Became a Failed Experimental Subject Novel - Chapter 56

W City’s best Esper, Starlight, continued to grill the meat from the box without a break while stroking my head.
“Uhm… I’m sorry? You know I’m sorry, right?”
“Garrrrrrr…”
“We made up, right…?”
Is there anything to be sorry for? This meat is so delicious. Make up? Did we even fight? Isn’t it natural for Espers and monsters to fight?
Starlight expertly handled the large chunks of meat, flipping them with a practiced hand. Every time I opened my mouth for more, happiness seemed to take form and enter my mouth.
“Is it that delicious?”
“Woong-oh-oh-oh~!”
I was clearly meant to live for this meat. After eating all the meltingly tender meat, I savored the lingering taste and licked my lips. Next to me, Starlight pulled out something strange and started talking.
“Black Cat…? Can we talk for a bit?”
“Awoong?”
“Uhm… I definitely said it before, right? Can you speak?”
“Oh-wa-oong.”
“Are you still angry? You don’t want to talk to me…?”
[If I speak, I get hungry.]
I, who had been meowing, eventually used my ability to manipulate the wind. My speaking in monster form was not due to my physical body but due to my ability. The more I used my ability, the hungrier I became. Therefore, I didn’t want to speak in monster form unless absolutely necessary.
“As expected, I was right about you speaking… A talking monster…”
“Woong-oh-oh-oh?”
“Good, the possibility that we can truly resolve this with words has increased.”
Starlight was surprised that I spoke but also seemed somewhat relieved. At the same time, she was continuously squeezing something onto a disposable plate with her hands. What could that be? It smelled incredibly delicious.
“Black Cat, from now on, if you don’t go berserk, an S-rank Esper won’t come to catch you. In return, could you try not to become an Extinction-class monster?”
That’s a strange request. Monsters naturally evolve to the next stage just by eating other monsters and humans. As long as I keep eating and living, I will eventually become an Extinction-class monster even if I don’t want to. Not eating humans would only delay that day. Perhaps, asking me not to become an Extinction-class monster means not to eat humans? The whisper of instinct from the monster core… I don’t think Starlight would know the conditions for me becoming an Extinction-class monster in such detail. Besides, telling a monster to control its instincts, isn’t that something an Esper shouldn’t say?
“If you can promise, I’ll give you this.”
“Oh-oh-oh-oh…?”
At that moment, Starlight offered a small plate filled with the delicious-smelling substance. What is this smell? Sniffing it, I instinctively stuck out my tongue.
“Ah, no, I’ll give it to you if you promise. Promise.”
“Wa-oong…?”
What is this taste…? This rich, sweet, savory flavor. It couldn’t compare to the special 1++ beef, but somehow… it was delicious. It felt like comparing a gourmet meal to cola. A rich and intense flavor lingered in my mouth.
“Promise, promise me, don’t just eat any monster cores from now on, and try to stay in a despair-class state… I’ll give it to you if you promise!”
Lick, lick, after two more licks, I emptied the plate, and Starlight stared at the empty plate in dismay. Hmm… not bad, this. To human taste buds, it might not seem that delicious, but for a monster, for my current physical form, it had an intensely rich flavor to the point of being highly addictive. …I want more.
[What is this? I’ve never tasted anything like it before.]
“It’s Churu, a puree made from meat and fat that cats would like… a cat treat, I guess?”
[I am not a cat.]
Sniffing the Churu, I bit Starlight’s bag. Starlight then grabbed the bag from the other side, pulling it back so I couldn’t take it.
“W-wait, you smelled that again? I’ll give it to you if you promise!”
“Grrr…”
“Ah~ seriously, no, listen, I’ll give it to you if you listen.”
Rip, with the sound of the bag tearing, Starlight pulled out a large container from inside. Holding the empty bag in my mouth, I licked my lips at the Churu-filled container.
“Alright, alright, just a few things, can you just listen for a bit? Then I’ll give it to you.”
“Woong.”
“…Raise your head. If you try to snatch it, I really won’t give it to you, okay?”
