Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 45

Because the other party was Han Mu-ryo, Yoo Hye-na simply dismissed his rude remark, thinking he was just talking about food again, and continued walking towards her house. After a short while, Yoo Hye-na, feeling something was strange, turned around and looked at Han Mu-ryo, who was standing still in the alley.

“Oh? Aren’t you following?”
“Should I follow?”
“What? Well, n-now… is it?”

Wasn’t he supposed to help her and escort her home? Or was he not? Was it just a coincidence that he helped her, and it was right to part ways? Should she tell this man where she lived?

As various thoughts flashed through Yoo Hye-na’s mind, Han Mu-ryo walked towards Yoo Hye-na, like a stray cat following at night. Yoo Hye-na felt a considerable sense of security just by having the large man walk with her at night, so she decided to use Han Mu-ryo as her escort on the way home. Han Mu-ryo followed directly behind Yoo Hye-na, looking around. Was he being vigilant in case another criminal attacked? Yoo Hye-na felt her face heating up again, but then his next words made her colder than the night air.

“Isn’t Starlight coming?”
“…You must have heard from the residents that I’m Starlight’s younger sister.”
“Many people said so.”
“She’s not coming.”
“Why?”
“I told her not to come.”
“Why?”
“Unnie is busy, you know? Even if an S-class Esper is a superhuman, she’s still human. Instead of spending time on me, she should rest comfortably at home, even for a short while when she has time, so she can save more people when needed.”
“I see.”

Han Mu-ryo’s expression, nodding as if he understood, perplexed Yoo Hye-na. Was his question not about wanting to see the S-class Esper, Starlight, but genuinely curious why her sister wouldn’t come when her sibling was in danger? Yoo Hye-na felt sorry for reacting too sharply.

“I’m sorry, you helped me, but I wasn’t grateful.”
“If you’re grateful, increase the meat menu at the soup kitchen.”
“Talking about food again? You really love food.”

Yoo Hye-na chuckled, feeling at ease, thinking Han Mu-ryo was a surprisingly easy-to-understand man. Han Mu-ryo was a strange man, but not a bad one. He didn’t approach with complex hidden motives; all he wanted was to eat until he was full and sleep soundly. Arriving home, Yoo Hye-na sincerely thanked Han Mu-ryo for coincidentally saving her and bowed deeply.

“Thank you for helping me today. If you have time next time, I’ll treat you to a hearty meal.”

A greeting she had become accustomed to from volunteering at the free soup kitchen. Without much thought, Yoo Hye-na uttered the words, and Han Mu-ryo’s eyes lit up as he moved closer.

“A meal, you’ll buy me food?”
“Yes, yes? Th-that’s, right?”
“When is ‘next time’? This weekend?”
“Uh… ah, no…? On weekends, I have to volunteer, so?”
“Weekdays, then. Good. I can eat until I’m full on weekdays too.”
“W-wait a minute, don’t come so close like that.”

Oh, oops…! Realizing something was wrong, Yoo Hye-na blinked and stepped back from Han Mu-ryo. Perhaps because he was so large, just him coming close made her feel strange, as if she was being embraced. Regardless of Yoo Hye-na’s feelings, Han Mu-ryo, who seemed a little excited, continued to approach, his eyes shining, and pressed on.

“When is the weekday? ‘Next time’ doesn’t tell me when.”
“Huh? No, that, uh… whenever Han Mu-ryo-ssi has time? Anytime…?”
“Good.”

With those words, Han Mu-ryo suddenly whoosh, jumped onto a nearby lamppost. Only then, the cold night air brought Yoo Hye-na back to her senses as she stared blankly. Han Mu-ryo CRACK! shattered the lamppost he had stepped on and leapt onto a higher building.

“W-wait a minute?! Without even saying goodbye?! Hey?! Why did you break the lamppost?!”

What should she even point out first? Yoo Hye-na hesitated, then shouted after Han Mu-ryo, who was disappearing into the distance.

“Be careful on your way home tonight!”

