One peaceful afternoon, I was enjoying a picnic in the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute, basking in thelight

Lying comfortably in the shade of the trees, I was resting and sipping a cold drink.

Omyonmyon~

The comfortable daily routine of receiving snacks from Yerin was suddenly interrupted by an unexpected incident.

The 'cute puppy' that had been lying exhausted suddenly started barking like crazy. 

If it had been any other action, I would have thought, 'Why is it doing that? Has it gone mad?' But this was an outburst that I remembered the 'cute puppy' having even when I was human.

Yerin, who was lying with me, also changed her expression and took out a small notebook, frantically writing something down.

This frantic behavior was the cause that forced them to raise the 'cute puppy' by accepting all of its excessive demands.

It was the 'cute puppy's' reason for being 'profitable'.

The cute puppy could sense things related to Objects happening around it.

When the puppy sensed it, it would bark like that to let us know the direction, angle, etc. of where the change was occurring.

Why is that profitable, you ask?

First, if you discover an Object and isolate it, you get paid.

Or even if you just report discovering an Object, you get paid.

Since most Objects are difficult for humans to interact with, the sooner they are discovered or isolated, the less damage is done to the city, which is only natural.

The Research Institute had generous rewards in place for acts like discovering Objects, to incentivize such behavior.

The rewards were set to protect the city and human lives.

That's why many Research Institutes operate multiple investigation teams to proactively discover and capture Objects.

Although the 'cute puppy' doesn't alert them 100% of the time, it can easily do the labor-intensive investigation activities that require so much manpower, just by sitting on the floor of the Research Institute. So its value is naturally high.

Moreover, the speed and accuracy it provides is on a different level from humans directly patrolling, and this is absolutely necessary to keep Seoul safer from Objects.

Even at the Seoul Research Institute, when the puppy suddenly started barking, the staff would stop what they were doing and wait for the researcher's interpretation.

The cute puppy's barks had a few patterns that could be learned quickly, they said.

However, when I tried studying it as a human aiming for a higher salary, it was never easy.

It was not a difficulty level that an ordinary human who had built walls against studying could attempt.

Looking over Yerin's shoulder, she seemed to be doing something, but no matter how many times I looked, I still didn't understand!

After finishing her calculations, Yerin had a slightly urgent expression and said, "I'll be right back!" before hurriedly running into the Research Institute.

***

Yerin POV:

---

Busy, busy.

I hurried to the office with the interpreted paper in hand.

The interpreted result was quite meaningful.

It said that Object-related phenomena were occurring in large numbers near Dobong-gu.

The problem was that Dobong-gu is currently considered the most dangerous area in Seoul.

When I arrived at the office, I handed the interpretation directly to Senior Kim Jungroo.

After reading the interpretation, the senior's expression hardened, and he started making a call somewhere.

"No, no, does that even make sense?! Just because we're temporarily in charge of the 'cute puppy', are you telling us to perform such tasks?" 

What started as a quiet conversation became intermingled with shouts and yelling as the call went on.

"How can we handle this immediately when you didn't inform us of such matters beforehand?"

From what I could gather, the central Research Institute was in shambles, leaving no department to handle 'cute puppy' related matters.

Furthermore, the current government was in the process of disbanding all national Research Institutes and transferring all authority to private Research Institutes.

The conclusion was that the Sehee Research Institute would have to conduct the investigation and prepare a report.

It seems we had only agreed to temporarily keep the 'cute puppy', but suddenly a full-fledged mission was given.

It was an unreasonable demand beyond the contract, but as a Research Institute, they had to do what the government told them to do.

There was no Research Institute free from the government's subsidies.

The Research Institutes capable of dealing with Objects by manufacturing and selling equipment in faraway America might be a bit different.

There was a strong stench of absolutely unwanted additional work.

As expected, he slammed down the phone started calling people in the office together.

I tried to sneak away quietly, but of course, escaping right in front of him was impossible as I got caught.

"Oh-Yerin, you go investigate that area. It's near Dobong-gu, so prepare thoroughly before going."

The map he handed me was filled with the route I had to take and tasks to complete.

Ugh, I don't want to go.

To prepare for the Dobong-gu business trip, I stopped by the supply room and gathered the necessary items one by one.

As I was sighing and getting ready for the unavoidable reality of having to go, a yellow light suddenly shone on my face.

