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Mini Reaper Garden, Deep Place of the Sea of Hot Chocolate.

In the nest of the Blue Reapers, a Blue Reaper and a Yellow Reaper were gathered together doing something.

“We need a doll outfit that can give us courage.”

“I need a hat….”

The Blue Reapers were fidgeting and hesitantly passing something to the Yellow Reaper.

The Blue Reaper couldn’t express it strongly and shyly drew a tiny string to speak.

The Yellow Reaper was listening attentively to the Blue Reaper’s request with an awkward smile.

Upon hearing the Blue Reaper’s request, the Yellow Reaper instantly produced ten new Golden Reaper Doll Outfits.

The Golden Reaper Doll Outfit had a radiant smile filled with confidence.

Moreover, the head part of those outfits had witch hats attached.

The Blue Reapers could individually receive custom Golden Reaper Doll Outfits, but they couldn’t even muster the courage to try them on as if feeling embarrassed.

Among them, one brave Blue Reaper tightly closed their eyes, took off the hat and clothes, and started putting the doll outfit on backwards.

“…!?”

The other Blue Reapers looked at the brave Blue Reaper with admiration, then turned their heads away, blushing.

The Blue Reaper who had their eyes tightly shut and wore the doll outfit began to wriggle and cover their body with their hands, feeling extremely shy.

“!!!”

Then, they hastily took off the doll outfit and dressed themselves in their clothes and hat.

“I need a doll outfit that I can wear while I’m dressed…!”

And while firmly pressing down the hat, they conveyed the new requirement to the Yellow Reaper.

That Yellow Reaper seemed to have encountered a very difficult request, but soon, as if they found a solution, they grinned and created a new doll outfit.

It was an outfit that could be worn upside down on top while still wearing the hat and clothes.

Although the doll outfit was quite different from a real Mini Reaper, this one looked so far from a doll outfit it was difficult to call it that.

Maybe that’s why the Blue Reapers wore expressions questioning whether this would actually work.

“When seen by humans, they’ll look like Golden Reapers.”

The Yellow Reaper, giggling while cupping their mouth with both hands, assured that humans would see them as Golden Reapers.

“Thank you so much.”

“Thank you….”

Then the Blue Reapers surrounded the Yellow Reaper with very grateful expressions and repeatedly expressed their thanks.

And ten Blue Reapers, draped in their Golden Reaper outfits, took off into the sky on broomsticks.

Their destination was the place where the Attached Human was!

*

Inside the Isolation Room, a soft sound from a TV was reverberating, with Golden Reaper Pudding floating around.

It was news about Japan’s massive object, ‘Island of Red Lightning.’

[‘Island of Red Lightning,’ which couldn’t be observed by satellite, recently became visible due to a collision with the Cloud Fish object.]

On the TV, a calm-voiced announcer’s words formed the background as a translated video from Japan was streaming.

It was a scene where the Cloud Fish swam rapidly through the sky and collided with the cloud barrier surrounding the island.

The Cloud Fish disappeared in an instant after being struck by red lightning, but did something go wrong from that collision, as there was now a hole in the barrier covering the island’s sky?

[Thanks to this interference between objects, the barrier preventing observation has disappeared, allowing us to identify the cause of the disappearance incidents occurring in Japan.]

Through the round gaping hole, numerous people wandering below were captured on camera.

Though the hole was quickly healing, being a ‘super-sized’ and ‘special’ object meant it was under constant surveillance by Japan’s satellites.

And the news was analyzing photos of the missing persons in comparison with the blurry images taken from the screens.

It discussed that some of the missing individuals from all over Japan were discovered to be inside that island.

“Wow, the satellite quality looks amazing.”

Watching that news, rather than admiring the object responsible for the disappearance incidents throughout Japan, I was more impressed by the advanced satellite’s performance.

Yet, it seemed the Cloud Fish was trying to engage in a natural encounter, something like the Mini Reapers riding the Cloud Fish?

Traveling all the way to Japan to find an Attached Human, it appeared the Mini Reapers had high standards for their ‘self-sufficient encounters.’

The Golden Reapers gathered around my bed were excitedly jumping and raising their hands while watching the TV screen.

“Younger Brother!”

They were the multitude of Golden Reapers waiting to work at the Pudding Factory.

I realized that in the time I hadn’t paid attention, the number of Golden Reapers had surged dramatically.

Before, during the Mapo District incident, their numbers were barely enough to cover the residents of Mapo, but now, upon checking, they had increased even further.

It had previously been hard to distinguish the Golden Reapers, but now it would be even harder….

By the way, what caused the sudden increase in numbers?

Could it be that the number of Attached Humans has grown, or that the Golden Reapers absorbed a lot of firewood from humans?

Golden Reapers normally consume very little firewood, but conversely, the absorption efficiency wasn’t great, leaving a bit of dissatisfaction, and it felt as though I had discovered the cause.

Maybe this surge in the number of Golden Reapers was due to using most of the emotions they had absorbed?

The TV was still talking about Japan’s special objects.

I was curious about the Mini Reaper who traveled to Japan for a wonderful encounter, but going to Japan felt a bit bothersome.

Well, if things get dangerous, they’ll surely call me.

Having organized my thoughts that way, I grabbed a pudding that the Golden Reapers had made and switched the TV channel.

