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Ninjas in black clothes all hurriedly left the container, leaving only the heat of the battle that had unfolded moments earlier.

I paused for a moment to catch my breath, feeling as if I were inhaling the heated air with each breath.

The narrow space of the now silent container was filled with the smell of blood.

Just as I was starting to realize that the battle had ended, I took a deep breath and shouted.

“Ah! I’m alive!”

The joy of raising my hammer high.

Honestly, I had no idea why the ninjas suddenly fled.

I also had no clue why they appeared out of nowhere.

But still, it was good to be alive.

When I looked back, Hyejin seemed to be in better shape than I had expected.

Whether it was her usual temperament or the golden horn, I couldn’t quite tell.

The client appeared to be quite shocked.

It’s understandable to be shocked when ninjas suddenly show up trying to kill you.

Knock knock.

Suddenly, I heard a sound of knocking on the container wall, and I quickly turned to see our senior dressed in a familiar yellow suit standing there.

“Looks like quite a mess happened here, huh?”

With a familiar expression, my senior returned with a smile as if nothing was wrong.

*

Looking inside the container, it was a complete wreck covered in blood.

There were a total of three ninja corpses sprawled inside the container.

One died from gunshot wounds, which was done by Junior No. 2.

Two were smashed to pieces, courtesy of Junior No. 1.

Truly the strength of a monster.

The ninjas were specifically targeting the camp residents, and my juniors likely got into a fight because of the client.

Just as I had guessed, the client and the camp residents were of the same kind.

They were probably either victims of the object or its byproducts.

“Senior! Why did you arrive so late? No contact at all!”

“I came as fast as I could. And those ninjas, whether they jammed or not, my phone is dead.”

I shook my phone in my hand.

“Looks like these fellows in black clothes were targeting the client?”

“Yes, they just attacked the client out of nowhere. Can you believe how surprised I was when the ninjas suddenly showed up?”

Junior No. 1, drenched in sweat, was in bad shape but thankfully seemed to have no serious injuries.

Looking around, Junior No. 2 appeared fine, and the client was just slightly dazed…

Hmm.

The client seemed to be shrinking away?

It’s almost certain now that the client is not human.

Well, whether the client is human, an object, or an alien, it doesn’t really matter.

Clap clap.

I clapped my hands twice to shift the attention.

“Alright, we have our next destination. It’s the underground sewer in the northern part of the camp. I think that’s where the client’s younger brother, whom the client wanted us to find, is likely to be.”

I urged my juniors and the client.

This task was now approaching its final stage.

It would be great if we could find the client’s younger brother in the underground sewer…

*

After passing through the underground sewer, we reached a huge subterranean structure.

The basement was filled with blood.

In the basement, the corpses of ninjas were piled high.

And there were many more corpses of researchers, several times that of the ninjas.

Cough cough cough.

The director was laughing while spitting blood.

He was just sitting there with several ninja swords stuck in his torso, laughing.

“It seems it’s about time we abandon this camp? Seeing all these strange folks getting in the way, it looks like we need to relocate.”

Where he turned around, the only human in this basement was tied up.

A man who looked too dazed to even grasp the situation, enduring serious torture.

“Still, it’s fortunate. I have a somewhat successful experiment here.”

The director was spinning around the only survivor, babbling non-stop.

“Who would’ve thought that an object would arise from humanity’s wishes? Although since there’s only one success, calling it a success might be too early, huh?”

After checking the survivor’s condition, the director turned and spoke.

“At this condition, he should be able to withstand long-distance transportation.”

The director spread his arms and shouted.

“Let’s begin the relocation of the research institute!”

As the director’s shout echoed through the basement, the collapsed researchers started to twitch and rise.

Their eyes bulged out, limbs severed, and entrails spilling out, yet the expressions of the research staff looked gloomy.

*

Upon arriving at the northern camp, a large sewer that contrasted sharply with the desolate scenery opened wide.

“This must be it.”

“Senior, are you sure this is the place?”

Junior No. 1 asked again, his face uneasy.

It was only natural to feel uneasy about a sewer spewing blood and bodies from the entrance.

Looking at the ninja corpses fallen at the sewer entrance, it seemed certain this was where the ninjas headed en masse.

