The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 11

Jumping to my feet, my mouth dropped open.

 

An egg about a third the size of my body was radiating a warm heat while emitting a rainbow light.

 

“…Really?”

 

I fumbled with the egg to see if it was real, then hurriedly draped a blanket over it. 

 

“It really appeared…”

 

I still couldn’t quite believe that an S-rank egg had popped out of a mobile phone, but I smiled as I stroked it.

 

I could feel a sensation as if an immense energy was swirling inside the egg.

 

‘At this rate, it should hatch before long, shouldn’t it?’

 

What kind of Planetmon will come out of here?

 

As I was making an expectant face, my phone suddenly vibrated.

 

Hmm?

 

There’s no reason for my phone to ring, so why?

 

Startled, I checked the screen.

 

Bzzzzzt—

 

A name was floating on the black screen.

 

And the moment I saw those letters.

 

[♥ Beloved Gyeolie Oppa ♥]

 

My heart sank.

 

* * *

 

‘Beloved Gyeolie Oppa.’

 

It was a call from Do Gyeol, the guild master of Quasar and my older brother.

 

I couldn’t breathe.

 

It doesn’t make sense. How could a call come through in this contaminated world?

 

Besides, the name of my dead brother popped up.

 

My fingertips trembled. Even so, the vibration rang continuously.

 

Bzzzzzt—

 

The vibration that rang once again felt like cold water being poured over my head.

 

Without delaying any further, I hurriedly answered the call.

 

“O-Oppa?” 

 

Is it really you, Oppa?

 

However, only a mechanical sound thick with static drifted through; no voice could be heard. 

 

I wet my dry lips and called out a few more times, but still, no answer returned.

 

Could it just be an abnormal phenomenon caused by contamination?

 

I squeezed the phone shut with both hands and closed my eyes tight. 

 

“…This is Captain Toto. Over. Respond if you’re there.” 

 

Our own way of confirming if it was my brother.

 

If it’s you, brother, please answer, please.

 

Then, a faint sound of laughter mixed with static noise was heard.

 

—This is Captain Monkey. It’s been a while, Captain Toto. 

 

Captain Monkey and Captain Toto.

 

Those were the nicknames we used when we were children. 

 

Back then, Oppa was a captain sailing the seas, and I was a Moon Rabbit astronaut.

 

“Is it really… really you, Oppa?”

 

— Yeah, Dam-ah. 

 

I felt like my heart might stop. It was layered with noise, but it was unmistakably my brother’s voice. 

 

A warm and gentle voice.

 

“Oppa…”

 

— Dam-ah, I missed you so much.

 

“Oppa, me too. I missed you so much too……”

 

I suppressed the welling tears.

 

“Where are you right now? What happened?”

 

— Dam-ah. Listen carefully. You can’t stay here long.

 

“Oppa, I asked where you are?”

 

I spoke as if spitting out a sudden surge of anger.

 

— Dam-ah, our little rabbit. You really have become a rabbit. 

 

My brother gently changed the subject.

 

Realizing he had no intention of telling me his location, I bit my lip.

 

— I should have kept taking care of you. I’m sorry.

 

“It’s okay. I’m living well. I’m not alone, either.”

 

I can’t give up just because he won’t tell me. I have to find my brother.

 

While keeping the call connected, I turned on the Find Family feature.

 

A loading screen indicating it was catching my brother’s phone GPS popped up.

 

It worked…!

 

— The fact that you’re not alone is the problem.

 

The location of my brother found through GPS was…

 

None other than right in front of the gate.

 

“…!”

 

— Don’t stay with that man. Go back.

 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!

 

I immediately went out to the front of the gate where my brother’s location was pinned.

 

As I hurriedly looked around, I saw a black tentacle retreating. It was the very same one I saw at Yongsan Station, the one that felt like it would paralyze my mind.

 

‘Why is that…’

 

Suddenly, the memory of when I first met it came to mind.

 

The way it searched every corner around as if looking for something.

 

And, my name repeating endlessly.

 

Swoosh—

 

I blankly took the phone away from my ear.

 

Then I quietly spoke towards the tentacle.

 

“…Oppa?”

 

Slither, slither, slither—

 

The tentacle started to retreat rapidly. As if it were running away.

 

I stared blankly at the tentacle disappearing, then lifted the phone again.

 

The static noise continued.

 

“Oppa…”

 

Squeak, squeak.

 

I took a couple of steps forward.

 

“Oppa, I will save you. Don’t worry.”

 

So my brother became a ‘Calamity’ at Yongsan Station.

 

It’s okay; just being alive is enough.

 

“Just wait a little bit.”

 

* * *

 

Cha Haeeon watched the little alien in the darkness.

 

“Oppa …”

 

As Dam’s desperate call was heard, the black fire that had been wrapping around Haeeon’s arm like armor subsided.

 

If he had been a little later, he would have attacked that Calamity.

 

Because he thought the Calamity had invaded his territory.

 

However, looking at it now, the situation was different.

 

It seemed the Calamity had just come looking for that little self-proclaimed alien.

 

‘But “Oppa,” of all things.’ 

 

Haeeon narrowed his eyes, quietly stroking his chin. 

 

At first, he thought she was hallucinating.

 

He thought she was contaminated, hallucinating, and calling a Calamity her brother, but that clear aura couldn’t be explained if that were the case.

 

If the self-proclaimed alien were steeped in contamination, he would have definitely known.

 

Is she really related to that Calamity?

 

At any rate, she was a suspicious one from the start.

 

He wondered if she was a monster that came out of the Dungeon Break, but she was closer to a human than that.

 

That didn’t mean she was a contaminated human either. In this contaminated zone, that self-proclaimed alien was purer than anything else.

 

Unlike him.

 

Haeeon opened his status window.

 

N̶a̵m҉e̶: Cha҉ Hae̶eon҈

 

C̷o҉n̷t҉a҈m҉i̷n̸a̷t҉i҈o҉n ̷L̷e̸v̷e҉l: Unmeas̶urable̸

 

Along with a sharp noise, blurry text blinked.

 

His pupils trembled slightly.

 

Unmeasurable.

 

As always, it was a contamination level that couldn’t be converted into a number.

 

It was at that moment.

 

Crack.

 

Like a glass window cracking, a fissure started to cross one of his cheeks and his jaw.

 

Haeeon gasped and instinctively raised his hand to touch his cracked face.

 

The skin wasn’t torn, but what his fingertips felt was unmistakably a cold gap. From within it, unmeasurable depths of contamination were flowing out like steam. 

 

His breathing became rough. He fumbled at his waist and pulled out an old gas mask.

 

As he immediately pressed it onto his face, the cold pressure of the metal tightened against his cheeks.

 

Creak, rattle. The old filter strained his breath, and the contamination leaking from the crack subsided. 

 

He would have to wear the gas mask until he returned to his human form again.

 

It was then.

 

“Oppa, I’ll save you. Don’t worry.”

 

That resolved voice caught Haeeon’s feet just as he was about to leave.

 

Save him? With such a trivial purification ability?

 

Haeeon coldly turned his back.

 

Nonsense.

 

We can’t save anyone.

 

Cha Haeeon repeated to himself as if chewing on the words.

 

As if afraid that even a sprout of hope might bloom.