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Yerin’s apartment, located on the outskirts of Songpa District, was basking in the warm sunlight of the late afternoon, creating a cozy atmosphere.

Having returned to the mini reaper garden, I was enjoying the comfort of this familiar space in Yerin’s apartment.

Before going to Yerin’s place, the thoughts of the girl with purple hair from the black planet briefly crossed my mind, but I quickly shoved them to the back of my head.

‘Well, I can just bring her to Earth tomorrow or so.’

Hehe.

“Hey, Reaper, do you want to try this too?”

Yerin shook a bag of snacks and offered it to me.

I comfortably nestled on her lap and slowly savored the crispy snacks.

Om nom nom.

Maybe it was because there hadn’t been any major incidents lately, but the TV was playing rather uninteresting programs.

So naturally, my gaze began to wander around this familiar space.

‘Not much has changed since the old days.’

Despite the fact that Yerin had been out of work like me thanks to the Saintess Doll for quite a while, her home was astonishingly clean.

It was a stark contrast to my disorganized self who would just toss everything aside out of laziness.

In my isolation room, without the help of the research institute employees who clean for me, it would quickly turn into chaos.

‘Ah, right. Now there are the mini reapers.’

In that moment, a realization struck me.

‘Now, my isolation room must also be clean.’ A small insight emerged.

A Golden Reaper cleaning up while walking around with tiny feet.

A Blue Reaper magically tidying everything in no time.

A Purple Reaper who absolutely hates messiness.

In fact, even now, every time a snack crumb fell to the floor, a Golden Reaper would show up out of nowhere to swiftly pick it up and toss it into the trash can.

‘I wonder if cleaning is done in rotation like the Golden Reaper Guard?’

Lost in these thoughts while snuggled in Yerin’s embrace, the Golden Reapers began crawling all over me like it was their playground.

They climbed up my arms, hopped over my shoulders, and even reached the top of my head, playing around before colliding and tumbling down.

‘Waaah!’

Seeing that, Yerin let out a small laugh.

“It seems like the Golden Reapers really like you the most.”

‘?’

Maybe it was the ridiculousness of the statement, but my feelers instinctively curled into question marks.

Yerin pulled on my feelers, forcing them to straighten out, and continued speaking.

“They don’t cling so desperately to other objects or people. It’s only you, they do that to.”

Hmm, is that so?

When I’m nestled against Yerin, I don’t throw them away, so it seems they take the chance to latch on…

But before I could dwell on that thought, the news coming from the TV caught my attention.

[International logistics volume hits a record high for the first time in 30 years.]

[Especially, after the Object crisis, air and sea logistics, which had shrunk significantly, are showing a dramatic recovery.]

[The significant recovery is believed to be due to the influence of the ‘Golden Reaper.’]

[With the rapid decrease in object-related accidents, which were previously seen as the biggest threat to sea logistics, major logistics companies have reported that they no longer consider objects a significant risk factor.]

[In fact, it has been revealed that object-related accidents, which accounted for most logistics losses, have dropped to virtually non-existent levels in recent months.]

Upon hearing that news, Yerin smiled brightly and poked my cheek.

“It looks like it won’t be long before it becomes easy to travel abroad!”

As she said that, she radiated an overwhelming sense of happiness and anticipation.

‘Festival?’

‘Party?’

The Golden Reapers were surprised by her emotions, tilting their heads as if wondering if there was going to be a celebration.

[And now, international news.]

[The American Object Association announced an important regulatory proposal today.]

[The association has decided to completely ban the practice of employing low-wage, casual laborers in object research processes.]

[This action is seen as a response to criticism that vulnerable workers have been indiscriminately mobilized for dangerous object experiments that could threaten their lives.]

[The decision takes effect immediately, and severe penalties are expected for violations.]

After watching the following news, I couldn’t help but feel quite shocked.

‘Does this mean they can finally eliminate casual workers from the research institute…?’

Though the titles might have differed from research institute to research institute, the nominal workers or researchers known as casual laborers existed everywhere.

In reality, they are the ones standing at the frontline of managing the most dangerous objects while staked on their lives.

Objects are incredibly hazardous for humans to handle, so this job was a necessary evil that existed.

After all, they couldn’t exhaust the valuable ‘real’ researchers every time a dangerous object had to be handled.

Of course, it could be regarded as a human rights blind spot, but it was a profession that had been reluctantly tolerated.

It was likely that with the safety ensured by the mini reapers, there was no longer a need for that tolerance.

Since the trend started with the American Object Association, soon casual workers will likely vanish worldwide.

‘If I had still been alive until now… I might not have been able to work at the research institute any longer.’

I watched TV, lost in thought about my human past for the first time in ages, as the ads rolled by.

