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In a conference room deep inside the Sehee Research Institute, the tattooed alchemist and James were engaged in a conversation.

It was a time for exchanging information regarding objects interpreted from the standpoint of modern science and magical books interpreted by alchemists.

“Is that so? Are all ‘objects’ ultimately twisted in perception, becoming harmful even if they’re initially friendly to humans?”

James summarized the alchemist’s words with an interesting expression.

Hearing that, the alchemist nodded and replied.

“Yes, with strong mental power, some resistance is possible, but meaningful resistance is impossible.”

No matter how much one resists, since the very perception is twisted, there’s simply no way around it.

From the alchemist’s perspective, there was nothing to do but take a mental pollution suppressant and pray that the mental pollution wouldn’t worsen.

“Then do these tool-type objects also eventually turn harmful?”

James lifted a crystal reflecting spirits and said.

“No, it shouldn’t be that way. While there are many evil tools from the moment they’re born, I’ve never heard of cases where they deteriorate.”

The alchemist continued while lifting her sword.

“And when you ultimately look into ‘alchemy,’ it’s very close to a pure tool-like magical book that has been extremely controlled from the moment of its birth.”

James nodded, agreeing with those words.

“Certainly, hearing it directly from the involved party confirms it. There seems to be clearly something that spreads mental pollution solely to objects.”

James waved a report stating that most objects were in a state eroded by ‘mental pollution.’

Before hearing the alchemist’s words, the report had been quite meaningless.

“But it seems difficult to diagram the extent of mental pollution for objects with self-awareness. How did you evaluate it in your world?”

James asked while comparing a special object severely eroded by mental pollution with an extremely weak object that was almost unaffected by it.

The alchemist’s answer was simple.

No matter how many suppressants one took, at some point, perceptions would twist.

Like the moment a powerless human comes under the gaze of a demon.

It’s simply ‘luck.’

*

The golden hungry ghost reaper was truly happy.

When they arrived at the researcher’s house, they shared delicious food together.

Afterward, the researcher continuously petted the golden hungry ghost reaper, enough to make them doze off in their arms.

They sat together, watched TV, and laughed.

In the end, it was a perfect day, falling asleep while the researcher read a fairy tale.

But the golden hungry ghost reaper woke up deep in the night.

In a small one-room bathed in gentle moonlight.

The researcher lay soundly asleep in bed.

They had to snuggle back into the researcher’s arms and sleep again, but a red starlight was coming down from the sky.

Looking up at the ceiling, there was a red glowing star beyond it.

And that starlight gradually spread, dyeing the world red.

In that red-tinted world, a soft whisper could be heard.

[….]
[….]
[….]

Like the sound of a radio with a mismatched frequency, the vague whispers were not clearly audible.

Yet that whisper strangely lingered in their mind and wouldn’t disappear.

Then, at some point, the sound became clear language.

[Kill the human.]

But the golden hungry ghost reaper shook their head vigorously.

They rejected it, saying it opposed the wish they were born with.

Though they didn’t know at the moment of birth, they now certainly realized.

They were born to be loved by humans like a golden reaper and to give love.

Then, the red voice asked, what does it mean to receive love and give love.

‘….’

It was a bit of a tough question for the golden hungry ghost reaper.

So, the red voice asserted.

Killing humans was to give love.

No!

The golden hungry ghost reaper loudly shouted in their heart and stood up.

Then, in the mirror beside the bed, the image of the golden hungry ghost reaper was reflected.

But there was no longer the image of the golden hungry ghost reaper there.

*

The purple reaper expressed anger while looking at the muscular man, ‘Wrecking Ball.’

A harmful object!

An object that killed a pure human old man!

And an object that expressed hostility toward an attached human!

Though it had a human form, that ‘Wrecking Ball’ was truly the worst object filled with malice towards humans.

They were about to rush out and slice him with a shadow, but the man raised his hand and blocked the purple reaper’s charge.

