I failed.
A sense of faintness overcame me as I stared at the ceiling.
When you think of a maze in an amusement park or a fairground, what comes to mind?
If you could go straight through without hesitation, it wouldn’t matter, but once you start wandering around, there’s often the urge to see the maze from above to find your way—something I imagine everyone has experienced.
Occasionally, looking down at the maze from a high place, I would picture those who had taken the wrong path and came up with a very clever idea to get through this bizarre maze.
My plan was to climb the walls of the maze and find the exit—or whatever it was—from above.
I wouldn’t have thought of doing this if I were an ordinary human, but as I could scale walls like a friendly neighbor in a bright red spandex suit, I decided to climb.
And so,
As I moved forward with two blobs of jelly, I thought up this brilliant idea.
I began scaling the wall.
All the while, I imagined jelly bubbling inside me. If I saw myself in a mirror, I’m sure my lips would have been unintentionally curled into a smile.
But… how could I bear this?
How does it feel to look down on space that defies common sense? Just imagining it made the jelly inside me tremble.
I was excited to see what kind of landscape awaited me up there.
─There was a time when I too had such thoughts.
Let me reiterate,
I failed.
Claiming that this was a space beyond comprehension, yet expecting common sense from it might have been my mistake.
I kept climbing, and climbing, but there was no end in sight.
In my excitement, I hadn’t noticed the landscape below was continuously receding.
How high have I climbed?
The ground below looked impossibly distant. Even for me, falling from this height would likely reduce me to a puddle of jelly.
Above my head, Daesik and Sosik were visibly trembling, likely feeling the same anxiety I was.
…Kids, wouldn’t it have been better if you talked me out of this before things got this far?
What? Sosik, why didn’t you do anything?
You were happy to extend your tentacles before but now you’re willing to die with me?
The space that had seen no wind was suddenly feeling as if a cutting gale was blowing through.
Hmm… stay calm.
If I could climb up, I can climb down.
I can’t descend like rope-climbing jelly, but if I carefully make my way down, it should be fine, right?
This is just a crisis as perceived through human eyes.
Carefully descending step by step should be enough.
One step, one step.
No, one jelly at a time.
There I go thinking like a human again.
Even if I thought there was no way back, the trail of my existence couldn’t be erased so readily.
With such arrogance leading me up here,
I must be crazy.
As I was descending one jelly at a time,
The brick my right hand was gripping suddenly popped out with a ‘pop’ sound, startling me.
My body immediately lost balance.
And just as my body wavered, the two blobs of jelly perched atop my head also started to sway.
Before I knew it,
Sosik was plummeting downward.
The feeling of jelly shrinking.
Though our first meeting might not have been entirely pleasant, I didn’t dislike him as much as I thought I would.
The reason for this… I didn’t know.
As I reached out my arms in haste, it was already too late.
The stretched jelly tentacles flailed around in vain.
Sosik rapidly became a small dot and soon… ‘boing’—a distressing sound occurred.
…Huh?
Something was off.
Even as I felt a sense of loss from Sosik’s fall, I could hear the ‘boing’ sound of jelly bouncing from a nearby place.
It was similar to the bouncing sound he made when he jumped on the stairs earlier.
For a sound coming from such a great distance below, it was surprisingly… cute.
To begin with, the fact that I could hear it at all was strange.
…Shouldn’t it have produced ominous sounds like ‘snap’ or ‘splash’ if I heard it at all?
My attention turned downward where Sosik had fallen.
No matter how I looked, it was unfathomably far down. The sight of it alone was enough to make me jittery.
But… the sound I just heard didn’t match the depth I was seeing.
Hmm.
What if…
Common sense.
Am I dying here again?
I casually threw the brick-like thing I was holding down to the ground.
Then, as expected, I saw it.
The brick rapidly disappeared into a dot, plummeting far too quickly to be called a fall. It made a ‘plop’ sound shortly after, confirming my suspicion.
Certain now, I embraced Daesik and jumped, allowing his back to touch the ground.
‘Paf!’
I felt the pressure of the bag hanging from my back pressing against my body.
The ceiling that had seemed so far away was now much closer, and there by my side, Sosik looked up at me with what seemed like disdain (or at least that’s how it felt).
