Black Hole Stroll and the Stolen Cookie
I can't destroy Earth, after all. ……………
I said I'd use my strength, but honestly, I can't really open this door with brute force. Why? Because if I go all out, I'd have to abandon this girl's appearance. Then the Homo sapiens would get scared. If I can't use strength, I'll have to use technique. So, what technique should I use? I have no idea.
That's when the thoughts crept up slyly.
[Hey. There's one method, but...]
What method?
The glasses-wearing thought spoke cautiously.
[That energy you sucked in from the low-temp fusion reactor earlier.]
Yeah.
[Compress it all into one point.]
Compress it into one point?
[It's not matter—it's crumpling the energy itself with gravity.]
The other thoughts nodded.
[It's the method Mom used when she was little to eat stars.]
[You can do it too. Probably.]
'Probably,' huh. Not very reassuring. But with no other options, I followed the thoughts' instructions.
I gathered the energy stored in my body, pushed it into the center of my palm, pressed, pressed, pressed some more. Hmm, can't get the feel.
[Harder.]
[Like clenching your fist if you had a human body.]
Like this, then? I squeezed the energy into my palm like wringing out a handful.
Something changed. The air above my palm started warping. The light around bent like a reflection in glass. Oh, fun. Let's try harder.
I shoved in more energy. All at once, boom.
Huh? A black dot appeared above my palm and began expanding rapidly. Fist-sized, soccer ball-sized— the surrounding air screamed as it got sucked in.
[Ooooh.]
[It's working!]
[At this rate—]
The thoughts suddenly chattered excitedly.
[18 seconds to mass threshold breach.]
[Expanding to the radius limit for black hole formation.]
[Keep going and in 45 seconds, you'll exceed the gravitational distance that won't collapse this planet.]
The glasses-wearing thought's eyes sparkled as it said,
[You'll destroy this star soon!]
The thoughts cheered in unison. Thousands, tens of thousands of little kids raised both arms high, shouting hurrah.
[Finally! The first step to devouring!]
[Mom started this way too!]
[We can swallow stars too—]
Hold up. Can't do that. If I destroy Earth, no humans to play with.
I urgently gripped the energy flow. Pushed the surging power inward, inward, deeper inward. I grabbed the expanding black sphere with both hands and forcibly crushed it small. The energy rebelled, crackling against my palms.
The thoughts' cheers turned to screams.
[Wh-what are you doing!?]
[Why shrink it!? We were almost there!]
Quiet. Soccer ball to fist, fist to marble, marble to pea. Snap. Micro black hole. Complete.
The thoughts flopped to the floor. Thousands, tens of thousands of little kids all wore deflated expressions.
[Why......]
[Incomprehensible......]
Thanks for the praise. Now, let's open the door.
I pressed the black hole against the door's lock. Shoooo. The door ground away silently. Reinforced alloy, multi-phase barrier space folds—meaningless before the black hole. If light can't escape, metal stands no chance.
A smooth circular hole remained where the lock had been. Edges clean as a razor cut.
I tossed the spent micro black hole into my mouth. Nom. Kreeee.
This time, the door opened. A white corridor stretched beyond. Same as before, but different. No one in the hallway. No alarms, no footsteps. The entire isolation facility felt eerily quiet.
Probably sorted out while I pretended to sleep. Alright, real walk time.
Pat pat.
……………
Threat Management Agency underground level B41, Threat Isolation Facility break room.
Agent Han Min-seo was sipping mixed coffee. With senior agent Yi Gyu-rin.
Just the two of them in this cramped break room.
"Min-seo, how is your skin this good? What skincare do you use?"
"I-I'm a guy, so I don't use any."
"......Hah. The world really is unfair."
Yi Gyu-rin's slender fingers brushed Han Min-seo's messy bangs aside. And in that fleeting touch, his heart pounded wildly.
But this was Yi Gyu-rin treating him not as a man, but practically as one of the girls. He knew that well.
Nothing to be done. Han Min-seo had heard "Are you sure you're not a girl?" over a thousand times in his life. Even during the Threat Management Agency interview, he'd been ushered to the women's changing room by mistake.
