“Looks like I’m about to die.”
Leaning deeply into his chair, Yoo Gang-jik muttered under his breath. From the crown of his head, something precious and irreplaceable dropped to the ground in a tragic manner.
Under normal circumstances, he would have broken into an expression of despair, but he didn’t even seem to have the time to care about such trivialities, releasing only a heavy sigh.
What could be done about what had already been lost?
Perhaps, he had reached a state akin to enlightenment.
‘…Should I just shave it all off?’
Just as this extreme thought crossed his mind, shared footage appeared before him of the damage caused by the recent attack.
“Hmm…”
Having viewed the footage, Yoo Gang-jik now sighed in relief. Thanks to the warning and preparation provided by Han Seori, the damage didn’t seem too extensive. They had already anticipated the target, so dealing with it hadn’t been too difficult.
Indeed, the areas that had been affected were far from their “objective.”
It all seemed like part of a distraction to him.
Though he couldn’t outright declare it refreshing, they had undoubtedly succeeded in fending off the attack.
If that was the case…
…Wouldn’t a small break be all right?
A feeling of sluggish laziness began to creep into his thoughts, but Gang-jik shook his head. He wouldn’t be truly finished until they had cleaned up the aftermath.
Since the intruders had reached the containment room where 7496 – KR had been quarantined only moments before the situation ended, it was almost certain they had come after it.
Yoo Gang-jik couldn’t help but sink into deep thought.
The beginning and the end of everything that had happened here today… was ultimately 7496 – KR. Clearly, it was an incident where something had to be secured—7496 – KR, the jelly girl—before it could be resolved.
Gang-jik, having heard tales of what transpired during his unconsciousness while 7496 – KR tackled the “canned” situation, no longer thought, “Would that be helpful?” as he might once have.
But in fact, the current situation felt even more complicated because of it.
“Should we really continue to contain 7496 – KR here?”
For now, thanks to Dr. Han Seori’s clever solution, they had avoided disaster, but it was a predictable expectation that the same thing would happen again. If they assumed that there was someone inside leaking information, then it was bound to happen inevitably.
Though there had been no news yet of Han Seori’s escape, the situation wasn’t trivial. The risk was still significant.
And the Laboratory’s size was too large to manage that risk effectively.
A larger facility meant more staff to manage, which also made it harder to detect any suspicious individuals.
‘As much as I think about it…’
Relocating it somewhere else seemed better.
“…”
After briefly pondering the matter, he realized he alone couldn’t make the decision, and sighed again. For now, this was something to worry about after Han Seori and 7496 – KR returned.
Before then, he had to at least restore the lab.
He ought to thoroughly check whether any other Singularities had vanished as well.
He moved toward the door, the bald spot on his scalp gleaming, and disappeared outside.
*
Standing near the remains of the Whale, I watched as I swallowed its heart. Dizzily, I stood there, overwhelmed by sensations of the Whale’s heart and blood flooding my mind like a tidal wave.
It wasn’t some fantastical experience like tasting a mythical flavor in a comic. If I were to judge by taste alone, it might have been bearable.
But it wasn’t just about taste. The influx of emotions—emotions that didn’t belong to me—were far more troubling.
Even I, who pride myself on eating just about anything, found the notion of consuming emotions difficult to comprehend.
Sure, let’s imagine I could eat them…
…then why did it feel like these emotions were mine?
It was a deeply unpleasant sensation, as though the emotions were forcibly being injected into me. Despite attempts to suppress them, they remained unmanageable, especially after swallowing something so colossal.
Jelly churned restlessly in my system, trying fruitlessly to tamp down the fury.
Even so, I believed I was slowly regaining control.
Just then, a sharp sound echoed, and chunks of Whale flesh split open, revealing figures dressed in what looked like space suits entering the interior. The previously calm emotions began raging anew.
This was beyond my control. The suppressed backlash surged even more violently, engulfing my body with anger. It became impossible to discern whether this rage was mine or someone else’s.
While I attempted to regain control, the intruders withdrew.
A faint sense of relief washed over me as I tried to relax.
But then, someone approached, startling me. The fury swept over me anew.
Though I knew complaining wouldn’t do much good, I couldn’t help but feel… annoyed.
