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Button-eyed Blue Reapers were soaring through the sky on their brooms.

Realizing that there were many things to do with the Blue Reaper Doll Outfit, it suddenly started gaining popularity among the Mini Reapers.

However, their actions were vastly different from the true Blue Reapers.

Instead of sitting quietly on their brooms and flying around, they were standing on them like snowboarders and zooming through the air.

And these Button-eyed Blue Reapers were enjoying extreme games that the real Blue Reapers would never dare to try.

It was a kind of jousting game.

Each of them produced large shields and spears and charged head-on at each other.

Numerous Button-eyed Blue Reapers were flying at high speeds on their brooms, thrusting spears at their opponents.

[Smack!]

In the sky, the sounds of shields and spears clashing resounded endlessly.

And every time that sound echoed, a defeated Button-eyed Blue Reaper tumbled down from the sky.

To me, it seemed like the outcome was purely determined by luck at the moment of collision, but are they truly having fun with this?

“Let’s play, Mama!”

At that moment, a 1-meter tall Button-eyed Blue Reaper approached me, thrusting a large doll outfit toward me, conveying a desire to play.

I wasn’t sure what the other Button-eyed Reapers were filled with, but I recognized that 1-meter one.

It must be a creation of the Black Reaper.

I accepted the doll outfit tailored to my size and thought to myself.

If it’s a game determined by luck, wouldn’t my chances of winning be high?

I was somewhat confident in my luck.

Probably, unless it’s that Orange Reaper who can manipulate probabilities, I would win against the Mini Reapers in a luck competition.

“Alright, let’s do it!”

As I accepted the doll outfit and called out to play, the Button-eyed Blue Reaper raised both hands high and cheered joyously.

There were many other Mini Reapers, but is it that fun to play with me?

As I pulled the doll outfit over my head, a feeling of discomfort began to wash over me.

I thought the doll outfit would be okay compared to other clothes, but it was nothing like that.

Still, it felt a bit magical.

I could feel that the things I could do were increasing.

I could shape water and use magic with strings now.

The Black Reaper, who had been waiting for me to don the doll outfit, stood on his broom, unable to hide his excitement.

And together, we took to the sky, riding water broomsticks.

As we faced each other while standing precariously on our brooms at a suitable height, I suddenly felt like I had made a huge mistake.

This is hard!

Did everyone fly around so effortlessly on such thin brooms?

The spear and shield made of water were heavier than I imagined, and keeping my balance on the thin stick wasn’t easy.

Watching me sway on the broom, the Giant Button-eyed Blue Reaper facing me grinned brightly.

It was just a delightful smile enjoying playing with me.

But I gritted my teeth and steadied my stance.

This time, I have to win!

As I was solidifying my resolve, the sound of a water droplet bursting caught my attention.

It was the starting signal.

And with the clash, I fell off my broom and landed flat on the ground.

“Mama! Let’s do it again!”

The little one who had approached me was laughing cheerfully.

This has nothing to do with luck!

Athletic ability is way too crucial in this game!

The moment I tried to thrust my spear at the opponent, I keenly felt that this match had nothing to do with luck at all.

The adept movements of the shield deflecting my spear’s tip.

The nimble footwork expertly shifting the impact of the clash between spear and shield on that narrow broom.

Due to such a massive skill gap, I fell pitifully to the ground.

What was even more annoying was that despite my best efforts to win, the Black Reaper was simply enjoying himself regardless of victory or defeat.

Just the fact that he didn’t come flying at me shouting, “Mama, you’re weak!” proved it.

I threw off the frustrating doll outfit and conveyed that I was done with it, causing the Black Reaper to wear an utterly gloomy expression.

Beep—.

The Black Reaper let out a sad whine as his form slowly began to dissolve.

And from within that doll outfit, the Black Reaper oozed out like a slime.

I swore to never engage in broom jousting again.

As I was munching on a White Hungry Ghost in frustration, I spotted a surprised-looking Black Reaper running toward me from afar.

“Mama! Mama, look at my eyes!”

“?”

The words that reached my ears were something even I, as the Mini Reaper Language Master, struggled to understand.

*

After the Golden Reaper incident in Mapo District, many things changed there.

And the man’s life and attitude also transformed significantly.

As the man stepped out of his studio apartment and looked up at the sky, a huge pinwheel caught his eye.

A pinwheel as large as those used for wind power generation.

That pinwheel was one of the changes in Mapo District.

Since it was still early morning, the street felt a little chilly.

The man was merely on a simple part-time job, but he was walking down the street to earn money even in the early morning.

This was a scene unimaginable before the Mapo District incident.

If it were his usual self, he would likely have been getting ready to hit the hay by now.

But now, the man had resolved to keep moving, even if just a little.

His remaining life was one that the ‘Golden Reaper’ had saved, so he couldn’t waste it.

“Want some pudding?”

“Aren’t you cold?”

The man looked at the few people scattered around with a bitter expression.

Happy folks walking around with Golden Reapers.

Even after the Mapo District incident ended, many Golden Reapers remained in the area, but there was none beside the man.

“That’s only natural.”

After all, he had made the mistake of throwing the Golden Reaper out the window.

As the man walked slowly, he found himself passing by the pinwheel erected in the center of the park.

A marshmallow that had consumed part of the park along with a large snack pinwheel towering above it.

A meeting plaza where he could see the Golden Reaper he’d disappear to every night.

