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The blonde girl confirmed to be asleep, and the black agent stepped outside the building to look around.

A tranquil village shrouded in thick fog.

To the black agent’s eyes, this village felt somewhat odd.

Proving that oddity, a cloud fish swam by, flicking its tail gently.

The black agent opened a notebook and began jotting down several observations.

[It appears there’s little interaction with the outside.]

[Such closed-off villages typically don’t show this kind of reaction.]

[They neither shun, are curious about, nor welcome outsiders.]

Overall, a sense of tranquility and leisure permeated this cloud fish village.

‘Could it be mental pollution?’

The black agent gazed up at the orange moon, suspecting mental pollution.

It was a reasonable conjecture since the village was surrounded by what appeared to be an object, but there was no evidence.

Crack.

Just as the black agent was about to start gathering information from the villagers, a sound echoed.

Wondering if something was amiss, the black agent hurried back, but what unfolded before the agent’s eyes was a scene slightly different from what was expected.

Near a window bathed in orange light, the blonde girl had placed a red reaper on her palm.

Considering its appearance and size, it looked like a mini reaper, resembling the ‘Golden Reaper’, a subordinate of the Gray Reaper.

“Ah, Mister! Look at this!”

With a beaming smile, the girl pointed to the red reaper, which was cuddling and licking a candy on her palm.

“It seems to be a subordinate of the Gray Reaper. Where on earth did it come from?”

Completely ignoring the conversation between the black agent and the blonde girl, the red reaper, stuck with its tongue on the candy, wore a pitiful expression.

Seeing this, the blonde girl mischievously stuck her tongue out just like the red reaper and giggled.

Then she slowly freed the red reaper’s tongue from the candy.

“I’m not exactly sure. I dreamt of a bunch of colorfully mini reapers. Could that be why?”

Upon hearing the blonde girl’s words, the black agent stopped thinking.

There were too few revealed facts about the gray reaper or mini reapers to deduce anything.

It had been too long since the Sehee Research Institute had properly submitted a report.

It seemed that since the incident that burned down Seoul Forest, things had been gradually heading this way. Had the policy changed after the Sehee Research Institute Director was kidnapped?

The red reaper gobbled up a candy the size of its head in an instant, perched on the blonde girl’s shoulder with a smug expression while staring at her profile.

‘Fortunately, the red reaper seems to be friendly toward the girl.’

The black agent felt a moment of relief after seeing the red reaper’s demeanor.

Considering the formidable power of the famous Golden Reaper among the mini reapers, it was a worry that needed to be addressed.

Although not exact analytical data, many experts believed that a ‘Golden Reaper’ would be considered a ‘special object’ on its own.

If the Golden Reaper had been hostile towards humans, some experts even claimed that Korea would have disappeared by now.

Amidst the playful interaction between the blonde girl and the red reaper, a gentle breeze swept through, emphasizing the peaceful atmosphere.

It was a hard-to-believe peaceful moment in the middle of an object.

The blonde girl had the red reaper on her palm and was conversing with it as if they were communicating.

Despite thinking that mini reapers were objects that couldn’t converse, the girl was chatting joyfully.

The black agent observed in silence, feeling that the girl seemed to regain her vigor after her earlier gloom.

However, the peaceful moment was abruptly shattered.

The black agent noticed that the fog wall viewed through the window began to darken gradually.

Along with that, thunder suddenly began to boom in the tranquil village, which had only previously been filled with a faint sound of the breeze.

Boom.

Sensing something unusual in the air, the black agent hid the blonde girl behind the wall and began to assess the situation.

The orange moon, which had been radiating gentle light, flickered like a broken fluorescent light.

The fog barrier started flowing roughly and quickly, becoming darker.

Occasional rumbles of thunder pierced through the fog, heightening the ominous atmosphere.

Something significant was surely happening.

Looking up at the orange moon, which seemed to be the ruler of this space, it started dripping black liquid as if it was crying.

Plop.

The shocking viscosity of the black liquid, upon hitting the floor, spread the smell of oil throughout the village.

The cloud fish, which had been leisurely floating in mid-air, scattered in frantic movements, and some of them flew towards the window where the black agent was looking out.

The black agent hastily shut the window and, taking the blonde girl’s hand, opened the door.

“Ah… Mister.”

But upon pushing the door open, they were met with the staring cloud fish.

Cloud fish the size of an adult’s forearm filled the corridor, casting eerie orange glows.

*

The tattooed woman quickly arrived at the Sehee Research Institute with her younger sister.

“Unni, there are so many cloud fish.”

The younger sister gently petted a cloud fish that had come close and placed it on her hand, treating it like a pet.

Seeing her younger sister, the woman smiled and thought as she looked around.

‘It’s definitely not very secure.’

Despite such a major incident occurring, all she could see were reporters and onlookers.

Only a few police officers were visible, while no association employees could be seen.

It certainly felt like a national-scale plan trying to approach objects in a friendly manner.

Given that it was a place with superior transportation, communication, and social systems compared to where the woman lived, such carelessness could only be explained by a large-scale national plan.

A communication tool capable of reporting an incident within one minute.

Transportation that could reach anywhere in the country in no time.

