The Malfunctioning Elama
Kim Jian had been watching Elama, who had triggered the malfunction, for a while now, but the man still hadn't so much as twitched.
"Um, I can't quite catch what you're saying. Could you repeat that one more time?"
He'd caught "giant space monster," but then a sudden ringing filled his ears, and he hadn't heard a single word after that.
Levi Sau's airship ejected a message along with a hologram emoticon sporting a dissatisfied expression.
"Sorry. There are just so many new words I'm hearing for the first time…."
Can't be helped. I'll explain from the beginning.
Right after Levi Sau responded like that, the hologram message began moving in reverse, like a video being rewound.
-The galaxy containing Nanoi Planet and its neighboring stars is facing an unprecedented crisis.
Giant space monsters are still threatening us even now.
-We plan to mass-produce a series of colossal robots to protect the planet. The required budget is estimated at a minimum of 40 trillion gulden, with repayment methods….
"……."
Perhaps tired of repeating herself, she fired off a hologram message that looked like a straight copy-paste from past chat logs, displaying it in the air just like that.
A personality that prioritized efficiency even more than he'd imagined. Honestly, it was a bit off-putting, but after hearing that scary word—monster or whatever—he figured he should hear her out a bit more.
"So, to sum up, monsters are invading your galaxy, right?"
Frankly, living peacefully in the resort dimension of 33, only for things to suddenly veer into a space war vibe—it was downright bewildering. Was this for real? Were such absurd events actually happening in that dimension?
As I've said several times, this is the actual situation.
Kim Jian must have looked utterly skeptical, because Levi Sau projected a new hologram message.
"……."
Dry and concise. The listed text, devoid of even a shred of emotion, and the time it took to appear both lent it undeniable credibility.
"…How big are they? Those monster things?"
Despite the ridiculous name "space monsters," the enemies they faced might be far larger than he could imagine. Even if Nanoi Planet was smaller than the branch's dimensional gate, there was no guarantee the monsters threatening it were the size of his fingernail. From the Nanoi people's perspective, they could be planet-sized—or even larger—terrifying creatures that threatened life itself.
Yes. They're not just enormous; we have no way to research their weaknesses, which is the problem.
"Unknown monsters, something like that?"
Yes. They've started appearing recently, but they're so powerful that obtaining a live sample is impossible….
"I see."
Of course. Figuring out how to defeat monsters that were hard to even approach would be next to impossible. No matter how advanced Nanoi's technology was, this was a completely different issue. They had to survive long enough to even study them, but the moment those jaws pierced the planet, everyone would be wiped out.
It's here. Special specimen signal! To chase us all the way here…!
Lost in those thoughts, a single line of hologram suddenly projected before his eyes.
"Special specimen? What's th—"
Elama, who had caused the malfunction, suddenly scowled and sprang into motion.
"A monster?!"
Kim Jian panicked too, looking around frantically, but he couldn't spot any monster like Levi Sau had described anywhere.
"Evacuate the clients now!! And call security!!"
Elama bellowed with a grave expression, so Kim Jian nearly bolted for the door—then stopped dead.
"Is security stronger than a space monster?"
"……."
He's totally the old man type. Even against people, it was questionable if he could subdue them—what if he got killed fighting a monster? The furious bereaved family would surely knife him, not that guy. Yeah. No doubt about it.
Be careful—they're predators without blood or tears!
Thankfully, before Kim Jian could sacrifice the security guard, Levi Sau sounded the alarm. Thanks to that, he could buy time by putting on his most shocked face.
Space monsters can suck out a planet's core with a single attack! Their jaws are developed into a hard drill shape—
"Enough explaining—tell me where it is! I can't see it!!"
After hearing that description, he suddenly wanted to fetch the security grandpa again. If he died, it'd be on Elama. Anyway, just like how the airship had turned transparent earlier to hide, these space monsters apparently had camouflage abilities too. Horrifying bastards. A giant monster that could destroy a planet in one hit, and stealth mode? That was way too overpowered!
Their wings generate powerful shockwaves! Please be careful!!
Say that all you want, but with the monster invisible, how was he supposed to dodge? Shockwaves would be faster than he could move anyway. Was he dying here? Would workers' comp cover this?
"Ow, that stings!"
A sudden stabbing pain at the nape of his neck made him slap it reflexively.
And then.
-Chomp.
Something hard touched his palm. A bit different from the usual summer mosquito feel.
No way.
"……."
-Whiiiiiine!!!
The mosquito-wing buzz echoed loudly. There'd been no sound before, but now it was three times louder than average.
"What the—"
Panicking, he swung both palms wildly.
-Smack!
Why hadn't it died from that hit earlier? What kind of mosquito had this vitality?
"Got it?"
"Yeah."
But when he opened his hands, Kim Jian froze in horror.
A tiny smear of blood on his palm. Not from the mosquito's body—it was from his own hand.
-Whiiiiiine!!
The mosquito took off energetically into the air again.
He couldn't make sense of the situation—
"Kim Jian. Close the door."
"Huh? It's already closed."
"Lock it. Now."
"Why?"
"Special design. Locks activate full soundproofing."
Was that the setup for this room?
"But why all of a—"
"Just do it."
The moment Kim Jian locked the door, Elama pulled a pistol from his desk drawer and fired into the air.
