Chapter 4 : Shell, Mimic (2)

Sitting in the backseat of the car, Kim Sera was feeling queasy, experiencing the strange force of inertia firsthand.

For the first time in her life, she realized how wild and dangerous cars could be.

Two sharp turns in a row—drifting.

Help!!

She had hoped the car would slow down once they entered the city, but that hope was pointless. Maybe someone had already contacted the

traffic control department, because all the traffic lights stayed green.

Thanks to that, the car kept running at its highest speed.

Kim Sera’s stomach was spinning, and her head was bouncing side to side. But she didn’t let go of the paper she was holding.

She kept her eyes on it.

[Doppelgänger – A History of Molting and Copying]

—Author: Kim Sung-woo

It was a paper by a well-known expert in the field.

A lot of it was content she had already seen in other papers. Maybe that’s because it quoted many parts from elsewhere.

How long had she been reading it intently?

Another awful sound came from the car, and her body twisted to the right with the force. She reflexively felt sick again.

Her plan to read carefully from the beginning got messed up. Her finger slipped off the paper, and the pages quickly flipped backward with a

flap-flap sound.

By the time Kim Sera turned her head again, the page had already changed.

The table of contents had shifted.

She was about to flip it back, but her gaze froze on a specific line:

[The Original Nature of Doppelgängers]

• They are born without a physical form, like illusions.

• The meaning inside them is “copy,” and they cannot resist stealing the appearance of whatever they see first after being born. But it’s not just about appearance—they want to copy the entire essence of the being.

• Doppelgängers follow one clear rule: survival.

On Earth, two identical beings existing at the same time, even down to the genetic level, is considered an “error.”

Before the Earth realizes and eliminates the mistake, the doppelgänger kills the copied being the moment the copying is complete.

That’s how they fix the error.

However, that’s only the common scenario.

There are rare doppelgängers who copy only the appearance, not the essence.

They survive using a simple method: variables.

The “rules” we know aren’t without exceptions. They quickly copy someone and then move on to another.

That way, they repeatedly cause and resolve errors before higher beings notice.

This is the in-between stage of “idea” and “concept” — called “molting.” Only two such doppelgängers have appeared in history.

And both caused huge casualties because they couldn’t be controlled.

There’s plenty of evidence for this.

Even if their behavior isn’t always consistent, one thing is the same:

They never act rashly.

Doppelgängers can learn human knowledge just by copying appearances.

Essence—like the soul—isn’t needed.

Memories are stored in appearance. Through this, they understand our world.

Because they act carefully, it’s hard to track them.

By the time you notice them—it’s always too late.

At that moment, the danger level of that “idea” jumps from [Low] to [Extreme].

Kim Sera’s eyes shook as she read.

If this was true, the current “idea” that appeared… there’s no way she could control or stop it with just her team of 25 people.

“It’s dangerous! Team Leader Han Yuri! We need backup—now!”

She didn’t get to read the last part of the author’s conclusion:

—Ah, but don’t worry.

“Rules” are innate. They can be avoided but not changed.

We must use this to our advantage and try to neutralize the “idea.”

A critical moment.

Even if it looked like a gummy bear, she could already tell what would happen to her.

She’d probably be torn apart into two, maybe three pieces.

She had the fragile body of a child—not strong at all.

And frankly, she was weaker than most kids.

If she made a move against the monster, she might end up like that kindergarten teacher lying over there.

Running away is the best choice… right?

She quickly looked around, trying to find a way to survive, but came to a conclusion:

Impossible.

She couldn’t run.

If she ran, her heart would race.

And if that happened—she’d die.

A perfect three-step logic.

The only exit was behind the girl.

And since she’d have to walk—not run—it would only take seconds before the girl caught her.

The way out was blocked.

Still, having the mind of an adult, she didn’t panic. She used her head and did what she could:

She shut her eyes. Tightly.

1 minute.
2 minutes.
…3 minutes.

She had her eyes shut for several minutes, but nothing happened. No sensation.

Had it left?

Even while having that cliché thought, curiosity got the best of her. She slowly opened her eyes.

The girl was still standing there, just like before.

No—something had changed.

Before, her eyes were glowing red, and she looked like she was about to do something terrifying.

But now, she just looked like a harmless girl her age.

The lights in the kindergarten had come back on.

What happened? Can I run now?

She glanced down at her wrist.

The girl’s hand was still lightly holding her arm.

It didn’t seem like a tight grip.

Carefully, she spoke.

DING!

• You’ve attempted to communicate with the “Idea.” Current difficulty: [Extreme].