Did Han Mu-ryo even need to be careful on his way home at night? Yoo Hye-na, a little embarrassed by what she had said, touched her flushed face again and went inside her house. He was truly like a typhoon; he appeared suddenly and disappeared suddenly, just like when he showed up in Sector 4. He disappeared like this, only to suddenly reappear at some point. But she never expected to see him again the very next morning.

“What are you doing here?”

Early in the morning, in front of Yoo Hye-na’s house as she left for work, Han Mu-ryo stood dressed in the same clothes as the night before.

“I’m hungry.”

At Han Mu-ryo’s innocent voice, Yoo Hye-na unconsciously slapped her forehead. Oh, right… this man’s daily intake was no joke. She had told him to come whenever he had time, so this was “whenever.”

“I-I’m sorry, but not today. No, not right now… I-I’m going to work… I won’t have time until after I get off work.”
“When do you get off work?”
“Huh? That is, uh… S-six PM…?”

At that, Han Mu-ryo suddenly placed one finger on his palm and pointed towards the rising sun.

“It’ll be 9 hours and 11 minutes from now. Understood.”
“How do you know the time from that… huh?”

Yoo Hye-na took out her phone to check the time and was startled. The current time was 8:49 AM, and indeed, according to Han Mu-ryo, her work would end in 9 hours and 11 minutes. Before Yoo Hye-na could even marvel, Han Mu-ryo leapt onto the lamppost again. The lamppost, which had two branches, CRACK! broke on both sides again, just like last night. Yoo Hye-na, seeing both sides shattered, shouted at Han Mu-ryo, who was leaping onto a building.

“Hey! Don’t break the lampposts!”

And this time it was the opposite side! If he needed a foothold, why didn’t he climb onto the one he broke last night instead of a perfectly fine one! Drained of energy early in the morning, Yoo Hye-na hurried on her way to work.

“Ohana-ssi? Can you reformat these documents to fit the template? How long will it take?”
“Yes, I think I can finish them all today.”

At the company, Yoo Hye-na was not Yoo Hye-na but Ohana. She completely disguised her appearance with Mirage, hiding the fact that she was Starlight’s younger sister. Her job was a private monster insurance agent, and her task was to compare damage details with insurance policies to ensure that insurance claims were being paid correctly. When Yoo Hye-na pressed the approval button, the insurance money was paid, and when she pressed the review button, the insurance payment was suspended. In that review process, Yoo Hye-na was an employee with a high approval rate.

“Ohana-ssi, wait, the manager is calling for you.”
“…Haa.”
“Good luck.”

Perhaps because of that, Yoo Hye-na was often called into her superior’s office.

“What in the world are you thinking, approving so many claims?! Do you think your position is there to just give money to people?!”
“Manager, but, that is…”
“Is it your money?! Huh?! Is it your money?! Get a grip! How much loss is the company incurring because of you?!”
“Even so, withholding insurance payments from people who suffered damages…”
“If you’re going to give everyone everything they ask for, go work at a welfare center! Why are you working at a company?!”

After being scolded again today and chased out of the manager’s office, Yoo Hye-na went to the restroom to wash her ears.

“…It’s not his money anyway.”

She had only paid according to regulations, so what was the problem? If anything, the insurance money came from citizens’ wallets and government subsidies; it was money that should go to truly needy citizens, not money to fatten the company. She wanted to report the company, which refused to pay insurance according to regulations, to the government. But if she told Starlight directly to handle it, reporters would pester them, claiming it was an overreach by a hero’s sister interfering with company operations, or an undercover boss using family, and it would be noisy. Reporting it directly to the government would lead to a similar outcome. It was not something Yoo Hye-na, who was living as Ohana to avoid the spotlight of being Starlight’s younger sister, wanted.

“Haa…”

Yoo Hye-na, stressed and lightly washing her face before returning to her seat, saw a long contrail from an airplane far outside the window and approached the window. Today too, her older sister was flying to subdue a monster. If an S-class Esper was moving, it was a Disaster-class or higher. After Black Cat appeared, W City was in an ironic situation where Disaster-class monsters were not treated as disasters, like A City and B City, which were overflowing with Espers, but it was still a major incident causing harm to many people.

“She’s working hard… huh?”