-Bang!
"Gah! What the hell?!"
"Look at the floor."
Thinking he was insane, Kim Jian glanced down—and saw the mosquito corpse, intact and motionless, on the ground.
Hostile monster shot down!
Special specimen's vital signs ceased!
Perfect. Deactivate stealth mode.
Stealth mode deactivated!
-Whirr!
Only after the vanished airship reappeared could Kim Jian calm his pounding heart and ask a question.
"This thing's dead, right?"
A mosquito that wouldn't die from a slap—what a messed-up world.
"Probably. Exoskeleton's tough, but the impact ruptured its internals."
Fetching a high-magnification magnifying glass, he examined it: a gruesome head with a single eye on a metallic green body.
"Definitely a monster."
It looked just like a Zaku from Gundam, but whatever.
* * *
A moment later.
The first words out of Kim Jian's mouth after using tweezers to move the "space monster" corpse onto a tissue:
"Taking a bullet and not even a scratch? If these spread everywhere, we really might all go extinct."
Levi Sau's airship disinfected the wound on his neck from the space mosquito—no, the colossal monster by Nanoi standards—and injected a special serum.
He'd thought it was nothing at first, but without this serum, anyone bitten would slowly coagulate their blood and die. Absurd.
Do you realize you were just on the brink of death? Should I call that bold, or something else?
She must have thought his casual tone made him look like an idiot. He could almost hear sighs between the letters.
Well, from their perspective, with extinction knocking at the door, it probably didn't look good.
"Good thing the branch manager took it down quick. And thanks for the serum, really."
It's taking effect.
"No side effects, right?"
As if.
Kim Jian let out another sigh of relief.
Apparently, the space monster had slipped through a tiny gap created when the dimensional gate connected, crossing from 0.1 dimension's space into 6-2.
Thanks to that, they shut down operations under the pretext of disinfection and sent the clients home. The dimensional gate was sealed tight, and a specialist from the company Elama called brought a small drone that incinerated any remaining mosquitoes—er, space monsters—inside the building with thin laser beams.
"Tech these days is a lifesaver."
He'd asked the staff, and apparently, creepy pests—or monsters, whatever—crossing over from that dimension happened occasionally. Each time, pest control firms brought laser-armed drones that used precision detection to hunt down the 0.1 dimension's "giant" (… ) space monsters.
But wouldn't quite a few people die from bites if such horrors slipped through?
Are you aware that we designed the precision parts needed for that tech?
"No kidding. First I've heard of it."
The text brimmed with pride. He hadn't realized 0.1 dimension tech was used even here. Their tiny size made them excel in precision parts and nanomachine production, sure—but to think their touch reached even this.
Born engineers, no doubt.
But then, why?
Why couldn't people with such great tech eradicate a single mosquito type and were struggling instead?
-Bang!
-Bang bang!!
-Clang!
"Eek."
Sudden heavy gunfire erupted outside the office. Cautiously opening the door, he saw white-furred minotaur Bishuti's revolver smoking, barrel aimed at Deputy Manager Razma. The glass helmet Razma usually wore was shattered, soul leaking out.
"Pardon. There was a space monster on your fish tank, so I took care of it."
Bishuti, eyes narrowed, clicked his tongue in obvious displeasure.
"Blessed silver bullets didn't work. High-rank undead, huh."
"…Should I take this as guE faction's declaration of war?"
Using a dangerous bug as an excuse to assassinate a rival faction ace? Who knew this quiet guy carried a gun—he was dangerous.
Maybe that's why Elama kept a pistol in his drawer, worrying about types like him.
-Hiss…
Meanwhile, Razma's soul was dissipating into the air with a gas-leak sound. Wasn't that deadly? Well, already undead, so technically dead already.
"You two. Quit slacking and get in here."
"…Understood."
"Fine, we'll settle this debt later."
Only after Elama called them in did they cease hostilities and enter the consultation room.
Thus began the emergency meeting. For some reason, non-regular teller Pluto was also seated around the table.
"You've heard the gist: dangerous space monsters are trying to cross into this dimension. And they're threatening Nanoi Planet, Dr. Sau's home in 0.1 dimension."
"And the other stars in the same galaxy."
"……."
"……."
The two deputy managers said nothing. Well, Bishuti wore a sullen expression. Kim Jian got it, sort of. One was long-dead, the other a battle-hardened soldier—death didn't faze them like others. Especially since it involved loan applicants whose plight didn't affect their performance, and the amount requested was outrageous.
"Damn it. Bankers who can't empathize with clients' crises—what good are they? Whatever, go guard the dimensional gate. Can't let bugs in."
"Isn't that pest control's job, not bankers'?"
"Shut up and do it."
Razma grumbled and headed out, but Bishuti stood there, arms crossed.
"What're you doing?"
"I'm alive, for now. Not shoving dangerous work on the dead."
"……."
Bishuti had donned white cotton gloves at some point, carefully pinching something between his fingers to avoid crushing it. He pulled a tissue, laid it on the desk, and placed the thing down.
-Wriggle.
"……."
Isaac's face was rigid; Pluto watched with interest.
"Loans aren't my specialty, but I figure I can use my skills to help the client here."
Examining it with the magnifying glass, Kim Jian quietly marveled.
"Whoa…."
Yeah, this might actually help Dr. Sau.