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Ah, this is a dream.

I intuitively realized it.

After returning from Seoul Forest, I fell asleep on the comfortable bed of Sehee Research Institute, and now I was trudging through the rain.

It was a familiar sight.

I was walking endlessly through the rain-soaked forest, just like I did one year ago, engulfed in fear.

At that time, even though I had a body that wouldn’t suffer physical harm, I was aimlessly walking, overwhelmed by the terror of impending death.

Death was approaching.

I wasn’t out of breath, yet my breathing became labored.

Even though I had gained ghosting, I couldn’t avoid death.

Unlike the death of other objects, the conditions for my death were invisible.

Instinctively, I knew death was coming, but what it was and the solution to it remained a mystery.

A fist-sized flame took the place of my heart, now burning smaller than a speck of dust.

Was this a premonition unique to objects?

I had known from the moment I was reborn that if this fire went out, I would die.

However, the flame only continued to shrink slowly without rekindling.

No matter how much I tried to consume the fire or even threw myself into a wildfire, nothing changed.

Feeling suffocated, I opened my mouth and let the rainwater pour in.

Then, a calm voice came to me.

“Oh my, passing object over there. Won’t you help me out of here?”

Looking toward the voice, I saw a woman staring at me through the bars.

The owner of the voice called out to me with her arms crossed, appearing completely unfazed from beyond the iron bars.

At that moment, I was in despair.

Since I was going to die anyway, I thought I might as well help someone before I died.

*

The place that seemed like an ordinary prison was, in fact, a considerable-sized object.

What I thought would be a quick rescue ended up taking several days, and while I was with her, who was quite the ruckus, I could forget about the fear of death.

However, eventually, that long, dungeon-like cave also had an end, and the moment I reached the end of the dungeon, my life came to an end as well.

While Sehee was relishing the joy of escape, I was slowly preparing for death.

“At least, I’m saving one life before I die,” I thought.

The ember had now reached its limit.

I awaited death that was soon to come.

Leaning into the shadowy darkness of the cave, I looked at Sehee, who was spreading her arms in the sunlight, cheering.

“I really think this is the end.” Just as that thought crossed my mind, Sehee returned into the cave, hugged me, and said.

“Thank you, thank you so much!”

With tears of joy welling in her eyes, Sehee said that.

At that moment, the flame inside me began to blaze fiercely.

I couldn’t think at all.

It was as if a bomb had exploded within me.

And only then did I understand the flame dwelling inside my body.

A flame fueled by comedy and tragedy.

A flame of curiosity.

Thus, I began to search for those who would become the fuel for my flame, just like Sehee.

It was a memory of a day imbued with some meaning.

Though it was a meaningful memory, it was really too hard, so if I had to categorize it, I’d classify this as a ‘nightmare.’

Was I waking from the dream? My vision began to grow hazy.

Feeling someone poke my cheek, I found myself back on the comfortable bed of the research institute.

*

I had a longing dream.

Perhaps I dreamt that way because I had recently escaped from a similar situation.

A scenario where the Reaper saves me from the brink of death, that is.

In the rain-soaked midnight, where you could hardly see a step ahead.

The Reaper, shedding a feeble light like fireflies.

Comparing with the current appearance of the Reaper, it was hard to believe they were the same object due to the contrast in atmosphere.

There was a lack of curiosity, and they seemed almost uninterested in their surroundings.

The glowing gaze that now stands out occasionally appeared dim back then.

Yet, oddly, it had been somewhat frightening when I first saw them.

The faint but flickering light strangely stimulated my fear.

Comparing to now, the light was weak, almost at a child’s play level, yet it still frightened me.

Trying to hide my trembling voice, I spoke in a nonchalant manner.

It was almost like gambling.

A humanoid object had suddenly appeared beyond the bars.

Even as a humanoid, there’s no assurance they could understand language.

And even if they did, the kinds that understood were mostly deceivers.

Speaking with a gamble-like mindset, I approached.

It felt like I was at a crossroads.

The cave that suddenly consumed me had no exit, and dangerous clay figures roamed around.

It was a crisis of death, whether I would starve to death or be crushed by the clay figures.

I had witnessed many people die before my very eyes.

