---

A giant hole beneath the memorial stone was slowly approached by the investigation team from the association.

No matter how much light was shone from the outside, once it reached a certain depth, all the light was swallowed by the giant hole.

The hole, unable to let the light stretch, was filled with deep darkness that sparked a primal fear.

Usually rowdy team members were now silent, their faces showing clear signs of tension.

“Huh…”

The team leader belonging to the association sighed with tension as they moved toward the hole.

Under normal circumstances, the association wouldn’t act this cautiously, but the problem lay with what had been discovered at the entrance of the hole.

A giant golden mass.

It was the issue that part of a giant pillar made of gold was found.

At first glance, it looked like part of a gigantic temple or building, and if the entire building was made of gold, its value would be unimaginable.

This sparked the association’s greed.

Of course, they first sent drones before the investigation team, but all the drones that entered the hole lost communication.

Then, an order was given to the investigation team for immediate entry.

The association had chosen this investigation unit despite their meager salaries because the work was light, yet here they were, sticking their necks into such a dangerous situation.

The team leader thought this was a completely unprofitable venture and considered quitting, but the association made an enticing offer.

“We will turn a blind eye to any gold you collect during the investigation.”

Hearing this proposal, the team leader and the members couldn’t refuse and ended up coming this far.

At the entrance of the hole stood unsettling, muscular statues.

The white stones making up the statues were disturbingly white, the bodies were muscular, but their faces were frustratingly insignificant.

Those unsettling statues did not hinder us as we entered the hole.

The team leader carefully examined the statues and commanded their subordinates.

“Maintain a state of alert and do not attack. They don’t seem to be objects that attack people indiscriminately.”

Since orders to break through were already given, it was fortunate if they didn’t have to fight.

Objects varied greatly, so one always had to be cautious, but there was no need to preemptively attack non-hostile objects.

“We’re going in.”

They securely fixed a stake near the hole and slowly lowered themselves into the muddy darkness using the rope.

The darkness writhed as if it had substance, swallowing both the team members and the team leader.

The white statues watched the entering people with unfocused gazes, and as everyone vanished into the darkness, they opened their mouths wide in an enormous grin.

Inside those mouths were tightly packed human teeth that didn’t match their trivial faces at all.

*

In a peaceful isolation room, mini reapers were eating pudding like baby birds, while a reaper was curled up on my lap watching TV.

An atmosphere began to unfold, indicating that the peace in such an isolation room might be disrupted.

It all started with a breaking news alert on the TV.

It was about an object appearing in the park where a terrorist incident involving “cute puppies” had occurred.

The death row inmate older sister and her younger sister hurriedly turned away after seeing the news alert.

The younger sister seemed reluctant to go back, but ultimately had no choice but to comply with her older sister’s strong insistence.

The mini reapers, who had been waiting with their mouths open for pudding like baby birds, were left behind.

The mini reapers, unable to eat the homemade pudding, sat down on the floor with expressions that showed they had lost the world.

Suddenly, just like the sisters who had unexpectedly departed, the reaper also showed great interest in the breaking news.

Though its face remained expressionless as if indifferent, its antennae flitted quickly, showing that it was quite attentive.

Was the muscular statue with a hungry ghost head that fascinating?

It only looked disgusting with ears attached…

Staring thoughtfully at the sky, the reaper vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Sniff.”

The reaper ran away again.

Sitting idly on the bed with a gloomy heart, a swarm of golden reapers gathered around, eagerly patting my back and cheeks.

They climbed onto my knees and looked up at me, clenched their small fists, and smiled encouragingly.

“Thank you.”

I embraced the diligent golden reapers and stroked each one.

I gently tickled the chin of a golden reaper, smiling brightly as I made a small wish.

I hoped they would return quickly this time.

*

I was lying on the back of a giant cloud whale, soaring through the sky, basking in warm sunlight.

The cloud whale was slowly flying toward the park mentioned in the breaking news.

