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Illustrations: None.

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People got out of the tow truck and the police car parked at the entrance of the lodge. One young man from the tow truck, and two men from the police car.

Despite the pouring rain and the scene being right in front of them, they stepped out bare, without umbrellas.

They shook their heads at the completely shattered entrance of the lodge.

“This looks intentional. Why drive all the way here and crash the car when there’s a perfectly good parking lot?”

“Is the person who called here?”

The middle-aged policeman clicked his tongue as he looked around the entrance, while the young policeman raised his voice, shouting beyond the entrance.

“Uh...”

The young man from the tow truck started to attach a hook to the car, then stepped back when he saw beyond the entrance. He leaned forward, his eyes widening.

Beyond the bloody entrance. Someone tied with red rope was squirming, there were two corpses with bitten necks, a woman with crazed eyes as if drugged, and a headless man.

The headless man, standing in front of the stairs, turned and approached the tow truck guy.

“Officer, that, that over there.”

Unable to take his eyes off the scene, the tow truck guy gestured frantically. But the policemen approached him instead.

Both policemen stretched their necks out towards the tow truck guy, reaching out urgently.

“Are you okay? Your neck is...”

“No, I’m not the problem right now—”

The tow truck guy finally turned his head. His neck, elongated like a turtle or snake, bent to the side.

Crack- Tear-

The sound of bones twisting and skin tearing. The young man instinctively touched his elongated neck, then fell backward at the sight of the two policemen.

As he fell onto the rain-soaked pavement, the policemen with their elongated necks cast shadows over him. They dropped their heads and stamped their feet in front of him.

Sizzle- Crack-

“Hey, is your neck alri—”

Then, their heads fell off.

One, two, three.

Three heads rolled across the entrance of the lodge. Hats fell off, rain-soaked hair mingled with gravel and leaves. Rainwater dripped from eyes that could no longer close.

Swoosh—

The headless bodies paused momentarily, reaching out with their hands, then slowly turned towards the inside of the lodge.

Towards the humans with heads.

“Grrr—”

The woman who had injected herself with rainwater growled, turning her crazed eyes towards the headless beings.

Choi Hyunsang, the two policemen, and the tow truck guy. Too many to handle alone.

But the crazed woman didn’t care. She didn’t free Seo Peonho, nor did she run away. She lunged at Choi Hyunsang like a beast.

“Raaaagh—!”

Her sharp claws swiped, and her fangs lunged like a hunting dog.

But even as she scratched and bit, the headless Choi Hyunsang calmly reached out and grabbed her. His strong grip held onto her shoulder, not letting go.

Meanwhile, three headless beings slowly approached and surrounded the woman. They grabbed her limbs and slowly dragged her outside the lodge.

“Nooo—!”

No matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t move. In the end, under the dark clouds, soaked by the rain, her head fell off.

“....”

The headless woman slowly stood up and joined the ranks of the headless beings. They dragged the bound Seo Peonho outside the lodge and offered him as a sacrifice as well.

Thus, seven humans lost their heads.

The rain began to weaken. The torrential downpour gradually lessened until it finally stopped. The dark clouds parted, and sunlight streamed through the gaps.

The sunlight illuminated the ruined entrance of the lodge.

“....”

“....”

The headless beings stood still like mannequins, then suddenly turned into water and splashed down. All that remained in their place were puddles of water.

At that moment, the lodge owner appeared. He looked down at the puddles of water and saw his own reflection on the water\'s surface.

"It\'s over...."

Covered in cold sweat, his limbs trembling, he let out a deep sigh. Somehow, he had managed to stop the rain.

‘I thought it was all over. The zombie-like humans, then the one with the gun—’

The relieved lodge owner shuddered. Only now did he think of another survivor.

‘Right! That person with the gun! They\'re still here—’

Click—

A cold sensation touched the back of his head. He didn’t need to look to know. It must be a gun. The lodge owner laughed awkwardly, his hands trembling.

“Th-that. I-I...”

As he struggled to speak, something rolled in front of him. He glanced down with his eyes and saw a red rope. The rope, kicked by his foot, stopped in front of him.

Lee Yeonwoo spoke.

“Tie yourself up with that. To the tow truck hook and your arm.”

“Yes!”

After restraining the lodge owner, Yeonwoo contacted the company, informing his contacts in the intelligence department that a cleanup was necessary.