Tsk, I clicked my tongue and raised my head, having tried to seize the container when she wasn’t looking. As I sat down properly, Starlight looked proud and squeezed Churu onto a plate for me.
“Good, Churu is for good cats who listen well like this. Understood?”
I was already tired of saying I wasn’t a cat. Starlight continued to squeeze Churu onto the plate as I licked it, and she spoke.
“Listen carefully, they say there are strange people trying to get you lately. So, if a strange person offers you something delicious, don’t follow them, okay? Don’t follow them carelessly even if they look pitiful or injured. Understood?”
“Ung-ang-ang-ang.”
“Thank you for saving so many people so far, but there are also people who want to use you, so be careful. Especially, if there are strange people who call you a god or ask you to save them… you are listening to me, right? Ow!”
She’s noisy. Why is there so much talk while I’m eating? The plate was empty, so I bit Starlight’s hand firmly, and Starlight, showing a sticky emotion, stroked my head.
“I-is this affection…? They say cats gently bite when they’re happy.”
[Squeeze more quickly. The plate is empty.]
“Ah, yes…”
I didn’t bite gently; it was just Starlight’s hand that was tough. With a disappointed voice, Starlight refilled the plate ceaselessly, like a sushi chef at a conveyor belt restaurant.
“Anyway… Espers will give you meat, so I hope you’ll follow the Espers’ instructions a little. If you fill your stomach with the beef and pork you like so much, you won’t necessarily have to eat monsters or humans, right?”
“Ang-nyang-nyang-ang.”
“Ah, understood? Black Cat, if you don’t do bad things, W City citizens and Espers will continue to give you meat and delicious things like this. Don’t do bad things, okay?”
Here, “bad things” probably meant eating humans. I didn’t particularly intend to, but Starlight’s definition of “human” was different from mine. If she meant not to eat even human trash, then I couldn’t agree. Unless she gave me that special 1++ beef every day.
[If I listen to you, will I get that meat every day?]
“Huh? That’s… well, I can’t… it’s not that we don’t have money, but the production is limited. No matter how much I give you, once a month is the limit for that amount.”
“Waoong… oong…?”
Upon hearing that, before the disappointment of only being able to eat it once a month had fully sunk in, the anticipation of being able to eat it once a month welled up.
“Instead… I’ll give you Churu every time from now on, along with the meat. How’s that?”
And Churu as a snack… still, if I can eat this until I’m full, that’s one thing, but it’s a bit lacking. Can’t I eat until I’m full, like at a free meal distribution center? Come to think of it… was the free meal distribution center also maintained by Starlight’s money? And the meat Espers gave me… If I could get special 1++ beef once a month on top of that, it might not be so bad. It didn’t seem much different from what I was already doing.
“Understood? Don’t follow strange people, okay?”
At that moment, the plate was completely empty. I silently stared at Starlight, whose plate was no longer refilled.
“Awoong.”
“More Churu? There’s no more today.”
What, no more? Beef and even dessert… I wasn’t full, but I had finished a satisfying meal. I yawned and groomed my fur. Well, since I’m done eating, I should leave.
“W-wait a minute! You’re leaving just because you’re done eating?! What about an answer?!”
Whoosh, I leaped off the rooftop and dove towards the people whispering below, passing straight through them. Behind me, as I sank into the shadows and fled, Starlight shouted.
“Black Cat! Never follow suspicious people who offer you food! Understood!”
I listened to Starlight’s voice fading into the distance and thought. For a monster to follow a person just because they offer food, that’s ridiculous. What do they even think I am?
The way Ms. Static used her ability and my spatial manipulation ability perfectly complemented each other. The technique of spreading an electromagnetic field to detect biological reactions was more delicate and could spread farther than methods that reacted to monster core wavelengths to find monsters. The monsters found this way could then be remotely detonated using spatial manipulation. If used well, the spatial manipulation ability could ignore the characteristic of my ability, where its output gradually decreased the farther it was from the core. The range of my ability was about half a zone, and by connecting space at that limit to use another ability, I could deliver powerful abilities over long distances. Unfortunately, connecting space required extremely delicate control, so only one space could be connected at a time. Therefore, the only drawback was that it took a long time to detect and capture monsters one by one over long distances.
