A space presumed to be a conference room.
In that place, where a large screen was displayed, various individuals gazed at the bright screen, each harboring different thoughts.
The screen showed a somewhat bizarre scene.
[Yes! Gotcha! How much is the toll? Hehehe.]
On the screen, a Jelly Girl who had just thrown the dice and Hwang Bo-yul with a tense expression could be seen. Beside them sat an unknown woman and man, each occupying a seat.
Dorrek.
As the sound rang out and the dice hit the floor, the woman, upon checking the dice’s number, smiled cheerfully and turned her gaze toward the Jelly Girl.
[Alright, let’s see… a villa, a hotel, how much for all this, huhuhu…]
Indeed.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the gathered humans were enjoying a board game with the Jelly Girl.
Throwing dice to buy land, building structures on it, and collecting tolls until one side goes bankrupt and loses—that was the gist of it.
When the Jelly Girl threw the dice and landed on her own property, the woman chuckled sinisterly and extended her hand toward the Jelly Girl.
Observing this with a heavy heart, the Jelly Girl fidgeted her fingers, then grabbed a handful of chips—no, jellies—in front of her.
Let’s see…
…How many jellies do I have to give?
At this rate, I’ll be the first to go bankrupt.
This prospect displeased the Jelly Girl, and she glanced around at the others seated nearby.
Although it seemed a bit unusual, in this game jellies served as currency.
Of course, ordinary money existed, but it was because the strange visitors wanted to use jellies as currency.
They say there’s no grave without reason.
The man and woman had their own rationale too, after all.
They had come here to ostensibly assess the Jelly Girl’s level of danger.
To do that, they needed to observe her abilities more closely.
Since they had already seen enough of her combat skills, it was time to observe something else, wasn’t it?
…Of course.
Mal-kang mal-kang.
There might’ve also been a selfish desire to experience the addictive sensation of touching the soft jellies.
While there was a directive from above, the two had voluntarily come here.
In any case.
The use of jellies as currency essentially meant that the Jelly Girl was a walking bank.
The Jelly Girl, facing the possibility of bankruptcy, felt her conscience prickling but decided there was nothing she could do about it.
If I can print money, it’s absurd to lose, right?
How could I go bankrupt when I can just produce more jellies?
Not possible, not possible.
The Jelly Girl, feeling the squirming textures of the jellies in her hand, began preparing to slowly extract more jellies from within her body.
Of course, since the number of jellies had already been predetermined, she might get caught later…
But surely, it would be fine as long as she paid it back later, right?
She could just take the jellies back from the laughing woman and the silent man throwing dice next to her.
Satisfied with her flawless plan, the Jelly Girl didn’t entertain even the slightest thought of losing, despite owning the fewest properties.
It was a truly peculiar confidence.
Right as the Jelly Girl, like a nation in hyperinflation, was about to produce jellies as currency…
“…Hold it.”
Bohlgol.
A hand gripped the Jelly Girl’s soft wrist.
A voice that felt like catching a gambler’s bluff in the act.
It was Hwang Bo-yul with a stern expression who had grabbed the Jelly Girl’s wrist.
Her gaze was one of disapproval, as if saying, “I know exactly what you’re trying to do.”
The Jelly Girl’s jellies trembled involuntarily under that icy stare.
…Does she really know what I’m about to do?
Even though the jellies hadn’t yet escaped from her hand.
Grumbling inwardly that she wouldn’t get caught, the Jelly Girl still couldn’t summon the courage to produce more jellies.
After all, it was an atmosphere that made her feel like her neck would snap, and the Jelly Girl wasn’t brave enough to cheat under such tension.
Though even if the Jelly Girl had gone ahead and produced more jellies, Hwang Bo-yul wouldn’t have been able to do much.
Her pride might’ve been wounded, but that was all.
Even if the Jelly Girl went berserk out of frustration, no one here could stop her.
