Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 64: The Meat Is Melting

As the days passed, monster-related damages steadily decreased. After losing their queen, Gu Seoryong, the villains scattered and were arrested one by one. Public order, peace, and stability were all on the rise.

At this rate, wasn’t W-City something even A-City might envy? That thought came naturally. W-City had become stable.

And all of this was thanks to the heroes who, without proper days off, kept eliminating monsters and villains.

And yet, recently, W-City citizens’ dissatisfaction with the heroes had reached an all-time high.

The reason?

It was because the heroes were blocking access to Black Cat all over W-City.

These days, for some reason, Black Cat was appearing all over the place even without the monster alarms going off.

As if to show just how peaceful W-City had become, Black Cat would quietly lie down and take naps.

Naturally, people who saw this wanted to pet him.

But every time, heroes would run in from somewhere and stop the civilians.

“Hey, hey, you can’t do that. Don’t approach Black Cat.”

“What the hell is this every time? Why are you guys blocking us like you own Black Cat?”

“‘Black Cat-nim’...? Wait, isn’t this... that thing?”

“Come with us for a moment.”

“What—what the hell?! Let me go!”

They were even detaining innocent civilians for questioning!

If the citizen being questioned didn’t have a W-City resident ID, the heroes would proceed to make an emergency arrest.

“What the hell! Are you allowed to do your job like this?!”

“All we want is to pet Black Cat!”

“Black Cat is a monster. This is all for the safety of the citizens...”

“If it’s about safety, then why are you the ones feeding and petting him?!”

“Well... we... ahem.”

What made the citizens of W-City even more furious was the fact that the heroes were openly feeding Black Cat and petting his head right in front of everyone.

The act of making it seem like only heroes were allowed to do it, and not civilians, was slowly pushing the citizens to anger.

[Why the fuck do these guys get to monopolize Black Cat?]

[Why the fuck are these hero bastards the only ones who get to pet Black Cat?]

[They feed Black Cat, but tell civilians not to? Are they insane?]

[They stop us from getting near Black Cat but then take photos and play with him? Honestly, it’s fucking annoying.]

[They keep saying it's because he’s a monster, it’s a secret mission—but what kind of ‘secret mission’ is this?]

[If petting Black Cat is some secret mission, why can’t civilians take part?]

[Black Cat belongs to all of W-City! Not the heroes!]

As the mood became more and more hostile, Yu Anna, the representative of W-City’s heroes, appeared before the press.

To the citizens who were full of complaints, Yu Anna gave a brief explanation of the situation and the reasoning behind it.

[As a hero, it’s uncomfortable ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ to admit that Black Cat is helping W-City. But we can’t deny it.]

[We’re currently trying various methods to control Black Cat’s behavior. During this process, civilian involvement could act as a variable, possibly causing unexpected incidents...]

[Also, there was an incident where someone from another city provoked Black Cat, so we’re just thoroughly investigating any civilians approaching him.]

After Yu Anna’s explanation, public opinion split exactly in half.

There were those who said civilians shouldn’t recklessly approach Black Cat.

And there were those who said, “We all know Black Cat is safe now, can’t we just go pet him a little?”

The No-Touch group and the Petting group—they divided themselves into left and right, naming each side the Meow-Left and the Meow-Right.

[So in the end, isn’t this just about winning Black Cat’s favor by feeding him? Are they worried he got upset because of those Bad Cats?]

[Apparently, there are still people trying to feed him meat laced with paralytics or sedatives—so yeah, stopping citizens might be right.]

[Cute things have always been things you only look at. You're not supposed to touch.]

[Even if he’s W-City’s mascot, he’s still a monster, right? We should listen to the heroes.]

The No-Touch group, the Meow-Left, insisted that people shouldn’t forget Black Cat was a monster, and supported the heroes’ efforts to control him.

[Why can’t civilians feed him too?]

[Isn’t it because we’ve been feeding and petting him this whole time that Black Cat doesn’t attack us?]

[What if you only listen to the heroes and he ends up attacking civilians?!]

[Civilians have the right to pet Black Cat too!]

