While Han Seori’s group felt an indescribable mood due to Jelly Girl’s request…
Inside the room, the remaining jellies were sitting on the bed watching TV.
The program currently airing was a children’s show.
A mascot that seemed to love playing was happily running around with its friends.
The jellies watched this.
Jung-sik seemed to find joy in something incomprehensible.
Perhaps the most likely reason was that the mascot resembled him, giving him a sense of relatability.
…Jung-sik might also want to spray jelly while saying “kkyoot!” as he watched them jump around.
Whenever they jumped, Jung-sik had indeed sprayed jelly with a “kkyoot!”
Of course, the one watching TV most quietly was Sosik.
Sosik, who had never been very active, looked like he might fall asleep as he blankly stared at the TV.
In fact, what was hardest to understand was not Jung-sik but Sosik’s interest in the TV.
While Jung-sik could at least be assumed to find some reason to relate, it was hard to figure out any such reason for Sosik.
Maybe Sosik also liked playing the most but found it too troublesome, so he was vicariously enjoying the show instead?
…That was really impossible to tell.
His hazy eyes showed no clear emotion.
Among the jellies, the one showing the most interest in the TV, as evident from the fact that he was holding the remote, was Daesik.
Daesik was gripping the remote with his stuffed animal hand and casting an intense gaze at the TV.
The tightly held remote almost looked like it was being clutched out of worry that Jelly Girl might snatch it away.
However, that was pretty much everything you could tell from his appearance alone.
Since he was inside the stuffed animal, he didn’t have eyes like Sosik, and the black eyes of the stuffed animal only reflected the brightness of the TV screen.
Still, even from that appearance, you could somehow sense Daesik’s longing.
“Wow, I want to play like that too!”
While Daesik was staring at the TV excitedly, he suddenly looked around at the jellies nearby.
Sosik, who was slouched limply, seemed like he wouldn’t be able to play with him, even though they were watching the same program.
Perhaps Daesik envied Sosik a little for that reason.
The small, longish (though somehow still jelly-like) body that resembled Jelly Girl.
Then Sosik could probably do more things.
It seemed like Daesik was thinking that as he looked towards Sosik.
That thought became even more evident as he watched Daesik awkwardly moving his stubby limbs.
Daesik’s gaze then shifted to Jung-sik.
Jung-sik might be able to play with Daesik, but again… there was the issue that Jung-sik floats in the air.
Daesik slumped his stuffed animal shoulders.
Was it due to being the first entity created by Jelly Girl?
Sosik and Jung-sik tended to treat Daesik as the eldest brother, albeit unconsciously.
There was a high likelihood that Daesik having the remote control was because of that.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, it was also because he was the most interested in the TV program.
In any case,
Daesik seemed to envy Sosik and Jung-sik. He looked slightly dejected because of it.
Compared to the two jellies, his own jelly form seemed too ordinary.
And yet he was the eldest.
The place of refuge he had chosen to escape from an overwhelming monster had gradually become like his body.
Daesik showed some attachment to the stuffed animal, but on the other hand, he seemed to envy the other two jellies who had different forms.
A new desire for a different body had begun to sprout but couldn’t be communicated.
Swinging his stubby stuffed animal arms and legs might have earned adoring glances, but…
Until recently, that desire hadn’t been very strong.
What had gradually intensified Daesik’s desire was after the Sphere had transformed into Jelly Girl.
When the round Sphere suddenly became a longish female figure resembling Jelly Girl, Daesik felt an indescribable sensation.
The jelly inside the stuffed animal seemed to be bubbling with excitement.
Upon seeing that, Daesik wanted to change his own body.
The body Yang Ha-na had repaired for him was nice, but… he wanted to grow bigger like the elongated Sphere.
If he grew bigger, he might be able to play as enthusiastically as the kids on TV, right?
Maybe the remote wouldn’t be snatched away either!
Daesik liked Jelly Girl, but he was very dissatisfied with her taking the remote.
Even if it seemed like the Jelly Girl was asleep, he would tightly clutch the remote with the eyes stitched onto the jelly glaring open if anyone tried to touch it.
“I want to see my friends who love playing.”
“Why do I have to watch these strange things?”
Anyway.
Right now, it was nice because he could watch his friends who love playing.
There was also the desire to change his body…
But since there was no telling when the channel might change again, Daesik, while thumping his stuffed animal legs, focused back on the screen.
How much time had passed like that?
The door opened and the devil… well, Jelly Girl, returned.
