Chapter 339

The thick festival fog enveloped the streets.

From within it, a faint sound of metal dragging echoed through the air.

The fog swallowed the sound, but its muffled vibrations only heightened the ominous atmosphere.

The short-haired girl trembled in fear, crouched between buildings.

The same question kept circling her mind:

“How did it manage to chase me here?”

Her breath quickened, and her heart pounded like crazy.

The monster emerging from the fog was enough to send her terror through the roof.

Its body drenched in blood, towering over 3 meters tall, with both arms replaced by saws at the elbows.

It slowly, oh so slowly, shuffled toward the girl, its grotesque limbs dangling limply.

Gruuuuuh… Gruuuuuh…

The sound of the saws scraping against the asphalt grew louder as it approached.

Closer and closer, step by step, amplifying the girl’s panic with each movement.

The short-haired girl clamped her hands over her mouth, barely holding back the screams threatening to burst out.

Gruuuuuh… Gruuuuuh…

The relentless noise surrounded her ears. With every step the monster took, her heartbeat raced faster.

She closed her eyes tightly, bracing for the saw to come crashing down on her head any second.

But then, something unexpected happened.

POW!

A dull yet sharp sound rang out, followed by warm liquid splashing all over her head.

When she opened her eyes, still trembling with fear, an unbelievable scene unfolded before her.

A sharp bone-like protrusion pierced through the chest of the saw monster.

“Kyaah!”

The sight almost made her scream involuntarily.

Only then did she notice another monster standing behind the saw beast.

It was the green reptilian monster she’d seen fighting earlier in the open lot.

Though armless, its tail had transformed into a sharp spear that cleanly impaled the saw monster’s chest.

As the saw monster collapsed, the green one began tearing into its chest with its mouth.

It yanked out a glowing orb, pulling along a stringy white substance connecting them.

It looked like stretched glue or cotton candy filaments.

Though simple and seemingly insignificant, the girl couldn’t shake the feeling that those white strands held importance.

Once the orb was torn free, a human figure burst out from the saw monster’s corpse and disappeared into thin air.

Just before vanishing completely, the girl caught a glimpse of a young man wearing a crumpled dress shirt and suit pants.

Thud. Thud.

The green monster turned around and started walking away slowly.

“I’m… I’m alive!”

Relief slowly spread through the short-haired girl as she realized she’d survived.

“Now I just need to escape this strange foggy space.”

Thud.

Suddenly, the green monster stopped and muttered in a voice like gargling phlegm.

[This space isn’t disappearing.]

Then it slowly turned around again.

Thump thump thump.

Her heart raced like it would explode.

Haa haa haa.

Breath escaped through her hands, gasping like someone having a panic attack.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The green monster’s steps gradually approached the girl…

Thud. Thud. Thud.

…then passed by her hiding spot and continued walking away.

Haa haa haa.

Still trying to control her ragged breathing, the girl slowly stood up.

“Hurry, I need to escape.”

As she shakily rose to her feet, the yellow reptilian eyes stared down at her.

“KYAAAH!”

Startled, she screamed as a thick, sharp tailbone shot toward her.

Watching the bone fly toward her heart, a thought crossed her mind:

“Should I have eaten the orb earlier?”

And just as she closed her eyes to apologize to her older sister…

A golden comet descended from the sky.

Against the backdrop of the shattered grid-patterned sky, the golden armored reaper descended before the girl.

***

While aimlessly wandering in the isolation room, my thoughts inexplicably turned to the lead doll.

‘The image of the lead doll granting wishes indiscriminately reminded me of the old god from the blue girl’s dream.’

For no particular reason, I felt uneasy and got up to visit the lead doll’s isolation room.

Upon arrival, I saw the lead doll sitting on the floor while several mini reapers waited patiently, and others sat politely in chairs.

I quickly scanned the room and relaxed slightly.

‘There are way fewer mini reapers here than in my isolation room.’

Of course, fake can never beat real.

As I materialized on the isolation room bed after canceling my ghosting, the mini reapers excitedly jumped around.

“Ack! Mommy’s here!”

“Mommy!”

Some mini reapers started inching closer to me.

They toddled over and clung onto me.

I naturally threw these clingy mini reapers off the bed.

“Waaaah!”

Then I began experimenting on the lead doll.

