༺ Dobong-gu: Epilogue (1) ༻
In the Golden Horn quarantine zone near Seoul, a heated argument unfolded among the residents of an area where people with golden horns on their heads lived together with their families.
“Don’t be so stubborn. You can get a good price if you sell them now. I know a buyer who is very trustworthy and offers fair prices.”
“I. WIll. Never. Sell. Them! Who in their right mind would sell their horns?”
The girl with golden horns strode ahead while ignoring his words. Undeterred, the man, wearing a servile expression, spoke up again.
“I mean, your horns will disappear once you turn thirty anyway, so why not just cut it off and sell it? You can make money, and it’s a good opportunity. I think good things are, well, good.”
“But I don’t want to! I know an Unnie who sold her horns. She became depressed and took her own life. Don’t tell me, Ahjussi, are you the one who introduced her to the buyer?”
Taken aback, the man denied it empathetically, exaggerating his expression.
“Absolutely not. I’m really particular about depression. Besides, I have my own horns, you know?”
“Ah! Now that I think about it, if it’s such a good idea, maybe you should sell your horns first, Ahjussi!”
The girl with the golden horns turned around and screamed.
Having been followed for a good thirty minutes, it was only natural for her to be angry.
“Oh, this? I can’t sell them because they are my livelihood. Without my horns, I won’t be allowed back here. What am I supposed to do for a living then? I heard you’re planning to leave this place soon. Well, wouldn’t it be better to have some extra money? And it’s dangerous to leave with your horns intact. There’s a lot of people targeting them.”
“Anyway, I’ll never sell them!”
As the girl with golden horns reached her home and slammed the door shut, the man’s loud voice faded away.
When she thought about it, the man’s words weren’t all wrong.
Indeed, horn theft had become a rampant crime in recent times.
Nevertheless, the girl had no choice but to leave this place.
After all, she needed to find her one and only sister, who had mysteriously gone missing.
***
I sat in a rocking chair, basking in the warm sunlight that bathed the detective agency.
< In the wake of this incident, experts anticipate the damage to surpass previous records, becoming the highest ever caused by an Object… >
On the TV, there was a clamor about the amount of damage caused by the ‘Steel Tower Pulsation’ incident reaching an all-time high.
It was no surprise, considering the number of research institutes that had established their bases near Seoul Forest. All of them had been reduced to dust in an instant.
Additionally, countless buildings had almost vanished into thin air.
As a result, the construction industry was booming, with job opportunities multiplying exponentially.
“Senior! Come to think of it, isn’t our country the first?”
“The first?”
Lifting her head from the desk, my junior elaborated.
“We are the first country to reclaim land lost to Objects! The United States doesn’t have that kind of experience, right?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I think there were a few cases like that in the U.S. or China, but this is the first time humanity has recovered land from an Object that occupied such a vast area.”
My junior’s eyes gleamed in excitement.
“What kind of people do you think were involved in recapturing Dobong-gu this time? They risked their lives to infiltrate Dobong-gu, and the operation was a success! It’s bound to be made into a movie, isn’t it? Of course it will be. It has to be!”
“They say there’s already talk about it, but I don’t know when the movie will be released. Heroic stories like that are hard to come by these days, so I guess it might even be government-funded as well?”
“I bet it will be!”
The junior let out a ‘hehehe’ and giggled like an idiot.
“Oh, by the way, I heard the request failed?”
At the mention of the request, my once lively junior slumped onto the desk like a deflated balloon.
“Technically, it didn’t fail… Someone else solved it faster than me. Honestly! Isn’t it like a fraud to solve a case yourself when you’ve entrusted it to someone else?”
Probably because she felt she had been treated unfairly, she sank further into the desk in frustration.
Well, no matter how unfair she might be feeling, there was nothing she could do about it. It was all clearly stated in the contract, after all.
“It’s time for me to head out.”
I got up, put my coat on, and straightened my clothes in front of the mirror.
“Huh? Where are you going all of a sudden? We don’t have any cases to work on, do we?”
“I have a hunch that an important request is calling me.”
“Wha?”
Leaving my confused junior behind, I went out.
***
Yaaaaaawn~
I let out a big yawn, feeling bored all of a sudden.
Even though I was completely free from physical fatigue, the yawn still escaped me.
Is this also a habit from back when I was a human?
On the TV, people were arguing about some kind of nonsense stuff.
It was the same issue that came out when the Steel Tower and the Ice Throne of Dobong-gu first appeared.
< Now is the time to move the capital! There are plenty of locations with better prospects! >
< Do you honestly believe it would be safer elsewhere? Just look at what happened in Daejeon recently—people were turning into dishes because of some Object!! >
It was a never-ending debate about moving out of Seoul and settling in another area. A debate that had been popping up every year for the past decade. However, when a survey was conducted, the majority still preferred to stay in Seoul.
