It was quiet, so quiet.

The camp, viewed from the gravel-covered plaza stained with blood as I lit my pipe, was enveloped in an eerie stillness and silence.

Not a single sound of insects or animals that would usually be heard - a perfect silence.

The only movements left in the camp were the occasional sounds of wind blowing through the alleys and slowly stirring shadows.

All the camp residents were dead.

The camp that had been full of life and cheerful just a day ago had become a communal graveyard with those buildings as tombstones.

This extremely quiet camp was so silent that even heartbeats would be difficult to conceal.

Only the ninjas melted into the darkness remained.

Now, even in this corner of the plaza, there was a ninja hidden in the shadows, watching me.

A ninja who had been relentlessly exterminating campers, burning pipes, and ignoring me in my yellow suit.

It seemed like an operation targeting only the camp residents, but even after turning Gyeyang Mountain Camp into Gyeyang Mountain Communal Graveyard, they continued wandering around, seemingly searching for something.

I had a hunch here.

That these men in black were searching for the 'anomaly' of this camp.

And that 'anomaly' would be the clue to solving the request.

I felt that intense hunch.

Bang!

Piercing the stillness of the camp, an intense gunshot rang out.

Unless the ninjas were actually hiding guns, it must be the gunshot from the revolver I handed over to Junior 2.

The gunshot came from a place not too far away.

Just as I started moving to find Junior after hearing the gunshot, the ninjas also began rushing towards the direction of the sound.

Bang! Bang!

Consecutive gunshots rang out.

Was the situation more dangerous than I thought?

The revolver I gave had 6 bullets, so the shots just now must have used them all up. 

When I arrived at the place where the gunshots came from, it was a spot piled high with construction materials.

As I was thinking about climbing over the wall of construction materials, a loud sound tore across the sky.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiip-!

It was an ear-piercing screech, large enough to be unsettling.

The ninjas who had been lurking in the shadows, as well as those climbing over the construction material wall, all stood up at once and started running somewhere.

The number of ninjas that suddenly emerged was considerably more than I had expected.

All the ninjas headed towards somewhere in the north.

In the north of the camp, I knew there was supposedly a large underground waterway entrance, but could there really be something there?

With that doubt, I moved my steps into the vacant lot the ninjas had vacated.

*** 

Reaper (MC) POV:

---

One of the ninjas surrounding me took something out from inside their clothes.

What could it be? As I was watching curiously, it was something completely unexpected.

Pudding!!!

It was a cutely packaged premium pudding.

Why would a ninja be carrying something like that?

The ninja carefully unwrapped the packaging in a manner reminiscent of a religious ritual.

The solemn act felt so reverent.

After unwrapping the pudding, they raised it with both hands, then knelt down and offered it to me on their upturned palms.

It felt like they were presenting an offering to a king.

Wondering what it would taste like, I tried the offered pudding.

Omnom nom~

Wow, it's delicious.

More delicious than the ones I ate at the Sehee Research Institute. 

It was a pudding with packaging I had never seen in Korea, but the taste exceeded expectations.

As I happily wiggled my feet in delight, the ninjas gathered and started making something.

A giant human pyramid! 

A throne as wide as a bed!

It was an enormous pyramid made by stacking their own bodies, with a throne placed on top.

?

So I'm supposed to climb up there? But there are no stairs?

As I had that thought, the ninjas extended their hands as if making steps on the pyramid.

It seemed they wanted me to step on their outstretched palms alternately to climb up. 

I placed my foot on the palm extended by the ninja at the very bottom.

It felt quite stable, perhaps because they were gripping firmly.

Hehe, it's kind of ticklish too.

Since my foot was on their palm, it tickled a bit, so I wiggled my toes unnecessarily.

Stepping from palm to palm, pressing down firmly with both feet, I stood on the throne.

It looked like it would wobble or be uncomfortable, but it felt surprisingly sturdy.

Then I'll jump up and dive in!

Boing boing~

Even when I jumped on it, the ninja-made throne remained solid. 

Boing boing~

It was kind of fun, so I kept jumping.

On either side of the throne, there was one ninja taking out pudding and presenting it to me.

On the opposite side, another ninja appeared, fanning me with a fan.

Oh, it's just like a royal throne.

Leaning back comfortably on the throne, it felt like I had truly become a king.

A giant throne atop a giant pyramid.

And me on top of it!

A comfortable chair, delicious pudding, and a sense of omnipotence from the flame inside me.

Should I take these ninjas to the Sehee Research Institute?

