The Jelly Alien Will Save You!
Chapter : 1
Prologue
I know. Even for me, barely scraping by each day through petty theft isn’t exactly something to be proud of.
Getting caught makes it even worse.
Yeah… I just got caught stealing.
My body—small enough to barely reach an adult’s knee, round in silhouette, and with a jelly-like texture—was tightly bound with rope, leaving me completely unable to move.
I was hanging from a tree, swinging back and forth.
Round and round to the left.
Round and round to the right.
“Ugh… I’m dizzy…”
“Be quiet.”
Even though I groaned, the owner of the field was merciless.
“You’re the one who stole the carrots, right?”
“Carrots? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I shook my head innocently, pretending ignorance.
I couldn’t see the expression of the man wearing a gas mask, but I could clearly feel his suspicion.
“If you lie, I won’t let you go.”
“…It was me.”
“I knew it.”
Tch.
Since I’d already been caught, I just chewed the carrot still in my mouth.
Seeing my shameless attitude, the farmer looked dumbfounded. I rolled my eyes.
“Ugh… d-dizzy…”
“You think acting like that will make me let you go?”
I narrowed my eyes and grumbled.
“You said you’d let me go. If you lie, you’re a bad human.”
“A bad human?”
The man let out a small laugh, then instead of replying, he stabbed his shovel into the ground with a thud.
As if to say, if I really were a bad human, you’d already be done for.
Eek!
The man squinted and poked one of my trembling ears. My long, rabbit-like ear squished inward and then popped back out.
After scanning me from head to toe, he asked suspiciously,
“What the hell are you, anyway?”
…Honestly, I understood him.
Yeah. If I were him, I’d also find it strange to see a round jelly creature talking. Even I found myself strange.
So, how did this happen…?
I started recalling from the moment I became like this.
Chapter: When I Opened My Eyes, I Was a Jelly Alien
Beep!
[Emergency Danger Response Protocol Activated]
Beep!
[Emergency Danger Response Protocol Activated]
Beep!
[Emergency Danger Response Protocol Activated]
[If this alert has appeared, there is a 99.9% probability that you have crash-landed on an alien planet.]
…Huh?
Startled awake by the noise, I stared at the window in front of me—and hiccupped.
Emergency?
Hic!
[Scanning the planet you have landed on…]
[Current location: Earth, Korea, Seoul, Yongsan]
[Updating location data…]
…Yongsan?
Unable to believe it, I let my mouth hang open. As I slowly turned my head, I saw large letters on a building that read “Yongsan Station.”
I was standing in front of an empty Yongsan Station.
The plaza, once crowded with people, had turned into a field of grass. Cars abandoned along the road were overgrown with tangled vines.
Of course, it made sense that Yongsan Station was empty.
The entire Yongsan area had been devastated and overtaken by forest due to a Dungeon Break.
The eerie rustling of leaves echoed around me.
Ten years ago, something called “dungeons” suddenly appeared.
Dungeons were subspaces inhabited by monsters, and if they weren’t cleared, a Dungeon Break would occur—where the corrupted subspace spilled out into reality and engulfed the surrounding area.
Many regions had been completely destroyed because of it.
Among them, Yongsan was the number one city that the government, military, and countless guilds all hoped to reclaim.
And I had somehow made it into that very Yongsan.
“…?”
Feeling a strange sense of awe, I tilted my head.
But more importantly… what the hell happened?
Did my relatives—who were practically waiting for me to die—dump me here?
It wasn’t entirely impossible, but of all places… this was Yongsan.
A place you couldn’t enter even if you wanted to. A place you couldn’t just dump someone into even if you tried.
Hic!
My hiccups wouldn’t stop.
…So I probably wasn’t abandoned. Yeah. I should be fine. For now.
Trying to calm my tightening chest, I looked again at the notification window floating before me.
Beep!
[Emergency Danger Response Protocol Activated]
[If this alert has appeared, there is a 99.9% probability that you have crash-landed on an alien planet.]
[The Danger Response Protocol will suggest “Survival Quests” suited to your situation to ensure your safe survival.]
An alien planet? Crash landing? Quests?
As I read the unfamiliar words, a chill ran down my spine.
Then suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
‘<Ppojjak Ppojjak! Planetmon!>’
It was a game I used to play all the time before I ended up here.
Like Pokémon GO or Pikmin, it was a GPS-based walking game. As you walked, you’d encounter Planetmons, and by purifying them, you’d earn seeds and coins to grow your farm.
‘I walked every day collecting seeds and coins… even did exercises…’
It was a bit annoying sometimes, but it was the only thing that brought energy to my dull hospital life.
Yeah… the notification window in front of me felt exactly like that game.
In Ppojjak Ppojjak! Planetmon!, the protagonist is “an alien who crash-landed on Earth,” so the opening always started like this—
Beep!
[Emergency Danger Response Protocol Activated]
—Exactly like this.
Beep!
The hologram-like window kept emitting loud alert sounds.
I staggered to my feet like a newborn giraffe and walked toward a random car parked on the street.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
A squeaky noise followed every step I took.
“…?”
Confused, I leaned forward and looked at the dusty car window.
Reflected faintly in the glass… was a strawberry-milk-colored jelly doll.
‘…Jelly?’
It had a round body, two long rabbit-like ears, and a tiny, pouty mouth.
No way.
…No, that can’t be.
I waved my hand. I even tried smiling.
The jelly in the reflection copied me exactly.
Its long, blunt ears flopped as it moved.
“Ha—!”
I clamped both hands over my mouth.
What do you mean “no way”?
That jelly… is me…!
My shoulders began to tremble.
When I opened my eyes… I had suddenly become an alien that crash-landed on Earth.
