Plop… Plop.
At the small fidgeting of Sosik, something dyed crimson was vigorously torn apart. Beyond the torn skin, a pale-white pith could be seen—the kind that appears when you peel a tangerine or an orange.
Indeed, Sosik was peeling and eating some fruit, whether it was a tangerine or an orange, no one knew.
In contrast to Lime’s companion who was groaning worriedly over Sosik’s well-being, Sosik appeared to be living a rather opulent (if you could call it that) life. Although, to be fair, it was debatable whether this could be termed opulent.
Today it was a tangerine from Tamra Country.
Yesterday it was a pineapple from the mart.
The day before that, it had been a banana that was delivered rocket-fast.
Tomorrow would be…
In any case, it was less about luxury and more about a varied diet.
Sosik accepted it all without much thought, devouring whatever was given with apparent enjoyment. Yet those providing Sosik with this variety of fruits felt an immense sense of trouble. It was uncertain how long they could keep this up.
“What should we give him tomorrow… rather, should we offer him tomorrow?”
“As long as it doesn’t repeat, anything should be fine, right?”
“At this rate, he’ll have met every fruit in the world soon.”
“But why is he hung up on fruits? Aren’t other types of food okay as well?”
“Eh?”
“That’s right!”
“What if he just doesn’t eat anything else?”
In the midst of this indescribable confusion, they successfully diverted their attention from the small Jelly, at least until things calmed down. While they hadn’t fully understood the situation, it seemed that sneaking him away wouldn’t cause any trouble.
Suddenly, a tsunami surged in, leaving chaos in its wake. There were signs of significant unrest beneath the sea. Due to its persistent repercussions, the Laboratory had gone into full emergency mode.
Considering the low likelihood of something crossing over, the ensuing panic was natural. They suspected that the event was something the offshore laboratory wasn’t equipped to handle. Any fleeting sense of pride had vanished in the face of this force akin to nature’s fury, forcing everyone to focus their energy on recovery efforts.
When it seemed the situation had settled and they began assessing the damage, both Lime and the dispatched escort were nowhere to be found. It was unclear whether they’d been swept away by the tsunami or had ceased to exist alongside a singularity.
While the situation was disheartening, on reflection, it didn’t entirely seem to be their fault. They had requested help, after all, but they hadn’t exactly asked to die because of it.
Nevertheless, they thought it would only be right to make some effort to search. During this search, Sosik was spotted emerging onto the shore, unaccompanied by either a guardian or Lime, the main entity.
Taking every precaution (considering the numerous dangers involved), they carefully brought Sosik to an isolated quarantine area, although the act itself brought forth many concerns.
Concerns, however, were quickly replaced by greed.
The already turbulent situation would have been enough to trigger such feelings, but if Lime and the guardian had been obliterated along with a singularity from across the sea—it could be seen as an opportunity.
Initially, the idea of asking for help felt uneasy. Within the laboratory, voices grew louder, openly claiming that Lime would be their savior. In the past, it might have been easy to ‘treat’ those making such wild claims accordingly, but in the present situation, it was nearly impossible. There were already too few people, and each was invaluable.
Thus, they decided to limit interactions as much as possible while still receiving assistance. They simply could not handle anything coming over from across the sea, especially since the very act of crossing meant the origin couldn’t hold it back.
Their preparations proved to be timely, but this solution introduced yet another problem.
The answer to this new problem was straightforward.
It was only a matter of sending the derivative entity that washed up back to the laboratory.
But… would that truly suffice?
Calling Lime a savior always felt uneasy, so they had tried to resolve the matter as quietly as possible, thinking that a grave without excuses might indeed have existed.
However, if this were to be used as leverage, it would certainly cause great trouble, especially considering that there were already discussions about people wanting to cross over to the other side. Thankfully, while the offer was declined, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t change later.
In this light, an opportunity seemed to emerge. Although it was merely a derivative entity, it looked exactly like the original. In the absence of the original, it could pass as such.
This stirred greed within them.
Though they tried to distance and reject the entity when it was in others’ hands, if it were in theirs… it would make for a powerful card.
