Round and round.
My knowledge pouch perked up and started spinning round and round like a helicopter propeller.
Kim Cheonsu and Han Seori, who were following behind, looked at it as if they were seeing something amazing.
Han Seoriâs eyes were sparkling a little, full of anticipation as if wondering what I was trying to show this time.
Unfortunately⦠I donât know why itâs spinning round and round like this, either.
Iâm guessing itâs detecting attacking anomaly⦠But why is it doing this?
I just wanted to know roughly where the thing that attacked the room we were in earlier is.
To say itâs broken⦠Since it was a part of me, thereâs probably another possibility.
For example, the possibility that the thing that made a big hole in the ceiling is so huge that it can be detected in all directions.
I think this might be it.
If itâs so huge that detecting it at close range is meaningless, that could be possible.
Honestly, I canât really ask the knowledge pouch, âHey, do a good job.â So itâs a bit frustrating.
I wondered if this is how Han Seori and Kim Cheonsu felt about me.
Meanwhile, Han Seori was still looking at me with a face that said, âHurry up and show me something.â At some point, Kim Cheonsu joined that lineup.
Is this the pressure a genius receives from those around them?
When they stared at me like that, I felt like I had to spin the knowledge pouch faster and fly into the sky.
â¦If I did that now, I would just splatter jelly all over the place.
And,
Expressing my dissatisfaction to the two of them⦠didnât seem like a good idea.
The condition of the two who had lost the bonfire was slowly but surely worsening.
I could see their movements getting slower bit by bit, and the red tips of their noses and faces were gradually turning blue.
â¦I think we need to get to the control room as soon as possible and raise the temperature to be able to do anything.
To preserve their lives at least.
Daesik also seemed to be having a hard time moving.
Judging from the fact that Iâm still fine, there doesnât seem to be a problem with Daesik itself, but the problem is with Alice, the doll Daesik is in.
Seeing the dollâs body stiffening, my heart aches.
The only consolation was that Jungsik and Sosik were still relatively okay.
Then,
I started to see a familiar door ahead.
The door leading to the control room.
Han Seori and Kim Cheonsu must have noticed it, too, as their faces visibly brightened.
Now, they seemed to have lost interest in my knowledge pouch spinning round and round.
Earlier, I felt burdened, but now that they have lost interest again, my feelings are strangely mixed.
â¦What do they want me to do?
Anyway,
It wonât solve the problem, but for now, being able to keep the two alive is veryâ¦
The floor shakes.
Along with the *koo-goo-goo-goo* sound,
The knowledge pouch that was spinning round and round started spinning a little more intensely.
It felt different from when it appeared from the ceiling.
This time, itâs not the ceiling⦠but the floor.
Of all places, it appeared right in front of the control room.
Soon, Han Seori, feeling the vibration, muttered with a stiff face,
âIt would be big trouble if it rushes into the control room⦠What on earth is it chasing to come all the way here?â
âNot knowing is the problemâ¦â
âHmmâ¦â
Thereâs no way I could know what the two of them didnât.
I wanted to chime in on that conversation, but it was impossible for now.
Feeling the growing vibration, I fell into thought for a moment.
Why is that thing coming here?
Reflecting on the twoâs conversation so far⦠it seemed like an anomaly that was originally near here.
Maybe it couldnât come here because of that fan.
What could be the reason for such a being to suddenly rush inâ¦
There wasnât much time to ponder. The sound getting louder and louder meant that the anomaly would soon reach this place.
ââ¦Unfortunately, letâs back off for a bit. Now that we have a general idea of its location, it wonât be hard to find it again. If we stay here and the control room gets destroyedâ¦â
Han Seori trailed off, but both Kim Cheonsu and I knew what she was going to say next.
Of course, Iâll⦠probably be fine, but I donât want the two of them to suffer that fate.
Soon, with Han Seori leading the way, we started moving away from the control room.
*Koo-goo-goo-goo!*
Not long after,
Along with a vibration that made it hard to even stand on the floor,
The intact floor rose up like a volcano.
