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Mini Reaper Garden, a Candy House floating gently above the Sea of Hot Chocolate.

Crack, crack.

From the candy house, the sound of something crumbling began to echo.

“Please reveal your identity!”

Upon hearing that sound, the Blue Reapers were startled and used their detection magic, only to be met with even greater despair.

In the depths of the Sea of Hot Chocolate, the ‘Gray Reaper Shark’ was indiscriminately gnawing at the candy house with only its tentacles sticking out.

The eyes of the Gray Reaper, harboring an unforgotten grudge, glimmered with a burning desire for revenge.

Splash. Splash.

Before long, holes appeared in the floor of the candy house, and piercing through the dense hot chocolate-y sea were eyes glowing yellow.

That gaze was fixed on the Blue Reaper, who had swung a marshmallow hammer.

As if saying, “Found you!”

“Um… Mom.”

A gray hand suddenly shot out through the Sea of Hot Chocolate, approaching the Blue Reaper, who was pouting.

As the slow-moving hand approached, the Blue Reapers could only huddle together and tremble.

Like it was relishing the fear, that claw slowly closed in on its target, capturing the Blue Reaper.

The captured Blue Reaper, donned in a floppy hat, began to sink into dread about the impending future.

Towards that Blue Reaper, the will of the creator echoed.

“Then, how about putting you in the washing machine like the Golden Reaper?”

Upon hearing those words, the Blue Reaper burst into tears.

Surely, its limbs would be broken and it would be severely injured.

No, not just injured; it could die.

And that too, slowly and painfully.

Seeing the Blue Reaper tremble even more, the Gray Reaper grinned and conveyed its intent.

“After all, putting you in the washing machine would surely lead to severe injuries, so that wouldn’t be fair, right?”

Hearing that, the Blue Reaper felt a slight relief and thought, “Indeed, mom is kind.”

“Then, one hour of hat confiscation!”

Upon seeing that relieved expression, the Gray Reaper donned an evil smile, snatched the hat, and ran away to America.

The Blue Reaper patted its head where the hat had disappeared, but there was no comforting hat anymore.

Without its beloved hat, the Blue Reaper despaired over the one-hour confiscation time.

Other Blue Reapers gathered around with worried expressions to shield the hatless one, but its emptiness and anxiety remained.

“Um… Mom…”

The Blue Reaper could only shed tears while desperately searching for its mother.

*

James, dressed in a vibrant protective suit made just for him, was leading the investigation inside the Barrier.

The first task was to classify and organize the various artifacts scattered inside the Barrier.

“Wow, there’s an incredible amount of artifacts. Quite a few resemble the design and style of Artifact Number 0.”

James lifted a thick book with sharp cuts and thought.

The book looked almost identical to the Artifact Number 0 he possessed.

Aside from the sharp cuts, the newly discovered book seemed less affected by time.

Unlike the books James had, the metal embellishments and intricate patterns remained unmarred by the years.

“James. There’s a similar pattern seen here. Come and check it out.”

Hearing the radio signal from within his suit, he moved to find a massive rock with a distinctive design.

The gigantic boulder, about the size of an adult torso, seemed to belong to some building or monument, etched with patterns similar to the book depicting the Blue Girl.

James commanded that they preserve the rock as much as possible while adding orders to his secretary.

“It seems we need to call in archaeologists to the research institute. Someone needs to take charge and classify everything. If we try, it’ll turn into a haphazard mess.”

“Then, I’ll immediately put out a job listing for archaeologists. Would it be about six months after James City is rebuilt?”

“No, right now. With the apocalypse approaching, we can’t waste time like that. There are enough usable buildings left, so it’s plenty.”

Upon James’s words, the secretary lowered her head and retreated as another person began to approach.

Due to the collapse of James City, work kept piling in non-stop.

James, having been awake too long, blinked wearily and asked.

“What is it now? It can’t be about the budget…?”

“This is a report from the ‘Mini Moon Observation Plan.’ They observed unexpected changes.”

Unexpected changes.

Does that mean there’s something other than the appearance of the Indigo Moon?

Looking up at the sky, a large pale light moon shone brightly alongside a red moon, a blue moon, and an indigo moon.

Indeed, it has definitely changed.

“Tell them we have observed changes. I’ll also sift through Artifact Number 0 to see if there’s anything similar mentioned.”