*

In the late afternoon, the rooftop of Sehee Research Institute was filled with the sweet aroma of fish-shaped bread.

The Orange Crowned Reaper gazed proudly at their masterpiece.

After all, it wasn’t easy, starting from obtaining information about the world’s spiciest pepper to actually getting the crops.

The Orange Crowned Reaper poked the completed fish-shaped bread with their finger.

To the naked eye and touch, it looked just like any ordinary fish-shaped bread.

The sweet red bean and crispy flour aroma tickled the nose.

While it appeared to be an ordinary fish-shaped bread, hidden inside was the flavor of the world’s spiciest pepper.

In fact, there could have been a chance of a change in aroma, but the Orange Crowned Reaper had prepared for that situation.

If necessary, they had even contemplated manipulating the probability with the power of the halo.

But thankfully, it didn’t come to that.

Now, all that was left was to gift this special prank.

However, delivering it in person was out of the question.

The residents of Songpa District, especially the people of Sehee Research Institute, would never eat food handed over by the Orange Reaper.

‘Cheong’ would gladly eat it, but it felt improper to give it to the Attached Human.

Moreover, playing pranks on someone who would willingly be fooled wasn’t entertaining at all.

Additionally, they had to avoid the watchful eyes of the other mini reapers.

If the other mini reapers saw the Orange Crowned Reaper wandering around with a bunch of fish-shaped bread…

Before long, the 1st Sword and Hungry Ghost Reaper would show up to interfere with the prank.

But the Orange Crowned Reaper had a plan.

Wearing a mischievous smile, they pulled out a pristine white box and began to carefully pack the fish-shaped bread inside.

As if wrapping up a precious gift, they decorated it beautifully with a ribbon.

Then, they left their tiny fingerprints on the box, making it look like it had been made by a mini reaper.

Hehe.

The Orange Crowned Reaper chuckled with a face resembling a Gray Reaper.

A little later, beautifully wrapped gift boxes were placed all around Sehee Research Institute.

Next to a pot on the dining table, on the lounge table, and on the bench beside the vending machine…

Like Santa Claus, they had quietly left one box at a time without anyone noticing.

But hidden inside those gifts was not happiness, but the prank of the Orange Crowned Reaper.

*

In the late afternoon, a small commotion was ongoing in the corner of Sehee Research Institute.

“Uh… what do we do? The Golden Reaper just collapsed…!”

Just as a research institute employee was about to eat the fish-shaped bread in the white gift box, the Golden Reaper sensed something was off and dashed in to take a bite of the fish-shaped bread, only to immediately collapse as if dead.

I cautiously lifted the completely limp Golden Reaper with both hands, but they weren’t regaining consciousness.

The Golden Reaper, drooping like a withered vegetable, had something stimulating about it.

“Oh, I’ve seen that happen before. The Golden Reaper collapsed when they secretly nibbled on my coffee.”

At that moment, another researcher began to recount their experience of a similar case.

“Since then, every time the Golden Reaper followed me to drink coffee, they looked at me like I was about to poison them, so I couldn’t drink coffee.”

That was an experience that occurred if one gave the Golden Reaper coffee with two or more shots added.

Hearing that, the employee who had just opened the gift box took a slight nibble off the fish-shaped bread that the Golden Reaper had bitten.

“!”

Then came the overwhelming and horrific spiciness.

Even though I ate a fraction of what could fit under my fingernail, it was still intense.

“Oh, it’s spicy.”

As the face of the employee turned red and they started sweating profusely, the collapsed Golden Reaper sprang back to life.

And with a face full of anger, they opened their mouth wide toward the sky.

‘Spicy prank!’

‘White box!’

News of the Orange Crowned Reaper terrorizing Sehee Research Institute with fish-shaped bread spread through the Golden Reaper Network.

‘Orange sibling!’

‘Bad object!’

The Golden Reapers scoured through the Sehee Research Institute, locating all the boxes, and they succeeded in capturing the fleeing Orange Crowned Reaper.

And a verdict was passed at the emergency Golden Reaper Conference.

‘Dabji form!’

Thus, the Orange Crowned Reaper, who had orchestrated such excessive pranks, was sealed in the mini reaper garden by the Blue Idol Reaper.

And new warning notes were written at the front gate of Sehee Research Institute.

[Warning! The taste of fish-shaped bread given by mini reapers may not match the texture at all.]

[Example: What you chew is red bean, but the taste is black pudding.]

Below that printed note, a warning was hastily scrawled with a pen.

[Caution, there are quite a few mint chocolate flavored fish-shaped breads.]

[Absolutely do not eat fish-shaped bread given by the Orange Reaper.]

[Only eat fish-shaped bread directly handed over by mini reapers.]

[Most items found in cute gift boxes are likely made by the Orange Reaper.]