Silently and stoically.

As if saying, “This is my fight, leave it to me,” he gazed down at the purple reaper.

Then the man put a new cigarette in his mouth and slowly started approaching ‘Wrecking Ball.’

The purple reaper couldn’t help but shine with excitement at the sight of the cool-looking man, and then slipped into the shadows.

But even while hiding, their gaze never left the harmful object.

More precisely, they couldn’t take their eyes off the glowing blue star beyond that harmful object.

*

The man was not a ‘chooser.’

Just an ordinary person who made prosthetics from the pieces of a star left by his younger sister.

It was a prosthetic made to honor his younger sister, but the prosthetic could see the flow of power that ‘choosers’ manipulate, just like an object.

And shortly after he began contracting, he realized he had an extraordinary talent.

No matter how far and difficult the target, he had the ability to swiftly shoot it with a gun.

When the talent bestowed by the heavens combined with the vision granted by the prosthetic, magical things would happen.

Bang! Bang!

The man shot at the empty air.

The target wasn’t a metal ball flying freely in the sky like a drone, nor a metal ball flying while tilling the ground.

It was the flow of power that gripped that metal ball and the most vulnerable part of that flow.

Then, the ominous metallic ball that had been soaring through the sky fell to the ground, and the one plowing the earth seemed to get nailed in place.

“Th-This can’t be real!”

As the sixth metallic ball slipped out of ‘Wrecking Ball’s’ control, fear began to seep into the once confident expression of ‘Wrecking Ball.’

What remained were just two metallic balls orbiting around ‘Wrecking Ball,’ protecting his body.

The man took out a new cigarette and raised his pistol, starting to aim precisely.

“Do you think such poor metallic balls can stop a bullet?”

Like a fan, the speed of the rotating metallic balls.

And the flow protecting ‘Wrecking Ball’ entirely.

The moment those two gaps aligned, the man pulled the trigger.

*

At lunchtime, the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute was bustling with people.

I was nestled in the arms of the soundly sleeping Yerin, taking a break.

Speaking of which, Yerin looked quite tired lately.

Ever since the golden reapers called her to their house and gifted her a doll that looked just like me, it had been like that.

Considering how she was running around searching for clothes to dress the doll, it seemed she had been busy having fun dressing it up.

The last time I checked, she was adding clothes to her list like a mountain.

Hats, shoes, tops, bottoms, pants, skirts, underwear.

Just looking at the list was utterly horrifying.

Still, it was such a good thing that I didn’t have to wear those, and the doll had to wear them instead.

It seemed that dressing up the doll had increased the amount of firewood Yerin produced quite a lot.

If I had known this would happen, I should have gifted it to her sooner.

Hehe.

I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the firewood spreading around me.

And I could also feel Yerin munching on my antennas.

‘Master!’

While I was enjoying my break like this, a hungry ghost reaper approached.

In the arms of the hungry ghost reaper was a golden object.

It looked warm, like a golden reaper.

Glowing red eye glow.

And it was several times bigger than the golden hungry ghost reaper that was still swelling up.

An object emitting faint mental pollution that tricked itself into thinking it was a golden reaper, all twisted here and there.

And its presence was clearly felt by the mini reapers as well, as they all turned their heads to look at the hungry ghost reaper.

The moment I saw that object, I burst forth with my will.

‘Yikes, it’s a harmful object!’

If the hungry ghost reaper hadn’t been holding it, the golden reaper would have rushed in and torn it apart immediately because it was such a harmful object.

Why on earth did they bring that object to me?

Ah, could it be that since that object hurt the attached human, they brought it to be tormented?

Hmm.

I do have a knack for torture and pranks.

As I was thinking about the request from the hungry ghost reaper, the will conveyed to me was entirely different from my expectations.

‘Master, please heal this object.’

The will emanating from the hungry ghost reaper contained a desperately yearning wish.