The Jelly Alien Will Save You! Chapter 73

With an expressionless face, Jaehee Oppa looked up at Cha Haeeon.

 

“…In case you get contaminated.”

 

“Ah, contaminated.”

 

Saying so in a languid tone, Jaehee Oppa lowered his gaze and met the flapjack octopus’s eyes. As if they were having a conversation.

 

Immediately following that, the flapjack octopus stomped a foot down hard. Then, he rolled around on the floor, laughing his head off.

 

Jaehee Oppa also dropped his usual expressionlessness for the first time, curling the corners of his mouth up into a wide grin. For Jaehee Oppa, who maintained an impassive face from beginning to end, this was as good as roaring with laughter. 

 

By the way, that behavior, that laugh. 

 

…That was what those two did whenever they caught someone by a weak point to tease them.

 

For some reason, it felt like their target this time was Cha Haeeon.

 

Whether Cha Haeeon was annoyed by Kyeol Oppa, who kept mimicking him and laughing, he arched an eyebrow and abruptly spun around.

 

Whether he did or not, Jaehee Oppa made a brazen demand at his back.

 

“Haeeon-ah, go boil some eggs.”

 

Having spoken like an evil stepsister dumping chores onto Cinderella, Jaehee Oppa added:

 

“Damie says she needs boiled eggs.” 

 

Using me as an excuse out of nowhere?!

 

Slam!

 

As if not even feeling the need to answer, Cha Haeeon shut the door hard. 

 

“….”

 

What the. 

 

Feeling like I was being teased for no reason too, I pouted in dissatisfaction.

 

However, at what Jaehee Oppa said next, my heart melted in an instant.

 

“Our youngest, let’s go fishing to duplicate some money.”

 

Duplicating money…? 

 

Come to think of it, Jaehee Oppa was a legendary ‘abuser (a user who unfairly exploits advantages)’ who had even gotten banned for abusing bugs.

 

It meant he was someone who knew hundreds of exploit methods to make money.

 

“Mhm!”

 

I nodded my head enthusiastically.

 

“How many coins have you collected?”

 

“Right now I have around 180,000.”

 

“You’ve collected a lot. Then, want to buy a frog skin?”

 

“Mhm.”

 

To execute the fishing bug play, the frog skin was required.

 

When I spent 1,000 coins to buy the frog skin, a crisp, light-green raincoat and a pair of boots popped out.

 

As Jaehee Oppa dressed me in the raincoat, Bora Unnie said I was too cute, hugging me and planting kisses on me.

 

While I was receiving all that love and adoration, Cha Haeeon walked out carrying a basket.

 

Inside the basket was a heap of boiled eggs.

 

“….”

 

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

 

You really boiled them, Chaderella.

 

“What are you planning to do with these?”

 

Cha Haeeon asked, seeing us getting ready.

 

“We’re going fishing!”

 

“We’re going to go fishing.”

 

When Jaehee Oppa and I spoke at the same time, Chaderella’s eyebrows furrowed into an odd shape.

 

“You’re going to go fishing in the contaminated zone?” 

 

“Mhm

 

Wearing the frog raincoat and even the boots, I twirled around.

 

“Frog bait fishing!”

 

* * *

 

Yongsan Park stop.

 

“Beep—”

 

Upon arriving at our destination, we tumbled out of the bus in a crowd.

 

I caught a candy thrown to me by a huge hand. 

 

The hand that gave me the candy started moving the bus again and departed. Rattle, rattle.

 

With the bus gone, the fully revealed entrance of Yongsan Park was heavily cloaked in thick fog. It was so dense you could barely see an inch ahead.

 

“The fog is worse than expected….”

 

Although his expression was rigid, Jaehee Oppa’s tone was brimming with worry. It sounded as if he might say we should turn back at any moment.

 

“This much is fine, it’s fine~”

 

I waved my hand flutteringly.

 

It’s a wiiittle scary, but if we can earn big money, we can endure this level of risk! 

 

Holding the basket containing the fair, boiled eggs, I trotted squeak-squeak-squeak. Behind my neck, a fishing hook was attached. 

 

As I stepped forward, the line from Jaehee Oppa’s fishing rod lengthened.

 

What we intended to catch today was the ‘Golden Carp’ inhabiting the pond, a unique creature that appeared only rarely.

