The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 12

* * *

 

One thing became certain from yesterday’s phone call.

 

My brother became a ‘Calamity’.

 

My brother tried to send me back, but there’s no way I could ignore him.

 

And so.

 

“Tell me. About the Yongsan Station ‘Calamity’.”

 

“Jellies get swollen eyes too?”

 

Cha Haeeon narrowed his brow as if he really couldn’t believe it.

 

I rubbed my eyes. Since I hadn’t slept a wink and cried all night, my eyes had become like plump, swollen jelly .

 

“They do get swollen. I showed you a good sight, so hurry up and tell me.”

 

Cha Haeeon muttered about what kind of good sight that was, yawned, and said.

 

“The Yongsan Station Calamity is the mother body of the shopping mall. It disrupts the mind and materializes hallucinations. Simply put, think of the Yongsan Station Calamity as a dungeon.”

 

“Aha, interesting…”

 

“Thanks to that, we can at least live off canned food.”

 

“If that’s the mother body, does that mean all the employees inside are part of it?”

 

“Yawn, exactly.”

 

Cha Haeeon scratched his head and yawned again.

 

He seems more tired than usual today.

 

“We were lucky yesterday. Originally, if you do something abnormal there, they react very aggressively. If you had made just a little more of a fuss yesterday…”

 

“…If I had?”

 

Cha Haeeon rolled his eyes as if pondering how to express it.

 

“You’ll get eaten by that scary thing, you.”

 

“Really?!”

 

As my eyes sparkled and I clasped my hands together, Cha Hae-eon, who was sweeping back his hair, completely scrunched up his face.

 

“Did you understand what I said? I said you’ll get eaten.”

 

“Yeah, I understood.”

 

“Don’t kid around. Your eyes are completely crazed right now.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You were so scared yesterday…”

 

After saying that much, Cha Haeeon shook his head side to side and pulled out a towel.

 

I know it’s dangerous. I fully understand it logically.

 

…But.

 

There’s no way I can just ignore my brother who became a Calamity.

 

Even if things go wrong and I get eaten, I planned to go see my brother.

 

“Cha Haeeon, Cha Haeeon. I have a favor to ask.”

 

“I don’t want to hear it. I’m going to wash up.”

 

“Hmph, alright. I’ll go by myself, so can you just lend me some clothes?”

 

“No. Don’t go around doing useless things. Seeing you yesterday, you shouldn’t just go out.”

 

“I don’t want to, I’m going!”

 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!

 

“Give me~ Give me~”

 

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak!

 

When I followed him all the way to the bathroom, Cha Hae-eon lost his temper and yelled.

 

“Hey! Let me at least get the sleep out of my eyes!”

 

“If you just lend me some clothes, I won’t bother you whether you get the sleep out of your eyes or not.”

 

Cha Haeeon leaned against the doorframe and firmly pressed the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He seemed quite displeased.

 

“Where are you saying you’ll go by yourself?”

 

“I thought you didn’t want to hear it.”

 

“I changed my mind, so tell me in 3 seconds.”

 

I jutted out my lips and mumbled.

 

“When you force me like that, I don’t wanna tell you even more…”

 

“Everything about you is annoying.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Wink. When I even winked at him, Cha Haeeon dry-washed his face as if he were sick and tired of it.

 

“Alright. I’m asking you, so tell me.”

 

“Yongsan Station.”

 

“No.”

 

“I’m going.”

 

“I said no.”

 

“But I’m going~”

 

“Yeah, no.”

 

“Yeah, I’m going~”

 

We relentlessly bantered back and forth, glaring at each other while panting in anger.

 

Bzzzt! Sparks flew from our eyes.

 

“I said no, didn’t I? Explain logically why you want to go there and try to persuade me.”

 

“I said I’m going! The reason is…”

 

I tightly wrapped my hands around my heart.

 

“Cha Hae-eon, can you hear it? My heart is telling me to go!”

 

“Aaagh!”

 

Cha Haeeon screamed as if he was truly annoyed.

