Chapter 352

‘Oh, that dream again.’

The silver-haired girl had been having the same nightmare repeatedly for several days now.

It was a dream showing a future that hadn’t arrived yet—her closest friend graduating from the facility and leaving first.

At first, it was an absolutely terrifying nightmare that shocked her to the core, but as it kept repeating, she started getting used to it… somewhat.

Still, this nightmare was strange. Even though nightmares repeat, they’re always nightmarish—but this one was different.

The dream always began with the girl stepping out of her personal room, shown in third-person perspective.

Like watching a movie.

When she opened the door, there was always the dimly lit corridor with one broken fluorescent light and the unpleasant smell of burnt food.

In reality, whenever she stepped out, she was greeted by a clean, wide corridor with a pleasant aroma—but not in this nightmare.

What was odd was how genuinely startled the dream version of the silver-haired girl seemed when she saw it.

Broken fluorescent lights and kids burning food while preparing meals could happen occasionally… but for some reason, she appeared truly shocked.

As she reached the dining area through the hallway, numerous children dressed identically to her stood in long lines.

Seeing this, the dream girl slowly approached and joined the line, looking slightly tense.

And without fail, her only friend would appear and ask her, “What’s wrong? Is something bothering you?”

Then normal daily activities followed: eating meals, training sessions for ability development, object response drills, and object information education.

As these tasks neared their end, so did the nightmare.

The final scene showed children who had completed all the processes and passed tests leaving the facility.

Here, the dream girl displayed unusual behavior—something the real girl would never do.

She left the facility without permission and chased after her departing friend.

It seemed like she was worried about her friend, but this act amounted to a significant betrayal of the facility.

Stop! Why are you doing this?

The facility is a noble and perfect place meant to save humanity from objects of doom!

This part of the nightmare never got easier to watch, no matter how many times it repeated.

It made her feel sick, as if she’d become a traitor to humanity.

In the dream, she slowly walked down an impossibly long corridor, chasing her friend.

An interminable hallway.

The further she went, the more anxious she felt, accompanied by the faint smell of blood.

And when she finally reached the end…

Her friend hung from the ceiling, spilling their insides.

“…”

With that, the nightmare ended, and the silver-haired girl woke up.

5:40 AM.

‘It’s just a meaningless nightmare.’

Looking at the mirror while adjusting her outfit, the girl tried to shake off the nightmare.

‘There’s no point in overthinking it. It’s just a dream warning me not to disobey instructions.’

Shaking her head, she slowly approached the door.

Even though it was just a nightmare, standing before the door made her body stiff with tension.

‘It’s okay.’

Swallowing hard, she gently opened the door.

The blinding light of functioning fluorescent lamps greeted her through the crack, and she exhaled softly.

No broken lights, only the clean, pleasant-smelling wide corridor.

Everything was normal.

***

Mini Reaper Garden, Jelly Jungle.

I was poking the soft cheeks of the newly appeared Discolored Reaper with my fingers.

“What can you do?”

“Maahhh…”

But the Discolored Reaper couldn’t speak properly or even seem to understand what I said.

And it probably didn’t have any special abilities like other Mini Reapers.

This was literally the first completely powerless Mini Reaper ever.

Now the weakest Mini Reaper wasn’t the Blue Reaper—it was the Discolored Reaper.

Not only lacking in abilities, but also physically clumsy; even slight touches made it wobble.

Watching it, I felt a bit disappointed.

“If only the Discolored Reaper were my size, it’d be great…”

There’s only one reason—I wanted to box with it.

After being utterly defeated by the Blue Reaper’s golem and the Black Reaper’s lumped form, it’d be nice to fight a Reaper worse at sports than me.

Hehe.

While thinking about such things and playing by pushing the Discolored Reaper’s head to make it fall, suddenly…

Bite!

The Golden Reapers rushed in and bit my finger.

“Younger brother hurts!”

“Weak younger brother!”

Judging by the Golden Reapers’ reaction, they were overprotective of it compared to when the Blue Reaper appeared.

Well, it is weaker, so it’s understandable.

