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The atmosphere in the dark, gloomy underground open lot, filled with a strong scent of blood, shifted dramatically.

Suspicious camp residents who call the client by a different name.

A client who can’t even remember their own name.

People charging at us in a frenzy, having lost their reason.

Suddenly appearing ninjas.

Suspicious researchers entrenched deep within the underground sewers.

It was indeed a series of dangerous and bizarre circumstances, but it all flipped upside down after the Gray Reaper appeared.

It turned into a bright, lighthearted, and fluffy situation.

The place transformed into a joyful playground where cute Golden Reapers frolicked around.

A Golden Reaper perched on the shoulder of Detective Sunbae, who was smoking a pipe in the corner.

The Golden Reaper, craving attention, poked Detective Sunbae’s cheek, but he merely looked annoyed.

Over there, Hammer Sunbae was cuddling with the Gray Reaper, swaying back and forth.

A cozy atmosphere filled with Golden Reapers clustering around and even a cat joining in.

The expression on Hammer Sunbae’s face looked like he was about to pass out from happiness!

Even the unconscious younger brother of the client was surrounded by Golden Reapers, who looked worried as they took care of him, yet strangely, none approached the client at all.

Could it be that the client is an object?

Only friendly towards humans, ignoring everything else?

If that’s the case, showing a friendly attitude only towards humans is actually a very dangerous signal.

It’s a common belief that the more friendly an object becomes towards a human, the greater the danger.

This is definitely an extremely perilous sign….

It’s something that should be taken seriously in modern understanding….

Yet, for some reason, I felt no desire to be cautious or keep my distance from these cute little creatures.

After all, they seem like such good kids!

I looked down at the Golden Reaper who was tightly holding my index finger.

A warm, squishy, cute object wriggling in my hand.

The Golden Reaper inspired a sense of familiarity deep within me, almost like family I hadn’t seen in ages.

Anyone who couldn’t fall for this charming creature must have something fundamentally wrong with them.

I pulled out a lollipop from my pocket and offered it, and the Golden Reaper grabbed it with both hands and began to lick it.

Lick, lick.

As I slowly pulled the lollipop away while holding onto the little one, the Golden Reaper stuck out its tongue and tried to lick it, and it was just too cute!

As I played around with the candy, the Golden Reaper began to pout.

Maybe I played too much, and now the little guy was upset.

Still, when I apologized and stroked its head with my finger, it quickly broke into a beaming smile.

Ah, I just want to take one home.

I want to raise one at home.

Isn’t it possible to secretly tuck one into my pocket and take it along?

I thought about it and tried to put the Golden Reaper in my pocket, but it failed.

Even if I managed to tuck it in, it would quickly wriggle its way out, trying to cling to my skin.

Eventually, I abandoned the sneaky plan of transporting it in my pocket.

There’s got to be a way, though. I need to think of another method.

*

I tidied up the pipes and approached the anxious client.

“Are you sure you don’t want to check on your younger brother?”

“Um… I’m too scared to get close.”

The client’s expression instinctively conveyed reluctance.

I once heard that objects are afraid of the Gray Reaper.

Could it be that the client themselves is an object, making the Golden Reaper uneasy?

Honestly, even without the fact that the client is an object, it would be frightening.

For me and the juniors, the Golden Reaper emanated endless charm, but it was cold towards the client.

Suddenly showing up, slaughtering everything in sight, and being cold only to them?

That sounds pretty terrifying.

I walked over to the chair where the client’s younger brother was seated and picked up all the Golden Reapers clinging to him.

Fortunately, when I lifted the Golden Reapers, they obediently moved to my shoulder.

They became more bothersome, tugging at my hair and crawling up, but I could manage this much.

Only then did the client timidly approach their brother.

“Taehoon, Taehoon.”

The client clung closely to the younger brother, checking on his condition.

“Taehoon, can you hear me?”

“Hehe, Sis.”

From the mouth of a young man who looked over thirty came slurred words.

