Me.
Arrival.
When I attached the Jelly to the floor, it felt familiar… or rather, could this even be called familiar? There’s a slight question mark in my mind.
Looking at where my Jelly touched, it seemed like I had indeed arrived at the cramped space I had seen before, filled with cans.
However.
Unlike last time, chunks of meat were scattered all over the place. It wasn’t half water, half meat—it was 80% meat, 19% other stuff, and the remaining 1% was maybe reserved for the cans.
The chunks of meat that were defying gravity and floating upward… It wasn’t just self-propelled but rather likely due to some kind of device.
If not, maybe these were simply severed parts that got cut off on the way out.
Fortunately, the severed chunks weren’t wriggling.
Meaning I wouldn’t have to push through thrashing chunks of meat as I did when I arrived here last time.
…Though, pushing the chunks of meat aside was still necessary.
In any case, in the darkness where the meat was piled up like a field, finding cans wasn’t something to particularly worry about.
It was, after all, quite an easy task of identifying the moving things among the still ones.
The Knowledge Pouch pointed somewhere, so I didn’t worry too much about finding it.
…Although it wasn’t yet clear if the Knowledge Pouch was detecting the “Singularity” that Han Seori and Kim Cheon-soo called it.
But since there was no other reason for the Knowledge Pouch to twitch, it likely meant my guess was correct.
As I proceeded in the direction the Knowledge Pouch indicated, among the silent chunks of meat, I spotted one that alone was making a grinding sound.
[Annoy@%#%]
For some time now, I’d been hearing a word that sounded something like “Annoying,” accompanied by growing chunks of meat that kept expanding upward.
The chunk of meat, making grinding sounds as it stretched, seemed to have no intention of stopping anytime soon, whether I was here or not.
For a brief moment, I observed it, recalling how I had earlier stilled the horned wolf by stiffening my hands and feet, then began clearing the areas around the growing chunks.
…Not to the point of flattening it like a cutlet, but rather just gently pushing it aside.
I sure could use something big and sturdy.
Anyway.
After using tentacles to clear more space, something familiar finally revealed itself.
Seeing endless chunks of meat spilling out of such a small can, it finally made sense why it was called a “Singularity.”
Recalling the definition of a Singularity, I had heard that once one crosses it, the technology involved becomes impossible to understand based on “modern human” power.
In that sense, calling it a Singularity seemed quite apt.
Would anyone understand why chunks of meat are spewing out of this can?
…Probably not, which is why they sent me.
Thinking about it, I realized how incomprehensible I must now be from their perspective.
A being with the name “Han Hosu,” possessing the form of a negative entity (though not quite, since it still looks like a girl)…
It made sense why Han Seori would try to investigate by cutting off my arm earlier.
…If I were in her shoes, I might have done the same.
Though I don’t know yet if I’m inside it.
In any case, thinking it’d be simpler to keep it hidden, I approached the can.
Grasping the can from which an endless stream of bloody chunks of meat emerged, it trembled violently, much like a sword selecting its master.
Perhaps it’s just trembling because of the chunks of meat being expelled.
When I lifted the can, it shook even more, as if questioning how it had ever been stuck to the ground.
Han Seori said to eat it all up.
As I watched it quivering in my hands, I recalled everything I had consumed so far.
…Excluding actual food since that’d make the list too long.
Rats, Wild Dogs, metal scraps, horned wolves, strange Jangseungs (probably Singularities too), beautiful sculptures (these too)…
Hmm.
I began to understand why they asked me to eat it.
Even to me, it felt like I could devour anything.
Still…
Memories resurfaced of the overwhelming chunks of meat that almost crushed me when I first arrived. This made me hesitate momentarily.
However.
It wasn’t like I had an option not to eat.
Even without Han Seori’s request, if I didn’t stop this endless flow of chunks of meat, the place where I could live would eventually disappear.
…Though I don’t fully grasp terms like “black holes” or anything, I knew something major was about to happen.
For the world to remain peaceful, so I could enjoy things like chicken and other delicious foods, right?
When this is over… I hope they’ll treat me to lots of good food.
If I save the Earth, wouldn’t it be okay to have such a modest wish?
…Like a nice steak.
Or… what was it? Something fancy… Foie Gras or Caviar would also be great.
