I spent a lot of time reflecting, trembling in the darkness.
Most of all, I regretted silently complaining when the bento came.
Who knows if my small twitching gave them the impression I was unpleasant?
That’s why they suddenly covered me with a cloth and moved me somewhere else, right? Is it really the end for me now?
Getting chopped up and sold off as squishy jelly…
Then, I would calm down when I recalled the gentle voice of a woman.
…Yeah, she did betray me that one time, but she said it was a necessary procedure.
Thinking about it, if I were in her position, I probably would have acted the same way.
I know I’m not dangerous, but how could others know that?
I should try to promote that I’m a good jelly—
Eh, I don’t know.
The darkness always fills my mind with random thoughts. The same goes for the oppressive feeling of a pristine white room.
Sitting in that spotless white space, I only eat the food that periodically arrives, which brings up all sorts of useless thoughts in my head, imagining various negative scenarios.
But nothing is set in stone yet.
It might have been a little better if there was something to concentrate on.
…That time when I swallowed that wriggling little thing wasn’t because I went crazy over the fried egg.
While lost in these random thoughts, I suddenly felt my body being lifted.
Judging from the sound of “tuk, tuk,” it seems we’ve reached our destination.
With a “duk” sound,
something covering the box that held me was removed.
In front of me appeared what seemed to be a very clean elevator.
It felt like I was cradled in the arms of an intelligent and pretty woman, descending somewhere.
The woman didn’t say anything.
In the strange silence, the elevator descended for a while before stopping, and the door opened to an unknown place.
With the sound of “tuk, tuk,” as we stepped out, a cold corridor appeared.
It wasn’t completely deserted.
Here and there, people dressed in what you’d expect of office workers exuded a sense of familiarity.
Every time the woman carrying me passed by, people slightly bowed their heads, suggesting her status was quite high.
They weren’t greeting me, but somehow it felt good.
The busy people were moving around, frequently entering and exiting doors marked with a series of numbers ending with “KR.” Behind them were people who looked like they were from the sewers.
…What is this?
As I observed them,
I had the strange feeling that they were also looking at me. No, they were definitely looking at me.
As the saying goes, “If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss gazes back at you.”
Since I was looking at them, it only made sense for them to look at me too.
But… something felt off.
The strong men following the ones in white clothes were glaring at me with inexplicable hostility. They looked extremely upset with me, their heated gazes piercing through me.
…If the woman holding me wasn’t this one, I could feel their strong will to snatch me away then and there, lock me up in some place, and mess with me thoroughly.
This unexplained malice made my body shrink.
What did I do wrong? Why are they looking at me like this…?
Thankfully or unfortunately, that terrifying gaze disappeared…
“Yaaaah! Aaaaah! Cccchaaaah!”
“Quickly move it!”
“Out of the way! Out of the way!”
The moment the door marked “1924 – KR” opened, the gaze disappeared. Though it would be more accurate to say the gaze shifted toward them.
One of the people who came out had tears of blood flowing from their eyes in agony, and the faces of those supporting them were extremely pale.
It seemed something had gone terribly wrong.
Even I, who had never seen such a ghastly sight before, felt my jelly turn brittle and rigid.
But the most shocking thing for me was,
how the people watching the bloodied man being taken somewhere seemed to look at it as if observing something utterly ordinary.
If I had to explain, it was like they were seeing something very familiar, not at all shocked.
Although their expressions did show some faint discomfort and fear, it seemed like such incidents were familiar to them.
Seeing their abnormal reaction, I truly realized I had wandered into a strange place.
If the events I’ve experienced so far (minus the canned ones) are likened to coffee, what I am about to experience here might be the top of the line.
Shivering in fear, I couldn’t even imagine what was about to happen.
Finally,
the woman’s footsteps stopped in front of the door marked “7496 – KR.”
It seemed like that was to be my new… home.
It was a very strange feeling.
What’s going to happen to me?
The screen showed a Jelly Girl fiddling with a cube. The Jelly Girl would shake the cube around and, after glancing around, tore at its surface, using a shortcut to align its colors and solve it.
Eventually, as Han Seori watched from outside, she entered with an awkward smile and extended her hand. The Jelly Girl handed it over proudly.
Han Seori, unsure of how to react, scratched her cheek and, with a wry smile, handed the Jelly Girl a candy from her pocket.
Upon receiving the candy as it tumbled down, the Jelly Girl cleverly unpackaged it, pulled out the insides, and ate it.