 

And the winner of this tedious argument was…

 

“Tell the manager to come out here!”

 

It was none other than me.

 

Logical persuasion, my foot. If you have a weak heart, you lose.

 

Cha Haeeon was weak, and I was strong.

 

What’s important is an unbreakable heart!

 

* * *

 

“Tell the manager to come out here!”

 

At my loud shout, Cha Haeeon looked around with slightly furrowed eyes.

 

The faceless customers and all the employees were looking our way.

 

“Customer, could you please calm down first and tell us what the matter is?”

 

“I came to return this zucchini for a refund!”

 

I thrust the zucchini, which still had teeth marks on it, toward the employee’s facial hole.

 

If everyone here had a face, they would have had an expression saying, ‘You brought that back after eating it!’

 

But so what.

 

“Refunds are not possible, customer.”

 

“Never mind that, tell the manager to come out! I’m going to talk to the manager from now on.”

 

“Customer, it puts us in a very difficult position if you act like this.”

 

“Do you want to see me throw a tantrum and roll around on the floor here?”

 

As I laid down the threat, Cha Hae-eon spoke to me through clenched teeth.

 

“Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly acting like a Karen again?”

 

“Crazy? That’s too much, partner. I’m perfectly sane.”

 

“I told you not to call me partner. Why are you doing this anyway?”

 

I smirked, raising the corners of my mouth.

 

“Me? I just came to exchange this for my brother.”

 

“What?”

 

“Aren’t you curious how much we can get away with inside this shopping mall?”

 

Saying that, I pointed a finger at the employee.

 

“Tell the manager clearly. If you can’t give me a refund, I’ll take an exchange instead.”

 

Just then, a man in a suit came walking towards us, step, step.

 

Is it my brother?

 

I tried to look up at him with a face full of anticipation.

 

However.

 

‘Why does my head keep having to tilt up?’

 

The thing approaching straight ahead beyond the slanted shadow was incredibly tall.

 

It was just as I was looking up at the approaching figure, my head tilted far back.

 

A tremendous force grabbed both my ears and quickly pulled me back.

 

At the same time, a bright red light was shot at the spot where I had been standing.

 

Sccch—!

 

A deep mark where the light had passed remained on the concrete floor.

 

“W-what was that?!”

 

A tall, slender body. Inside the gaping hole of a face, like the other employees, was a searchlight, and from it, a red light shot out in a straight line.

 

Keeping a wary eye on the thing moving like a zombie, Cha Haeeon said.

 

“It’s a mall security guard.”

 

“What?!”

 

Once again, the light was shot at where we were.

 

Cha Haeeon held me and retreated a few more steps.

 

“What happens if you get hit by that light?!”

 

Cha Haeeon shrugged his shoulders once and replied casually.

 

“I saw someone melt away from it before.”

 

“Eek!”

 

As I trembled violently and turned into a pale white jelly, Cha Haeeon dodged the security guard’s attacks this way and that while speaking.

 

“See? This place is absolutely not a pushover. We have to go back.”

 

“N-no!”

 

I grabbed Cha Haeeon’s arm with both hands. We can’t run away from here. But even then, the light continued to be shot.

 

To make matters worse, the number of light beams increased to two, then three. Bizarre security guards were appearing from all over.

 

‘I thought he wouldn’t come out easily, but to try and chase us out even going this far!’

 

Before I knew it, the light beams that had increased one by one formed a circle around us.

 

We were in a situation that looked as if we were standing under spotlights.

 

The only fortunate thing was that the light wasn’t directly attacking us.

 

‘It feels like they’re just trying to scare us…’

 

Then, a sound started coming from the shopping mall speakers.

 

<Happy Happy U-Park~ Happy Happy UPark>

 

<This is an announcement. For the safety of our employees and the peaceful shopping experience of our customers, our U-Park takes strong action against black consumers (consumers who make malicious complaints demanding compensation). Customers who fall under this category are requested to please leave now. Thank you.>