Reaper, with a face full of curiosity, was shooting an intense gaze at me.

"Want to come along?"

I reached out my hand, and Reaper firmly grasped it.

For some reason, this business trip seemed like it would be enjoyable.

***

Reaper (MC) POV :

---

Riding in the car driven by Yerin, we arrived at the target point.

Upon reaching the border of the targeted Dobong-gu, we saw a tall concrete wall encircling the entire area.

This was the massive wall separating Dobong-gu and Gangbuk-gu. 

It was my first time seeing it in person.

Perhaps because it was built to fight against Objects, the wall exuded both practicality and solemnity.

I had heard rumors that beyond was a frozen hell of minus 100 degrees Celsius, which made it feel like the chill reached even here in front of the wall.

Yerin parked the car, set up a camera pointing towards the wall, and came back.

"Alright, picnic part 2!"

Yerin spread out a mat on some suitable grass and patted the spot next to her.

'...'

No matter how I thought about it, I had a feeling that Yerin might get fired one day.

*** 

Omyonmyon~

While eating snacks, Yerin's phone rang.

Yerin checked the phone and answered with a frown.

"Yes, this is Oh-Yerin."

As soon as Yerin answered, nagging poured endlessly from the phone.

[Are you really with that gray Reaper right now? You need to report properly, what were you thinking...]

However, that nagging couldn't continue for long.

An incident occurred while Yerin was on the phone.

Boom!

A massive shock ran through the ground. 

It was a shock strong enough to make our bodies sitting on the mat bounce up.

Yerin, who had been on the phone, was also startled and jumped up.

Perhaps due to the shockwave, Yerin's phone had already been disconnected.

Boom!

With the second booming sound, I saw the wall crumbling into concrete debris far away, scattering in all directions.

Through the broken gap in the wall, an enormous fist revealed itself.

That fist swung again, shattering the wall into pieces.

Wildly swinging those fists and meticulously destroying the wall were the ones called Ice Throne's soldiers.

Encasing their entire bodies in transparent ice, with gears and machinery moving inside, these mechanical soldiers expelled a chilling coldness.

Beyond the collapsed wall was an endless frozen army, too numerous to count.

Soldiers clad in icy armor.

The residents living nearby were startled by the sudden situation and began fleeing, but the ice soldiers paid them no mind.

They simply swung their fists, smashing buildings and the wall, just like during the Dobong-gu invasion 10 years ago.

Yerin tightly grasped my hand, shoved me into the car, and started driving like crazy.

The robots moved extremely slowly, but we seemed to need to hurry.

"Haah...haah..."

White breath escaped from Yerin's mouth.

It was summer, but the temperature had already dropped to below minus 10 degrees Celsius.

The monsters that had never come out of Dobong-gu began their march.

Fortunately, there were hardly any vehicles on the road, as very few people wanted to live near the Dobong-gu barrier.

As Yerin raced down the highway like a racing car, her phone rang.

The text displayed on the screen was brief,

'Other investigation teams have started evacuating. You should escape quickly too.'

It was a text of no use to Yerin, who was already fleeing.

***

Yerin's face was pale.

She didn't look normal at all.

Outside the car window, a snowstorm was raging.

In the summer, no less.

The center of Dobong-gu was said to be around minus 100 degrees Celsius, had the temperature dropped that low here too?

Yerin looked like she could barely endure it.

To make matters worse, an unfamiliar strange noise came from the car before it stopped running.

Yerin huddled up and sighed.

Shivering violently, she turned her head towards me with difficulty and moved her lips, but no words came out.

It seemed she wanted to say something, but Yerin couldn't get the words out and closed her eyes.

***

Yerin POV:

---

I regained consciousness to a comfortably warm sensation.

I had thought I would definitely die after losing consciousness in the cold, but had I survived?

Or was this the afterlife?

Seeing supernatural beings like Objects running around, an afterlife seemed plausible.

But the intense warmth assured me this was reality.

I slowly blinked my eyes open.

Right in front of me was the sleeping face of Reaper.

The flames burning so intensely that Reaper's gray skin looked yellow were driving away the cold outside.

Reaper had burrowed into my clothes, sticking only its head out.

I reached out and gently stroked Reaper's head as I whispered,

"Thank you."

Then I hugged Reaper tightly, savoring the warmth.