Chapter 355

A fluorescent light had broken, dimming the corridor slightly and filling it with an unpleasant smell like burning food.

The silver-haired girl closed the door again, the scene before her feeling as if she had stepped into a dream.

Haaah… Haaah…

With her hand placed over her chest, the silver-haired girl began to slowly take deep breaths.

“It’s fine. It’ll be alright. Dreams are just dreams, after all.”

“That version of me in the dream walked outside, but I closed the door, didn’t I? This isn’t precognition.”

Clutching a blue fruit tightly in her hand while keeping her eyes shut, the silver-haired girl waited for her confusion, fear, and breathing to settle down.

“Humans…”

The mini sprout reaper looked up at her worriedly.

As long as the silver-haired girl didn’t eat the fruit, there was nothing the mini sprout reaper could do to help or reach out to her.

All it could do was hope that its attached human would consume the fruit soon, before it was too late.

***

Once a month, the facility held history lessons for the children.

Though it was just a time where kids were gathered in the auditorium to watch videos, no one took them lightly.

[Human civilization faced an unexpected crisis.]

[It was a sudden attack by what we thought were fully-controlled objects.]

[Humans couldn’t respond properly to the surprise assault and had to admit defeat.]

[The survivors fled underground, holding onto a glimmer of hope within the final fortress.]

[Scientists tirelessly researched new technologies to counter the objects, while children prepared for the day of retaliation.]

But the silver-haired girl couldn’t focus on the video content.

“It’s the same. Exactly like the dream.”

Why did the monthly history lesson have to coincide with the day the corridor light broke?

Could the dream really be a premonition?

Her mind grew too cluttered, and the video images blurred before her eyes.

Even though she’d always taken meticulous notes during this exact same video every time—it was enough to fill over ten summary notebooks—she couldn’t concentrate now.

Just then, a fleeting doubt accompanied by the sweet scent of the fruit crossed her mind.

“Something’s off. Why do they keep showing us the same video?”

But the thought faded quickly, replaced by worry about her friend.

Still, a sliver of suspicion lingered in her heart.

That something was “off” about the “facility.”

***

By the time the last class of the day came around, the silver-haired girl felt oddly calm.

“It’s exactly the same as the dream.”

Everything that happened today matched the dream perfectly except for her own reactions.

Haaah…

Sniffing the sweet aroma of the fruit hidden in her fist, the silver-haired girl organized her thoughts.

She couldn’t dismiss it anymore as “just a dream.”

“Maybe my second superpower has awakened.”

Now doubting the facility, the girl speculated under the assumption that she had experienced a premonition.

“If the ‘facility’ was truly doing something like this, could I escape using my weak acceleration power?”

No matter how much she thought about it, it seemed nearly impossible.

Lost in these thoughts, she hadn’t noticed the class had ended until someone approached her.

“I’ll go ahead first. Don’t worry too much. You’ll catch up soon!”

The brown-haired girl grabbed the corners of the silver-haired girl’s downturned mouth and pulled it into a smile.

“Let’s say goodbye happily.”

“Well, um….”

“?”

Though tempted to blurt out the story of her premonition, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

“Yeah, see you soon.”

Shaking her head vigorously, the silver-haired girl forced a big smile and said goodbye.

***

In the outskirts of Songpa District, the upper floors of James Tower, where the night’s shadows softly spread.

Despite the late hour, James’s sharp eyes darted through several reports, unfazed.

Instead of lamps, a golden reaper hovered nearby, emitting a warm glow to illuminate his surroundings.

“Human, when will you rest?”

The golden reaper stared up at James with a sulky expression, disappointed he wasn’t playing despite being home.

After continuing to read reports, James quickly noticed this and gently stroked the golden reaper’s head.

“It’ll be done soon. Just wait a little longer.”

“Hehe! Hurry back!”

The golden reaper giggled and started crawling onto the cup of soda, wobbling cutely.

James chuckled softly at the sight, sipped some hot chocolate, and turned his gaze back to the report.

“Truly an unexpected result. Fascinating.”

The report James was reading contained something far from ordinary.

[Report on the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Among Mini Reaper Attaché Humans]

[Previous Statistics]

– Significantly higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome observed among initial attaché humans compared to the general population.

– Especially high incidence rates of diabetes, obesity, and other refined sugar-related conditions.

[Recent Trends]

– Over the past six months, a dramatic change in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among reaper attaché humans has been observed.

– Surprisingly, the prevalence dropped to 0%, with numerous cases of full recovery reported among existing patients.

[Hypothesis]

– Likely related to phenomena where fractures and similar issues recognized by the golden reapers heal overnight.