Daesik gripped the remote tightly.
—
Yang Ha-na aside, Han Seori, Kim Cheon-soo, and Hwang Bo-yul felt strange for various reasons.
In most cases, Singularities are assigned a numbered identification code along with the governing country code.
Of course, they also attach aliases on the reports, but these are more like caution notices for the Singularities.
The alias of the Jelly Girl isn’t “d*mn Mucus” (referring to nasal mucus), but rather a Jelly that melts everything it touches, for similar reasons.
It’s not a nickname intended to evoke familiarity.
Some argue that it’s a remnant of an old habit of calling them affectionately, but… now, it’s obscured like words written in bl**d, making it unclear.
Anyway.
One might think, then, why not just declare the intention to call them by numbers rather than names? But the reason they can’t is because the Jelly Girl, the singularity, is an especially special existence.
A never-before-seen, suspiciously friendly singularity to humans.
There have been Singularities friendly to humans in the past as well, but…
However, upon closely examining each of them, it was quite ambiguous to say they were truly friendly to humans.
Most of them were akin to “tools”.
Isn’t it strange to say that those tools are friendly to humans just because humans benefit from using the tools?
Most of them were merely pretending to be friendly.
So much bloodshed had been spent trying to distinguish between those.
Han Seori’s initial suggestions were not readily accepted for this reason.
Ironically, they were accepted later because the sense of caution had blurred over time.
Also, Jelly Girl’s abilities were exceptionally remarkable.
Even with growing anxiety over the increasing danger, they needed all the help they could get since Singularities were appearing more frequently.
Human resources were limited, but jellies seemed boundless.
And those three people currently deep in thought were the ones who’d observed the Jelly Girl behaving more human-like than humans from the closest proximity.
There’s no need to mention Han Seori and Kim Cheon-soo, but Hwang Bo-yul had also fully experienced it upon returning this time.
To Yang Ha-na, the Jelly Girl was still soft and adorable, but in any case…
Han Seori and Kim Cheon-soo had indeed considered assigning a name. This plan had been put on hold due to busyness.
Especially Han Seori, who was envisioning a coexistence between Jelly Girl and humans, felt the necessity even more.
What made the others’ expressions troubled was not the rejection of naming the Jelly Girl…
Rather, it was her own request for a name.
7496-KR really likes humans, doesn’t she?
Did the girl dislike being called by numbers?
What kind of thoughts are going through her tiny head?
And more importantly…
What should we call her?
That was a problem.
Do we assign her a proper name with a surname?
Or is calling her ‘Liquid Monster’ too harsh… hmm… I remember foreigners call it a slime, right? A slime sounds a bit cold… how about Lime?
Would she hate being called mucus?
As they pondered names for Jelly Girl in their heads, they exchanged glances and cleared their throats lightly.
Just by looking at each other’s faces, they could guess what the other was thinking.
“How about we find an appropriate name after discussing about it? Do you have any preferences?”
As Han Seori, representing the group, said that, Jelly Girl thought for a moment and spoke through the Sphere.
“Firstly, the other entities seem to have names too, right? The entity inside the doll is called Daesik, the flying entity is called Jung-sik, and the perpetually lazy one is called Sosik.”
Upon hearing this, the group had dumbfounded expressions.
Daesik, Jung-sik, Sosik…?
Is Daesik called so because he eats a lot?
And Jung-sik because he stays in the middle of the sky…?
Then, does Sosik get the name because he eats less?
Or is it really just Big, Medium, and Small?
Well, surely there must be some other reason.
Perhaps 7496-KR’s language skills are more advanced than I thought… or maybe it got distorted in the process of communication?
As their thoughts became complex, Sphere’s words continued.
“Hmm… It’s said that an impressive and powerful name would be good…”
“Hah…!”
“Cough…”
“Ahahaha…”
The group’s chuckles to outright laughter varied in intensity as they heard the Sphere’s suggestions.
With such a softened atmosphere,
They began a meeting.
Since there were names like Daesik, Jung-sik, and Sosik for the others,
This was to decide the girl Jelly’s name.
“Umm… shouldn’t the Sphere also have a name?”
Yang Ha-na’s careful suggestion added to their workload.
Seeing the humans deeply in thought, Jelly Girl felt a peculiar sensation and returned to the room with the Sphere, assuming it would take some time to reach a conclusion.
Upon her return, Jelly Girl noticed Daesik tightly clutching the remote control.
Her eyes gleamed mischievously.
