Chapter 78: Kkachisan Conference (4) |
During the ambiguous time transitioning from day to night, a burly man was walking with large strides towards a huge mansion located on the outskirts of Seoul.
Although the mansion the man visited was certainly decorated lavishly, it gave off an ominous atmosphere as if shrouded in deep shadows.
The burly man with a short, stumpy conical Golden Horn protruding from the top of his head was a man whose profession was kidnapping and selling people.
Contrary to his confident stride, the man's mind was quite complicated.
Normally, the butler of this mansion would contact him to initiate a request.
But strangely, this time they made an exceptional request to see his face before making the request.
It would normally be natural to ignore such a suspicious request.
However, since this was a major client who had made numerous requests so far, and because of the trustworthy name card of the director of Trinity Research Institute, he could not refuse and ended up visiting the mansion.
When he knocked on the entrance of the mansion, the butler came out as if waiting and welcomed the man.
It was the same voice he had always heard over the phone.
The butler was a scrawny old man who had a strange atmosphere that made one tense instinctively.
The burly man followed the butler, passing through the main gate of the mansion.
What greeted him after passing through the main gate was a black garden.
The garden was covered in black soil, and unfamiliar black plants were sprouting everywhere.
And there was a smell of petroleum.
It was a really unpleasant garden, but since it was in front of the butler with the eerie atmosphere, the burly man could not show his feelings.
Fortunately, once inside the mansion, the smell of petroleum was no longer present.
The interior of the mansion looked even more lavish, perhaps due to the stark contrast with the unpleasant garden.
In the center was a huge Trinity Research Institute logo, and the windows were filled with intricate stained glass mosaics.
The walls were hung with ornate tapestries, and a soft light emanated from the chandelier decorated on the ceiling.
Past the lobby exuding a luxurious atmosphere, they arrived at a large living room.
There, a man in a neat suit stood up to welcome the burly man.
This middle-aged looking man was the owner of the mansion.
"Ah, you've come. I heard you've been making great efforts for me lately, so I wanted to see you in person."
The middle-aged man, rising from his chair, spoke as he looked around the living room.
The walls of the living room were decorated with all kinds of golden horns, lined up like deer head trophies.
Each one boasted a large, ornate shape.
They were all the Golden Horns delivered by the burly man.
"Thank you for always delivering such excellent horns. Indeed, the bigger and more intricate the shape of the golden horn, the more satisfying it is to look at."
"Ah, yes..."
The burly man had felt uneasy from the moment he entered this room.
He didn't know exactly what the problem was, but he just felt that way.
So he just wanted the conversation to end quickly so he could leave.
"Don't you feel something too? I feel at ease when I enter this room. Although research on Golden Horns is prohibited so there's no data, they surely must have some efficacy."
The burly man glanced around as he responded perfunctorily.
"Oh, I've been rambling alone again. I called you here because I'm curious."
The middle-aged man walked over and handed the burly man a round, jewel-like object.
The spherical object, with apricot and black colors intricately intertwined, looked like a mixture of pearls and black pearls.
"Um...what is this?"
"It's a new nutritional supplement our Research Institute has developed. Try taking it."
"Does it have to be taken right now?"
"Of course! It's a top secret product at our Research Institute. Come on, quickly!"
At this point, the burly man began to regret accepting the invitation to this mansion.
How could he be forced to take such a suspicious substance at this suspicious place, just for money?
Naturally, the burly man had no intention of putting such a dubious substance in his mouth.
However, judging by the middle-aged man's demeanor, it seemed something unpleasant would happen if he refused to take it.
So the man chose to pretend to take it while hiding the substance in his pocket.
“I ate it.”
Upon hearing the answer, the middle-aged man simply stared blankly.
"If you have nothing more to say, I'll be going now."
As the man turned his back, a voice came from behind.
"How strange."
The man tried to ignore those words and began walking back the way he had entered with large strides.
However, the butler who had been waiting outside the living room blocked the man's path.
"You must take the pill, sir."
The man tried to shake off the butler's grip, but he couldn't break free no matter what.
The butler's face was unnaturally pale, with bulging black veins.
Crunch.
"Aaargh!"
The butler's bony arm easily crushed the man's arm bones.
After subduing the man writhing in pain, the butler found the pill from his pocket.
"Yes, it was strange. No matter how compatible, it makes no sense for there to be no changes at all."
Taking the pill from the butler, the middle-aged man forced it into the burly man's mouth, saying,
"Now, have a nice long sleep."
In his darkening vision, he saw the butler who subdued him melting into black mud.