Recently, I had been enjoying the thrill of using this combination of spatial manipulation and electrical manipulation, two abilities, to eliminate monsters before the monster alert even sounded. After finding a suitable spot and enjoying the sunlight while getting rid of monsters, monsters would not appear in that area for a while. I called this “monster extermination piecework.”
“Haven’t there been fewer monsters lately?”
“Monster damage? Well, thanks to Black Cat…”
“No, I mean, hasn’t the monster appearance itself decreased?”
“Oh? Now that you mention it… that’s strange…?”
After it became clear that monsters were not appearing only in the areas where I showed myself for more than a day or two, the Espers also noticed something was amiss. Eventually, the Espers discovered the rule that monsters did not appear in the places where I napped.
“I think it might be the spatial manipulation ability.”
“Perhaps it’s Bad Cats’ ability, using it to hunt monsters one by one from a distance.”
“So, he might not be napping, but actually intercepting monsters remotely?”
“Ah, did you feel it just now? The wavelength of the ability…”
“Wow, the ability is becoming more and more subtle by the day… it’s terrifying.”
“But seriously, at this point, isn’t he W City’s guardian deity?”
After that, it wasn’t long before rumors began to spread among citizens. The places where Black Cat napped were safe. People would leisurely nap in the locations where I was, enjoying a tranquility that was out of place in the monster era. And day by day, more people expressed their gratitude to me.
“Black Cat is no longer Black Cat. He is Black Cat-nim.”
“Anyone who dares to disrespect Black Cat-nim shall be considered an enemy.”
“Thank you, Black Cat-nim.”
“Ohh… Black Cat-nim~! Please appear here every day and show us the miracle of soaring real estate prices.”
For citizens, expressing gratitude to me was like a playful pastime. I sensed exaggerated worship and emotions that weren’t deeply sincere, so I thought nothing of the citizens’ antics, but the Espers reacted very sensitively.
“Calling him Black Cat-nim is forbidden.”
“Excuse me, could you please show me your W City resident ID?”
“This is Sector 8, requesting backup.”
“No, it’s just a joke, a joke.”
While I wondered if they needed to react so sensitively, the words Starlight had said came to mind as I tasted the Espers’ anxious emotions. To be careful of those who called me a god. There weren’t any such humans yet.
So, after finishing my underground monster hunt today, I left and ran on top of a building, then stopped when I felt a strange sensation in my core. Murder-class monsters flying in the sky… there were quite a few of them. Insectoid monsters were clustered together like lumps. Monsters coming from the sky outside the detection range like this couldn’t be dealt with in advance.
“Kwoo-oh!”
Crunch! Woooooong! I unleashed a lightning ability into the air, instantly incinerating the swarm of insects. At that moment, some of the insects avoided my ability and descended towards the city. The monster alert began to sound, having crossed the alarm’s boundary. The rapidly falling monster cluster hid in a dark, empty alley. As I pursued the monsters, crunch, crunch, devouring entire spaces, a dwindling clump of monsters fled from me, then flew towards a human. The human, covered in the swarm of insects, stumbled in the alley, flailing their arms. Thud! I pushed the insects away with a shockwave and blasted fire, incinerating all of them.
“Ah… th-thank you. Ohh… Black Cat-nim…”
What was that? A significantly strange, never-before-felt emotional scent emanated. The man stood up and, like others, fumbled in his pocket and offered a sausage.
“Please, would you be so kind as to eat it…”
As I opened my mouth, accustomed to the repayment, the man carefully placed the sausage, held with both hands, into my mouth. Perhaps he was being careful not to be bitten. I bit into the sausage and instantly felt my mouth watering from the sweet and rich flavor. Crunch, chewing it, I spontaneously thought it was the most delicious meat I had eaten recently. This taste… I know this taste. Human. This is a human sausage.