Well, it was my foolishness to think in terms of common sense…
Fiddling with the choker around my neck, I got up.
I aimlessly tossed a jelly-like wave at Sosik,
before deciding to take a break.
Physical fatigue aside, the mental exhaustion was no joke.
It felt like I had stumbled upon a trick after getting too excited and then encountered the Game Master.
Anyway.
I moved the bag I’d just slung over my shoulder to the front and leaned against the wall. Feeling the cold touch, I opened the bag and pulled out the first thing I touched.
A heavy, elongated something came out.
When I peeled back the wrapper, a pitch-black chocolate bar with a rich aroma emerged.
Just looking at it, it was clear this food was calorie-dense.
I wondered if it would hold any meaning for me, but—
Ah, there I go again, thinking in terms of common sense.
Whatever. Han Seori probably took care of it for me.
I was about to shove the long, dark stick into my body when two quivering blobs caught my attention, and I paused.
The chocolate bar resisted as I tried to break it in half—why wouldn’t it break?
Nonetheless, I eventually snapped it and divided it further into smaller portions, handing each to them.
In other circumstances, I would have only given the wrapper to Sosik, but I had heard that food is crucial for soldiers.
It’d be heartbreaking to eat just the wrapper in a situation like this.
…Whether they could sense emotions—or rather, whether they could feel them—was unclear to me.
Watching the two blobs melt the chocolate bar, I also ingested the remainder of mine.
A wave of overwhelming sweetness surged through my jelly form.
The expression ‘cavities from sweetness’ must exist for moments like this.
Of course, I have no teeth to rot so I can indulge guilt-free!
Should I enjoy this?
There was a faint emptiness as I melted the chocolate.
The lack of ability to chew was admittedly a tad disappointing.
I recently realized just how important texture is in savoring food.
Had I been born as this type of body, I wouldn’t have been bothered by this, but I once had sturdy teeth.
It’s certainly better for Daesik and Sosik.
They were born without teeth after all.
Deficiency is an emotion only those who have experienced it can feel.
As I spaced out melting the chocolate bar, I noticed that Daesik and Sosik had finished theirs, prompting me to get up.
We had wasted unnecessary time, so it was time to quickly proceed inside.
Wonder if… Han Seori is watching me now? Please, I hope not.
It’d be embarrassing.
Anyway.
Why does this thing keep twitching on my head?
The knowledge pouch seemed restless.
“Hahah!”
Han Seori, who had been anxiously watching the monitor, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
It was because Jelly Girl had just performed the same action as the previous exploration team.
With the screen now facing the ceiling, it appeared that Jelly Girl had also realized the truth.
Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Han Seori chuckled.
‘What kind of expression is she making now…?’
She was very curious.
Regardless, the Jelly Girl’s intellect did indeed show a certain special quality.
Just the fact that she considered climbing there indicated that she possessed a considerable ability to think.
Not to mention how well she responded to training.
Perhaps… she understands everything we’ve said?
Looking fondly at Jelly Girl distributing the chocolate with her small hands, Han Seori popped a piece of crispy fried potato into her mouth.
The perfectly fried potato was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
Meanwhile, as Jelly Girl, having finished digesting, began moving, the camera feed started shifting.
‘Slowly…’
She’s heading into the unknown.
As Han Seori watched Jelly Girl walking for a while, a question arose.
‘…She hasn’t fallen into a trap yet, hasn’t she?’
Could that even be possible?
There’s an odd feeling that cannot be described as mere luck.
Han Seori tapped the table while deep in thought.
Then, approaching its limit, the feed from Jelly Girl started to distort with significant noise.
All that remained was a very faint signal showing Jelly Girl’s path.
Clearing the noisy screen, Han Seori looked at Jelly Girl’s trajectory.
The more she observed, the more the feeling of incongruity grew.
The unhesitating path that Jelly Girl took.
It seemed as if she was headed toward some exact target.
‘Perhaps…’
Could she really be achieving something?
It’s hard to brush it off as coincidence given the unusual pattern of Jelly Girl’s footprints.
Feeling puzzled, Han Seori focused on the monitor.
