Chapter 7

The old man, who had been stealthily extending his arms, seemed to think “this should be enough,” and suddenly lunged at me with incredible speed.

“Let your guard down, did you?”

The old man grabbed my ankle, lifted me up, and began slamming me into the floor.

KA-THUMP KA-THUMP

Each time I was slammed down, the stone floor caved in, sending shards of rock flying everywhere. While I could easily escape using Ghosting, I decided to let it play out because the old man’s constantly changing expressions as he slammed me were hilariously entertaining.

At first, the old man wore an expression of triumphant satisfaction.

“DIE! DIE! DIE!”

With relentless determination, he kept smashing me into the floor, as if trying to punch right through it. Watching this, Sehee stood frozen, her face pale with shock, unsure what to do.

“ALRIGHT! THAT’S ENOUGH! JUST DIE ALREADY!”

Switching tactics, the old man now held me with both hands, attempting to snap me in half with every throw. Sensing something was off, the smirk faded from his face.

Shouldn’t he have realized by now that there’s nothing physically he can do to harm me? How many Objects are there that are completely immune to physical damage? Sehee must have noticed I was unharmed, because she pulled out her notebook and started scribbling.

She’s probably writing something like “Gray Reaper appears to be physically indestructible.”

After a few more futile attempts, the old man seemed to realize his efforts were pointless, and with an awkward smile, gently placed me on the ground, carefully adjusting my position so my feet were facing downward. He even brushed the dust off me politely before crawling backward on all fours toward the exit.

With a sheepish grin, he slowly backed away until reaching a safe distance, then suddenly bolted out of the basement at top speed. In the end, the only thing that changed from before the old man arrived was the completely ruined floor.

As soon as the old man left, Sehee rushed over, frantically brushing dust off me and apologizing profusely.

“Wow, didn’t expect the Reaper to be this durable. We’ve never done tests of this nature before.”

Experimenting with high-risk Objects can lead to dangerous incidents, making the private research facilities usually limit themselves to safer tests. Such risky experiments are typically conducted only at the National Central Research Institute, which has special legal exemptions.

“So… does escaping here mean defeating that old man? Even if we had guns, I’m not sure there’d be much we could do in Seoul Forest…”

Sehee looked worried, apparently seeing few options for escape.

In my opinion, there’s actually a very simple and clear solution remaining.

Destroying the source of the eternal flames would eliminate all the monsters.

Completing the condition [Destroy the source of the eternal flames] would kill all the monsters.

And judging by the giant steel pig statue standing right in front of me, that’s almost certainly the “source.”

What else could it possibly be besides the Object the monster has been carefully guarding in the basement?

The question is, what’s the method for destroying this steel pig statue?

[Indigestion]

Ugh… What in the world does that even mean?

***

“What kind of ‘indigestion’ could possibly affect a statue?”

While Sehee called for more people to join us, I circled around the pig statue, pondering the riddle of “indigestion.” The statue continuously emitted intense heat, and from within came the continuous sound of a woman screaming in agony.

The screams clearly originated from inside the pig’s belly, but upon opening it using the handle and inspecting inside, all that was found were piles of bones—no source for the screams.

Though no visible cause was apparent, I did discover the source of the delicious smell filling the basement.

Inside the pig’s belly were numerous orbs composed entirely of pure fire.

These orbs could be picked up and handled without burning, their appearance being fire itself, which made them quite fascinating. They were prime examples of the strange phenomena caused by Objects.

Despite their suspicious nature, everyone who saw them seemed irresistibly drawn to eat them. Even normally calm Sehee became quieter and developed a crazed look in her eyes when I held one. Some prisoners even shouted insults demanding I hand them over—but consuming these would almost certainly turn someone into a monster, so there was no way I’d give them away.

Allowing an Object to tempt you with something seemingly delicious is essentially signing your own death warrant.

Indigestion… Indigestion…

No matter how many times I repeated it in my mind, there seemed to be only one possible solution.

Entering directly into the pig’s belly.

Given that even an Object-level threat like this pig statue poses little danger to me, it should be fine. I even wondered if entering its belly might itself be the cause of its “indigestion.”

The only problem was the aversion to inserting myself into a statue filled with bones—but lacking other options, there was nothing to be done.

Thanks to the statue’s massive size, climbing into its belly wasn’t particularly difficult—the interior height alone exceeded my own stature.

Carefully avoiding the bones, I entered and closed the door behind me. With a loud THUD, an eerie sound echoed throughout.

The intermittent screams gradually grew louder, and thick, unknown liquid began oozing from the statue’s walls. Fires erupted from all directions, rapidly raising the internal temperature.

“Huh?”

Then something extraordinary happened—the inner walls of the pig statue began expanding. No longer did they appear metallic; instead, they transformed into what looked like red flesh, creating a grotesque, humid, and writhing space reminiscent of real intestines.

Before me appeared a person whose skin was melting, their hair already burned away, resembling rubber as it slowly dripped off in horrific fashion.

Their limbs were restrained by pitch-black burnt skeletons.

I finally understood—this person was the source of the screams. Twisting and turning, the woman tried desperately to escape, but the skeletal hands holding her limbs rendered her struggles futile.

“You too…”

A sudden sensation of heat at my wrist revealed a charred skeleton tightly gripping me.

“Burn! BURN! BURN! BURN!”

Skeletons emerged from all directions, each radiating heat as they grabbed at different parts of my body.

“You’ll burn too!”

“All of you!”

Though unaffected by their heat, I could feel their hatred intensifying, an endless malevolence demanding that I suffer the same fate.

As the heat continued to escalate, I sensed its limits approaching.

The skeletons clutching me began turning to ash and scattering. The fleshy interior walls caught fire and started burning.

Then came a thunderous roar as the giant pig tore itself apart, allowing me to return to the outside world.

***

The basement was in shambles. The once crimson inner walls of the steel statue had begun melting, revealing the smoke-filled, fiery chaos of the basement beyond.

Leaping down from the pig statue, I watched as it melted into liquid, its disappearance suggesting it had indeed succumbed to “indigestion.”

Clearing the broken prison bars amidst the hazardous basement conditions, our escape began under Sehee’s leadership.

Emerging from the basement, we were greeted by the sight of burning houses and monsters writhing in agony in every direction.

Spewing flames from their mouths and eyes, the monsters merely rolled around on the ground in pain. The problem was that their fires were setting the houses ablaze.

“I can’t die like this!”

An enormous old man, towering well over five meters, burst out of a burning house, shouting.

“I don’t want to die! After everything I’ve endured! Everything I’ve survived!”

Destroying his own home in his rampage, the old man spotted the fleeing figures and let out an ear-piercing scream as he charged forward.

“Not alone! I won’t die alone!”

Though lacking his previous agility, the old man still moved surprisingly fast.

To the exhausted people, already weakened by thick smoke and intense heat, his speed felt unstoppable.

However, the old man’s final attempt was thwarted by the other monsters trapped within the house.

“How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!”

Spider-like creatures with elongated limbs attacked each other relentlessly, tangling together in combat until they were reduced to ashes. The fighting continued until dawn, while I remained watching the scene unfold.