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The cat that escaped the burning building began to run westward, continuously, through the ruins.

Even when a maze-like city appeared after the ruins, it ran on without hesitation.

It dashed through the complex and eye-catching city without even glancing at anything.

The city was filled with the lively sounds of chatter, children’s laughter, and the occasional barking of dogs from afar.

As if it knew the way well, it didn’t stop even at the intersections of the complicated city.

I was in streets I didn’t recognize, but they seemed familiar to the cat.

After following the cat for several hours, it finally let out a loud cry in front of a wide-open view above the tall ruins.

Meowwwww!

It was a sound that felt like achievement.

Looking down, I saw a familiar scene.

It was the view that was always shown on TV when ‘Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp’ was introduced.

It showcased the camp’s disorder, and it was quite a picturesque sight, making it a scene often displayed on TV.

However, the camp I was seeing in person was a bit different from my expectations.

On TV, it was often described as a “temporary camp in a lawless area”…

But to me, it looked fairly normal, not rugged enough to deserve the labels of lawlessness or temporariness.

But there was something even stranger.

There wasn’t a single person in the city?

Not a single soul.

As I secretly followed the cat into the city, that strangeness grew even more.

Kids were running around precariously on the steps.

Laundry fluttered in the breeze, strewn across narrow alleys.

Young people sat together in alleys, playing instruments.

Couples sat closely on the walls, holding hands.

Store owners called out to passersby.

It was a city brimming with positive emotions and dynamic liveliness.

But the firewood remained utterly still.

A subtly felt discomfort only grew stronger.

The cat seemed unaware of the oddities, leisurely wandering around inside the camp, looking for something.

Perhaps it was seeking adventure?

But the cat was already deep in adventure.

The fake humans were pretending not to pay attention to the ghost cat while actually keeping a watchful eye on it.

*

The midday sunlight streamed in through the blinds, casting shadows on the floor, while a coffee machine in the corner made its characteristic sounds, releasing fragrant steam into the room.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee mixed with the smell of old wooden furniture and books, creating a typical office atmosphere.

Though it was usually the detective’s office, it felt a bit different today as preparations for a business trip were underway.

I checked the tools while looking at the photos pinned to the corkboard on the wall.

Adjusting the yellow suit’s appearance, I tucked in my pocket watch.

Then I picked up and lifted the gas lamp from the shelf.

As I grabbed the gas lamp, a small scream erupted.

“Senpai! Are you really going to take Watson with you?”

Junior No. 1 exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.

Junior No. 2, not familiar with Watson, looked curiously at me.

“Of course. I need to take it. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

I quietly said, looking at Watson at eye level.

Finally, I grabbed a revolver.

“A gun!? Senpai, are you crazy? Where are you going to fight? You said we were meeting a client, right? And isn’t that illegal? A gun in Korea….”

“I just have a feeling that I might need a gun. Haven’t you ever seen a movie? A great detective always carries at least one revolver.”

Seeing me talk like this for the first time, Junior No. 1 double-checked his own luggage.

Then Junior No. 2 asked, “So, where are we going?”

“Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp.”

I pointed to the article pinned on the corkboard.

[Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp, police personnel withdraw due to suspicious reasons.]

It was an article about the camp that had become controversial recently.

*

A man was grumbling while pinching his nose as he descended the stairs.

“Ugh. I can’t breathe.”

Was it the walls oozing sticky blood that made the air so thick with the smell of blood as he went down?

The man, belonging to an association, had come to the ‘Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp’ to make up for recent consecutive failures.

He had tried secretly reviving the Central Research Institute but failed.

When he forcibly pulled the deputy director from prison to try again, that too ended in failure.

It was deemed unavoidable that he couldn’t summon the director object, so he entrusted the deputy director with running the institute, only for the deputy director to end up as a headless corpse.

While significant setbacks were unfolding in preparing for the secret Central Research Institute’s operations, it was a stroke of luck that he found the location of the director.

While tracking down mysterious disappearance cases at the ‘Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp’ under the government’s close surveillance, the director he had looked for so long suddenly appeared…

He was lucky.

