“You’re pretty cute in your own way, though.”
My sunken mood brightened in an instant. Perhaps because the creature resembled an old friend, memories I had buried for a long time began bubbling up one after another like soap bubbles.
Come to think of it, Arachne was the one who taught me how to read, and Arachne was also the one who stole novels only the researchers were allowed to read and brought them to me. Was it doing well? It had already been large back then, and it kept growing bigger by the day, so it might be enormous by now.
When I reached out and gently stroked its back, the creature seemed ticklish and rolled around on the floor with squeaky little cries. Seeing how quickly it had warmed up to me made me want to take it everywhere with me. The problem was that I would have to persuade my brother first…….
“Hmm.”
He disliked even letting me walk on my own two feet. Would he really allow me to carry around some unidentified monster? I had a feeling he would kill it before I even had the chance to persuade him.
When I moved my finger again and scratched its soft, jelly-like belly, the creature stretched out its legs and repeatedly spread its tentacles in every direction before drawing them back in. Beneath its thin, membrane-like skin, I could faintly feel a pulse beating. It felt so vividly alive. How upset would I be if it died right in front of me?
“…….”
Should I send it away now, before my brother noticed it? When I stopped moving my hand to check on my brother, who was still talking outside, the creature immediately flipped itself over and rubbed its tentacles against the tip of my finger, as though asking why I had stopped.
……It even knew how to act spoiled.
After hesitating for a moment, I carefully lifted the creature. It wriggled once more in my palm, then tucked its legs inward and curled up like a cat. The sight of it settling in so confidently made me laugh.
“Let’s go together. I’ll try to persuade my brother.”
Peeep!
The creature suddenly leaped high into the air, then landed back in my palm. Had it understood what I meant and reacted? I gently rubbed its body with my thumb, massaging it as I continued.
“What should I name you? Lara?”
Squeak!
“You don’t like that? Then Silly?”
Kyoo-eep!
“All right, Silly it is.”
Perhaps delighted to have been given a name, the creature shook its rear and jumped several times. Ah, so cute. If more monsters were going to appear from now on, I hoped they would be creatures like this rather than dangerous ones.
By this point, I wanted to see the others too. Ever since entering this body, I had deliberately pushed those memories into a corner of my mind, but seeing Silly brought back more than one old friend.
Mid, who loved swimming. Grid, who liked resting among fallen leaves and in damp soil. Even Strick, who slept pressed tightly against me whenever it was cold.
“……I miss them.”
“What do you miss?”
I had only muttered it meaninglessly to myself, yet an answer came from directly behind me. I flinched in surprise, reflexively rose from my seat, hid Silly behind my body, and turned around. Baek Hyeonwoo and Moon Seyoung were entering the dining area through the half-open door.
“Ah, no, nothing. Did your conversation go well?”
“More or less.”
“Wait! Wait, Brother. Stay right there for a moment.”
When I stepped in front of Baek Hyeonwoo, who had naturally started approaching the table, he frowned slightly and tilted his head. I knew I must look suspicious, but I was too desperate to help it. I had not even figured out how to persuade him yet.
A brief silence passed. Baek Hyeonwoo looked down at me without saying anything. He neither agreed and stepped back nor came any closer. He merely watched me through narrowed eyes.
“Just a moment. Just a moment.”
I knew I had to say something, but my thoughts were already a complete mess. Cold sweat ran down my back, and my mind went so blank that I could not think of anything at all. Wow, what was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do?
Peeep-!
At that moment, a small, sharp cry burst out behind me, and a light, downy weight landed on my shoulder with a soft plop. The instant both of their gazes moved upward, I hurriedly wrapped both hands around the creature and pulled it against my chest.
“You can’t kill it!”
The moment I shouted it like a scream and stepped backward, my leg caught against a chair with a thud, and my vision flipped upside down. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for a dizzying burst of pain.
“Haa, Sihyeon. I don’t know what that is, but you mustn’t do anything dangerous. You almost seriously hurt yourself.”
Baek Hyeonwoo’s sigh drifted down from directly above my head. I cautiously opened my eyes, and the moment our gazes met, I gave him a sheepish grin. Even then, I had kept both hands neatly clasped in front of my chest so I would not have to hand Silly over. Baek Hyeonwoo lowered his gaze and arched one eyebrow. It meant I had better explain properly, so I had no choice but to open my hands slightly and speak in a shrinking voice.
