Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 15: That Must Be Tough

Yu Anna thought she sounded like an idiot, but still, she spoke to the monster.

“Why are you hunting orphanage directors?”

Monsters can’t speak. Monsters are beasts twisted into humanity’s natural predators.

“Why did you protect someone else from my attack that day?”

A monster’s instinct is to attack humans.

“Why! Why are you trying to keep me away from the kids?!”

Monsters are enemies of humanity.

She couldn’t understand it—couldn’t comprehend the Black Cat’s behavior.

This wasn’t how monsters acted.

Of course, there was no reply.

Only the crushing pressure of infrasonic resonance rolling off the monster core.

The sound of a human skull breaking echoed from its mouth.

Black Cat was, after all, a monster.

“Monsters... must die.”

Yu Anna exhaled slowly and stepped toward Black Cat.

Only then did it shift—its wariness finally giving way to retreat.

Its massive wings ignited in flames, and its forked black tail began to sink into the shadows.

And at that moment—the door burst open.

“Don’t kill it! Don’t fight!”

“Stop it! Stop iiiit!”

“W-Wait, hold on—!”

The kids from the next room—the orphans—came charging out.

They grabbed onto Yu Anna’s legs, screaming.

Focused entirely on not letting Black Cat escape, Yu Anna was caught off guard, trying to shake them off.

But if she used her powers now, the kids clinging to her would be burned alive.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

This... this was exactly why Yu Anna hated people who sided with monsters even more than monsters themselves.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?! Let go! That thing is—!”

“Don’t hurt the kitty!”

“The kitty’s trying to help us!”

“You heroes didn’t help us at all!”

Yu Anna froze, stunned by the kids’ words.

The heroes didn’t help us.

They were right.

Even though she had some idea what kind of hell these children were living in, she hadn’t done anything to help them.

Meanwhile, Black Cat had—

—had taken out every single corrupt director involved in illegal abuse.

“...W-Wait!”

The moment Yu Anna stopped, Black Cat didn’t miss its chance.

It vanished—its shadowy form sinking into the ground.

In just a few minutes, it would strike the final remaining orphanage.

Still clutching the children who kept their eyes squeezed shut, Yu Anna scowled and opened her communicator.

“...Black Cat got away.”

[Confirmed. Then we’ll reroute to your locat—]

“No. I can’t move right now.”

[What? W-Wait... Were you injured?!]

“Hah? Unless it suddenly powers up again, my ability’s still stronger. There’s no way I’d lose to Black Cat—”

But she didn’t finish the sentence.

Because no matter how she looked at it, the way she felt now—this sick, powerless feeling gnawing at her gut—it was like being defeated.

“...Yeah. I guess I was.”

[Seriously?! Wait, are you saying Black Cat’s that strong already?! If that’s true, then it’s practically on the verge of becoming Extinction-Class—!]

“It’s not that. Not yet. Anyway... I’m not coming.”

Yu Anna sighed. Even to herself, the words sounded strange.

“Black Cat’s only targeting the orphanage directors. Don’t provoke it without reason.”

[Huh...? What do you mean by that?]

“If anything beyond that happens, report it immediately.”

[Ma’am? Yu Anna-sunbae?]

She ended the call and gently stroked the heads of the children still clinging to her legs.

Their eyes slowly opened, one by one, and turned to look at her.

“...I’m sorry.

I didn’t come to help you.”

“Ugh... uuuh...”

“Huuuuh... waaaaaaah....”

Finally, the children began to cry.

Like real children, their restraint broke, and the dam gave way.

A few minutes later, a new report came in from the hero team.

[Black Cat has fled.]

“Casualties?”

[One. The orphanage director.]

As expected, Black Cat had only killed the director—then vanished.

Yu Anna tucked the exhausted, tear-stained children into their beds and stepped out, looking up at the night sky.

And for some reason, she felt... hollow.

“Yeah...

I let it get away again.”

[Also, ma’am... about this orphanage. We, uh, found some pretty serious evidence.]

“...Keep it under wraps.

I trust you know why.”

[...Understood.]

Yu Anna lowered her head.

She had a pretty good idea of what the “evidence” was.

But she couldn’t let the public start thinking the monster had done something good.

If people began protecting monsters instead of children,

then there’d be no talking them down when something like this happened again.

“...Black Cat.”

She looked down at her open, trembling hand and remembered its face.

She’d missed catching Black Cat so many times before—

But this was the first time...

...the first time she felt like she’d lost.

Like a hero who’d truly been defeated by a monster.

****

[Despair-Class monster Black Cat has resumed activity.

The confirmed number of victims stands at 12—all of them orphanage directors in W-City...]

[After completing a kill, Black Cat ceases activity as if nothing happened.

Monster behavior analysts in W-City speculate that Black Cat may possess animal instincts even stronger than typical monster impulses...]

[S-Class hero of W-City, known as “Starlight,”

Yu Anna, who previously issued a warning regarding Black Cat, stated:

“The monster’s only showing its true nature now.”]

The rooftop of a W-City skyscraper.

I sat there, enjoying the breeze, crunching on a cucumber I pulled from my pocket.

