Chapter 13 …
My body felt like it was melting, dripping downward.
I kept wanting to lean against something… or lie down… maybe I was even getting sleepy.
‘No—absolutely not!’
Focus.
I was being influenced by the original host’s consciousness again.
Right now, I probably don’t even have anything you could call… a hand, right?
I panicked for a moment, but thankfully, the tip of my body stretched out and moved exactly as I imagined.
The advantage of being a Great Slime is that my whole body is made of gelatin—so I can reshape myself however I like!
With the hand I formed, the first thing I did was wrap ‘Lee Yoo-ji,’ who was sitting there blankly in shock.
To be precise, I absorbed him into my transparent belly.
As long as I’m the one controlling this body, even if someone touches the slime fluid, they won’t feel pain.
‘They just won’t be able to move.’
Slime fluid is, after all, a powerful neurotoxin.
Next, I hurriedly swallowed Choi Woo-jin, who was about to pull out a weapon.
He didn’t even have time to groan before he slid inside my stomach.
‘I… just ate the protagonist.’
That felt incredibly weird.
I felt Choi Woo-jin thrash violently inside my belly.
Something poked around—my stomach churned like I had eaten spoiled food—
gurgle… gurgle…
A few waves rolled through my belly, and then everything went still.
‘Oh wow… I actually controlled the slime’s body.’
Just like when I possessed Lulu—why do I keep learning how to control non-human creatures…? It’s not a great feeling.
Still, Choi Woo-jin is the strongest person in this world, so I won’t be able to paralyze him for long.
Now… for the last one—
“Ahhhh! D-Don’t come near me…!”
Kang Il-yeon blew his whistle and activated the golem.
The golem punched into my belly, but—
‘I’m an A-rank monster right now.’
I easily bounced them away and reached toward Kang Il-yeon.
“KyuuUUuung…?”
I wanted to say “don’t be scared,” but that was all that came out of my mouth.
I lifted Kang Il-yeon and tossed him gently into my mouth—
gulp.
After swallowing all three, I grabbed the keychain from Alex, who was lying unconscious on the ground.
A cat-shaped keychain—same as Kang Wol-yeon’s, just a different color.
A staff keyring. It opens a warehouse belonging to the Ssusubat Group somewhere in Seoul.
As long as it’s not a heavily warded area, I can slip out pretty quickly with this mushy body. Escaping comes first.
Any guards—I can take them out with neurotoxin.
But I certainly couldn’t use the cat keyring I personally owned.
‘If I show up at the headquarters as a slime, my identity will be exposed instantly.’
Thinking that, I activated the keyring.
If you want to exit pocket space and return to the original location, this is what you do:
◐◑
These eyes—
◑◐
Return to this shape.
Ugh… sticky hands make it tricky, but I somehow did it.
As my body kept growing, debris from the ground began sticking to me, so I closed my eyes. Exiting pocket space can be disorienting.
When I opened my eyes—
“…?”
“Kyuuuuuu…?”
What appeared around me was a vast, abandoned-factory-like area, with rusted drums scattered about.
And there stood a person I never expected to see.
A calm, emotionless face—rarely surprised.
Those evenly balanced eyes, nose, and lips—the face I loved.
“……what—”
His expression twisted.
His startled eyes trembled.
And the name tag on his broad chest shook along with them:
Hunter Investigation Bureau, Team 1
Team Leader: Kwon Ik-seong
…It was Ik-seong!
And the moment I recognized him—
My stomach lurched.
It felt like someone punched me in the gut from the inside.
“KkUUUuug!”
I tried to hold it in, but I couldn’t.
My… mouth—if you could call it that—opened wide, and three humans tangled with slime fluid spewed out.
“KyuuUUUUUU!”
After vomiting everything, I felt moisture drain from my body, and I began to shrink.
Maybe I’d used too much of the slime’s neurotoxin.
I stared at the three humans—now bigger than me.
Kang Il-yeon, passed out.
Lee Yoo-ji, probably also passed out.
And Choi Woo-jin, covered head to toe in slime juice, looked up at Kwon Ik-seong with a miserable face.
Choi Woo-jin raised a tired hand.
“…Hi. Detective sir.”
Like hell this is something to say “hi” about!!
Hamm In-a, new investigator of Team 1.
She had joined barely a month ago, and today, she arrived at the scene with a tense face.
Top of her class—so she got into the elite Team 1. But that was where her troubles began.
Everyone in Team 1 was absurdly competent.
Especially Kwon Ik-seong—who, during meetings, could reconstruct entire crime scenes and deduce culprits from just a few clues. It was chilling to watch.
Still, she believed she was keeping up.
Her direct senior had told her:
‘You’re catching on fast, rookie. A real rising star.’
Hearing “rising star” only fired her up more.
She had joined with pride and a sense of duty.
Multiple guilds had tried recruiting her, but she refused all of them.
However—
‘Don’t push yourself too hard. Today’s arms-smuggling site is packed with weapons. One moment of carelessness, and—bang.’
She felt primal fear.
‘Does every investigator keep working with this kind of dread?’
She was thinking that when—
H.S. Investigation Academy – 57th class group chat
While pulling up documents, she accidentally opened the class chat—and it was erupting with messages.
‘…?’
Without meaning to, her finger tapped the chat.
Is that video the rookie from Team 5?
The one who got in last place on the physical test?
Should we be talking like this?
Doesn’t matter. She’s not in this chat. She joined last-last minute, nobody got her number.
Still, maybe stop calling her last place.
Bruh, she’s F-rank and kicked a D-rank like that??
She got nine lives or something.
What video…?
She scrolled up instinctively—but—
“Hey, rookie. Didn’t I warn you today’s dangerous? We’re almost there.”
“Ah—yes!”
She hurried to put her phone away, just as her senior, Yeo Hyung-se, got a call.
It was from Team Leader Kwon Ik-seong.
“Yes, sir. We’re almost onsite. Any dangerous situa—”
[Can we get a healer here?]
Yeo Hyung-se’s face froze.
Hamm In-a also stiffened.
“Who… got injured?”
Yeo Hyung-se’s voice trembled. Hamm In-a reached for the revolver on her hip.
A quiet sigh came from the other end.
Kwon Ik-seong had sighed.
That alone was shocking—he never revealed emotion.
But what he said next was even more unexpected.
[The rookie from Team 5 fainted.]
“…Excuse me? Team 5’s rookie?”
Yeo Hyung-se’s voice cracked.
Why would a rookie from Team 5 faint at Team 1’s crime scene??
[Yes. And it seems… we’ve discovered a new connected pocket dimension. Evidence is… pouring out. Forensics is on the way, so tell the others to wait at headquarters.]
And with that, it was basically a declaration that the entire case ended as soon as Team 1 arrived.
After hanging up, Yeo Hyung-se muttered blankly:
“…So… the case is closed?”
