…I really can’t express what I want to say.
It was a frightening thought that it would be good if there were at least a window open.
The jelly at the location of the precious spot started to wiggle, then made a small hole in the container. If I hadn’t quickly dealt with it, I felt like it could have turned into an uncontrollable hole.
Relieved that I had managed to stop it, as the jelly simmered, I heard a sound and shortly after the vehicle stopped. Sounds of two people getting out from the front could be heard.
Just listening to those sounds made me feel awkward.
After a while, I heard footsteps and through the small hole in front of the precious spot… Hwang Bo-yul’s face appeared. As I am currently in the compressed jelly form, I couldn’t meet her eyes, but she seemed to be looking at me with an odd gaze and sighed.
“What is this hole doing here?”
Her voice sounded like she was reprimanding a child. She was still typically stern and aloof, but compared to the first time I met her, it was like the difference between heaven and earth.
What this meant—though uncertain—indicated to me that she had opened up to me, to a certain degree. This tickled the jelly in some way.
Her voice, which seemed to be reprimanding a child, made me feel strange.
Surely, it’s not what I’m thinking, right? Well… Though it’s understandable given my current appearance, when I think about my true self, it wasn’t entirely pleasant.
“Ah, didn’t you say you couldn’t talk? Mr. Cheon-soo, do you know why this happened?”
“Uh… Well, maybe it just wanted to see the outside?”
“…Hmm. It wasn’t an escape attempt, was it?”
“It’s hard to say what, but I think it wasn’t.”
“I see.”
The conversation happening around me didn’t seem trivial. It dawned on me that this situation could be misunderstood as an escape attempt.
But then…
Even though I myself was thinking along those lines, the notion of escaping was dismissed rather easily, leaving me with an odd sense of futility.
Hwang Bo-yul seemed to disagree with or find something unsettling about Kim Cheon-soo’s response, yet she appeared to believe that this wasn’t an escape attempt.
What is this nagging feeling?
…Anyway, I currently lacked the means to express any dissatisfaction, so I quietly coiled up the jelly. Soon enough, a steel plate was placed over the small hole, and the vehicle started moving again.
For how long did I remain curled up while waiting for the long journey to end?
During the dark wait, a sound of something tapping on the container came to my ears.
“We’re here. Come out!”
Finally!
There probably hasn’t been a time when Kim Cheon-soo’s voice sounded as welcome as it does today.
After hearing his voice, the container, which had been closed, opened. The bright white light that I hadn’t seen in a while stung the precious spot in a good way.
I saw a familiar entrance in my sight. Even though I had physically used it only a few times, it was unforgettable—the entrance leading to the facility. The joy of finally returning was overwhelming, and I emerged from the container, flowing like sticky liquid.
“Wow!”
“…”
Despite hearing their voices, entering was more important to me. I flowed like a river into the facility’s entrance. Crawling like a snail, I realized how small I had been originally as I began to expand my compressed body.
My snail-like figure started to change into the original form of a girl. Now strangely… I couldn’t even fully remember what I originally looked like.
Well, does it matter? I’ll live as jelly from now on anyway.
One unexpected thing was that as I released the pressure on my squished body, I began to swell uncontrollably.
I thought this place was massive compared to the first time I came, but now it feels like I’m crawling through a vent.
Still, it was fine.
Because I’m home.
Sliding through the narrow passageway, I started to see the entrance to the facility, not the external one.
Approaching with dripping jelly, while my tears didn’t flow, but the entrance opened and Han Seori, cradling Daesik (in Alice), appeared.
“Looking at you for real… you’ve grown even more.”
Han Seori glanced at me with a slightly dazed expression, and Daesik… I couldn’t tell what he felt as his expression remained unchanged, but his blank stare upwards seemed a bit awkward.
As I approached and peered into their faces, Han Seori smiled faintly and patted my jelly, speaking softly.
“You did well. I’m glad you’re back safely.”
Echoing her words, Daesik wiggled the doll’s hand.
Behind them, Jung-sik floated toward me, with Sosik on top, and Yang Ha-na followed.
