Sehee’s lab was in an uproar.

Something was being constructed right next to my isolation room.

Every time I tried to approach to check it out, Yerin would quickly rush over, hug me, and block my view.

She kept saying she’d show me later.

I could have sneaked in to see it, but I was feeling lazy. Besides, it felt like they were planning a surprise party, so I decided to wait with a sense of anticipation.

The construction noise was so loud that I couldn’t even watch TV.

I thought about heading outside to play, but when I looked, I saw the Golden Reapers engaged in some strange game.

Thud, thud.

The Golden Reapers were scampering around everywhere, plugging their ears with both hands.

The trend had started when Yerin covered her ears due to the construction noise, and the Golden Reapers mimicked her. Now, covering their ears had become a popular activity.

They ran around laughing, their ears covered. Since they couldn’t use their hands, they kept bumping into each other and tumbling to the ground, rolling around in laughter.

No matter what they did, these little guys always looked like they were having fun.

I decided to join in by giving a playful nudge to the head of a Golden Reaper running nearby.

The Reaper lost balance and rolled across the floor, only to end up sprawled out, laughing even harder.

It became a little game for me to knock over the Golden Reapers whenever I got bored.

But eventually, the isolation room grew quiet.

Had the construction finally ended?

No sooner had I thought that than Yerin burst into the room with a bright smile.

“Reaper! It’s finally done!”

Beaming, Yerin slipped her hands under my arms and lifted me up, carrying me off.

The destination was a bustling city that seemed to have advanced quite a bit.

According to my research, this place had been a ruin just a few years ago, but now it had transformed into a city brimming with life and energy.

The man responsible for this transformation was quite famous.

He had shown up with nothing but an old-fashioned gas lamp and built something out of nothing—a true father of this city.

As I looked around, I saw high-rise buildings still covered in scaffolding, their towering forms reaching for the sky. The sounds of construction echoed in the air, a constant reminder of the city’s ongoing growth.

The streets were lively, and the restaurants scattered throughout the city were filled with people.

“Looks more impressive than I expected, right?” I said, tickling the Golden Horn Reaper sitting on my palm.

The little Reaper squirmed and laughed, clearly ticklish.

The city was more developed than I had anticipated.

Given that it had been a ruin not long ago, I had expected it to be more of a barren wasteland. But there were plenty of people, and the buildings were tall and grand.

Still, you could tell it was a developing city—the many construction sites, surrounded by barriers, gave it away. The noise from construction occasionally filled the air.

It was noisy, yes, but it also felt like a sign of growth.

“So, where’s our client?”

I opened my phone and checked the map, while the Golden Horn Reaper curiously peeked at the screen.

“We’re here, so we’ll have to go a bit deeper in. Got it?”

The Reaper focused intently on my explanation, staring at the map but then looking back at me with a bright smile, clearly not understanding a thing.

So cute.

I patted the little Reaper’s head, and it grinned from ear to ear.

Sometimes, I wondered if these Reapers carried a certain level of mental corruption, but they didn’t seem to cause any harm, so it didn’t really matter, right?

As long as they’re happy, that’s all that counts.

Looking at the Reaper as it snuggled against my fingers, I couldn’t help but smile.

As we moved closer to our destination, the lively atmosphere of the city slowly faded away.

The bright, energetic vibe was replaced by something darker. The bustling noise was gone, and a gloomy atmosphere began to take over the streets.

Instead of new buildings, we were now surrounded by dilapidated concrete structures, hastily reinforced with makeshift repairs.

Like weeds growing haphazardly through cracks, a dark mood clung to the buildings.

The hastily built shacks cast shadows over the alleyways, even in broad daylight.

The walls were covered in graffiti, and the windows were boarded up with planks, making it clear that this was a slum.

A slum in a newly developed city? That didn’t make sense.

It felt strange.

The mood of the passersby had also shifted.

Their eyes were weary, full of suspicion.

A man sitting in a dark corner of an alley stared out at the world, his gaze filled with doubt and resignation.

As we neared our destination, my sense of unease grew, but the warmth from the Reaper in my hand kept me moving forward.

When we finally arrived at the location specified by our client, I saw a boy standing at the end of the alley, his hat pulled low over his face.

Could this be our client?

In the dim light of the flickering streetlamp, the boy stood still, surrounded by the smell of smoke and filth.

As I approached, he turned his head slightly, looking a bit startled.

