Chapter 98: This is all…

Chapter 98: This is all...

*Tap... tap.*

The sound of a campfire crackling comes from a short distance away.

As I shove the tasteless hunk of meat into my stomach, I focus my vision on where the sound is coming from.

I see Kim Cheonsu, who lit the campfire.

He went outside the cave with a sneaky look on his face, and it seems he did it to start a fire.

...Even though the snowstorm has stopped, starting a fire like that doesn’t seem like an easy task.

How the heck did he even light it?

Thinking he did a good job starting the fire, I moved my jelly to do my own thing.

Even though I found it amazing that he started a fire, I naturally thought he had to do it.

Kim Cheonsu, who had been wandering in the snow, was completely soaked.

On top of that, he was drenched in sweat from flailing around to avoid the monster.

...He sweated buckets following Han Seori’s orders.

So, in a situation where we have to return together, it’s only natural for him to start a fire to maintain his body temperature.

That is if he doesn’t want to die.

I couldn’t care less either way.

Anyway, even though it was a bit amazing, it was something that had to be done, so I shoved the terrible hunk of meat into my body again.

Seriously.

All I can think is that it’s unnecessarily large.

Shouldn’t an anomaly be a bit... smaller? Or scatter and disappear or something?

Just staying like this doesn’t feel very cool.

Rather than thinking it’s something special, it feels more like it’s just part of this blue planet’s ecosystem, you know?

Of course, it would be terrifying if something like this were to wander around in the wild with no issue.

...Anyway.

Whether this thing is special or not.

The fact that it tastes terrible doesn’t change, so I’m just sad.

For some reason, it reminded me of something I saw on the internet once called “surströmming1,” and my mood grew somber.

The only thing that keeps me going is that once this is over, I can go back.

...And I’m excited that eating this anomaly might give me some kind of ability.

Having a new slime pop out might be a bit of a headache.

But getting a new ability is fun.

The problem is that I don’t even know what kind of ability I’ll get.

I only found out today that I can throw a cube with enough strength for it to shatter on collision with the back of Kim Cheonsu’s head.

When did I even get that strength...

Maybe I just set my own limits.

I’m even more inclined to think that way since I’ve had a similar experience before.

At first, I saw the world as a human, but now I have a field of vision that is so wide that it can’t be considered human vision anymore.

It’s not that I ate something, but rather just changed my thinking.

It feels like I’m unintentionally hiding my strength, so it’s suffocating but also exciting.

What other abilities could be hiding within me?

It was a feeling like finding a 50,000 won bill in your pocket while organizing your winter clothes.

As I try to fill my head with other thoughts to forget the taste of the meat.

A fragrant scent wafts from somewhere, tickling my jelly.

My expanded vision found where the scent was coming from.

Actually, there was no need to even find it.

The only person in this space who would be doing something to give off that scent was Kim Cheonsu.

I focus my vision to see what he’s up to this time.

I see Kim Cheonsu drying his clothes and cooking something that looks like meat.

The fragrant scent is coming from there.

It seems he’s grilling meat, presumably seasoned with something.

So that’s why there’s this nice smell.

...While someone is painstakingly eating this tasteless hunk of meat raw.

Having achieved my goal, I stopped grilling the meat and shoved the meat I had put next to the fire into my stomach right there.

The side touching the fire was somewhat cooked... but that didn’t make the meat taste any better.

It was just flavorless cooked meat.

An even more terrible taste came from the undercooked part, so I concluded it was best to just eat it raw.

I jiggled my jelly and picked up the seasoning that Kim Cheonsu presumably sprinkled on the meat, then trudged back towards the chunk of meat.

I heard Kim Cheonsu babbling something behind me, but there was nothing memorable, so I just ignored it.

And so, standing in front of the meat again.

Alternating between looking at the meat and seasoning, I came up with a brilliant idea.

That is... to hold the seasoning in my jelly while only melting the chunk of meat, a very clever method.

For a human, it would be like placing the seasoning on your tongue and roughly chewing the meat with your teeth before swallowing.

This way, I can devour this huge chunk of meat with an absurdly small amount of seasoning, right?

Mm-hmm.

It was a brilliant idea.

And so, after putting the seasoning in my stomach.

I jiggled my jelly and coughed out, *cough, cough*, at the taste of the large amount of seasoning that entered.

...No, what the heck did he sprinkle on that meat?

My perfect plan failed due to Kim Cheonsu’s sabotage.

That jerk.

I’ll get my revenge someday.

“It’s a bit cramped, but bear with it.”

I nodded my head limply, letting my jelly droop.

If someone asked me why I have no energy after eating that chunk of meat, I’d probably snap back and tell them to try it themselves.

If it were delicious, I wouldn’t mind.

But when you painstakingly eat tasteless food, your body can’t help but feel limp.

Nutritionally, I don’t know, but it’s unavoidable that your mood goes down.

What’s even scarier is that even after eating like this, I still have the capacity to swallow more.

To be exact, I don’t feel any limit.

What kind of structure is my body made of...

I think I seem more like an anomaly than the creature I defeated and swallowed.

Meanwhile.

*Zip!*

The sound of a zipper closing was heard.

In other words.

...It was the sound of Kim Cheonsu zipping up his backpack.

That’s right.

I was now inside Kim Cheonsu’s backpack.

Besides me, frozen foods are making my body cold.

...Just in case we might run into someone, we had no choice but to go like this.

If I had known it would turn out this way, I would have neatly taken off my clothes instead of eating or tearing them.

Then Kim Cheonsu’s face would have disappeared... too bad.

Sighing with my jelly and letting my body droop, I felt my body swaying according to Kim Cheonsu’s movements.

Guided by Han Seori, the sound of conversation kept coming from outside.

...Shoving me in a bag and doing this is too much.

Somehow.

I miss my slimes.

How much time passed like that.

I was able to safely return to the facility with Kim Cheonsu.

I wonder if my precious ones have been well.

1

Surströmming is lightly salted, fermented Baltic Sea herring. During the production of surströmming, just enough salt is used to prevent the raw herring from rotting while allowing it to ferment. A fermentation process of at least six months gives the fish its characteristic strong smell and somewhat acidic taste.