If I continue walking forward, I’ll probably meet children from all over the world!
Since I couldn’t produce a sound, I walked along humming a familiar song in my mind. How long had it been?
After walking a fair distance along the path, a silhouette that looked like a village suddenly emerged within sight.
It wasn’t as though it had abruptly sprouted from the ground… It was more like the moment when people say the Earth is round—there was suddenly this appearance of a silhouette.
The village that suddenly emerged was… unsurprisingly far removed from any modern settlement.
Of course, even these days, when you go down to the countryside, you may find old-fashioned buildings so rustic they seem to exude an antique aroma, but what I was seeing now had a slightly different atmosphere from such places.
It was like one of those villages you’d see only in movies—just like the one I saw before entering this place.
Though I didn’t feel my heart racing, I stared at the village with a sense of anticipation and unease, and by now, I was almost certain that the creatures I had almost encountered earlier were suspicious.
If they were event-driven NPCs in this world, shouldn’t they at least give off a vibe similar to this village?
I wondered if they were NPCs placed in a similar situation to mine. However, for some reason, an odd unsettling feeling lingered, and I had instinctively avoided them.
Ahem.
In any case…
With a genuine sense of excitement, as though an adventure had just truly begun, I slowly approached the village.
Still, something was unsettling. While my appearance resembled that of a human, it was clear that I didn’t exactly look human, and this was beginning to trouble me.
What if the local villagers thought I was a monster and refused to deal with me?
What if they called the guards and tried to k*ll me?
Though, of course, with my current capabilities, I wasn’t worried about dying from a soldier’s blade, nor did I doubt my ability to subdue them if necessary, but it felt like it might interrupt the flow of the story.
In games, protagonists can smash pots and loot chests without any consequences, but there was no guarantee the world unfolding before me would work the same way.
Perhaps this is one method to “clear” this world, which seems like it could be a game, but it felt far from what I expected or hoped for.
I’m here for exploration and romance, not barbarism.
Whatever the case, I’d have to enter the village to know more.
Even if I couldn’t enter, simply identifying what was inside might offer some sort of solution.
After all, infiltration is often a part of exploration—it might even be enjoyable to consider it as such.
It turned out, however, that my worries were baseless.
When I quietly approached the village and peeked inside, what I saw shocked even me—a scene bizarre enough to leave me stunned.
Even Daesik, who had been squirming cozily in my arms, stopped moving, startled by what lay ahead.
First reason for my shock?
The villagers were all frozen in place.
It was like someone had used a time-freezing device from a cartoon.
A villager drawing water from the well was paused mid-action with the bucket halfway up, and a vendor arguing with a customer had a frozen smile plastered across his face, as solid as a statue.
Not just them—the entire village seemed stopped in time. There wasn’t a single “living” thing moving.
This strange sight unnerved me so much that it made even my cool-headed demeanor falter.
To make matters worse, if it were just ordinary humans, the shock might have been less severe.
However, among the villagers…
There were humans, but there were also creatures that looked eerily similar to me—like they might even be my kind.
Blue jelly humans.
Even these jelly forms were stiff and unmoving, just like the regular humans.
The bizarre sight of a mix of humans resembling myself and ordinary humans completely frozen in place left me rooted to the spot.
Not long after, I snapped out of it and entered the village with Daesik.
My concerns about being driven out were completely baseless.
Even if they were moving, they likely wouldn’t have found my presence strange.
Though, without clothes, I might have been mistaken for a pervert—but moving forward.
Once inside the village, I tentatively nudged a few of the villagers.
At first, I gently tapped their wrists or tugged on their clothes, but when there was no response, I grew bolder—pushing them over or pinching their thighs hard.
But even then, the humans stood frozen, unresponsive.
The same was true for the jelly humans resembling me.
Upon closer inspection, although their appearances were similar to mine, their textures were far more akin to regular humans.
Still, this was intriguing in its own way.