No matter how she thought about it, such technologies were surely a blessing.

Suddenly, a cloud whale descended, shooting straight up into the sky just as abruptly, leaving behind a beautiful river of cloud fish dancing in the air.

As the cloud whale departed, her younger sister, who seemed disappointed, gazed in admiration at the river of cloud fish that decorated the sky.

Soon, they headed toward the Sehee Research Institute to meet the alchemist and the famous ‘Gray Reaper.’

“Such a shame…”

But they were met with the futile answer that the Gray Reaper had already disappeared somewhere.

By the way, is it really okay for an object under management to just vanish like this?

How strange.

*

The tale of the reaper in the colosseum has come to an end.

I wanted to hug the reaper and feed it lots of pudding, but then this happened.

After the cloud whale’s attack ended, the reaper had vanished.

“Reaper, let’s eat pudding together!”

I desperately searched, using pudding as bait, but it didn’t appear.

Instead, mini reapers with hungry expressions began to flock around me.

Sigh.

Where has the reaper gone again?

Having been through so much in America, I thought it would take a break, but the reaper sure is diligent…

Sitting on the floor, I opened the lid of the pudding, and golden and black reapers gathered, mouths agape like chicks, waiting for the pudding.

“Okay, okay. I get it.”

I took a picture of their cute appearance, then scooped a spoonful of pudding to feed the reapers.

After giving one spoonful, the mini reapers closed their mouths, wearing happy expressions, savoring the taste, and after feeding all of them, it had already turned dark outside.

In the dark courtyard, the only remaining light was the mysterious bonfire that the mini reapers had brought.

Feeling a bit curious about the strangely sweet-smelling bonfire, I headed in that direction.

“!”

As I looked into the bonfire, something transparent was gradually melting away.

What was continuously melting in the flames was a glass flamingo.

Could it be that the Golden Reaper took down the glass flamingo?

I couldn’t believe the glass flamingo, which I thought had vanished, was right here.

The flamingo, melting in the fire, had its head lowered in a sad expression.

The melted sugar dripped from its eyes like tears.

The flamingo’s anguished gaze seemed to say.

‘Take me back to the isolation room.’

I thought it was somewhat pitiful, but recalling the troublesome situation that would occur if the reported object was still alive, I turned my head and ignored it.

Sorry, flamingo.

Think of it as paying for the crimes against our staff and the blue reaper.

*

Looking up, the river of cloud fish beautifully danced across the sky.

The seemingly endless river of cloud fish reached its end atop a remote mountain far away from Seoul.

Although it was quite a distance from Seoul, the fallen sign on the ground indicated where this place was.

[Guide Map of Odaesan National Park.]

The trail up the mountain bore traces of long abandonment, remaining as ruins.

Yet the dilapidated road and thick underbrush came together to emphasize the beauty of nature as it was.

As I began ascending the mountain, the river of cloud fish decorated the sky became meaningless.

In the destination stood a dome of fog expanding like a gigantic barrier.

Upon reaching near the fog, an unusual atmosphere was palpable.

Though it was just fog, lightning struck from within, and the faint smell of oil had become even more pronounced.

By the way, is it black liquid again?

After solving this matter, I should clean up the black liquid in Gwanak-gu.

If possible, I’d like to deal with the culprit behind this situation too!

No matter how you look at it, it’s outrageous to have a human trying to exploit the liquid that devastated Gwanak-gu.

As I jumped into the fog to fulfill the orange moon’s wishes, I felt my heart thumping like firewood.

There was something alluring about the fog that obscured my vision.

As I delved deeper into the fog, the white haze lost its brightness and turned dark.

The only source of light was the thunder and lightning sporadically striking in the fog, giving the impression of rain clouds dropping to the ground.

Breaking through the storm’s veil, I emerged from the fog into a village where cloud fish were swirling around violently before my very eyes.

The cloud fish, known for being gentle, were engaged in fierce combat, baring their teeth and tearing at each other.

The black liquid-stained cloud fish and the white cloud fish soared and swirled around one another.

The movements of the cloud fish surged like a fierce sea, crashing and biting to subdue their enemies.

At first glance, it seemed to be a stalemate, but the white cloud fish were at a disadvantage.

If a white cloud fish was bitten even once by a speckled cloud fish, it would immediately turn into an enemy due to contamination.

Yet, amidst that unfavorable battlefield, a bright red flame balanced everything.

The small, fiery entity, the red reaper.

The red reaper was ablaze, spewing fire in all directions.

It freely intensified the fire like a massive wildfire, zipping through the sky like tiny embers.

The flames unleashed by the red reaper were powerful enough that the speckled cloud fish swept away turned into dust in vain.

Though my connection with it was weak, the red reaper was surely a mini reaper.

Another new youngest has appeared.

However, there was visibly only one mini reaper, while I could sense two.

Where is the hiding mini reaper?

As I approached the area where the red reaper was fervently battling, a sudden intense gaze bore down on me.

Turning my head to follow that gaze, I spotted the blonde girl’s eyes, which I had seen a few times before.

The blonde girl was staring fixedly as if she were nailed to the spot, unable to look away.