NOVEL WEB After opening door to the Director's office, the scene that greeted me was the bustling Research Institute, with numerous researchers moving about.
The strange thing was that the isolation rooms they were observing appeared to be empty.
"Ah, it may seem a bit odd. We are studying Objects, but there are no Objects visible anywhere, right? Let's take a closer look."
Upon closer inspection, I could see a blurred form inside the isolation room.
"There are no Objects here, but we can see the forms of Objects that exist in reality. From past Objects to those yet to be discovered."
The blurred form in the isolation room was my own image. It was the weary expression I had when under a hail of bullets.
Looking around at the other isolation rooms, I saw the 'Gray Reaper' reflected in all of them.
Me waking up in the forest.
Me looking up at the Steel Tower.
Me watching TV in the isolation room.
Me inside the belly of the steel pig statue.
All of these were my past and present images.
It felt very strange to have a dozen or so people carefully observing my every move, meticulously recording everything. From the moment I opened my mouth slightly, they would write something down. Even when I picked up a pebble from the ground, they would diligently jot it down.
"This is the research lab for you, number 897. In fact, we have been waiting for you for a very long time."
Waiting for me? Why?
"That curious expression on your face - it's related to the future we have been waiting for. There is a predicted future where you come to this Research Institute, and our wish is fulfilled within a month."
"After a long, 30-year wait, it's now just a month away."
Smiling, the Director began leading me around the Research Institute. The size of the Institute seemed to expand as the Director walked, revealing more and more isolation rooms and Objects.
"There's still a lot more to show you. Let me guide you to the place where the Object we consider most important is kept."
At the end of the Director's brisk pace was a massive elevator. It was unlike a normal elevator, with a complex system of keys and authentication devices.
The Director operated the devices and activated the elevator.
"Beneath us is the Object that the Central Research Institute considers the most important."
After a long descent, we arrived in a dimly lit basement. It had a utilitarian, unfinished concrete bunker-like atmosphere.
The area reached had a metal grate floor, and beneath it, I could see bloodstained concrete and the transparent form of a monster.
"That's 'Lophiomus'. It was announced as the Object that caused the disaster in Seoul Square, after escaping. But the truth is, Association released it there to try to kill me."
"The Association announced that the elimination was successful, but here it is, safely kept in the Central Research Institute."
Lophiomus resembled a fish Lophiomus, but the numerous tentacles covering its body made it seem anything but fish-like. Its sheer size, the size of a house, made it clear how imposing a real-life giant fish would be.
"Lophiomus was called the 'Object that eats Objects', but I'd like to call it something else."
"The Object that eats the Association's enemies."
"Anyone too capable or not to the liking of the Association's elders ended up in Lophiomus' belly."
The Lophiomus under the cage was diligently tearing something apart. Bloody raw meat was dripping from its mouth, not even drained of blood.
"You should watch this carefully. Objects deemed uncontrollable by the Central Research Institute are fed to Lophiomus."
Suddenly, all the images I was seeing started to distort and warp.
The Director had an calm expression, as if he had anticipated this phenomenon.
"As expected, we couldn't keep holding onto the Objects. This brief encounter was too short to fully convey the incompetence and vileness of the Association, or the power of Lophiomus."
Like ice on a river breaking and falling into the, the illusion shattered and fell back to reality.
"I hope we can have a longer conversation next time. I hope we can meet again, 'KR-897'."
And just like waking from a dream, I returned to reality.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was outside the isolation room wall I had been confined in.
The time didn't seem to have passed much.
The atmosphere of the Research Institute was calm, and the clock didn't appear to have advanced significantly.
I had managed to pass through the wall confining the spiritual body, even if I had ended up in a somewhat strange place.
The cat across from me meowed enviously as I silently waved my hand at it.
As I savored the freedom outside the isolation room, listening to the cat's cries, I noticed some black butterflies fluttering in the hallway.
They seemed to be spiritualized Objects, as no one found them strange.
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There weren't many of the black butterflies, just occasionally fluttering around.
Objects being openly flown around in the Research Institute that manages Objects?
It was clear they were intentionally placed Objects, not something unknown, and it hinted at some incident.
I wandered the hallway, hoping for a harmless incident befitting the pretty fluttering butterflies.
***
After chasing the butterflies around the hallway for a few minutes, a loud siren suddenly blared.
"The Gray Reaper has escaped!"
"Scour all the CCTVs to confirm its movement path."
It seemed my escape from the isolation room had been detected.
The Research Institute staff were frantically searching for me.
I had climbed up onto a cabinet in the room where they were most busy, observing the scene from above.
It seemed to be a control room of sorts.
"She's not here. She's not there. We can't find her location", the reports kept coming in, but I was focused on something else.
It was a cluster of butterflies, swarming a person.
The butterflies were so dense that they seemed to weigh the person down, who had an extremely heavy and tired expression, despite the butterflies being spiritual and weightless.
The butterflies were so thick around him that they must have completely obstructed his vision. They covered the walls, ceiling, and swarmed in the air.
If I were in his position, I would have yelled in frustration, but fortunately, he seemed unable to see the butterflies. If he could, his entire field of vision would be blocked.
Even the cute butterflies were creepy in such numbers.
The fortunate thing was that the butterflies avoided me. If I released my spiritual body and brushed against them, they would flutter their wings frantically to distance themselves.
The man trudging around searching muttered to himself occasionally, complaining about the annoying butterflies.
Can he see the butterflies?
He tried to swat them away, but that had no effect on the swarm.
I noticed something strange after the man left the control room, following the butterflies.
The butterflies were attacking the man.
Only one butterfly had slightly bitten his forearm, but it was still an attack.
The man was constantly waving his hands around, as if the butterflies he occasionally saw were now always visible and never resting.
Once the man clearly perceived the butterflies, he started trying to swat them away.
The man who could now see the spiritual beings also seemed to be able to see my ghostly form.
His eyes clearly looked at me and tried to point at me.
However, the man's gestures were just like a drunken person, unsteady and flailing, unable to stand properly.
I thought, is this Object just slowly withering him away? But upon closer inspection, it was a more horrific Object than I imagined.
The man was already dead.
The butterflies had burrowed deep into his body, making it appear as if he was still moving.
Appalled by this unimaginable desecration of the corpse, I dispelled my ghostly form and rushed towards the man, thinking the butterflies would easily scatter since they feared me.
My assumption was correct, but the resolution happened in a slightly different way than I expected.
The butterflies that had burrowed into the man's body all took flight at once, and the man quite literally exploded and scattered apart.
I could only look around in stunned bewilderment. The area was filled with blood, flesh, and screams.
Had I made a mistake?
***
In a corner of the storage warehouse of the Central Research Institute, a secretive conversation was taking place.
"Thank you so much for coming, senior. The outside is currently off-limits and the atmosphere feels suspicious, so I was feeling anxious."
"No, no, it's fine. In fact, I'm the one who should be grateful. 'Lophiomus' may still be alive! I can't miss out on such a big incident, you know."
Standing before the female employee in the Central Research Institute uniform was a man wearing a bright yellow suit, completely out of place with the atmosphere of the Research Institute.
"The number 1 detective in Korea has come, so you can rest assured."