It might be fun to keep these ninjas locked up at the Sehee Research Institute and have them make pyramids to play on whenever I'm bored.

As I was imagining such things, suddenly a loud whistle sound reverberated.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiip-!

The ninjas forming the throne and pyramid started slipping out from the bottom.

After solemnly presenting me with one last pudding and bowing, the ninjas left one by one.

I wonder if something happened?

I watched as the ninjas disappeared in retreat, leaving behind a vast amount of pudding that I had been absentmindedly eating.

When will I finish eating all of this?

***

Junior 1 POV:

---

A man concealing his entire body in black clothes like a ninja.

A man reeking of the stench of blood.

He was standing at the container entrance, holding a dripping bloody sword.

The crimson stains dripping from his blade hinted at what purpose he had come here for.

I gripped my hammer tightly and assessed the situation.

Grrrr-!

Making a bubbling sound from his mouth, the ninja pointed his finger somewhere.

The client.

The ninja was pointing at the client.

"Hyejin, protect the client!"

The ninja's target seemed to be the client.

It's a bit strange, but a client is a client.

I can't just hand them over to some ninjas.

The ninja also seemed to realize a fight was inevitable, as the tension gradually escalated.

The ninja's gaze was closely watching my every move, but mainly focused on the movements of the giant hammer I was holding.

The ninja shifted his weight as if about to lunge at any moment.

Thump thump.

My heart was pounding like it would burst.

Not from fear, but from excitement.

The brief stillness was broken by the sharp sound of the wind.

With agility reaching the limits of a human, a flurry of metal strikes came slashing towards my face in an instant.

I calmly blocked them with the head of my hammer, but the ninja's strikes didn't stop after just one or two.

The barrage of strikes from all angles made me feel the ninja's level of training was in the realm of a master.

However.

None of them reached me.

Anticipating the ninja's sword strikes, I swung my hammer.

Like a cannon firing a shell, my swing shattered the ninja's blade, crushed his right hand, and blew apart his head beyond that.

The headless and one-handed corpse fell backwards.

With a dull thud, blood belatedly pooled on the container floor.

Haah.... haah...

My breath was ragged from the excessive adrenaline rush.

But there was no time to rest.

Another ninja was climbing over the wall of construction materials to infiltrate.

I readjusted my grip on the hammer and faced the charging ninja.

This second ninja that joined was more cautious after seeing his comrade's corpse.

He stared at me intently like a still lake, seeming to wait for an opportunity.

Tap tap tap.

Rhythmically tapping the floor with his feet, making sounds.

The ninja who seemed to be waiting for something suddenly sprang forward, swinging his sword at me.

It looked like a reckless, life-risking strike.

But it was a meaningless outburst against my hammer!

I put all my strength into swinging down to smash that blade.

The moment I felt something was off was right as I started that swing.

Another ninja sprang out from behind the first one.

Not one, but two?

There was no way to block the stabbing blade of the second ninja.

Ah, so this is how I die?

As I had that thought, a loud sound rang out.

Bang!

The revolver left behind by the senior spat out a flame, and the ambushing ninja was struck in the head and fell down.

"Haah, thanks, Hyejin."

Although we had fended off two more ninjas, it was not yet time to rest.

The ninjas kept coming in, exceeding two, three, four.

Hyejin had 2 bullets left in the remaining revolver.

Fortunately, the container entrance was narrow.

We didn't have to worry about being surrounded, but...

Could we win this?

There were 5 ninjas in the standoff.

There may have been more ninjas outside, but I decided to think about what was in front of me first.

As the air inside the container became increasingly tense, with a silent signal, the ninjas charged at us all at once.

I tried to swing my hammer at the approaching ninja, but the ninjas no longer seemed to give me a chance to swing my hammer.

There were always at least 2 sword strikes coming at strange angles.

I could barely block or avoid those strikes, let alone counterattack.

I was gradually pushed into a corner.

The distance between Hyejin and me became closer.

At this distance, the ninjas could directly target the client...

Dangerous.

What should I do now?

Bang! Bang!

Two more gunshots rang out.

But those bullets missed uselessly.

The ninjas recognized the existence of the revolver and deliberately lured the shots.

Piiiiiiiiiiiiiip-!

Just when I thought it was the end, a loud whistle sound reverberated.

Frightened by the sound of the whistle, the ninjas distanced themselves from me and slowly retreated, hiding their bodies in the shadows.

By the time the long blast of the whistle had subsided, the ninjas who had been in the standoff had vanished into the depths of the shadows.

Haah, I survived.