[Future Research Directions]

– In-depth study needed on the healing mechanisms of golden reapers.

– Evaluation of the persistence of healing effects and potential recurrence.

James easily drew a conclusion.

[The golden reapers must have detected and healed “metabolic syndrome.”]

Turning to the golden reaper slurping cocoa through a mini reaper straw, James asked:

“How do you cure diseases caused by overeating?”

“?”

At first confused, the golden reaper tilted its head, but upon James explaining with examples, it understood.

“It’s a secret!”

Covering its mouth with both hands, the golden reaper only giggled mischievously.

***

I arrived at the spiral located deep within the jelly jungle.

“Doesn’t look like much has changed since last time.”

The space remained warped and frozen, resembling bundled-up plastic bags.

The only difference was the golden reapers patrolling nearby, sternly telling approaching mini reapers: “Mom blocked this area!” to prevent them from getting too close.

They’re handling things well without even being told.

Have they picked up skills from guarding Sehee Research Institute?

Passing the golden reapers, I began inspecting the spiral more closely.

“The gray liquid… still unchanged.”

Using the perception encompassing the entire mini reaper garden, I checked, finding the level of wishes pooled at the end of the spiral remained constant.

It seems the mini reaper garden and the flow of wishes aren’t connected.

What a relief.

After instructing the surrounding golden reapers to inform me if anything unusual happened, I left and headed toward Marshmallow Plains.

There, I found numerous mini reapers gathered, busy with something.

It was a large-scale operation involving golden reapers, black reapers, yellow reapers, blue reapers, and red reapers alike.

Giant black reapers stomping on a massive flour dough.

A lone yellow reaper crafting chef hats, outfits, and shoes.

Golden reapers pinching off bits of dough to bake in ovens.

Red reapers enthusiastically blowing fire into the ovens.

Are they making bread?

Approaching slowly, a golden reaper emerged from the oven holding freshly baked bread and sent me a cheerful mental message.

“Would mom like some?”

On the tray offered by the golden reaper lay delicious-looking bread alongside inexplicably baked white hungry ghosts.

Hihiiing!

But it was way too small for me to eat.

“Too tiny…”

“Ack!”

Pointing this out startled the golden reaper, who immediately called the blue reapers.

Out flew the blue reapers on brooms, weaving strings of text in the air.

[Bread, please grow larger!]

[Bread that makes you healthier with each bite!]

As the magic of the blue reapers descended upon the small bread, it rapidly expanded in size.

“Healthier bread!”

Taking bites of the bread handed by the golden reaper, I watched the mini reapers’ baking process.

Their tiny forms bustling about made it quite entertaining.

When the baking was complete, each mini reaper took a large slice of bread and dispersed.

They’ll probably share it with their attached humans.

Smiling faintly, I imagined how surprised the attached humans would be eating bread made by mini reapers.

After all, even baguettes given by golden reapers tasted sugary sweet.

Hehe.

***

With all the day’s schedules finished, a graduation ceremony for one individual began.

The walkway crossing above the auditorium.

Walking along the path reserved exclusively for graduates, the brown-haired girl felt her chest swell with emotion.

To finally join humanity’s frontline!

Looking down from the walkway, she saw the silver-haired girl, now wearing a normal expression.

She had looked extremely troubled during lunch, but now seemed fine, even displaying a determined look.

“That’s good.”

Surely the silver-haired girl would soon join the frontlines.

Feeling a slight twinge of loneliness, she continued walking and soon exited the facility.

Outside the facility, the road appeared old and smelled strongly of blood.

“?”

Though slightly strange and unsettling, the brown-haired girl quickly shrugged it off.

Reaching the end of the road, a man dressed in Human Corps attire greeted her brusquely.

“Alright, lie down on this bed.”

The man smelled heavily of blood and lacked any sense of mission expected from someone in the Human Corps.

How could someone like him be part of the Human Corps?

Despite her doubts, the brown-haired girl obeyed without resistance, lying down on the metal bed.

Click. Click.

Thick steel restraints clamped tightly around her body.

“What is this? What are we doing?”

When the brown-haired girl asked, puzzled, the man replied with the same curt attitude.

“What do you mean? Slaughter, obviously.”

With that, the bed moved, suspending the brown-haired girl upside-down.

“Eh?”

Confused and startled by the abrupt words and situation, the brown-haired girl could only mutter in bewilderment.

Then the man pulled out a sharp knife and lunged toward her neck.

Just as the blade was about to touch her throat…

BOOM!

A loud noise echoed as the door burst open and the silver-haired girl kicked the man away.