Of course, it was only natural if the subjects of the survey were the residents of Seoul.
Having traveled to various places during my time as a human, I found one thing strange.
People always believed that the place they lived at was the safest.
People from Seoul thought Seoul was the safest, while people from Busan thought Busan was the safest.
Since there were always violent Object incidents in the news, it felt like no place was truly safe.
The reason people felt their own city or town was worth living in was simply because they were living there right now.
I switched off the TV, tired of hearing the same old story on repeat.
***
I had gained a strange ability, probably because I destroyed the Golden Heart.
I could now temporarily create something by consuming my flames.
Maybe it would last for about a day?
As an experiment, I made a golden doll that looked exactly like me.
Ooooohh~
That’s interesting.
The doll was exquisitely detailed, perfectly capturing even my texture. Furthermore, it required only a small amount of my flame to create.
But as the bed was filled with golden dolls, I encountered a rather annoying problem.
The dolls moved about as they pleased.
I couldn’t control them at all.
As if they were deprived of affection, the dolls swarmed around me.
They clung to me so tightly that I couldn’t even watch the TV. It was so annoying that I ran away into the closet.
Sitting beside me was the ghostly cat that had already hidden itself before me.
Meow-!
It let out a frustrated cry and asked why I had made something like that.
Looking around my room, I noticed that the unruly dolls had taken over my containment room.
Still, I didn’t want to destroy them.
After all, those dolls were like my own children. Destroying them simply because I no longer needed them would be morally wrong.
At that moment, I sensed Yerin looking at me from outside the containment room.
Hehehehe~
A brilliant idea came to mind.
Yes, let’s just give all of them to Yerin.
***
When I heard that the Reaper had returned, I took the opportunity to sneak out and stumbled upon a shocking scene.
“It’s full of Reapers!”
The containment room was filled with many mini Golden Reapers, running around everywhere.
They jumped up and down trying to reach the real Reaper who sat on top of the closet.
Maybe because they were so much smaller than the real Reaper, but they were twice as cute!
As if possessed, I opened the door to the containment room door and stepped inside.
All the tiny reapers who were jumping up and down beneath the closet, looked at me all at once.
It was a really peculiar feeling to directly receive so many gazes that felt like waves.
Looking closely, I realized that there were tons of Golden Reapers inside of that wave.
I picked one of the Golden Reapers that just stared at me without coming closer.
It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.
Woa, it’s soft.
Hehe, So Cuuuuute.
As I held it in my hand, the golden Reaper was initially stiff with tension, but soon when it seemed to realize that I meant no harm to it, it quickly climbed onto my arm and clung to my cheek.
With that one mini reaper as a cue, all the Golden Reapers in the isolation room rushed towards me.
Hehe, I’m so happy.
***
As soon as I left the containment room, I immediately took the afternoon off and left the lab.
Of course, it was to secretly move the Golden Reaper to my home.
Unauthorized transportation of Objects? Ah, it would be fine as long as I didn’t get caught!
When I released the golden Reapers that I had packed into my bag, they bounced around everywhere, jumping up and down and running in all directions.
A few of them clung to me, climbing up my body.
Ah, is this perhaps, heaven?
The Golden Reapers had similar appetites as the real Reaper.
They liked sweet snacks.
The only difference was that they had no interest in things like TV.
The original Reaper, strangely enough, often played the news on the TV. So why was there a difference?
The Golden Reapers were also ten times more cat-like than the original. As a result, there were no items left intact in the house. But it was okay! Since they were cute!
Whenever they touched something, it would end up falling, and when I tried to catch them, they would scurry away…
The day flew by in an instant as I played with the Golden Reapers.
By late at night, when they must have grown sleepy, the Golden Reapers climbed onto my body and closed their eyes, drifting off into sleep.
Their habit of clinging to me was also similar to the original Reaper.
As I lay down on the bed, the warmth from their bodies enveloped me.
***
For some reason, my vision trembled and became blurry.
My arms were filled with the Golden Reapers.
‘That’s right! This is it!’
Ah, I’m happy. Spending the day with the mini reapers!
Ah, I’m so happy.
Is this what happiness feels like?
But one by one, the Reapers slipped from my grasp and bid their farewells.
“No. No! Wait!”
But despite my desperate pleas, the Reapers just shook their heads while wearing a lonely expression on their face.
“Don’t leave me. Please!”
Yet, all the Reapers left, leaving tears flowing down my face.
I woke up in the bed, greeted by a sudden chill.
Just like in the dream, tears stained my cheeks.
And just like in the dream, the Reapers were nowhere to be found.