Since the lead doll uses firewood as power and grants wishes, I tried infusing wishes into the firewood.

When I commanded “Nod your head,” it nodded even while feeding snacks to the mini reapers.

Most simple movement-related commands worked successfully.

Even mini reaper wrestling matches could be performed.

However, difficult commands or ones requiring supernatural abilities all failed.

“Make everyone in Sehee Research Institute fall asleep.”

“Teleport Sehee Research Institute to the moon.”

“Solve the P-NP problem.”

“What’s 127 plus 1,452?”

These kinds of instructions either resulted in confused looks or nothing happening at all.

Apparently, the lead doll lacks firewood-based abilities.

“Hmm…”

Thinking I’d sufficiently verified everything, I was about to leave when I sensed something.

It was the gazes of the mini reapers scattered across the bed.

They looked at the lead doll, then turned their eyes to me expectantly.

Om…

The lead doll continued cuddling and petting the mini reapers while feeding them snacks.

Their gazes seemed to say “Why doesn’t mommy do that too?”

Guess I have to.

Hehe.

Trying to sound as majestic as possible, I conveyed my intentions to the mini reapers.

“Your wishes shall be granted.”

Simultaneously, I began throwing firewood infused with my own wishes at the lead doll.

“Woooh!”

“Such a kind mommy!”

The mini reapers happily jumped around.

As my firewood hit the lead doll, its behavior began changing.

“Waaaah!”

It threw the golden reaper sitting on its lap.

Then it started rolling toward the mini reapers.

“Waaaah!”

“Mommy’s being mean!”

“Liar!”

Of course, I joined the lead doll in rolling toward the mini reapers.

Now that the wish for the lead doll and mommy to be the same has been granted, they must be happy, right?

Hehe.

***

Mini Reaper Garden, Marshmallow Plains.

The pink girl lay on a hill filled with black reapers and golden reapers, reading what looked like a textbook.

“After learning this country’s language and some knowledge, I can go to school too, they say.”

The pink girl smiled brightly down at the blue idol reaper.

“They say school is a kind of academy. Maybe my dream of going to academy will come true!”

Seeing the attached human’s happiness, the blue idol reaper mirrored her smile.

The pink girl closed her book and leaned toward the blue idol reaper.

“Won’t you learn language together?”

Though expecting a yes, the blue idol reaper shook its head.

“Why? It would be much more fun together…”

But the answer came from elsewhere.

“Mommy said not to!”

“Stop pretending you know Korean!”

“Blue younger brothers got scolded for that!”

The golden reapers jumped up from their seats and responded enthusiastically.

Though unclear about exactly what Korean meant, they clearly remembered mommy’s will.

Of course, the pink girl couldn’t understand the mini reapers’ intentions, but the blue idol reaper translated for her.

“I see…”

Though slightly disappointed, the gray reaper’s order made it impossible to argue.

“If such a great magic book like the gray reaper said not to, there must be an important reason.”

“Maybe it’s a world-changing taboo matter.”

Satisfied with her own reasoning, the pink girl nodded.

At that moment, chaos erupted among the mini reapers.

“Ouch, someone bit me again!”

“We need to find them!”

“Bad reaper!”

Golden reapers jumping in surprise.

Mini reapers toddling around with small steps.

Golden reapers running across the marshmallows to catch the culprit.

But the perpetrator had already vanished without a trace.

The golden reaper who woke up startled from sleep now had bite marks on its chubby cheeks.

***

The world under the fog-filled grid-patterned sky.

Until recently, it was a place where monsters fought and killed each other, but now it stood empty.

No sign of the two-armed saw monster.

Or the green reptilian monster.

Or the girl who didn’t eat the orb.

Or the golden reaper who descended from the sky.

Not a soul remained.

Suddenly, a man appeared in mid-air in this empty space.

Looking up at the hole in the sky, he murmured.

“That face. Is that a golden reaper?”

Slowly pacing, he glanced down at the blood-soaked ground.

Among the puddles were the corpses of the reptilian monster with a golden armor-shaped hole in its chest and the saw monster.

“Meeting that face at the end of the great work”

“Was it fate? Or coincidence?”

Covering his mouth with one hand, he spoke as if chewing on his words.

“It must be fate, surely.”

“The last alchemist….”