[Black Cat needs to feel loved by all of W-City to protect us. If he thinks only the heroes like him, he won’t protect us—he’ll turn into some obedient pet!]

The Petting group, the Meow-Right, while agreeing with the heroes, suggested that if the goal was to win Black Cat’s favor, it would be better if everyone participated. freewebnoveℓ.com

“Give us Black Cat! Black Cat belongs to all the citizens of W-City!”

“Civilians have the right to pet Black Cat too!”

“The Black Cat feeding experience must be available to everyone!”

Among them, the Meow-Right started a protest, driven solely by the desire to pet Black Cat, sharing his sighting locations with each other, and resisting the heroes who they believed were stealing their chances.

About three days passed.

Black Cat stopped napping near civilians.

Instead of dozing off in bushes or open clearings in the park, he now poked his head out and napped on rooftops.

[Okay, yeah, we got a little noisy.]

[Kind of feel bad now.]

[Black Catㅠㅠㅠ come back ㅜㅠㅠ]

[Damn, I was planning to go see Black Cat this weekend, but if he’s on a rooftop, I can’t see him up close.]

The Meow-Right citizens regretted their actions every time they saw Black Cat’s little head peeking out from way up high.

But soon after, as they thought about it, more and more people started to think maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing.

[Cats sleep on cat towers more than the floor anyway, right?]

[From the rooftop across the way, it’s insanely cute.]

[Honestly, it feels like he’s up there watching over the city, making sure no monsters show up. I like it.]

[I’ll admit, the noise from everyone trying to give him meat was kind of annoying.]

[But now, even if he naps out in the open, Starlight doesn’t come anymore.]

[Doesn’t come? What do you mean—every time she does, Black Cat just runs away.]

Now, there was only one person in W-City who wasn’t satisfied with how things were going.

“Why won’t he eat the meat I bring?! Why does he run away every time he sees me?!”

Yu Anna was once again grilling meat she bought for Black Cat, pouting in frustration.

****

Why are heroes suddenly following me around everywhere I go, throwing meat at me?

It didn’t take long to find out.

The heroes who kept showing up in front of me—because of what they said.

“...These days, more people we arrest won’t say where they’re from.”

“I didn’t want to believe it, but... I think those bastards are here to steal Black Cat, right?”

“I heard they’re carrying around some weird fleshy thing.”

“Hey, shh—Black Cat can hear us.”

The heroes knew I could understand their conversations.

That was because Starlight told everyone everything about me.

The reason they gave me meat, said things like “so cute,” “so cool,” or “thank you,” and stopped civilians from getting close to me—

All of that was Starlight’s orders.

“Do you think he really understands what we’re saying?”

“Come on, all cat lovers say that. ‘My baby understands everything I say.’”

“How did you even end up becoming a Black Cat Mom, sir...?”

“Well, can you blame her? Thanks to the monsters he brings down, we actually have work-life balance now.”

“True.”

When I calmly ate the meat, the heroes seemed to think I was too busy eating to notice anything, so they kept chatting and spilling information.

“I don’t know if Black Cat can really be tamed, but... I really don’t want him leaving W-City.”

“Isn’t the captain being too sensitive?”

“Well, we get reimbursed for all the meat we give to Black Cat, so who cares?”

“She even said she’d pay out of pocket if it’s just one serving...”

The reason they take photos is to expense the meat.

The reason they feed me is to build attachment between me and the heroes—and with W-City itself.

Also, to stop me from getting lured away by strangers offering tasty treats.

“Black Cat~ eat lots, but even if a weird person offers you something yummy and tells you to come, don’t go with them, okay?”

“Remember our faces well. If it’s anyone other than us giving you meat, don’t even eat it.”

“Meoww~”

Whatever it was, someone from another city was trying to take me away.

The heroes were worried I’d just go with them if I got tempted by something delicious.

I guess they thought that if they made me full and friendly enough, that whole bait strategy wouldn’t work anymore—so they kept feeding me meat.

Now that I understood why they were doing it, I stopped being on guard and decided to just eat the meat.

“Oh, right. When you take photos, don’t get too close to Black Cat. They say the boss has been in a bad mood lately because of that.”

