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In the newly prepared isolation room for the lizard, beautiful piano sounds rang out non-stop.

The sight of a tiny lizard joyfully clapping and playing the piano was always entertaining.

I clapped along to the lizard’s wonderful performance.

There was something charming about the lizard’s music that made you want to cheer, and I wondered if we could just rent a plaza for a performance, it would effortlessly meet the lizard’s condition of receiving a “standing ovation from ten thousand people simultaneously.”

Once the lizard left its special isolation room and entered mine, I was welcomed by the soft sounds of the TV and the sight of a baby kitten, snoring adorably.

In this incident, I had managed to acquire two object friends.

Thank goodness it wasn’t just one.

It had been quite a struggle to find them, and I would have felt a little sad if the lizard hadn’t resurrected here.

The TV was currently buzzing with a trending news story.

“The President of the National Object Management Association, Oh Muryong, has not appeared due to age and health issues amidst allegations of bribery…”

A detective’s little revelation was causing quite the uproar.

Central Research Institute, National Object Management Association corruption case.

Honestly, I hadn’t cared much about it, but a juicy sound caught my attention, making me check the news with interest.

A year-old terrorist incident.

It has been revealed that the “Cute Puppy” was linked to the terrorist attack on the Seoul Research Institute.

At that time, the “Cute Puppy” was an object everyone wanted—something that made money.

The director of the Seoul Research Institute at that time refused to give any bribes and was eventually outside the association’s favor, leading to the conclusion that the “Cute Puppy” would be managed by the association due to the terrorist incident, negative public opinion, and his own disappearance.

The association then profited immensely by leveraging that puppy.

In a way, it could be considered a personal enemy from my human days, right?

But it was collapsing on its own without any need for my revenge.

Privatization of the Central Research Institute.

Intentional incitement of private research institutes.

Selling objects for money.

Embezzling grants for high-risk objects.

There were so many revealed corruptions that finding any that hadn’t been committed would be more difficult, making the association’s downfall a foregone conclusion.

Would something this big be dragged through trial and ultimately fizzle out?

No matter how failing a country may be, such a thing wouldn’t happen.

*

I woke up to the sensation of being poked in the cheek and was greeted by Yerin’s bright face saying, “Hello!”

“Hello, Reaper?”

But I had no choice but to accept her greeting with a scowl.

Seeing my grim expression, Yerin started to rub my cheek as she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Something was indeed wrong.

A very big something.

There was a tiny black butterfly perched on Yerin’s shoulder.

It was the terrifying butterfly from the Central Research Institute.

When I lightly tapped the butterfly on her shoulder, it fluttered away in a panic.

“What’s this? Is something actually wrong?”

As I nudged her shoulder slightly, Yerin smiled and patted my back.

Since it was a dangerous creature, I needed to destroy it, but the conditions for destruction seemed like they would be hard to achieve right away.

[Break the black mirror.]

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a coincidence that Yerin had brought the black butterfly from the Central Research Institute.

Ignoring her calls to watch TV together, I stepped outside the isolation room and was greeted with the scene I had expected.

Black butterflies were flitting around the corridors of the research institute.

*

The atmosphere in the research institute these days was pleasant.

Why, you ask? Because the Reaper was encouraging people every morning.

Standing in front of the main gate, with a strict, solemn, serious expression, it would pat those passing through on the shoulder, offering encouragement.

It was a real boost for morning motivation.

Some people would get patted once, while many would receive five pats, but the criteria for this was still a mystery.

“I’m bored.”

But by the time morning passed, the Gray Reaper would vanish somewhere.

Thanks to that, I couldn’t even watch TV with the Reaper and was stuck with continuous work…

Of course, I’d prefer it to the security team conducting search operations every time the Reaper disappeared.

Where on earth had it gone?

“…”

“If you’re so bored, a visitor is supposed to come for a tour on the first floor shortly, so go give them a tour and come back.”

While I was writhing in boredom, Senior Jungloe tossed a task my way. If I had known this would happen, I would have taken my time!

As I was waiting in the lobby for the people coming for the tour, strange noises began to echo around.

A sound like a whip cracking? The incessant slicing of wind could be heard from the main entrance of the institute.

