Chapter 1 : The Grape Jelly That Appeared in Seoul

The world I woke up in… was the same world as the game I had held onto until the very end.

I hadn’t played it myself, but the foggy village by the sea had left such a strong impression that I remembered it.

A quiet and peaceful village.

A boring place without any real incidents.

In that world, I was born as the youngest daughter of a fisherman who had two kids.

Whenever my dad went out fishing, I got up to help my mom with her work—she was a professor.

It’s not like I wanted to help or anything.

But the internet was slow, there wasn’t much to do, and helping her killed time.

Besides, while helping, I sometimes got to hear or see stuff about the mysteries I liked.

Even though I never wanted to, I ended up hearing about my mom’s love life too.

She came to this village to do some kind of research, and while on a boat for it, she met my dad—the captain.

They fell in love, but she never told me exactly what kind of research it was.

All I heard a lot about was how Dad proposed to her during a sunset.

Contrary to how he looks, Dad’s actually pretty romantic.

As I busily moved my hands, a rustling sound was followed by a piece of paper falling to my feet.

Just before I could finish reading it, I heard a knock.

Smell of the sea.

Only one person in our house smells that strongly of fish.

Dad.

He must’ve come back from a month-long fishing trip.

While eating breakfast with Dad—who had just come home—we listened to the news.

Normally, we would’ve watched the weather forecast or something, but today it switched to emergency news.

Mom, Dad, and my sister, all still chewing their bread, stared at the screen with the red “Emergency” bar on it.

“Yes, our next story. The recent incident near Seoul Station was caused by a newly-born conceptual being.”

“Its form is undefined, and its type is Neapolitan.”

“Oh—just in, we’ve received video footage at our KTT studio. Let’s take a look.”

The screen cut from the pretty anchor to black for a moment, then came back with a shaky video.

There was some noise, but overall, it was clear enough to see the monster.

Whoever filmed it must’ve had nerves of steel.

Getting that close to a strange creature means you’re risking your life.

The clinking of utensils stopped.

I guess the monster finally appeared.

Even the anchorwoman’s voice shook as she saw it.

She must’ve seen all kinds of stuff on TV, so for her to react like that, it had to be terrifying.

As I spread jam on my toast, I listened closely.

“A giant purple body… dozens of limbs sticking out of its undefined shape.”

Even my family, who’d seen all kinds of things, looked disturbed.

Mom had her eyes closed. Dad, who works with his hands, froze with his spoon still in hand.

The only ones with no reaction were my sister and me.

She sat next to me with a serious expression as she watched the monster.

When I looked closely, I saw her face was a little stiffer than usual.

Just as I smiled proudly, having finished my toast, I looked at the screen too.

Sure enough, just like the anchor said, there was a monster.

It didn’t look like it belonged in reality.

Huge, glowing purple.

A creature spreading its energy across the land from what looked like a mouth.

Basically, a grape jelly the size of a building.

Terrifying.

Because if you don’t eat it before it spoils…

As I stared hard at the screen, Mom looked at me with a worried face and picked up the remote.

I smiled at her to let her know I was fine.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a really big grape jelly. It’s not like it’s making my heart race or anything.”

Mom looked relieved and set the remote down.

Still…

This must be from a mod I installed before I died, right?

The mod was called [Baaaby].

I didn’t read the full description—was in a rush.

But I did read the summary:

• For all ages

• Not scary at all

So this is how it works, huh…

I squinted at the TV.

No matter how I looked at it, the appearance didn’t change.

If my family wasn’t shocked by a jelly monster, then it must look really horrifying to them.

But to me, it just looked like a huge, squishy grape jelly crying “Huuggh~!”

“Ah… it’s moving again.”

The jelly, slowly wobbling, turned toward a billboard.

Its eyes focused on the flashing lights.

At that rate, it’s dangerous…

And just like I feared, the distracted jelly didn’t see a tank in its path and stepped right on it.

Oh, it fell.

As the dust settled, we saw the grape jelly lying in it, all dusty.

