Chapter 68: Malicious Commenters and Traitors.

There are various theories about how they ended up with that name.

When you think of food eaten while watching baseball in America, this is what comes to mind.

At its most basic, it’s just carbs + protein + fat + salt.

Hot dog.

In Korea, hot dogs sold with a sausage in a long bun aren’t very common. Instead, they mostly sell corn dogs-sausages on a stick, dipped in batter and deep fried.

For today’s mukbang, I’m planning to make both hot dogs and corn dogs.

I sliced a long bun, put in a sausage, and lined up a bunch of classic hot dogs.

The most basic of basics. The way they’re commonly sold on the streets of New York.

Just add ketchup and you’re done.

This is the kind of food that makes you want to nag someone to eat some vegetables.

Ketchup is not a vegetable.

I made some with mustard, some topped with pickles and onions, some with cheese, and even some with potato salad.

That’s enough hot dogs for now.

Next is the food called hot dog in Korea, and corn dog overseas.

Mix eggs, sugar, and yeast. Then add salt and flour, adjust the consistency with milk, knead, and let it rise. Meanwhile, boil the sausages and skewer them.

Once the dough has risen, coat the boiled sausage in it and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Deep fry, and you’re done.

Depending on your taste, you can sprinkle sugar, ketchup, mustard, or all of them.

There are lots of ways to fill the inside besides just sausage.

You can add cheese, rice cake, or even fish cake.

There are also various types of batter. You can coat boiled, chopped potatoes in corn starch and add them to the batter. You can even crush raw ramen and mix it in.

As you’d expect from food commonly sold on the street or at baseball stadiums, there are a lot of steps you can prepare in advance.

And of course, food sold at amusement parks should require as little hands-on work as possible.

***

For graduate students, vacations don’t exist.

Still, when the professor goes on long trips overseas, the chances of getting off work on time go up.

After work, the graduate student came home and used the Towel Slime to lightly dust off her head.

She didn’t use the Pack Slime. She’d kept it on in the lab and came home with it still on.

After changing clothes, she turned on her computer and put on her headset.

Time to watch SLimelove’s videos.

Just then, a new video had been uploaded.

The theme of today’s mukbang was hot dogs.

She wasn’t all that interested in a hot dog mukbang with a sausage in a bun.

Normally, she’d watch to enjoy Lime’s signature mukbang sounds,

but since the thumbnail showed a hot dog with visible sugar crystals, she quickly skipped through the video.

At last, a hot dog in the style commonly seen in Korea appeared.

Lime tilted her head back and tossed the hot dog into her mouth.

Crunch.

The sound of the corners of her mouth and an itchy noise rang in her ears.

Pop.

The sound of the sausage inside bursting.

Crunch.

Between the sound of the remaining batter breaking apart,

Snap.

The sweet sound of unmelted sugar being bitten into slipped in.

She closed her eyes to enjoy the sounds, when suddenly, the noise stopped.

Wondering what happened, she saw that, unusually, Lime had pulled the stick out of the hot dog.

Normally, she’d just eat it whole.

Curious, she waited, and Lime put the pulled-out stick back in her mouth.

Crunch crunch.

That’s not the sound of chewing wood.

Is that a snack, maybe?

As expected, Lime’s mukbang is great.

The sounds alone are worth it, but these little twists make it even more enjoyable.

As a longtime fan who’s watched from the beginning, it’s fun to see her growth.

When the video ended, she started it over from the beginning.

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang. The delivery had arrived.

“It’s here.”

The graduate student smiled brightly, brought in the package, and opened it.

Inside, a bunch of Slimes were gathered together.

To celebrate reaching 10 million subscribers, Lime had given out gifts by lottery-Singing Slime 2.

The graduate student was lucky enough to get one again this time.

She took out the Singing Slime she kept in her dresser and placed it next to Singing Slime 2.

The color composition of the two was different.

Considerate touches like this feel nice.

She’s happy because it feels like the specialness of the earlier gift isn’t diminished.

The graduate student pressed down on the Singing Slime.

Snap. Snap.

Crunch. Crunch.

The slimes made sounds.

This time, she poked Singing Slime 2.

Crunch. Crunch.

Sss sss. Sss sss.

It made sounds that the Singing Slime didn’t.

Other than the differences in color and sound, everything else was the same.

When she pulled one slime away, it dropped out of the group.

Rumble rumble. Rumble rumble.

It trembled in her hand, making noise.

When she set it down next to the slime group, it rolled over and stuck right back to them.

Suddenly, she got curious.

The graduate student took a slime from Singing Slime 2 and put it next to the Singing Slime.

The slime, which had started to roll over and stick, stopped.

Rumble rumble?

Making a sound like something was off, it cautiously approached and stuck to the side. Not quite as snug as when it was with its own group, but still close.

Then, when she brought Singing Slime 2 closer,

Rumble rumble!

It immediately returned to its original group.

It was just so cute.

When she put the Singing Slime and Singing Slime 2 together, they stuck, but not wanting them to get too close, the graduate student separated them.

Singing Slime in one hand, Singing Slime 2 in the other.

Snap snap snap snap rumble rumble

Crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch

Compared to when there was only the Singing Slime,

the sound was even richer.

The graduate student began to play slowly.

***

Unless you’re a company with thousands of employees, it’s not an issue.

Just four.

It’s not like we’re some kind of evil organization, but I figured I should at least see their faces, so I decided to meet with the new hires.

