Seoul Object Story

Inside the director office of Sehee Research Institute, the yellow detective and Lee Sehee sat face to face across a table. Yerin stood behind Sehee, wearing an uninterested expression.

Me? I was of course lying in the middle of the table.

Although I had planned to run around the research institute and chase the butterflies as a preventive measure, Yerin had dragged me by the hand, saying that it had something to do with me.

However, the introduction between the two dragged on for too long for my liking. Therefore, as someone who couldn’t stand the boredom, I decided to lay on the table as a way of protesting and urging them to wrap it up quickly.

“You need to bring the Grey Reaper with you?”

Upon hearing Sehee’s words, the yellow detective straightened up and handed Sehee a business card adorned with gold.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I intercepted the card and read it. Turns out that the detective belonged to some Temporary Object Management Organization.

As I was still reading it, the detective had no choice but to take out another business card and hand it to Sehee.

Seeing the detective’s bewildered expression made me somewhat happy. I mean, who told him to drag all those butterflies here?

“I am currently working on a request from the Temporary Object Management Organization. It is a temporary organization that has taken over the responsibilities of the collapsed association.”

“So why does the organization need the Grey Reaper? As you can see, it’s not easy to control.”

Sehee’s shocking statement startled me, making me turn around toward her, but she wasn’t even looking at me.

“It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but the area around Songpa-gu is in a very dangerous situation. Strange butterflies wander the area, swarming around and covering people.”

The detective then handed me some photos of the incidents. The pictures depicted people being torn to pieces.

There were also a lot of photos showing people being blown up by the butterfly just like what I saw at the Central Research Institute.

“In the initial cases, people who were covered by the butterflies eventually exploded to their death.”

Saying so, the detective pulled out another photo.

It was a photo showing people walking around awkwardly like zombies.

“After some time, instead of simply killing the host, the butterflies started crawling inside their victim’s skin and manipulating their bodies. The biggest problem is that these zombie-like people have not been seen in the past few days.”

With a meaningful expression, the detective revealed another photo showing a person imprisoned in a detention room.

“It looks like they have finished learning. Now, these butterflies wearing human faces don’t appear awkward at all. There’s no noticeable difference between them and a normal human being. The person we took into custody even claims that what we did was illegal confinement and insists that he should be released.”

Sehee placed the photo on the table at that moment.

“You still haven’t told me why you need the Grey Reaper.”

***

“You still have not told me why you need the Grey Reaper.”

I felt at a loss when Director Lee Sehee threw that question at me.

After all, it was purely my intuition that told me the Grey Reaper was needed.

It was clear that the sudden appearance of the butterflies was due to the Central Research Institute, but there were far fewer victims there than expected.

I suspected that something within the institute was actively interfering with the butterflies’s activities, and I believed it was the Grey Reaper.

I opened my mouth, but then thought better of it and closed it again.

It might have been fine if I were still a lone detective, but as a representative of a government agency, I couldn’t simply make a request based on gut feeling.

“You have no particular reason, right? On top of that, there is also the recent case of the Grey Collapse. I don’t think it bode well for public opinion if we were to send the Gray Reaper out. I’m afraid I have to refuse your request to bring it with you.”

As expected, the director’s response was a firm refusal.

Official requests that remained as data had no choice but to follow the field manual; rigorously and strictly adhering to the established principles and rules.

***

Hmm

It felt like the detective had a reason he couldn’t disclose.

However, she couldn’t simply grant him her approval.

Moreover, just because the research institute allowed it, didn’t mean the Gray Reaper would comply..

Forcing it to go somewhere it didn’t want to go?

That was simply impossible.

However, refusing the detective’s request didn’t mean that the Grey Reaper would not follow him.

Sehee smiled at the empty table in front of her.

***

The Grey Reaper was following me.

The reason? I had no clue.