***
Seo-ah POV:
---
The Kkachisan Conference was quite well-organized.
The participating research institutes were quite famous in Korea, and the government had prepared thoroughly, so the event went smoothly.
"Come on, don't get too upset. It's okay."
But I couldn't concentrate on the presentation at all.
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Golden Reaper was in an extremely agitated state.
It looked sad somehow, and also seemed angry.
No matter how much I stroked it to smooth out its furrowed expression, it didn't really help.
Feeding it lots of candy was no use either.
The fortunate thing was that it didn't try to escape from my hand.
Rather, it clung to my neck or head, but I couldn't figure out the reason.
The cause of Golden Reaper's abnormal behavior was quite clear.
The researchers from Trinity.
They often ate some unidentified snacks, and that seemed to be the cause.
At first I thought it was whining because it wanted to eat them...
But when I went to a Trinity researcher and got one of it, Golden Reaper's reaction was unbelievable.
It punched the snack away, going "tuk tuk", getting rid of the snack.
Then it slumped down looking extremely depressed.
The snack was a small, apricot-colored cube shape, looking like a tiny cheese.
It smelled really fragrant, so why did it hate it so much?
So to satisfy my curiosity, I asked the researcher what it was.
"Ah~ this?"
The Trinity researcher looked me up and down, then continued speaking with a mocking tone,
"This is a synthetic food that Trinity is currently developing experimentally. It's a research that many world-renowned research institutes are pursuing these days. Object Food. I can't believe there are still research institutes out there that don't know about it."
The man then turned and walked away.
As he left, he continued making slight derogatory remarks about Sehee Research Institute.
'Thieves only after government subsidies.'
'A bunch of idiots who are desperate to isolate objects and don't know how to use them.'
Something along those lines.
It was an infuriating remark, but I broke out in a cold sweat trying to restrain Golden Reaper from charging at the man.
It seemed determined to tear him apart, so it was really hard to calm it down.
In the end, Golden Reaper just doesn't like that snack, huh.
Well, it's a suspicious Object snack, so I didn't really want to eat it either.
Crunch. Crunch.
I listened to the presentation while hearing the sound of Reaper munching on candy, expressing its anger.
Crunch.
The continuous sound of eating candy suddenly stopped.
Did it already finish eating?
Looking down at Golden Reaper, more than half the candy remained.
Golden Reaper had stopped eating the candy midway and was staring intently at something.
And in the blink of an eye, Reaper suddenly disappeared from where it had been staring!
Did it ghostify like Gray Reaper?
At the same moment Golden Reaper vanished, a clear sound like shattering glass rang out in the presentation hall.
Then a hot gust of wind blew in.
Papers were scattered by the strong wind, enough to shake even the chairs.
The empty space was split in all directions as if glass had shattered, and red sand poured endlessly from the cracks.
And the space began to distort as if seen through a fisheye lens.
Everyone raised their voices in bewilderment at the absurd situation, but they were all drowned out by the sound of the wind.
And with a 'pung' sound, fist-sized rocks scattered in all directions.
The deadly stones could easily pierce through people, and one of them shot right in front of me.
Oh, no.
***
In the cozy atmosphere of the Sehee Research Institute's Gray Reaper isolation room.
Inside, Gray Reaper was enjoying a nap.
Suddenly, Golden Reapers started popping out all around Gray Reaper, making playful noises.
And they started hitting Gray Reaper repeatedly.
Poking its cheeks.
tuk tuk~
Tapping on its eyelids.
jjit jjit~
Bouncing on its belly
This beating was also happening in the Golden Reaper garden.
In the garden too, the sleeping Gray Reaper was being beaten by Golden Reapers.
The Golden Reapers looked urgent somehow.
As if shouting, 'Wake up quickly!'
***
The black agent witnessed the disturbance from behind the presentation hall.
While everyone was flustered, the black agent hugged the blonde girl and started running away from the cracks.
He started running as soon as the hot wind blew, which was an extremely quick response.
"Uncle, what's going on?"
"Seems to be an Object-related incident. Let's get away from here first. At least we need to get out of Kkachisan."
The black agent grit his teeth and kept running, but it wasn't enough.
With the sound of shattering glass, a huge shockwave hit, and the black agent tumbled on the ground.
And the endless gust of hot wind and sand.
The agent held the blonde girl in his arms and endured.
And when the hot wind subsided, the black agent brushed off the sand and stood up to see a completely different scenery in front of him.
A desert with the horizon visible.
An endless red desert stretching out.