“S-say hello. This is Silly…… my friend.”
Peeep!
Whether it understood my efforts or not, the creature lifted one leg and made a cheerful sound.
Only after Baek Hyeonwoo had put enough distance between them and the dining area that their voices would not carry unless they shouted did he turn to Moon Seyoung and speak.
“So where did they move the important people?”
“Oh, come on. It’s not as though you couldn’t have guessed. They moved them to a preservation zone, of course.”
“……A preservation zone still exists? That should be impossible.”
“They must have built a new one. Humans are far too sly to simply do exactly as we told them. I knew this would happen from the beginning.”
Moon Seyoung gave a huff and tucked her hair behind her ear. Was she even aware that she herself was currently wearing a human form and that the being she valued most was also human? Of course, if he pointed that out, she would undoubtedly give the absurd answer, ‘Sihyeon is different from other humans!’ so Baek Hyeonwoo asked another question instead.
“Then gathering people along the southern coast really is meant to exterminate them without expending much effort.”
“That’s right. I checked just in case, and they planted bombs all over the sea near that area. They reduced the city you lived in to dust too, didn’t they?”
“I did that.”
Moon Seyoung’s eyes widened at the words he murmured almost like a whisper.
“How?”
“They were already preparing to erase the city we lived in, just as you said, so I merely pulled the trigger ahead of them. They will assume everything went according to plan, so there is no need to worry about it.”
He released a deep sigh and swept his hair back. He had wondered why something so absurd had suddenly happened, but it seemed the humans had deliberately planned the entire thing.
“Then the zombies really are a human creation too.”
“Of course. I assumed that would be the first thing you went to investigate, so I was surprised to find you here.”
“I sent Beomho to the Central Core Administration Zone and Itae to the Special Research Control Zone. We will have to decide after seeing what the two of them discover. Do you know where this newly created preservation zone is?”
“Near the External Contamination Zone. Well, I suppose they thought they were being clever by choosing somewhere unexpected…….”
She lightly shrugged. Baek Hyeonwoo gripped his throbbing head and squeezed his eyes shut. He could not believe that the foolish humans had ruined everything they had prepared until now to make their beloved youngest—their one and only human—happy.
“Haa……. After we went to all the trouble of showing them mercy.”
“That’s why I told you not to trust humans. Ah, I was really looking forward to it too.”
The way Moon Seyoung pouted and complained was cute enough that Baek Sihyeon would have stared at her in a daze. Naturally, it inspired no such feelings in Baek Hyeonwoo, who knew what she truly was.
“I even practiced so much! ‘Hello. Hyeonwoo has told me a lot about you. My name is Moon Seyoung.’”
“……Haa, enough. What are you planning to do from now on, Ms. Moon Seyoung?”
“Me? I’m going with Sihyeon.”
Her tone suggested that she could not understand why he was asking something so obvious. Baek Hyeonwoo furrowed his brow slightly.
“There is no need for you to come.”
“But I want to.”
“The entire plan has already fallen apart. What would you even do by coming with us?”
“I just like Sihyeon. I don’t particularly care that the plan failed. I’m a little disappointed, but that’s all.”
“…….”
“Ah, are you trying to keep me in check? Sihyeon seems completely smitten with me, so I suppose you feel threatened?”
“Shut up.”
“I don’t want to.”
“I told you to shut up.”
“And I told you I don’t want to.”
Had Baek Sihyeon heard them, he probably would have asked why they were both acting so childish. Or he might have watched them with that strangely excited expression. Either way, Baek Hyeonwoo would not have welcomed it.
“He is ‘my’ younger brother.”
“He is ‘our’ human.”
Moon Seyoung crossed her arms and raised her head proudly, while Baek Hyeonwoo twisted his lips and glared at her.
“Our? I am his legal family. You are not.”
“Oh, so you’re going to play dirty like this?”
“It is not playing dirty. It is reality.”
“But can you really stand there and proudly call yourself his family? I saw Sihyeon babbling as a baby. I even watched him take his first steps.”
“Ha! Dragging up things from the past is pathetic.”
“Pathetic? You’re the pathetic one, Baek Hyeonwoo.”
Neither of them yielded in the slightest as they stared at each other with blazing eyes.