Anomaly-404 (1): Pokey Needles and Sweet Rewards
“Ughhh…”
My arm stings, a little blood trickling out from the spot.
Weeeeng.
In one corner of the booth, a flask filled with my blood was spinning furiously.
> [I'll apply a bandage for you.]
“Mmgh…”
The machine peeled off a bandage with a sleepy Tanyping character on it.
Plop.
It gently stuck it over the needle mark.
The character on the bandage was Sleepy Ping, the drowsy Tanyping. She had a lot in common with me, so she was my favorite among them all.
Having a bandage with my favorite character felt nice, but…
“Tricked me with tonkatsu…”
- …
“Sorry…”
Tears welled up in my eyes as my arm kept stinging.
I tried to hold them back—my spirit was still that of a tough guy, after all. But this tiny body found even a needle prick overwhelming.
“I don’t wanna get poked again…”
If they try to draw blood next time, I’ll run away. I might cooperate once if they bought me those trendy matcha chocolate baguettes that are all the rage… but no more falling for tonkatsu bribes like this!
> [Printing test results.]
I was steeling my resolve when a sheet of paper smoothly ejected from the booth wall.
[Anomaly-1004 Blood Test Report]
Normally, blood test results from a checkup took about a week, but this agency was ridiculously fast.
I laboriously lifted my still-sore arm to check the results.
As a modern person, taking care of my health isn’t optional—it’s a duty!
Anomaly-1004 Blood Test Report
WBC: 8,200 /µL
RBC: 4.6 ×10⁶ /µL
Hb: 12.5 g/dL
Hct: 37%
Platelet: 280,000 /µL
AST: 28 U/L
ALT: 22 U/L
Fasting Blood Sugar: 88 mg/dL
Creatinine: 0.5 mg/dL
“Hmm…”
I’d boldly scanned the results to check my health, but the moment I saw them, my breath caught.
WBC? All I knew about that was baseball…
Sure, there were bits of Korean here and there, but my brain couldn’t make sense of it.
I thought I’d picked up some medical knowledge from those genius doctor stories on the forums, but apparently my head couldn’t keep up.
“Pogi…”
I gave up deciphering and set the report down.
If anything’s wrong, the smart big sis and bros will tell me anyway…
As I spaced out, Han A-young’s voice chimed in with a beep, giving the interpretation.
- Hmm… Angel, you’re shockingly healthy?
“Hehe…”
Honestly, I’d been a little scared.
I’d been scarfing down the sweet snacks Persephone noona fed me non-stop lately, and even when lounging, I’d munch on them out of boredom.
But this body’s tougher than it looks—phew!
- We’ll keep planning the perfect nutritious meals going forward, so no worries there. But you know you gotta cut back on snacks, right?
Even with perfect results, Han A-young nagged about sweets.
Man, she nags like a mom sometimes…
I felt a bit deflated, but I knew it was for my health, so I nodded firmly.
“Don’t worry! I’ll stick to just two packs a day!”
- …
“Or… one pack… and four cookies…?”
- You’ll say you’re full from that and skip dinner again, won’t you?
“…”
I scratched my head.
Memories of picking at my rice after stuffing myself with snacks left me speechless.
But just one pack isn’t enough…
I gazed up at the CCTV with pleading eyes.
“C-Can I at least have one cookie…?”
- …
“Just… one piece, pleeease!”
- Just one piece, okay?
Yay!
I threw my hands up in victory and hugged my pupper tight.
Negotiation rule one: start high, compromise down.
Those four cookies were a bluff anyway—even with a bottomless snack stomach, four in one pack would be too much.
And my plan worked like a charm.
“Heehee…”
I fought to keep my grin from spreading too wide when—
Weeeeng.
The familiar robot arm whirred from outside the booth.
I scrambled to open the door, and there it was, lowering a tray piled high with food.
Topped with a massive tonkatsu, zero cola, and a morning roll!
Mouthwatering thieves of appetite.
And what made this lavish lunch even better?
“Gasp…! That’s!”p>
A cup of chocolate ice cream.
If it were plain old ice cream, I wouldn’t be this shocked.
But this one descending on the tray…!
Haag… Haagen-Dazs…!
Three times the price of regular for the same size. The legendary bourgeois treat only us commoners get at army PX for 1,320 won!
“He… he…”
Forgetting my throbbing arm, I dashed over and grabbed the tray.
Crunchy bite of tonkatsu.
Mmm, buttery soft roll.
Then polished off the Haagen-Dazs clean.
I beamed in satisfaction.
“Checkups… might not be so bad…”
- Angel.
“Yes…?”
- Did you enjoy your meal?
I nodded eagerly.
“It was yummy…!”
Total sincerity.
I don’t know who cooks for the agency, but the tonkatsu was crispy outside, juicy inside. Zero cola came with a frosty cup—pure bliss!
- Heh heh… Glad to hear it.
Han A-young chuckled at my delight, then whispered one last sweet nothing.
- Oh yeah, our Angel… you haven’t been online lately, have you…?
“Gasp…”
- Can’t come to my lab, sadly, but I’ll give you a smartphone during containment.
Gasp… smartphone…!
“H-How long…?”
- 8 AM to 10 PM. Gotta sleep sometime—no 24/7.
I wasn’t aiming for 24 anyway—fine by me.
The point was, full-day phone time was back!
Only gripe was the time limit, but this? Perfect!
“C-Could I… live here forever…?”
- No.
“Hing…”
With a smartphone, even scary neighbors wouldn’t matter.
Too bad—shot down.
Still, gotta thank Han A-young for the big concession.
I shot my hand up, making a tiny heart at the CCTV she was watching.
“A-young unnie’s the best…!”
“Yawwwn…”
- Meeeow…
Blissful, toasty, heheng happy time flowed by.
Pupper lounged on my belly, snoring contentedly as I petted him.
[Today, we’ll cover mysterious and fun stories from Korea.]
I watched mystery videos on my smartphone.
Back in the day, this stuff would keep me up trembling in fear.
Not anymore.
After facing real anomalies, video mysteries felt kinda lame.
[Have you heard? Old Joseon records mention a city called Yeonhwa-hyeon…]
“Yawwwn…”
I’d binged all my subbed Nemoso blocks already—boring, but nothing else appealed.
Half-listening through yawns when—
Wriggle… wriggle…
“Hm…?”
Something squirmed in the corner of the playing video.
Not squirming exactly—more like moving purposefully?
Thought it was dust, so I flicked it like I do pomegranate seeds.
“Hmm…”
No dust on top—it didn’t fly off.
Zooming in to check, but—
“Huh…?”
It was gone from the screen corner.
I scratched my head and turned off the phone.
Too much screen after so long—eyes are tired.
Time for a break.
“Uwaa… Pupper… let’s playyy…”
To rest my eyes, I hopped up and yanked him close.
- Woof!
Feeling that fluffy, jiggly softness, I grinned ear to ear.
“Haa… so nice…”