Hop, hop.

I ran forward with a lively gait.

Hop, hop.

It was a short journey to find the source that was producing the mechanical zombies.

Since I had to cover a significant distance, I was hopping along in my ghostly state.

It would have been nicer if those Ghost Catchers weren’t constantly chasing me from afar.

As soon as they spotted me in my ghostly state, the Ghost Catchers went wild, frantically chasing after me.

I’m sure they had been following other ghostly Objects before, but for some reason, they always singled me out.

Fortunately, I was much faster than them, so I didn’t have to worry about getting caught.

Why don’t they just give up and go after some other ghostly Object!

"Grrraaaah!"

A Ghost Catcher’s frustrated roar echoed through the forest.

Some time had passed since I completely lost the Ghost Catchers.

I had traveled far enough from Seoul that I could feel the climate and vegetation gradually changing.

Those annoying Objects like the Ghost Catchers were no longer in sight.

In the somewhat barren forest, I took care of a zombie that was slowly creeping toward me.

I plunged a hand into its chest with a soft squelch, piercing its heart.

After dealing with multiple zombies, I had gotten the hang of it.

There was no need to extract the heart to take down a zombie.

Simply destroying the heart was enough to break the Object’s composition.

Once the composition was broken, it lost its regenerative power and was dismantled by the Iron Tower’s influence.

Considering how far I had traveled, I had dealt with quite a few zombies.

Maybe around thirty?

I had assumed the source of the zombies would be near the Iron Tower, but that was a huge misconception.

It had been a long time since I thought, “This must be where the source is.”

Where on earth are they being sent from?

At this rate, I’ll end up crossing the old North Korean border.

"Sehee, I’m heading down first!"

With that, Yerin ran down the stairs.

The atmosphere at the research institute had been a bit chaotic since the Dobong-gu incident.

Most of the staff who had been sent out for observation, following signals from the "Cute Dog," had been caught up in the Dobong-gu incident.

Was it a mistake to temporarily take on the "Cute Dog" as part of the institute’s expansion plans?

Fortunately, the staff caught up in the Dobong-gu incident were safely brought back, thanks to the efforts of Kim Jung-rye and a few others who worked tirelessly.

Looking down from the rooftop, I saw Yerin leading the staff somewhere, energetically swinging her fists.

She had been with me on the rooftop just moments ago, and she was undoubtedly the most energetic person at the institute.

The area around the institute was much busier than before.

Since the research institute was part of a cluster on the outskirts of Seoul, well-equipped with infrastructure, many people had come here seeking refuge.

Perhaps it was considered the perfect location—not too far from Seoul, with sufficient infrastructure and far enough from Seoul Forest?

"Hoo…"

I sighed in frustration.

The Reaper still hadn’t returned.

The Ice Throne in Dobong-gu had completely melted.

The ice soldiers had all turned to dust.

The even greater problem that had thrown all of Seoul into fear and shock, the anomaly of the Iron Tower, had also stopped.

Unlike the Ice Throne in Dobong-gu, whose hero was identified, the pulsation of the Iron Tower ended for no apparent reason.

Of course, no one knew why it had started in the first place.

Why did this happen, and why did it suddenly stop without anyone knowing?

Because of this, the people of Seoul now lived in fear that such terrifying events could happen at any time.

Yerin, ever the fan of the Reaper, joked that it was the Reaper who had taken care of both the Dobong-gu incident and the Iron Tower problem.

She said the Reaper hadn’t returned because he had something else to do and that once he was done, he would suddenly reappear.

I really hoped that was true.

Without the Reaper around, I felt a bit lonely.

Late at night, when not even the faintest light was visible, a group of men arrived in front of a dilapidated building.

"Sigh."

A bald man with a sour expression sighed.

The bald man was frustrated with the situation, having to investigate a place so remote that few people ever set foot there.

He had once been part of the Central Research Institute but was now working for the "Temporary Object Management Organization."

The order he received was simple.

Solve the Golden Horn case faster than anyone else by any means necessary.

The bald man didn’t believe the case could ever be solved.

How were they supposed to find the traces of someone kidnapped and taken to China?

In an era where even a relatively safe country like Korea had areas where people frequently became corpses, how could they track down someone across the border?

