entity I sense numbers about thirty… They are far away enough that the alarms won’t likely sound here. Lately, my detection ability has improved.
It must be because of my survival instinct as a monster… After being chased once by a hero with hair that looks like it’s on fire, my detection skills have evolved.
Her name was… Yuanna, wasn’t it?
I hadn’t expected such a powerful hero to exist. Unlike monsters whose strength emits subsonic waves and affects those around them automatically, a hero’s strength is only truly known when you directly confront them.
Humans… their core, the beating of their heart, is faint.
This is why monsters rashly attack powerful heroes and end up being hunted instead. It’s also why I was so thoroughly defeated by her.
I didn’t expect that a mere human could move so fast and unleash such powerful consecutive attacks. It was as if the time it takes to charge her abilities didn’t exist at all…
She’s dangerous.
Being chased by Yuanna is exhausting.
When I get tired, I eat more, which means I need more money. But I don’t have any money.
Every once in a while, when I’m desperate, I go to Black Cat Park and take some offerings, but it’s risky.
Should the children accidentally slip up and spread the word that I’m a monster, I could attract the attention of heroes laying in wait at the park.
Additionally, I recently discovered that even while my core is dormant, it emits subtle vibrations that faintly mimic the aura of a weak monster.
When I’m in human form during a monster appearance, monsters tend to initially ignore me, possibly because they’re confused as to whether I’m one of them or not.
This is not good.
Once I reach the level of monsters who feel I’m not worth eating, it might suggest I’ve progressed to the level of Shatterscale-class and above. But at the level of Murder-class, I emit the aura of an easy prey.
Also, my true power, when I monsterfy, reaches the level of Despair-class. This means my aura covers a very wide area.
The faint yet expansive aura is like the continuous scent of a weak monster spreading throughout the entire W City, constantly attracting Murder-class monsters.
As a result, I keep running into monsters between the levels of Murder and Shatterscale. These creatures approach me but divert to areas with more people nearby.
The ones I sense now seem similar. They were quietly lurking in the sky before catching my scent and coming closer. I’ve been trying recently to suppress this unintentional emission of aura, but it’s tougher than controlling my power.
It’s like trying to cut my hair both evenly and vertically without stopping the movement—unnatural and difficult.
As monsters, we’re naturally inclined to display our power rather than hide it, so this is unsurprising.
At this point of trying to suppress my aura, I’m now hiding more thoroughly from both monsters and heroes.
Though I transformed into my monster form a few times and was chased by heroes, I’ve recently learned how to hide before being caught.
If I must monsterfy, I finish whatever I need to do within the time it takes for a hero to arrive. That time is approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds. If I revert to human form within that timeframe, chances of running into a hero are minimal.
And in most cases, this timeframe is sufficient. For instance, right now.
“Shahaaak….”
“Uwaaa… Waa…”
The monster I detected earlier was a Murder-class Obsidian Butterfly, one of the Wind-class monsters. It doesn’t have destructive power beyond killing people, but possesses evasive skills that make it untouchable unless I transform.
It ranks among the top tier of the Murder-class and is thus a difficult opponent. Its sharp blades can cut on a molecular level, making it dangerous unless I transform. It also descends from above, meaning alarms sound later, and it takes longer for heroes to arrive. Hence, I had no choice but to handle it.
Currently, I’m in a form that adds more stealth to the one I used in the apartment—like a man-sized black panther. Its multiple black tails resemble a giant cat yokai.
I leap out to attack the Obsidian Butterfly hiding in the dark, grab it by the mouth, and disappear amidst the loud sirens, disregarding any attempt at subtlety.
Having dealt with all the Obsidian Butterflies, I should escape before the Despair-class sirens sound. Once they start, Yuanna will arrive in W City within 1 minute and 30 seconds, regardless of where she is.
Although I might stand a chance in a real fight, I don’t want to battle such a monster. Besides, the idea of fighting humans repulses me.
“D-Did you help out by any chance? Are you…? Is it y-you—the black cat?”
I paused mid-step into the darkness when I saw what the human woman I helped offered.
It’s ham.
Lately, more and more people hand me ham after I help them.
From my perspective, it feels like payment for my help, so I have no reason to refuse it. However, the fact that it’s happening more often implies some sort of rumor might be spreading.
“Th-this…”
“Woof.”
“Gyaaah! What should I do? Wow! Thank you!”
As I approached the woman with the ham in my mouth, she grimaced at the camera clicks before I dissolved back into the shadows.
