“Hmm… now that I think about it, there was a recipe on the back…”
Han Seori, who had been watching me and the jellies as we ate the ramen from a large pot, muttered something under her breath and then shuffled back to her room.
Why had I rushed here in such a hurry?
Since I didn’t know, I focused on distributing the ramen to them.
It was an inevitable choice since shoving my hands in randomly would mix the jellies up and make it hard to eat.
I regretted not having brought some bowls.
Though going back to get them would’ve been incredibly bothersome, so I decided to take care of it next time.
I inserted the noodles into the body of Jung-sik.
Inside the body of that whale-like creature…
…watching the curly noodles float around inside his body gave me an odd feeling.
Not weird exactly, but those curly noodles… they sort of looked like parasites.
Was it because I’d heard that whales carry a lot of parasites?
…I felt it even more strongly.
Unaware that I was thinking this, Jung-sik quietly accepted the ramen.
Since I could see everything by slightly turning my gaze, I had to watch the curly noodles dissolve.
Daesik came out of Alice and ate enthusiastically, and Sosik eagerly offered his body to be fed by me.
Seeing someone so similar to me act like this made me feel a little strange.
Anyway.
While I was distributing the noodles to them and feeding myself…
Suddenly, I had a desire to slurp the noodles.
I had always thought how messy it was when I saw people doing it online, questioning why they enjoyed eating that way…
But now, as I stuffed noodles into my body, I realized how much I missed slurping them.
Hmm.
I had already managed to recreate chewing. Could I do this too?
Somehow inspired, after calculating and distributing all the portions of ramen to them…
I placed the ramen in front of me and mulled over how to simulate slurping it in.
But when I actually tried, I didn’t know where to start.
To put it precisely, it felt like being asked how you breathe.
Sure, breathing is natural… but it’s not like we consciously understand the mechanics of inhalation, right?
If you go deeper, all sorts of things like the autonomic nervous system would pop up like sweet potatoes growing off the vine…
…but I don’t know much about that.
Since becoming a jelly, all those things disappeared. I had no idea how to do this.
So, I tried this: First, I stuck the noodles to my mouth and then pulled them in with the jelly around my lips.
This was simpler than creating teeth inside to chew.
Rather than creating something, it was more like… pulling something in from the inside.
But the result wasn’t satisfying.
It felt like watching a reverse playback of a meat grinder.
Instead of noodles being slurped up with a “sluuurp,” it seemed like snot or saliva being pulled back into the nose.
The noodles dragged up the side of my body while soaking everything in soup.
Though it would all be absorbed anyway, the scene of it all was rather disappointing and left the jelly hanging loosely.
In trying various methods…
I realized how incredibly complex the human body really is.
Without really thinking about it, trying to manually recreate all the things I had taken for granted… it was surprisingly hard.
Could chewing and slurping really be so difficult?
Initially, I thought the problem might be that there wasn’t any space inside my body… but this was a body that didn’t need such spaces in the first place.
Ugh, headache.
Ultimately, I gave up on trying to slurp and just quietly ate the rest of the ramen.
Even though it had swollen during my contemplation…
The amount felt like it had increased, which oddly suited me.
In this way, an ordinary(?) day continued until one day…
I approached Kim Cheon-soo, who was sitting in the control room and staring at something.
Behind me, the jellies Jung-sik and Daesik wiggled along.
If you noticed that someone was missing, it wasn’t a mistake.
It wasn’t surprising anymore, so I decided not to worry about it.
…The feeling of looking at a reclusive younger sibling came to mind.
Though there was nobody to comment, no sense of problems arose.
It was just… somewhat embarrassing to lounge around in my current form.
Anyway.
When I approached Kim Cheon-soo, he half-heartedly waved me off and then continued what he’d been doing.
I stuck to the back of his chair and watched what he was doing.
When I followed his gaze, I saw what appeared to be the surrounding area displayed on the large monitor.
So…
…A perfectly white world stretched before my eyes.
A landscape covered entirely in snow, worthy of being called a snowy kingdom. Looking at it brought back some rather old PTSD.
The reason it didn’t worsen was…
…because nobody had told me to clean it all up.
I was sure I’d faint if someone asked me to go out there and clean.
…I knew such a request wouldn’t happen, so I wasn’t worried.
In the meantime.
I noticed what seemed like a barbed-wire fence far in the distance.
Focusing my gaze, it was definitely a barbed-wire fence.