Bluntly speaking, it could not only stop those wanting to cross but also bring more people in from other places.
Besides, if another unmanageable singularity appeared, even a derivative might prove helpful. Whether or not this was the savior the underlings talked about, its protective power against hostile singularities—surely—it would have some, wouldn’t it?
To be specific: “Friendly toward humans.”
With this in mind, they quietly diverted the entity and assigned its management to a group that almost worshipped it. Although this idea might have been risky, they expected such worshipers would naturally keep quiet to avoid losing it. They also calculated that these people wouldn’t dare touch the diminutive Jelly, given their adoration.
Thanks to these plans, the assigned guardians seemed happy, making it a win-win.
All that was left was to keep it hidden until the situation calmed down. Given that it was relatively far away, they could later claim it was a newly discovered singularity.
Time seemed to be on their side—or at least they thought so.
So, why were those managing Sosik (written as management but read as worship) so flustered?
The answer was simple.
The problem lay in Sosik doing absolutely nothing but sprawling around and sleeping. For those with little to no information about Sosik, this was an ominous sign.
There was an anxiety that the bored Jelly might leave.
Amongst this, the one thing Sosik did react to was food.
“Oh, he’s eating!”
“This is the answer!”
“It’s c-cute.”
So, they decided Sosik should be provided with a variety of foods. If they didn’t, they couldn’t be sure when he might leave.
…Coercing with something?
That was an impossibility.
At least, it seemed that way.
Thus, the singularity and its human attendants seemed to find their own sort of happiness.
—
While Sosik was living a seemingly kingly life,
Lime was quietly moving along in a familiar suitcase, dr-dragging through the motions.
Although usually Lime would twist and fidget out of boredom, this time, there appeared to be no such leisure, as Lime was visibly worried about Sosik.
Where on earth could he have gone?
Could he be hiding somewhere like I am, avoiding strangers?
Am I worried about if he’s eating properly?
To Lime, Sosik was like a jelly plant in a greenhouse, thus the worry was quite substantial.
And it wasn’t entirely unwarranted either. Since breaking off from Lime, Sosik had never engaged in activities like hunting.
Eating only what Jin Cheon-soo brought.
Lime had its own experiences with fishing and such, but Sosik was not the same.
Plus, attacking people would be problematic.
As a result, in Lime’s jelly-like heart, now all that remained was the unease over Sosik’s supposed runaway.
And filing a missing persons report wasn’t exactly an option.
Perhaps we should give jelly residents a national ID and proper rights as well as protection?
While pondering these strange thoughts, Lime reached a beach with the group, Yang Hana and Lee Yoo-jin.
Sure enough, the impact of the chaos remained evident. The beach was flipped over as if a giant hand had played with the sand.
Though efforts had been made to tidy it, not everything could be concealed.
Recalling something Yang Hana had said earlier, Lee Yoo-jin smiled and remarked,
“Looks like it’s not going to be a day for swimming.”
“Of course not! W-we didn’t come here to play around!”
“Exactly.”
Such a cute person.
…It’s strange how this person, who seems so out of place with what I do, ended up here.
Even so, Lee Yoo-jin thought Yang Hana might be lucky after all.
In these troubling times,
Being unknowingly caught up in events was worse than being somewhere secure. Whether this world truly would end up like that—well, who could say?
“Let’s just spend some time before it gets dark.”
“Sure! How about we go try some country-style rice soup? I heard the one here is quite famous.”
“Is it? I didn’t know that.”
The girls spent the time in a rather cozy atmosphere. Although both led lives isolated from the outside world for different reasons, for a moment, this felt like a holiday.
As the nights deepened and the moon dimly floated above,
The girls emerged onto the beach, dragging the suitcase.
With the appearance of two companions planning some mischief, they opened the suitcase and released Lime into the sea.
Splash.
The plan was to search the water for Sosik, who might have hidden somewhere.
Watching Lime dive, Yoo-jin and Hana felt a peculiar emotion. Their eyes interchanged between doubt—was it right to do this?—and curiosity—should they jump in as well?
Meanwhile,
Lime dived deeper.
The hope was to find Sosik, even if it was somewhere hidden.
