Murder Case (1)

I am Watson. Detective assistant. So detective assistant Watson must find a detective. So detective assistant Watson must find someone to become her detective. Are you my detective? Are you my detective? Are you my detective? Are you Watson's detective? Yep, not this time either. Watson must find a detective. Watson must find a detective. Watson must find a detective.

"I heard the Rubedo-rank incident was handled not by the Foundation, but by some detective agency."

"Oh, that one. Ririri or something? They have pretty staff there."

"The staff are pretty?"

"They were filming some mukbang or whatever. Anyway, they've officially solved like seven cases already, and the office hasn't even been open a year."

Watson heard the story. Could this be the person to become Watson's detective? Could this be the person to become Watson's detective? Could this be the person to become Watson's detective?

The door opened. The smell of a case wafted in. The place where Watson had been was Containment Room 99. When she went out, it seemed like every door in the 90s containment zone was open.

Yep, the Special Task Force is in big trouble. Yep, but it has nothing to do with Watson. If it's an accident without any case potential, Watson can't help. The detective wouldn't need to investigate either. So detective assistant Watson isn't needed.

But the smell of a case kept coming. Detective assistant Watson walked down the hall. Containment Room 96. The door was open, and the entity that had been there seemed to have escaped. And she discovered the body of Information Chief Jeong Woo-gyeom. It looked like he was murdered. Is detective assistant Watson the first discoverer of the body? She had to tell the detective. She had to tell the detective. But Watson didn't have a detective she was serving right now. She needed a new detective. And one just came to mind. Detective assistant Watson went to the detective. And she would meet the detective. A detective assistant meeting a detective is fate.

I steadied my flustered mind and put some distance between me and Watson. What was in front of me was a headless monster. But it wasn't the type to just kill people indiscriminately. Watson only kills if the case isn't solved.

After that, there was a jump scare and a bad ending. I'd experienced it a few times, so I knew it well. But right now, I didn't even know what case had happened. So as long as I didn't run from the case, Watson had no reason to harm me just yet.

"…Watson, weren't you at the Special Task Force?"

"Yep, that's right. You know well, detective. Such amazing deductive skills."

"Deductive skills my ass—I heard it from Information Chief Jeong Woo-gyeom before…."

"I see. As expected of a detective, your connections are impressive."

Like this, the current Watson praised whatever I said. Far from hostile, she was cooperative. …Maybe I should strike first before she does something?

No, let's not do that….

I shook my head. Including unofficial ones, I'd solved over ten cases now. I'd just handled a threat level 5 Muksi Saengmyeongche not long ago, so a level 3 like Watson wasn't that hard. I could activate Ari's Bond Effect, or use one of the two from Woorim Group—the 'Fun Shadow Swap' should work on Watson too. Or just smash her with a "Cute Girl Punch." There were plenty of ways to beat Watson. But like I always say, I didn't want to add any more cute girls….

Phenomena like this gave bigger rewards when tackled head-on rather than avoided. And above all, it bugged me to no end. Information Chief Jeong Woo-gyeom was dead? He'd been alive just yesterday….

Maybe because of Mary…? No, that can't be.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I recalled Mary moving at dawn but quickly shook my head. Miyeong had subdued her before she could do anything. So Jeong Woo-gyeom's death had nothing to do with 'Mary-san.'

"Watson, have you seen the crime scene?"

"Yep, I have, detective."

"Where's the crime scene?"

"Special Task Force containment room."

"Special Task Force containment room…? That's way too far from my place to our house—why'd you come to me?"

Watson was supposed to designate the closest person at the scene as detective. Then Watson said:

"You're the most famous detective these days. You've solved big cases, detective. So you'll solve this one too, yep."

"……."

Seemed like solving 'Magical Girl's Birth' had reached even the monsters' ears. Ridiculous. But something had definitely gone down at the Special Task Force. For now, I'd hold off on exorcising Watson. Might as well play along with her 'detective game' to check on the Task Force's status. As one of the four major factions in the monster game alongside the Foundation, cult, and deep web, it was worth knowing their situation for the future. Watson would be a good excuse to visit.

"I'll eat breakfast and head to the Task Force."

"Yep, got it."

Watson nodded… or rather, it looked like nodding. More accurately, since she was a headless monster, it just appeared that way.

