Chapter 71: Gyeyang Mountain Temporary Camp - Aftermath (1) |
Junior #2 POV:
---
The gloomy and dark atmosphere of the underground vacant lot permeated with a thick bloody scent changed completely.
The suspicious camp residents who called the client's name differently.
The client who couldn't even remember their own name.
People running towards her having lost their sanity.
Ninjas that suddenly appeared.
The suspicious researchers settled deep inside the underground waterway.
It was definitely a series of dangerous and strange situations, but it was turned upside down after the gray Reaper appeared.
It turned into a fun playground where the cute golden Reapers frolicked around.
There was even a golden Reaper on the shoulder of Detective Senior smoking a pipe in the corner, poking his cheek seeking attention, though the Detective just found it bothersome.
Over there, Hammer Senior was hugging a gray Reaper, looking content.
A soft atmosphere with cats and plenty of golden Reapers swarming around.
The expressionless gray Reaper was being stroked, with golden Reapers clinging all around it.
Hammer Senior had an expression of complete bliss!
Even the unconscious client's younger brother had golden Reapers clinging to him, nursing him with concerned looks, but strangely none were clinging to the client.
Could it be because the client is an Object?
Friendly only to humans and ignoring everything else?
If they're only friendly towards humans, that's actually an extremely dangerous signal.
The prevailing theory is that the more friendly an object is towards humans, the more dangerous it is.
It's definitely an extremely dangerous signal...
It goes against common sense in this day and age to not be extremely cautious...
But for some reason, I didn't feel like being cautious or keeping my distance from these cute creatures.
They just seem like such good children!
I looked down at the golden Reaper tightly gripping my index finger.
The warm, soft, cute Object squirming in my hand.
I felt a sense of kinship from the depths of my heart with the golden Reaper, like reuniting with family after a long time.
Anyone who doesn't fall for the charm of this fascinating creature must be defective somewhere.
I took out a stick candy from my pocket and offered it, and the golden Reaper grabbed it with both hands and wriggled happily.
Wiggle wiggle.
As I slowly pulled the candy back while holding its body, the golden Reaper stuck out its tongue trying to lick it
So cute!
After playing around with the candy, the golden Reaper started to glare at me.
Maybe I teased it too much, as the golden Reaper got sulky.
But when I stroked its head with my finger apologetically, it immediately smiled brightly again.
Ah, I want to take just one home.
I want to raise it at home.
Could I maybe sneak one into my pocket and take it home?
With that thought, I tried putting a golden Reaper into my pocket, but failed.
It would stay still inside for a bit, but then quickly come out and try to cling to me, squirming around.
In the end, I gave up on the plan to secretly take one home in my pocket.
There must be a way, I'll have to think about it some more.
***
Yellow Detective POV:
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After putting away my pipe, I approached the restless client.
"Don't you want to check on your younger brother?"
"That's... I'm too scared to approach him."
The client's expression showed an instinctive aversion.
I had once heard that objects are afraid of the Gray Reaper.
Could it be that the client, being an Object, is intimidated by the Golden Reaper?
Even setting aside the fact that the client is an Object, it was understandable to be scared.
The golden Reapers that showered endless affection on me and Junior were cold and indifferent towards the client.
Imagine a creepy Object suddenly appearing and killing everything, but being cold only towards you?
That would be quite terrifying.
I approached the chair where the client's younger brother was sitting and gathered up all the golden Reapers clinging to him.
Fortunately, when I picked up the golden Reapers, they readily moved to my shoulders.
More golden Reapers started climbing onto me and annoyingly pulling my hair asking to play, but it was tolerable.
Only then could the client approach her younger brother, though still apprehensively.
"Taehoon. Taehoon."
The client clung tightly to her younger brother, checking his condition.
"Taehoon. My brother, are you conscious?"
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"Hehe, sister."
From the mouth of the youth who appeared to be over 30 years old, slurred words flowed out.
