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Clap clap clap.

Clap clap clap.

Clap clap clap.

Anastasia stood there, wearing a proud expression for a few seconds.

The sound of applause began to echo from somewhere.

No, it wasn’t just from somewhere.

The applause was coming from right beside Anastasia.

It was an enthusiastic round of clapping, like that of moved audience members after a performance.

And who was clapping…?

“A seal…?”

Yes, it was seals.

Out of nowhere, spotted seals flailed their flippers wildly, resembling the typical seals that clap their flippers against their bellies with great enthusiasm.

Clap clap clap clap.

Is that clapping or are they just thrumming their bellies?

The seals continued to clap, like delirious audience members, and soon appeared satisfied, raising their flippers high in triumph.

Ta-dah!

Their expression seemed like a confident smile, as if to say they had completed their tasks.

Then, they began to fade away and vanished.

“Hehe. What do you think, Jinseong? This is my ultimate reaction team I brought in recently: the seal choir!”

Anastasia looked at Jinseong with that proud expression she had right before the seals vanished.

Park Jinseong smiled warmly at her, seemingly telling her to hurry and bask in the compliments. For example… “I thought they were seals but they’re actually sea lions.”, “That clapping was something else! Were those seasoned performers with five years of audience experience?”, “What a performance breaking the stereotype of singing in a choir! The applause turned into another form of voice and instrument, perfectly dominating this space.”

Of course, as he praised her, there was no change in Jinseong’s expression at all.

He had grown accustomed to it during his mercenary days with Danbi.

The comments were a bit 4th-dimensional, leaving one to question if they were indeed compliments.

But Anastasia absolutely loved such praise!

And she was overjoyed every time the seals received compliments, expressing that “I brought those seals here! It was me!” with her whole being.

So Park Jinseong continued to praise Anastasia’s seals and guided her inside.

He had her sit in a chair and then handed her a beverage he had prepared beforehand.

It was cola advertised as being directly designed by AI.

“Oh, Jinseong bought this too! This cola has this weird taste like it’s infused with an AI’s ambition to conquer the world, and it’s intriguing!”

Was Park Jinseong’s choice the right one?

Anastasia savored the cola with a blissful expression.

And she exclaimed things like, “This taste is…! It feels like the end of the human world is upon us!”, “This star is finished! From now on, Earth will be ruled by AI!” as she marveled at the flavor.

Then,

“Yum yum. This is good. A splendid beverage! Lady Anastasia shall accept Jinseong’s request.”

She nodded as if satisfied with the hospitality and stood up.

Then, she smoothly slipped behind the sofa and disappeared, only to rise again.

To her surprise, her outfit had changed.

Instead of the typical T-shirt and jeans, she was now dressed in a frothy gown reminiscent of a young noblewoman from centuries past.

The dress was made of immaculate white fabric, devoid of any stains.

It was lavishly adorned with frills, so much so that even with just white, it gave off an extraordinarily fancy vibe, and the skirt puffed out as if it had some framework inside.

There was no way she could change into such an outfit in just a few moments hiding behind the sofa.

She, draped in that extravagant dress, addressed Jinseong with a gesture and mannerism that felt learned from etiquette lessons.

“Well then, sir. What shall I inspect?”

Here is a girl.

With a round nose and a single strap wrapping around her instep.

Wearing remarkably white Mary Jane shoes, she moved lightly.

Her long skirt puffed out gently with each step, and the frills and ribbons attached to her body swayed cutely. Her long flowing white hair danced just like the frills, and the only red between her white skin and clothing was the color of her eyes, darting about.

Softly.

One step, two steps.

Her light and cheerful footsteps, as if going on a picnic, made a clicking sound as they spread through the air.

In the dark corridor, her bright whiteness was prominent.

Perhaps it was like a snowman going for a late-night stroll, or like snowflakes pouring down between the pitch-dark clouds.

Innocent like snow, and dazzlingly white, this girl was just the same.

“Hehe-hum…”

Unable to contain her delight, the girl hummed a little tune.

Even though a petite body passed by, the narrow corridor felt full to the brim.

In that place where dark shadows loomed and gray dust floated around.

There were no traces of the sun, only moisture filling some underground corner.

The girl walked through it as if it were a lovely sunny forest.

But corridors lead somewhere, and they have an end.

Finally, the bright light at the end of the hallway began to come into view.

It was so dazzling that one might not imagine the scenery beyond, yet she felt no fear about what lay there, simply moving forward as if she were crossing into the light.

And where the light diminished, there was a tomato.

“Ooh! A tomato!”

A giant tomato.

A mountain-sized tomato.

A building-sized tomato.

A tomato the size of a human head.

With a stem so thick it looked like it had lived for thousands of years, and street-sized tomato stalks. There were unripe green round tomatoes, colorful mixtures of red, green, and yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes rolling around on the ground, a massive tomato ball smashing through buildings, huge tomatoes rolling around like wrecking balls used for demolition, shuriken tomatoes sliced thin flying to and fro, star-shaped tomatoes spinning and sticking everywhere, and tomatoes stretching and contracting like slime to make their presence known, even tomatoes shouting insults without pause…

The world was all tomatoes.

And in this tomato paradise.

The largest and greatest tomato.

Shining like the sun, a red sun tomato gazed down at the girl.

[ Gi-rl- ]

An overwhelmingly loud voice that could fill the entire space.

With every word it uttered, flames shimmering around the tomato responded to that voice.

The glaring light shone down with overwhelming intensity.

It was quite literally a tomato that had become the sun.

“Yes! I’m a girl!”

And the girl smiled brightly, unafraid of the tomato’s attention, answering the words of the sun tomato.

No, going beyond just answering, she even brought her feet together and stretched her arms upward, taking the pose made famous by a meme from some game to praise the sun.

But she didn’t utter the words to praise the sun.

Hmm.

Because it wasn’t very lady-like!

The girl beamed as she lowered her arms and lightly tugged at the hem of her skirt with her fingers. Then, she gracefully bent slightly, moving as if she were a true lady greeting someone with utmost etiquette.

Could it be that because of this greeting?

The light from the sun tomato directed at her diminished.

No, the light itself remained as it was—but after standing there for just a few minutes, her white skin might have tanned to a brown and after several minutes, she felt an intense heat that would have made it resemble a perfectly boiled egg faded away instead.

Along with the feeling of heat that made one sweat also transformed into the gentle warmth of a spring day, without causing any discomfort.

[ Guest-? ]

“Yes! I’m a guest!”

[ Guest—. ]

The light of the sun tomato shifted.

As if it were moving its gaze.

Following its gaze, the light illuminated the city besieged by the giant tomato.

Kaboom—!

The giant tomato sphere flew around, crushing buildings as if a giant had kicked it.

Like a bouncy ball, it hopped about, creating craters left and right.

Swinging its stem like a whip, it wreaked havoc in the park.

“Mattias, may you perish! Taste the judgment of the tomato!” yelled while firing a tomato machine gun at a fifty-something man in a suit…?

The gigantic tomato surveyed the chaotic scene and spoke to the girl.

[ Alice-appears- ]

“Yup~”

The girl.

Her profession was Alice.

Her name was Anastasia B. Lentz.

“Hehe.”

 

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