But he quickly realized his thinking was wrong.

A certain agent from the same "Temporary Object Management Organization" had managed to track down the whereabouts of the Golden Horn.

And the bald man had arrived here first to steal the credit for that agent’s work.

His orders were to "resolve this case faster than anyone else," after all.

With an irritated expression, the bald man nodded and ordered his subordinates to enter the building.

The eerie hoot of an owl echoed ominously.

According to the records left by the agent, the trail of the Golden Horn smuggling had ended at this eerie research institute.

And so, here they were, at this eerie, abandoned building late at night.

The bald man picked up a piece of broken concrete and muttered.

"Was this really a functioning research institute just a few days ago? Are we in the right place?"

According to the records, the building in front of them had been a fully operational research institute just a few days ago.

But judging by its current state, it had already become a haunted, abandoned building.

Crunch.

The sound of hard glass being crushed underfoot echoed loudly in the silent, abandoned building.

In the terrifying atmosphere, where even an ordinary person might hiccup in fear, strange noises suddenly began to emanate.

A woman’s sobbing, and the sound of someone scratching furiously at a wall.

The men looked around in alarm, but the source of the noise was nowhere to be seen.

Though they were scared enough to want to flee, they barely managed to hold onto their sanity.

If they ran away now, their reality would only become more terrifying.

Swallowing their fear, they pushed deeper into the abandoned building.

The eerie sounds of a woman crying and the sickening sensation of fingernails scraping down to the bone accompanied them.

"Ugh!"

One of the men gasped in shock as blood began to trickle down the wall.

<It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Send me home. Send me home.> <It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Send me home. Send me home.> <It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Send me home. Send me home.>

Ominous phrases were written on the walls in blood.

The bald man kicked the startled employee who had fallen to the ground and ordered them to move forward quickly.

"This must be some kind of Object. Judging by the way it’s acting, it’s just trying to scare us. Move forward!"

His attitude came from knowing that his boss was more brutal than any vague supernatural threat.

If you didn’t want to die, you had to at least pretend to be alive.

The men arrived at a staircase leading down to the basement, filled with ominous signs.

Charred black corpses.

Whispering voices constantly murmuring in their ears.

And a staircase entrance that remained dark no matter how much light they shined on it.

The gaping entrance to the staircase looked like the gateway to hell.

The terrified employees couldn’t bring themselves to move forward.

"You idiots. I’ll go first, so just follow me."

Scoffing at the frightened men, the bald man began to descend the stairs without hesitation.

As he led the way down the stairs, flames suddenly erupted before his eyes.

"Gah!"

Someone was strangling the bald man.

He was left dangling in mid-air.

But there was no one in front of him!

Choking and unable to breathe, he flailed his limbs uselessly.

The flames that spread across his body began to consume him.

The men cautiously following behind the bald man were horrified by what they saw and fled in terror.

The constant screams of the bald man quickly died down.

Now, the only thing that filled the abandoned building was the usual, unsettling silence.

‘Hmm.’

This definitely didn’t seem like Korea anymore.

I must have crossed a few rivers, and one of them might have been the Amnok River.

Judging by the grotesque remnants of concrete and asphalt, it looked like I had left the Iron Tower’s domain as well.

Fortunately, I had finally located the source of the zombies.

It was the abandoned concrete building in front of me.

The building itself wasn’t an Object, so the source must be inside.

As I stood in front of the building, I heard the ominous hoot of an owl.

Standing in front of the abandoned building in the dark of night, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of a chill.

There was no sign of life in the building.

As I stepped inside, crunching on broken glass, I heard a strange noise nearby.

When I turned my head, I saw a ghost scratching the wall with a pained expression.

‘!’

Wow, this was my first time seeing a ghost.

One of the things I’d looked forward to most after gaining the ability to see spirits was the possibility of seeing a ghost.

Would a person really become a ghost after they died?

It was something I had always wanted to confirm.

But, to my disappointment, I hadn’t encountered any ghosts.

At least, not until this moment.

But now, here was a ghost! Why were there ghosts only here?

I left the crying ghost that was furiously scratching the wall behind and continued forward.

With a small hope in my heart, I wondered, ‘Could I see other ghosts as well?’