A Fine Mist of Drizzle Scattered Like Water Vapor from a Humidifier.

My clothes were already soaked through, and the raindrops in the air made it hard to keep my eyes open, but I forced them open and peered beyond the alley.

The dark alley felt ominous, like the gaping maw of a monster.

“Hyejin, Hyejin, Hyejin. Where did you go?”

The hateful man’s calm voice echoed.

Footsteps rang out all around as he ran through the alleyways, searching for me.

“You should’ve sold it when I told you to. Now, it’s just a hassle for us, and you don’t get the money. Isn’t that sad?”

I held my breath and waited for the right moment.

“And after getting caught once, you should’ve stayed put. But you just had to escape, didn’t you? You’re just asking for trouble.”

I can’t let that guy catch me.

I have to find my sister, who headed to Seoul.

“Hyejin, do you even know where you are? Do you think you can escape? Are you going to walk all the way to Seoul from here?”

He had always spoken with a pitiful, small voice, but had that all been an act?

There was no trace of his previous cowardice.

He laughed as if he was genuinely enjoying himself, as if he found this all amusing.

“Oh, I should tell you. That woman who committed suicide? She went to the hospital I recommended. Isn’t it funny? That woman who acted so confident became utterly depressed as soon as her horn was cut off.”

Gritting my teeth, I clamped my jaw shut.

‘He’s just trying to provoke you. Ignore it,’ I kept repeating to myself.

“Isn’t it strange? How someone’s mind can break just from having a horn on their head cut off? You’ll get to experience it soon enough.”

Hiding in the alley’s darkness, I watched for the right moment.

As soon as that man turned around, I would run the other way.

I didn’t know where I was, but I had to think about that after getting out of here.

The man passed the entrance of the alley where I was hiding.

If I stayed hidden a little longer, I could escape!

“Oh! Actually, I knew where you were hiding all along.”

A rustling sound came from right behind me.

Startled, I tried to turn my head.

Thud.

But before I could fully turn, a metallic sound rang through my head.

Suddenly, my body lost all its strength, and I collapsed helplessly onto the ground.

“Oh, by the way, your sister? She got caught by us too, just like you. You sisters are really alike, aren’t you?”

Struggling, I looked up and saw the baseball bat swinging down towards my head, filling my vision.

Bucheon Research Institute.

A research institute built on the outskirts of Bucheon City.

The institute had been abandoned for so long that it was completely devoid of people.

But life was starting to return to the desolate, ruinous institute.

The once shabby exterior had been restored, and staff had appeared.

Overnight, the place had been repaired, and while some people found it odd, most just thought, ‘Construction is really fast these days,’ and moved on.

The only strange thing was the gloomy expressions worn by all the staff.

In the underground levels of the institute, where the atmosphere was thick with despair, the head researcher hummed cheerfully, tapping his cane as he walked.

He moved from one isolation room to another, inspecting each with genuine delight.

On the walls, hearts made of gold were displayed like trophies, but one of them burst with a crack and melted.

The head researcher looked at it with a dry expression.

“The institute has been discovered much sooner than expected. But, oh well, it doesn’t matter.”

The isolation room the head researcher had just turned to was full of people.

Humans with Golden Horns sprouting from their heads.

“We’ve already gathered enough materials. Now, let’s prepare for the next experiment.”

At the head researcher’s command, shadows emerged, and the staff began forcibly dragging one of the humans with a Golden Horn out of the room and away to somewhere.

“Let’s begin the research for the love of humanity.”

But there was nothing but sadism in the head researcher’s face as he spoke.

Yerin was Broken.

“Reaper~”

She refused to let go of me.

“Our Reaper won’t disappear, right?”

What on earth happened?

Whenever she was sitting, she would always hold me from behind, burying her face in my hair.

When she moved, she either carried me in her arms or lifted me under her arm.

Honestly, it was uncomfortable, but the emotions she radiated were so heavy that I just let it be.

I figured those golden dolls I had passed on to her must have caused something.

It was annoying, but I decided to give her special treatment until she returned to normal.

I turned around and hugged her back.

This was a special service, just until Yerin was back to her usual self.

Sehee Research Institute Director’s Office.

