Chapter 18

I kept running through the very heart of hell.

My junior had discarded their cherished hammer somewhere and was now running for dear life, clutching documents while gasping for air.

Until just a little while ago, this bustling city block had been immersed in daily life—but now it was awash with blood and screams, transformed into the very center of hell.

A monstrous beetle zoomed down the road like a flaming bowling ball, sending people flying like pins. Flying rocks rained from the sky, blasting streams of high-pressure water that tore humans limb from limb.

Even I, who had conducted extensive research on Objects, was witnessing ones I’d never seen before—ones that were mercilessly slaughtering people left and right.

Every second was a test of nerves.

As soon as my monocle displayed an Object’s traits, I had to decide how to respond.

[Attack moving objects.]

“Stop!”

A grotesque tadpole with a massive eyeball hovered mid-air, scanning its surroundings.

But those unaware of its abilities could only stare in horror at its horrifying form before turning tail and fleeing.

And so, those who ran met a terrible fate.

The tadpole wept tears from its enormous eye, and anyone who fled began melting slowly but inexorably, writhing in agony until they perished.

‘Dammit… Was making that deal really a mistake?’

Somehow, thanks to acting quickly, I had managed to escape all the way to the outskirts of Songpa District.

Looking back, I saw the exhausted figure of my junior trailing behind me, leaving a trail of blood and corpses in our wake.

In the blink of an eye, Songpa had become a living hell.

Just as we breached the perimeter, reinforcements arrived, hastily setting up barricades and sealing off the area.

We made it.

But the blood-soaked streets burned vividly in my mind, refusing to fade.

***

The deafening roar of helicopters filled my ears.

Although access to the area around the Central Research Institute in Songpa had been restricted, none of that mattered much.

What mattered far more was the attention and views this footage would bring to “Daily Object.”

People screamed and scattered, roads shattered beyond repair, and countless Objects quarantined within the Central Research Institute had escaped, plunging the surrounding areas into utter chaos—a descent into earthly hell.

Worse still, the government had effectively abandoned the residents of Songpa.

At the barriers encircling the district’s outskirts, soldiers desperately poured fire onto the advancing threats, struggling to hold the line.

Most of the Objects originally sent to the Central Research Institute were considered too dangerous to contain elsewhere.

Protecting fleeing civilians? With a colossal mantis capable of regenerating after being blown to pieces already airborne, such concerns were laughable.

But the camera for “Daily Object” cared about none of these things.

The fierce battle raging along the frontlines of Songpa’s outskirts? Irrelevant.

Instead, the lens focused solely on two Objects duking it out atop the ruins of the Central Research Institute.

Thirty years ago, the Hungry Ghost had shocked and terrified South Korea.

The Gray Reaper had recently gained renewed notoriety following the Seoul Forest Village conflagration.

Now, the internet’s favorite hypothetical matchup had come to life.

***

On the monitors of Sehee Research Institute, real-time footage showed central Seoul disintegrating amidst the cacophony of helicopters.

The Reaper seemed to be at a disadvantage.

The Hungry Ghost rampaged, smashing buildings indiscriminately and flailing tentacles wildly toward the Reaper. The force was so immense that concrete crumbled into dust and swirled into the air.

Meanwhile, the Reaper merely hopped around in small bounds, occasionally performing bizarre actions—like dangling from a traffic light or luring the Ghost into pushing cars aside. Most of these moves seemed meaningless.

Occasionally, the Reaper sacrificed one of its own limbs to strike the Ghost, seemingly aiming to draw the creature’s focus.

“The Hungry Ghost’s skin is famously impervious to even billions of dollars’ worth of missiles! But look at this! The Gray Reaper is tearing right through it!”

Each time this happened, the reporter for “Daily Object” enthusiastically emphasized the Reaper’s terrifying power, spittle flying everywhere.

They also provided rough estimates of the financial damage caused by the destruction wrought by the Ghost and the Reaper, which amounted to astronomical sums.

