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The city I live in, ‘RS,’ was a happy city.

Walking through the streets, the atmosphere of the city felt filled with vitality and hope.

Wherever I looked, there was exuberance, and people of various ages and backgrounds were bustling about, adding life to the city.

The newly constructed buildings seemed to symbolize the city’s progress.

In well-maintained parks, children played freely, and their laughter echoed against the lush greenery.

Such dynamism and vibrancy were scenes hard to imagine in places prone to object incidents like other cities.

In this day and age, a city where object incidents barely occurred was quite special.

However, perhaps as a counterbalance, there were often deranged individuals who would kill people and draw red circles, and safety accidents like gas explosions happened frequently.

Still, it was better than having a desert like Seoul that killed people or a lake that kidnapped them.

Unlike objects, both deranged people and safety accidents were threats that could be dealt with.

The residents of the city formed communities to prevent safety accidents, reporting suspicious behavior to create a safer city.

Although the residents’ community activities had not yet shown effects, there was hope.

But a city filled with hope suddenly became the setting of a disaster movie.

The seemingly strong road collapsed, and a neighbor suddenly transformed into an object and began chomping down on people.

“Oh, I’m going to die.”

While I was running away from the objects attacking people, a building collapsed over me, and I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I was buried under a rock.

My mouth was parched, and my lower body trapped under the rock was in agony.

Surviving was a miracle.

Surviving being crushed by a building!

But it seemed there was no way to escape.

The city was still full of chaos and destruction, with screams and the sounds of concrete crumbling echoing around me.

I’d probably die from dehydration or be killed by the murder objects that would show up.

As I lay there waiting for death, staring at the blue sky, I noticed something strange.

A small golden object that looked like a tiny gray reaper was scampering over the debris and gesturing.

Following the gesture of the Golden Reaper, an object resembling a stuffed doll with a wronged expression waddled over and began swallowing stones indiscriminately.

Mini Golden Reapers also carried stones in their little hands and feet, flying around.

Could it be a rescue operation?

It was amazing that objects were trying to save people.

Yet, I didn’t think I could survive.

Perhaps I had been in the glaring sunlight for too long while unconscious, as I started to feel feverish and that I was drying up.

I felt dizzy and parched.

Then, I spotted something sneaking among the shadows of the rocks.

Something that approached those buried under the rocks and created water out of thin air to give them a drink.

It was a girl-shaped object with a refreshing aura, smiling as she watched people drink water while they were still unconscious.

When the blue child spotted me, she slowly approached, saw I had opened my eyes, and shocked, hid behind a rock.

Peeking her head out from between the rocks to check on me, she wore a serious expression.

Was my condition that serious?

Then, pulling her hat low enough so I couldn’t see, she hurriedly came closer and yanked my eyelids down, closing my eyes.

As the refreshing energy like water enveloped my body, I felt at ease.

When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw the blue child weaving unreadable characters in the air.

[Please heal every pain.]
[Please don’t be overcome by the sunlight.]

After finishing those words with a smile, the blue child met my gaze, was startled, and vanished like mist.

So, there were objects like fairies that helped people.

I finally felt alive.

Thinking of the cute blue child made me want to smile.

*

Curiously enough, as soon as I began tracking, the city completely collapsed.

The people living in this city were swept away helplessly by the sudden disaster.

Perhaps the disaster situation had been conveyed, as numerous Golden and Blue Reapers burst from the Mini Reaper Garden and scattered to help people.

In a city that had completely crumbled, tracking the White Hungry Ghost was not easy.

It felt as though the world itself was conspiring against me!

The once-sturdy road had transformed into a minefield.

Suddenly collapsing asphalt was twisted ‘by accident’, turning sharply towards us with deadly intent.

The ground the White Hungry Ghost was about to step on ‘by chance’ crumbled and sank down.

Kyu.

Each time, the short-limbed ghost let out a pitiful sound as it fell to the ground.

And amidst all that environmental chaos, there were even more sinister things blending in with the people.

Objects disguised as humans were lurking among people, launching attacks.

The Golden Reapers, sensitive to the malice aimed at humans, rushed in each time to swiftly eliminate the objects.

It truly felt like the entire city was interfering with us.

Sometimes, it felt similar to when I would lead death with my ‘eyes.’

Was I pulling fate and twisting probabilities?

But the soft and squishy ghosts did not give in to such an environment and continued track with determination.

And that perilous pursuit ended with cornering a man.

He was a man in a foreboding red suit, holding a lamp resembling Watson.

