…This feels stranger than I thought it would.
The unsettling scene that made me feel this way wasn’t anything special—it was the process of dealing with the “humans” stationed on the platform.
As is usually the case with these kinds of ruins you’d see in movies or games, they were not exactly friendly toward us.
First,
They looked similar to the people we saw in the village outside but wore dirty clothes that exposed a lot of skin.
It wasn’t clear whether they were there to monitor the platform or just resting there, but they had a campfire going and were cooking something whose nature we couldn’t discern.
Cliché.
Such a scene made me feel excited at first, though the word came to mind naturally.
It felt a bit odd to see human-like beings and those who looked like me coexisting in a tight-knit group, though.
What’s impossible out there happens here as if it’s nothing.
…Will I ever get to freely wander outside?
For some reason, I started feeling restless. I was lost in some sort of sentimental emotion when I was snapped back to reality—or whatever you want to call it—by Park Jin-soo and Lee Sang-yong’s voices.
“We should probably take care of those, right? If we want to check out the other tunnels, they’ll only get in the way.”
“They’re definitely right. They’re not that many, so with a little caution, it shouldn’t be hard.”
Hearing their conversation left me with a strange feeling.
It’s genuinely the textbook way to handle this situation.
In games or movies, you usually choose one of two options.
If I had to pick the most straightforward choice, it would be the option they were discussing.
The beings occupying what might be a frequently visited stronghold are certainly easier to deal with, after all.
But…
Something about them saying it so nonchalantly made me feel strange.
Maybe it’s me who’s off.
I know this is a fake world created by the incomprehensible phenomenon known as the Singularity.
And yet… how can they talk about handling those who look like me so easily?
Did they lose their sense of reality by coming here before me?
I may not be human anymore, but I still feel a sense of unease.
Maybe seeing those people who look like me mixed in with the crowd is affecting me.
I don’t know.
Maybe I’m just overreacting.
If I were to think about this rationally and冷静ly, there’s no real reason to care about these beings who aren’t even real humans.
“Shall we go with that plan?”
While I was lost in thought, Park Jin-soo and Lee Sang-yong, who had been quietly coordinating, turned to look at me and Lee Yoo-jin for input.
They seemed to have already come to an agreement but were asking as if we were part of the team.
While I couldn’t grasp what they were truly thinking, I understood that it was efficient.
However, the feeling of unease lingered, so I nodded reluctantly.
It was good that they were already on the same page, but I still couldn’t shake off the feeling of discomfort.
At that moment,
“Why not just tie them up and leave them somewhere? No need to kill them, right?”
“Hmm? Isn’t that too much trouble?”
“Hmm.”
Lee Yoo-jin, who hadn’t said anything until now, glanced at me and voiced her opinion. Lee Sang-yong’s face twisted into one of annoyance, while Park Jin-soo started glancing at me nervously.
…Of course, he thinks I’m looking at Yoo-jin, but that’s a different matter.
In other words, Park Jin-soo was actually looking at my back.
Anyway,
For a moment, Park Jin-soo’s gaze shifted to Yoo-jin. He looked like he was waiting for her to explain herself, and when she glanced at me again, she muttered softly.
“…Judging by their height, they don’t seem very old… Even if this is like a game, isn’t it a bit much?”
…What?
Me?
Caught off guard, I started to squirm while my jelly began to bubble, and Park Jin-soo blinked with an expression of unexpected criticism before laughing sheepishly.
“Ah, that’s right. As expected, those guys from the Foundation have no humanity. To use such a young one in an experiment like this… I had my doubts, but after hearing Yoo-jin’s point, it seems that’s the case.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Hold on a second. That’s not…
I’m not a kid!
Feeling utterly ridiculous, I shook my head this time.
While I had held back on everything else, I couldn’t let myself be treated like a child.
“They’ve clearly subjected you to gaslighting. Such heinous people… If there’s a god, he must have struck them with heavenly punishment.”
Ugh, I’m losing my mind.
It seemed like they already thought of me as a child.
Since I couldn’t speak up and persuade them otherwise, I stopped shaking my head and let my jelly bubble instead.
…Anyway,
Despite that little incident, dealing with the “creatures” on the platform turned out to be easier than expected.
Finally, it was my time to showcase my abilities.
But for some reason, maybe thinking I’m a child, Lee Sang-yong and Park Jin-soo stopped me from taking the lead.