“ Huung.”

Is it crying?

Kinda cute, actually.

“It seems to be preparing to move again,” the anchor sighed.

No, it looks more embarrassed than anything.

A moment later, several buildings collapsed from where the jelly had bumped into them.

“I’ve got something urgent—I’m heading to work.”

“Eat first, sweetie.”

“No, I’m good.”

My sister glanced at the TV.

Something that looked like a human was under the jelly. Probably was a human.

As the jelly cried, colorful candies spilled out of their body.

Despite its cute looks, its actions were violent.

“Candy…?”

She patted my head and looked at Mom.

“I’ll eat this on the way.”

She set down her utensils and left quickly.

Mom followed her outside, and Dad quietly got up and left for the bedroom.

He must’ve been too uncomfortable to keep watching.

If that wasn’t candy, then the stuff spilling out of that person must’ve been blood.

“We now bring in Dr. Han, a specialist, to give us more insights.”

“Welcome, Dr. Han.”

“Thank you.”

“What’s your opinion on this conceptual being?”

“Hmm. With its undefined form, it’s hard to guess its origin accurately.”

“There are so many cases. As you know, there’s no fixed rule for how conceptual beings are born.”

“Some come from nature, but others are formed by absorbing human thoughts, emotions, and language.”

“So, if we could figure out the origin of this concept, it’d be easier to deal with it, right?”

“Yes—but it’s not that simple. It takes a lot of trial and error.”

“Haha. But aren’t you one of the few irreplaceable authorities on concepts in Korea? I heard you have a 20% success rate!”

The panelists got excited.

“If it’s not too much, what do you think this concept might be, Dr. Han?”

The elderly man rubbed his beard while watching the footage.

“Haha, I don’t know everything… but I think I recognize this one. That sleek, shiny body, the dozens of limbs, the yellow aura it spreads… I

suspect it was born from a concept tied to ancient Mesopotamian myths. Purple was a sacred color to them. The many limbs represent a

being that controls life and death.”

“I can’t be sure, but that’s my guess.”

20% hit rate.

Everyone was impressed and clapped.

Still, that thing… death?

The grape jelly, now recovered, was pounding the ground.

It seemed strong—flattening the earth beneath it.

Eventually it seemed to calm down and wobbled happily again.

Doesn’t seem that scary to me.

I’m not an expert, but my personal guess is:

“A concept born from the grudge of a grape jelly tossed in the trash.”

Luckily, no one was around to hear me.

Mom was out. Dad was in his room.

But for a moment, it felt like the jelly looked my way—like it understood me.

Coincidence, right?

That doctor studied more than I did, so he’s probably right.

Everyone else seems convinced.

So ancient Mesopotamians worshipped… grape jelly?

That’s kind of lame.

As the crowd cheered, I picked up the remote and turned the TV off.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

No more running away from reality.

Actually, ever since that emergency broadcast popped up, a blue window had been hovering in front of my eyes.

Info Window

Concept: [Jelly]

Entity Name: Swamp of the Abandoned

Connected Concepts: Immortality. Undeath. Corruption. (12 total)

How to Destroy:

• Consume all concepts within 1 hour. Cannot be destroyed otherwise.

Guess the [Baaaby Mode] I installed doesn’t just affect how things look.

Should’ve read the details…

It definitely affects difficulty.

Games usually have: Hard, Normal, Easy.

There was never a difficulty below Easy.

Looks like Baaaby Mode created a new one.

Literally baby-level. Spoon-fed.

My hand, still holding the toast, trembled.

Normally, it would take tons of effort, time, money, and trial and error to uncover the origins of a concept.

But here I was… seeing it right away.

Turns out everything that doctor said was wrong.

That wasn’t a “conceptual being,” but a concept.

Not just one, but a cluster of several beliefs combined into one.

And the craziest part—

Even though concepts were supposed to be indestructible,

this one had a clear way to be destroyed.

“Ugh… spoilers… I hate this.”