Before long, this annoyance spiraled into something uncontrollable. My body, which I had tried so hard to manage, began moving toward the newcomer.
Curiously, both Sosik and Daesik, usually silent and uncommunicative beings, were reacting to my emotions, and they too began moving toward the stranger.
The intruder stumbled back in alarm and toppled over.
As this moment seemed to be reaching its peak—right on the verge of an eruption—an all-too-familiar face entered my line of sight.
The familiar face—Han Seori’s rapidly approaching form—caused the boiling feelings inside me to subside.
Simultaneously, my vision grew dark.
Apparently, I must have fallen asleep.
How much time had passed?
When my vision returned to clarity, I found Daesik sprawled on the floor. He, who had been soaked in blood, was now spotless, as if someone had washed him thoroughly.
His pristine appearance made me uncertain if what I had experienced was a dream.
But as I brought my face close to sniff him—encountering the scent of fresh fabric softener instead of his usual damp odor—it became evident that these weren’t just dreams.
Seori must have washed him after witnessing my collapse.
Seduced momentarily by the aroma of fabric softener, an aroma I hadn’t encountered in a while, I quickly snapped back to reality and located the lanky silhouette of Sosik.
‘Still the same old Sosik as always, even after everything that happened…’
Viewing the sight of Sosik carelessly sprawled across the floor, an inexplicable, overwhelming sense of agitation surged within me.
Caught up in this unfamiliar emotion, I unthinkingly surrendered to it and strode toward the unsuspecting Sosik.
With a THUD!
I squashed the unsuspecting Sosik flat like a dried fish.
The startled Sosik immediately leapt up, while I, realizing the gravity of my actions, stepped back in surprise.
Could it be that Sosik found this unbearable too?
Dragging his feet across the floor, Sosik closed in on me and began lightly punching me with soft blows—an ineffective gesture, given that my body was made of jelly. Still, it seemed to be his way of expressing dissatisfaction.
Ordinarily, I would have grinned and made the jelly bubble, mocking him, but the situation felt off to me. In an attempt to make amends and show my apology, I gently patted his head.
So heartfelt my gesture felt!
Whether it was because my sincerity resonated with him or because he found it troublesome, Sosik eventually lost steam, slumping back on the floor.
With this immediate crisis resolved, I sat down to contemplate the state of my mind.
Something about my earlier reaction was definitely off.
Imagine a game where you hit a target with a mallet and score points.
The anger I had felt was not what one would describe as typical anger—it bordered more on a sense of joy. If I had hit the target with the mallet, I would’ve scored maybe one point.
However, what felt like one point of fury in me translated to a thousand!
In short, my anger had amplified outrageously.
Not a three-thousandfold sensitivity boost but a three-thousandfold rage multiplier!
I briefly contemplated the possibility of checking into a mental hospital designed for singularities like me.
Wondering why this was happening, I quickly pinpointed the cause.
It had to be the Whale. There was nothing else in my recent history that could explain this.
Though I swallowed something immense, it wasn’t that simple.
Though I had determined the cause, I still had no idea how to deal with this baffling change.
At that moment, my gaze fell upon the sprawled Sosik.
I suddenly recalled a similar feeling after consuming the canned item, though I had forgotten about it after waking up. If that sensation had shifted to him…
A bolt of realization struck me—a flash of insight!
I could separate and pass this uncontrollable rage onto Sosik, effectively isolating the issue.
Living with this anger-induced handicap in a world already so challenging would be far too difficult for me. I urgently felt the need to separate it.
Of course, there was one minor problem…
…so how exactly does one do that?
I hadn’t been awake when the transfer occurred with Sosik before, leaving me completely baffled about the method.
Frustration mounted, followed by a spike in anger. The feeling was insane.
With no clear path forward, I resolved to act regardless: failure or success, I had to try.
I visualized something causing my anger separating from a small, precious part of me.
Unbeknownst to me, something responded surprisingly easily within my core.
A substance appeared, floating and bubbling through the jelly.
Focusing on this image, I imagined pushing it further outward, applying force to the jelly.
Soon, an expulsion occurred.
“Ah, you’re awake!”
Han Seori entered, interrupting the strange moment.