Instead, they quietly hid in the shadows and slowly approached the platform, subduing a few of the figures.
They pulled something from their pockets and touched their targets, who then collapsed with little static-like sounds.
…Is that some kind of stun gun?
Considering the location, it might be equipment issued by the “Foundation” they keep mentioning.
Although, if they were planning to kill instead of subduing, what would they have used?
Did they bring guns?
While pondering this, I watched from behind a wall alongside Lee Yoo-jin as the two of them finished their task. They tied up the unconscious figures with ropes they found lying around.
Lee Sang-yong and Park Jin-soo even tore strips from a cloth to gag their mouths, then carried them to a spot closer to our entrance.
The sight of the dirty humans and beings resembling me sprawled on the floor was strangely unsettling.
If they were killed instead of subdued, it would have been a shocking scene.
After successfully taking over the platform, my companions and I decided to set up camp there.
There was no need to discard what the restrained individuals had made, after all.
It was a bit musty, but we wouldn’t be staying long, so we just had to endure.
This is where the reality of adventure and romance comes out to play.
Looking at their shabby sleeping arrangements made me already miss my bed and cozy blankets.
The only fortunate thing was that thanks to the sleeping bags they brought, we didn’t have to sleep on smelly piles of grass.
Having set up our temporary shelter, we decided to investigate the devices we had seen on the platform more closely.
They were just as we had seen from a distance.
Each of the four devices had some kind of groove, as if something was meant to be inserted. The platform we were on wasn’t fixed either.
As I had suspected, it seemed we needed to search the tunnels riddled with passageways like an anthill for objects that fit those grooves.
After moving around for an undisclosed amount of time, we weren’t tired enough to sleep yet, so we immediately began searching the tunnels.
The exploration naturally happened in pairs.
Park Jin-soo and Lee Sang-yong took a tunnel, and Yoo-jin and I chose another nearby one.
Before entering, just like Park Jin-soo and Lee Sang-yong had done, we left a rock as a marker.
Well, I was actually planning to do this all along—so it wasn’t just because they did it.
If only I could speak.
As I grumbled to myself under my breath and prepared to step forward, Yoo-jin gently grabbed my wrist.
Perplexed, I tilted my head, and she hesitated for a moment before lighting a torch that she somehow had prepared.
Looking at the cave we were about to enter, I realized it was darker than expected, the blackness thick enough to swallow a person unknowingly.
Hmm… I hadn’t considered this.
I mean, the game just automatically provided light.
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, I clutched Daesik, who was cradled in my arm, a little tighter and stepped into the cave with her.
…Maybe one of the reasons they think I’m a child is because of Daesik.
If you think about it, I’m hugging a doll, aren’t I?
Damn, I can’t exactly throw him away.
Then Daesik, seemingly annoyed, gave my body a little nudge with his foot.
“…Did you hear something?”
Hearing this, Yoo-jin turned around, eyeing me.
Shaking my head vigorously, she scanned the surroundings suspiciously before continuing onward.
…Daesik, please stay still.
Anyway, can you hear me?
Is it like with Electric Scent where touching allows communication?
But there was no response from Daesik, and it seemed he was just as unable to speak as I was.
Thanks to my request for him to stay still, he stopped kicking now.
…What a well-behaved jelly.
After venturing into the dim cave for what felt like hours,
We reached what seemed to be the end, where a pile of bones greeted us.
It smelled.
It smelled like there was a key hidden somewhere.
Good luck.
Excitedly, I ran to search through the pile, expecting that Lee Yoo-jin would try to stop me. But surprisingly, she didn’t.
It was probably because she was holding the torch.
However, I could see from her face that she had the strong desire to stop me.
…Hmm.
I don’t care, I’ve already started.
Treating this like a treasure hunt, I rummaged through the bones and, surprisingly, found an object similar to the grooves on the devices outside.
Is it really going to be this easy?
I proudly showed the object to Yoo-jin, who simply nodded silently and turned around.
Her lukewarm reaction deflated my enthusiasm somewhat.
It would’ve been nice if she had reacted with a little more excitement. Maybe it was just too easy to find.
Heck.
Watching her indifferent response made me think of Yang Ha-na, who always got overly excited and cheered on everything I did.
I could somewhat understand why Electric Scent had turned out the way she did.
—
Below the banner, the darkness of the cave continued, but the discovery had given us hope of what was to come.
