Chapter 371

On the outskirts of Songpa District of Seoul stood James Tower.

Inside that giant building, in one of the rooms, a peaceful scene was unfolding.

The pink girl who visited James Tower due to school matters playfully poked the round cheeks of the Blue Idol Reaper and muttered.

“I wonder if something’s up? Their face looked incredibly serious…”

A little earlier, the Alchemist Master who came with the pink girl had a brief conversation with James and then left somewhere with a serious expression.

Her departure slightly bothered the pink girl.

James only left behind the words, “I’ll be back soon, so please wait,” before disappearing.

“Guess there’s nothing much I can do about it.”

The pink girl gently petted the slightly upset Blue Idol Reaper as she murmured.

“Mmm.”

When the pink girl turned her gaze, she saw the Golden Reaper slowly nibbling on a large cookie on the table.

Although James had disappeared, the Golden Reaper James brought along remained by the pink girl, leisurely enjoying the snacks scattered around the room while passing time.

By their side lay the Color Hungry Ghost created by the Alchemist Master and the Pink Hungry Ghost made by the pink girl herself.

The Golden Reaper didn’t show much interest in the Hungry Ghosts except for the first encounter with the Pink Hungry Ghost.

Upon initially discovering the Pink Hungry Ghost, the Golden Reaper curiously poked it with a finger, full of intrigue.

But upon feeling the ghost’s rock-hard texture, the Golden Reaper seemed disappointed, turned away with a sullen look, and started munching on snacks.

Then suddenly, realizing how delicious the snack they were eating was, the Golden Reaper began sharing it with everyone around.

“This is super tasty!”

A soft peanut butter-based cookie.

“Thank you.”

As the pink girl ate the small piece of cookie offered by the Golden Reaper, she gently stroked its head.

The Golden Reaper happily smiled at the pink girl’s gratitude.

The cookie-sharing extended not just to the Blue Idol Reaper but even to the Hungry Ghosts.

In the midst of this, when the Golden Reaper tried to share a snack with the Color Hungry Ghost, it was surprised to find it soft.

“Soft!”

Indeed, despite rumors of being as hard as stone!

The Golden Reaper’s eyes widened.

“!”

With an inquisitive gaze, the Golden Reaper stared intently at the Color Hungry Ghost.

“Are you a tasty ghost?”

“Is it okay if I taste you?”

Receiving the Golden Reaper’s intent, the Hungry Ghost nodded slightly.

As the Hungry Ghost nodded, the Golden Reaper carefully climbed onto it and cautiously licked it with its tongue.

Just as expected, a satisfyingly sweet taste spread across its face.

“Tasty ghost!”

A warm smile bloomed on the pink girl’s lips as she watched this scene.

***

The eerie blue mist gently settled over the laid beach, creating a sinister atmosphere.

Amidst this ominous landscape stood a solitary shack.

Inside the shack were a man in a long coat and a woman who wore a faint smile.

The man furrowed his brow and slowly shook his head.

“My head keeps spinning…”

The man had been trying various self-diagnoses to pinpoint the cause of his persistent headache and dizziness.

But he couldn’t tell if the blue mist was causing his headache or if there was something else entirely.

Slowly massaging his temples, the man looked down at the unconscious people sprawled on the floor.

“They don’t seem like they’re waking up anytime soon. Do you know anything about this?”

His voice carried a mix of worry and suspicion.

While it made sense that his younger sister and Cheong lost consciousness, it was strange that the Purple Reaper and Crowned Reaper hadn’t woken up either.

The woman smiled at the troubled man and said,

“Don’t worry too much. They’ll wake up soon if we just wait.”

Her voice was calm, but every time the man looked at her smile, his dizziness worsened.

Almost like… ‘Mental Pollution’.

The man’s mind was a chaotic mess.

‘Is she the object that causes Mental Pollution?’

‘Is a headache alone enough to consider someone an Object?’

Because of the headache, the man couldn’t reach a conclusion.

He wasn’t usually indecisive in such matters.

Feeling suffocated, the man slowly got up and stepped out of the shack.

Gazing at the waves lapping against the shore, he fell into thought.

Twisted snake-like clouds writhed in the sky, and the waves carried deep darkness.

Though unsettling to look at, paradoxically, the vast expanse of ominous scenery seemed to lighten the oppressive feeling in his heart.

