Chapter 91

Everyone fell silent, their mouths shut tight, as the obnoxious ringtone of a cellphone loudly asserted its presence amidst the quiet.

“Uh… What should we do?”

“We gotta pick it up. Even if it’s like that, we can’t just ignore it, right?”

Glug.

The factory employee trembled while swallowing hard.

Just a phone call, and yet does it really have to be this terrifying?

The employee tried to answer the call but failed miserably as their eyes were squeezed shut and their trembling hands wouldn’t cooperate.

From within the shadow cast by the closed eyes of the employee, an unseen force dispelled its ghosting effect and pressed firmly on the employee’s finger, sliding the screen.

“Aaaaaah!”

Startled, the factory employee hurled the phone onto the floor.

The employee, now terrified, began rubbing their fingers and looked around frantically in all directions.

Hehe, you can look all you want, but I’ve already turned invisible!

[What was that noise? Is something wrong?]

A voice came from the phone lying on the floor.

Leaving the frightened employee behind, another factory worker picked up the call.

“No sir, everything’s fine.”

[Oh good. Right now, I’m escaping. I think I’ll be out in about a day.]

“Ah… So, does that mean the Object inside the factory hasn’t been resolved?”

[Yup, recontainment failed. Luckily, that big bear is too large to fit into tight spaces, so it’s currently moving along the ceiling. In a day or so, I’ll be out, and we’ll deal with it then.]

“So, immediate rescue isn’t necessary?”

[Actually, it’s better if no one comes rushing in and causes chaos. Let’s discuss the next recontainment plan after I return.]

“Understood, Boss!”

With that, the tense atmosphere finally eased.

“Seems like it was really the Boss this time, huh?”

“It must be him. It was his number and his voice.”

“But didn’t we get a weird call before? That strange B-block talk?”

“But is there even space in the ceiling?”

“Who knows? Who would climb up there to check?”

But the employees’ mood remained uneasy.

It was hard to simply rejoice at the Boss being alive after the strange call earlier.

That mysterious call coming from the Boss’s number and voice…

Coming here for pudding felt more like walking into a mystery drama.

***

In the golden Reaper’s garden located behind Sehee Research Institute, the Golden Reaper peeked out cautiously.

Carrying a pudding on its back, the Golden Reaper carefully surveyed the surroundings despite knowing the Creator wasn’t nearby.

If discovered, the last remaining pudding might be stolen, so caution was essential.

The Creator could deceive by hiding their location, so there was no room for carelessness.

Careless colleagues?

They had all lost their puddings.

And losing them only brought sorrow—pudding never returns.

For the sake of the pitiful attached human who hadn’t tasted a single delicious pudding, it couldn’t be taken away.

A massive door blocked the way ahead.

The grand door separating the backyard from the interior of the research institute.

Normally, ghosting would allow a quick leap over, but not now—not with the pudding to carry.

Thump thump, footsteps approached, and the Golden Reaper quickly hid.

Humans mustn’t find out.

If humans don’t receive pudding, they grow sad.

When humans are sad, it hurts.

After hiding in the shadows, the Reaper waited for the moment the door opened to slip through unnoticed.

Now, it had to reach the attached human without being detected in the building full of humans!

With determination etched on its face, the Golden Reaper steeled itself.

***

The situation at the Pudding Factory grew increasingly chaotic.

Oh, my head spins.

As I returned to my car, something suddenly popped out from the empty backseat—a Gray Reaper materializing via ghosting.

Of course, you’ve been following me invisibly.

I lifted the Reaper onto my lap and hugged it tightly.

Because we’re often close like this, the Reaper naturally relaxed in my embrace.

“Reaper, what exactly is going on? Something serious seems to be happening, but I can’t figure it out.”

Despite the confusion, holding the soft and warm Reaper calmed my mind.

The expressionless face of the Gray Reaper reflected in the rearview mirror gave no hint of thought, like a teddy bear cradled in my arms.

“The Boss called twice. Which one was real? Or were both fake?”

No matter how much I think, I can’t tell.

Until something clicks, I guess I’ll cuddle the Reaper and heal.

***

Yerin’s feelings felt tangled like a knotted thread.

It’s such a simple problem, but I seem to be overthinking it.

Lying down on the seat cover at the back, Yerin started playing with my feet instead of lying down with me.

Yerin always does this when I lie down—is it some kind of massage?

Though it doesn’t really help much.

The two calls we received during this case contained completely opposite information.

The first call: “Gather as many people as possible to come save us!”

The second call: “Wait until I escape!”

If the first call was fake, it means someone wanted lots of people to come in. Sounds like something an Object that lures humans would do.