âEek!â
âUrkâ¦â
From the cracked floor, something huge leaped out. The thing that broke the floor disappeared somewhere, breaking through the ceiling with a loud noise.
I didnât realize it when we were running away from the bonfire earlier,
But the body of the thing disappearing into the ceiling was very long.
I could see why it went through the floor and out the ceiling.
Is it because its body is too long and thick to do what it wants even if it wants to?
And one more thing,
The body of the being, which I only thought to be a living creature⦠was literally hard.
It didnât seem to be made of flesh and blood.
I couldnât tell exactly because it disappeared so quickly, but I donât think itâs a living creature.
So⦠it felt like a giant mechanical snake?
I donât believe what Iâm saying either.
Seeing such a thing was still amazing and exciting,
â¦But being surprised by the fact that such a thing existsâ¦
Anyway,
Finally,
The place where the thing broke through the floor was not next to Han Seori, Kim Cheonsu, or slimes.
It was next to me.
My jelly that couldnât dodge in time was sharply sliced off, but this level of injury is nothing to me.
Han Seori and Kim Cheonsu ran over with pale faces, though.
âI, Iâm⦠Ah, I see.â
ââ¦Worrying was a waste, it seems.â
Even if youâre relieved, do you have to say it like that?
Regardless of feeling slighted, it seemed clear what that steel snake was after.
It seemed to be targeting me.
Seriously.
Now that I have this body, my popularity is at its peakâ¦
I donât really want this kind of attention.
Grumbling to myself, I took in Han Seori and Kim Cheonsu with my eyes.
They had turned so blue that the word âblueâ was now fitting.
In this situation where we donât know when the steel snake will come, how much longer can the two who came all the way here without being able to go to the control room last?
They probably wonât last very long.
Having finished thinking, I put Jungsik on Kim Cheonsuâs head, Daesik in Han Seoriâs arms, and Sosik on her back.
I pointed in the direction of the control room.
ââ¦Youâre going to be the bait?â
When I silently nodded my jelly, Han Seori sighed but didnât add anything.
She was going to ask me to take care of it anyway⦠So, nothing really changes.
Still, the twoâs expressions donât look very good.
But,
As if they thought there was no other way, the two silently nodded and moved their feet towards the control room.
Before that thing comes.
âWeâll come to your aid as soon as we get the facility up and running!â
With those words, watching the two slowly move away, my jelly wobbles.
I didnât particularly feel like a hero,
But honestly,
Isnât this⦠kind of cool?
Maybe⦠this action came from the confidence that I probably wonât die.
Well⦠at least Iâm taking action, right?
Smirking with my jelly, I picked up a metal pipe that had fallen nearby to draw the steel snakeâs aggro.
*Clang! Clang!*
I moved my feet in the opposite direction of the control room, banging here and there.
Steel snake or whatever, come at me!
I feel a groundless surge of confidence for some reason.
And as if reacting to that,
*Koo-goo-gooâ¦*
This time, the ceiling started to vibrate.
[Amid heightening military tensions, the Ministry of National Defense has strongly retaliated against artillery provocationsâ¦]
Inside a gukbap restaurant somewhere in Seoul,
A man, eating gukbap, clicked his tongue upon hearing the announcerâs voice on the TV.
âThose North Korean bastards were quiet. Why are they doing that all of a sudden?â
âWho knows, maybe they ran out of riceâ¦â
âItâs not the first or second time, seriously.â
The TV was talking about a loud sound that had come from the border area a few hours ago.
Various stories circulated, but in the end, it seemed that they had fired something from that place in the north.
In the gukbap restaurant filled with commotion rather than chaos at the story that now felt like everyday life, the man pouring kkakdugi soup into his gukbap chuckled and muttered,
âThey say they fired artillery, and here we are, eating gukbap.â
âItâs tough for the kids serving at the front lines rather than us.â
âTrue⦠I hope nothing serious happened.â
As the two men buried their faces in their bowls, the TV briefly showed footage of something exploding but soon moved on to the next news.
The people sitting in the gukbap restaurant each made a remark, but they didnât seem to question the situation.
Soâ¦
Seoul was safe again today.
â¦At least for them, that is.