With each step I took, countless corpses lay lifelessly sprawled around.

Corpses submerged deeply in blood.

The underground sewer filled to the brim with ninja corpses.

The deeper we went, the more their numbers seemed to increase.

There were so many corpses that the sewer was spitting out blood instead of water.

Turning around, I saw my companions were tense.

Junior No. 1 was closely on my heels with a hammer, scanning all around.

Junior No. 2, with a revolver reloaded in both hands, was glued to the client’s side.

The client seemed to be in a strange state.

Should I say they looked a bit dazed?

As we penetrated deeper, far from seeing the sewer entrance, unfamiliar sounds began to emerge.

Thump thump.

The sound of a heart was rising from deep underground.

The thick blood in the sewer combined with the heartbeat created a chilling atmosphere.

We kept moving deeper along the sewer.

And with each step, the number of corpses increased.

But strangely, they were all ninja corpses.

What on earth were the ninjas fighting?

The sound of the heart grew louder.

It was now so loud that it felt like the walls and floor were vibrating.

At the end of the sewer, surprisingly, a clean open lot welcomed us.

A loud heartbeat echoed, and unidentified blood continued to flow down the walls of this enigmatic space.

The outskirts of the open lot were filled with ninja corpses, while in the center, people in white lab coats awaited us.

“Long time no see! Detective in Yellow Clothes.”

The director who twisted a smile in the center shouted loudly.

It was a being that looked just like the director I had seen at the Central Research Institute, smiling with a lively face.

But this being was entirely different from the director I had seen at the Central Research Institute.

That was how I felt, and the words reflecting in the monocle indicated it was a different entity altogether.

When I looked at the director at the Central Research Institute, it said [As long as the director exists, the research institute cannot be destroyed.], but now it displayed completely different phrases.

[As long as the director exists, the researchers are his possession.]

[As long as the research is not finished, the director regenerates.]

[As long as wishes are not fulfilled, research will not end.]

My monocle sometimes omitted information or outright failed to show it, but at the very least, it always displayed the same phrase for the same object.

In other words, the director before me and the director from the Central Research Institute were completely different entities.

‘I found him.’

The person I was looking for was indeed here.

The younger brother the client had asked us to find.

I discovered a youth that looked exactly like the picture from the registry.

Although he was covered in blood and tied up on a chair with ropes.

“That’s my brother! He’s over there!”

At that moment, the client shouted loudly.

That finger was indeed pointing at the blood-soaked youth.

A younger brother who looked far older than the client?

My juniors, who had assumed the younger brother would be about elementary school age, looked completely bewildered.

Hearing the client’s words, the director glared fiercely and said.

“They’re thieves trying to steal the experiment.”

With a low, scratchy voice from the director, the researchers surrounding us all rushed toward us.

*

Om nom nom.

Eating the pudding piled like a mountain made me happy.

No matter how much I ate, the pudding didn’t lessen!

While I was stacking and munching on pudding, a faint sound filtered through.

A small, weak sound from underground.

Just as I was about to ignore it and continue eating pudding, the sound became a bit clearer.

Aeoohhh!

It was the urgent meow of a ghost cat.

Ah, the ghost cat!

I had completely forgotten about it…

I had forgotten entirely due to the delightful ninja pyramid.

Could it be that something has gone wrong?

To track the sound coming from underground, I ghosted and burrowed into the ground.

Under the surface I burrowed into, there was a room overflowing with the smell of blood.

In the underground where I had entered to find the cat, I discovered the source of the evil.

It was the first place I had set out to find.

A place bursting with an unsettling malice.

Blood oozing from a human scattered in all directions.

The gray concrete was stained a dark red, and the pooled blood on the floor emitted an ominous glow.

The smell of blood was so thick that it felt akin to licking metal.

In the center of the room, there was a corpse tied to a chair.

A headless corpse.

From that corpse, I felt a trace of the malice I had sensed earlier.

It was faint enough to require a detailed inspection to be sure, but it was definitely there.

However, whatever “thing” had radiated such malice was no longer here.

Hmm, what on earth was it?

Aeoohhh!

Then, not too far away, the cat’s meow rang out again.

That meow seemed to be quite urgent.