I stood back, watching their reunion, when Junior No. 2 approached to ask.

“Sunbae, what exactly is this case? Who’s the client, and why is that younger brother so big?”

I handed Junior No. 2 the document I had tucked away.

“First of all, that’s him. He’s 35 years old. The real issue here is with the sister.”

It’s obvious that a woman who used to be 165 cm is now shrinking to about 120 cm, making it clear she’s not an ordinary sister.

Her clothes and shoes shrank along with her height, so there was no way she could be normal.

“You’ll see in the documents, but that younger brother ‘Lee Taehoon’ has no sister. So there’s only one question left—who exactly is this client?”

“Seeing that her height has dropped randomly and she can’t remember her name, she’s definitely an object?”

“We’ll need to check, but it seems that the client and all the camp residents are of the same type of object.”

I took out my phone to check, but calls were still impossible.

“I need to go out and summon some people. We need to tidy up the scene, and the client’s younger brother doesn’t look good.”

The younger brother didn’t seem to have any serious injuries, but it appeared there was a concern with his mental age.

The medical history section of the document didn’t note anything about such conditions.

Could it have been due to torture? But we’ll need confirmation at the hospital.

*

After sending Junior No. 2 to call the police or an ambulance, I forcibly pulled Junior No. 1 out, who was playing with the Gray Reaper, and we began searching the underground facility.

“Sunbae, why do you want to check the underground facility now?”

Having been dragged away from playing with the Gray Reaper, Junior No. 1 sounded a bit grumpy.

It seemed he was more enamored with the Gray Reaper than I thought—could it possess the ability of mental pollution?

“Something feels off, and I just want us to investigate before the residents come to the camp.”

Though I wasn’t completely confident in my actions, there were indeed things that felt off.

“Especially since our client is not a human but an object. It’s better to research in advance.”

“?”

A peculiar camp, a strange client.

Almost nothing was clearly revealed in this case.

Deep underground, an unidentifiable heartbeat continued reverberating.

Using the heartbeat as a guide, we wandered through the labyrinthine corridors beneath the ground.

This place was more horrific than I anticipated.

Everywhere I looked, there were torture chambers.

And in those torture chambers lay the corpses of camp residents I recognized.

From the butcher who once welcomed us to the landlady.

It had been confirmed that the camp residents were dragged here by the Director.

After passing through countless torture chambers, we finally discovered a new facility.

A unique, large, and tidy room.

A room where hearts dangled from the ceiling.

In that room, hearts made of gold pulsated.

From the rubber tubes connected like blood vessels, blood spewed out.

“This is the core of the ‘anomaly’ in this camp.”

“Most of these hearts seem to be in terrible condition.”

As pointed out by my junior, most of the hearts were damaged.

With each pulse, they expelled golden fragments, spewing pieces onto the floor.

Quite a number of hearts had split apart, no longer beating.

Considering the condition of the remaining hearts, it seemed that most would cease functioning within a day.

“This one.”

Among them, there was exactly one heart still intact.

I began to carefully collect that heart.

“Why are you taking that heart? A souvenir?”

“This heart is probably the client’s heart, so I’m preparing to take it.”

“Huh?”

“Why are you so surprised? You already know that both the camp resident and the client are objects, right? So seeing all these hearts here, what comes to mind?”

“Um… it’s horrifying?”

I glanced back at Junior No. 1 after that absurd comment and continued.

“Oh, I get it! That heart must be the cause of the camp residents!” That should be the thought process.

“Oh, I see it that way as well.”

“Plus, on the way here, you saw it too. The corpses of the camp residents who died after torture. So one corpse underground and one above, with the same face. Doesn’t that seem strange?”

“Oh, so the hearts here are the medium that created the fake camp residents outside?”

In the end, Junior No. 1 reached the same conclusion I had in mind.

“That’s right. So let’s get the client’s heart ready before the association starts their investigation.”

After sealing the heart in a glass bottle, I stood up.

“Now, let’s go deliver ‘this heart’ to the client.”