The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 32

[You can unlock a Vending Machine Expansion Option (0/1)]

 

-Install Additional Vending Machine +1

-Register New Product +1

-Obtain 5% Extra Coins on Item Sales (Rare)

 

“…?!”

 

I opened my eyes wide and checked the choices.

 

But wait a minute.

 

(0/1) it says!

 

Does that mean I can only pick one of them? 

 

I jumped up and fell into deep thought.

 

I had just been thinking it would be nice to install one more vending machine, but…

 

The 5% additional coins with ‘Rare’ attached to it lingered before my eyes.

 

When I thought about how huge that 5% would be later when I sell more expensive items, my hand moved towards it on its own.

 

‘No, still, right now I need to increase the number of vending machines.’

 

Swallowing my tears, I selected the additional vending machine installation. 

 

[You have selected ‘Install Additional Vending Machine +1’.]

[Please specify the location to install the ‘Cosmic Universal Vending Machine’.]

 

I stared intently at the map unfolded before my eyes.

 

Currently, the only places where purification was completed were around Yongsan Station and our house, so I could only install it in these two spots.

 

But neither was a good choice.

 

There would be yellow hazmat suits near Yongsan Station, and there were no Earthlings to use the vending machine at our house.

 

Then where should I install it to extract maximum efficiency?

 

I rolled my eyes.

 

If there’s a place in Yongsan where a lot of people might pass by?

 

Of course, it would be a ‘safe’ place.

 

After struggling to get out of the spaceship, I ran to Captain Gong.

 

“Captain Gong! Captain Gong! I want to go to the hospital too!” 

 

“Yes? All of a sudden?”

 

I said, puffing myself up as much as I could.

 

“It might be good for you too if I go along, Captain Gong? Because I’m going to install a vending machine for you there!”

 

Sure enough, Captain Gong Juwon’s eyes widened.

 

“Is that true?!” 

 

“Of course, of course. Ahem.”

 

I shot a quick glance at the displeased Cha Haeeon and then whipped my head away.

 

No matter what anyone says, I’m going to be rich.

 

I’m going to be rich, put on human skin, and go outside!

 

* * *

 

The next day.

 

I stood there with a displeased face, pouting.

 

Next to me, Cha Haeeon glanced at me with both hands in his pockets.

 

Just like me with the spaceship strapped to my waist, Cha Haeeon had completed his preparations, with a simple weapon hanging from his hip. 

 

“Captain Gong, why aren’t we the only ones going?” 

 

“The more people, the better.” 

 

“I thought you said it was a safe place.”

 

As I grumbled, my brother, who had been sitting on the spaceship, squirmed up to my shoulder and patted my back. Even my brother, who disliked Cha Haeeon, seemed to want to go with him this time.

 

“Because Hanseong Hospital is still inside the deepest part of the contaminated zone, after all.”

 

Captain Gong Juwon, carrying his military pack, took the lead as he said that.

 

Pyok, pyok, pyok. Whirrrr…

 

The spaceship strapped to my waist floated behind me, following along.

 

It was thanks to the hot spring-shaped sticker I brought from the Lost and Found Center.

 

I wanted to just ride in it from the start, but my driving was still clumsy, so I had no choice but to drag it along.

 

Captain Gong Juwon laughed seeing me like that, saying I looked like a snail carrying its house, and Cha Haeeon smirked, asking if he had misspoken the word ‘homeless.’ 

 

Annoyed, I smacked Cha Haeeon wildly. However, Cha Haeeon only made half-hearted sounds of pain.

 

Perhaps because he found me soft and squishy instead, my title activated, and only my mood improved. Which annoyed me even more.

 

“If there are no Calamities, are there no rules we have to follow at the hospital?” 

 

“There aren’t.”

 

It was Cha Haeeon who answered my question.

 

I nodded.

 

Well, that’s a relief.

 

“But why are we waiting here?”

 

We were currently standing in front of a bus stop at Yongsan Station.

 

Captain Gong Juwon also had a puzzled face.

 

“Lieutenant Colonel Cha?”

 

“We have to take the bus. We can’t walk all the way there.” 

 

“What?!”

 

What do you mean, a bus in a contaminated zone?

 

But then, just as Cha Haeeon said, I saw a bus coming from beyond the fog.

 

Cha Haeeon said nonchalantly.