Thinking about all the delicacies I hadn’t tasted, I pierced my body with the can expelling chunks of meat.
Thuk-puk.
With the sensation of something hard entering my body, I felt an indescribable and bizarre taste spread across me.
And.
Whereas before, when I ate something, there was always a bubbling sound.
Now, it was.
Boil-boil-boil-boil.
A sound like boiling water echoed loudly around me.
[Annoy@4@]
A genderless voice reverberated from within me.
Boil-boil-boil.
Feeling taste meant I could digest this, right?
…I don’t know.
Trying to look closely at what’s inside, the boiling jelly clouded my vision.
Thuk-per-dek!
The force of the expelled chunks of meat knocked me over.
Boil-boil, grind-grind!
The sound of boiling jelly and the rising chunks of meat enveloped my body.
From afar, it must look like chunks of meat are spurting from my body.
With more chunks piling up, the already dim space grew even darker.
The only remaining source of light was the arrow pointing at me.
Boil-boil-boil.
The strange taste, accompanied by the flavor of the chunks of meat, spread through me.
As the chunks of meat piled higher on top of me, I began to feel their weight.
It went up fine earlier, so why is it pressing down on me now?
I lay there, with the can still inside me, hoping it would digest soon.
More than anything else.
…The indescribable, awful taste was the most torturous part.
“There’s not enough manpower.”
“Stop repeating what we all know and just hurry up and move.”
“…Sigh.”
Should I just eat a retort pouch?
The man, sighing heavily under the sudden heavy workload, shook his head as he looked at someone being dragged away by the voice that called him.
There, someone hung limply like a person drugged, being dragged away helplessly.
‘…Still, I don’t want to end up like that.’
With a sigh, the man proceeded to his assigned location and surveyed the surroundings.
“I don’t wanna work…”
“Is it because it’s Monday? It feels harder than usual.”
He noticed people around him casually complaining of mild “symptoms.”
‘We were told to leave the mild cases alone, right?’
Recalling the instruction to leave those with mild cases untended, lest we aggravate them, the man continued on his way.
Whether by luck or not, the area he was responsible for hadn’t encountered anything requiring serious action.
Still, the man felt a growing sense of foreboding as he surveyed the surroundings.
And just like his thoughts materialized.
“Gyah!?”
“What, what are you!?”
A commotion emerged from around the corner at a convenience store.
‘Ah, crap.’
Sighing inwardly, he rushed towards the source of the disturbance.
Upon entering the convenience store where the screams came from, he saw someone violently rummaging and eating retort pouches straight after tearing them open.
“Wh, what is this person? They’ve gone crazy…”
“Uh, customer? You should at least pay before eating…”
Faced with the wild sight, the clerk and others could only stare, their faces pale.
Seeing this, the man sighed silently and pulled out his badge from his pocket, shouting.
“I’m arresting you for your current crime.”
It was a police badge.
The arrival of a figure fitting the situation made others think, ‘Is that all?’ and their faces brightened slightly.
‘So… what was I supposed to say next?’
While the meaning might not matter much, the man half-heartedly informed the person of their rights under the Miranda Rule, then handcuffed the one who was still voraciously eating the retort pouches.
Their obsession with retort pouches aside, they weren’t much different from an ordinary person, so subduing them wasn’t particularly difficult.
Listening to murmurs from the crowd, the man brought the subdued person outside.
Although a voice from behind asked, “What do we do with all this?” the man had no orders to handle it, so he couldn’t respond.
As the clerk remained confused, the man, after loading the unruly person into the prepared vehicle, let out another sigh.
The only relief was that, once away from the retort pouches, the person’s unrest subsided, and their movements slowed down.
Just as the man was about to step out again.
“Hmm? Where am I? What, what’s this handcuff?!”
A relatively clear voice rang out.
The one most shocked by this voice was the man who had brought the speaker there.
‘What? I wasn’t told anything about them regaining consciousness…’
Wiping cold sweat off his forehead, the man awkwardly smiled as he turned around.
Erasing their memory was beyond his capacity.
…So he needed to calm the restrained person down with something convincing, for now.
“Do you not remember, sir?”
“Wha? Who, who are you?”
The man, thinking that their earlier state might have been better, desperately racked his brain for what to say.
