I entered the press conference room with high expectations but soon found myself feeling slightly bored. That was because… what was happening right now was essentially a watered-down version of something I had done in the past to resolve my own grievances.
Back then, at least I had gone up on stage and participated in various activities (?), so it wasn’t boring. But now, I was stuck in an uncomfortable suit, with Han Seori answering every question, making the whole event rather dull.
When I first appeared on stage, just a wave of my hand had people gasping, flashes going off nonstop, and Electric Scent almost choking herself in excitement—it was all very enjoyable. But as the event dragged on, I began to feel increasingly restless.
Since I had already made my presence known, I distracted myself with grand delusions of receiving smartphones and computers as gifts, barely managing to endure the monotony.
How much longer could I last before I died of sheer boredom?
Just as I was sighing with relief that I didn’t have a mouth to yawn with, something strange caught my attention. A bizarre shout echoed, and something indescribable came hurtling toward me.
To be honest, I hadn’t been paying much attention, so I didn’t catch exactly what was said. However, it seemed pretty clear that having something thrown at me wasn’t a particularly positive sign.
Something felt off, though.
Judging by the atmosphere, my appearance today seemed to have been an extremely tightly kept secret, only revealed after I had already shown up… So how did the person throwing this know I’d be here?
Hm.
If I had noticed this sense of unease, then surely Han Seori or others must have realized it as well.
In any case.
I couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass. I was already bored, and if I handled this well, maybe people would think more highly of me.
I quickly moved to intervene. As Electric Scent began to tense up to intercept the object herself, I stopped her motion and extended a tendril, swiftly encasing the projectile speeding toward me and Han Seori.
“Hi-i-ik!?”
“Kya-a-aak!”
“Uw, uwaaak!”
Hmm… Are they startled because of me or because of what I caught? Everyone else who’d seen me do this before seemed fascinated rather than frightened.
Despite the subtle (and clearly negative) reactions sapping my energy a little, I couldn’t very well just throw it back at the crowd. It wouldn’t be right to act on frustration like that, after all.
So I decided to cover the object more securely with Jelly. It wasn’t because I knew what it was or what it could do, but rather because a similar situation came to mind as I glanced briefly at the hospital scene in my head.
Before I could think much further, the object wrapped in Jelly exploded with a loud “POOF!”
Loud noise aside, the Jelly merely absorbed the shock and reshaped itself into jagged hammer-like forms.
Ah, so that’s all it was. How underwhelming. If they wanted to get rid of me, I’m still not sure what they’d need to use, but this clearly isn’t it.
Too bad I don’t have a voice—if I had spoken, it might have been a little more dramatic. Oh well.
As I looked around, the reporters who had previously bombarded me with enthusiastic questions were now sprawled on the ground in various positions, frozen and wide-eyed.
It was a fleeting moment of fear followed by stiff, protective postures. Watching this, I almost laughed but managed to suppress it.
Thinking that they were terrified by such a minor event… then realizing the potential gravity of the situation, I felt somewhat unsettled.
Is this… normal by my standards?
Even so, the time I’ve spent as a human pales in comparison to the time I’ve lived as Jelly.
Ah, who cares? I’ll be Jelly for the rest of my life, so no harm done, is there?
Still, I wish they wouldn’t be so scared. It would be nice if they started to… I don’t know, elevate me, cheer me on, or something. Maybe a “Yahoo” or “Cheers” would be nice.
Feeling this way, I glanced at the reporters and noticed the initial chaos starting to dissipate as some of them began to react.
“Wha, what was that? A bomb?”
“How is she just playing with it like a toy?”
“Wasn’t catching cockroaches harder than this earlier?”
Hmm… This isn’t entirely what I wanted, but the reactions seem somewhat encouraging, albeit in the wrong direction.
” Lime, are you okay?”
Amid the reporters’ murmurs, I turned to find Han Seori, who had already lifted me, leaning in with a worried expression.
Though her voice carried concern, it didn’t seem overly so.
What should I say?
Did she already believe I wouldn’t get hurt?
Well, given how she’s seen me up until now, it’s not strange she might think that way, but… something feels off.
