Chapter 89: Take in the new recruits!? |
When the sphere repaired the facility back then, it was Han Seori who lifted me up high as if declaring a successor.
But in fact, I think the one who liked it the most was Kim Cheonsu.
…Based on what I’ve observed so far, he was mostly in charge of physical labor, so it seems natural.
As if proving that point, when he first moved in here, he had dark circles under his eyes and he crawled around like a zombie.
However.
Now, it seems like he has nothing to do.
He must have been in a very good mood as he was humming and lounging around in the management office.
Somehow, it didn’t sit well with me, but considering how hard he worked so far.
And how he helped me when I went inside the steel snake.
Tsk, I wasn’t scared at all. Lasers were scarier than some bomb.
Really.
…Anyway.
The sphere, as if it had no feelings for the steel snake it was moving in, mercilessly dismantled everything and used it as materials to repair the facility.
Seeing how it speaks in the first place, it seems close to… ‘not’ feeling emotions… so it didn’t feel particularly strange.
Nevertheless, I put my hand on its body, feeling concerned, and asked.
If it was okay to dismantle everything like that.
Then, its answer was a sight to behold.
There's no reason not to. That... is no different from this place being repaired now.
That made it blatantly clear that this guy was an anomaly.
In human terms, it’s like your own building collapsing, and you repair someone else’s house with the wreckage.
But seeing how it dismisses it as no big deal… I definitely got the feeling that it was different from human-like beings.
As I looked at it, feeling strange, it blinked its lights.
Wondering what it was doing, I stared blankly.
*Clank, clank, clank.*
With that sound, a somewhat… avant-garde-looking chair rose up behind me.
It was as if it was assembled in an instant according to the sphere’s will.
Does that mean… it has taken control of this facility?
You don't need to worry. I just need to make this place my new home.
Feeling dazed, I sat on that avant-garde-looking chair.
Considering my body type, that chair is very low.
It really lacks a human touch.
Did it make this for me to sit on?
Rather than a chair… it felt like an abstract sculpture an artist might display on a street corner.
To put it nicely, it has a strong sense of its own world.
But it felt… quite lacking in common sense.
Anyway.
The important thing is that it’s not just repairing the facility.
The fact that it deliberately showed me that… does it mean it’s telling me to trust it?
It didn’t seem like the type to be so sentimental… so maybe it was just stating facts.
…Should I just absorb it?
For a moment, I sat on the bizarre chair and looked at it.
If I absorb it, can’t I remake it into something like a mecha slime, like other slimes?
Then… I could definitely trust it, too.
Not knowing I was having such thoughts, it seemed to focus on facility restoration again as soon as I took my hand off.
After much deliberation… I decided not to.
The facility isn’t fully restored yet, but if I absorb it and it doesn’t perform as well as it does now, it would be a bit troublesome.
I wondered if I could even create a slime made of machinery in the first place.
If I ate it and just a round slime came out… that would be a disaster.
What I want is not an emergency food MK-2.
And.
…Although there’s the condition of having to put my hand on it, the existence of someone who understands me felt quite special.
Although I couldn’t use it as a terminal, just that alone felt somewhat fulfilling.
Come to think of it.
There was one thing I was curious about, so I put my hand on it.
What I asked was.
…The question of why it targeted me in the first place.
It felt too blatant, but I was so curious I couldn’t stand it.
But this time, too, its answer made me dumbfounded.
That data no longer exists. It was corrupted when permissions were reset.
So it’s my fault?
…It’s not lying, is it?
With no change in expression and no inflection in its voice, only a desolate voice comes through.
This is why I don’t like machines.
They have no affection. No affection!
Then, feeling something tapping my foot, I looked down and saw Daesik wiggling against my leg as if he wanted to get on the chair.
…Why does he want to sit on this chair?
Do you also like this avant-garde chair?
Is this perhaps the sophistication of anomalies?
And I, as a former human, find it bizarre?
If that’s the case, it’s terrible.
As I put Daesik on the chair and felt dismayed, Han Seori, who had been busily doing something, opened the management office door and approached.
Han Seori, who approached us, blinked her eyes and pointed to the chair, saying,
“When did you bring this here…?”
At her question, Kim Cheonsu, who had been dozing off, jumped up from his seat and shouted,
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
His appearance was just like a soldier caught napping by a platoon leader in the situation room, so my jelly boiled.
