༺ Seoul Forest Story (1) ༻
I strode around the buzzing research institute.
I could see people shouting and others hurrying somewhere with stacks of documents in their hands all around me.
Though I often went out of the containment room and watched them whenever I got bored, today’s atmosphere seemed even more chaotic than usual.
While the isolation room was indeed a completely sealed space, getting out wasn’t entirely impossible.
It was just an Object containment facility that met the legal standards, not a facility that could confine me indefinitely.
If I wanted, I could just slip into my phantom form like that of a ghost to wander around. It was something which modern science could not deal with no matter what.
In fact, just a few minutes ago, I was watching a movie while being held in Yerin’s arms. However, she was taken away by her chief, Kim Jungrwi.
Since watching a movie alone wasn’t fun at all, I decided to just explore the inside of the institute by sneaking through the containment room wall.
The place I chose as my destination was the conference room, where a meeting was happening in full swing.
For some reason, lying flat on the table placed in the center of the conference room during a meeting felt strangely good.
I liked that no one could see me and felt really cool when I did it, making this place one of my favorite resting places.
“I think it is still too early to conclude that Director Lee Sehee is missing. We all know electronic devices do not work in Seoul Forest, so it’s only natural for contact to be slightly delayed.”
Oh~ The reasonable Kim Jungrwi raised a valid point.
No matter how stupid the director was, it would be close to impossible for her to go missing in just a few hours.
Yerin also agreed without raising any objections.
Despite Yerin’s tendency to play hooky, when meetings took place, she would furiously type away on her laptop.
I couldn’t help but suspect that she was perhaps playing a game or something. But when I slipped behind her back and peeked at her laptop, I was shocked to see that she had been diligently transcribing the meeting minutes and recording the opinions.
Where had the Yerin who always played with me gone!
Well, if someone who so often rested and loafed around didn’t have any real skill, they would have been fired a long time ago.
However, even after the meeting had concluded that they should wait a bit longer to confirm whether the director was really missing or not, the deputy director expressed a dissenting opinion.
“Since many Objects appear in Seoul Forest, we maintain contact with a great number of Seoul Forest’s residents. After checking with them, we confirmed that the Director hasn’t yet arrived in the Seoul Forest residence. So, there is no doubt that she is, at the very least, involved in some kind of trouble.”
“Should we conduct a large-scale search then? There will be many investigation teams from the government and other research institutes due to the mass death incident that occurred yesterday, so we need to be ready for any conflicts.”
The meeting eventually reached a consensus to deploy an investigation team, consisting of both rescue and security team, to find the director and determine the cause of the mass death.
If it was an ordinary situation, the resolution would also be ordinary.
However, a sudden thought crossed my mind. Wouldn’t it be amusing if I went out to look for the director right now?
Even if the probability of something bad happening to the director was low, considering the recent mass death incident there, something interesting might be going on.
Of course, there was another major reason for my decision.
“Do you know where the Gray Reaper is?”
“I don’t know. Seems like it isn’t in the containment room.”
“Keep a close eye on it until the matter is resolved. The public’s attention is focused on the mass death incident, so if a problem arises, the same thing that happened with Seoul Research Institute will happen to us. A hearing will be held, we will be called, and there will be chaos.”
Everyone was saying that the mass death incident was my doing, so I wondered what kind of reaction they would have if I showed up there?
“Ah!”
Yerin, who stayed with me often, suddenly called out to me as if she felt something.
“Reaper, come over and let’s watch a movie! This time, we’ll even pop some popcorn and watch it properly!”
Hehehehe. It’s been a while since I’d seen Yerin look so flustered. Has it been almost a year? Ignoring Yerin’s desperate calls for me, I flew out of the research institute and headed straight toward Seoul Forest.
***
“Why are you suddenly talking about movies during work hours?”
The displeased Kim Jungrwi’s voice entered Yerin’s ears.
“Ugh. I messed up because of you, Sunbae. I should have kept watching the movie. Whenever the Gray Reaper is not in the containment room, it often visits the conference room.”
“Well, I do know that the Reaper is virtually impossible to confine and it wanders around the institute grounds at its whim. Is that a problem?”
“It is! The Gray Reaper is like a kid in a candy store, hopping into any situation it shouldn’t be in. If it overheard this meeting, I am 80% sure that it would’ve taken that as a cue to leave.”
Kim Jungrwi responded with a puzzled expression.
“The Gray Reaper has never left the institution since we moved it here. Aren’t you worrying too much? Plus, while it’s highly intelligent, I’ve told you that it is dangerous to blindly assume that it understands our language, haven’t I?”
“Even though I can’t prove it with data, my intuition is sure about it. The Gray Reaper must have gone to the Seoul Forest. So, I’m going there too. Please approve my outing permit.”
Kim Jungrwi was surprised by her sudden request for fieldwork, as she had never done it before. Nevertheless, he still gave her his approval.
“Seoul Forest is dangerous, so be careful.”
Kim Jungrwi was a caring sunbae, who did not let go of his worries despite approving Oh Yerin’s sudden request for field work.