…And then, rather thoughtlessly, tossed the remaining wrapper to the nearby little slime.
Perhaps feeling a bit guilty, the Jelly Girl also gave it a piece of the candy. It was rather …
“Should I call her intelligent… or cunning…?”
“Is that the thing mentioned in the previous report? I don’t recall seeing it when she was first contained.”
At the last question, Han Seori, scratching her cheek awkwardly, replied in a low voice.
“Not long after we readmitted her, it was expelled again. Whether it’s the same entity as before, I can’t be sure.”
“I see.”
The scene changed.
This time, it started with Han Seori pointing at something and speaking.
“Alright, I’m going to throw this, and you’ll fetch it, okay?”
Though there was no reply, the Jelly Girl seemed to understand the words and nodded slightly. However, the somewhat sullen expression left a strange impression.
Whoooss!
The ball flew down and hit the floor. The wiggly Jelly Girl picked it up and returned promptly to place it gently in Han Seori’s hand.
“Good job.”
Han Seori pat the Jelly Girl’s head proudly. The Jelly Girl’s expression seemed slightly awkward, though it wasn’t certain. No hostility was directed towards Han Seori.
In time, Han Seori handed the Jelly Girl a snack. Once again, after peeling it and eating the contents, the Jelly Girl tossed the trash to the little slime.
Seeing this, the man watching cleared his throat and asked Han Seori with an incredulous tone.
“…If this isn’t pet training, what on earth is it?”
“Well… it’s not exactly the same, but it’s somewhat similar.”
The man’s face clearly expressed that he didn’t see the point.
Upon seeing his puzzled expression, Han Seori shrugged and pointed at the monitor with her chin.
The man figured there was nothing else to watch.
What can possibly be accomplished with this squishy thing?
The screen changed again and showed the moment Han Seori suddenly lifted the Jelly Girl high into the air.
Han Seori froze and her body stiffened upon seeing this. The man watching couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh, and the expressions of those watching with her were equally perplexed.
With another hollow laugh, the man, somewhat suspiciously, cautioned Han Seori:
“…Maybe you should have a mental evaluation. It seems this abnormal behavior is affecting you.”
“…It was just a kind of reward. She likes being picked up.”
“That doesn’t seem to be the case… but whatever.”
Han Seori blushed and hurriedly skipped to the next scene.
There, a fairly large chunk of metal was seen melting inside the Jelly Girl’s body.
Even considering the fast playback, the fact that it was melting was clearly and unpleasantly evident.
At this point, the man and the others fixed their gaze on Han Seori, their faces turning serious.
“…Isn’t that dangerous? It looks like it could rapidly consume a person.”
“Well, hence the preceding demonstrations. It shows that this particular Singularity has no intention to harm humans.”
“…Hmm.”
She did behave obediently enough.
More than any Singularity we’ve dealt with so far.
While helpful Singularities do exist, their usefulness was merely in following specific rules written in blood.
If we were strict about it, their help wasn’t in providing help, but was more like someone picking up the pieces of a torn manual and rewriting it with blood.
And yet, considering the countless Singularities that couldn’t do even that, this small Singularity seen on the screen was indeed “unique.”
Once the Jelly Girl completed melting the large chunk of metal, the screen transitioned to a chart filled with numbers.
“What is this?”
“It’s the result of measuring the Singularity’s weight after consuming large objects.”
The chart on the screen revealed that the Jelly Girl’s weight gradually increased. Eventually, a man pointed out a section where the weight drastically dropped.
“Why did it drop suddenly?”
To this question, Han Seori responded with a slightly bitter expression.
“…It was due to some endurance testing. Although her weight increased, I was curious about why the Singularity wouldn’t grow beyond a certain size, so I conducted an… experiment.”
Recalling the incident, Han Seori’s expression wasn’t particularly pleasant.
She looked completely like someone worried about a pet, and the man couldn’t hide his awkwardness.
“Whenever her body suffered damage and parts were cut off, her weight would drop temporarily, but she filled herself back up. So… if provided with sufficient energy… she can regenerate infinitely.”
“I see.”
So, what are you trying to say?
The people gathered in the meeting room looked at Han Seori with lingering doubts.
Still facing those skeptical eyes, Han Seori took a quiet breath and spoke:
“Why don’t we use this Singularity when we need to evaluate the characteristics of Singularities? It might also prove useful when securing new Singularities, don’t you think?”
Contrary to what was seen on the screen, the suggestion seemed a bit harsh, and the conference room was filled with commotion.