 

Thanks to that, the Golden Carp spewed a great deal of coins whenever caught, yielding anywhere from 1,000 to as many as 10,000 coins per fish.

 

Then why did we call this ‘money duplication’?

 

It was because you could use a bug to force this Golden Carp to respawn (for a monster to generate again) and catch it continuously.

 

In the game, getting caught would get your account suspended, but in the real world, there are no operators…!

 

For that reason, everyone was holding a wooden fishing rod today.

 

As we stepped into the entrance of Yongsan Park, we felt as though we were crossing over squishy jelly. 

 

The fog was just as thick on the inside, but the sensation against the skin was strangely clammy. My clothes felt soaked even though I hadn’t been splashed with water.

 

“It feels a little, a little damp.”

 

Bora Unnie rubbed her arms.

 

“Right? It feels like we came to play in the water at a fountain!”

 

Jumping up and down, I brought up an old memory. 

 

There was a fountain at the hospital too, and in the summer, they would turn on the water so we could play there.

 

When I laughed while mentioning that those brief moments were the only times I ever got to play in the water, for some reason, everyone gathered around and patted me gently.

 

“Next time, let’s definitely go play in the water together with Unnie.”

 

“Once we get out of here, shall we all go to the ocean together?”

 

“Mhm, mhm!”

 

Not knowing the reason why but feeling happy nonetheless, I smiled brightly.

 

Before long, we moved along the path cut through the forest.

 

Just then, however, the sound of unknown things murmuring and chattering could be heard from the bushes.

 

“A frog. A frog has come.”

 

“Looks delicious. That really looks delicious. If we pop it in our mouths and crunch-crunch swallow it down, it’ll fill our bellies right up.”

 

“Shall we eat it? Shall we eat it? Shall we eat it? Shall we eat it? Shall we eat it?”

 

“A frog has come! Let’s tear off its limbs and share a bite each.”

 

The sound of someone gulping down saliva could also be heard.

 

Eek!

 

Being the frog, I rolled my eyes around frantically.

 

At that moment, fish heads emerged from the bushes and muttered.

 

“Shall we eat it?”

 

“Shall we eat it?”

 

“Shall we eat it?”

 

“Shall we eat it?”

 

“Shall we eat it?”

 

I barely clamped my hand over my mouth to stop a scream from bursting out.

 

My heart beat wildly.

 

I have to be careful not to get eaten.

 

‘Because right now, I’m the bait frog……!’

 

The reason they regarded me as a frog was that I bought and wore the frog skin.

 

The options attached to this skin were as follows:

 

[Frog Raincoat Set]

 

– Can become extremely cute.

– When equipped, treated as a ‘Bait Frog’, and gains the ability to understand the language of aquatic creatures.

 

What was a ‘Bait Frog’ here?

 

It refers to the rare ‘all-purpose bait’. 

 

And that meant aquatic creatures would smack their lips and gather around me.

 

Shiver, shiver. Before I knew it, I grabbed the hem of Cha Haeeon’s pants who had come to my side, and whispered quietly: 

 

“Cha Haeeon…. The fish aren’t living in water, they’re out in the forest….”

 

“They mutated. That’s why I told you it would be dangerous.”

 

“That’s why I’m sticking right next to you.”

 

Cha Haeeon looked down at me with displeasure.

 

Why, what, why?

 

“By the way, what about the pond? Is it far from here?”

 

I glanced around nearby.

 

“That’s it.”

 

Cha Haeeon gestured toward one side with his chin.

 

“…?”

 

A question mark floated over my head.

 

Because there was no pond where he pointed. All that was around was just fog.

 

From the ground up to waist height, thick, white fog lay pooled.

 

“I only see fog, though?”

 

When I asked, Cha Haeeon nodded.

 

“This fog is the pond.”

 

Patter-patter-patter-patter!

 

Patter-patter-patter-patter-patter!

 

Just then, the hectic sound of things scampering all over the place came from around us.

 

“Then this sound is…”

 

“Those are the fish you said you were going to catch.”

 

Kyaaaaaaaak!

 

Clutching the hem of Cha Haeeon’s pants, I screamed silently.

 

Even in that moment, the scurrying sounds continued: Patter! Patter-patter!

 

“Looks tasty.”

 

“I want to eat it!”

 

“Let’s just take a single bite!”

 

The fish were running in circles all around me!