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After a long time, I took a look at the Mini Reaper Garden and noticed that a new terrain had formed within it.

Beyond the marshmallow fields, past the cookie stick forest, there existed a vast area.

I named it the Black Sugar Desert!

In this new region, countless Mini Reapers gathered to enjoy new snacks and adventures.

As I wandered around the Black Sugar Desert, I stumbled upon a curious Golden Reaper.

This Golden Reaper was munching on the black sugar scattered like sand in the desert.

Perhaps the black sugar was tastier than expected, as the Golden Reaper had sugar smeared all over its face and wore a truly happy expression while gobbling it up.

When this Golden Reaper spotted me, it dashed over and thrust a handful of black sugar at me.

“Mom! This black sugar is super yummy!”

To me, it looked like it was eating dirt, so I refused. The Golden Reaper then plopped down with a sullen expression, quickly resuming its dirt munching.

“This black sugar is delicious enough to die for…”

Even though I knew it was sugar, it felt like watching a kid eat dirt.

Seeing that sugar smothered all over its face made me want to shout, “You shouldn’t eat dirt!”

The number of those dirt-eating kids could only increase.

If a Mini Reaper were to wander around the Black Sugar Desert, it would inevitably find another Mini Reaper eating sand.

‘?’

Then, that Mini Reaper would watch with a face full of curiosity as it deliciously scooped up dirt.

And that would lead to some curiosity-induced munching.

I too absentmindedly thought, “How could the sand be so tasty to eat? Should I have just a bite?” but I barely managed to resist for the sake of my dignity as a mom.

Fortunately, not all Mini Reapers were eating dirt; those who weren’t were slowly sampling new snacks scattered around the desert.

Transparent and icy cold ice snack spiders.

Purple candy dolls made of purple sweets.

These seemed to be two types of snacks originating from the labyrinth.

As most Mini Reapers clustered around the ice spiders, munching away with satisfied faces, one Red Reaper looked a bit forlorn while eating.

It was odd that even while eating deliciously, it looked sad, so I conveyed my thoughts to the Red Reaper and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

When I asked with a curious expression, the Red Reaper lifted the ice snack it was eating and breathed fire onto it.

Naturally, the ice that met the hot flames melted away almost instantly, making the Red Reaper’s hands sticky.

“It won’t cook!”

The Red Reaper spoke with a frustrated face.

Was it trying to roast the ice?

Not having any particular words of comfort to offer, I simply patted its head slowly.

After parting ways with the Red Reaper, I strolled through the desert feeling the texture of the sugary sand and discovered something that looked exceedingly comfortable nestled in a corner.

It was a Hungry Ghost that usually should have been daily munching but seemed to be relaxing, perhaps due to the increase in new snacks.

It had a relaxed and content expression.

Strangely, when the Hungry Ghost looked joyful, I felt a sudden urge to tease it.

So, I returned to the gloomy Red Reaper and whispered to it the location of the perfect roast-able Hungry Ghost.

Hehe.

*

In the backyard of the Sehee Research Institute.

Yerin was lying down, basking in the warm sunlight, using the Gray Reaper as a pillow.

Perhaps it was because the black reapers that had been clinging to it for over a week had vanished, the Gray Reaper looked quite relieved.

Yerin looked down at the Gray Reaper, who seemed to be asleep, and snapped a photo.

The photo captured a moment of the happy-looking Gray Reaper lying under the shadow created by the warm sunlight and the gently swaying leaves.

“I should save this.”

Yerin transferred the taken photo to a storage folder while also being able to review other saved photos.

As she flipped through the pictures, something felt off.

Hmm?

While slowly scrolling through the photos, they didn’t seem evident at first, but a closer look revealed the truth.

Especially when comparing the photo of the Gray Reaper when it first arrived to today’s photo, it was evident.

The Reaper had gotten a bit chubby!

Its cheeks appeared rounder, and it looked cuter than before.

While earlier photos showed almost no change, the recent ones had gained a bit of a roundness.

For an average person, these changes would be hard to notice, but for Yerin, it was shocking.

To think she’d only just realized it!

Having secretly stamped the Gray Reaper’s palm every day while measuring how soft its belly was, it was all the more shocking.