Online.

Long live video meetings.

Our company embraces the latest culture.

I logged in right on time for the appointment.

“N-nice to meet you for the first time!”

The man shot up from his seat and bowed his head.

He was very polite, but his expression didn’t really change.

He looked like the type who would complain about today’s meeting online afterward.

The other one was a woman.

She had her eyes wide open, staring at the screen as if she wanted a staring contest.

Picking a fight right from the start. She definitely looks like the rebellious type.

That’s it for the new hires.

Hans, wearing a purple wig and a Pack Slime on his face, still looked just as suspicious as ever.

The other was me, dressed as SLimelove.

Slime, alien, malicious commenter, traitors.

Are we an evil organization bent on world domination or something?

Should I suggest everyone wear black robes and pull up their hoods next time?

Maybe it would look less suspicious if our faces weren’t visible.

“I’m Alchemy Slime. Please call me Lime.”

The man immediately opened his mouth and greeted me.

Then the woman gave a brief greeting as well.

I think both of them said their names, but for some reason it just didn’t stick in my ears.

“Are you satisfied with your house and office?”

“Yes. I’m so happy there are so many Slimes.”

“Same here!”

The woman answered right away.

The man chimed in, not wanting to be left behind.

“I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

Since I promised unlimited Slimes, I filled the office with all the products on the market.

The house provided is just a regular, fully furnished three-room apartment.

I could make a house full of Slimes like the Smart House Slime I designed before.

If you’re really going to offer unlimited Slimes, that’s the least you should do.

But I didn’t do it.

I just decided that was as far as I could go.

Still, I secretly installed security devices.

If it gets out that they work for me, they could become a target.

“You can get your work instructions from Hans. If you need anything along the way, let Hans know. Any questions?”

The woman shot her hand up.

“Is there no company dinner?”

“If you want to have one, you can. I’ll pay for it. But no one’s going to force you if you don’t want to.”

The only ones who could actually attend a company dinner are Hans and me. Obviously, I have no intention of going, and Hans can’t join because of health issues.

“Will President Lime come too?”

“No.”

“If we achieve a big result, could we have a company dinner with President Lime attending?”

What’s with this woman?

Why is she so eager to get me to come out?

Do you have some kind of grudge against me?

Are you planning to stab me when we meet?

“I really want to meet President Lime too!”

The man jumped in.

Do new hires these days all dream of having dinner with the president?

Is it impossible to survive unless you get noticed by the boss?

The job market is terrifying.

“Maybe, if the chance comes, there will be a day when we meet. Any other questions?”

“Are video meetings held regularly?”

“Yes.”

I plan to hold video meetings regularly.

There might be information lost in the process of going through Hans.

After a few more exchanges, the video meeting ended.

I let out a sigh as I stared at the black screen.

I didn’t even do anything big, but I’m exhausted.

***

The new hire at Slime Land.

She originally didn’t care much about SLimelove or Slimes.

She only became interested in Slimes after her younger sibling’s suicide attempt.

She never imagined her sibling was thinking of suicide because of rhinitis.

She was just too busy living her own life.

She was a bit indifferent to those around her, but her own life wasn’t exactly smooth either.

She lost everything she’d built up in graduate school after a conflict with her professor during her master’s and doctoral studies.

She took down the professor with evidence she’d gathered step by step, but her path in her field of study was completely closed.

So she got a job in a totally unrelated field.

She was busy adapting to work, going to court, making sure the professor’s case didn’t get buried, and organizing every time she found corruption in her company or boss.

No matter how busy she was, the fact that her sibling was thinking of suicide was a huge shock.

She blew the whistle and was forced to stop halfway, then looked around at her surroundings.

She looked up Alchemy Slime, who said they made Pack Slime and Gargle Slime out of gratitude.

She got hooked.

She could feel the love for people’s peace and happiness in Slimes.

Tasting that love, which was saving so many people including her sibling,

she couldn’t help but love it as much as she was loved.

She wanted to live surrounded by Slimes, but realistically, it was impossible.

She didn’t have much money.

No company would hire someone who’d taken down a professor and blown the whistle at work.

With no choice, she kept moving from one part-time job to another, and even tried making her own game with the skills she’d gained at work.

It flopped.

Just when she thought her dream of being a Slime fan was slipping away, a huge donation came in from SL1me. Then, an announcement that Alchemy Slime was hiring.

She jumped on the flow of the world that was leading her to Slimes.

She immediately quit her part-time job.

There were no big problems at this part-time job, so she didn’t blow it up and even did a proper handover.

The job application test began.

When she didn’t hide her love for Slimes, fate led her into Slime Land.

But it didn’t connect her to Alchemy Slime personally.

Still, she could connect through the screen.

It was different from when she watched SLimelove’s videos.

Her heart pounded like crazy and she couldn’t take her eyes off the screen.

Her desire to meet in person grew stronger.

So she asked.

“Is there no company dinner?”

But as expected, meeting Lime was not easy.

“If we achieve a big result, could we have a company dinner with President Lime attending?”

“If the chance comes, maybe the day will come when we can meet.”

Even though the answer was vague, she saw a glimmer of possibility.

After the meeting ended and she could finally tear her eyes from the screen, she turned her head.

With her big eyes-those that had earned her the nickname ‘Madwoman with Clear Eyes’-she looked at Hans.

“That’s a nice look in your eyes.”

Hans smiled, his eyes narrowing to slits.