*

As a girl slowly approached the entrance of the labyrinth, noisy sounds and the crunching of gravel began to be heard.

The gravel path around the labyrinth was lively with the enthusiastic calls of street vendors, and each stall was selling various goods under canopies to block the sun.

The street market, a bit far from the labyrinth, was filled with delightful smells of sizzling meats and the sweet aroma of well-ripened exotic fruits.

Every time the girl passed here, she would buy something delicious to eat, but today, that was difficult.

Gurgle.

The delicious aroma made her stomach rumble, but the poor girl forcefully turned her head and moved toward the entrance of the labyrinth.

As she went a little deeper, the atmosphere began to feel more ‘labyrinth city-like.’

Huge gems that were difficult to see while living outside.

An old but elegantly adorned sword.

Magical tools scattering traces of magic.

And a stele shining vividly even under the bright sun.

On the large stele, twice her size, the same phrase was written in numerous languages, including Japanese and Korean.

The girl looked up at the stele and read the words in her heart.

‘If you break through the labyrinth to the end, you can fulfill one wish.’

A wish, huh.

No matter how I think about it, even a special object like that seems impossible, the girl thought.

But perhaps, unlike how the labyrinth city kidnaps people, they might be able to send one person back.

That single wish of the labyrinth city was the girl’s hope.

The hope that one day she could return home.

That she could break through the labyrinth to the end and return to her peaceful daily life as always.

The girl steeled her resolve in her heart and slowly took steps into the labyrinth.

As she entered the labyrinth, the space suddenly changed, revealing a cramped cubic space before her.

“[1P4B]”

The girl looked up to read the writing on the ceiling.

Then she opened her notebook to check the map she purchased previously at the labyrinth entrance.

‘It’s the 4th pattern.’

The first floor of the labyrinth city was a dungeon where the structure changed each time one entered, with countless rooms composed of cubes endlessly sticking together in a maze.

In a room where a torch was placed on each wall, the girl approached the right wall.

Then she pulled out a torch, turned it upside down, and shoved it back in.

At that moment, the room flipped upside down in an instant and the torch she had turned upside vanished.

The girl found herself standing on the ceiling as she suddenly dropped but skillfully flipped her body to stand on the ground.

“Whoa.”

After performing the aerial spin, the girl breathed lightly and pressed her hand against the wall where the torch had vanished.

Then, the seemingly solid wall began to soften gradually and swallowed the girl.

Emerging from the opposite wall, the girl was delighted to see a plant growing in the center of the room.

‘Got it!’

It was a herb called ‘Dungeon Rose,’ which the people of the labyrinth city referred to as such.

Seemingly in high demand and fetching a hefty price, it was an herb used to make healing potions for adventurers.

It was a very rare herb that even the girl, who had roamed the labyrinth for a long time, had only seen once.

‘With just this one, I can pay for the room and enjoy a nice meal!’

If she sold this at the Dog Meat Man’s shop, she could finally visit the labyrinth ramen shop after a long time.

Feeling hungry while imagining food, the girl instinctively noticed saliva gathering in her mouth.

And when she looked up at the ceiling to check the room number, a dazed expression crossed her face.

‘What the…?’

There was a nameplate she had never seen before: [7P9X].

Why did I end up in such a strange place?

I was sure I followed the right path.

The girl rummaged through the map of the first floor of the labyrinth, but there were no records of any room with the number [7P9X].

Oh no, I can’t find the way out.

*

Inside the room where a sinister green flame flickered instead of the red torch, the girl was wildly swinging her already tattered bag.

Naturally, the Dungeon Rose she had stored inside also got shredded and scattered around.

“Get away!”

The girl was swinging her bag to keep the wolf, which was engulfed in green flames and had eight eyes, at bay.

She had been wandering around trying to map this unfamiliar place and ultimately encountered a monster.

The girl felt like she might cry.

She thought she was lucky to obtain the ‘Dungeon Rose,’ which was rare to come by…

But was today just a day of bad luck?

“Ah!”

At that moment, the wolf bit the bag and yanked it fiercely, causing the girl to lose her grip.

She had lost her last means of protecting herself.

The wolf bared its teeth and lunged toward her.

“I’m sorry. Mom, Dad.”

The girl shut her eyes tightly and awaited her end, but the long-awaited pain did not arrive.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Instead, a strange sound of bones grinding could be heard.

Hearing that sound, the girl cautiously opened her eyes, and the wide-mouthed wolf stood right in front of her.

She almost screamed in surprise but managed to stifle her voice with her hands.

Grrr.

From within the wolf’s body, something was being crushed and shattered.

Its limbs contorted in unnatural ways.

Something wiggled inside its head, and its eyeballs began to pop out.

Ribs burst out of its belly, and dark, ominous thorns suddenly sprouted from its back before vanishing.

What the? What is happening? Why is it doing that!?

The girl wanted to look away, but she feared turning her gaze would mean becoming like that wolf, so she couldn’t look away.

Finally, the wolf’s skin began to sag and melt away, and with a final burst, its head exploded.

Then from within, a blood-soaked black object with ominous yellow eyes burst forth.

With its arms raised high, it appeared to threaten the girl.

And slowly, it started to reach towards her.

Finally, an eyeball that had flown up to the ceiling landed on the girl’s face, and she lost consciousness.