After a while, the woman approached the man and whispered,

“Would you be happy if your younger sister wakes up?”

Since it was a question that didn’t really require an answer, the man simply gazed silently at the sea.

The woman stared intently at his face before slowly returning to the shack.

When the man returned to the shack after contemplating the sea for some time, surprisingly, his younger sister had awakened.

“Ah, big brother!”

She greeted him with a bright smile.

However, her demeanor seemed unnatural to him.

Especially the way she was conversing intimately with the suspicious woman aroused his suspicion.

‘Something’s off here.’

The man was confused.

‘Does my younger sister know her? That can’t be. I met her after my younger sister went missing.’

At that moment, as if reading his thoughts, the woman suddenly spoke to his younger sister.

“When did we first meet?”

“Probably when we were young? I don’t really remember.”

Hearing this, the man became even more perplexed.

“Was that really the case?”

Though he muttered this, his voice lacked conviction.

At that moment, the woman’s gaze felt inhumanly cold.

Like the murky eyes of a shark, something non-human.

Yet strangely, the man quickly forgot that image.

As if someone had tampered with his perception.

The doubts faded almost instantly.

The atmosphere inside the shack grew increasingly cheerful, but the blue mist seemed to grow thicker.

Only the woman’s smile remained vivid amidst the mist.

***

An organic world resembling spider webs, bizarre and grotesque.

Among the corpse-like and moldy blue spider webs rapidly growing, the Purple Reaper swung its shadow, hacking away at the web.

Beside it floated the Orange Moon, radiant like the sun, and beneath it, the Orange Crowned Reaper sat, endlessly spitting firewood-like blood from its mouth.

Exhaustion lined the Purple Reaper’s face, yet its eyes remained resolute and desperate.

The Orange Crowned Reaper had erased its usual calm expression, gritting its teeth in determination.

After all…

The encroaching spider web was slowly devouring the Attached Human.

And the more it devoured, the more the human merged with the web.

“Aaahh…”

A sigh filled with willpower escaped from among the Mini Reapers.

Even with the combined strength of the Mini Reapers, it was impossible to remove the enormous spider web.

No matter how they cut it, it regrew instantly.

Trapped in a place where the sky itself was obscured, like inside the belly of a monster.

“Mom… come quickly…”

The Mini Reapers waited for their mom.

***

In the center of the twisted island, the village of madness.

I slowly stepped into the village.

The moment my foot touched the ground within the village, a man’s voice cut through the fog and echoed.

After all that excessive chatter, there was still more to say?

“All humans here have gone completely insane.”

Ignoring the man’s words, I continued walking toward the center of the village.

“What a pity.”

There was an empty square in the middle of the village.

“Humans seem to require adaptation to properly face each other.”

Though the central square appeared empty, it also felt simultaneously full of something, creating a contradictory sensation.

The closer I got to the square, the heavier my body felt, making movement increasingly difficult.

[But… you… don’t seem… like that…]

The closer I approached the square, the stranger the man’s words sounded.

His speech broke apart, and the village scenery began to warp.

The man seemed to remain standing at the entrance of the village, but I could also feel him right beside me.

Movement became so arduous that when I looked down at my hands, an unexpected sight greeted me.

‘!’

Blue spider webs densely covered my grayish hands.

Suddenly, my vision blurred, and two worlds overlapped.

[Look properly.]

[Together look.]

[Together.]

[Keep together.]

My vision twisted as two perspectives overlapped.

One was the village full of blue mist, and the other was a world completely covered by terrifying spider webs.

From the perspective of the spider-webbed world looking at the village square, a massive eyeball pulsed there.

A colossal eye staring directly at me.

‘Could it be…’

Had the Pacific Ocean once been replaced by nothing but spider webs?

In an instant, the village’s appearance vanished like a soap bubble.

Unlike trying to forcefully remove the spider-webbed scenery, the blue mist scenery evaporated instantly.

Finally regaining my senses and opening my eyes, the world around me welcomed me—a world entirely filled with spider webs.

The spider webs surrounding my body were slowly replacing it.

The sensation was so horrific that I grabbed the space around me and lifted my body into the sky.

Crack.

With the sound of the spider web snapping, I burst through the ceiling.

‘!!!’

But the sight greeting me in the sky was even more horrifying.

Everywhere within my field of vision, stretching to the horizon, was covered in sticky organic material.