Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 20

Mirage Defeated: W-City Praised for Minimal Damage
The day after the Despair-Class monster, Mirage, which had fled from A-City, was defeated in W-City, reporters swarmed the W-City Esper Association, which had announced Mirage’s complete eradication to its citizens. Yoo Anna, responding to a local W-City broadcast interview, explained the damage inflicted by Mirage alongside other Espers.

“Twenty-seven seriously injured, eighty-nine lightly injured, and zero fatalities,” she stated. “Other regional destruction includes fifty-two buildings…”

The reported damage in W-City was astonishingly low, bordering on miraculous. Only about fifty-two buildings were affected, a level that could be fully restored within approximately a week, and casualties were commendably low. Given the usual number of Espers lost when confronting a Despair-Class monster, some even wondered if the government was manipulating information to reassure the public.

A reporter inquired, “A-City’s damage was incomparable to W-City’s. Why such a difference?”

An association official responded, “We attribute it to the characteristics of the monster known as Mirage. If one didn’t know its true form, Mirage was a monster that would inevitably cause immense damage.”

The official then played a video on television. “The Mirage we just defeated was named so because it seemed to constantly elude capture, much like a mirage. In retrospect, it was a very fitting name. We will now release a portion of the combat footage.”

The footage, captured by the Espers’ body cams, showed Mirage constantly shifting its form. Viewers initially marveled at the Espers’ coordinated efforts, but fear soon crept in as they watched Mirage instantly regenerate from any attack. A monster that recovered immediately from all attacks and relentlessly pursued, seemingly impervious to harm—how could such a thing be defeated? The sight of Espers collapsing one after another as the unhittable Mirage deployed a smoke screen offered a chilling glimpse into how A-City had suffered such extensive damage.

However, immediately after this grim footage, a scene played showing Yoo Anna holding a large clam in her hand and unilaterally beating it. The contrast from the serious tone of the preceding video to this suddenly comical scene left reporters bewildered, raising their hands, wondering if the video had been badly edited.

“Uh… that clam, what is it suddenly…?” a reporter stammered.

“That is Mirage’s true form,” the official explained. “What you saw before were illusions created by Mirage.”

“Excuse me?”

According to the government’s announcement, Mirage was a clam-shaped monster that used its shell for illusions and the clam meat inside for psychokinesis. Through this, it launched physical illusion attacks, disorienting humans. The ability previously thought to be a ‘charm’ was also due to its powerful illusions. Furthermore, the shell’s toughness was such that it could not be destroyed by anything less than an S-Class attack. Thus, it was a monster that could only be defeated by accurately locating its true body within a vast mist and striking it with immense force.

At this moment, the reason for A-City’s S-Class Esper, Cage, failing to capture Mirage became clear. He may have thought he had it with his abilities, but Mirage had always been toying with him from beyond the reach of his powers. Realizing this, the reporters’ interest shifted from Mirage.

“How did you find Mirage’s true form?!”
“What do you think about A-City’s S-Class Esper, Cage, who let Mirage escape to W-City?!”
“Was dealing with Mirage easy for you?”

Comparing an S-Class Esper from another city with W-City’s S-Class Esper always guaranteed sensational headlines and views. Yoo Anna, having no intention of indulging in such pointless games, sighed and called for a halt to the press conference.

After the government’s announcement, people on the internet buzzed with discussions about the incident.

[Mirage was a really tricky monster to catch, huh? How did Yoo Anna catch it?]
[You don’t know what happened to Sector 2, do you? Maybe Yoo Anna just swept through, erasing everything, and caught whatever got in her way.]
[Is “Eraser” that technique that destroyed the underground of Sector 2?]
[Yoo Anna said it wasn’t Eraser, but “Meltdown.”]
[I think “Homeless Maker” suits it better.]
[So, she just kept hitting it until she found its main body and then beat that, right?]
[Yoo Anna might have destroyed Sector 2, but she’s really good at catching monsters.]
[Why can’t she catch Black Cat?]
[Yoo Anna, who beat Mirage that toyed with S-Class Esper Cage, can’t catch Black Cat?]
[But Black Cat also spits out monsters it’s eating and just runs when Yoo Anna shows up.]
[Maybe Black Cat is afraid of Yoo Anna?]
[Black Cat: “If I attack people, Yoo Anna will come to kill me, meow. I don’t want to die, so I’ll endure it and only eat monsters, meow.”]
[Are the orphanage directors not people?]
[Their rumors are strange, though? If the rumors are true, honestly, Black Cat didn’t kill people, but beasts.]
[Anyway, the important thing is that W-City is safe with Yoo Anna around~]
Yoo Anna’s Shifting Public Image & Black Cat’s Peculiar Habits
Overnight, Yoo Anna transformed from an Esper who couldn’t catch Despair-Class monsters and merely chased them daily, into an Esper so powerful that Despair-Class monsters dared not attack people and only fled from her. Public opinion, it seemed, could flip in an instant. If it was going to change so quickly, why had they tormented her so much before?

Lying on her sofa, enjoying some rare free time, Yoo Anna browsed a community discussing her. She posted an anonymous comment.

[Where did all those people who said Starlight was weak go?]
This wasn’t a genuine question, but a comment posted in anticipation of the reactions she wanted to see. And just as she hoped, the replies she wanted to hear flooded in below.