“Hey, isn’t that person insane?”

“I think I’ve seen that person somewhere. Who were they again?”

With murmurs accompanying, people’s gazes turned toward the main entrance.

And the sound of wind cutting through grew louder.

‘What the hell is that?’

As I spotted someone passing through the main gate, everything about those sounds and the commotion suddenly made sense.

A madman had appeared!

A man dressed sharply in a yellow suit was constantly hitting himself with a flyswatter turned nunchaku.

“Oh, Researcher Yerin? Are you here?”

Keeping a calm expression, the man began searching for Yerin.

Absolutely, absolutely! I did not want to acknowledge him, but since this was work, I had no choice but to respond.

“I am Yerin Oh.” I stepped forward, and the man returned a polite greeting, which was both very respectful and yet not burdensome at all.

If only the burdensome flyswatter weren’t there.

“Well… um…”

“Haha. You don’t need to worry about the flyswatter.”

No matter how much I tried to divert my thoughts, I couldn’t ignore it, yet I pretended to look past it and continued the conversation.

“…So, you applied for a tour?”

“I did apply for a tour, but that isn’t my real purpose.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve sent multiple requests for cooperation regarding the case, but despite sending them repeatedly, I haven’t received a reply, hence my intrusion.”

The man bowed his head and spoke with a serious expression.

“The Gray Reaper is needed to resolve the case. Can you cooperate with us?”

Caught up in thoughts of the flyswatter, I hadn’t noticed it before, but now that I looked, this man was actually quite famous.

He was the well-known detective known as the Yellow Detective.

Why did we ignore such a cooperation request? Was it Sehee unnie again? Did she forget to check her emails?

Such cooperation requests were supposed to be handled by Sehee unnie, so I thought of taking him to the director’s office, when suddenly a loud crash echoed.

Something hit the detective’s back, causing him to fall over.

Behind the fallen detective stood the Gray Reaper, ruthlessly kicking him while down.

*

The situation had become serious.

From the Songpa District sinkhole to the research complex, there were black butterflies everywhere.

While I hadn’t seen anyone sticking to a person like those who had died at the Central Research Institute, I wasn’t some clairvoyant object, so surely there would be victims somewhere.

Despite climbing to high places and looking around, there didn’t seem to be any particular spot where there were many butterflies or a place where they were flowing from.

After every morning’s disinfection activities at the Sehee Research Institute, I roamed around until evening trying to find the origin of the butterflies, but I couldn’t pinpoint it at all.

‘Maybe, it’s there?’

There was indeed a suspect location in mind.

The deep sinkhole where the hungry ghost was sucked in.

I felt that the reason for the butterflies might lie there.

The issue was that searching through such a vast area was not something that could be done in a day or two.

Moreover, it wasn’t even certain if I could find anything.

I hadn’t found anything even when I was at the Central Research Institute; what made me think I could now? It seemed impossible.

I thought about going home early today to rest, but when I returned to the Sehee Research Institute, it was in complete disarray.

A swarm of black butterflies that I had previously methodically cleared had come flocking back in.

The area of the institute, which had become a butterfly-free zone since I had chased them away whenever I saw one, was now teeming with butterflies more than any other place.

After confirming what was going on, I found the source of the problem in the research institute lobby.

There was a person, just as covered in butterflies as the one who had died at the Central Research Institute.

There were so many butterflies that the person was practically invisible in the lobby.

Since I was saving lives, I delivered a dropkick.

And of course, I wrapped up all the endless grudges against the Sehee Research Institute as well.

The sight of the shock scattering the black butterflies in all directions was quite a spectacle.

*

I was startled and ran over to the Reaper.

“Stop it, Reaper!”

For reasons unknown, when I pulled the Reaper away from kicking, the detective stood up and started looking around.

“Huh?”

“They’re gone! They’ve disappeared! The objects that were stuck everywhere!”

As the detective looked around as if searching for something, he suddenly let out a great roar.

“Whoa!”

“I’m alive!”

The detective, who had been ruthlessly beaten by the Reaper, showed no complaints; instead, he seemed extremely happy.

Throwing down the flyswatter and roaring in joy, he looked completely out of his mind.