It didn’t seem like eating was what made it gain weight, but surely there must have been a trigger, Yerin thought as she began rummaging through the album.

[The situation in Siberia concerning Russia is escalating more severely.]

[The Russian government has announced a complete abandonment of the Siberian reclamation.]

While Yerin rummaged through the album, a report about the ongoing issues in Russia was being broadcasted on the mini TV.

It was a peaceful everyday life at the Sehee Research Institute.

*

As twilight began to descend in the backyard of the Sehee Research Institute.

Yerin, who had been making a fuss over wanting to weigh her body, had now finished work and the backyard felt desolate.

I was gazing down at the halo with a tense expression.

“This is going to hurt.”

It would hurt, but it was something I had to do for my dreams and hopes.

I flipped the halo I obtained from the labyrinth over my head.

At that moment, I felt a pain that I could never grow accustomed to, no matter how many times I experienced it.

It felt as if my whole body was engulfed in flames, and my body began to crack like a glass window under stress.

No matter how difficult it became, if it wasn’t absolutely certain I couldn’t overcome without the halo, I would never want to use it.

I clenched my teeth and endured the pain while envisioning the fantasy I desired.

Gradually, the fantasy began to consume reality, dragging it into its realm.

After what felt like an eternity, ten seconds passed, and when the fantasy was complete, I threw the halo onto the ground.

“I did it!”

I, like the Golden Reaper, raised my hands in the air and beamed brightly.

With the sun almost disappearing beyond the horizon, the object I created cast a huge shadow.

And as twilight sank completely into the surface, the form I wished for began to emerge gradually.

A massive object radiating a gentle green glow in the darkness!

A Glow-in-the-dark Tyrannosaurus depicted as naturally as possible in 1:1 scale!

I mounted the back of the glow-in-the-dark dinosaur and began to roam around the Sehee Research Institute.

There might be newspaper articles like “Gray Reaper Riding a Glow-in-the-dark Dinosaur!” but I lightly ignored them.

Because I had a full-auto walking glow-in-the-dark T-Rex!

Hehe.

As expected, my glow-in-the-dark dinosaur was worth enduring the pain.

*

In an illegal research facility where the Golden Reaper was kidnapped.

As the woman, feeding the Golden Reaper, pondered what to do next, a loud noise began to echo in her ears.

With a violent pounding that seemed like it would break down the research facility door, the woman who had kidnapped the Golden Reaper had no choice but to open the door for her associates.

The men barged in, carelessly poking at the objects in the room and speaking harshly toward the woman.

“Why did you take so long to open the door? We’re your partners. Can’t you be faster about it?”

“You think this is the only research facility we manage? Next time, open it quickly. Got it?”

The two men swaggered in with menacing postures, discovering the Golden Reaper staring intently from inside the transparent isolation room, grinning unpleasantly.

“What? You really caught a Golden Reaper?”

The man who spoke laughed broadly, playfully patting the woman’s shoulder as if delighted.

Seeing this, the Golden Reaper frowned slightly.

‘Mean humans?’

From the Golden Reaper’s perspective, the men didn’t harbor any ill will toward the Attached Human.

‘The Attached Human is distressed.’

Although it would like to rush out of that glass isolation room to comfort the Attached Human, it was holding back, sensing that the Attached Human seemed to want them here.

While weighing the life of the man and the feelings of the Attached Human in its mind, the man approached the Golden Reaper’s isolation room and imparted words the woman wanted to hear.

“Just keep it properly isolated like this. Then, we’ll be able to set up a proper research facility. Golden Reapers are quite popular, you know.”

“Really?”

With those words, the man slowly withdrew from the woman’s room.

Hearing what the man said, the Golden Reaper’s Attached Human was incredibly delighted.

Yet, the Golden Reaper couldn’t share in that joy.

Because an intensely harmful aura was emanating from the man who had come close.

It seemed to be traces of emotions smeared with an endless malice and hostility toward humans.

‘The Attached Human is in danger!’

At that moment, the Golden Reaper ghosted out of the isolation room and began to follow the men.

“Hey, where did it go?”

The voice of the Attached Human, saddened over the disappearance of the Golden Reaper, was heard, but the Golden Reaper persevered and stepped outside.