Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 7: I’m Hungry

“Haa...”

Yoo Anna sunk into the bathtub for the first time in a while.

Her body melted into the warmth, loosening with a languid heaviness. Her mind, sharpened to the point of dullness, unraveled like a wet thread in water—soft, sluggish, and formless.

Crack, crack. She twisted her wrist under the water, and the strained bones popped with aching resistance.

Ever since the appearance of the monster Code 0, Despair-Class monster alerts had continued to go off throughout W-City.

Every time it happened, Yoo Anna was deployed to the site—but she’d failed to eliminate the monster each time.

The same routine on repeat. Worse, it was like the monster had grown wary of her; the moment she got too close, it disappeared completely.

Maybe that meant it was Code Alpha—the one that, during their confrontation, managed to land four direct strikes midair, each one cleanly tearing into her flesh.

But the strange part was: the traces left behind at the alert zones resembled Code 0 more than Code Alpha.

Unlike the esper-type Alpha, the clues pointed to beast-type traits—sudden, explosive bursts of power. The remains of monsters at those scenes had been blown apart with no trace.

The other Heroes claimed it was all the work of Code 0... but then why was it avoiding Yoo Anna?

She had started to form a quiet hypothesis.

If 0 and Alpha weren’t two monsters, but one—a single entity...

Not beast-type, not esper-type, but formless.

It was known that monsters mutate—beast-types formed from animals they absorbed, espers formed by consuming humans, and formless ones... created from those who possessed special knowledge or conceptual fear.

A monster that devours other monsters becomes a more powerful beast-type.

One that consumes humans turns esper-type.

And if it eats a human with deeply rooted knowledge or meaning—its evolution twists, birthing a formless type.

Among all monsters, the formless are the most difficult for humans to fight.

This was the reason information about monsters—especially conceptual ones—was becoming more restricted.

If Code 0 and Alpha were one monster with two forms, that would explain everything.

Whether there was one Despair-Class hiding in W-City or two made a critical difference in Hero strategy.

That’s why Yoo Anna rushed out to every alert—she had to confirm the truth behind the Despair-Class.

But now, neither Code 0 nor Alpha had shown themselves again.

Just quick alerts, fading traces, then silence.

Only remnants of monsters left behind.

Which only made it more likely that there were two Despair-Class monsters in W-City after all.

If that was true, then this was now a three-way standoff between Yoo Anna and the two Despair-Class monsters.

What if they were highly intelligent, conserving their strength, quietly absorbing lower-tier monsters to grow stronger—avoiding provoking Heroes?

If they were both preparing to evolve into Extinction-Class...

Then if this worst-case theory was right—once they both reached that level, they’d begin their battle.

And when that happens, W-City will be a ticking time bomb.

“Haa...”

Yoo Anna scrubbed her face irritably, then activated her psychic power.

The bathwater in contact with her superheated skin began to boil, steam billowing upward.

In the sweltering mist, her battered body fully exposed, Yoo Anna closed her eyes and recalled her engagement with Code Alpha.

“Just a little more and I could’ve taken it down...”

Low-altitude flying through city airspace—blitz-speed combat.

Bit by bit, she’d been wearing it down.

Four solid hits that clearly tore its flesh—while Yoo Anna had come out unscathed.

And that kept bothering her.

It had opportunities to counter.

Even when she, fired up with adrenaline, recklessly charged in—it had a clear chance to land a fatal blow.

Could it have already been wounded in a fight with Code 0?

Is that why both were in hiding?

If that was true, then now was her chance. Yoo Anna pushed her psychic power beyond the limit.

And in doing so... her powers struck civilians.

And in that blast... the monster was hit.

She couldn’t erase the memory of what she saw in that moment.

Monsters are hostile to humans.

But then why?

Why did it look like it was shielding the civilians from her attack?

And the one that took a fatal blow from her... If there really were two, then surely they’d have fought by now.

So where the hell were they hiding?

****

“Slurp!”

Ahh... I can say this with complete certainty.

Of all the things I’ve ever experienced—this one truth, I can shout proudly to the world.

Ramen is god-tier.

If there is a greatest food on earth, surely it starts with "Ra" and ends with "men."

This ramen shop in W-City was famous. People say ramen and ramen-style dishes are technically different, but this place used instant ramen with special seasoning packs.

Spicy, with layers of depth. Bone broth. Beef and chicken. Shiitake mushrooms. Roasted garlic.

The owner calls it “Five-Spice Ramen.”

And this—this was why I endured the hellish experiments in that lab.

A bowl that fills the void in my soul—I let out a moan of ecstasy without realizing it.

“Krrrgh...”

This flavor. It’s official now.

That medicine-laced porridge I used to eat was basically mop water with an actual mop shredded into it, while this...

This was food made by gods.

After finishing my glorious meal, I reached into my pocket and tossed whatever bills I grabbed onto the counter.

“Keep the change, boss.”

“Hey! You're short! You ate five bowls and only paid for four!”

“Mistake.”

I paid the proper amount and left the shop, flexing my hand.

The smell had overwhelmed my appetite and pulled me in—but honestly, ramen still wasn’t ideal for me.

The owner didn’t notice, but ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) I’d snapped five pairs of wooden chopsticks, and three out of five bowls had cracked.

And yet he still only charged me for five?

The guy’s too nice.

...Next time I earn some cash, I’ll come back and pay extra.