I wandered around the village touching various people, but nowhere did I encounter a single moving individual.
Clearly, this was no elaborate prank.
Though thinking so in retrospect seems rather amusing.
In any case, this reaffirmed that the individuals I encountered on the road were something special.
The question stood: Why were they in here?
Who were those people?
Why had this world stopped?
I felt a deep sense of frustration.
It was as though I had started to poop but got interrupted before finishing.
Did this feeling stem from not encountering those people I’d seen on the road?
Had skipping them somehow messed everything up?
It was like using a game glitch to jump ahead and now finding the game broken as a result.
The simplest solution in such a gaming scenario would be to turn the game off and back on.
But that option wasn’t available to me now.
It wasn’t even a game that worked that way, nor did I know how to “restart” it.
That left loading a save file from before the error occurred or completing an event I’d skipped.
I obviously couldn’t choose the former.
Would yelling out “Status Window” work to display something?
But I couldn’t speak.
So I shouted it loudly in my mind:
S-T-A-T-U-S W-I-N-D-O-W!
To no avail.
In this scenario, I had only one option left.
With my jelly rippling, I exited the village and retraced my steps along the road I had come from.
This time, I followed the path without detouring.
I still didn’t know who or what they were, but one thing was clear—meeting them was essential to making progress.
*
BOOM. BOOM.
A heavily equipped Something approached the box, assumed to have sucked Lime inside.
The identity of the Something was Kim Cheon-soo, clad in advanced gear.
Actually, the fact that the box had absorbed Lime was almost certain, as the cameras captured the moment Lime was sucked into the box upon opening it.
Thus, Kim Cheon-soo, preparing for the possibility of being sucked in himself, donned the equipment.
Though it seemed excessive for just a box, if Kim Cheon-soo got sucked in with no way to fight back, that would have been problematic.
Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to be equipped with gear that could potentially help if he was pulled in.
In any case,
Even with all these preparations, Kim Cheon-soo couldn’t help but feel tense as he stood in front of the box.
The fact that such a powerful Singularity like Lime was helplessly sucked in without a chance to fight back made it hard not to feel uneasy.
However,
“…Huh, nothing’s happening.”
“Do you seem to be hoping for something to happen?”
“Not really, but it’s kind of anticlimactic…”
“First, please go closer and examine it properly. Let us know if you notice anything unusual.”
“Roger.”
Kim Cheon-soo didn’t get sucked into the box.
Even when he got closer to the edge of the box, nothing happened. Sighing in relief, he still wondered what this box was that could s*ck in people… or rather Singularities.
Worst-case scenario, Lime could have been transported to the location of “those guys,” giving Kim Cheon-soo no small amount of concern.
At that moment,
“…Is a game going on?”
“What did you say?”
Letters that seemed to float like a hologram appeared from inside the box.
“There’s something written here.”
“What does it say?”
In response to Han Seori’s question, Kim Cheon-soo lifted the lid and examined the contents of the box.
As the lid was removed, clearer letters began to appear.
[A game is in progress.]
[4/4]
It looked like something you’d see in a game waiting room.
Kim Cheon-soo reported the exact phrases to Han Seori and the others.
From this message, they gleaned at least three facts:
First, Lime hadn’t been teleported anywhere but was inside the box.
Second,
There were already people inside, possibly two or up to three others.
And their identities were most likely those mischievous teens from before who left the box.
Lastly,
There was no immediate way they could assist Lime inside.
It was foolish to think they would simply give such a mysterious box.
They had been too naive.
Still, it was slightly delicate to blame Han Seori.
If she had abandoned or disposed of the box, they could have had worse problems.
Though, leaving it there was the reckless decision of someone who didn’t value their lives.
Nevertheless, Han Seori, burdened by responsibility, pressed her temples and spoke.
“…Let’s prepare the equipment to face whoever comes out of there.”
“Understood.”
Han Seori felt a growing unease.
She worried that Lime might be going through something unpleasant because of her.