Of course, if he had known her true intentions, he would never have given her his permission. However, as an earnest person, Kim Jungrwi couldn’t anticipate Yerin’s scheme.
***
I sat atop a concrete roof and looked at the forest that stretched out as far as my eyes could see, while gray clouds covered the sky above me.
As a pleasant breeze blew over me, I leisurely swayed my legs.
Currently, I was enjoying the breeze while sitting in front of the CCTV which was installed on the rooftop.
The place was a high square guard post that was built with cold concrete.
Could there possibly be a place that showed the boundary between civilization and wilderness more clearly than this?
Below, the road leading into Seoul Forest turned into a mess once it crossed the forest’s border, highlighting the boundary even more clearly.
Seoul Forest was a forest created by an indestructible Object that appeared in Pyongyang, called the ’Steel Tower.’
Famous for its resilience, having survived even a nuclear bomb, the Steel Tower shattered humanity’s prejudices.
Previously, they thought that nuclear weapons could resolve most Object related problems.
Yet, many objects that were impervious to nuclear weapons appeared after that.
I was talking about ghost-like Objects which could not be physically affected. They were more common than people might think.
Besides that, the Steel Tower was also famous for its destructive tendencies toward civilization, as it would destroy any kind of electronic equipment that entered its territory. Furthermore, tall buildings and roads would also be destroyed.
That was why the area beyond the border was called the periphery of civilization.
Currently, there were two bored-looking soldiers with shaved heads inside the guard post.
The guard who appeared to be the senior between the two was staring blankly at the TV installed in the guard post. Meanwhile, the sentry who appeared to be the junior was staring blankly in the direction of Seoul Forest.
On TV, an unending list of programs covered the recent mass death incident.
Was it caused by a new Object? Or was it the Gray Reaper’s doing? The program was a TV program where panelists discussed those topics.
[This mass death incident can be seen as Sehee Research Institute’s mistakes in Object management, and swift action is necessary. As we learned from last year’s Seoul Research Institute incident, problems are bound to arise when we have a laboratory with insufficient capabilities to manage Objects. And unlike ‘Cute Puppy’, the ‘Gray Reaper’ is an extremely dangerous object, so if a problem occurs, the damage will be irreversible!]
The panel attributed the death incident to Sehee Research Institute’s shortcomings in managing their Object. They also mentioned the incident that happened to the Seoul Research Institute.
The very same terrorist attack where I, still human at the time, faced death.
“This mass death incident seems to have been the work of the Gray Reaper as well. It would be very strange if several Objects capable of creating such strange phenomena appeared near Seoul.”
Said the guard, his gaze fixed on the Seoul Forest.
Ohh~ As expected, whenever a death incident occurs, my name will always be mentioned!
“I’m not sure. If there is no evidence that the ‘Gray Reaper’ did it, I think it will be concluded that it was done by an unknown new species. Since there are quite a few researchers who entered the forest, I guess it will be revealed soon.”
Looking at the public opinion, it seemed like they had concluded that it was my doing. But I didn’t think the result of the investigation would be the same.
Well, no matter how much the public denounces the Gray Reaper as the perpetrator of the mass death, without any evidence they would not be able to accuse me.
On the TV, a certain panel was talking about the dangers of this world and the instability of society.
It was really strange to see a panel being more emotional and angrier than the soldiers who were stationed at this place, which was essentially the frontline against Objects.
“As expected, it’s strange. It’s already past her time to return, but she still hasn’t come.”
The junior soldier still hadn’t taken his eyes off the forest. He wore a concerned expression, seemingly awaiting someone’s return.
Lately, there were a lot of scary rumors surrounding Seoul Forest, including the recent death incident. I guess that’s why he seemed so worried.
“She might not be able to return because it’s cloudy. You know that if it rains around here, it’s a mess because of the thunderstorm.”
“It’s still strange, though. Usually, she comes out of the forest after a month, but she still hasn’t. I feel like we should report it as an abnormal phenomenon and call a search team.”
“Hey, if you’re caught making a false report, you’ll go straight to jail! You know there’s a zero-tolerance policy regarding anything related to Objects, don’t you? I’m not going to let you do that. If you’re really that worried, you should hire a private investigator. They are faster and much more accurate than a search team. It may cost you a lot of money, though.”
So, our country also had detectives, huh? When I was human, I never thought about it because I never had the need to employ one.
The junior soldier eagerly contacted a detective using the information he had received from his senior.
Judging from the fact that he asked the private investigator to find her no matter how much it cost, it seemed they were quite close to each other.
“Huh?”
As the junior soldier finished requesting the detective to find her, the chaos seemed to pass. All of a sudden, the senior soldier made a sound as if he had discovered something.
Did he finally see me? I was so happy that I waved my hand in front of the CCTV.
“I-It’s the Reaper!”
The two soldiers were so surprised that they jumped off the guard post—which seemed to be three stories high—instead of going down the stairs. Then they hastily got into their truck and drove away.
Rude! Couldn’t they have responded to my greetings at the very least?