 

“For your information, that’s a ‘Calamity’.”

 

Excuse me?

 

* * *

 

The bus didn’t look like anything special.

 

It was a regular bus, not much different from the ones I usually saw.

 

But it was only when the bus came closer that I realized.

 

The bus wasn’t moving on its own.

 

A giant hand was gripping the bus from above, as if picking up a toy. 

 

As fingers resembling an old, withered tree shifted minutely, the bus turned. 

 

Thud. Squelch.

 

‘That’s the same hand I saw at the traffic light…!’ 

 

It’s the exact same hand that ran over the high school girls as soon as the light turned red!

 

Just then, the bus stopped in front of us.

 

‘It’ spoke.

 

“Beep—” 

 

And the door opened.

 

No, rather than opened… that hand opened the door for us.

 

Gulp.

 

I hugged my brother tight and examined the inside of the bus.

 

From the outside, the inside didn’t look any different either.

 

The seats were worn, and the handles were glossy.

 

There were only plenty of traces left behind by the people who used to ride it.

 

“Get on.”

 

As Cha Haeeon took the lead and boarded, Captain Gong Juwon followed behind him.

 

I was the last one to climb the stairs, hesitating.

 

Although I had never ridden a bus before, I knew that you had to pay a fare. 

 

However, the two ahead of me went inside without paying anything.

 

And for good reason—the driver’s seat was empty. Which meant there was no one to collect the fee. 

 

‘Is it really okay to just get on.’

 

After shrinking the spaceship to fit in my hand, I placed one cherry tomato on the empty driver’s seat and quickly ran toward Cha Haeeon.

 

Pyok, pyok, pyok, pyok!

 

Cha Haeeon sat on the inside of a two-person seat, and Captain Gong Ju-won stood next to him, holding a handle.

 

I sat next to Cha Haeeon and looked around.

 

The passengers I saw scattered about were all mannequins.

 

Plastic faces you’d expect to see standing in a show window. Their clothes were all different and their hairstyles varied, but their posture was all the same.

 

I asked cautiously.

 

“Is it really okay to ride this?”

 

This isn’t a bus to the afterlife or anything, right? 

 

Cha Haeeon answered with his eyes closed and his arms crossed.

 

“Just make sure you don’t fall asleep and press the bell properly.”

 

‘You get overwhelmed with sleepiness when you ride the bus, but if you can’t fight it and doze off, missing your destination, you won’t be able to get off forever and will end up riding an infinite bus train,’ Cha Haeeon had explained.

 

‘You told me not to fall asleep! Why are you closing your eyes!’

 

Just then, ‘it’ spoke again.

 

“Vroom-“

 

Soon, the bus slowly started to depart.

 

‘My first bus…’

 

Like a fool, I ended up feeling a little excited. Because as someone without normal everyday experiences like others, it was the first time in my life riding a bus.

 

I got needlessly excited and said.

 

“This is my first time riding a bus.” 

 

“I suppose so.”

 

Cha Haeeon spoke indifferently, and Captain Gong Juwon nodded coolly.

 

They probably don’t know what my words mean.

 

Because they wouldn’t know that I had lived cooped up in a hospital, just waiting for the day I die.

 

Only my brother read my mind and gave me a sea squirt octopus round of applause.

 

If my brother were human, he might have marked it on the calendar as my first anniversary. Because he was that kind of person.

 

Laughing quietly, I climbed onto Cha Haeeon’s lap and pressed my face against the window.

 

The bus was so fast that the outside scenery flashed by before I could even see anything.

 

I opened the window a little, but as my two ears flapped wildly and felt like they were going to get sucked out, I quickly closed it.

 

Gasp, gasp. I almost died.

 

Pressing myself close against Cha Haeeon, who was smirking at me, I asked.

 

“How long does it take to the hospital?” 

 

“10 minutes.” 

 

“It only takes 10 minutes? It would have easily taken two hours if we walked, so that’s a relief.”

 

Captain Gong Juwon said with relief.

 

It really was a relief. Because I didn’t have the stamina or the guts to walk through a contaminated zone for two hours.

 

Just then, my body was lifted up by Cha Haeeon, floating in the air.

 

In front of me, dangling, I saw a red bell.

 

“What?” 

 

“Press it.” 

 

“Huh?” 

 

“You said it’s your first time riding a bus.”