Jungroe and Sehee were sitting across from each other, a desk between them.

Sehee tapped her fingers on the documents in front of her as she spoke.

“The cost of managing that cute little dog is almost nonexistent. At this point, it might be better to officially adopt it, even if it’s a bit of a stretch. What do you think?”

“Ever since the Gray Reaper ‘trained’ that cute dog, it’s calmed down a lot. It’s hard to believe it’s the same notorious dog. I think even if we go to great lengths to adopt it, it’ll be worth it.”

Jungroe responded in his usual, blunt manner.

“It obeys even without the Reaper?”

“Yes, it seems to be scared of the Reaper, so even when the Reaper isn’t around, it behaves cooperatively. However…”

“However?”

“These are the data measured during the period when the Reaper was away from the institute.”

Jungroe handed Sehee a report with simple figures and photos attached.

“The growth data of the cute dog?”

“Yes, since the Gray Reaper left the institute completely, the dog’s size started increasing.”

“Is that a problem? The dog was originally about 50cm in size, right?”

“Yes, when we first acquired the cute dog, it was about 50cm. After the Gray Reaper trained it, it shrank to 20cm. But once the Reaper completely left the institute, it started growing by about 1cm per day.”

“Has it caused any problems due to the size increase?”

“Yes, as its size increases, its aggressiveness increases proportionally. As soon as the Reaper returned to the institute, it shrank back to 20cm, but I believe this is something we need to consider when deciding whether to adopt the cute dog.”

“Well, there was that case with the lizard the Reaper brought. The lizard was abandoned within three days because it was forgotten. There’s no guarantee the cute dog won’t meet the same fate.”

“Fortunately, the Reaper still seems interested. It often forces the cute dog to wake up or makes it walk on two legs for no reason.”

“I’ve never seen the Reaper torment an Object like this before. Usually, it loses interest quickly, but it seems to have a particular dislike for the cute dog. Come to think of it, the Reaper has always disliked anything that looks like a dog.”

Sehee gathered the documents and put them into a file before standing up.

“There’s no need to make a decision right now, so let’s keep an eye on how long the Gray Reaper stays interested.”

And with that, the conversation between Jungroe and Sehee came to an end.

I Was Following My Senior, Who Was Walking Aimlessly.

“Senior~ Let’s head back, okay?”

“If you’re tired, you can head back first. I’ll return after I receive a case.”

He said he was going to find a case, so I thought he had already accepted one somewhere…

But instead, he was just wandering around, saying strange things.

He wasn’t looking for a case, wasn’t talking to anyone, just wandering.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait by the phone in the office for a case, rather than wandering aimlessly like this?

But my senior kept walking silently.

Even when the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the sky in a twilight glow, and even when it was completely dark and night had fallen, he just kept walking.

It didn’t seem like he had a destination.

Forward, forward. He just kept walking forward.

We had long since left Seoul behind.

What kind of case would we find out here in the middle of the night, outside the city, where there were almost no people?

Besides, the drizzle was reducing the number of people outside even further.

“A case.”

My senior spoke, looking somewhere.

In the dim alley, we saw a woman get struck by a baseball bat and collapse.

“I’ll handle it, so you record the evidence on video!”

I heard my senior’s voice, but it didn’t register clearly, as my head was buzzing with heat.

I pulled out a familiar tool from the bag I was carrying.

A hammer.

A mallet.

I felt the familiar sensation as I swung the hammer and charged forward.

I thought I heard my senior sigh behind me.

My Junior Sometimes Went Berserk in Violent Situations.

When she went berserk, she was better at fighting than I was.

Sometimes, I wondered if she was under the influence of an Object.

I leisurely filmed her rampage from behind.

The video clearly captured the three men who were trying to abduct the woman, only to be utterly shocked.

The men fled as they saw the hammer-wielding, wall-kicking, flying maniac.

Scary—my angry junior was scary.

Leaving my panting junior behind, I shook the unconscious girl to wake her up.

Handing a business card to the dazed girl who slowly came to her senses, I asked:

“Hello. By any chance, do you have something you’d like to commission?”

The woman took the card with a completely bewildered expression.