Thump, thump.

I walked through the corridors of the research institute, looking for a subject to test my new ability on.

I had dealt with quite a few Objects this time.

The golden tree, the yeti, and the incapacitated Objects that the golden reaper had punctured.

Unfortunately, aside from the golden tree, I didn’t gain any new abilities from the others.

I’m not sure why, but there are times when I can’t absorb abilities from certain Objects.

Criteria?

I had investigated this thoroughly a year ago.

The more physically-based an Object's abilities were, the higher the chance I wouldn’t gain anything from them.

Perhaps abilities that make muscles grow larger, skin tougher, or fur stronger are simply not compatible with my body.

Luckily, I was able to acquire a sleep-inducing ability from the golden tree.

It’s an ability that puts others to sleep, though I’m not sure how effective it will be.

As I wandered down the corridor, I heard a loud noise.

Bang.

It sounded like someone slamming their hand hard on a table.

The sound came from the Sehee Research Institute’s conference room.

I ghosted inside to see who was there and found a rare face.

It was Park Seoa, the deputy director of Sehee Research Institute.

She rarely left her office, so unless you specifically sought her out, it was hard to see her.

Park Seoa was angrily slamming the table and yelling.

She wasn’t one to get angry easily, so I wondered what could have happened.

"Researcher Oh Yerin, explain yourself."

There were two photos lying on the table beneath Seoa’s clenched fist.

One showed Yerin secretly stuffing a golden reaper into a bag and taking it outside.

The other was a picture of the blood-soaked golden reaper from the recent expo.

Yerin looked terrified, shrinking in on herself.

It seemed she was being scolded for smuggling out the golden reaper.

"How could someone with the title of researcher even think of smuggling out an Object without authorization?"

"I’m sorry."

Yerin shrank back further, while Sehee, sitting next to her, had a look that said it was none of her business.

"Director Lee Sehee!"

Sehee jumped at suddenly being called out.

"How could the monitoring system be so lax that an Object could be smuggled out so easily by a single person?"

"That’s because Yerin tampered with the CCTV…."

"Imagine if a high-risk Object that needed strict containment had brainwashed Researcher Oh Yerin and escaped. Do you think that excuse would hold? Sehee Research Institute would be shut down, and you would be imprisoned!"

Sehee shrank down just like Yerin.

It was true that the fact Yerin managed to sneak out an Object undetected was utterly unacceptable.

Such a thing should never have happened at a normal research institute.

The consequences of Seoa’s scolding were severe.

Yerin was demoted and reassigned to a different workplace.

She would be working in the deputy director’s office for a while.

Sehee was tasked with handling paperwork on Seoa’s behalf while the monitoring system was being rebuilt.

Yerin and Sehee’s expressions were those of people who had lost everything.

Ah, now that I think about it, I need to test the sleep ability….

Clomp, clomp, I trudged toward the Reaper’s isolation room with heavy steps.

Ugh, working in the deputy director’s office from now on means it’ll be ten times harder to come out and see the Reaper.

When I entered the isolation room, the Reaper, who had been lying on the bed, lifted the blanket and patted the mattress.

It was as if it was inviting me to crawl under the covers.

Wow! The Reaper’s invitation!

I immediately dashed over and dived into the bed.

I closed my eyes, savoring the blanket the Reaper tucked over me.

Wait, why do I suddenly feel so sleepy?

Zzz….

The sleep ability test on Yerin was fairly successful.

It could only be used upon physical contact.

It wasn’t effective on Objects.

It could put only one person to sleep at a time.

Overall, the sleep ability I acquired wasn’t bad.

It would be perfect for putting Yerin to sleep whenever she was being annoying!

But since she wasn’t annoying right now, I woke her up by lightly slapping her cheek.

Slap, slap.

Yerin woke up surprisingly quickly.

Hmm, the duration of the sleep could use some improvement.

"Ah, did I nod off?"

Yerin rubbed her eyes and then turned to me, hugging me tightly as she started to complain.

She lamented that starting work in the deputy director’s office would make it much harder to sneak out and see me.

I did feel a little guilty since I was partly responsible for the unauthorized removal of the golden reaper.

And since Yerin had helped resolve the golden tree incident, I thought I should give her a gift.

But what would be a good gift?

Nom, nom.

The golden reapers were wriggling on top of the desk.

"Wow!"