Though his face was obscured by the streetlight, it seemed like he was surprised by my Golden Horn.

Through the brim of his worn hat, his eyes shone with a mixture of caution and hope.

To confirm each other’s identity, I asked the prearranged question, and the boy quickly gave the correct response.

We exchanged the necessary code words, signaling that we were who we claimed to be.

We didn’t usually bother with such formalities at our detective office, but this client had insisted on it.

Why did they want something like this?

Couldn’t we just verify things over the phone?

“I’m from the Yellow Detective Agency,” I said.

The boy took off his old hat.

His face was half-covered in black, hexagonal pillars—the mark of Black Rust Syndrome.

Just seeing it gave me the creepy feeling that hundreds of cockroaches were swarming towards me.

Trembling slightly, the boy pulled out a photo.

“Please find my family. Please find my sister. People have been disappearing lately.”

The situation seemed more serious than I’d expected.

“First, I’ll secure accommodations, then begin the investigation. How would you like to receive updates?”

When I asked, the boy fumbled, then gave me his home address.

With the address in hand, I left the dark alleyway.

The case had begun, with the Golden Horn Reaper by my side.

Yerin carried me to the newly completed isolation room.

But to my surprise, there was nothing special about it.

In fact, it looked like there was nothing there at all.

If "nothing" was supposed to be special, then maybe this was indeed something special.

I glanced over at Yerin, who wore a confident smile.

Sehee and Seoa stood beside her, confirming that something was up.

But no matter how much I probed with my senses, I couldn’t detect anything—no Objects, no hidden humans.

What was this?

“Alright, Reaper, let’s get started!” Yerin said with a mischievous grin, fiddling with something outside the room.

Suddenly, I felt a strange sensation enveloping my body.

A force gently lifted me, as if cradling me from all sides.

I began to float.

The sensation was far more comfortable than lying on a soft bed or drifting on calm waters.

It felt as though gravity had disappeared, and I floated effortlessly in the air.

Could they have installed an electromagnet under the isolation room’s floor?

I’d once thought about building an electromagnetic isolation chamber after gaining superconducting powers from defeating the Dobong-gu frog, but I’d forgotten all about it with all the recent incidents!

Golden Reapers, sensing the fun, quickly joined in, floating joyfully through the air.

Ah, this is nice.

I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of floating.

One day, I’ll get the power to fly.

That was the fleeting thought I clung to.

The boy was dreaming.

A dream where he was reunited with his family.

They had all disappeared, but in his dream, he found them again and felt overwhelming happiness.

After all, he had requested the famous Yellow Detective Agency, so they were bound to find his family soon.

It was this hope that fueled his blissful dream.

“Sister!”

The boy smiled brightly in his dream.

His sister reached out and stroked his cheek.

It was wet, like dripping blood.

Suddenly, the metallic scent of blood filled the air.

“Sister?”

The boy woke to the sensation of something tapping his cheek.

What was that?

Annoyed that his sweet dream had been interrupted, he rubbed his cheek.

When he looked at his hand, it was covered in blood.

And the smell of blood was overwhelming.

His foggy mind cleared in an instant, and when he opened his eyes, he realized he wasn’t in his shabby slum house.

He was in a prison cell, the windowless walls barred with thick iron.

Dangling before him was a grotesque corpse.

Blood dripped from the body, landing on the boy’s face.

The flesh had been stripped clean from the bones, leaving only a nightmarish form hanging there.

A dreadful thought crossed the boy’s mind.

With growing terror, he forced himself to look at the face of the corpse.

“No… no…!”

It was his sister.

The face he had feared to see, the one he dreaded more than anything, was now staring back at him.

With a scream of horror, the boy passed out.

I walked through the dark alley toward the boy’s house.

It dawned on me that I had no idea who his "sister" even was. How was I supposed to track her down?

I should’ve gotten more details before parting ways with him!

It was such a rookie mistake—I could feel my face heating up in embarrassment.

“Everything’s going to be fine, right?”

I glanced down at the Reaper squirming in my hand, steadying my resolve.

As I neared the boy’s house, a strange smell hit me.

The smell of ash, like something had burned.

A bad feeling crept over me, so I rushed toward the house.

What greeted me was utter chaos.

The door had been slashed open by something sharp.

Claw marks covered the walls.

It looked like a large beast had rampaged through the place.

And there was no sign of the boy anywhere.