During a brief clash, a burst of yellow flame erupted as both the Reaper’s left arm and one of the Ghost’s tentacles vanished.

Though its expression remained blank, the Reaper’s mangled left arm looked excruciatingly painful.

“Huh… Is the Reaper going to be okay?”

While both combatants took simultaneous hits, the Ghost clearly held the upper hand due to its sheer size.

“It’ll be fine. That burning Reaper is truly extraordinary,” Unnie Sehee declared confidently.

Encouraged by her words, I scrutinized the image of the Gray Reaper on the monitor more closely.

“Aha!”

Upon closer inspection, it became clear.

The Reaper’s diminutive size had made it difficult to notice, but…

“The Reaper’s light is growing brighter!”

“I don’t know why, but the Reaper is getting stronger,” Unnie Sehee said matter-of-factly.

***

Energy surged through my body.

That meant countless humans had suffered agonizing deaths around me.

As my power grew, so did my ability to perceive death ever further, ever wider.

I absorbed every method of destruction into my mind like spewing forth an endless torrent of force, stacking them like dominos.

My goal: neutralizing the Hungry Ghost.

With the resolve to collapse everything within my sight, I continued building my repertoire of “methods of destruction.”

For Objects, these methods often came across as vague hints.

But for everything else—not classified as Objects—I could discern far more precise ways to destroy.

Rather than mere methods, they felt more like inevitabilities, fates.

Unrelated actions combined to create butterfly effects leading directly to death.

For example, placing a rock three meters away, clapping hands, and spinning in a circle might cause a rabbit startled by the scene to trip over the rock and perish.

Fighting the Ghost, I established countless conditions for collapse, one after another.

It was time to witness the result of that domino effect.

***

The Hungry Ghost roared with laughter, confident in its impending victory.

The tiny thing’s regeneration would surely run out eventually.

Having drained all nearby humans, the small entity’s strength was rapidly diminishing.

All that remained was to devour it whole.

When the small entity suddenly spun on its heels and stomped its foot, the ground beneath it violently collapsed.

To the Ghost, this sudden collapse was nothing more than a trivial inconvenience.

Climbing up the crumbling cliffside, it prepared to consume the tiny annoyance once and for all.

!

As the Ghost descended, a sound akin to the world itself screaming pierced its ears.

A colossal Something stretched its hand toward the Ghost from the edge of existence.

The Something standing behind the small entity vanished in an instant, yet the Ghost—and indeed, all Objects capable of sensing its presence—felt overwhelming dread.

Terrified, the Ghost buried itself in a pit.

***

A massive collapse occurred.

An ultra-massive collapse of epic proportions.

A sinkhole kilometers wide and immeasurably deep swallowed everything in its path.

Even the nonstop chatter of the “Daily Object” reporter fell silent as they stared, eyes wide, at the spectacle.

With two claps and three stomps of its tiny feet, the Reaper had triggered the catastrophic collapse.

The process itself was dramatic.

A car toppled over like a pinball, careening into a pile of vehicles and triggering an explosion.

This ignited a nearby tanker, whose blast set off a chain reaction toppling nearby buildings in one direction. Gas lines ruptured en masse, culminating in the disaster.

It was like something out of a movie.

Caught in the collapse, the Hungry Ghost disappeared into the abyssal sinkhole, its location lost forever.

“Woah… Wow? The Reaper is truly incredible?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Everyone watching the live broadcast at Sehee Research Institute was left speechless by the sheer magnitude of the event.

***

Three days after what came to be known as the “Gray Collapse Incident,” the world seemed to gradually recover from the shock.

Initially, fear reigned supreme.

Many suggested abandoning Seoul altogether.

Given the numerous flight-capable Objects and uncontrollable entities like the Hungry Ghost that had fallen into the sinkhole, the city was deemed too perilous.

Who knew when some monstrous entity might emerge and obliterate Seoul?

Countless people fled to other regions.

But no Objects emerged as time passed.

Only a few minor ones surfaced, easily dealt with using conventional weaponry.

Slowly but surely, Seoul regained stability.