Lately, everything I ate was way too greasy.

Fresh veggies hit different.

I tilted my head, listening in on a building across the way.

The people inside were watching the news.

Some channels delivered grim concern.

Others... were defending Black Cat.

[Okay, I know I’ll probably get flamed for this,

but how many times has Black Cat actually saved people?

I mean, easily ten times as many as the ones it’s killed.]

[Apparently, all the orphanages where directors were killed had reports of abuse.

And now the kids there are all grateful to Black Cat...]

[What if we tried installing a giant cat ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) toy on rooftops as a defense system?

Or, like, designing buildings in the shape of cat towers?]

That last broadcast—what the hell even was that? Were they serious?

“...I’m not a cat.”

Muttering under my breath, I stuffed the last of the cucumber into my mouth.

Then I looked up.

A glowing red trail streaked across the sky—Yu Anna, flying fast.

If I listened closely, I could hear the distant alarm of another Disaster-Class monster.

“Must be rough, being a hero.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out another cucumber.

****

After hunting down a human-who-wasn’t-human—an orphanage director—I had another major growth spurt.

Monsters grow stronger the more they consume other monsters... and humans.

Sure, eating powerful humans or high-level monsters gives a better boost,

but for someone like me—who’s barely ever eaten humans—

even those fat lumps were full of nutrients.

Now that I’ve gotten a better grip on controlling my powers, I can fully hide my presence—for a little while, at least.

It’s like trying to balance a needle on the tip of another needle.

One tiny lapse in focus, and it’s over.

But if I concentrate, I can manage it for about ten minutes.

I’ve figured out the trick, so the more I practice, the better I’ll get.

Also—my power output’s increased.

“Blaaack! Caaaaat!”

Once again, after hunting a random monster and getting chased by Yu Anna,

I used what had evolved beyond even Lee Han-yeong’s power to slip through the city’s jungle of buildings.

I’d learned the hard way what kind of destruction Yu Anna caused when she followed me underground—

so unless I’d created plenty of distance first, I no longer used the tunnels as escape routes.

After all, I’d put a lot of effort into fixing them up.

Would be a shame to wreck them again.

Besides, I no longer needed to go underground to shake her.

Lee Han-yeong’s power—Fluid Swimming—was superior even to the spectral phasing used by the ghost-hounds.

It wasn’t just simple intangibility that left you unable to affect anything physically.

Fluid Swimming allowed you to control what your body passed through.

Trying to figure out how to weaponize that while fleeing from Yu Anna,

I landed on the idea of linking the intangible objects together.

Like—grabbing a tree in my mouth mid-flight,

jamming it into the space between phased-out buildings,

then flying straight through.

If I got lucky and bit into a rebar bundle, I could set up a whole chain of obstacles.

“I swear to God, stop it, you little bastard!”

“Mrowwwww~”

Unlike me, who could phase through any obstacle,

Yu Anna had to use her powers to melt through them.

Every time that happened, she slowed down—just a bit.

And little by little, the distance between us stretched.

She still had stronger offensive output—her raw power was higher than mine.

But when it came to escape?

I’d officially surpassed her.

If she lost her mind and started vaporizing entire buildings to catch me, then yeah, maybe I’d be within range again—

but Yu Anna wasn’t that kind of hero.

She always tried to minimize damage if possible.

And after being chased so many times, I’d figured her out well enough to know how to stop her in her tracks.

“Grrrr...”

“HEY?! What are you—?!”

“Kyah-ow~”

“You little SHIT!”

With nothing good to jam into her path, I tapped a nearby communications tower with my paw, cracking it.

Yu Anna instantly swooped down in a panic to catch it.

I knew full well how expensive that thing was.

More specifically, the antenna on top.

The tower itself was built from a high-grade alloy and hard to break—

but not Despair-Class monster hard.

Just barely managing to catch the antenna, Yu Anna used her powers to weld the structure back together.

By then, I was already gone.

“You knew how much that was worth, didn’t you?! I’m gonna KILL YOU!”

I’d built enough distance again.

If I just made it to ground level now, the win was mine.

That’s when I saw it.

A giant skewer of meat on a pole. A kebab cart.

I could run away any time—

but when would I ever again get to eat something that big, in monster form?

Besides, any property damage from a monster attack was covered by insurance, right?

So really... this was a free meal.

“Mrrrrowwwwwwwww.”

Delicious! This place was legit!

Gripping the skewer between my paws, I hunched over and tore off chunks with my teeth.

Yu Anna landed hard behind me just as I took another bite.

Before she could drive both feet into my back, I twisted my body and leapt out of range.

“Are you SERIOUS?! Are you ACTUALLY a cat?!”

“GRRRRRR!”

I’m not a cat.

I swear, I’m not.

I just happen to take on feline forms a lot.

Right now, I’m somewhere between a black panther and a tiger.

Still holding the kebab in my jaws, I jumped again, stuffing myself mid-escape.

Then I rammed the entire skewer into a wall and kept running.

Great snack.

Time to go.

Today’s chase ends in my victory.

“AAAAAARGHHH! I HATE YOUUUUUU!”