A sleepy-looking cat was lazing on a moss-covered wall, blinking its drowsy eyes and yawning over and over. It had been wandering around all day, yet its eyes darted around, always on the lookout for a new adventure.
But much to the cat’s disappointment, the relief camp was oddly peaceful. Well, on the outside at least.
It was a place where the wild grass sparkled with dew while butterflies fluttered about.
“Woah, look! It’s a cat!”
In that grassy field, the ‘fake’ kid ran around, laughing and playing. The cat, now surrounded by the curious kids, looked pretty annoyed, wearing an all-too-familiar expression.
Well, the Ghost Cat was a pretty white kitty, so naturally, it got a lot of attention.
Hmm, why was the kitty annoyed though? Was it because the kids might be hiding something like a fork in their hands? But even if they poked the kitty with those forks, they wouldn’t even be able to leave a scratch on it, right? Whatever!
Anyway, it was now time for me to step in, so I slipped out of my phantom form and scooped up the little kitty on top of the wall.
The cat, surprised out of its wits, looked at me with wide eyes. It meowed asking me why I was here.
Why did I come? Hmm… Well~ It looked fun~!
The tired kitty seemed fed up, not interested at all. It didn’t take even a moment for the kitty to get over its surprise before meowing and making itself comfortable in my arms.
The ‘fake’ kids, though, had a totally different reaction.
They quickly jumped away from me, eyes wide with fear, and slowly started to retreat, their eyes still glued to me…
Once they realized I wasn’t really interested in them anymore, they scattered in all directions, some hiding in alleys, others disappearing altogether.
I know, right? Why did they suddenly run away?
With the cat in my arms, I strolled around the camp.
Merchants standing by with stacks of goods on their stalls, trying to sell their wares.
A butcher sitting at his counter, watching TV.
A group of children playing jump rope.
Grandfathers giving advice while looking at the Baduk board.
It was a truly peaceful scene, a glimpse of the mundane daily life.
The cat might not have noticed yet, but all the ‘fake’ humans here were quite afraid of me they were just pretending that they were not.
Hmm, that’s odd, why are they trying so hard?
What? You are bored? It’s not as dangerous as the TV said it was? So it’s no fun? Well, yeah, this place really doesn’t seem as violent as they make it out to be on the TV.
The stupid TV people exaggerated too much? Well, isn’t that what TV is always like? At this point, you should just expect it.
The cat fed up with the peaceful camp, closed its eyes and muttered that it wanted to take a nap.
In a basement encased by blood-soaked concrete walls, a strikingly red chair stood in stark contrast to the dark, oppressive surroundings.
Tied to that chair was a headless corpse.
The body, marred by countless wounds, bore deep bruises where the ropes had bitten into its flesh during its meaningless struggles.
Beneath the chair, a pool of blood reflected the dim, flickering light of the basement, casting an eerie supernatural glow over the ghastly scene.
Tools of torture—rusty saws, pliers, and hammers—were strewn haphazardly within that crimson pool, their edges gleaming wickedly.
The director stood over the headless corpse, staring at the crushed pile of flesh and hair, a malevolent smile playing on his lips. His voice, chilling and elegant, cut through the silence.
“Sigh… What a waste… So the ‘Nameless’ still appeared, eh?.”
The man from the association, giving in to the relentless torture, had ended up shouting out the director’s name, hoping for a swift, merciful end.
“Hmm, come to think of it, even if I were to hear the name , how can I be certain of its truth? The ‘Nameless’ will manifest whenever I am called by any name other than the Object’s, so can I trust that it is truly mine?”
He let out a rueful chuckle.
“Ah~ Well, I can be at least sure about one thing—I am not some kind of a filthy parasitic Object.”
The director walked out of the basement, leaving behind the empty containment room. What remained was but the horrific remnants of a man, who had met an unimaginably brutal end, surrounded by crimson walls adorned with blood.
CCTV footage of the lounge played on a large monitor in the deputy director’s office.
On the screen was the Golden Reaper.
The tiny little gold-colored reaper was holding a cookie, slowly nibbling on it.
“Hmph, why is it so cute?”
Seoah opened her notebook, her cheeks flushed, and began writing extensively.
She had always intended to analyze the Golden Reaper someday, yet the report remained incomplete. The problem was insufficient data.
The Golden Reaper’s appearances were too sporadic, making any type of analysis quite challenging.
Due to the difficulty of obtaining the data, she had almost given up the report.