Riding the whale instead of walking made it much more comfortable.

I felt curious but didn’t want to go right away; however, since it seemed related to me, I decided to put my annoyance aside for a moment.

First of all, the facial features of the statues closely resembled that of a white hungry ghost, so it felt like there might be a connection.

Thinking of the significant vision I had when obtaining the white hungry ghost, it seemed my body was indeed tied to something.

Plus, since I was at the spot where I died, there might be something there.

The cloud whale was fluffy, and the sunlight was warm, giving me an incredibly nice feeling.

I thought it would be nice to have the children with me, so I called out the mini reapers from the garden.

The golden reapers that appeared with arms raised cheered at the sun.

Golden reapers strangely loved sunlight.

Though it seemed to be a characteristic of the mini reapers, other reapers tended to favor moonlight more strongly.

As the body of the golden reaper was bathed in sunlight, the light grew stronger until it began emitting a bright light that would be hard for an ordinary person to behold.

When I felt that the light had reached its limit, they shot a golden beam forward.

The beam that burst forth from the golden reaper’s chest, emanated from the firewood, disappeared into the atmosphere in an instant.

“Huh?”

I was startled and looked around, holding the golden reaper in my hand.

The golden reaper, wearing a cheerful expression, showed no visible signs of anything unusual as if nothing had happened.

Wasn’t the golden reaper supposed to be inheriting my abilities?

Why was it doing something I couldn’t?

‘How did you do that?’

‘?’

The golden reaper didn’t quite understand me.

It seemed to interpret my words as, “I did it because I could.”

As I mulled over this with my hand on my chin, the golden reaper also mirrored my serious expression, following suit.

Could it be that I could do it too?

Reflecting on it, the beam shot by the golden reaper seemed to resemble the white light emitted by the cult leader.

I raised my arms high while standing on the soft back of the cloud whale.

Seeing that, the golden reapers cheered joyously, also raising their arms.

As they celebrated like they were playing, other mini reapers followed suit.

Crowded together atop the giant whale flying through the sky, they cheered collectively, but no beams were shot.

“Sniff.”

I wanted to shoot a beam too…

*

As I pierced through the mud-like darkness, a seemingly ordinary tunnel came into view.

The ground where the investigation team had stepped was littered with drones sent out by the association.

“The radio isn’t working.”

The team leader of the object association’s investigation team tried to give instructions to the members over the radio, but when it didn’t work, he started issuing orders verbally.

“It might be an annoying environment like a steel tower. Check your equipment.”

Once everyone finished their checks, the investigation team realized that only the radio wasn’t working.

“I’ll take the lead, so let’s proceed slowly in the designated formation.”

We descended the stairs carved from solid ground, the air more pleasant than expected.

And the passage was longer than anticipated.

The team leader figured the investigation might take longer than expected.

As they passed through what felt like an endless hall, they came across a sheer cliff that abruptly ended the ground.

And below it lay an exotic city.

As nothing had happened during the journey thus far, the team members gradually began to relax.

As the noisy and careless atmosphere returned, the team leader finally felt a sense of familiarity.

This is how an association investigation team should be.

“Team leader, that’s definitely gold, right?”

Looking where the team member pointed, they saw a house made of gold bricks.

Though it was hard to be certain without getting closer, it appeared to be gold from what they could see.

‘Thank goodness. We should be able to finish the investigation by recovering that gold.’

“Everyone, quiet down. Let’s hurry and collect samples before returning.”

As the excited team members grew increasingly rowdy at the sight of gold, the team leader quieted them down and began to descend the stairs cautiously.

As they walked down the stairs along the cliff, the strange aspects of the city became even more apparent.

“Wow, this is the store that disappeared a year ago. It’s here.”

Could it be?

Sensing something significant in the team member’s words, the team leader asked a question.

“Have you seen this street before?”

“Yes, it’s not exactly the same, but it seems to replicate the streets of Yongsan-gu from a year ago. It looks like it’s near the Seoul Research Institute.”

