The face of Sphere changed into that of the aged Jelly Girl, and after a little while—
The humans and Singularities from the Laboratory had gathered cozily in the management room.
Truthfully, in any ordinary laboratory, that would have been a very odd occurrence.
If this were any other laboratory—
Rather than gathering cozily, the escaped Singularities would have been admiring the bones and innards of the humans, creating a much darker scenario.
Instead of peaceful music, there would be sharp, loud warning sounds of “beep beep” echoing, and red lights flashing to warn everyone of danger.
But things were different here.
The first unexpected visitor to the peaceful management room was Yang Ha-na.
She had risen earlier than anyone else and began her day cleaning the management room.
Truthfully, she wasn’t fully recovered yet. No one had asked her to clean the management room, but her determination to do so was entirely her own, even though her face was still thin and gaunt.
Admittedly, this kind of cleaning was often left to the youngest by default, but this wasn’t exactly that kind of place, making it feel somewhat strange.
Yang Ha-na had her reasons, though.
After the incident—specifically, the event where someone died in front of her—she began to feel that she wasn’t doing much worthwhile here.
Even though her job was managing Singularities like Jelly and Sphere, upon reflection, it seemed less like management and more like playing with them.
Perhaps playing could be considered work—but seeing the busyness of others in the management room always made her feel a little inadequate.
Maybe her near-obsession with Sphere stemmed from just that psychology.
She had what one could call a wonderful job, getting to play with unique beings under quite good conditions.
Despite the occasional feeling of pressure, Yang Ha-na had been leading a fairly satisfying life—until she witnessed the d*ath before her eyes.
That moment forced her to realize something strange.
The Singularities, which were supposedly capable of killing people, were handled by others with such familiarity and nonchalance.
She realized that her workplace was not a normal one.
Furthermore, it seemed she was starting to grasp the things Han Seori, Kim Cheon-soo, and Hwang Bo-yul deliberately didn’t tell her.
It seemed like her workplace wasn’t just full of kind, friendly Singularities like the Jelly Girl and Sphere.
Given there were frequent incidents involving fatalities, perhaps everyone had grown indifferent to d*ath.
A slight shiver ran down her spine, and she trembled.
For a moment, she wondered if she should quit and leave immediately, but the image of Sphere approaching her, the wobbly Jelly Girl, and the floating Jellies came to her mind.
Reflecting on their appearances for a moment, Yang Ha-na shook her head and chased away the thought of quitting.
She didn’t want to run away—and besides, she hadn’t worked there long enough to qualify for severance pay yet.
Her next thought was why the others hadn’t told her about “these things.”
Is it because they don’t trust me?
Even though she momentarily fell into a gloomy mood, she quickly recovered and began thinking positively, as if finding a trigger.
It’s fine; I’ve only been working here for a short time, right?
You can’t expect to be full up after the first spoonful, and technically, my probationary period isn’t even over yet in any ordinary workplace standard.
If I show them I’m more reliable, they’ll probably tell me, won’t they?
Kim Cheon-soo, if he had heard her thoughts, would have wondered why she was causing herself unnecessary trouble, but alas, he lacked the ability to read minds.
Thus, the first thing Yang Ha-na did was to wake up early and clean.
If I appear diligent, won’t I seem more trustworthy?
That was why she arrived at the management room earlier than the others and began cleaning.
It all felt a bit off, but she decided to showcase her diligence.
The reason her colleagues hadn’t told her anything wasn’t out of particular intent but more due to the nature of the laboratory, though Yang Ha-na couldn’t know that.
Eventually.
As she was cleaning the management room, the door opened, and Sphere came in with heavy steps.
While this would have been an alarming sight in other laboratories, when Yang Ha-na saw the face of Sphere, she smiled broadly and greeted it.
“Good morning!”
“…Yeah.”
After responding a bit late, Sphere glanced only briefly at Yang Ha-na.
It made no move to help with the cleaning, simply standing there, staring blankly at her.
Yang Ha-na chuckled inwardly at the sight.
Gazing at the pretty face resembling that of the Jelly Girl made her smile, and seeing it just idly staring at her reminded her of her own chatterbox tendencies when she was by Sphere’s side.
