Seoul Object Story
Chapter 68: Gyeyangsan Relief Camp (8)

Inside the now-empty shipping container, only the heat of the recent battle remained. The army of the ninjas had vanished without a trace.

I paused for a moment to catch my breath. I felt like I was inhaling bursts of fire with each breath.

The small, now quiet space reeked of blood, a stark contrast to the chaos from moments ago.

Then it finally hit me—the fight was finally over. Realizing, it, I screamed at the top of my voice.

“Let’s go! I survived! Wohoo!!!”

Pure joy filled me as I lifted my hammer and chucked it across the room.

Honestly, I had no idea why the ninjas took off so suddenly. Then again, I didn’t know why they showed up in the first place.

Whatever, the important this was that I made it out alive.

When I looked back, Hyejin seemed oddly calm. Maybe it was just her personality, or maybe it had something to do with those golden horns she had.

The client, on the other hand, looked pretty freaked out. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Ninjas had just burst in and tried to kill her…

Bang-! Bang-!

As I was lost in thought, a sudden knocking on the container wall startled us. Turning my head, I saw a familiar man in a yellow suit standing there.

“Looks like things got a bit out of hand, huh?” Sunbae said, wearing his usual annoying smile, like nothing had happened at all.

***

The inside of the shipping container was a total mess.

Three ninja-wannabe corpses were scattered around the room. One ninja had a gunshot wound, courtesy of my cute Junior No. 2 and the gun I lent her.

And the other two seemed to be… well, crushed? Pulverised? Ew, it was quite a gruesome sight. Anyway, they seemed to have been killed by Junior No. 1. Her strength really was something else.

From what I gathered, the ninjas only targeted the camp’s inhabitants. The reason my cute juniors fought them was probably because of the client. Hmm, as I suspected, the client was the same as the camp’s residents. She was either a victim of the Object or a by-product of it.

“Sunbae!! Why are you so late?! You didn’t even call me!”

“Ah, sorry sorry~ I got here as fast as I could, I even ran! And it wasn’t my fault at all, those pesky ninja-wannabes must have been jamming the area; my phone doesn’t work,” I said, shaking my phone for emphasis. “Hmm, so looks like these ninja-wannabes were after Ms. Client?”

“Yes! They were after the client. Do you know how freaked out I was when a ninja appeared out of nowhere?”

Judging by how drenched in sweat Junior No. 1 was, she must’ve been totally exhausted. Luckily, she didn’t seem to have any major injuries. And yup, Junior No. 2 looked pretty fine, while the client looked a little spooked… and shrunk? Wha? Was this some weird sequel to ‘Honey I shrunk the kids?’

Hmm… Now I was almost certain that the client wasn’t human.

Well, it didn’t really matter whether the client was a human, an Object, or an alien.

Clap-! Clap-!

I spoke, clapping twice to get their attention.

“Our next destination is set. We’re heading to the underground waterway in the northern part of the camp. I think that’s where the client’s younger brother is.”

This request seemed to be reaching its final stage. Sigh, it would be nice if we could find the client’s younger brother in the underground waterway…

***

A huge underground structure lay beyond the underground waterway, the basement was drenched in blood. Corpses of ninjas were piled high, mingling with hundreds of researchers’ corpses, creating a grotesque mountain of death.

“Kekekeke—!” The director laughed, blood bubbling from his lips. He had several knives embedded in his body, yet he laughed.

“Ah… Is it already time to abandon this camp? Tch, seeing how even some strange people are interfering with me, it seems like a move is indeed necessary.”

The only human present in the basement was a man, tied up and barely conscious from severe torture.

“Fortunately, even after the countless defective ones, there is one test subject that could be considered a success,” the director rambled incessantly, circling the lone survivor, his voice a disturbing mix of intellect and madness.

“Ah, I thought it was impossible. Hahaha!! Who could’ve thought an Object would really come into existence from humanity’s wishes? However, I must not get too excited. It’s premature to claim true victory with just one success…”

After scrutinizing the survivor’s condition, the director turned away.

“Hmm, even if he’s in that state, he should be able to endure long-distance teleportation…”

Spreading his hands wide, the director shouted, “Let us start relocating the lab!”

As his booming voice echoed throughout the basement, the researchers who had fallen like corpses began to wriggle. Their faces were grim as they moved, many had their eyes gouged out, limbs severed, and innards spilling out.

Yet they obeyed, driven by the director’s monstrous ambition.

