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Why is it that wherever I go with James, chaos seems to follow?

Then there were the screams—those lovely sounds of people being scorched by James' trigger-happy bodyguards. Those screams? Yeah, they lodged themselves right in my brain, like they had no plans of leaving anytime soon.

I was pretty sure those screams were going to haunt me, popping up in every nightmare from now on.

But then, as if the universe decided to throw me a bone, something odd happened. Like a sudden shift in the wind, the crazed residents of Gwanak-gu stopped dead in their tracks, fear plastered on their faces as they bolted in every direction.

Right then, James decided it was a good time to look up at the sky. Naturally, I followed his lead, and what do I see? The sky, torn open like some monster had slashed it with its claws.

The tear vanished quickly, but I wasn’t about to dismiss it. Something dangerous was out there—-no doubt about it.

“James, let’s bail out of Gwanak-gu. This whole place feels off…”

Fortunately, his bodyguards were on the same page as me.

I mean, who in their right mind would want to stick around a hellhole crawling with Object-possessed residents? But James? Noooooooo, he had other ideas.

“No, let’s head to Trinity Research Institute. I need to figure out what’s going on.”

James insisted, pulling out a rock from his tightly sealed bag, like that was going to solve anything.

The rock in James’ hand started pulsing, glowing brighter and dimmer like it was trying to mimic a heartbeat. Because that’s exactly what we needed right now—a rock with a pulse.

*******In a space all draped in shadows, a being descended gracefully, slicing through the darkness like it was nothing.

There was this monstrous being—a nasty one—wearing the skin of a human just dripping with malice. He opened his mouth, sounding all confident and relaxed.

“Ah, Gray Reaper. You are here.”

Ugh, the malice! It just kept pouring out of him, like he had a never-ending supply of meanness. Even the Golden Reapers and the Blue Reapers were glaring at him, their faces all scrunched up in anger.

< bad="" human!="">

< Bad! >

I couldn't even begin to imagine how many poor humans had been sacrificed to fill him up with that icky black slime.

“Hahaha! Look! I got my hands on the concept of ‘indestructible!’” He boasted, spreading his hands wide like he was showing off a prize.

“I can no longer be harmed by physical means. Unlike those meager Objects that are just immune to modern technology, I have immortality itself!!!”

Oh, is that so…? I see, I see.

I just looked at him with a pitying gaze, totally unimpressed. Oh, he must’ve noticed because he suddenly gave me this disdainful look.

“Khm! My apologies, it seems I had been wasting my time trying to make an Object incapable of understanding speech understand my greatness.”

Then, out of nowhere, a huge monster popped up from his shadow. Oh, I knew that one! It was a Hungry Ghost offshoot, but it was even beefier than the last one I fought.

But, I couldn’t help but wonder… How many Objects did that monster wearing the man’s skin have inside that body of his? Over one hundred? Geez.

“Even Objects incapable of human speech will be able to feel the sheer power of the Hungry Ghost that has gained physical immunity!!” he went on, clearly unable to stop talking, even though he’d just said it was pointless to talk to me.

Thud-! Thud-!

The Hungry Ghost stomped towards me, all big and menacing. Meanwhile, the Golden Reapers got all excited, hopping around as they rushed towards it.

The killing condition for the Hungry Ghost was the same as before.

< depletion="" of="" its="" regenerative="" powers="">

Physical immunity? Pfft, like that mattered to the Golden Reapers.

They were soon all over the Hungry Ghost, headbutting the poor thing until it was riddled with holes. Black slime oozed out, trying to heal the wounds, but the Golden Reapers left their flames behind in the wounds, making sure they couldn’t regenerate properly.

The Hungry Ghost let out an awful scream as it collapsed, its body riddled with holes.

“…”

On the other hand, the man looked utterly flabbergasted.

“How…? Is there something beyond my understanding? There must be some variable unknown to me!!” he kept muttering, his expression twisting in all sorts of confused ways.

“Something beyond my understanding? Impossible! I understand all of the ‘Grimoires’.”

“Th-There was a ‘Contract’. It is impossible for there to be a variable unknown to me.”

“Something must be wrong!!!”

“…No, there’s nothing wrong. It’s all according to plan.”

Suddenly, everything fell silent. The man, who had been babbling incessantly, stopped, grabbed onto his head, and let out a hellish scream.

Meanwhile, a bunch of Objects rose from the shadows.

“Yes, yes, this is it!! I have a lot of ‘Grimoires,” he finally said, looking at me with this weird, almost calm expression.

With every new Object that appeared, the lab got more and more wrecked. Honestly, the place was way too small for all these monsters. There were just so many of them.

