"What the fuck is this?"
"Slime. A new character."
"For the cultivation game?"
"That's right."
Mo Ran answered calmly, one question after another, even while his boss looked ready to slam the table in half.
They were in the meeting room used for pitches and milestone updates. The lights were dimmed. The projector hummed softly. And Mo Ran stood at the front beside the screen like he was presenting the most important proposal of his life.
Off to the side, his team members watched him with open ridicule. Some weren't even trying to hide it.
But instead of being discouraged, his enthusiasm didn't drop even slightly.
In the depth of his gaze, there was only pity.
A pity that they still didn't understand the greatness of slimes.
He glanced at the projected image beside him. A translucent, wobbling blob sat at the center of the slide, labeled with traits, stats, and a clean concept sheet.
Then Mo Ran cleared his throat and began, his voice smooth, confident, and just a little too excited.
"There are many merits in adding a new character… especially a slime."
"Breaking away from the stereotype that only humanoid characters sell is naturally the first point. We're making a cultivation game, not a dating sim."
"Second, we already built an evolution system. We spent months balancing it. Slimes are the perfect creature to fully utilize that system without it feeling forced."
"After all, there's no creature with more unlimited potential than a slime."
"They have absurd design flexibility. They can scale infinitely. And if we want? We can introduce them as starting monsters, then let the player discover later that the so-called 'trash mob' was secretly the most broken path in the game."
"Anyway, slimes aren't weak. They're the purest form of adaptive life."
"They don't have bones. They don't have fixed organs. They don't even have a correct shape. So the moment you give them cultivation? The moment you introduce spiritual energy and evolution?"
His smile widened slightly.
"They become anything."
"And for a cultivation game, where the entire fantasy revolves around breaking limits and advancing beyond your original form… slimes aren't a gimmick."
"They are the most honest embodiment of the theme."
"There can be nothing more addictive than their progression."
"After all, they have no ceiling. No final form limit."
He continued, diving deeper into scaling logic, progression curves, long-term retention value. His tone began to sound less like a normal developer and more like a member of some suspicious cult.
His expression didn't help. He was smiling the whole time, eyes bright, as if the slime was his personal religion.
But his team members weren't listening.
They were whispering instead.
"Has he really been working only on this slime project this whole time? Slacking on updating the cultivation system for… this?"
"Well, more than that… why the fuck does he look like a beggar off the street?"
"I was trying not to mind the smell… please don't remind me."
His team members didn't seem to care at all about his proposal. And his boss?
He looked like he'd reached his limit.
"A mere slime in a cultivation game? Are you insane?"
"Sir, it's not a mere slime, it's—"
"Players want dragons, not jelly."
His tone made it sound like there was no room for argument.
But Mo Ran still clenched his hand, nails digging into his palm, and forced himself to keep going. His voice sharpened without him even realizing it, like something inside him had finally snapped.
"A dragon is born powerful."
"A slime earns it."
"Dragons peak at birth. Slimes don't."
"They grow. They adapt. They surpass."
He leaned forward slightly, conviction burning in his eyes.
"You call that unmarketable?"
That was the moment.
His boss grabbed the papers Mo Ran had spent sleepless nights preparing and flung them forward. Pages scattered across the floor like trash.
"This isn't what players want."
"We need something marketable."
"You're wasting company time."
Then, colder:
"No, you're also wasting my time. So just shut up, come down, and let's continue the meeting."
Mo Ran lowered his head.
Something flickered in his eyes. Sharp. Quiet. Dangerous.
But he endured it.
How the meeting continued after that?
He didn't know.
At some point, he was already walking back to his office. His shoulders sagged. His steps dragged.
He closed the door behind him.
And then his footing faltered.
His chest tightened violently.
He grabbed at his shirt as if he could tear the pain out of himself.
"Augh—"
The sound barely left his throat before his body hit the floor.
Mo Ran didn't ask what was happening.
He felt it.
Strength draining from his limbs.
Air thinning in his lungs.
Vision dimming at the edges.
So as his eyelids grew heavy, there was no struggle left in him.
Only acceptance.
In that final moment, with half-open eyes fixed on the papers scattered across the floor, before his breath could fully leave him, only one thought remained, burning with bitter clarity.
…I was right.
They never deserved slimes.
Darkness swallowed him.
And it truly felt like he died.
…
Yet after an unknown amount of time, awareness returned.
Not breath.
Not sight.
Awareness.
Have I not died?
There was no pain now. No nausea. No dizziness. His mind felt unnaturally clear, almost weightless.
He tried to confirm his situation.
He tried to open his eyes.
Nothing.
There were no eyelids.
He tried to breathe.
No lungs.
And still… he existed.
So he tried something else.
He tried to move.
And he could.
But—
No legs.
Instead of stepping forward, he spread.
He flowed.
His body shifted like liquid sliding over the ground.
Something rippled outward from him, and the world appeared not through sight, but through contact.
Soil.
Roots.
Stones.
Moisture.
A body without bones. Without edges. Without boundaries.
…
'Of course.'
He laughed — though no sound came out.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Not confusion.
Only rising excitement.
And a satisfaction so pure it felt ridiculous.
'Of course I became a slime.'