This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 156

‘It’ was exceptionally rare for a living being to remember its first moments.

When it first opened its eyes, there was nothing around it.

Surrounded entirely by flesh, it existed alone in the room.

As time passed and it became capable of moving about freely, it decided to exit the room for the first time.

Upon stepping outside and witnessing the entities wandering around, ‘it’ instinctively realized something.

Those beings were of its kind and simultaneously subjects it must dominate.

And that was the moment ‘it’ gained awareness of the concept of ‘I.’

However, that was all it was.

While it succeeded in awakening its ego, the change did not significantly alter its daily life.

It still spent most of its time sitting quietly, just as it had when confined in the room surrounded by flesh.

Yet, it did not consider this dull.

How could it? It didn’t even know what boredom was.

And so, time flowed on endlessly.

But ‘it’ remained unaware of this fact.

After all, it had no clear understanding of the concept of time.

In the world it lived in, there were no days or nights, and so the only means it had to observe the passage of time was its own growth.

It continued to grow.

Eventually, when faced with the limits of its space, it experienced the emotion of ‘annoyance’ for the first time.

All thanks to the entities stuck to the walls.

The incessant noise they made grated on its nerves.

At the same moment, for the first time since opening its eyes in that cramped space, it felt curiosity.

Why were those beings making such a racket?

This newfound curiosity greatly influenced ‘it.’

So, ‘it’ became curious about ‘humans’ and began to observe them.

The act of ‘observation’ that started in this way had a significant impact on it.

Most notably, in terms of appearance.

After observing the beings stuck to the walls countless times, it realized that its current form was unsuitable for the actions it wished to undertake.

So, it decided to change its appearance.

Thus, the first form it adopted was that of an adult male.

There was no particular reason.

It was simply the first entity it noticed.

However, it soon realized that the new form was just as unworthy.

So it transformed once more, and throughout its trial and error, its appearance kept changing.

Sometimes it took on the visage of an old man, sometimes that of a youth, and at times, a woman.

After many iterations of trial and error, it ultimately adopted the form of a beautiful girl.

The reason was simple.

That appearance was the most efficient and effective for its purposes.

Even after taking on the form of the small entity, its observations continued.

And the moment the observations resumed, it realized something had changed.

In the past, when it tried to peer closer, it was met with the jarring cries of the beings.

But after taking on this new appearance, the entities stuck to the walls actively ‘spoke’ to it.

However, that was all they expressed.

The words of those entities were nothing but pleas for salvation.

This fact bored ‘it,’ prompting a desire for a new target of observation, one not confined to the wall.

And it had a means to make that possible.

While bringing in fresh food for observation continued, ‘it’ noticed an anomaly.

The presence of someone it had not invited.

The moment it realized this fact, it felt a strong curiosity it had never experienced before.

And that curiosity quickly turned into an impulse.

Initially, it tried to bring those around it to its place to provoke its curiosity like it had done before.

But it soon gave up.

The things brought here all quickly turned into motionless food.

It didn’t want to lose those that had gifted it such intense curiosity.

So this time, it decided to go and see for itself.

However, it couldn’t leave this place.

That was its realization as it came to understand itself and the mission assigned to it.

Thus, it devised a plan for the first time since its birth.

It imitated the appearance shown by one of its observation subjects.

Dividing itself, it sent out a non-corporeal version of itself that could move freely.

And in that place, ‘it’ encountered ‘her.’

Unlike the entities it had observed until now, the woman, clad in bizarre attire, was dying with a wound in her abdomen.

“What the… I guess it really is my time to die… I can even see angels…”

This led to ‘it’ feeling ‘disappointment.’

“Geez… If it’s the end, why not let me see my son’s face instead of angels?”

The prey were endlessly fragile, collapsing at the slightest wound.

“I hope all those Association bastards go down in flames…”

And prey referred to that as ‘death.’

So, this woman too would soon become ‘death.’

Deciding to observe her for a short time, despite the disappointment…

To its surprise, the woman became more resilient than expected.

Immediately after ‘it’ discovered her, she was completely still, yet moments later, she began to move slowly as if shaking off lethargy.

Following her around, ‘it’ discovered that the woman knew far more than any prey it had previously observed.

And for some reason, she kept searching for something called ‘son.’

What in the world was that?

Could it be that if she found it, she’d be able to live longer without becoming ‘death’?

So ‘it’ asked her.

“What’s a son?”

She chuckled lightly and replied, “A son is a son.”

“And why are you looking for him?”

“Well… because I want to see him?”

“Why do you want to see him?”

“Well… because I’m lonely.”

“What does lonely mean?”

“Um… loneliness means… it means being alone.”

“What does being alone mean?”

At that moment, the woman’s hurried movements came to a sudden halt.

“You… are lonely?”

Then a question was tossed back at ‘it.’

“Are you lonely? Me?”

“Aren’t you?”

“···I don’t really know.”

How could one feel loneliness when they didn’t even understand what it was?

It was beyond comprehension.

Yet, it found itself curious.

“What do you do if you’re lonely?”

“Well… usually, you make friends, I guess?”

“How do you make friends?”

Was that a difficult question?

“Um… maybe you just ask someone to be your friend?”

That was an extremely ambiguous answer.

Could one really become friends just by asking?

If so, wouldn’t that mean they wouldn’t be lonely anymore?

“If I become not lonely, will I then understand what loneliness is?”

“Umm… maybe? They say you usually don’t realize being alone until you’ve been with someone.”

I see.

Then—

“Then, how about we become friends…?”

“I’ll pass on that.”

Why?

That question echoed in its head.

“I have someone waiting for me now that my wounds are mostly healed.”

With those words, the woman’s backside split, moving left and right.

But how?

Unlike it, which could open or close pathways through flesh, prey couldn’t do such things.

As it pondered over that, the woman leaped gracefully backward without a hint of hesitation.

The moment her figure vanished from view, ‘it’ realized.

‘Ah.’

So this is what it means to feel lonely.

Yet, by the time it grasped that, it was already too late.

Many beings resembling the woman swarmed around, but they were all ‘prey.’

There couldn’t be friendships with prey.

And so the once-seeded feeling of loneliness rapidly sprouted.

In an instant, it grew, perpetually expanding.

‘I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely. I’m lonely.’

The second anomaly came to its attention while it was being tormented by loneliness like that.

Unlike those already taken and turned into prey, there were still those that moved freely.

Just like that woman had done.

In fact, there were even two of them.

So if it could befriend them both?

Then it wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

Thus, this time— it must not let them escape.

It mustn’t let them go and make them both friends.

“Ahaha, I hope they hurry up.”