Ah, shit… It will take an annoyingly long time for the Golden Reapers to kill these many of them. Sigh… I guess there is only one option left…

So, I reached out and grabbed the air.

Grab-!

Then, I swung my hand sideways with all my might.

Creaaaaak-!

The space around us screamed and ripped apart, in the process, all those Objects—and the man, too—were sliced clean in half.

*******As the director lingered at the precipice of life and death, fragments of a long-forgotten past drifted into his mind.

Memories buried beneath layers of time resurfaced.

[ Regrettably, you lack the intellect, finesse, and aptitude required to become an alchemist. ]

Those were the words he heard in his earlier years—a talentless, inept alchemist facing the Grimoire of Contracts.

The Grimoire of Contracts, as the legends foretold, manifested as a man who carried numerous gas lamps, yet his face remained an enigma in the director’s mind, a strange and elusive memory.

“You forge contracts with the desperate and fulfill their deepest desires? Let us strike a bargain, then. I am prepared to offer anything—anything at all!!”

It was a risky contract, one that could cost him everything.

After all, in the world where the director once lived, merely associating with a grimoire was enough to warrant annihilation, even if it meant burning entire villages to ash.

[ It seems you wish to become an alchemist, then what about this kind of contract? ]

The Grimoire of Contracts extended an offer.

[ I shall bestow upon you all the knowledge tied to the ‘**Grimoire’** that the **‘Alchemists of this Land’** have discovered, or ever will discover. ]

[ In return, you will find it exceedingly difficult to acquire new knowledge. It is about exchanging current knowledge with future knowledge. ]

[ The contract concludes the moment you perish. ]

[ If you are prepared to accept, then take one of my lamps. ]

It was a contract too enticing to refuse, and the director knew it well. With his limited talent, what little knowledge he might have gleaned in the future would amount to nothing.

Upon sealing the contract, the director transformed into an alchemist in an instant. It was effortless, almost laughably so.

Now, no one understood the intricacies of the ‘Grimoires’

better than he did.

Any and all evidence was unnecessary; his knowledge was the truth incarnate. He was the definitive answer, and that certainty followed him even when he set foot on foreign soil.

After all, the land he arrived in was a desolate place, inhabited by fools who knew nothing of alchemy. It was a paradise for a man like him, who wielded boundless knowledge.

But now, at his final moment, he felt the contract’s hold slip away.

“I. I… What in the world did I do?” he muttered with his last breath.

Yes, he had donned the robes of an alchemist, but he had never truly been one. He was nothing more than a scholar, trapped in a prison of his own making, unable to grasp new knowledge no matter how desperately he tried!

The director, burdened with the curse of omniscience and the inability to learn, had grown arrogant. He had forgotten the very reason he sought to become an alchemist in the first place.

Becoming an alchemist was never the end goal; it was merely a means to an end.

I didn't want it to die like this...

In his last moments, the words of the long-gone alchemists came to mind.

Only a terrible ending awaits those who wield the power of the Grimoire.

*******As they approached Trinity Research Institute, an unsettling noise reached their ears, it was as if reality itself was being shredded to pieces. The kind of sound that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

The interpreter, understandably freaked out, stammered, “James, why don’t we turn back? There’s something really weird going on there.”

James, on the other hand, had a stern, unyielding expression on his face.

“Relic Number 0 is in a state where we can’t take any risks. You’ll have to trust me on this.”

While the interpreter looked like he was about to pass out, James was as calm as ever, it was as if he knew this would happen already, like some kind of premonition.

The closer they got to the lab, the more it looked like a disaster zone.

The Trinity Research Institute, once known for its pristine and sophisticated appearance, was barely recognizable. It was as if a tornado had hit it, only instead of merely debris, there was pure chaos and destruction.

They slipped through the cracks in the building and were immediately hit with the overwhelming stench of petroleum, and what they saw next was enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.

The lower half of a man stood there, upright, while his upper half had been gruesomely severed. Yet, the upper body remained eerily intact.

Right next to this grotesque scene stood the Gray Reaper, looking down with an expression as cold as a winter’s night.

The upper body lay sprawled on the floor, its eyes glassy and unfocused, as if staring off into oblivion. The man’s faint, broken voice barely made it past his lips. “J-just what did I do?”

Faced with such a sight, James’ mind was grappling with numerous questions.

That man has to be the director of the 3rd Division of the Trinity Research Institute. So what in the world happened here?

But before he could dwell too long, a thunderous sound tore through the building.

Boom-!

A massive Object burst through the remains of the Trinity Research Institute.

Its limbs were enormous, tentacles flailing around, a smooth, mucus-like skin, and a gaping maw lined with sharp teeth.

It was one of the most dangerous Objects in Korea, the Hungry Ghost.