A structure resembling something you’d only see near a military base boiled with jelly.
I felt an itch to speak, but fortunately lacked the mouth to do so.
By the way…
Seeing the barbed fence and the snow, I felt like I could roughly guess where we were.
Isn’t this most likely the border with “that country”?
If the season had changed to winter while I was wandering around other facilities… this wasn’t unusual at all.
After all, it’s well-known that a lot of snow falls along the border with “that country.”
Though I hadn’t expected it to be this extreme.
But.
What was Kim Cheon-soo doing?
Just staring at the empty space… is he healing or something?
Indeed, if you didn’t have to worry about cleaning up, it was quite a beautiful sight.
It was like looking at a sea made of snow.
But it seemed like more than that. Just as I contemplated tearing a page from the memo pad next to me to ask…
BOOM!
Something exploded on the screen.
Though it was small and hard to see, there was clearly an explosion accompanied by snow flying everywhere.
As I was baffled and stirred the jelly,
A synchronized explosion was heard.
It seemed like something was moving around, detonating bombs.
And at the end of those explosions…
…a giant something’s silhouette appeared.
A massive unknown shape I had never seen before.
To clarify, it wasn’t like some mythical dragon or yemoo…
It resembled a creature from an old movie, one that would rise in response to sound while wandering in the desert, grabbing and eating people.
After making its presence known with the explosion, it disappeared back into the snow with a significant sound.
The surroundings that had been turned into chaos were quickly covered in snow and turned white again, as if nothing had happened.
Watching this…
I got the feeling that something was off around here.
I thought it was just the border with “that country” entering winter.
But it seemed like there was more to it than that.
As I stood stunned, it seemed that Kim Cheon-soo’s objective was also to record the movements of that thing, as he was manipulating a panel.
Watching Kim Cheon-soo do this, I silently prayed.
Please, let’s avoid getting involved with that thing.
I debated which deity to pray to, but called upon all the ones I knew.
Even in my current jelly form, don’t you think the gods must be somewhere?
…Is that wrong?
I don’t know.
Anyway, if they granted my wish, life would be great, wouldn’t it?
A few days later.
While I casually strolled around the facility, I saw Han Seori and Kim Cheon-soo staring seriously at the screen.
Though their appearances looked like they were watching a movie, I tried not to think that way, but…
…Their faces reflected deep worry.
Given that they both had recently looked refreshed after busy schedules, their now gloomy expressions confirmed…
…Something was definitely going to happen.
Could it be that no god answered my wish?
Or maybe it was something that shouldn’t have been answered?
As I unknowingly approached the two of them, a conversation laced with sighs reached my ears.
“Wasn’t it said that it’s coming closer?”
“Yes. I’ve been observing for a few days now… its activity radius has been gradually expanding. If my calculations are correct… it seems to be heading precisely toward this laboratory.”
“…Hmm.”
…So, that thing is coming here.
Why…?
As if suddenly hearing a tsunami was going to strike in the middle of the night, I unconsciously pressed my forehead in thought.
Eventually, noticing my presence, Han Seori picked me up and cradled me in her arms.
Han Seori, pulling me to her bosom as if to relieve stress.
While I felt her body temperature and felt somewhat awkward, I noticed that Kim Cheon-soo was looking at me through peculiar eyes filled with envy.
I wanted to tease him a bit, smirking as I looked him in the eye. He blinked and then cleared his throat.
The reaction was different from what I expected, but it amused me.
Then Han Seori, seemingly having relieved her stress by holding me (my impression), said softly.
“Perhaps the mere activation of this laboratory is the cause. If so, there’s only one method.”
“What is it?”
“Han Seori shivered as if she felt cold and spoke.
“Let’s lower the operating rate to the minimum.”
“Are you saying…?”
“No heating or anything. For the time being. We’ll try that and… if there’s a reaction, we need to find the line.”
Han Seori sighed.
“But if it keeps chasing us… well…”
She left her sentence unfinished and, for some reason, looked toward my knowledge pouch.
…Isn’t this directed at me?
Ah, so you’re telling me to deal with it?
Are you serious?
I may be able to perform some neighborly gestures, but I’m not a superhero.
I wanted to retreat to my room.
God, Buddha, Allah… anyone else?
Begging in my heart that Han Seori’s prediction would be correct, I searched for the gods who had ignored my plea.
This time, please, hear my plea.
But before facing the future of confronting that enormous thing…
The severe cold arrived.