[Did all those people who called Starlight “Firefly” die to Mirage this time? Why are they so quiet?]
[Were those who cursed Yoo Anna actually Mirage? Did they all disappear?]
[W-City Mirage casualties: 0]
[W-City level LOL. Should we all just say “Welcome, Yoo Anna, we always believed in you” now?]
[Star Punch! Star Punch!]
“Heh…”

An image, seemingly self-made, of a muscular man synthesized with Yoo Anna’s face, repeatedly punching the air, moved in the comments. Feeling good for the first time in a while, Yoo Anna hummed a tune and opened her refrigerator. Should she cook something delicious today? There had been fewer monster incidents recently. It might sound funny, but Yoo Anna had been growing more relaxed lately.

Yoo Anna was the sole S-Class Esper in W-City, which meant she had to be constantly busy whenever a strong monster appeared. However, with Black Cat starting to hunt monsters, W-City felt as if it had two S-Class Esperes. If Yoo Anna was about to go out, Black Cat had either already hunted the monster, or if she arrived, Black Cat was already devouring it. After that, it usually turned into a chase after Black Cat, but Black Cat rarely caused unnecessary facility destruction or casualties, making the mental fatigue much lower. Well… sometimes, it would inexplicably tear up expensive items with its claws, for reasons unknown.

The internet was also filled with posts from people who suffered such damages, cursing Black Cat.

[Black Cat cut off the communication cables again.]
[Black Cat stuck rebar into my building ㅠㅠ How do I remove this?]
[Why is my car stuck over there…?]
[Damn cat, Yoo Anna, please just catch and kill it.]
[Star Punch! Star Punch!]
These posts, like a trend, often included a composite image of Yoo Anna hitting kittens. “Do I look like an animal abuser?” Yoo Anna frowned, thinking of Black Cat. Monster Black Cat, a monster so different from others. It was clearly someone to be wary of, someone she would have to catch someday, yet an inexplicable trust was slowly building. If she encountered people who were late to escape while chasing Black Cat, she didn’t have to worry about the monster attacking them. It would fly away, avoiding them, and if they seemed about to fall due to the wind from its flight, it would even change direction, even if it meant getting hit by Yoo Anna. In such moments, Yoo Anna would hold back her punches, feeling like she was letting it off the hook just this once.

“What is it really thinking…”

Why, for goodness sake, did Black Cat not attack humans? Yoo Anna was increasingly starting to believe that Black Cat wasn’t deceiving people. She didn’t voice her thoughts publicly, fearing that people might mistakenly think other monsters were like Black Cat due to the potential danger. However, Black Cat truly seemed to have no intention of attacking people. It even protected Esperes from her. What… did it see her as some kind of monster who killed comrades to catch monsters?

Yoo Anna searched for an auto-completed phrase in her SNS search bar. Searching for #WCityBlackCat♡, she found a flood of images and videos of Black Cat saving people and receiving meat in return. What kind of monster is this, really? If she could deal with monsters by throwing a few hams, Yoo Anna would want to delegate the work. Among the photos and videos of Black Cat disappearing after defeating monsters, there were many videos of women screaming with joy while stroking Black Cat’s fur.

[Kyaaa! So soft!]
[Look at the sheen, wow! What do I do!]
Stroking a monster… it was clearly a dangerous act, but Yoo Anna was getting tired of being angry these days. In fact, these days, when she saw Black Cat, she even wondered what its fur felt like and considered trying to pet it just once.

Scrolling further down the videos… there was even one that completely baffled her.

“Look at this… this is ridiculous…”

In the video, Black Cat held a slaughtered cow in its mouth. Was it stealing it? For some reason, the monster siren wasn’t sounding at all in the video. She had learned this last time, but it seemed Black Cat had developed an ability to hide so well that it didn’t even trigger alarms. If another monster had this ability, it would be truly terrifying… but Black Cat’s actions in the video were simply absurd.

A series of three videos titled “Black Cat visited my house after I promised it a whole cow!” were linked together.

[I gave you what I promised~! If I don’t go quickly, Dad will scold me!]
A woman’s voice from a dark refrigerator. Black Cat, urged to leave quickly, picked up the beef inside the refrigerator, then put it down again, as if it didn’t intend to carry it away, and instead placed the beef outside the refrigerator. A moment later, Black Cat went outside the building and returned with something strange in its mouth.

[What is this? A gas stove…?]
A portable gas stove… Black Cat nudging the gas stove with its front paw looked, to anyone, like it wanted the meat grilled. Had someone cooked meat for it before? They say once an animal tastes cooked meat, it doesn’t readily eat raw meat anymore. As the woman hesitantly sliced a piece of meat and cooked it for Black Cat, it made strange “waong-ong-oh” sounds, accepting and eating it.

“It makes cute sounds when it eats meat…”

In the final video, it seemed the woman was eventually caught by her parents, but seeing the monster calmly eating the cooked meat, they all seemed intrigued and began slicing and grilling meat together. The video ended with them asking Black Cat to return if they needed help again, thanking it for saving them. Yoo Anna watched the entire video, then immediately contacted the government to have it taken down. If such videos spread, people might approach monsters too casually, which would be dangerous. After a moment of thought, Yoo Anna saved the video herself before it was deleted.