Hiding on the rooftop of a nearby building, I looked down at the area where the ghost cat was, and the temporary camp at Geyang Mountain was in complete chaos.

The traces of a joyful party were smashed all around, and it pained my heart to see it.

I love parties too!

The overturned grill lay on the ground, its contents spilled, while golden, well-cooked chicken skewers, dripping with juices, were scattered across the dirt.

In the now-deserted party grounds, beings that were neither human nor Object, but something in between, were running around like zombies.

Familiar faces were hiding near the wrecked party area.

There was the yellow detective, holding a gas lamp and casually leaning against a brick wall, hiding.

And the junior detective, holding a large hammer with a tense expression.

Both of them emitted a slightly different aura than before.

Hmm, if I had to describe it, I’d say they had transformed into something halfway like an Object.

Well, someone who can throw people around like baseballs can’t be an ordinary person, after all.

I was trying to watch the cat's adventure as if I were watching a movie, but something started to prick at my senses.

It was as if I heard a 'bang!' sound that only I could hear.

It felt like something creepy had suddenly appeared somewhere in the corner of this camp.

The most intense feeling was an overwhelming malice directed toward humans.

I glanced back and forth between the corner of the camp and where the cat was.

Sigh, I wanted to keep watching the cat’s grand adventure….

The cat probably won't be in any danger, since the detective and the junior are capable.

Besides, Watson is there too!

Leaving the detective group behind, I began hopping towards the direction where I had sensed something eerie.

Letters that I remembered seeing near that rooftop flashed in my monocle and then disappeared.

They were the letters I had seen from the Gray Reaper.

The Gray Reaper, who seemed to be observing us, had suddenly vanished somewhere.

To think that the Gray Reaper, who should be at Sehee’s laboratory, appeared here.

I know that the Gray Reaper is an Object that’s often falsely accused, but….

It’s hard not to be suspicious when it keeps showing up at crime scenes.

Why on earth did it appear here?

It would have been much easier if I could have gotten help from the Gray Reaper, who is friendly to humans….

Rescuing Junior Number 2 seemed to be a considerably troublesome task.

The three-story building where Junior Number 2 was hiding was surrounded tightly by camp residents.

The large number of people at the welcome party turned out to be a problem.

They had locked the rooftop door and were holding out, but it wouldn’t be long before they were overrun.

Unlike the zombies often seen in movies, the camp residents were intelligent, so holding out indefinitely was impossible.

They were already trying various methods, such as bringing ladders or attempting to climb the walls.

Junior Number 2 had only three bullets left.

Hmm, there’s no good solution.

If we’re going to rescue the client and Junior Number 2, we’ll need to lure the residents away like a mountain of ants.

Fortunately, the residents have some zombie-like tendencies.

If they spot us, they’ll chase us blindly rather than using their heads.

If they didn’t have such tendencies, fighting them would be like battling a well-organized militia, and escaping would have been nearly impossible.

We would have been caught when we first navigated through the alleys.

“Alright, come here.”

A simple explanation of the plan.

The plan was for me to draw the zombies' attention and lead them all away, while Junior Number 1 would take Junior Number 2 and the client to a safe place.

The key to this plan, surprisingly, was the cat.

We had to hope that the cat would guide them to a safe place.

When I explained the plan, the Object cat meowed as if it understood.

The senior explained a sloppy plan and then suddenly got up and ran out into the open area.

Clap clap. He clapped twice to draw everyone's attention.

“Everyone. It's getting late; shouldn't we wrap up the welcome party?”

At the senior's words, the camp residents started rushing towards him, drooling.

Then the senior, without even glancing at me, ran off in the opposite direction.

After waiting for the commotion to die down, I looked over the wall, and the large crowd had completely disappeared.

The open area, where not long ago people had been barbecuing and eating chicken skewers at the welcome party, had turned into a total mess.

I entered the empty three-story building and knocked on the locked rooftop door.

Thud, thud, thud.

After a short wait, Hyejin, holding the unconscious client in her arms, opened the door, her face pale.

Her revolver was gripped tightly in both hands, trembling, and she still seemed confused.

“Why, why is this happening? They were all so kind?”

“It's okay, it's okay. Everything’s fine.”

All I could do was hug her tightly and comfort her.