The Reaper, who had been listening to my complaints, suddenly summoned the golden reapers.

And when I put out a cake for the hungry-looking golden reapers, this is what happened.

The golden reapers, who loved sweet things, rushed to the cake and enjoyed it in their own ways.

So cute!

I grabbed a camera and started taking pictures.

Seoa unnie said taking pictures of Objects carelessly could get you killed, but the golden reapers are good, so it should be fine!

I wanted to take them home again, but I decided to resist this time.

Besides, I had a feeling I’d have another nightmare if I took them home.

It would be too sad if I woke up and found the warmth of the golden reapers gone.

There were three wriggling golden reapers in total.

One was submerged in the cocoa.

Judging by the way the cocoa was slowly decreasing, it was definitely drinking, but why was it doing that?

Well, it’s cute, so I guess it doesn’t matter!

The other two were absorbed in the cake.

One was hugging the sponge part of the cake, nibbling away.

The other was eating the strawberry leaves.

Why are you eating that?!

I wanted to make it eat the strawberry properly, but whenever I tried to touch it, it got angry, so I could only watch.

With a smile spreading across my face, I continued to take picture after picture.

I kept snapping photos until Seoa unnie, who was annoyed, came to fetch me.

The kidnapping case was nearing its conclusion.

We had figured out where the kidnapped person had been taken.

After obtaining information from a Golden Horn broker and tracking the destination, we knew where they had gone.

It was here, Bucheon Research Institute.

The client’s sister had apparently been sold alive to the Bucheon Research Institute.

As I looked around, I noticed that despite the claims that it was operational, the place was a complete wreck.

It seemed the operation had already been shut down, and they had fled far away.

I sneaked into the research institute, which was now a complete ruin.

The place was in such disarray that trash was piled everywhere, and the outer walls were so damaged that the rebar was exposed.

"This place is a total mess."

"Senior! Keep it down. The infamous 'Maker' might be here. Do you know the meaning of stealth?"

Does she realize her voice telling me to be quiet is three times louder than mine?

Suddenly, I heard a sound in the distance.

The noise of vehicles driving down the quiet road.

And there were quite a few of them.

It seemed we weren’t the only ones with business at this research institute.

Considering this is the infamous 'Maker’s' hideout, I guess it’s not surprising.

"Someone’s coming."

I warned them, and when I turned around, I saw my junior clutching a large hammer nervously.

Behind her was our client, Miss Hyejin, who had stubbornly insisted on coming along.

Numerous vehicles started pulling up to the entrance of the research institute.

From the lead vehicle, two figures emerged first, followed by many others.

Two silhouettes approached us, one tall and slender, the other short and stocky.

It was a man dressed in a suffocatingly tight black suit and a blonde girl.

I knew both of them well.

"Friend~ It’s been a while!"

"Indeed."

"And the young lady too, long time no see~"

The blonde girl responded to my greeting with nothing but an elegant bow.

They were a black-suited man from the Central Research Institute and the granddaughter of Chairman Oh Muryong.

Or is he not the chairman anymore? Anyway, she was the granddaughter of someone important.

Behind her stood a group of people who looked like bodyguards, encircling her like a screen.

"We’re here to search for the victim of the Golden Horn kidnapping. What about you?"

"We tracked the Golden Horn case to resolve it, but… it seems we’re too late."

"Right? Then let’s hurry down. Criminals love the basement, after all."

I strode into the research institute.

The man in black instructed his team to secure the area before following me inside.

The interior of the research institute was in even worse condition than the outside.

Could this place really have been operational until recently?

As we descended the stairs to the basement, an ominous feeling began to creep in.

The deeper we went, the stronger the smell of blood became.

When we finally reached the basement, the source of the stench became clear.

Every isolation room was splattered with dried blood.

Broken limbs and crushed body parts were scattered around.

What kind of experiments were they conducting here to cause such carnage in these isolation rooms?

Piles of corpses, their faces pale and lifeless, were stacked in the corners outside the isolation rooms, discarded like trash.

"Sister!"

Miss Hyejin cried out in a desperate voice and rushed toward the pile of bodies.

Judging by the identical horn-removal scars on the corpses, they all seemed to be the kidnapped victims.

The sister we were asked to find had already passed away.

"No, no! Sister, sister, sister!"

With her desperate sobbing, the request to find her sister—whether alive or dead—was fulfilled.

But it was a tragic success.