"The detective will eat breakfast and go to the Task Force. Detective assistant Watson will help with that. Yep, I'll prepare, detective."

"Prepare what?"

I asked Watson, who echoed like a parrot, but her body turned to particles. And then… it melted into the air and vanished.

"What the…?"

I blinked.

Was meeting Watson just a dream? With a sliver of hope, I opened the codex, but there she was, big as day.

"…Controlled status, huh."

I tapped File 023.

I could only sigh. For example, if I hopped on a plane to England right now, Watson would chase me down and kill me for not solving the case. So whether she was with me or not, I had to go to the Task Force. But where the hell did she go?

-♪♩♬♪♪♩

After breakfast, I explained the situation to the office staff. Then my phone rang. Caller ID… Ryu Harin?

"Hello?"

[…I'm at your house right now. Come down.]

"What? In front of my house?"

[I'll drive you to the Task Force, so come down and deal with this…. I can't go to work.]

-Click.

The call ended. What the hell was this? I hadn't told Ryu Harin where I lived….

And I was planning to go to the Task Force, but she mentioned it first? Suspicious, I went down to the first floor as she said. And there was a car parked in front. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd seen it before—Ryu Harin's car from the fine dining invite. But I'd seen it crash into a fence because of the 'eight-foot ghost,' so she'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gotten it fixed, apparently.

Ryu Harin was in the driver's seat. And Watson.

"H-Harin…?! Wh-what happened?"

"That's what I want to know. This Muksi Saengmyeongche suddenly showed up at my house and is controlling my body…."

Watson was overlapping with Ryu Harin. Not in a weird way—literally. Watson's body had gone semi-transparent and draped over her. Not quite possession, but she'd clearly hijacked control of Ryu Harin's body.

"Detective, I called a driver."

"A driver?"

"The detective's going to the Task Force. Detective assistant Watson will help. So I scouted a reliable driver, yep."

…Not scouted, more like hijacked.

"We could've just taken a taxi…."

"Solving cases is better the faster, yep."

"Haa…."

No point arguing with a monster. I got in Ryu Harin's car. Seemed Watson wouldn't release her until we got to the Task Force.

Watson might seem benevolent as a case-solving monster, but as you can see, her methods were extremely coercive. She might not even have good intentions to begin with.

"Then off to the Task Force, detective."

"No, go to the office first…."

"Why? Why? To solve the case, we need to go to the scene, right? Why go somewhere unrelated to the case? Why? Why?"

"D-don't say it so scary…. There are things at the office that could help solve the case…."

"Yep, I see. Got it, detective. For case-solving, we'll go to the office first."

Ryu Harin—actually, Watson manipulating her—stepped on the accelerator. We arrived at the office. I grabbed some documents.

[Caudapavonis] Save Kim Som-i

[Viriditas] Watson

[Viriditas] Doppelganger

These were the materials on Task Force-contained Muksi Saengmyeongche I'd gotten from Information Chief Jeong Woo-gyeom at the demo. I could probably get the same at the Task Force, but just in case, I took them. I also grabbed the one thing I most wanted, then—though I already knew—checked the fridge anyway, hoping for a miracle.

There was an empty plate. The '20th Turtle Soup' we had contained at the office.

"Ugh…. Useless as expected."

Next, the vacant room. There was a doll with its head separated from its body. 'Mary-san,' decapitated by Miyeong.

…Maybe it'd come back to life? But no, it wouldn't without intervention. Big problem. As I'd been saying, our office members lacked any real scouting abilities. The closest was '20th Turtle Soup,' which could reach the truth with enough clues. I thought it'd help a ton this time, but with soup only filling every 20 days, it was useless. If only I could use 'Mary-san,' who relentlessly pursues her obsession target….

Both unusable was a real setback.

"Detective, are those things needed for solving the case?"

Watson asked.

"They could've helped solve the case, but can't use them now…."

"Still, I'll take them, detective. If needed, I'll make them usable at the scene, yep."

Watson grabbed the empty bowl and headless doll and stuffed them into her own bag.

"The detective just focus on solving the case. The rest, detective assistant Watson will handle."

"Make them usable at the scene…."

I racked my brain about Watson, but she had no such ability. Anyway, we'd grabbed everything. We left the office and headed to the Task Force.