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The interpreter resented his past self for thinking, “It’s safer than I thought!”

Eating snacks brought by the Golden Reaper, he felt as if he were watching a scene from a monster movie!

From that moment, he should have been pondering essential survival questions like, “How can I escape this place?”

The sky covered by a black sea, rolling and heaving like the ocean.

A vast land filled with ominous dark slime.

A landscape where the sky and earth blurred the distinction of up and down as if they were one space.

Yet, the calm within this ambiguity shattered as a storm hit without warning.

The storm, seemingly summoned by the giant jellyfish, overturned the laws of nature, wreaking havoc and flipping the positions of sky and earth.

A powerful storm blew in, tossing people into the sky along with the white earth, while the black liquid of sky and ground twisted chaotically to create a whirlpool whose direction was impossible to gauge.

Adding to that, the direction of gravity flipped wildly, leaving it impossible to even discern which way was up or down.

Amidst such chaos, only two things remained to protect the interpreter’s life.

The Golden Reaper, clinging seriously to the interpreter’s shoulder.

And the water droplet shield surrounding the interpreter.

In this terrifying situation that felt like he could faint, the interpreter forced himself to stay focused, scanning all around in a desperate bid to survive.

Soaring into the sky, then crashing down under the weight of inverted gravity.

In a terrifying plummet, it felt like being sucked into a giant washing machine, spinning endlessly without a sense of up or down.

Tentacles sprouting from either sky or earth were lurking, waiting for an opportunity to strike, while black droplets capable of simply dissolving human bones and flesh scattered everywhere.

Then, a brightly shining hungry ghost flailed its short limbs and flew toward the interpreter.

It moved directly as if targeting the interpreter.

“Don’t come here!”

The sight of the enormous white hungry ghost flying toward him, its size immense yet toothless, was terrifying.

The interpreter thought that if he collided with such a considerable object that could match a giant jellyfish, he’d either die cleanly if luck was on his side, or suffer a fate of being a broken plant person if lucky wasn’t.

As the hungry ghost approached, it opened its vast mouth as if to devour the interpreter whole.

“Ahhhhh! No!”

Panicking, the interpreter flailed his arms, and the moment he was swallowed, he lost consciousness.

*

The hungry ghost succeeded in swallowing the interpreter last.

Initially, it planned to spread the Mini Reaper Garden and send people to the Sehee Research Institute, but perhaps due to the jellyfish’s space, it didn’t go well.

Digging into the space was easy, but trying to enlarge it required too much firewood.

However, it felt a bit inadequate to solely rely on the Golden Reaper and Blue Reaper, so it commanded the white hungry ghost to gobble everyone up for protection.

The white hungry ghost, expected to need persuasion and coordination like the Mini Reaper, silently followed orders.

The white hungry ghost was comfortable!

And delicious!

The giant jellyfish was causing a ruckus, turning the space into chaos.

Inside, the white hungry ghost flailed its short limbs while the Golden Reaper flew around joyfully as if it were at an amusement park.

The Golden Reaper always looked happy.

Seeing how the Golden Reaper liked to be thrown around, it seemed it would enjoy being tossed into a washing machine as well.

I must try that someday.

A massive storm was raging in a space where up and down were meaningless.

<“Kill the chatty jellyfish that can’t speak and smash the pearl of the night in the eye of the storm.”>

Right now, this state might very well be the phenomenon of the “storm” that appears after the “chatty jellyfish” is dead.

Where is the eye of the storm?

Since it was caused by the giant jellyfish, could the giant jellyfish be the eye of the storm?

The giant jellyfish gracefully floated, maintaining its upright direction even amidst this flipping gravity and upheaving of up and down.

If I could just rip that jellyfish apart in its entirety, it would be nice if the pearl of the night went down with it…

Since the thought came to mind, I decided to give it a try.

Squeeze.

I clenched my little fist and swung it toward the jellyfish.

Following the trajectory of my finger, the sky tore open.

What appeared as the black, bubble-like sky ripped apart, revealing an even darker void.

And as my finger’s trajectory met the giant jellyfish, it split into five tentacles.

Kieeeee-ik.

Alongside a peculiar, jarring sound that felt both mechanical and grating, the jellyfish flailed like a popped balloon, falling into the black ocean.

Huh? Is that it?

But the giant jellyfish betrayed my expectations, perfectly resurrecting from the depths and soaring gracefully once more.

As if nothing had ever happened.

Is it really impossible?

Objects seem to have certain destruction conditions that need to be fulfilled.

I bet even crumpling it with spatial compression would result in regeneration, right?

If I had the time, I would try it for real, but that jellyfish is so large and resistant to spatial erosion that it would require far too much firewood.

I’ll have to try the spatial compression test the next time I encounter a smaller one.

Thinking about the destruction conditions of the giant jellyfish, finding the “eye of the storm” is the prerequisite.