Thanks to that face, the iron-wall-to-men Yi Gyu-rin let her guard down only with him. A gain if a gain, a tragedy if a tragedy.
Han Min-seo tried to think positive. At least he was a step ahead of the other male agents just by being close.
He fended off Yi Gyu-rin's subtle nudge—"I'll lend you some, try it"—and fiddled with his paper cup to hide his flushing face.
"Things have been peaceful lately."
"Yeah. No incidents for about half a year."
Half a year. Alpha Outer God. Estimated threat grade 40 Tera or higher. A national security threat dwarfing real estate woes or friction with China and Japan.
It had walked into the Threat Isolation Facility on its own half a year ago, chased out one isolated entity, and hunkered down in its room.
Since then, oddly, working conditions in the isolation facility had improved.
Sure, occasional panic-stricken low-tier threats caused minor escape scares, but even those were cute. No more malicious attacks lunging at agents with killing intent like before.
"All thanks to the cute little Outer God."
Yi Gyu-rin smirked sarcastically.
"Yeah."
Han Min-seo forced a wry smile in agreement.
Cute little Outer God, or just Outer God. The unofficial nickname for Alpha Outer God among agents. Half-joke, half-affection.
The affection came because shifts got easier after it settled in. No more deaths.
Of course, unspoken terror lurked behind the name.
"—If that Outer God escapes, we're all dead, though."
"H-ha......"
Cold fact. If Alpha Outer God broke out and turned on humans, agents' survival odds were zero.
No direct surveillance possible either. All monitoring cameras melted.
Last footage before destruction showed it bundled in blankets, sleeping like a dead mouse.
No one knew when that dormancy would end.
Han Min-seo, seeing Yi Gyu-rin hide her anxiety behind a cool facade, forced a bright tone to reassure her.
"Don't worry too much, senior. The higher-ups did their best, right?"
Indeed, over the half-year, the Threat Management Agency and government moved at breakneck speed. Biggest win: agreement with the Tower of Reason.
If worst happened on the peninsula, Tower of Reason would dispatch S. Hawking, A. Einstein, and I. Newton immediately.
Tower of Reason. Supranational group of humanity's greatest minds. Unaffiliated with any nation, each member wielding power nearing Peta grade beyond Tera. Humanity's strongest organization.
The Tower intervening directly was only the third time on record.
First: Communist Heavenly Demon awakening in China.
Second: U.S. fracturing into seven megacorp tech-feudal states.
Third: now.
Securing that from the Korean government and agency was a diplomatic feat.
Though it meant the crisis was that dire.
"......Yeah. I know."
Yi Gyu-rin answered reluctantly, her voice already fading.
As the mood sank, Han Min-seo grew antsy. His girly looks got him close to Gyu-rin senior—great—but it was just 'cute little sister' vibes. At this rate, she'd never see him as a man, not in a million years.
So he had to push forward. This rare one-on-one tea time with Gyu-rin senior was precious. Real men seize chances like this.
"Um, senior."
Han Min-seo rummaged in his inner pocket. Rustle.
"Here."
Yi Gyu-rin's eyes widened at the secret weapon.
"Whoa? Those...... chewy durian cookies?"
"Hehe, yeah. You said you wanted to try them last time. I did the open run for 'em."
"Open run? From what time?"
"Five a.m."
Yi Gyu-rin stared at him. Surprise turned to fluster, fluster to touched.
Her lips curved up.
"Thanks, Min-seo."
Success. It worked.
Han Min-seo played it cool while unwrapping the chewy durian cookies—DuChewKoo. Chocolate-dusted round cookies gleamed temptingly on the packaging.
For this moment, he'd woken at 4 a.m. to line up. Worth every second.
Now, feed one to Gyu-rin senior, suggest weekend dinner.
"Here, senior. Go ahead. Whole bite or nibble—"
Nom.
In a blink, the DuChewKoo on Han Min-seo's palm vanished.
And in its place— a girl with long purple hair swaying.
Alpha Outer God.
"Wh-wh-wh—"
Unable to form words, Han Min-seo gawked as the girl just stared back, mouth working silently.