I was standing at a distance watching their reunion, when Junior #2 came over and asked me,
"Senior, what is this case about? Who is the client, and why is her younger brother so huge?"
I handed the personnel file I had in my pocket to Junior #2.
"First, that is indeed her younger brother. He's 35 years old. The problem here is with the sister."
It was clear that the woman, who was supposed to be 165cm tall, was no ordinary sister when she shrank to under 150cm, now only around 120cm.
As her height decreased, her clothes and shoes also shrank accordingly, making it impossible for her to be ordinary.
"If you look at those documents, you'll see that the younger brother 'Lee Taehoon' doesn't have a sister. So the question is, who is this client?"
"Judging by her height decreasing arbitrarily and not remembering her name, she must be an Object, right?"
"We'll have to investigate to be sure, but it seems like the client and all the camp residents were the same type of Object."
I took out my phone to check, but calls were still impossible.
"I need to go out and call someone. We need to secure the site, and the client's younger brother's condition doesn't look good."
There didn't seem to be any major injuries on the younger brother's body, but his mental age appeared problematic.
The medical history section of the personnel file didn't mention anything about his current state.
He may have ended up like this due to torture, but we'll have to have him checked at the hospital for details.
***
After telling Junior #2 to go out and call the police and an ambulance, I forcibly dragged Junior #1, who was playing with the Gray Reaper, and started searching the underground facility.
"Senior, why are we searching the underground facility now?"
Junior #1's reaction was a bit gruff, perhaps because she was dragged away from playing with the Gray Reaper.
It seems she got too attached to the Gray Reaper. I wonder if it also has the ability to contaminate minds?
"There are some things that don't add up, so I thought we should investigate beforehand before others arrive at the camp."
Truth be told, I didn't have full confidence either, but there were indeed some things that didn't make sense.
"Especially since our client is an Object, not a human. It's better if we investigate in advance."
"?"
The strange camp, the strange client.
Almost nothing was properly explained in this case.
An unidentified pulsating sound kept echoing from underground.
Following the heartbeat-like sound as a guide, we wandered through the maze-like corridors dug underground.
These corridors were more dreadful than I expected.
Torture chambers were everywhere I looked.
And in each torture chamber was the corpse of a camp resident I remembered seeing at the camp.
From the butcher who welcomed us to the landlord.
It became clear that the camp residents were brought here by the director.
After passing through the torture chambers, we discovered a new facility.
Peculiar, large, and clean room.
A room where hearts were hanging from the ceiling.
Golden hearts were pulsating on the ceiling of that room.
Blood was gushing out from rubber tubes connected like blood vessels.
"This must be the core of the 'anomaly' at this camp."
"Most of the hearts here don't look to be in good condition," the junior pointed out. Indeed, most of the hearts were damaged.
With each pulse, they spat out golden crumbs, spewing pieces onto the floor.
Quite a number of hearts were split apart and no longer beating.
Judging from the poor state of the remaining hearts, it seemed most would cease functioning within a day.
"This must be it."
Among them, only one heart remained intact.
I carefully collected that heart.
"Why are you taking that heart? As a souvenir?"
"It's probably the client's heart, so I'm collecting it in advance."
"Huh?"
"Why are you so surprised? You know the camp residents and the client are Objects, right? Then what do you think seeing all these hanging hearts means?"
"Um...it's horrifying?"
After glancing at Junior #1's dumbfounded expression, I continued,
"Ah, this heart must be the cause that created the camp residents! That's the thought you should have."
"Ah, I can see it that way too."
"Plus, you saw it too on our way here - the corpses of camp residents who died from torture. And there was one corpse with the same face above ground and one down here. Isn't that strange?"
"Ah, so these hearts were the medium that created the fake camp residents outside?"
Junior #1 finally arrived at the same conclusion I had.
"Right, so let's collect the client's heart before the association arrives to investigate."
After sealing the heart in a glass bottle, I stood up.
"Alright, let's go deliver this [heart] to the client."