The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 10

“I’ll buy it. I’ll buy it, so adjust the price instead.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“No matter how you look at it, this is old and secondhand, so I can’t pay full price.” 

 

If they force a sale, you absolutely have to buy it.

 

Buying it is fine.

 

But what if you can’t handle the price?

 

Then I just have to talk them down.

 

Of course, it doesn’t matter if I fail.

 

‘If I just keep holding out, my purification power will recharge anyway.’

 

“Tha-that is…” 

 

“Or we can just keep wandering around looking for a product that actually meets my standards.” 

 

I lifted my head and narrowed my eyes. It was the expression of a confident Karen.

 

To them, it would look like a declaration that I wouldn’t budge until a deal was struck. 

 

Cha Haeeon was looking at me as if he were dumbfounded. As if asking, ‘Was that your plan?’

 

Do you think something like that will work? Cha Haeeon was asking.

 

At that moment, the employee proposed as if she had been waiting.

 

“We happen to have a discount event right now, would you like to participate?”

 

I looked at Cha Haeeon and shrugged my shoulders.

 

See? It worked. 

 

* * *

 

A large lottery box had appeared in the employee’s hands before I knew it. 

 

“Please draw one.”

 

The employee held the box out close to me.

 

“This is the event?”

 

“Yes, customer! You can purchase the item at the price written on the paper you draw.”

 

“Aha.”

 

While I listened to the explanation and nodded, Cha Haeeon wore an expression that said we were doomed.

 

He’s probably thinking we’ve been completely played, since we can’t do anything about a random draw.

 

However, I casually looked at the lottery box.

 

What would the odds be? 1/50? 1/100? Or maybe there are no winning tickets at all.

 

Given the employee’s confident voice, that would make sense.

 

But who am I?

 

I confidently put my hand into the lottery box.

 

I am an alien belonging to a higher civilization, no less.

 

‘Activate ‘Decorate’.’

 

‘Decorating’ is a function used in the game to arrange the farm. You use it to set up fences, change the house’s exterior, or put various “skins”—items that change appearance—on the Planetmon. 

 

This flexible ability is possible because, in the game’s setting, Earth’s civilization is considered lower than the alien civilization.

 

Therefore,

 

I pulled a piece of paper out of the box. As expected, the word ‘Blank’ was written on the paper.

 

But I confidently unfolded the paper and showed it to the employee.

 

“It’s a 0% winning ticket, isn’t it?”

 

Changing the text written on a piece of paper was child’s play. 

 

To me, such parlor tricks were merely the products of a lower civilization that I could manipulate with a single finger. 

 

When I smiled slyly, the employee flinched.

 

If a face had been visible, it would have been wearing a look of sheer disbelief. 

 

“That’s impossible…” 

 

With those final words, the employee’s body dissipated and vanished.

 

I picked up the mobile phone I had obtained for free.

 

Cha Haeeon stared at this blankly.

 

“What exactly are you?” 

 

“An ordinary alien.”

 

“…”

 

Cha Haeeon seemed at a loss for words.

 

What? Why? What? 

 

Soon, we gathered the zucchini, free-range eggs, wine-aged pork, Shine Muscats, and a bunch of retort foods, and moved out.

 

I was somewhat tense when passing by the employees, but no one stopped us.

 

‘Is it really okay to just leave like this?’

 

We glanced at each other, tried to act nonchalant, but walked as fast as we could and came outside.

 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.

 

As we came out in front of the Yongsan Station stairs, the sun was already setting outside.

 

I blankly stared at Cha Haeeon’s back as he strode down the stairs.

 

‘…Can I follow him?’

 

Seeing Cha Haeeon’s back as he coldly walked away, I felt bothered, thinking I had acted too willfully at the shopping mall.

 

But his favorability went up… 

 

Is it really okay to follow him?

 

I gripped the phone tight, my feet twitching and shuffling. 

 

Is there no way we can go together? Do I really have to find another place?

 

As I hesitated, Cha Haeeon, who was going down the stairs, looked back.