Not that I could possibly fake pain and yell out in distress now.
So I simply nodded, and Han Seori let out a sigh of relief, resuming her calm demeanor as she took hold of the microphone. Meanwhile, the person suspected of throwing the bomb was being led away by figures who seemed somehow familiar.
“As you just saw, Lime handles crises gracefully and knows how to distinguish threats to humanity. She also understands how best to deal with them. She took action swiftly to protect both me and others from harm.”
“Oooohhh…”
“Wow, she’s so talented, yet still so adorable…”
“Huff, huff…”
Hmm, finally, we’re getting closer to the responses I wanted.
Was this all part of Han Seori’s plan? Or did she genuinely feel these statements were necessary?
While I couldn’t peer into her mind to know for sure, the improved mood was enough to satisfy me.
Thanks to the mysterious bomb-thrower, the press conference wrapped up more positively than expected. With newfound confidence, I walked through the crowd of journalists and climbed into the car that Electric Scent had driven over.
Given that my presence no longer needed to be concealed, I could stick to the window without Han Seori stopping me. Instead, she pressed a button, lowering the window so I could wave cheerfully at the reporters.
“Wait, when will the next interview be?”
“Where do we have to go to see you again!?”
“Could I hold your hand just once!?”
Ah.
This is what it feels like to be famous.
I instinctively reached out and shook the hand of a woman who asked, and she grinned, snapping a photo with the camera around her wrist.
…?
Something feels off. Maybe she wasn’t doing it out of admiration but to write an explosive article?
Give me my innocence back.
“That’s just how reporters are. At least they’re not scared, right?”
I smiled faintly as the earnest gentleman reporter departed, listening to the whisper from beside me. Even though similar requests for handshakes flooded in, I felt uneasy, so I merely waved goodbye.
As we drove off, the reporters’ wistful faces faded into the distance. I kept an eye out in case another bomb came my way, but the rest of the trip was peaceful.
Wonder what happens next?
To be honest, since I’ve never been in this situation before, it’s unclear.
Come to think of it…
What happened to the person who threw the bomb earlier?
They must obviously be punished for disrupting a crowded area, but does an attack aimed at me—a singularity—even count as a crime?
I wasn’t particularly interested in the law, but it sparked my curiosity. I couldn’t help but feel that this could cause a significant ripple in society.
Hmm.
It might take some time before I receive an ID to walk freely around the streets.
*
“…Didn’t we underestimate the singularity too much?”
“That’s undeniable.”
“Does acknowledging that change anything? …True, it’s pointless getting mad over this.”
“Still, you’re wise. A man who climbed to the rank of Director must surely be different.”
“…Tch.”
The male voice, buried in the shadows, sighed heavily.
No matter how it happened, their plan had failed.
They’d seen the global loss of control of singularities as a golden opportunity. They believed that chaos could be leveraged to strike against “The Foundation.”
After all, secrets—especially dark, state-collaborative ones—always stir people’s curiosity. What if they were secretly breeding dangerous things?
Lurking beneath the guise of freeing singularities, they hoped to see the Foundation crumble.
If the singularities were freed and the Foundation disgraced, they could step in and supplant the organization.
It was a chance to get two, no, three rabbits all at once.
But that chance never came.
A tiny young girl, Jin Lime, slowed the process of revealing the singularities’ existence in this country.
When things did escalate, the situation resolved itself quickly, leaving little room for them to act.
Desperate for a foothold, they decided to attack Jin Lime during the press conference, hoping that she would act violently or go out of control, but the result was embarrassingly disastrous.
The pink future they envisioned was gone.
However, they couldn’t give up. If they kept going this way, they would lose their foothold entirely.
What was the difference between them and the Foundation, anyway? Should they be forced to live this way simply because they displeased the leadership of the Foundation?
“We need to explore other options. This happened, but… the world is turning upside down, and we need to adapt.”
“Still, you have the insight of a former Doctor!”
“Will you stop with the compliments?”
“Why? Aren’t they true? Heehee.”
“…Tch.”
Damn it.
Does there not exist even one competent person?
The shadowy man sighed deeply over the lack of talent.
