Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 66: It’s a Bug

“Human sausage... Is it because I’m a monster that they prepared something like this?”

I kept chewing as I started to observe the man in front of me.

There was no villain-like scent coming from the man.

Even the faint trace of his thought flow felt very calm.

It made me wonder—was it possible that this man didn’t even realize that what he gave me was human sausage?

“How is it? Does it suit your taste?”

“...Meow.”

The human sausage the man gave me... how should I put it... it was incredibly well-adjusted to a monster’s taste.

Blood, fat, meat, organs, skin, brain—everything was blended in perfect proportions, creating a rich, melting flavor.

Especially the chewy texture of the organ chunks and the way the fatty brain matter melted together... it was unpleasantly delicious.

After I swallowed the human sausage and my fur bristled, the man, still smiling, pulled something else out.

“Here, there’s more.”

What he offered me next was a bright red jelly sealed in a container.

It reeked of blood—this time, jelly made from solidified human blood and fat.

To refuse it... the scent was just too strong.

That fishy savoriness, that sweet fat—I accepted the blood jelly and glared at the man, summoning my ability.

For him to offer something like this twice, it could only mean one thing: he knew it was made from humans.

And yet, despite that, the man was strangely peaceful.

I felt a disturbing sense of disconnect, neither human nor monster, and I activated my ability to speak.

[...What are you?]

“Oh, ohhh...! Black Cat is speaking to me...! Ahh, yes, truly, Black Cat is the Messiah from the prophecy....”

[Where did you get this meat?]

“Do you want more? I’ll bring more.”

In that moment, the man raised two fingers and activated his ability.

Schlink— A blade of telekinetic energy surged from his fingertips, aimed directly at his own arm.

Slice— With a quiet sound, he severed his arm and held it out to me.

“Here you go, Black Cat... Please, as much as you like.”

For a second, I instinctively backed away in confusion.

What the hell is this guy? He doesn’t even have regenerative powers.

An esper, output around C to B range—he’s far too abnormal to be a hero.

“Black Cat, please.”

[Not necessary.]

The blood jelly and human sausage had such an overwhelmingly delicious scent that I couldn’t help but accept them, but his freshly severed arm didn’t stir my appetite at all.

When I rejected the meal, the man looked crestfallen, bleeding profusely from his arm.

“Ahh... Please... Please eat it, Black Cat....”

[You’re... not right.]

I skimmed the surface of his thoughts, an unfamiliar emotion leaking through.

Worship. Reverence.

Bleeding to death, the man bowed his head before me, offering his severed arm and head.

“O, divine one, grant us salvation....”

God. Salvation.

Those words echoed the ones Starlight had once said—just as, from the stump of his severed arm, thin white worms began to crawl out one by one.

Parasites.

Feeling something was off, I jumped back and hurled a fireball at the man.

FWOOSH! Engulfed in flames, the man lowered his head toward me, thick with an emotion of joy.

He died just like that.

I stomped on the burnt corpse.

The texture told me—it was human.

But... to call that thing “human” didn’t feel quite right.

He wasn’t human in the same way villains aren’t human—he was something else entirely.

What the hell was that?

****

After killing the man who gave me human meat, more people like him started showing up—day by day.

“Black Cat! Please enjoy!”

“Wow! Black Cat!”

“Ahhh... Black Cat...!”

Among the people who half-jokingly called me "Black Cat," there was a woman leaking emotions of worship and reverence.

The sausage she tossed at me smelled like human blood.

Eating human flesh like this—there’s no fear to devour, no curse to build.

It’s just a chunk of meat that happens to taste incredibly good to a monster’s palate.

When I smack my lips and finally take a bite, the person who threw the sausage at me leaks emotions—thick with ecstasy and bliss.

Not just young women—even old men, middle-aged women, and men.

As more and more human sausages began piling up, I felt disgusted and headed back to the rooftop.

Then the humans who threw meat at me began to end their own lives nearby.

A glance downward... revealed more than a few had stabbed themselves in the neck or severed their limbs in the alley.

From the wounds on their bodies, swarms of insects were already gathering in the short time it took.

Seeing those bizarre corpses, I summoned fire and burned them one by one.

And the next day, another strange human would appear from somewhere.

The strange humans gathered in abandoned places and often ended up attacked by Kill-Class monsters.

When a monster alarm sounded, they came running from afar, and when they reached where I was visible, they’d unpack sausages and blood pudding from their bags, then sever their own fingers, legs, or wrists.

“Ahh... Black Cat.”

“Salvation, salvation....”

“O messenger of God....”

“Please, accept this.”

“Please... eat my body.”

White thread-like worms peeked out from the stumps of their bodies.

When I fled the grotesque scene, they would commit suicide on the spot.

Their corpses would soon swarm with worms again, and I burned them with fire every time.

And when I did, only the blood pudding and human sausage would remain on the ground.

Blood pudding and human sausage—these were just food, made by perfectly blending human blood and meat.

That perfect ratio that delighted a monster’s senses... was downright repulsive.

How many times had they made this?

How many monsters had they fed human flesh to, to get that flavor right?

By then, I realized the flaw in my way of distinguishing humans.

I could tell apart villains—they had murderous intent, malice, and a sense of anticipation.

But these strange people, with nothing at all inside... I couldn’t tell them apart.

And they began to resemble the citizens of W-City.