Yet, as if by a stroke of luck, she was in possession of sufficient data.
A video of the Golden Reaper recorded for a period of over forty-eight hours!
After combing through the footage front to back one clear feature emerged.
The Golden Reaper was never bothered by the presence of humans, it never even tried to get away!
Be it while it was eating, it would just try to stay near a human or even hold on to a human.
When resting? It would just roll around on a human’s palm.
Even when it was bored, it would just climb up the clothes of the nearest human and cling to their face.
While there were many similarities between the Gray Reaper and the Golden Reaper, the differences were more numerous than she had anticipated.
Firstly, the Gray Reaper seemed to love visual media.
It would never pay direct attention to it, and would often play or do something else while the news was playing on the TV. But the reaper would absolutely hate it if something else other than the news was on.
In contrast, the Golden Reaper showed no interest in visual media at all. Even if the video featured people, it remained disinterested.
It was as if it found everything meaningless unless it involved real humans.
Their attitudes towards humans also differed slightly.
Both Objects seemed to really like humans. However, the Gray Reaper pretended to be indifferent and acted as if it preferred to be alone, while the Golden Reaper actively expressed its interest.
Still, the underlying reasons for their actions were similar.
On the outside, the Golden Reaper appeared to be less intelligent(more airheaded) than the Gray Reaper, likely due to the Golden Reaper’s lack of experience.
Wait, could it be that the Gray Reaper was older than its appearance suggested?
Given its unknown whereabouts before being contained at the Sehee Research Institute, this seemed highly plausible.
So, one conclusion was clear.
At our sudden appearance, the residents of the camp were suspicious of us at first, but after we introduced ourselves as friends of the client, they warmed up to us quickly.
For some reason, the client’s so-called younger brother kept bombarding her with questions, clearly giving her a hard time.
She had made a request to us because she felt something was off, but now that I was here, I still couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
“Noona~ Why did you suddenly leave yesterday?! Hmm?”
“I-I’m not sure… Just because…?”
The client seemed to have a fairly good reputation around here, so almost everyone passing by joined us in the vacant lot, welcoming her warmly.
More and more people gathered in front of the shabby building, but for some reason, no one seemed to utter the client’s name.
Hmm, this is very strange… Should I try asking? Ah well, what can go wrong?
“You have known her for a long time, I guess?”
I asked the butcher, who had claimed to have known the client since childhood.
“Of course! We’re really close! I’ve been looking after her since she was a wee bit kid! Even though our camp is a little small and cramped, it’s still liveable because we can rely on each other.”
He then went off on a nostalgic trip down memory lane, starting from when the client was just a baby.
“Oi, Yuri! C’mere. This ahjussi here doesn’t believe my story!”
Listening to his story, I naturally didn’t miss him saying the client’s name.
But Yuri, huh? I thought the client’s name was ‘Sua,’ though?
The client, still looking a bit pale, just smiled as she approached the butcher.
“Pshh, Sunbae! Wasn’t the client’s name Sua?”
“Yup, it’s Sua. You’re right~ 100 points~”
“Sigh… Anyway, what’s up with this situation?”
“This situation? What do you think it can be? Of course, it’s another bothersome situation caused by an Object.”
Something was clearly wrong, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint the source.
It hadn’t been long since we arrived at the camp, but before we knew it, the sun was already beginning to set, diving into the horizon.
I did hear that the people here held a simple welcome ceremony for the client, but just looking at their preparations, it looked more like a grand festival than a simple ceremony.
In the middle of the clearing, a campfire made of logs was burning.
Around it, charcoal grills were set up, with seasoned meat skewers, vegetables, and sausages grilling away.
A lot of people surrounded the client, creating a happy and cheerful atmosphere.
“Sunbae, doesn’t something feel off?” Junior No. 1 asked, holding eight chicken skewers, one on each finger.
“What feels off to you?”
“The client. No matter how much we look at it, isn’t it clear that there’s no problem with the camp?”
“So? What do you mean?”
“The client said the camp felt strange, but everything seems fine here. Doesn’t that mean that the client might be the one who’s crazy? Maybe that’s why she asked us to find her ‘real’ younger brother when he seems perfectly fine?”
Junior No. 1 declared with a confident expression all the while munching on the chicken skewers.
“Hmph! What do you think of my reasoning? Isn’t it perfect this time?”
“It’s definitely plausible. But my senses tell me that it’s the camp that is strange.”
Contemplating the strangeness, I got lost in thought as I fiddled around with the revolver in my hand.