The man had one mission: ‘Bring the director into the secret research institute!’

Following closely behind the researcher in front of him, as they entered deep underground, the smell of blood intensified.

Adding to that was the inexplicable sound of a heartbeat.

Thump thump.

The sound of countless hearts beating simultaneously.

That sound echoed loudly as if pushing the air away, the vibrations making the man’s body resonate.

Continually walking, they arrived at a vast chamber.

In the center of that chamber stood the director.

“Welcome. Mr. Anonymous from the association.”

The director spoke with exaggerated gestures and tone.

The man, desperate to escape the underground facility as soon as possible, ignored the director’s mockery and just said what he had to say.

“Director, let’s go back to the Central Research Institute….”

Clap.

The director clapped, cutting the man’s words.

“I thought you might know my name since you’re from the association; what do you think?”

“I don’t know. Do I look too young to know that name? Plus, all the documents with your name on them have been destroyed, so it’s impossible to investigate.”

“….”

“Because of your lack of a name, no one can call your name anymore. You can’t even record your name.”

The director fell into thought upon hearing that.

“Director, or rather ‘Maker’! Come back to the Central Research Institute. Now the institute can support all the experiments you’ve ever wanted to do.”

“Names. Names are trivial. Return to the Central Research Institute? Sounds good. No, it doesn’t sound good. Why?”

Hearing the man’s words, the director stared at the ceiling mumbling incoherently.

Feeling something ominous, the man tried to turn around to leave, but by now, two researchers had appeared and grabbed his shoulders.

“What, what are you doing?”

The director stepped forward, brandishing a sharp scalpel in front of the man’s nose.

“What’s my name?”

“What?”

“What is my name? After testing once, it seems I can call your name now. I’m sure about that since I’ve tested it with the general public.”

“Absolutely, aaargh!”

As the man tried to voice his refusal, the scalpel lodged itself into his eye.

With a sickening sound, the scalpel was pulled out.

The globe in the director’s hand emitted a strange light.

There should have been serious bleeding, but for some reason, the bleeding stopped instantly.

“What are you so afraid of? Do you think that if you say my name, ‘no name’ will show up?”

“Of course!”

“Why not try calling? I might unexpectedly be a parasitic object that has possessed the director. Isn’t it okay to name the host of a parasitic object like ‘Black Butterfly’?”

“No, you are not some parasitic object!”

“You’re not making sense. Well, someday I’ll let you know. We have plenty of time.”

“Aaargh, stop. I don’t know! I don’t know! I told you I don’t know!”

But the director did not believe the man’s words.

*

“Hello. Do you happen to have something to request?”

The senior who had been loitering in front of the police station all day started spouting nonsense again.

“That, that was what you told me too, right? It’s always that line?”

“Yeah, I think they find it cool.”

Whispering amongst ourselves, Junior No. 2 and I were gossiping about senior when a woman, presumed to be the client, stood up and took the senior’s hand.

Once again, he succeeded in attracting a client with that strange line.

“Alright, then. Let’s go straight to ‘Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp.'”

As it was a kidnapping case, there was no need to delay knowing the destination.

We grabbed a taxi and arrived at ‘Incheon Gyeongsan Temporary Camp.’

Contrary to my expectations, it was a place overflowing with vitality and joy.

The children looked bright and cheerful, and the merchants appeared full of energy.

And the elderly sitting together halfway up the mountain seemed to be playing games like Go or chess, creating an atmosphere distant from a kidnapping incident.

There seemed to be so many people that it would be impossible to avoid attention.

“Senpai? Could a kidnapping happen in a place like this?”

Senior narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings with a serious expression.

“Senpai?”

“I don’t know. It feels like something is off, but I can’t pinpoint it.”

Following the client, who appeared to be extremely frightened, we headed towards the client’s residence.

A shabby three-story building made of concrete with no parking lot.

From there, a child and a woman came out to greet our party.

“Sister!”

The child came running with open arms and clung to the client’s legs.

But the client’s face was pale, and her body was stiff.

Her expression completely resembled that of a scared rabbit clinging to a leg.