Chapter 46

The scene appeared before my eyes.

No, it was a sight I never wanted to see again.

The pale moonlight poured down mercilessly.

An inexplicable chill that I couldn’t shake clung to me.

The darkness ahead, impenetrable and relentless, pressed against my will to move forward.

This was Seoul Forest from my memories—a hellish place.

***

Even though I shouldn’t feel the cold, it was unbearably freezing.

I stood in the dim forest at midnight as the rain drizzled down on me.

Though it rained, an unknown Full Moon hung eerily in the sky above.

Without lungs, I still felt like I was gasping for air.

With bare hands, I dug endlessly into the earth.

My squishy gray skin tore and crumbled as I sifted through rocks and dug deeper.

My injury-ridden hands.

From the wounds on my hands, golden flames trickled out like blood.

I had wished for this Object’s life, but not like this…

Since waking up in the forest, I’ve always felt like I’m rolling around near death.

My bare feet are also covered in injuries.

The soft soles of my feet easily tear and puncture in the woods.

Even ordinary branches pierce right through them effortlessly.

I open my mouth.

In frustration, I try to scream like I used to when I was human—but no sound comes out.

If only I could let out a satisfying shout, maybe it would ease this suffocating feeling…

Still, I keep digging, but there’s no end in sight.

To kill the moles hiding beneath who die under the Full Moon’s light, I dig relentlessly toward their slumbering spots.

Just to survive this cruel forest.

I continued digging into the ground.

My softer-than-human limbs shredded each time they met the hard surface of the soil.

My heightened senses made even minor cuts on my skin unbearable.

I couldn’t cry out loud like a normal human.

The bone-chilling cold wouldn’t leave me.

This dark night seemed like it would never end.

No matter how much I dug, the mole’s resting place seemed endless.

***

While I kept digging, a sudden thought struck me.

What am I doing right now?

This painful scene was something I’d already experienced once.

It happened before I ended up in Sehee Research Institute—before I fell into the forest.

Back then, I killed Objects indiscriminately just to survive.

Now, I live happily in the institute, yet here I am reliving the memory of digging endlessly to kill sleeping moles.

If my memory serves me right, this was the day of triumph.

The culmination of all my efforts to hunt down moles finally paid off that day.

Under the Full Moon’s glow, amidst the rain with the moonlit sky visible, I unearthed the mole’s den and exposed it to the moonlight.

That was the day the mole burned to ashes under the moon, and I finally obtained Ghosting.

It was the moment I clearly remember despite the hardships—a moment of success.

Before obtaining Ghosting, Seoul Forest was an unstoppable horror thriller. Afterward, it became a blockbuster where the protagonist has a fighting chance.

Realizing this, the world began to distort.

Ah, it was just a dream.

Beneath this fake Seoul Forest, I could sense the pulsation of the Golden Tree.

As the world shattered, I woke up.

***

When I opened my eyes, what greeted me was The Golden Reaper’s punch.

Dutifully, dutifully.

The worried-looking Tiny Golden Reaper was throwing punches at my cheek.

Is it trying to wake me up?

The relentless punching stopped once it noticed I was awake, and it clung to my face instead.

After getting up and checking the Golden Tree, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Ah, so even if I wake up, it doesn’t count as a human waking up, huh?

It seems like only the real human awakening fulfills the condition.

A significant amount of time had passed while I was briefly asleep.

If I don’t hurry, a whole day might pass, and the one-day-lifetime Golden Reaper will vanish.

Even if I recreate the Golden Reaper, there’s no guarantee it’ll act exactly the same way—it’s unpredictable, doesn’t communicate well, and can’t be controlled easily.

Worried about any changes in the destruction conditions, I touched the Golden Tree again to confirm them.

[A Human must overcome the tree’s nightmare.]

Nothing changed there.

However, something did feel different.

Even though the destruction conditions remained the same, the pulsations from the tree hinted at new possibilities.

I somehow felt like I could intrude into someone else’s dreams now.