The man passed here daily with a faint glimmer of hope on his way to work but never encountered the Golden Reaper who’d saved him again.

Before the pinwheel, joyful laughter filled the air.

Golden Reapers running happily, smiling brightly, and being welcomed by others.

This was something that could never happen for someone who had committed such a terrible act.

He had come filled with hope, but it became a place that made his heart ache even more.

“Today is the last day.”

Hearing that delightful laughter made him agonize, and that’s what he thought.

Thinking that way, he scanned his surroundings but saw no sign of the Golden Reaper he longed to meet.

“Ultimately, they are gone.”

The man turned away with a sad face and heavy steps.

“I may never meet again, but I’ll keep it in my heart and live earnestly.”

With that thought, he bid farewell to the Golden Reaper in his heart.

Turning his back on the pinwheel, at that very moment, the morning sun began to rise, piercing through the forest of buildings.

The light was so dazzling that when he raised his palm to shield his eyes, he heard familiar footsteps.

Like the sound of a little human walking, like a hamster.

Pitter-patter.

In a moment of disbelief, he turned toward the sound.

There stood the Golden Reaper, shining brightly against the backdrop of the sun.

“It’s definitely you. The ‘Golden Reaper’ who spent time with me.”

Standing with the sun at his back, the Golden Reaper looked as if he was radiating a warm halo, and he waved and smiled at the man.

*

Following the lead of the Black Reaper, I arrived at the interior of the ‘Unchanging Black Sphere,’ located in the Mini Reaper Garden.

It had been so long since I had entered the place where many Black Reapers had lay dead; it felt like an ordeal.

My surroundings were crowded with the Black Reapers who had come along with me.

The other Mini Reapers appeared uninterested in the corpses within the black sphere, so only the Black Reapers followed me until the end.

All together, holding hands and pitter-pattering.

In a straight line, pitter-pattering.

The Black Reaper who held my hand dangled with his feet barely touching the ground, yet wore a joyful expression.

They seemed to find joy simply in walking together.

As we slowly approached the gigantic corpse, a strange feeling began to creep in.

When we arrived atop the massive Black Reaper’s corpse and looked down, there were two faint light rings drawn in its empty eye sockets.

It was ‘eyes.’

Seeing that caused the Black Reapers to feel something; they were startled and began playfully slapping each other’s cheeks.

It was a bizarre mixture of fear and joy on their faces.

As I stared down at the corpse, I began to understand the nature of the strange feeling.

“My connection with the corpse has strengthened.”

I sensed that the amount of firewood needed to move the corpse had slightly decreased.

If I were to try to move this corpse now, I could do so more easily than before.

Of course, even now, it was impossible to move properly.

Even if I hugged Yerin tightly, I would consume an unbearable amount of firewood.

Watching the Black Reapers overreact, I decided to have a little fun.

I piled up firewood and began to subtly move the eyes of the connected corpse.

Slowly, I made it appear as if it was looking at the nearest Black Reaper.

‘!’

The Black Reapers who noticed this jumped up high like startled cats.

Seeing so many Black Reapers jump simultaneously was a bit amusing.

Hehe.

The Black Reapers who couldn’t see the eyes wore perplexed expressions, while those who had witnessed the eyes moving began to stealthily descend from the corpse.

“Mama, you’re weak!” The kids cried out in fear; what on earth had this corpse done while it was alive?

As the kids lost interest, I gradually moved the eyes, reveling in the various startled expressions of the Black Reapers.

The responses were diverse and quite entertaining.

Some jumped back.

Others morphed into balls and bounced away like rubber balls.

Some stuck out spines like a hedgehog.

The Black Reapers reacted in a hilariously wide range of ways.

But this fun game came to an end quicker than I expected.

One of the Black Reapers noticed how ferociously my firewood was being consumed.

And then, the punching frenzy began.

The Black Reapers flocked toward me and started throwing punches.

Despite realizing that it was I who moved the corpse, the Black Reaper looked relatively at ease.

*

Inside the ‘Unchanging Black Sphere,’ now deserted after the Gray Reapers and Black Reapers had left.

In that quiet, lonely space, there lay but one corpse.

The soft sound of stone scraping against stone echoed very faintly in that silent space.

Gr-gr-grind.

It was almost like the sound of a millstone grinding very slowly.

From the already dead corpse emanated a foreboding vibration.

As the eyes that had been moving slowly fixated on the spot where the Gray Reapers had vanished.

It continued for a long while.

*

In the sunny courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute.

Quite a number of visitors fed pudding to the Golden Reapers, smiling joyfully.

Since it hadn’t been long since the Mapo District incident ended, the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute was bustling with visitors.

The Golden Reapers, having enjoyed delicious pudding, took out the pudding they had made to share or played together riding on White Hungry Ghosts, spending joyful moments.

Suddenly, that peaceful atmosphere at the Sehee Research Institute shifted to one of commotion.

“Get ready quickly. The association president is coming!”

“Why is the association president coming all of a sudden?”

The Sehee Research Institute security team began scurrying about, checking the security status in a rare flurry of activity.

The Golden Reapers, seemingly uninterested in the hustle and bustle, focused solely on playing with the visitors.

But as the sound of a stiff cane thudding against the ground and footsteps echoed, all the Mini Reapers halted their actions and turned to look in one direction.

The expressions on the Mini Reapers’ faces were as if they had discovered a Very Harmful Object.