After a few minutes of soothing, Hyejin finally calmed down enough to have a conversation.

First, I needed to ask why the client had passed out and why the situation suddenly required the use of a gun.

“The client suddenly lost consciousness on the rooftop. I’m not sure why….”

“So, you don’t know why you were attacked either?”

“I have no idea. We were just having a normal conversation….”

It seemed like Hyejin couldn’t make sense of the situation.

“When the senior and I were wandering around, we saw something strange. Kids were eating a dog alive. After seeing that, I thought, ‘Oh, we need to get back quickly!’ but then we heard gunshots, and the camp people went crazy and started attacking us.”

“By any chance, do you think the chicken skewers they gave us here were dog meat?”

“No way….”

While securing the client with a cloth, Hyejin made a very ominous comment.

No way.

It couldn't be; dog meat would taste different.

“Now that I think about it, these people seemed obsessed with ‘tourists.’”

“Tourists?”

“Everyone we met asked if we were tourists and who we came with.”

“I think I might have mentioned something related to that. Do you think that’s why we were attacked? Because we didn’t seem like tourists?”

“Well, who knows? The important thing is that now we know this place is strange, so we need to solve this case quickly.”

I carried the client on my back and called the yawning cat sitting on the wall.

“Cat! Lead us to a safe place now.”

Meow!

The cat, looking confident, wagged its tail and started guiding us.

Whew.

I exhaled heavily as I sprinted through unfamiliar streets.

Running away from a horde of tireless zombies left me with no time to catch my breath.

I jumped over brick walls, circled narrow alleys, and knocked over structures like trash cans as I fled, but the zombies just wouldn’t shake off.

Ah, this is killing me. I’m not a fan of all this physical exertion….

The gas lamp I held in my hand continued to sway as I ran.

I could have easily resolved this by asking Watson to hide me, but I decided to hold out a little longer.

Even though I know it’s okay to ask Watson for help up to three times, Watson still gives me the creeps.

As I was escaping from rooftop to rooftop, something strange caught my eye at the edge of my vision.

What is that?

Late at night, dressed in black.

Though they were hard to see, just the sight of their numbers showed there were quite a few of them.

They were completely covered in black cloth, like ninjas.

Their movements were precise.

Their attire was unusual.

I’ve never heard of a group in Korea that dresses like that.

They infiltrated the camp and started slaughtering the residents.

Silently, just blending into the darkness.

Thanks to them, the number of camp residents chasing me was drastically reduced, but I couldn’t purely be happy about it since those black-clad figures were so suspicious.

Given the change in situation, it seemed best to reunite with the juniors quickly.

I lifted Watson and spoke.

“Watson, make me invisible.”

“Watson, make me invisible.”

“Watson, make me invisible.”

With a giggling laugh, the smoke spread and made my body transparent.

I’d better get back quickly; something serious is going on.

Looking around near the container house, I saw a wall of building materials stacked like a fortress, densely covering the area.

From the outside, it looked like a pile of construction materials stored for later use.

But inside, there was a surprisingly spacious area with a small container house.

The place the cat had found for us was perfectly hidden.

Hyejin looked around with a worried expression and said, “Can they even find this place? It’s so out of sight and tucked away….”

“Don’t worry. The senior will find it no matter what. Honestly, the senior’s sense of direction is more like an Object than any Object he carries. And if he really can’t find it, he’ll call us on the phone, right?”

There was no need to worry since the senior was exceptionally good at finding his way.

Hyejin would get used to the senior’s peculiarities in time.

Setting aside our worries, we sat down on the chairs inside the container to rest, when we started hearing groans.

“Ugh.”

The client, Suah, started waking up, shaking her head from side to side.

Hyejin quickly approached the waking client and spoke to her in a friendly manner.

“Are you feeling a little better?”

“Oh, I must have passed out? I’m sorry.”

The client was still somewhat disoriented, swaying slightly.

Well, after being away for just a month and coming back to find everyone you knew turned into something like zombies, it’s understandable she’s shocked.

As she regained her composure, the client, Suah, spoke with a very confused expression.

“Um, this might sound like a strange question, but…”

“May I ask you something?”

“I’m having trouble remembering….”

“What was my name again?”

The client started saying something strange.