While gravity swung back and forth and the intense whirlpool caused my body to spin uncontrollably, I spotted an exceptionally large tornado.

Among the many tornadoes connecting the sky and earth, this one was notably thick, appearing more bulked out horizontally than vertically.

Lacking flight capability, I decided to face the firewood consumption head-on and flew toward the tornado.

Squeeze.

I grasped the space and propelled my body forward without tearing the space apart.

As I interfered with the space, I felt the firewood burning vigorously, and I dashed toward the tornado at an incredible speed.

Entering the tornado, I was welcomed by a calm space devoid of wind, sound, or gravity.

This space stood in stark opposition to the chaotic space I had just been in.

Without wind, without sound, it was like a zero-gravity realm, governed by a feeling of entering a different dimension.

The space, distorted to a hundred times wider than it appeared from the outside, was filled with stagnant air and silence.

In this tornado, both the sky and sea were expanses of pitch-black ocean.

It felt as if I were floating between two vast seas of darkness.

And in that black sea, a pure white moon shone up and down like a pearl.

Could that be the “pearl of the night”?

There was no moon, just the reflection of the moon that seemed to shine twice.

Moreover, there were many reflective obsidian-like objects floating around.

Two moons reflected on an unbreakable surface, and mirrors that could potentially be used for light.

Hmm, it looks like a puzzle.

And it seems quite tricky.

*

James, swallowed into the mouth of the white hungry ghost, was somewhat surprised by the unexpectedly cozy atmosphere.

The golden reapers scattered throughout emitted a soft glow like lighting.

Thanks to the comforting light of the golden reapers, he could examine the interior of the hungry ghost’s belly well.

Inside was surprisingly vast.

And it was filled with soft, fist-sized balls, making it feel like being in a ball pit.

Looking more closely at the balls, they were shaped like the white hungry ghost but with much shorter limbs.

Why are these in its belly?

When James picked up a white hungry ghost ball and squeezed it, it made an amusing sound.

Kyu.

A ball pit filled with balls that made a “kyu” sound when squeezed.

Golden reapers jumped around cheerfully within it.

It was a surprisingly pleasant space.

With the unconscious interpreter being thrown into the ball pit, it became confirmed that everyone in the party was safe.

However, even though it appeared safe inside, they couldn’t check the outside situation.

James decided to lie comfortably in the ball pit and sort out everything he had seen today.

Turning on the recording feature of his smartwatch, he listed what he had observed.

“The Gray Reaper absorbed Artifact Number 0.”

“The Gray Reaper destroyed the hungry ghost and was reborn as the white hungry ghost.”

“The act of ‘jellyfish torture’ carried out by the Gray Reaper seems intentional. It didn’t look like something done just for fun.”

Various other incidents flowed through James’s mind.

Like the Gray Reaper suddenly dancing, or the red and blue moons rising in the sky.

Then he lightly formulated a hypothesis.

“The Gray Reaper can destroy objects and claim them as its own.”

“The Gray Reaper knows how to destroy objects.”

“I need to consider how to prove this hypothesis.”

That’s all he could think of at the moment.

As he finished recording, James relaxed his serious expression and began to play with the golden reapers staring at him intently.

*

Tap.

As he floated in the serene space and tapped on a mirror, it spun around, changing position.

In addition to the mirror he touched, three more mirrors shifted in place.

The mirrors seemed to be bound by some kind of rule, as touching one caused several others to move in unison.

It’s definitely a puzzle.

It seemed it wanted him to manipulate these mirrors to get rid of the two moons reflected on the surface…

Such puzzles could usually be solved by randomly poking at them, yet this one appeared impervious to that method.

I was starting to get a bit annoyed.

I just need to get rid of the moons on the surface, right?

Deciding to push myself a little, I chose to think less.

Lying in mid-air with my arms spread wide and palms open.

I seized the vast space of the black ocean above and below.

Squeeze.

Then I clenched my hands tightly and erased the ocean.

At that moment, the tornado that had been blocking all sides like a wall abruptly vanished.

With the barrier gone, familiar gravity returned and began to pull me downward.

Freefall.

As I sliced through the air, I spotted what awaited me below.

The giant jellyfish that once dominated the skies above China and now turned Gwanak-gu into ruins was facing its end.

The giant jellyfish slowly broke apart, and unlike its once majestic appearance, it writhed painfully, screaming.

Kieeeee-ik!

The giant jellyfish’s death was accompanied by a sorrowful cry that bled deep with grief.

It was not merely the last gasp of death; it sounded like an incomprehensible wail.

The sound echoed into the void, leaving an indelible scar on the space as if signifying the jellyfish’s presence.

The echoes faded gradually, and the moment that final scream disappeared, the blue sky began to pierce through the dark heavens.

Surely, the easier approach was the right one.

Hehe.

And in the distance, many news helicopters were visible.

A considerable number of helicopters were filming me as I fell.

Looking at the helicopters, I felt the conclusion of this incident.