“Hey, Mister Go! You done eating? Get in already!”

“Yes.”

Outside the shop, I returned to the meeting point, and the people on the truck waved me over.

I carefully grabbed the edge of the truck bed, climbing in like I was stepping onto a cardboard box.

Two were already sitting in the back.

Adding the driver and passenger seat, that made five of us total.

The side of the truck had a number and bold letters printed next to it:

[Monster Damage Cleanup Crew]

A truck used to clear out monster corpses and debris at attack sites.

Because the work’s dangerous, they don’t bother doing proper ID checks—as long as you show up, you’re hired on the spot.

I’d taken a job here and was diligently hauling monster carcasses to earn my meals.

“Mr. Bongbap really can eat... Well, you do the work of three people, so I guess that’s fair.”

“Wait... That’s not your real name, right? It has to be fake, right?”

“Who names their kid Go Bongbap...?”

As I finished my meal and pulled out a few triangle kimbaps from my pocket to snack on, the others gave me a look like they were already fed up.

The nickname I’d been given, "Go Bongbap"—was just a temporary name.

They called me that because they wanted me to eat a lot of rice.

“Hello, boss~ Oh, Bongbap, you too—hello!”

“Yo... Thanks for the work.”

“Hey.”

When we arrived at the site, someone was already waiting—someone you could call a bottom-rung Hero of W-City.

Her name was Lee Han-yeong. Black hair, height about level with my bellybutton—a petite woman.

Even by regular standards, she was short. Her ability was fluid swimming.

No matter where it was—she could swim through it.

When she activated her power, the space around her body hovered between being material and immaterial, warping and shimmering like liquid.

Even piles of monster corpses were like swimming pools to her. She could dive through solid rock walls without issue.

Combat ability? Questionable.

But when it came to rescue and reconnaissance, her power was specialized.

“No survivors left. You’re clear to use the drill and the chainsaw.”

With her confirmation, the boss revved up the chainsaw and started cutting into the monster carcass. The assistant manager, seated up front, started breaking the rock wall apart with a drill.

Sometimes when prefab pieces of a building were still intact, I’d lift them and move them aside. The two workers who rode in the truck bed with me bagged up the severed monster chunks.

As I effortlessly lifted corpse-filled bags into the truck and stacked them neatly, Lee Han-yeong walked over and, as always, started talking to me.

“Bongbap, seriously—how are you so strong? I don’t even think you have any powers...”

“If I eat a lot, I’m strong. If I’m hungry, I’m weak.”

“So today’s a full stomach day?”

“Mm... 40%.”

“So you are hungry.”

By now, I’d gotten used to controlling my strength enough to blend in with people.

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To others, I just seemed like someone with freakish strength—not like someone with a supernatural ability.

Apparently, that made me interesting to Lee Han-yeong. Whenever I worked, she kept talking to me.

And for some reason... she’d keep glancing at me and gulp, gulp—she’d swallow her spit like she was watching something delicious.

“W-Water? Want some water?”

“This bottle’s too small. I start at 1.5 liters.”

“Ah! That’s why I brought several bottles today!”

Didn’t really feel like opening bottle caps... Still took too much focus.

I reluctantly drank some and got back to work.

Some of the human remains were bagged separately and laid in the designated area. Once the monster corpses were fully loaded onto the truck, the retrieval phase was done.

This truck was a dedicated monster-remains vehicle, and another truck followed behind to collect construction debris.

“Man, wish we had a Bongbap of our own.”

“Hey, Rice! Toss this into the truck for me!”

“Could you give us a hand over here just once?”

“That’s enough! Bongbap, get in the truck!”

Since I could lift the heavy monster corpses and debris like it was nothing and gently place them in the truck bed, as soon as I had a free second, other truck bosses kept asking me to help.

And I didn’t really mind helping, so I’d give them a quick hand.

But then the boss of my own truck would yell at me to stop helping—said if I kept going, we’d be late picking up the next job.

Once the truck was full, we’d head to the disposal site and unload the corpses.

The two guys opened the bags, dumped the contents, and we’d head straight to the next location.

After doing that all day, we’d finally get paid.

“It’s tight again today.”

“That’s a lot, you bastard!”

“Not enough for even a day’s food.”

“Maybe if you didn’t eat like a damn factory furnace! Jeez!”

Even though I was praised for doing the work of three people on my own, I was always short on money.

Because I ate more than five people’s worth.

And on the days I monsterized, I needed fifteen people’s worth of food.

My dream—someday eating all the premium-grade beef I want—still felt far off.

Even in a world overrun with monsters, food ingredients were still abundant.

Thanks to government regulation, agricultural and livestock zones were low in population and protected by Heroes, so food production rarely got disrupted.

But because of the risks monsters posed, food prices were absurdly high.

So for daily laborers working just to survive day-to-day, money was always tight.

“Bongbap, can you lend me some cash?”

“Don’t have any.”

“Sorry, I mean it... You earn like four times more than me. Just a little, please...”

“Because I do five times the work you do.”

I sighed and handed over a small amount of money to the man begging again.

He started doing this job after his previous one was destroyed by a monster.

He’s looking for a new job, but in the meantime this is all he’s got.

Can’t be helped—his wife just gave birth recently.

“I’m hungry too, so this is all I can spare. I’m not loaning it—go buy formula.”

“Really... thank you...”