---

---

Yeonwoo sat on the first floor of the lodge, watching as the company handled the scene.

Two cleanup specialists made calls, said something, and physically confiscated the CCTV footage, putting it in a box.

They then collected all the lab’s computers and equipment, loading them into a porter truck.

“Gentlemen, please listen to me. It\'s all my fault.”

The handcuffed lodge owner, loaded onto the porter, begged the cleanup specialists, but they ignored him. They injected him with what seemed to be a sedative, putting him to sleep and covering him with a black tarp.

One of the specialists approached Yeonwoo after finishing the job.

“Investigator Yeonwoo, everything has been taken care of. It’s like nothing happened here.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

"Oh, no. You\'re the one who\'s had it tough. What in the world, worshipping anomalies these days. I mean, worship is one thing, but sacrifices..."

Having extracted information from the lodge owner through a simple interrogation, they shuddered.

"What can we do about anomalies?"

“Isn’t that what our company is for? There must be a way to stop it without sacrificing people.”

He glanced at the lodge owner sleeping under the black tarp, shook his head a few times, and bowed to Yeonwoo.

“Well then, we’ll be off.”

“Yes.”

The black porter truck rumbled away.

Yeonwoo watched it leave, then fiddled with his bag.

Among the various tools were two small glass bottles.

One was a memory eraser, and the other was \'rainwater\'.

He had stolen the rainwater before the cleanup specialists arrived.

‘…It’s better to have at least one.’

Yeonwoo pondered with a somber gaze. Despite the severe side effects, it was like a roll of the dice.

If he were mortally wounded, it would be worth trying the potion once. It was better than quietly dying; he could drink the rainwater and resist the side effects with a roll of the dice.

Moreover, couldn’t the rainwater be used as a weapon too?

Yeonwoo’s eyes turned to the puddles of rainwater outside the lodge.

‘Seo Peonho said he made the ‘rainwater’ from the elements left in the soil. So, the rainwater itself...’

Suddenly, Yeonwoo stood up. He carefully filled a tumbler with the rainwater, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and put it in his bag.

‘I can throw it at enemies or put it in a water gun and shoot it.’

Having roughly finished his work, Yeonwoo took one last look around the now-empty lodge. Was there anything else to take? No.

Just as she was about to leave, he suddenly stopped. With the Chuseok holiday starting, would the way back be congested?

"...Let\'s rest a bit and leave when the traffic clears."

Since the business trip lasted until the end of the Chuseok holiday, there was no problem in taking his time to return.

Yeonwoo, who had grabbed a cup of instant noodles from the convenience store barely the size of a hole-in-the-wall shop, returned to his room on the second floor.

---

---

A few days passed.

At the office of the Anomaly Investigation Team.

Yeonwoo was writing a report about what he had experienced at the deserted mountain lodge. He suddenly stopped, describing the moment he retaliated against Seo Peonho.

Yeonwoo stared at the monitor with a dark expression.

‘This is when I got hit by the rainwater….’

It had been a little, and he wiped it off quickly, so he didn’t think much of it.

But the aftereffects were serious.

Swish-

Yeonwoo lightly grasped his hair and then brought his hand in front of his eyes.

A considerable amount of hair was stuck to his hand. Hair loss had begun, albeit mildly.

“Haah….”

A sigh.

The sigh, along with the hair, landed heavily on the keyboard.

Yoo Ji-yoo, watching Yeonwoo anxiously, bit her lip. She had a suppressed smile.

“That, um. Are you okay?”

“Yes.... It’s fortunate if this is the extent of it.”

It was better than having his neck extend and ultimately losing his head.

There were no issues with insomnia or mental instability, and it was better than dying.

When Yeonwoo sighed, not for the first time, the team leader raised his head slightly.

“Rookie. Think of it as a badge of honor. You see, when you work—”

“...Team Leader. I brought some rainwater back.”

Pain lessens when shared. If everyone’s hair fell out, wouldn’t it bring some peace of mind? It wasn’t hard. Just put the rainwater in a spray bottle and spray it once.

As a strange glint appeared in Yeonwoo’s eyes, Ji-yoo and the team leader recoiled in horror, pushing their chairs back and ducking behind their desks.

“No! What are you trying to do!”

“Rookie, you can’t do that. Hey!”

“Be careful.”

Yeonwoo bowed his head slightly, then, correcting his posture, pulled his chin back and finished the report.