Fortunately, the Reaper seemed to sense human will and wasn’t hostile toward me.

That’s how I managed to survive.

At that time, even though the Reaper should have aimed to go outside, they trudged deeper into the cave. Even when I suggested looking for a path closer to the surface, they remained immovable.

When I was wandering alone, it was a place filled with the threat of death, but with the Reaper, it felt almost like an escape room attraction. Moreover, the Reaper seemed to know exactly what to do like they had a clear strategy for the escape room. Initially, I thought there must be some way objects communicate.

Finding a key hidden in a box, we opened a door that matched the key.

As I observed the Reaper’s actions, I realized this place wasn’t merely a cave but rather a kind of puzzle-like object. Only then did I comprehend why the Reaper aimed for the depths of the cave.

Such dungeons could only be exited upon clearing them.

When we neutralized the infinitely respawning golem at the cave’s core with a hidden switch, the long path leading outside appeared, and that thrill was an indescribable joy I would never experience again.

Indeed, I was so mentally elevated that climbing the truly long staircase was not even tiring.

As I shouted in joy at the exit carved out in the middle of the forest, I turned around and saw the Reaper, now darker than before, huddled in a corner.

The Reaper, who had been getting gloomier day by day, appeared to be crumbling like a clay doll by the end.

The Reaper, who always wore a stiff expression, had a bittersweet, almost satisfied smile at the corners of their mouth. For some reason, that smile was so sad that I forgot my cheers and dashed over to hug the Reaper.

At that moment, I instinctively expressed my gratitude with all my might. I didn’t know why, but I felt compelled to do so. After all, they likely wouldn’t understand human speech anyway.

Perhaps influenced by my gratitude, the Reaper shone brilliantly, transforming into their current form.

With a languid expression yet always curious eyes, the Reaper stood before me.

I can never forget the astonished expression that came over the Reaper’s face at that moment.

Who knew the usually indifferent Reaper could make such a dramatic expression!

*

On the corkboard, an old newspaper article was pinned.

[Didn’t the objects that suddenly appeared at Seoul Square lead to dozens of casualties before being shot down? Is the management system of private research institutes really alright?]

“A hungry ghost causing chaos at Seoul Square? Those idiots must be out of their minds, huh?”

“…”

In the dark room, a man murmured while staring at the corkboard. Beside him, a small female shadow continuously scribbled something in a notebook.

Interestingly, there was a shadow of a woman present, but the actual figure of the woman was nowhere to be seen in the room.

Beneath the pinned newspaper article, there were numerous handwritten documents, including a list of researchers who had left the institute and papers forecasting the budget trends.

After skimming through the documents, the man whistled softly.

“Too many resignations, way too many. With that, the catchphrase ‘The safest national research institute with zero casualties!’ looks rather suspicious.”

The portions deemed suspicious were marked heavily in red, to the extent that the documents appeared red all over.

“Wow, this case is way too dangerous for a junior to handle. Before the kid starts whining, it’s a senior’s role to quietly watch over.”

The man chuckled as he looked at the documents and turned around.

The dim light from the gas lamp didn’t illuminate the room sufficiently, and perhaps for that reason, the figure before the corkboard appeared only vaguely.

“I’m busy, busy. This time it’s a business trip to Seoul Forest where I can’t use electronic devices. An analog detective isn’t so bad.”

The man, dressed in a neat suit, lit his pipe and organized the corkboard.

“Then, Watson, I’m off. You take care.”

The shadow illuminated faintly by the gas lamp nodded and then disappeared.

The man in the yellow coat extinguished the flame of the gas lamp and left the room.

*

After the man left and the gas lamp was extinguished, it reignited on its own.

And then the blood-red shadow of a woman reappeared.

The blood-stained silhouette began to smear the walls and bookshelves with viscous, crimson liquid.

[Is this Holmes perfect? Perfect? Perfect?]

[It’s still perfect.]

[No unresolved cases.]

[Is it not about choosing the cases? Not about choosing the cases? Not about choosing the cases?]

[Fortunately, that’s not the case.]

With a pop, as the lamp extinguished, the blood-red writings filling the walls and bookshelves also vanished.