If the second call was fake, it suggests someone wanted no one to come in. It’s rare for an Object to mimic human speech while avoiding humans, so a human likely made that call.

So depending on whether the culprit is human or an Object, the call we should believe changes.

Sigh.

Even though I shouldn’t yawn—I realized it might be a leftover habit from my human days.

But seeing Golden Reapers occasionally yawn makes me wonder if it’s for reasons other than being human—or maybe they’re just mimicking humans.

A sudden wave of sleepiness hit.

Flap flap.

To avoid falling asleep from the foot massage, I shook my leg to dislodge Yerin’s hand.

At least solve the pudding situation before resting—for pudding!

***

Until moments ago, the smartwatch was working perfectly, but now only static could be heard.

“Ah, darn. The connection’s cut.”

James, who had been using the smartwatch to communicate, spoke.

“Why did you make the call that way?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“The content of the call! You said we’d die if help didn’t arrive immediately!”

Bang bang.

Outside the control room, something shattered violently.

The sound of metal bending and breaking mercilessly.

“What… What is that?”

“The person on the other line realized we successfully communicated via the control room. The bear is destroying it. Is that the control room of Building 2?”

Unlike the interpreter, whose voice quivered with fear, James sounded calm.

“Now it’s certain—we’ll die if rescue doesn’t come. Eventually, that bear will find this control room too.”

“That’s it. We’re done.”

The interpreter clutched their head and spoke despondently.

The steel bear continued demolishing control rooms one by one.

Though the destruction sounds still came from far away, it was only a matter of time before it reached here.

Thud thud.

To the interpreter, the distant heavy footsteps sounded eerily similar to those of predators from movies.

“There’s no need to panic so much.”

James continued confidently.

“According to my path prediction, it’ll take that cute little bear about 15 hours to reach this control room. We have plenty of time. Why don’t you get some rest on the bed provided here?”

“But if rescue doesn’t arrive within 15 hours, we’ll die!”

“Exactly.”

“Why did you make the call that way? B-block? Milling machine? What does that even mean? You could’ve just said ‘Management Room, 7th Building, 2nd Floor.’ Why go through all that…?”

Collapsing to the floor, the interpreter sobbed.

Shaking his head, James looked sympathetically at the interpreter.

“You’re not very bright, are you? Didn’t I say this incident involved human interference?”

“?!”

Raising his gaze, the interpreter listened as James explained further.

“If I gave the exact location, wouldn’t that bear just come break our heads open before anyone arrived?”

“So will people be able to find us based on B-block and milling machine?”

“Of course. The hints are clear enough for factory staff to find us but confusing enough for terrorists.”

Looking hopeful again, the interpreter turned to James.

“Terrorists aren’t stupid either. If I give vague hints, they’ll probably look up old blueprints of the factory.”

“Right?”

“But those old blueprints won’t mention B-block or milling machines. The terrorists will likely give up and choose another method rather than trying to deduce our position.”

“So?”

“There’s a hidden story here. There’s an identical twin factory in Busan. By comparing the blueprints of that twin factory with the current ones, our exact location can be determined instantly.”

“Who would ever figure that out?”

The interpreter shouted, momentarily forgetting about the killer bear doll.

Full of renewed hope, the interpreter soon slumped back in despair.

“It’s over…”

***

I stopped thinking.

Do I really need to know which of the first or second call was true?

Do I even need to understand what B-block and milling machine mean?

Why am I the one who has to worry about this?

First, I should go in and rip the head off that steel bear object—it’s not part of the pudding factory anyway.

Once I finished thinking and stood up, Yerin reacted.

“Going into the factory? Then I’m coming too!”

Yerin smiled brightly and followed me out.

We sneaked quietly toward the factory entrance together.

Thanks to the Boss’s call, there were almost no guards around.

“This feels fun. Like playing hide-and-seek when I was a kid.”

Maybe because Yerin seemed to enjoy it, I found myself having a bit of fun too.

Moving from shadow to shadow, we entered the factory.

Inside, we were greeted by a cracked and broken parking lot and a headless corpse.

“Reaper, there’s a body here. Judging by the uniform, it’s probably one of the Object recovery people the Boss brought.”

Thud. Thud. Thud.

As soon as Yerin’s voice echoed across the parking lot, heavy footsteps approached.

Yerin grabbed my hand tightly, nervous.

Beyond the parking lot, through the gaping entrance of the building, two red lights appeared.

Like the glowing eyes of a beast in the darkness, the two red dots shone ominously.

Thud. Thud.

As the heavy footsteps drew closer, the silhouette of the object emerged from the shadows.

It was the steel bear-shaped Object.

And the bear, making eye contact with me, slowly…

Thud. Thud.

Retreated back into the darkness.