With just 10% of the power she used to tear apart something that emerged from the Singularity, handling the people currently sitting before the board game would’ve been as easy as snapping a child’s wrist.
Starting a game of tag and declaring the end of trivial play wouldn’t have been strange either.
Of course, it would’ve been a deadly game.
Even so, the Jelly Girl followed the rules.
…Of course, she had tried to cheat but regretted being caught and ultimately complied with the rules.
Being caught was the biggest reason, but regardless…
Such behavior from the Jelly Girl made the observers watching from beyond the screen feel strangely moved.
Not causing chaos and following the rules showed her willingness to coexist with humans.
Perhaps demonstrating a high intelligence, she seemed to fully understand the rules and behaved quite maturely, despite her appearance.
And yet, she possessed overwhelming strength that overshadowed all of that.
To them, the Jelly Girl was an enigmatic and highly dangerous existence.
Paradoxically, she was also an incredibly tempting one.
If she truly showed unconditional goodwill toward humans and could be easily controlled…
There would be no better tool.
Each individual watching the screen with sparkling eyes was brought back to reality by a question from the man seemingly leading the discussion.
“…Let’s leave the matters concerning 7496 – KR for later and focus on whether the cleanup at the scene is complete?”
“The immediate crisis is under control.”
“I see… Moving on, is 3774 – KR still maintaining its singularity?”
It was a rather important question.
If the “something” the Jelly Girl had destroyed was the core of 3774 – KR, i.e., the endlessly looping staircase, then the staircase would lose its singularity and either disappear or become a mundane staircase.
“Yes. It seems the staircase is still endlessly looping. However, considering the cries that had been heard earlier have now ceased, we speculate that the entity causing the screams wasn’t the one that emerged this time.”
“…Meaning it could appear again?”
Unfortunately, the man’s hope was dashed; it seemed 3774 – KR was still intact.
That was a headache.
If monsters appeared periodically, managing it would become quite troublesome.
Besides, they had no idea why the monsters were appearing in the first place.
The man, feeling slightly frustrated, asked, and the person addressed shook their head before replying.
“We have no definitive answers. The tool worn by 7496 – KR was damaged, so we couldn’t determine the exact actions taken. All we know for certain is…”
The person cleared their throat before continuing.
“That there was something beyond the place we can reach.”
“…Perhaps poking around like this has caused more problems.”
“It’s a possibility we can’t rule out.”
The man, having unintentionally muttered what might’ve been the answer, pressed his temples and fell into thought.
As he pondered, the screen showed the Jelly Girl, who was on the verge of bankruptcy, looking increasingly despairing.
The man, observing the despondent Jelly Girl, clapped his hands.
“Now that I think about it, I’ve heard that 7496 – KR is capable of simple communication. With her cooperation now beyond doubt, it’s probably best to ask her directly.”
“That sounds good.”
As the conversation progressed smoothly, the atmosphere in the conference room became more lively.
However.
All those engaging in lively discussions kept glancing at the Jelly Girl on the screen.
After all, considering only her advantages, she was an extremely tempting singularity.
“If we had 7496 – KR, maybe the ‘sacrifices’ we lost this time wouldn’t have been necessary, right?”
“Isn’t it risky for such a dangerous and useful singularity to be monopolized by one place? Given that it’s almost personal, perhaps she should be sent to a verified laboratory for further analysis…”
“If only we could bring her here…”
A variety of fantasies and circuits of hope swirled in their minds.
The one commonality was that none of them were particularly interested in what the Jelly Girl herself thought.
After all, to them, she was nothing more than a singularity.
That distorted yearning gazed at the screen with odd intent, but…
The Jelly Girl, unaware of all this, anxiously threw the dice with a nervous expression.
Once the dice left her hand, it spun and tumbled before coming to a stop on the floor.
The Jelly Girl’s expression shifted as she counted the number shown on the dice.
She looked at the dice with disbelief, thinking, “Surely not?”
But the number on the dice, once thrown, didn’t change.