Just then, a large man on the opposite rooftop suddenly sat up. He seemed to have been napping, as he wiped his eyes and calmly looked in the direction Starlight was flying, then yawned, looked the other way, and stood up.

“Wh-what? What’s he doing there? Napping…?”

Surely he wasn’t waiting there to eat after she got off work, was he? As a flustered Yoo Hye-na pressed her cheek against the window and stared, Han Mu-ryo felt her gaze and met her eyes. He rubbed his stomach, a gesture indicating hunger. Just as Yoo Hye-na let out a bewildered laugh, Han Mu-ryo began to run across the building.

“Is he really going to catch a monster?”

A moment later, Ohana, back at her desk, received an alert that another large-scale monster attack had occurred. Simultaneously, the manager shouted loudly from his office.

“That damn Black Cat again!”

The breaking news that Black Cat had hunted a monster nearby was not good news for private insurance companies. Unlike government insurance, which only calculates the extent of damage from all monster attacks, private insurance companies sold special policies to attract subscribers. The policy stated that instead of calculating compensation based on the amount of damage, insurance money would be paid when a monster attack of Despair-class or higher occurred. Despair-class or higher monster attacks were extremely rare, and in most cases, when a Despair-class monster appeared, the people who should have received the insurance money were already dead. Therefore, it was a beneficial product that greatly helped private insurance companies grow. Until Black Cat appeared.

“What is Black Cat doing, a Despair-class?! That cat bastard should be tied up with a special clause, but when is the government law going to pass?!”

For W City’s private insurance companies, Despair-class damage insurance was no longer a profitable product.

“It makes no sense to get full Despair-class monster damage insurance just because he ate some street food kebab!”

“Ohana-ssi, are you leaving now?”
“Yes, you worked hard, team leader.”
“Go home safely~ You worked hard.”

After a tiring day of work filled with the manager’s nagging, it was quitting time. Yoo Hye-na stepped out of the company building and glanced towards the rooftop where Han Mu-ryo had been. Then, thump, something dropped from the space between the buildings. Yoo Hye-na, remembering what had happened overnight, realized it was the sound of Han Mu-ryo landing. A moment later, Yoo Hye-na saw Han Mu-ryo walking towards her, shirtless, and hurriedly fled from the front of the company building. Han Mu-ryo, seeing this, approached quickly, thump-thump-thump, and followed directly behind Yoo Hye-na.

“I’m off work.”
“Ah, I know, so don’t follow me right now.”
“Was it a lie after all?”
“It’s not a lie! I’ll buy you food. Could you just walk a little further away from me?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Oh, come on, so put something on.”
“I don’t have many clothes that fit well.”

Should she buy him clothes first instead of food? Yoo Hye-na hesitated for a moment, then glanced around to see if any company people were nearby, and grabbed Han Mu-ryo’s pants.

“Come this way.”

Yoo Hye-na found a nearby clothing store and went inside, finding the largest sized clothes in the store and dressing Han Mu-ryo in them. In the age of monsters, people’s average meal portions had generally decreased, and average body sizes had also shrunk. However, if you looked carefully, you could still find large-sized clothes tailored for some physical enhancement Espers. Yoo Hye-na found the largest size sweatshirt among them and was impressed by how Han Mu-ryo’s impression changed significantly just by putting on a top.

“Tr-try this one too, shall we?”
“I like these pants.”
“Don’t be like that, it would suit you. I’ll buy it for you.”
“No.”

Because of Han Mu-ryo’s stubbornness, his old fire pants remained the same, but just by wearing proper clothes, he transformed from a strange person into someone who liked sports. Now that she wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with him, Yoo Hye-na wondered which restaurant to take Han Mu-ryo to. Huh…? But wait, is this like a date? Yoo Hye-na glanced at Han Mu-ryo, then found her lipstick in her pouch and applied it.

“You look like you’ve put ketchup on your lips.”
“It’s lipstick, actually?”

Yoo Hye-na sighed and said to Han Mu-ryo, who was curiously watching her apply lipstick,

“Um… but, what do you like?”
“Gukbap.”
“…Gukbap.”

I guess I shouldn’t have put on lipstick. Yoo Hye-na felt deflated.