• “Baby Mode” changes the difficulty.

• Difficulty: [Extreme] ▶ [Baby!]

• Conversation successful!

• [Approval rating: -2732]

• 18

• Baby Mode recalculates approval rating.

• Bonus score!
  [Approval rating: -2732] + 18 + BONUS 662!

Right after she spoke, the girl flinched.

A surprised expression.

She opened her mouth and stared at her in shock.

“So, um…”

DING!

• You’ve attempted to communicate with the “Idea.” Difficulty: [Extreme-].
  [Approval: -2043] + 7 + BONUS 682

• Critical success!

• Baby Mode raises crit chance from [0.0005%] to [50%]
  [Approval: -] + CRITICAL 2043!

The girl looked like she was in pain.

Her childish face made her seem huggable, but the adult mind inside her refused the urge.
Whatever was going on, the doppelgänger was acting strangely.

This… might be her chance.

The creature made a move like it was going to attack—but stopped.

She hesitated, then gently placed her free right hand on the one holding her.

Cold.

At first, she tried to shake it off. It didn’t look like it was gripping tightly.

Didn’t budge.

She added a bit more force.

• Attempting emotional connection with “Idea.” Difficulty: [Normal].

• Baby Mode changes difficulty.

• Difficulty: [Normal] ▶ [Baby!]

• Connection successful!

Still wouldn’t let go.

Without realizing, she got stubborn. She stopped watching the girl’s reactions and focused entirely on wiggling her hand free.

Squish-squish—

• Connection successful!

Strange noises kept coming to her ears, but she ignored them. Her life was more important.

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!
[Approval: -] + 31 + BONUS 1115
[Approval: -] + 32 + BONUS 1345
[Approval: -] + 31 + BONUS 1535
[Approval: -] + 30 + BONUS 1221
[Approval: -] + 42 + BONUS 1521

• Approval surpassed 10,000.

• New route for “Shell” unlocked.

• “Shell” uses unique ability: Mimicry.

• “Stopper (Time)”

Everything returned to normal.

The blackout was over.

The children and teachers were back to making paper crafts like nothing had happened.

“Yerin, go back to your seat.

She was a bit shocked by the peaceful scene revealed by the light and returned to her seat at the teacher’s call.

Wasn’t the teacher bleeding earlier?

Now her face looked calm, like nothing happened.

“Was that… a dream?”

She turned her head—and saw the girl now sitting beside her, even though she had been diagonally across earlier.

So, it wasn’t a dream.

“Do you not like me?”

Then this girl was the one who had reversed everything.

Kim shook her head at the question, then looked at the girl, now sitting blank-faced next to her.

A screen appeared above the girl’s head.

It looked slightly different from before.

Her approval rating was really high now.

[Approval: 13,411]
[Existence: 512,465]
[Danger: Extreme]
— Exception Target: Han Yerin

The numbers were wild.

She remembered the minimum value shown before: about 1,300. Back then, she hadn’t even thought about reaching it.

Now she had gone 10 times over.

Even her “Existence” value seemed higher than before.

Why was it so high?

She hadn’t done anything special to the girl.

Just tried to shake her hand off and said a few words.

Could that really be why?

She glanced sideways at the girl sitting next to her. Their eyes met—and the girl gave a shy smile.

You’re kind of a weakling, aren’t you?

Maybe not all “ideas” are scary.

Still, no matter how friendly this girl seemed, she was a monster.

A being humans couldn’t understand.

She could turn hostile again at any moment.

That’s what she told herself, anyway.

“Let’s play together.”

The girl asked.

Kim thought for a moment, then shook her head.

When a weak human hears “let’s play,” they hear “invitation.” But it actually means “command.”

But sorry, not today.

She was physically drained. Her heart had been racing earlier, and now even sitting made her body slump.

Honestly, it was her own fault.

She had panicked when she tried to get her arm back from the gummy bear–faced girl and accidentally got excited.

“Sorry, I’m a bit tired right now.”

Suddenly, all the noise around her stopped.

Time froze.

Everything went still.

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl’s body flickered like it glitched.

Her eyes turned bright red again. The lights began to blink.

Like she couldn’t handle rejection.

The girl’s gummy bear face started to collapse halfway.

The building shook.

Creak—

Wood cracked and groaned like it was screaming.

Had she just stepped on a landmine?

• Approval 13,411

• Attempting to override “rules” based on approval.

• …Success chance 99.99%

• “Shell” resists…

• Resists…

• Resistance failed.

DING!

• “Shell’s” behavior has changed.

“Okay, then… I guess we can play next time.”