The reunion with the first kidnapping site was the worst.
Well, considering it was the place I was initially abducted to… it was only natural that the images in my mind were far from pleasant.
However, regardless of my personal grudge, the situation didn’t seem promising.
The fairly wide corridor was filled with people who looked as though they’d lost the world, sprawled about, and the ones who seemed relatively fine were busy trying to tend to them.
Bang! Bang! A sound drew my attention, and I noticed someone entering an area similar to where I had been trapped.
They… yes, they looked somewhat like Kim Cheon-soo who had snatched the retort pouch from me.
It made me think that if a zombie outbreak ever happened in a novel or game, it might look something like this.
Only… their prey wasn’t people… but rather those strange-tasting retort pouches.
As I was contemplating this, Han Seori stood motionless with a rigid expression and silently carried me through the chaotic scene.
My feelings while witnessing such pandemonium were… complicated to say the least.
If eating that caused them to turn this way, the thought that everyone who consumed the retort pouches distributed nationwide felt odd, making me feel uneasy about Jelly.
I was slightly taken aback that Jelly had chosen me—of all people—to stop this… or perhaps it wasn’t Jelly, but someone else.
I couldn’t help but ponder absently if I’d have been able to take a sick day from work if I were still human.
A rather strange sensation.
I was acutely aware that something catastrophic had happened.
Still…
Maybe it was because I hadn’t done anything wrong, but it all felt distant.
In a way, I felt like someone with a lack of empathy—a psycho-something.
Maybe it was because I’m no longer human but Jelly… I’m not sure, but I’m confused.
In the middle of all this, Han Seori pushed on and opened a Restricted Zone door we had previously entered.
As the mechanical sound of the door opening was heard, a grotesque scene greeted us—chunks of meat were scattered everywhere.
Closer inspection revealed people wearing what looked like space suits, standing firm against the surging waves of the meat.
Some were cutting the meat, others burning it, and still more were moving it elsewhere.
But it wasn’t effective enough. Apart from the methodology, the sheer lack of manpower was apparent, even to an amateur like myself.
Considering this, I wondered what was going through the minds of those trying to hold the line there.
Contemplating that, the previously unfeeling Jelly felt a momentary solemnity.
As I watched the people struggling valiantly, Han Seori finally set me down and instructed me on what I needed to do.
Nodding, she gently patted my head as an arrow appeared on the ground nearby.
“Goddamn, will this ever end?”
“I don’t know! Something’s coming soon that’ll fix this, just hold on!”
It seemed as though they were waiting for me.
Gripping the itchy knowledge pouch, Han Seori looked at me with a mixed expression.
I could see several feelings in her gaze, among them a sense of guilt. Perhaps she regretted asking me to eat that “retort pouch” but also understood why it had to be done.
Maybe there really was no other option but to rely on an entity like a singularity—such as me.
…Is that retort pouch even related to this singularity?
Despite this, I couldn’t help but feel some excitement.
Even as I humorously imagined myself crawling up walls like a friendly red-clad neighbor,
…I really do feel like some sort of hero.
Though, of course, only time will tell what the reality is. But doesn’t my perception matter most?
Thus, my mood improved.
I waved goodbye to Han Seori and followed the arrow.
“Whoa, what is this?”
…A small mishap involving our allies (?), but I was still in fairly decent spirits.
In any case.
I ventured into the writhing mass of meat, which smelled as unpleasant as before.
And then…
[Who$1…]
A faint voice echoed through the air.
I honestly recognized I had underestimated the task after Han Seori’s request.
This wasn’t just some casual errand.
Walking through the meat-filled passages was no pleasant task, despite imagining it as a quick trip to a peculiar and somewhat remote eatery.
This was much harder than I anticipated.
Hadn’t I noticed this earlier when instead of hooks, I saw people outside battling?
Once beyond them, the passageway was filled with chunks of meat, forcing me to squeeze through like tangled earphone cords in a pocket.
[Bother…]
The eerie voice from the retort rang in my gel-like form, and the sensation of wriggling through the mass of meat felt like navigating through someone’s intestines.
At least mercifully, they weren’t attacking. They were too preoccupied trying to move outward.
If I’d had to fight them, I might’ve ended up as topping on a meat sundae.
Their mass was overwhelming.
Every time I navigated the narrow gaps between the meat chunks, the squirming sensations were slightly… unpleasant.
Then I recalled an old cartoon I watched as a kid featuring a blue robot raccoon from the future where a loaf of bread kept expanding endlessly.
At the time, I thought such a continuously growing loaf of bread was a good thing because it meant more delicious bread. But as I grew older and remembered a chilling article I’d read online, the scenario became more unsettling.
Apparently, the ever-expanding loaf was going to swallow our entire galaxy, turning it into a Bread Black Hole.
Is this meat on a similar trajectory? If left unchecked, could it become a Meat Black Hole?
Considering that made me realize this was no longer someone else’s problem.
I started worrying about surviving outside our blue star and whether or not dying by Meat Black Hole would earn me a Darwin Award.
…Not really a desirable ending.
Crack! Crunch!
How much time had passed since I began traversing the mass expanding ceaselessly between meat chunks?
Finally, a slightly familiar space came into view.
It was hard to say exactly familiar, given how this place was almost entirely occupied by meat now. The hooks sticking out were the only common feature.
Still, the vast space meant some relief compared to the narrow passageways outside.
While gazing blankly at the surroundings,
An arrow appeared in the remaining space, pointing in the same direction as the knowledge pouch.
Amidst the maze before, the nature of the knowledge pouch’s purpose seemed unclear, but now, I began to grasp its function.
It likely detected singularities akin to me.
The ability emerged after consuming the singularity known as Jangseung… perhaps it was that.
Hmm, it slightly quickened my pulse.
Don’t men have an obsession with dinosaurs and fusion robots?
In a way, this is sort of like a fusion robot, isn’t it?
…Granted, with the slightly harsh condition of having to eat the fusion component, but still…
Amidst these silly thoughts and slight relief, I moved toward the direction indicated by the knowledge pouch and the arrow.
Honestly, I didn’t need the pointers.
I just had to follow the meat growing in real time, didn’t I?
During my last visit here, this place was noisy and chaotic.
Now, all I could hear was the sound of the meat squirming and the groaning as the structure strained under its weight.
Quiet, but not a pleasant silence.
Finally, I reached the hole from where the meat was originally extracted. Ironically, because of the protruding meat, I was able to climb up.
The hole had expanded significantly, and the blade used to cut the meat was now out of order and motionless.
Climbing through this dull-edged passageway, I arrived at the space reminiscent of the beanstalk story, having ascended a pillar of meat.
The meat still stretched endlessly, filling the long passage.
Recalling my last close brush with death by falling last time,
I clung to the wall, inching downward carefully.
Though luck was on my side last time via a cushion of meat, relying on such fortune again was ill-advised.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering how long it would take to descend from such a height.
As the tedium of descending set in,
[You’re so @$%7 troublesome…]
A massive voice reverberated throughout the space.
The knowledge pouch twitched noticeably.
Separate from that, I instinctively knew.
If I descended a little more,
I would encounter the retort pouch.
Glug.
The Jelly pulsed. In human terms, I suppose I swallowed my saliva.
Alright.
Let’s go save the world, shall we?