With a confident expression, the man in the red suit stepped out of his vehicle and raised the lamp high.

The moment light burst forth from the lamp, madness spread in all directions.

It was useless to me and the Mini Reapers.

But then Junior No. 2 suddenly drew a sword and began to slash at his own belly.

Clinging desperately to the blade was the Golden Horn Reaper, doing everything to prevent Junior No. 2 from getting stabbed.

Seeing no sign of sanity returning, I thought, ‘Should I break all his limbs to stop him?’ when the Golden Horn Reaper’s horn began to emit a brilliant glow.

What on earth was he doing? The Golden Horn Reaper’s firewood was being chopped away at an incredible pace.

Thanks to the Golden Horn Reaper’s dedication, Junior No. 2 regained his senses.

Instead, the Golden Horn Reaper slumped over, unable to regain consciousness.

“Reaper? Are you okay?”

Junior No. 2 looked helplessly at the limp Golden Horn Reaper in his hands.

As if he were on the verge of dying, the Golden Horn Reaper’s body was drying up and losing color.

Approaching Junior No. 2, I placed my hand on the Golden Horn Reaper’s body and blew in some firewood.

This was my first time seeing a Golden Reaper in such pain.

Even though this Golden Reaper usually endured even limb dismemberment, I could feel the deep agony emanating.

Once I stuffed enough firewood into him, the Golden Horn Reaper fell asleep with a relaxed expression.

I slowly approached the man with the lamp.

He had hurt the Golden Reaper, after all.

I couldn’t easily let him off.

I was going to slowly and despairingly kill him.

*

The gray reaper approached slowly.

Expressionless, the gray reaper somehow looked angry.

But regardless, he didn’t scare me.

“In this city, I am invincible!”

Raising the lamp high, flames erupted from a nearby parked vehicle.

It was an explosion from a car that had killed countless rivals.

It looked like he was trying to protect that man, but could he really shield him from an explosion?

Snap.

At that moment, the gray reaper clapped.

At the same time the car exploded, the explosion’s force shot off in a completely different direction.

The poor little white marshmallow-like objects were charred as if they caught a stray fire and emitted black smoke with pitiful expressions.

Unbelievable.

I am the god of this city!

A sudden earthquake struck, and the road began to tremble precariously.

Snap.

With the sound of the gray reaper’s applause, the ground sank.

The ground that should have targeted only enemies confined both me and the gray reaper.

As the red flames from the lamp blazed intensely, all sorts of phenomena occurred, but the gray reaper could not stop his footsteps.

Snap.

The gray reaper approached slowly.

Snap.

The indifferent applause echoed as the gray reaper moved closer.

And at some point, the flame from the lamp vanished like a candle blown out by a strong wind.

“What, what’s going on!”

The lamp is breaking?

At that moment, a familiar and intimate madness greeted me.

My vision began to turn red.

This was happening because there was no red circle.

No way!

Why didn’t I draw a red circle?

No!!!

The paint is inside my belly.

No!!!

*

The power of the lamp wielded by that man somehow resembled mine.

In the way it caused death and destruction to its target, and distorted its direction.

As such, it was easier for me to interfere.

One clap was all it took to twist that direction.

While interfering with the lamp’s power, I edged closer until the lamp lost its strength and flickered out.

And once the lamp went out, the man began to act strangely.

Like Junior No. 2, he began to gut himself and smash his insides, starting to draw a red circle on the ground.

But it wasn’t the act itself that struck me as strange.

The more he drew with his insides, the more he became an object.

From the gaping hole in his belly, blood gushed out continuously, and the circle drawn on the ground endlessly absorbed the blood.

The clear sky turned red, and blood poured down like rain.

The man, having shed all his blood, stood up, gaunt and staggering.

Like a mummy, he had withered away but stared at me fixedly.

It felt as if flames flickered in the lamp’s light within the mummy’s empty eye sockets.

And then from the red circle, blood surged forth, filling the world.

Everywhere was flooded with blood.

That blood bubbled like it was boiling, and out popped numerous objects that resembled me.

They looked like grotesque, poorly made dolls, and I felt uneasy.

The mouths of those distorted reapers opened, and an unnerving voice like metal scraping echoed.

[Humans killed the gods. And then needed them again.]

[The gods were cruel but protected humans.]

It was a language I had never heard before, yet somehow it felt familiar.

It was a story I had never heard before, yet somehow it felt familiar.

[Humans killed the gods. And then needed them again.]

[The gods were cruel but protected humans.]

The distorted reapers endlessly repeated the same words like a broken radio.