Their scent no longer hinted at any city outside of W.

Their clothes, their smiles... all mimicked W-City residents.

Someone who was clearly a W citizen would suddenly walk into a corner, pull out a knife, and stab themselves in the throat.

If I burned the worms writhing from their corpses, the next human would approach with a fresh sausage.

This cycle of suicides kept repeating in my senses, and emotionally worn out, I decided to stop eating altogether.

From then on, I accepted nothing but the meat given by heroes—and the locations where the weirdos showed up began to change.

On rooftops of buildings, scattered here and there, the figures looked up at me as I flew above—and one by one, they killed themselves.

In front of their corpses lay human sausages and blood pudding, neatly arranged like some sacred offering.

Once they died, small insect-type monsters that had been drifting in the air would swarm down to the corpse and begin eating it.

The bugs devoured every bone and scrap of flesh, but never attacked any other humans—then they floated back up into the sky.

Sensing something was very wrong, I decided to observe these strange humans more closely.

“Ooooh... O Messiah....”

“Salvation, salvation....”

That sticky joy they felt the moment they faced me—and at the same time, an overwhelming sense of emptiness.

As I watched the humans sever their fingers and press blades to their own necks, I gripped their bodies with telekinesis and spoke.

[What are you people?]

“We are... your servants.”

“Your food. Lambs born to die for you.”

“Please.”

“Please.”

But even with telekinesis, I couldn’t stop them from dying.

Their eyes suddenly turned red, and they bled from their mouths as they died.

Had they swallowed poison ahead of time? Again, after just a moment, thin white thread-like worms burrowed out of the bloody cuts on their mouths and fingers.

From above, I heard a faint buzzing sound, and before more bugs could gather, I set the corpses on fire.

“O Messenger of God, we are grateful for the chance to face you in the flesh.”

[Why are you killing yourselves?]

“Because that is the path to salvation. To be chosen by the Messenger of God.”

[Where did you come from?]

“We are from Samwon Church—your home. We came from Samwon Church.”

My home?

They kept spouting incomprehensible things and dying one after another.

Why... why are these humans taking their own lives?

“Salvation.”

“O Lord!”

“Please, choose us!”

Exhausted by the endless suicides, I hid underground to avoid them.

But the suicides didn’t stop.

As if announcing where they’d died, worm-type monsters began to gather around the bodies.

And then—something tore the worm monsters apart.

“Meowww? There’s a bunch of bugs here!”

“Hey babe, there’s a lot of weirdos hanging around!”

Under the dark night sky, Gu Seoryong appeared together with Sagugu.

Sagugu killed the worm-type monsters clinging to the corpses, and Gu Seoryong looked down at the shadow where I was hiding under the rooftop and spoke.

“Hey, why don’t you come up for a sec? I came out ‘cause all this crap’s been making noise around my place.”

[Okay.]

I rose to the surface and landed in front of Gu Seoryong.

Already partially transformed, Gu Seoryong was grinning with curiosity as she looked down at a half-torn human corpse.

“That tattoo—yup, they’re from Samwon Church, alright.”

[You know them?]

“Of course I do. Those psychos were already off the rails four years ago when I escaped the lab.”

“Meowww~!”

While Sagugu, transformed into a form similar to mine, gleefully chased after worm monsters, Gu Seoryong dug through the mangled corpse with her fingertips.

Next to her, I shifted into human form.

“They’re lunatics who believe death by monster brings salvation. If I remember right... something like, the Monster Era is divine punishment from God, Har Megiddo, or whatever?”

“Har Megiddo?”

“Yeah. End times. They believe monsters are messengers of God and instruments of divine wrath, so resisting increases sin and submitting reduces it. If a monster kills you, you go to heaven. Otherwise, it’s hell. That kinda crap. It’s actually a bigger religion than you’d think... but babe, don’t you smell something tasty?”

“They offered me this sausage and blood pudding along with their own bodies.”

“Oh wow? What is this? Smells like human. Human meat sausage?”

“Meow? Meowww!”

Without hesitation, Gu Seoryong popped the sausage into her mouth and waved at Sagugu with her free hand.

Sagugu, who had just finished cleaning up the bugs, came over and tried the blood pudding. Her eyes sparkled.

“It’s good? What the hell, is this like bait food or something?”

“Bait?”

“Monsters can’t resist the smell of this stuff. It’s designed to trigger the primal urge to eat humans. Makes you want to eat them.”

Suddenly, the words they kept repeating—choice and salvation—flashed through my mind.

To be devoured by me meant being chosen by a divine apostle.

The human sausage and blood pudding they offered me were bribes for salvation, and tools to tempt the monster instinct.

But still... why is being eaten by a monster considered salvation?

It made no sense to me—and now I understood why Gu Seoryong kept calling them lunatics. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

If even someone like her called them freaks, then they really were completely deranged.

“But babe, don’t tell me you actually ate those corpses?”

“I didn’t.”

By those, Gu Seoryong meant the human bodies.

I told her I’d eaten some sausage and pudding, but I’d burned all the bug-ridden corpses.

Gu Seoryong chewed thoughtfully.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

With her mouth full of thick acidic venom, Gu Seoryong puffed—spraying it across the corpse, which melted into sludge.

In the brownish mucus, the white worms writhed and squirmed in agony.

“I only came all the way here because of these damn worms.”