It felt like I could ride the tree’s pulse and enter another person’s dream.

Was this a result of overcoming the tree’s nightmare once before?

I gently patted the Golden Reaper clinging to my face.

It was a sign telling it not to worry even if I collapse again.

After tapping its head lightly, I entrusted myself once more to the tree’s pulse.

Zzz

***

Crude buildings constructed by a lack of imagination.

An unfinished and awkward depiction of the city outskirts.

Only the frantic man running away seemed properly rendered.

This must be the dream of the man currently fleeing.

Terrified, the man ran aimlessly.

Escaping from the monster destroying the city as it chased him.

“ROOOAAAAR!”

The loud roar that caused a building to collapse came from…

A massive Gray Reaper.

Wait, what does this guy think I am?

The design of this giant Gray Reaper looked subtly different from mine, which annoyed me further.

The man desperately running got incinerated by the flames spewed from the giant Gray Reaper’s mouth and turned to ash.

Then, this poorly-made world started rewinding.

The collapsed buildings returned to their original positions, the burned cars and streetlights reappeared.

Finally, when the man lying on the asphalt re-materialized in mid-air, the world’s time resumed flowing.

“AHHH! Save me!”

Seeing the silhouette of the massive Gray Reaper behind the building, the man screamed.

And the man began running again to escape the pursuing Gray Reaper.

The enormous Gray Reaper chased after him, spewing fire, and inevitably the man either got trampled or burned to death.

So, how do I help this man overcome his dream?

Should I assist him in surviving?

I decided to plan to help him survive by running alongside him.

As the sweat-soaked man reappeared in mid-air, I rushed forward and waved at him.

But his reaction wasn’t what I expected.

“Guh… G-Gray Reaper!”

Upon seeing me, the man immediately clutched his heart and collapsed.

Approaching him, I found the man already dead, his face pale.

Another heart attack?

Why does everyone die upon seeing me?

With the man’s heart stopping, the dream city started rewinding again.

This Object is tougher than I thought…

***

Hop hop.

The Tiny Golden Reaper was jumping playfully on the sleeping Gray Reaper’s belly.

Suddenly, it looked up at the sky.

Then, with a reluctant glance at the Gray Reaper, it set off determinedly toward somewhere.

It was the second wave of golden energy.

Where the Golden Reapers gathered was the outskirts of the exposition site.

The place where Objects fled from the Golden Reapers.

The Golden Reapers and human-hostile Objects faced each other.

As if preparing for war, the expressions of the Golden Reapers were serious.

The Objects, sensing the unusual atmosphere from the Golden Reapers, radiated a threatening vibe.

Without anyone giving a signal, they simultaneously charged at each other.

The first to vanish were the Objects without physical immunity.

They were swept away instantly by the waves of gold and disappeared.

Next were the physically immune Objects without regeneration abilities.

These were objects whose destruction conditions weren’t much different from regular items, machines, or living beings.

The Golden Reapers willingly sacrificed their bodies to destroy these immune Objects.

Of course, the much smaller Golden Reapers disintegrated upon impact.

Countless Golden Reapers turned into small flames and vanished.

Once the physically immune Objects were gone, only a handful of human-hostile Objects remained.

Objects that couldn’t be killed by conventional means.

Objects that the eyeless Golden Reapers couldn’t kill.

Only those Objects remained.

Instead, the Golden Reapers had something akin to the ‘Firewood’ that the Gray Reaper uses.

A tiny amount of ‘Firewood,’ the fuel for ‘Eyes.’

The remaining Golden Reapers charged together.

The Objects hit by the Golden Reapers lost a volume equivalent to the size of the Golden Reaper.

Damage that didn’t meet the death condition naturally healed as usual.

But where the Golden Reaper died, a small ember of firewood remained.

A tiny golden flame.

Though it couldn’t kill them, it prevented their recovery.

Literally, the Golden Reapers were burning themselves to fight.

Until all hostile Objects ceased moving, and until every last Golden Reaper turned into fleeting flames…