Watching the departing figure, James sighed and looked up at the sky.

In his view, a large, pale yet glowing moon, shining with a ‘gray’ light, bathed the area in light.

*

Having completed paperwork regarding the destruction of the Glass Flamingo and the admission of new objects, I exited the Deputy Director’s Office.

The destination was the isolation room of the ‘Indigo Sprout Reaper.’

The pot of the ‘Indigo Sprout Reaper’ that had been left in the sleeping room was moved far too late.

How could the researchers associated with the Object Research Institute neglect reporting anomalies in the objects!?

If I hadn’t seen the commotion in the sleeping room and gone to check it out, the Sprout Reaper might have remained in the sleeping room.

Those who knew of the Sprout Reaper’s existence were hiding it, saying it was cute or that it helped them sleep better.

Though the other offshoot objects of the Gray Reaper were difficult to isolate and thus couldn’t be helped, the Sprout Reaper seemed calm enough to be isolated—surely that should be normal, right?

I shook my head in disbelief while feeding a star candy to the Golden Reaper.

Crunch.

The Golden Reaper made a delightful sound while munching on the star candy.

Upon arriving at the isolation room where the Sprout Reaper was confined, an unexpected scene greeted me.

The area around the pot was covered in dirt, and the Sprout Reaper was sprawled out on the table outside the pot.

The sprawled-out Sprout Reaper looked somewhat brittle, and the shoots on its head drooped lifelessly.

I was taken aback, quickly lifted the Sprout Reaper, and buried it back into the pot.

It should be okay now, right?

The Golden Reaper also climbed down from my shoulder and stared at the buried Sprout Reaper with curious eyes.

Seeing the weakened appearance of the Sprout Reaper, the Golden Reaper pushed the star candy it had been eating closer to the Sprout Reaper’s mouth.

Lick, lick.

Then the Sprout Reaper started to lick up the star candy slowly, sticking out its little tongue.

I took a picture of that moment with my phone to keep it as data.

Not out of selfishness, but for documentation.

The title would be [Ecology of the Sprout Reaper.].

I smiled softly at the cute photo of the little tongue sticking out.

*

“Mom, you really are kind.”

As I returned the hat, vitality returned to the Blue Reaper.

In truth, I had planned to pretend to forget about the hat and leave it for about a day, but the Blue Reaper’s sorrowful cries made me return the hat even before the hour was up.

Perhaps the Blue Reaper was too weak, it was a bit hard to play pranks on it.

Discrimination isn’t a good thing, after all.

Looking down at the Blue Reaper sitting gently on my palm, looking up at me with a bright smile, I glanced around and saw the messy interior of the hotel similar to my isolation room.

Yerin, kicked off the blanket, was sleeping, snuggling a bunch of Golden Reapers.

Golden Reapers were sprawled chaotically on the floor, asleep.

And perched on the table, a Mini Hungry Ghost looked up at me.

Pressing down on the Mini Hungry Ghost’s belly, a ‘kkyu’ sound was made.

As the daylight grew brighter outside the window, a fun idea popped into my head.

Since there was a lack of playful elements, I needed to pull another prank.

I looked down at the White Hungry Ghost and chuckled.

Then I made a request to the Blue Reaper, who seemed to be in a good mood.

“Decorate this like a party room.”

*

When I woke up, the scenery of the hotel room had completely transformed.

All sorts of decorations made of water.

A tree made of water.

The hotel room was decorated like a party hall made of water.

In that space, the Reaper was seated at the table, holding a fork and knife in each hand.

Various dishes were laid out on the table, and before what seemed to be the Reaper’s seat and my own, there were large bowls placed.

The contents of the bowls were hidden beneath domed lids and occasionally made clattering sounds as they shifted.

Please tell me they didn’t put the Golden Reaper in there, right?

As I seated myself, recalling the kind of pranks Reapers would pull, I lifted the lid, only to find the Hungry Ghost looking at me with a pitiful expression.

The Reaper often played tricks with the ‘White Hungry Ghost’ and the ‘Cute Puppy.’

Was there something unpleasant that happened?

The Reaper appeared expressionless but seemed to be having a great time.

“Kkyu.”

The Hungry Ghost cried out pitifully as it was sliced with the Reaper’s fork and knife.