“Wait, really? Is she jealous?”

“She’s the one who has to take responsibility and subdue Black Cat if a Code Red ever gets triggered, right? If we keep petting his head and clinging to him just for fun, it’s no wonder Black Cat starts acting wary and she gets pissed off.”

“Oh, right. Speaking of which—did you hear? Apparently, the boss actually bought it.”

“No way. Seriously? That’s crazy.”

The heroes were increasingly turning the area in front of me into their own resting zone.

While I was eating meat, they’d bring snacks of their own and munch on them nearby. After taking photos without bothering me, they’d disappear without regret.

Every once in a while, a hero with fire or lightning powers would grill the meat for me.

They weren’t very good at it—but it was still better than eating it raw.

Then one day.

After clearing out nearly all the monsters hiding in W-City’s underground, I started launching remote attacks using space manipulation.

Some kill-class monsters mistook me for an underground threat and fled to the surface.

Before the emergency monster alarm even had a chance to go off, I had already taken out the entire swarm of kill-class monsters and was quietly chewing through them.

And right in front of my eyes—

Starlight dropped from the sky.

“Huff... huff... huff....”

“Grrrr....”

Given the recent pattern, this was highly unusual.

Starlight only ever showed up against calamity-class threats—very rarely against break-class ones—and never against kill-class monsters.

It had taken me around seven seconds to finish off that group. Was she just nearby?

Flying in during that brief moment, Starlight now had her head bowed, gasping for breath, overloaded from using her powers.

“W-Wait a sec... just wait a mi—ghk....”

As I began slowly sinking into shadow to escape before I got hit,

Starlight frantically pulled something out of her bag.

The moment I saw it, my eyes went wide.

“I-I was wrong... I messed up, okay? I’m really sorry... really, I am, Black Cat! Can’t you at least give me a chance to apologize?”

I didn’t even hear what she was saying.

That box—plain yet luxurious wrapping, the visible price tag, and the thick scent of meat wafting through the smell of her Starlight-brand hardboiled-egg shampoo.

Special grade... no—double special plus-plus grade beef. A whole box of it, assorted cuts!

I’d only ever heard of it in rumors.

Even in this monster-ridden age, that kind of thing still existed?

“I mean... I don’t want to keep going back and forth like this either, you know?”

“W-Wrowrr....”

No way... she didn’t bring that for me, right?

Mouth agape, I stared intently at the beef.

They say one chunk of that stuff costs more than 10kg—no, over 20kg—of pork leg.

Now that the government has full control over all livestock and food production, only top brass or high-level heroes could ever obtain such legendary beef.

The glistening marbling, perfectly woven layers of fat.

Drool slid down from my mouth.

“Uh...”

Flick—Starlight moved the beef to the left, and my head followed.

Then flick—to the right, and my head followed again.

As she watched my ears and tail stand straight up, Starlight glanced at them and said,

“Well... uh, do you wanna eat it?”

“Wrowr?!”

She’s actually giving that to me?!

My eyes sparkled as Starlight motioned for me to come closer.

There, on the rooftop of an empty building—

Sssszzzt... the sizzling sound of meat cooking filled the cold air with the rich aroma of beef.

The meat cooked fast over Starlight’s heat.

And right in front of my eyes... perfectly grilled meat.

“Rrrowr! Rrrrowr!”

“Ah, w-wait! J-Just a sec! H-Heek!”

CHOMPCHOMPCHOMPCHOMP!

The moment Starlight held out the grilled meat between her hands, I couldn’t wait—I licked her hand.

The flavor exploded in my mouth.

The juices, the umami, the tenderness.

Just squishing it lightly with my tongue made the meat melt.

“Th-That tickles...! Ahh...”

I pulled my tongue away from Starlight’s hand and reached out my front paw for the next piece.

Then Starlight let out this oddly hurt little sigh.

Whatever. I just sat there silently, waiting for her to grill the next piece, and she picked up a nearly pink cut of beef and cooked it with precise fire control.

“Rrrrrroooowwr!”

Starlight really is a good person!