The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 23

“L-Lieutenant Colonel Cha? Are you really Lieutenant Colonel Cha?”

 

The owner of the gun was looking at Cha Haeeon with disbelief.

 

He was one of the people who had been terrified by something and running away earlier.

 

Lieutenant Colonel Cha… is he talking about Cha Haeeon?

 

“Lieutenant Colonel Cha. I don’t know how this happened, but for now, slowly… move away from that thing.”

 

He swallowed hard and put strength into his trembling hands. Then he glanced at me and said,

 

“It’s dangerous.”

 

…Me?

 

Just as I was feeling puzzled.

 

Ding!

 

[You have acquired the title ‘Ferocious Predatory Jelly’.]

 

* * *

 

Flick, flick!

 

As Cha Haeeon lit the lighter, a fire sparked in the furnace.

 

I crouched next to him, watching the fire grow, and asked.

 

“So, you’re saying titles are created by the perception spread among people?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Cha Haeeon spoke as if it were quite unexpected.

 

“I didn’t know jellies could get them too.”

 

“Heheheng.”

 

Feeling unnecessarily good, I opened the Survival Handbook.

 

[Title]

– Ferocious Predatory Jelly 

You look more ferocious and squishy. When you look ferocious, the intimidation you inflict on your opponent doubles, and when you look squishy, the feeling of happiness you experience doubles.

 

The reason a title suddenly popped up must be because of those people back at the factory, right? 

 

I put my hands behind my back and slyly walked out to the yard.

 

They were sprawled in the yard, checking their guns and organizing their gear.

 

“Ahem.”

 

When I coughed, the startled special response team members flinched.

 

As soon as they spotted me, they dropped to their knees.

 

I don’t know exactly why they’re this scared of me—

 

But is this the taste of power?

 

‘It’s delicious.’

 

Feeling unexpectedly good, I broke into a grin.

 

Then the special response team members trembled like herbivores. According to my title, my intimidation must seem twice as high right now, right?

 

Ah, this is fun.

 

“Stop teasing them.”

 

Cha Haeeon, who had come outside at some point, grabbed my ears and shook them up and down.

 

My bouncy body went up and down.

 

“This is just a jelly, so you don’t need to be so scared.”

 

“Sssshh.”

 

Hiyah! Hiyah! Hiyah! I flailed my jelly fists at Cha Haeeon.

 

Squish! Squish!

 

The special response team members stared blankly at us.

 

It seemed they were looking up to Cha Haeeon as if he were amazing, which made me feel even worse.

 

When I just pouted sullenly, Cha Haeeon put me down. 

 

Pyok.

 

Cha Haeeon lightly tapped my protruding lips, then went into the kitchen and brought out a small table piled with rice and retort side dishes.

 

“The table is small, so eat on your own.”

 

At the sight of the food, the special response team members’ eyes sparkled.

 

However, when I took a seat at the table, they sneakily grabbed only rice and side dishes, sat haphazardly in the yard, and started eating.

 

‘There’s no need to go that far. Am I really that scary?’

 

Nom.

 

As I was eating while thinking that, exclamations erupted from everywhere.

 

“It’s eating… It’s really eating…”

 

“So it eats rice too……”

 

Everyone was looking at me as if it were fascinating.

 

Feeling the weight of all those eyes, I began to feed my brother as well. One special response team started hitting the person next to him, shouting that the octopus was eating rice, too.

 

What! Is this your first time seeing a jelly and an octopus eat?!

 

Rude fellows. When I narrowed my eyes disapprovingly, they quickly buried their noses in their rice bowls.

 

“To think we’d be eating a meal like this here.”

 

“I never dreamed we’d actually get to eat rice.”

 

The special response team members shuddered and made a fuss over mere instant rice and canned side dishes.

 

I was like that at first too, but having eaten it a few times, I had lost the thrill and stared at them patronizingly.

 

To be happy over something like this, they are very simple guys.

 

I popped a piece of sausage into my mouth and fell into thought. Actually, even though I was eating eagerly, the quality was far lower than the tasteless hospital food I was so sick of eating.

 

Hmm. Now that ‘Auto-Hunting’ is possible, maybe I could start farming in earnest.

 

“Have you been living here continuously, Lieutenant Colonel Cha?”

 

The first to regain his composure among those making a fuss over the food was naturally the team leader, Gong Juwon.

 

At a rather team leader-like question, Cha Haeeon shrugged and answered.

 

“Well, for the most part……”

 

“I didn’t know you were still alive. I’ll report to headquarters so a rescue operation can be….”

 

“Forget it. What did you come all the way here for?”

 

My ears perked up at the mention of a return operation, but Cha Haeeon waved his hand as if entirely uninterested and asked a question instead.

 

Why? Does he want to live here for the rest of his life?

 

My brother also had a very puzzled expression. (For the record, I can read an octopus’s expressions.)

 

Gong Juwon looked a bit bewildered, then soon revealed why they had come here.

 

“Ah, we are looking for an anomaly that purifies pollution, codename VM.”

 

“VM?”

 

“Yes, Vending Machine. It’s an anomaly in the form of a vending machine.”

 

Codename vending machine…

 

“Hmm…”

 

I nodded my head, thinking, ‘So there’s something like that.’ 

 

Right, there could be a vending machine in a polluted zone. It’s a neighborhood where all sorts of things happen.

 

But strangely, I kept feeling a piercing gaze.

 

When I turned my head, Cha Haeeon was staring intently at me.

 

Uh, what. What is it?

 

I tilted my head, then suddenly realized something and popped an exclamation mark over my head.

 

Huh? Is it mine?

 

I rolled my eyes around. What on earth did my vending machine do to cause this?

 

While I was hesitating, Cha Haeeon, who had cleanly emptied his rice bowl in the meantime, asked.

 

“What orders came down from headquarters?”

 

Good job, good job.

 

Gong Juwon put down his spoon and straightened his back.

 

“It’s an order to secure the contents of the unidentified anomaly, VM.”

 

Cha Haeeon’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.

 

“Secure the contents?”

 

“Yes. There have been eyewitness accounts stating that they were purified as soon as they drank the contents.”

 

Instant purification? Cha Haeeon and I locked eyes.

 

Cha Haeeon sent a look asking, ‘Did you really make something like that?’, but I didn’t know anything about it, so I just blinked.

 

“The contents are to be secured. What about the vending machine itself then?”

 

“The order is to retrieve it simultaneously if possible.”

 

What? Retrieve? You’re going to take my vending machine?!

 

Cha Haeeon glanced at me, who was glaring with narrowed eyes, and asked Juwon instead.

 

“Is it really necessary to retrieve it simultaneously?”

 

“Well… the VM is a massive topic of conversation outside right now.”

 

“It’s complete chaos. People are calling it a new material or whatever.”

 

“Every time you turn on the news, that’s all they talk about.”

 

The other special response team members chimed in one by one.

 

To think my vending machine had become hot outside without me knowing……

 

However, the special response team members looked as if they couldn’t believe it at all.

 

“They say that just drinking one bottle of water instantly reduced the pollution level by half. Does something like that really exist?”

 

“It’s probably just another ridiculous, baseless rumor.”

 

Well, it made sense they wouldn’t believe it. There is no substance in this world that allows for instant purification.

 

Even if you equip an incredibly expensive purifier, it takes a long time to purify pollution.

 

‘There’s no way it has the ability to completely purify pollution in an instant like that.’ That’s what they would think, but… there is.

 

A jelly capable of instant purification.