After putting enough distance between us, I quietly reverted to my human form and savored the ham.
This free ham is delicious. By the way, although I’ve never transformed into a cat before, why do people keep calling me a cat? Shouldn’t I be a black panther? Maybe I should transform into a wolf?
I like tigers, yet among the wolf-related monsters, there aren’t many that are particularly stealthy… For now, feline monsters are the most convenient for lurking around.
“Fast.”
Above, where the sirens stopped, a glow rose into the night sky, shining like a sun.
That is Yuanna, who I’ve been avoiding. She looks around, letting loose her energy, and screamed in frustration as she rubbed her temples.
“Aaaagh! It escaped again! That pesky creature!”
“Even though I’m not a cat.”
Still better than calling me a dog. While devouring the leftover meat off the wrapper, I felt a strange sensation.
Every hair on my body stood on end. The direction is where the moon is rising.
A very powerful monster is coming toward W City. There are three of them.
#
#WCityBlackCat♡ #HelpsPeople #MonstersAreFriends!
Finally, the situation I feared has started unfolding.
Yuanna threw her smartphone and embedded it in the sofa.
Even with furniture specially designed for superhumans, and despite her unconscious power control before throwing it, she couldn’t suppress her rage.
“This pesky creature…!”
This shameless monster, what is it thinking by saving people?
Seeing people saved by monsters has given heroes like Yuanna a truly unpleasant experience. People, despite how often they’re harmed by monsters, tend to believe they’re different and won’t suffer the same fate. They think they’ll somehow be exceptional.
“Monsters? They attack people? But this one’s so kind—maybe it’s just me?”
“I might be different! My fate could be different! Maybe I’m actually a superhuman, a monster tamer!”
Then they get eaten by the monster.
More infuriating than dangerous monsters are the humans who fall for clever tricks of dangerous monsters.
Some monsters seem to know about cameras and the internet, disrupting human communication.
Still, more hazardous is how many humans fall into the trap of intellectual superiority merely because monsters take on animal shapes.
WCityBlackCat♡—the hashtag appended with a heart like it’s something adorable is spreading rapidly.
The code α, the monster that morphs its shape freely to resemble a smaller version of its usual self, is now in the form of a sleek black panther, which differs from its typically ferocious predator-like appearance.
Photos on social media show the panther with a chunk of ham in its mouth, purring and meowing, behaving like it truly is a cat.
“Damn….”
Adorable as it is, without realizing how captivated she was, Yuanna involuntarily liked the post and then quickly unliked it.
Does this monster possess some sort of charm ability? Some monsters do exhibit this trait. If true, the situation is more serious than imagined.
Cats have an inherent charm, being favored even before the emergence of monsterism.
Even while damaging ecosystems, cat-lovers insisted that cats cause humans no harm, only worsening the situation.
The current situation is akin to that.
Nauseating monster lovers, they’ll blame heroes next when they die.
It’d be better if it quickly attacked humans, because then people would again repent their previous actions, claiming they were innocent victims deceived by the monster—though nauseating, it’d be better than protecting monsters.
Heroes exist to protect humans. Why must they endure human-induced stress?
Still, they’ll protect them, but the annoyance remains.
“…Is there any trace left by code α at the scene, Yuanna?”
“None. It’s getting stealthier.”
“Code 0 still hasn’t appeared?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…”
The only slightly fortuitous thing is that code 0 hasn’t shown itself at all.
This strengthens Yuanna’s suspicion that the two monsters might be the same entity.
Otherwise, it could mean that code α has already fought and swallowed code 0… but no, that’s impossible.
A battle between Despair-class monsters can’t end so quietly. The damage would only escalate from the moment it begins, turning monsters into erasers for civilization.
As the two monsters continue to be sighted while swallowing lesser ones, without eating humans or monsters, they must be famished.
Hungry monsters are strong, but if they fight for too long, they naturally weaken.
If code 0 is a separate entity, it might have already ceded its territory to code α and fled.
Regardless, the conclusion is that only one Despair-class monster remains in W City.
“Should we be grateful that at least one remains…?”
Though this surviving creature is stealthy and hard to deal with, if it doesn’t attack humans, the situation could be considered lucky.
If I encounter it even once, I believe I won’t let it escape this time. At minimal cost, I will take down the Despair-class monster threatening W City.
Yuanna’s optimistic estimate, however, didn’t last long.
Just a few days later, simultaneous alarms for Despair-class monsters sounded in two places in W City.
There were two Despair-class monsters.
And two Calamity-class monsters as well.