 

“What are you doing not coming?”

 

I didn’t ask if I could follow. Instead, I spoke urgently, afraid he might change his mind. 

 

“I’m going!”

 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!

 

Cha Haeeon is nice after all!

 

I quickly became full of myself again.

 

“Cha Haeeon, I used too much energy purifying. Give me a piggyback ride.”

 

Even if he tries to abandon me now, I’m going to stick to him like gum and not let go.

 

Instead of giving me a piggyback ride, Cha Haeeon grabbed both my ears in one hand and carried me dangling.

 

Still, well… this is a lot of progress.

 

* * *

 

That night.

 

After patting my stomach following the pork dinner Cha Haeeon grilled for me, I went out onto the veranda. 

 

My spaceship was placed alone in the middle of the porch.

 

I slipped inside and fiddled with the mobile phone I had been holding onto all along.

 

Cha Haeeon looked at me suspiciously for not letting go of the phone, but when I told him I was very interested in the artifacts of modern Earthlings, he nodded sullenly.

 

He had a look on his face that seemed to say, ‘What could you possibly do with that?’

 

He’s subtly looking down on me, I tell you.

 

“Hmph.”

 

I snorted and pressed the phone’s power button.

 

Why was my phone here? What in the world does this mean?

 

“Oh, it’s turning on.” 

 

Fortunately, there was still some battery left. 

 

The first thing I wanted to check was, of course, <Squishy Squishy! Planetmon!>.

 

In web novels and such, don’t people usually enter directly into the game?

 

Why did I become the game’s protagonist in reality?

 

Various questions flashed through my mind. My head was a mess.

 

I don’t know if turning on the game will make the curiosity disappear, but wouldn’t I be able to catch a clue?

 

I let out a long breath, phew, and tapped on the game.

 

Tap.

 

With a sparkling sound, the loading screen popped up.

 

The moment the familiar game logo appeared, my heart fluttered, and I unconsciously held my breath. 

 

Since I’d logged into the game, a jelly alien should appear now to greet me. 

 

However…

 

[The service for <Squishy Squishy! Planetmon!> will be terminated as of Month XX, Day XX, Year XX.

We thank you for the interest and love you have shown us, and we wish you good luck in your future endeavors.]

 

Only the service termination message floated on the screen.

 

“What?!”

 

I stared blankly at the screen.

 

No, terminating the service all of a sudden?!

 

‘Then what about my items? My skins? My Planetmons?!’

 

I hurriedly opened the inventory, but it was completely empty.

 

The items I had gathered with blood, sweat, and tears had disappeared without a trace.

 

A hollow breath escaped my lips. 

 

It was when I was turning the empty window this way and that.

 

A rainbow light shone from one corner of the window.

 

‘This is…?’

 

Amidst the rainbow light lay a single egg.

 

‘A Planetmon egg?’

 

I opened my eyes wide.

 

If it’s a rainbow-colored egg, then surely…

 

‘It’s an S-rank?!’

 

Normally, the rank of a Planetmon that comes out of an egg is random, but an S-rank Planetmon is guaranteed from an egg shining with rainbow colors.

 

A real S-rank?!

 

I was so excited that I lifted the phone over my head and shook it wildly, but then I froze as a thought hit me.

 

‘Wait. This isn’t the time to be happy. Is… is this it?’

 

My gamer ego had popped out for a second to whine about items, but honestly, at this point, it was all just a bunch of graphics. 

 

Is there nothing that could serve as a clue for my current situation?

 

I looked at the notice from the top, the bottom, and even upside down—I tried everything—before finally letting out a deep sigh and lying back.

 

‘There’s no way it would be solved this easily, right.’

 

My lip pouted out. 

 

Only the single egg was greatly magnified on the phone screen.

 

The server has already shut down, so what am I supposed to do with this?

 

‘It’s not like it can jump out of the screen.’

 

It was when I thought that and wildly dragged the egg.

 

The egg suddenly disappeared from the screen, and dropped with a plop into the spaceship.

 

“Huh?”