Further ahead, they spotted a road sign written in Korean.

Welcome to Yongsan-gu.

Numerous buildings bore the marks of having been cut and pasted from modern structures, giving a sense of liveliness.

And between those buildings, sat structures that were strangely out of place with the modern setting.

They were homes made of white stone, exuding a vintage atmosphere.

It was a city where the buildings of fantasy and those of modernity were chaotically mixed.

Whether Yongsan-gu buildings or fantasy constructions, the air of life stuck deeply was unsettling.

It seemed as if the people living here had abruptly vaporized.

“Such an unpleasant object. It’s better to recover it as quickly as possible and get back.”

The investigation team began to sprint toward their destination with keen awareness of their surroundings.

“Team leader! There’s something there.”

“Stop!”

The startled words of the team member made the team leader halt and slowly survey the area with the team gathered closely.

Once the sounds of their footsteps ceased, the city slipped back into a quiet silence.

There were no humans, nor any animals or insects.

And, peeking out from behind a small building that looked like it could be found anywhere in Seoul was something white.

A statue with a trivial face was peeking out, staring intently at the investigation team.

“Huh…”

Upon confirming that face, the team collectively sighed.

“I thought my heart would drop.”

“That was a needless scare.”

Amidst the commotion, the team leader found the statue oddly unsettling.

Not only its grotesquely muscular form but also its disturbingly insignificant face was even more off-putting.

Clomp, clomp.

Eventually, after walking for a long time, the investigation team arrived in front of the golden building.

“Team leader, can we just leave that one alone?”

What the team member pointed toward was a white statue with a faint smile, lurking behind the building with only its head poking out.

“It’s best not to hastily mess with objects whenever possible.”

In his heart, the team leader thought merely being here was equivalent to messing with it, but this was unavoidable since they’d accepted the association’s proposal.

“Then, let’s collect the sample and head back.”

At the team leader’s command, a team member equipped with a sample collection backpack took pictures, then used specialized tools to slice off a piece of the gold and put it into the backpack.

“Team leader, can we also take some gold with us?”

“Don’t forget we’ll have to rappel back down.”

Everyone had accepted this shaky mission in hopes of hitting the jackpot, so it was only natural to be compensated.

After gathering plenty of golden bricks, the team leader looked around.

‘Nothing.’

The statue that had been watching the investigation team had vanished by now.

As the persistent gaze that felt like it was adhering to them disappeared, the team leader felt a little more at ease.

“Let’s start heading back.”

The moment the team leader said that, something white suddenly swooped down from the golden house and snatched off a member’s head.

“Uwaah!”

It was a white statue with a stretched short neck.

The statue, which had tightly closed its mouth, now revealed its teeth in a beaming bloody smile, looking down at the investigation team.

Startled, the investigation team opened fire on the statue with their rifles, but the bullets bounced off without even leaving a scratch.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The white statue looked down upon them, clacking its enormous teeth like it was laughing.

“Everyone, run!”

At the team leader’s command, everyone scattered and began to flee.

While running, the team leader silenced his footsteps and hid behind a wall to catch his breath.

‘There’s no way we can just run away. I’ll wait for a moment and slip out.’

Without a sound, it would be impossible to dodge an object that had quickly climbed to the roof.

Since it was usually mellow, there was a possibility that it would lose its aggressiveness after some time had passed.

The gold, which seemed to be the trigger for its aggressiveness, had long been abandoned.

The bustling sounds of hurried footsteps and screams echoed through the once-quiet city.

After hearing nine screams, the team leader slowly rose from his position.

All of his team members were dead.

Now he could move slowly.

Opening his eyes and taking a minimal breath, the team leader calmed his mind. When he opened his eyes, there lay a monster he never wanted to see before.

The monster, dripping with blood like drool, smiled brightly as if it were enjoying itself.

‘I should have quit the investigation team earlier…’

The team leader shut his eyes tightly once again.