***

As we arrived at the northern part of the camp, we stumbled upon a large gaping entrance to a sewer—a stark contrast to the desolate landscape around it.

“This must be it.”

“Sunbae, are you sure this is the right place?” Junior No. 1 asked with a reluctant expression.

I couldn’t blame her. A sewer riddled with blood and sprinkled with corpses right from the entrance was nothing if not unpleasant.

Looking at the ninja-wannabe corpses lying at the sewer entrance, it was pretty clear that this was where all the ninjas were heading. With each step, more lifeless bodies greeted us.

The underground waterway was filled with corpses. The deeper we went, the more bodies we saw. There were so many corpses that the water in the sewer had practically turned to blood.

When I glanced back, I saw a bunch of scaredy cats.

Junior No. 1 was right behind me, gripping her hammer and keeping watch in all directions. Junior No. 2 was next to the client, clutching the reloaded revolver with both hands. And the client, well, seemed a bit out of it, staring into space like she was in a stupor.

As we went deeper, the sewer entrance vanished from sight, replaced by an eerie combination of the thick blood flowing through the sewer and an unfamiliar sound—a heartbeat, coming from deep underground.

We still followed the sewer, going deeper and deeper. Just like with every few steps the number of corpses increased.

But strangely, this time the corpses were only of the ninjas.

Just what on hell earth did the ninjas fight?

The heartbeat grew louder and louder, shaking the walls and floor as we pressed on. At the end of the sewer, we stumbled on a surprisingly vacant and neat lot.

The loud heartbeat echoed in the mysterious lot, while blood from an unknown source oozed from the walls. The corners were filled with piles of ninja corpses, and in the center, people in white lab coats greeted us.

“Hello! It’s been quite a while, Mr. Yellow Detective!”

An elderly man standing in the center of the crowd shouted loudly, his smile wry and unsettling.

The ‘thing’ looked exactly like the director of the Central Research Institute I’d seen before, but ‘it’ felt completely different from the director I saw back then.

My monocle also confirmed it—this was a different entity.

At the Central Research Institute, my monocle had shown something like, [ As long as the Object is the director, the Research Institute will remain indestructible ] but now, it read—

The monocle might omit information or not show anything at all, but it always showed the same conditions for a particular Object. In other words, this director was a different Object altogether.

Gotcha!

I spotted the client’s younger brother—a young man who looked exactly like the one I saw in the directory.

He was currently covered in blood and tied to a chair with rope, though… Ah, it’s no big deal.

“There! That’s my little brother! My little brother’s over there!!” The client shouted, pointing at the bloody young man.

Wait, huh? …how come her younger brother looks far older than the client herself?

Junior No. 1 and No. 2, were similarly puzzled, having expected the client’s younger brother to be about elementary school age.

At her words, the director glared at us, his expression fierce.

“Catch them! They are thieves trying to steal the test subject!”

With that, the researchers around us rushed forward.

***

Om nom nom-!

I was over the moon, happily munching on my mountain of pudding. It didn’t shrink no matter how much I ate! So I was very happy!

As I was enjoying my pudding paradise, I heard a small sound. Hmm, it seemed to be coming from underground. Ah, well it’s faint, so who cares?

Om no—

But just as I was about to munch on another pudding, I heard it again, a bit louder this time.

MEOOOOOOWWWWW—!

It was a desperate cry from the Ghost Cat!

Oh no, the Ghost Cat! I completely forgot…

It’s all the fault of that fun ninja pyramid for distracting me. Not my fault at all!

Could something have gone wrong?

To find the source of the sound coming from the underground, I shifted into my phantom form and dove into the ground.

Beneath the earth, there was a room filled with the overpowering stench of blood.

Turns out, I had stumbled upon the very place I had been searching for earlier, the source of that unpleasant malice.

Human blood was scattered everywhere. The gray concrete was stained a dark, eerie red from the blood pooling on the floor, giving it an eerie glow. The smell was so strong, it felt like I was licking metal.

In the center of the room, I saw a corpse tied to a chair—a headless corpse.

A faint trace of the malice from earlier could still be felt, lingering within that corpse. It was subtle, yet unmistakable.

But the ‘thing’ that had been radiating that malicious intent was no longer here. Hmm, what on earth was that ‘thing’ I wonder?

MEEEOOOOWWW—!

I heard the cat’s cry again, this time from not too far away. The desperation in its cry tugged at my heart.