Kim Cheonsu, who hurriedly approached, narrowed his eyes and muttered,
“…What is this?”
“Well, how can you ask me that? Weren’t you the one in the management office, Agent Kim?”
“Ah, um, that… s-sorry!!!”
When Han Seori, who usually called him Mr. Cheonsu, addressed him as Agent Kim, Kim Cheonsu turned ashen and bowed his head as if he would hit the floor.
Watching him, Han Seori sighed to the point of feeling dismay.
Han Seori waved her hand and said,
“Well, it’s fine. Since that anomaly is repairing the facility… you must have been bored. I will make some work for Agent Kim who is like that soon… so rest as much as you want.”
“Ha, haha….”
Kim Cheonsu’s face turns blue.
But he couldn’t respond to Han Seori’s words and trudged back to his seat.
Kim Cheonsu looked completely burnt out despite doing nothing.
Soon Han Seori turned around as if nothing had happened just now and looked at me.
Her face, which had been full of sighs, was now filled with excitement.
Han Seori carefully approached and looked at the avant-garde chair, then asked me,
“By any chance… did you make this?”
Should I say I made this?
…No, it seems better to say I didn’t make it.
Han Seori’s expression looking at this didn’t seem very good.
I lifted my jelly and pointed to the sphere.
To let her know that it made this.
It wasn’t really a lie, so I didn’t feel guilty or pricked by conscience.
“Hmm… is that so?”
Then Han Seori stroked her chin, called up a panel, and started manipulating this and that.
“…A superior entity has appeared in the laboratory system.”
I’m not sure what that means, but based on the nuance, it seems she noticed that the sphere is freely controlling the facility.
As expected of Doctor.
She effortlessly accomplishes what I cannot.
…Flattering her in my mind, I watched with anxiety, but Han Seori only smirked without any particular reaction.
She also seemed to have a look as if seeing something ridiculous.
Putting away the panel, she poked Sosik lying on the sphere and asked me,
“Can I try putting my hand on this too?”
The sphere shows no reaction to that question.
I don’t know if it’s appealing that it doesn’t understand, or if it really doesn’t understand.
I boiled my jelly, put my hand on the sphere, and conveyed Han Seori’s intention.
“Oh… so that’s how you communicate.”
Must I now suffer the touch of this lesser being?
“Ah, it feels like it’s saying something.”
Doing this makes me feel like I’m watching some bad comedy.
I also felt the hardship of being the person caught in the middle.
After pondering for a moment, I nodded my head.
If Han Seori puts her hand on it and communicates with the sphere… wouldn’t it be good in many ways?
Because then she could use the sphere as my vocal cords.
…If its way of speaking is a bit rough, can’t it be corrected by touching it a bit with tentacles?
Maybe it can be fixed?
The reactions were divided as I nodded.
Ma-Manager!?
“Oh, it’s okay?”
The sphere let out a voice that felt emotional for the first time, and Han Seori gleefully flexed and extended her fingers.
As I sent the intention for it not to move to the sphere, the sphere didn’t avoid Han Seori’s touch while spewing avant-garde curses.
No, maybe it couldn’t.
From that, I could know one thing.
That it has something like absolute obedience to me.
…Although it’s mixed with a bit of a violent tendency.
Realizing that I felt a bit strange.
Stirring it with tentacles to make it absolutely obedient to me… it felt a bit… you know.
But thinking it’s still good to have something good, I watched Han Seori put her hand on the sphere.
As her palm slowly moved and touched the sphere, something like the sphere’s scream was heard.
Hearing that, Han Seori frowned as if her ears hurt.
What let her know she didn’t understand it was.
The voice of Kim Cheonsu, who had been sulking far away.
“What the hell is this noise?”
“…It’s nothing. Anyway… it seems only 7496-KR can communicate by placing a hand on it.”
Han Seori muttered that while scribbling something on a memo pad.
Han Seori, who put away her pen with a regretful look, looks at me and asks,
“Can it move while repairing the facility?”
It seemed Han Seori wanted to do something.
Maybe… an experiment of some sort?
I also thought it might be related to giving Kim Cheonsu work.
Then, It’s okay with me.
And well.
It’s always been this way, so it doesn’t feel particularly new.
Like a ritual that’s usually performed when a new recruit comes in?
The sphere would obviously say yes, so when I nodded my head,
Han Seori began to look not at the sphere.
But for some reason, at me.
A chill suddenly ran through my jelly.
