Chapter 37

Pew pew pew.

A sound as if the air in the spotlight was exploding burst out.

The spotlight was shining intensely over the abandoned building.

It was a thorough perimeter, as if guarding against something.

Hooooooowlll.

The ominous hooting owl pitifully cried and fled from the light.

“Unidentified vehicle spotted near the target building! Do not let your guard down!”

Men in blue uniforms skillfully began to secure the scene.

A man in a black suit stood in front of the unidentified vehicle, listening to a report.

“This… seems to be one of our vehicles.”

The agent in the black suit sighed deeply, as if annoyed.

“I haven’t received word that another team was coming here.”

His tone suggested he had some idea of what was going on.

“The hood is still warm, so it hasn’t been here for long. Let’s proceed carefully.”

The black-clad agent touched the hood before pulling his hand away and spoke.

“We can’t overlook this just because it’s our vehicle. Compile information about the owner and submit it to me. I’ll handle the report to higher-ups.”

With a stern tone, the suited agent finished organizing the situation and headed toward the brightly lit abandoned building.

Just then, a blonde girl blocked the path of the black agent heading toward the building.

“Uncle!”

“Miss. You’ve come.”

The girl, holding the same notebook and pen as the black agent, said with a slightly sullen expression.

“Uncle, why did you leave without me again?”

The agent didn’t want to bring the girl into dangerous situations, so he secretly went on the mission, but he couldn’t escape her.

Her bodyguards-cum-secretaries must’ve helped her somehow.

This elementary school-aged girl was the granddaughter of the president of the ‘National Object Management Association.’

Though the association was under investigation for corruption, their power hadn’t completely disappeared yet.

The black-suited agent resigned himself and decided to just bring her along.

***

The black agent examined the wall markings, opened his notebook, and quickly scribbled a few words.

The girl watched and mimicked him by opening her own notebook, scribbling something, then dashing forward to pick up a piece of concrete and hold it high.

“Uncle! Isn’t this investigation wrong? This place looks too old to have been a functioning research institute just a week ago.”

The blonde girl worriedly said.

The agent pointed around the lobby with his fingers and explained.

“Miss. There are clear traces of desks here and there. They were likely cleared out recently. It’ll be clearer when it gets lighter.”

The agent continued forward while jotting notes and making sketches, issuing various orders to the surrounding staff.

The girl followed, copying his actions by writing in her notebook.

As they proceeded with the investigation, they discovered a man sprawled on the floor.

“Ah! This person must’ve driven the car outside!”

The blonde girl confidently declared, hands on her hips and chest puffed out.

“That’s highly likely. Though there’s no identifying item, I recognize this face. He briefly passed through the Korean temporary headquarters once.”

When the agent agreed with her statement, the girl giggled happily.

The agent gave an order to the blue-uniformed employee.

“Tie him up securely and keep watch. We’ll likely have many questions for him.”

Then, the black agent resumed walking forward without hesitation.

***

Despite the eerie atmosphere of the abandoned building, the presence of many people bustling around with flashlights diluted it significantly.

The men investigating every room eventually arrived at a suspicious-looking spot.

It was littered with charred lumps.

The blonde girl looked uneasy and asked.

“Uncle… could these be human remains?”

The girl’s face had turned pale.

“The atmosphere is creepy, so they’re probably human remains. Who could’ve done such a terrible thing?”

The usually adult-like girl seemed to lack tolerance for such sights.

Seeing this, the black agent quietly approached and gently patted the girl’s head.

She smiled broadly and visibly relaxed.

“This is definitely the work of an Object.”

The agent concluded it was the work of an Object.

The girl tilted her head and asked.

“Huh? An Object? But there’s nothing here?”

“It’s a corpse killed instantly by extreme heat. There’s no sign of it being moved or any traces left behind. Only an Object could do this.”

“Th-that does sound like an Object.”

“All personnel, withdraw. Let’s re-enter during the day after proper preparation against Objects. Entering now would be too dangerous.”

Thinking there might be a life-harming Object, the agent ordered a retreat, deciding it wasn’t worth risking.

The black agent turned and started walking back outside.

***

Hanging upside-down from the chandelier, watching the blonde girl.

What an interesting child.

She acted carefree but carried herself with grace.

She looked like a kid, yet she was quite bold and used sophisticated vocabulary.

She seemed like a modern noble who’d received excellent education.

He had only intended to confirm whether the people coming to this building were connected to zombie-makers and then leave, but he had stayed to observe the intriguing girl.

Based on what he’d observed so far, there was no need to worry about them pursuing criminals.

Whoever they were, they were much more competent than expected.

There were such capable people in Korea!

Clap clap clap.

Inaudible applause echoed in his ghosting state.

Now, I’ll leave the rest to them and head back to Sehee Research Institute to rest!

***

At midday, heavily armed employees rushed toward the basement.

The black agent waited with arms crossed until he heard the call.

“No abnormalities!”

Only after hearing that did the agent uncross his arms and slowly descend the dark stairs with the girl.

The basement appeared to have been used as a laboratory, with scattered experimental records lying around.

“Miss, these experiment records weren’t destroyed and seem intentionally left on the floor.”

The curious girl picked up a fallen sheet of paper while wandering around and said.

“Just from this record alone, there’s no escaping severe punishment. Yet they didn’t destroy them and left them scattered… ”

The agent also picked up a sheet and confirmed its contents.

“They don’t seem to be trying to hide anything. So either they’re confident they won’t get caught, or they’ve committed far worse crimes compared to what’s recorded here.”

The blonde girl looked shocked.

“Could there be worse crimes than this? Kidnapping, imprisonment, extracting living people’s eyes, replacing internal organs with roughly patched-up Objects… Just reading a bit makes my mind go fuzzy.”

The girl shook her head vigorously as if trying to forget the disturbing information.

Passing through the hallway littered with papers, the black agent and blonde girl reached a large room.

An incredibly spacious room.

On both sides were racks installed, similar to those for hanging pork, and in the center of the room was a pool of spilled blood.

And in the middle of the blood pool lay the decapitated head of a man who had bitten his tongue off.

The agent noticed and stepped behind the girl to shield her eyes.

“Eh? Was there something else?”

The blonde girl grumbled but didn’t resist.

She must’ve seen something unpleasant in a similar situation before.

“This man is someone wanted in Korea.”

The agent identified the decapitated head and deduced his identity.

“You must’ve seen him in my office, Miss. A middle-aged man who set up fake research facilities and kidnapped numerous people.”

The girl nodded.

“The guy wanted for the golden horns, right? I remember him!”

The agent closed his notebook with a thud, signaling the end of the investigation.

“Since we’ve recovered most of the leaked golden horns, our immediate task is complete.”

The agent looked at the golden hearts scattered all over the room and continued.

“Now we need to find out who exactly did this.”

***

The man who seemed to know something about the incident ended up being utterly useless.

“No, there was a ghost!”

Whenever asked about what happened inside the building, he kept talking about ghosts.

His rambling was incoherent, and he barely saw anything clearly, so it wasn’t even clear what kind of Object it was.

By the time the investigation team arrived, there was no trace of the Object left.

Even questioning why he was there yielded little useful information.

This man was closer to a day laborer dragged in due to debt.

In short, he knew nothing.

Further interrogation was pointless.

The black agent rose from his seat, cradling the dozing girl in his arms.

Exiting the interrogation room, he opened his notebook.

Drawn on the notebook was a simple picture.

The only evidence that seemed valuable.

The mark left on the man’s clothing when he was found.

Two tiny footprints, neatly pressed, like those of a baby.