Chapter 22: Malice (7)

Today’s Mom is—Exploring the Underground Despair Restaurant—

The child in her arms was a little uncomfortable, but because she was afraid of the dark, she was oozing despair.

It was like a small despair battery, so to speak.

Anyway, the underground is really big.

At first, there was just a long passageway, but as she went deeper, large spaces popped out.

Even the despair energy became thicker.

What would their reaction be if they found out that there was a place like this underground in the city they lived in?

“This would be newsworthy.

There’s a laboratory underground in the city of humans that fuses monsters and humans?

And on such a large scale?

It was such a great discovery that I wondered why it wasn’t in the original…

No, it wasn’t?

Come to think of it, I think I saw something about a group that was researching monsters in the setting…

‘Well, that’s not important right now.”

“Kueeeeek…”

“Think, lose… Growl, ugh…”

The sounds made by monsters and humans had different levels of resonance.

If humans were cats, monsters were tigers.

However, the creatures that were a mix of human and monster seemed to be making tiger sounds with a human voice.

“Hey, you were the ones who wanted to get out of here, right?

Now that you’ve finally gotten to enjoy your freedom, wouldn’t it be better for you all to do whatever you want?”

“You, uh… Growl, ugh.”

I turned my head slightly as the monster looked up at me and asked.

I wasn’t going to see you anyway, so was there any need to answer?

I liked the way it radiated despair energy as soon as it saw me, so I decided not to touch it any more.

If it had rushed at me like the guy I saw at the hospital, I would have torn it to pieces.

Wheeeeeeeeing

[Intruder detected in Sector A-1.

Intruder detected in Sector A-1.

I’m notifying you again.

Intruder in A-1 sector—]

How many test tubes have you destroyed and now you’re finally here?

I shook my head at the sound of footsteps from far away.

Should I at least see the faces of the humans who created these abominations?

I didn’t think monsters were that important, but I wanted to know why they thought that.

“Hands up!

You have illegally intruded into a top secret area!

Surrender immediately or I’ll shoot you!”

“Isn’t it illegal to create a place like this?”

“Hands up!!”

Those humans were armed from head to toe and pointed their guns at me.

If I were a normal human, I would have trembled and fallen to the ground, but I didn’t really feel like doing that.

“Oh, now that you mention it, you guys.”

“Grrrr…”

“Don’t you want revenge on the humans who created you like this?”

“Grrrr. Right?

You don’t really have any desire for revenge?

Sure, they were captured by humans and ended up like that, but if they didn’t run away and charged at me without permission, they might’ve been locked in the test tube again.

Seriously, they’re half monsters and they still act rational.

It’s good to be honest about your desires sometimes…

‘What can I do?”

“Are you planning to let your benefactor die?”

“Extreme…?!”

“If you’re humans, shouldn’t you do the ‘least common sense’?”

“Hal, groan, ge… groan…”

That’s what’s really funny.

They should help me since they saved their lives in a situation where they should’ve run away without looking back?

To be honest, it was a bit far-fetched, but the monsters raised their barely moving bodies at my words and began to block the muzzles of the guns.

Bang-Ta-bang-!!

Bang!!!

“Grrrraaaaaaah…!!!”

“Hey, Unnie..!!”

“Shhh… It’s okay, it’s okay.

That’s the sound of soldiers defeating bad monsters.”

I watched the humans attack the monsters, using the child’s despair as popcorn.

Considering that they were mixed with monsters, their toughness wasn’t all that great.

It seemed like getting shot at in the human part would be quite damaging.

The humans seemed to know that, as they were persistently attacking only the human parts.

“Captain, is it okay to kill the test subjects like this?”

“There is an order from the higher-ups that any test subjects who are cooperating with the intruders can be killed.”

They were the same kind of human, but they didn’t seem to have any sympathy for them.

They held out for a long time, but getting shot didn’t help much.

They shouldn’t just be getting hit; they should be attacking, right?

‘Isn’t it so pointless to be getting hit after being mixed up with a monster?

Considering that a normal human can’t deal any significant damage to a monster, they could have held out longer and even defeated the humans.

But they were being defeated so pointlessly with that.

I wanted to savor the despair that comes from the fierce battle between humans and things that were once human, but it seems I was mistaken.

‘Still.”

“I think this should be enough.”

I don’t know what the humans used to create the monsters, but I could tell that one of the ingredients was the magical girl’s hope.

It was like using the hopes of a magical girl to suppress the backlash against the union of monsters and humans?

Something like that.

In some ways, there were some parts that overlapped with the doctor’s research, but the doctor’s was much more complete.

Well, the doctor created the apocalypse anyway.

Woof—

“Despair energy is being generated from the intruder…”

“What’s going on? Is there something wrong?”

“No, it seems like the meter is malfunctioning.”

The despair circuit began to spin.

Although it was a monster created using the remnants of a magical girl, the despair that the monster emitted as it lost its life was a despair that suited my taste just right.

I covered the ears of the child who was half convulsing due to the sound of the gunshot and secretly raised the corners of my mouth.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The machines the humans were holding began to blare loud alarms.

At first, the alarms were intermittent, but soon they filled the surrounding area, and it seemed that the humans finally realized that if something was wrong, it was seriously wrong.

‘I don’t really want to kill any humans, so—

“I’ll just break your arms and legs and finish it off.”

“What.”

Despair welled up.

Despair that would make a normal human go crazy just by looking at it.

[Despair level. Omega.

Despair level. Omega.

I recommend that you immediately end your own life and find a comfortable rest.]

Apocalypse has arrived.

[Despair energy lost!

I did it, Emerald!]

“Gasp, gasp, yuck… yuck…”

My whole body creaked.

My lungs were screaming as if I had ignored my body’s warnings and run at full speed.

But that was nothing.

I saved the person and defeated the monster.

Just that one fact was enough to get me back up.

“No, more than that… What on earth is that person?”

I swallowed dryly, looking at something between the person who caught the falling person and the monster.

It felt too human for a monster to be called that, and too monstrous for a person to be called that.

“If you were going to hurt me, I wouldn’t have saved that person, May.”

After confirming that the child in the car was safe, he slowly walked towards the monster.

The overload of his hope circuit almost caused his transformation to break, but thanks to his sanity, he was able to maintain his transformation.

“Thank you for your help.”

“…Don’t mention it. I was just doing what a human would do.”

“…”

He looked up at the four legs that were folded neatly and spread out helplessly.

The lower half was a monster, the upper half was human.

It was a sight that would make one wary, but he remembered the humanity contained in his eyes, so he was able to speak to him.

“Who are you? Are you a human? Or…”

“…”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask if he was a monster in front of those eyes, so he trailed off, and the other person hesitated as if he hadn’t found an answer to his question.

It seemed like he couldn’t decide whether to consider himself a human or a monster.

I’ve never seen anything like this before, even before I returned to the past…

Thinking of making a human and a monster into one.

How could someone do something so horrible?

“I used to be human. But now I’ve become like this.”

With a sad smile, she raised her hand.

I instinctively reached out my hand at her.

It felt like I had to grab it.

The sight of her seemingly disappearing at any moment looked so precarious—

Phew—

“…Ah.”

But at that moment, a blood-colored blade pierced the opponent’s heart.

As if it would not tolerate this mixed existence in the world, mercilessly.

And of course, her blood was red.

The same color as that of ordinary people.