Jung-sik, either startled or welcoming, spurted jelly at my face. He reminded me a bit of a frightened puppy who peed everywhere, but also of one joyfully licking the faces of its returned owner.
…If I had to pick, the latter seemed more appropriate.
Sosik, who had jumped off Jung-sik, lifted his hand nonchalantly and then let it droop.
Don’t you think you could have greeted me a bit more enthusiastically? I extended my finger, thinking to give him a TV and then pressed him down. Honestly, your attitude was too much.
In response, he extended a tentacle and slapped my finger.
It didn’t tickle, so I bubbled my jelly and amused myself by momentarily making Sosik into a pancake.
But then Han Seori and Yang Ha-na looked at me with odd expressions, so I felt awkward and retracted my finger.
Then Sosik, clearly angry, stomped his feet and, pouting, stormed into the facility.
…Huh?
Seeing that made me think I might’ve done something wrong. I’ve never seen Sosik act like that before.
Did I go too far…?
Maybe I vented the stress of being confined in the container during the transportation on Sosik.
…Hmm.
Still, as I’m an adult, I should be the first to apologize.
As I internally exhaled my jelly, Yang Ha-na shook her hands with an energetic voice.
“You’ve grown so big, and yet you’re still the same! But this is a problem… The clothes we prepared won’t fit anymore.”
“Not quite the level of problem though…”
“Sir, the clothes the professor bought won’t even fit now?”
“…Uh.”
It’s fortunate I’ve grown.
Though, now that I think about it, why is Han Seori concerned about this too?
Avoiding the issue of clothes, I thought about going inside and started to move.
“Wha!?”
“E, um… Yes.”
But it wasn’t smooth. The facility’s entrance was much narrower than the passage I used. Because I couldn’t force it open, I had to squish my body like how I did when I entered the container.
…And I was stuck, filling up the narrow passage, making it impossible for anyone to pass.
Strictly speaking, I might get through, but I worried that anyone in the passage would get caught up in the jelly.
It was great getting here, but now that I’m back, this enlarged body feels rather cumbersome.
…Though it was good when squishing Sosik.
Han Seori seemed to have realized this earlier, so she lightly sighed and muttered.
“There’s no space in this facility for such a large entity, so we’ll have to remodel the facility.”
“Wow, can you even do that?”
“That’s…”
Trailing off, Han Seori gave me an awkward smile. Realizing the only ones who could remodel the facility besides Kim Cheon-soo (very slow—dying faster) were Spheres, I felt awkward.
Speaking of which…
Where is Sphere anyway?
It feels like we’ve grown a little distant since he didn’t even come to greet me. Maybe he’s guessed that I don’t like him much.
…I really wanted to come back, but now that I’m here, not everything is as fun as I expected.
Still, since Han Seori isn’t saying anything, I guessed he must be somewhere in the facility.
While I was silently pondering this,
Han Seori looked at me with a regretful voice and said.
“With your current body, it may be hard to use the reward we carefully prepared for you. Finding a TV that fits your size now might be impossible.”
“Exactly! If you’re this big, it would feel like watching through the eye of a needle…”
Wait…
Are you saying the rewards from all that effort have… vanished? No, no. That’s not right.
Distraught by this devastating revelation, my jelly started bubbling uncontrollably.
As the jelly churned, I could feel the vibrations in the passage I had traversed. The situation felt like a mild earthquake until Han Seori’s urgent voice brought me back to reality.
“Calm down. Let’s find another way together.”
Her urgent voice calmed me. While it was unfortunate to lose the reward, I also thought, Is it really something to be so angry about? After all, the supposed “grand reward” was just a TV.
I feel a little embarrassed.
Regardless,
I sighed.
This big body is so inconvenient.
…Then,
What if I could split up like before?
I slapped the ground and signaled to the others and the remaining jelly to go inside the facility first, concentrating my thoughts.
I shouldn’t let the others get caught in the confusion, should something unpredictable happen.
Confirming that everyone had gone inside,
I focused my mind and whispered,
“Undo the combination!”
It felt a little anticlimactic, but it was the only phrase that came to mind at the moment.