Golden Reapers tend to overprotect weaker ones.

Hmm…

Seeing the Discolored Reaper being doted on by the Golden Reapers, it seemed I didn’t need to worry anymore.

The Golden Reapers exposed to the gray liquid ‘Prayer’ were fine too, so it’s time to return to the isolation room and rest.

Maybe it’s because of the ‘Prayer,’ but I feel kind of tired.

Like the ground is constantly pulling me down.

Using instant teleportation, I landed on the soft bed inside the isolation room.

Wrapped in fluffy, squishy blankets, I fell asleep.

Zzz…

***

Deep Inside Sehee Research Institute, Gray Reaper Isolation Room.

Opening the heavily secured security door, Yerin Oh slowly entered the isolation room.

Upon entering, she noticed the TV, which was always on at this time, was turned off.

“Reaper, are you sleeping?”

Whispering softly, Yerin began carefully checking the isolation room.

Without the usual TV sounds that served as background music, there were two possibilities:

“Either the Reaper is out or the Reaper is sleeping.”

On the specially designed plush bed, numerous Mini Reapers were gathered, hiding the Gray Reaper from view.

But the cocoon-like cluster of Mini Reapers itself proved the Gray Reaper was here and sleeping.

First, so many Mini Reapers wouldn’t gather unless the Gray Reaper was present.

Second, Gold Reapers wouldn’t sleep during the day unless the Gray Reaper was asleep.

Third, if the Gray Reaper were awake, most of these attached Mini Reapers would be thrown to the floor with sad expressions.

Yerin gently detached the Gold Reapers clinging to the Gray Reaper’s face.

Though still asleep, the Gold Reapers reacted like babies losing their comfort blanket, frowning and flailing their limbs.

Smiling at their cute appearance, Yerin softly placed them on top of the other Mini Reapers.

“Mommy…”

“Got smaller…”

Fortunately, the sleeping Gold Reapers happily hugged the replacement Mini Reaper and giggled.

Poking the chubby cheeks of the now-revealed Gray Reaper, Yerin whispered softly.

“Reaper, we were supposed to go play in the lounge today, but how am I supposed to do that if you’re sleeping?”

Actually, it was already fortunate the Gray Reaper was even here.

The Gray Reaper often forgot appointments due to its poor memory and wandered off elsewhere.

After pondering what to do, Yerin quickly decided.

It’ll wake up on its own when we get to the lounge!

Yerin began quietly waking up the sleeping Mini Reapers.

“Come on, wake up. Let’s go play with the Gray Reaper.”

Rubbing their sleepy eyes, the Mini Reapers suddenly woke up fully, their eyes wide open.

“Are we going with Mommy?”

“Really?”

Smiling at their reaction, Yerin picked up the Gray Reaper.

“Let’s go!”

Responding to Yerin’s call, the Mini Reapers cheered and jumped up.

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go!”

Carrying the Gray Reaper like a cat, Yerin began walking toward the lounge.

Behind her, the Mini Reapers followed in a line like baby ducks.

***

The Mini Sprout Reaper, on an adventure to find its Attached Human, had fallen into an unknown space.

This space was filled with a hazy blue light, creating an underwater-like atmosphere.

Instead of a sky, a cave ceiling took its place, dotted with tiny glowing objects resembling stars in a night sky.

Below this fake night sky, harmful objects had built a city and were moving around busily.

A completely unfamiliar place, unlike anything the Mini Sprout Reaper had seen or heard of before.

Different from the Sehee Research Institute it knew and the Earth landscapes described by the Yellow Reaper.

“Mommy…”

Looking down at the indigo fruit lying on the ground, the Mini Sprout Reaper expressed its sorrowful will.

But no matter how much it called for its mother, the connection wouldn’t reach her.

Uuuu…

Would it have to stay here forever?

Just as this thought crept in, the Mini Sprout Reaper spotted a human.

A girl with radiant silver hair shining from underground.

The moment the Mini Sprout Reaper saw her, it couldn’t look away.

This was the Mini Sprout Reaper’s first meeting with its Attached Human.