Chapter 33: Suspicions

Chapter 33: Suspicions

“...Why is she here?”

“There wasn’t anywhere else to quarantine her.”

Looking at Han Seori’s brazen face, Yoo Kangjik felt a stiffness in the back of his neck and rubbed it.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

In his line of sight was 7496-KR inside the glass container.

The slime girl flopped down on the bottom of the glass container, hugging a cute blonde doll while looking at him.

In the time it took for Han Seori to go to the scene and bring back that blob of slime, he had checked the surveillance cameras to verify her claims and looked at the slime girl with very complex feelings.

As she said, that slime girl clearly seemed to have moved to save Han Seori.

Rolling out of the glass container, looking at Han Seori, spitting out mucus to get the guardian totem’s attention and lure it away from Han Seori.

‘Was the waving of her hands also to lure it?’

Far from luring, it just looked cute–

No, that’s not it.

Recalling the image of the slime girl absently waving her hand, Yoo Kangjik’s lips twitched before he shook his head.

Seeing that, Han Seori spoke in a puzzled voice, as if wondering what was wrong with him.

“What’s the matter?”

“...It’s nothing.”

Are you tired?

Shrugging her shoulders, Han Seori sat down without a word. As Han Seori sat down with her crutches, Yoo Kangjik, who had been looking at the glass container with the slime girl, also took a seat.

Soon, the small number of people there began a meeting for post-incident procedures.

The first item on the agenda was related to damage restoration.

As procedures were already underway to quarantine the ‘guardian totem’, the damage to the facility was not too severe.

However, as it had begun moving before being fully sealed... some damage was unavoidable.

The fortunate thing was that dangerous entities had been prioritized for relocation, so a terrible disaster of them getting loose was avoided.

For example, if the anomaly called the ‘Woman in the Frame’ had gotten free, the hallways would likely now be littered with bodies missing their lower halves.

And if corpses piled up like that, the ‘Corpse Flower’ would bloom–

At the mention that the damage was less than expected, Han Seori smiled contentedly while looking at the glass container.

She was in a good mood since the slime girl’s actions supported her argument about her being useful.

As they were discussing the damage situation and restoration, Han Seori tilted her head while looking at the status board displayed on the huge screen.

“There are a lot more missing anomalies than I thought?”

It was a number that would have been overlooked if not scrutinized carefully, but it could not escape Han Seori’s eyes.

The man under her gaze scratched his cheek awkwardly and answered in a low voice.

“Wouldn’t they have gone missing from being attacked? Looking at them one by one, I saw that they were all anomalies quarantined in the affected areas.”

Han Seori shook her head.

To say they disappeared from being attacked and crushed by the guardian totem, the number was higher than expected.

It almost felt as if they hadn’t vanished from the attack... but rather that someone had intervened.

“There are too many for that.”

As she said that, the faces of those attending the meeting, including Yoo Kangjik, stiffened.

“Are you suggesting outside interference, Deputy Director?”

“Well. It can’t be confirmed yet... but looking at the circumstances, the fact that something intervened midway seems undeniable.”

“...Who would have done that while we were supplementing new recruits?”

“Who knows....”

As Han Seori muttered that, one organization came to her mind.

It was likely the same one the others in this conversation were thinking of.

‘...Twilight’s Call.’

That was the name of the group in the minds of Han Seori and those seated in the meeting room.

A group of people presumed to have belonged to branches and labs all around the world.

While not much was known, they were said to have the radical aim of not suppressing anomalies for the sake of humanity’s twilight so the dawn of anomalies would not be obstructed.

As could be guessed from their somewhat abstract goal, they seemed to have as their objective the liberation of all anomalies, claiming anomalies should not be recklessly suppressed for the sake of humanity, for human survival.

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...Though the higher-ups in my mental image didn’t seem very busy, Han Seori was different, wasn’t she?

In the midst of that, a curious thing happened.

Usually, the only one who entered my white room was Han Seori, but while I was blankly lying down and staring at the ceiling, a group of people suddenly barged in.

Startled, I took Alice (now containing Daesik) and went to the corner. They looked at me with somewhat awkward faces, put down a large tray, and said,

“Um, we don’t know if you’ll understand... but we heard the damage was minimal thanks to you.”

After that, they confessed things like threatening me with axes and chainsaws and apologizing, then left my room with relieved expressions.

Listening to that in silence, I felt dazed and headed to the tray they had put down.

And there... was chicken.

What was this?

So they put in a special meal as thanks?

Huh.

The magnificent and savoury aroma I hadn’t noticed until then, due to tension, entered my body and induced shivers.

Alice (aka Daesik), who toddled over from the corner, saw the chicken and tried to leave Alice to go for it.

He always popped out when it was time to eat.

...At first, I thought Daesik was dead.

But, when I went to where I originally was, Alice suddenly started moving on its own.

I was also startled and trembled with jelly, but Han Seori calmly observed Alice and muttered,

“...There seems to be something else inside this.”

While I felt puzzled, Han Seori put me down, took Alice, and shook it.

*squelch*

Daesik, who had been inside Alice, popped out.

“Oh. So that’s how it survived.”

Along with Han Seori’s intrigued-sounding voice, Daesik, who fell to the floor, shivered and approached my feet to rub against me.

I was also inwardly glad he was alive, so I responded by tapping his body.

Then Han Seori smiled contentedly and placed Alice in my hand.

...But I didn’t particularly miss this.

The funny thing was, as soon as Alice was in my hand, Daesik rarely clung to me persistently.

When I put Alice down in puzzlement, Daesik crawled back inside it.

It was a wonder how he got in.

He must have liked it because he toddled over in doll form and clung to me.

“Oh my....”

Since then, Daesik has stayed inside Alice.

Him creeping out when eating something is a bit... nauseating.

...Could he be plotting to eat more by upsetting my stomach?

But fat chance.

My sewage-tempered stomach has long passed the stage of being upset by that.

Putting the slightly hot chicken in my belly, I feel a smile blooming in my jelly without realizing it.

The crispy texture was there, and I missed having a beer, but the chicken was chicken.

After eating the meat, I put the meaty bones into Daesik.

The sight of meaty bone fragments floating around in his body was a bit... unsightly.

Anyway.

After slurping up even the oil on my jelly hands, I flopped down again.

With no new toys restocked, there was nothing to do.

Come to think of it, when I ate the horned wolf, I got an ahog... I mean, knowledge pouch...

I wonder if anything changed after eating that terrifying thing?

I got up from my chicken-induced lethargic sprawl.

It was to see if there were any changes.