With a suppressed smile, she teased Sphere with a playful tone.
“Did you come to help with the cleaning?”
“…Why would I help with the cleaning?”
The slightly cold response made Yang Ha-na awkwardly laugh, but even this awkwardness gave her joy.
Until recently, conversations like this were almost nonexistent, so this could be considered a significant advancement.
Yang Ha-na decided not to be too anxious about it.
Just as she waited patiently by doing her cleaning while learning from the others,
She believed Sphere needed just a little more time.
It was close enough to the right answer, even if it wasn’t exactly so.
Thus, as Yang Ha-na cleaned and Sphere silently watched, the next to arrive in the management room were either Kim Cheon-soo or Hwang Bo-yul, both arriving at a similar time.
The two looked curiously at Yang Ha-na cleaning and greeted her with a curious expression.
As they worked together to tidy things up, Han Seori, the nominal owner of the laboratory, walked in sleepily and slowly.
Upon her arrival, Kim Cheon-soo left the room to prepare breakfast.
And what about our Jelly Girl?
The Jelly Girl, regardless of the atmosphere the others might be trying to create in the management room,
…was sprawled out in bed under the covers.
Since she doesn’t breathe, the covers didn’t rise and fall, making her look like a corpse under a sheet.
Next to her, the seemingly dead Jelly Girl, were Daesik and Sosik lying side by side, with Jung-sik also resting motionlessly on the bed like a ball.
It was an archetypal image of idleness, as if to say, “Don’t these entities come from the Jelly Girl?”
The one to wake the lazy Jelly Girl was,
“…Do I really have to wake her?”
Kim Cheon-soo, who had finished preparing breakfast.
Kim Cheon-soo, feeling like a mother with countless children, sighed after looking at the trays of food and the jellies, then woke them up.
Since there were plenty of others besides the Jelly Girl to feed, Kim Cheon-soo placed the tray on the floor and pulled the covers off with a snap.
“…If you’re awake, eat your food.”
Mom.
After rubbing her Jelly eyes with Jelly hands, Jelly Girl slowly made her way toward the tray.
When Kim Cheon-soo left the room with a sigh, the Jelly Girl and the Jellies began their meal.
After finishing the food Kim Cheon-soo had prepared, the Jellies had a few choices.
One was to go right back to bed and sleep.
This was primarily Sosik’s choice.
Another was to climb back into bed and watch TV.
This was everyone’s favorite activity unless the Jelly Girl decided to turn on the news.
Another option was to go see the mass of Jellies congregated in another containment room—but this wasn’t very popular.
However, it seemed that the Jellies had decided on watching TV today.
After clearing the tray, the Jellies climbed back into bed and reached for the remote.
They nervously watched as the Jelly Girl examined the situation.
If she tried to take the remote, today’s preferred channel might be out of reach.
But the Tyrant Jelly Girl had other plans, noticing Daesik gripping the remote tightly and giving a mischievous grin before leaving the room.
The Jellies remaining in the bed felt a certain bubbling sensation in their jellies but were too thrilled about securing the TV to care. They jumped excitedly, spitting some jelly and turned on the TV.
They planned to enjoy it to the fullest before Jelly Girl returned.
Unaware of what was happening inside, the Jelly Girl made her way to the management room.
She was the last member (or entity) to arrive at work.
Since today’s appearance by Jelly Girl was planned, the management room was fully prepared for her arrival.
Upon entering and noticing the humans seated at the table, Jelly Girl glanced around before heading straight to Sphere and sitting on its thigh (specifically, the cold metallic exoskeleton).
Like watching two good siblings, each human watching the interaction wore a slightly different smile.
“…Ahem…”
Caught up in the moment, Han Seori cleared her throat and, with a serious face, addressed the Jelly Girl.
“…So, shall we hear your wish?”
That was it.
What Jelly Girl had forgotten was the reward for handling the previous incident on the stairs.
Today’s meeting was exactly for that purpose.
In response to Han Seori’s question, Jelly Girl wiggled its jelly feet, and soon Sphere spoke up.
“…May I inquire how far you’ve come prepared?”
“…Huh?”
“…?”
A slightly awkward atmosphere hung in the management room.
