---

In the deep recesses of the Free City Alliance, there stood a shabby building with few inhabitants.

Inside the old and worn-out structure, a silver-haired girl perched by the window, gazing at the scenery outside.

The haphazardly expanded building looked unstable, as if it might collapse at any moment, and the narrow alley barely wide enough for a person to pass through was twisted and tangled like a maze.

Moreover, the walls of that alley were chaotically covered with colorful graffiti.

If it had been night, the dizzying glow of neon signs would have only exacerbated the confusion.

The landscape of the ‘Free City Alliance,’ untouched by government control, had always been like this.

Some might call it freedom, while others could easily label it debauchery.

The silver-haired girl stared blankly at the scenery.

Approaching her was a large man who initiated a conversation.

“Cheong, why don’t you try this?”

The girl, referred to as Cheong, didn’t even turn her head and replied immediately.

“Absolutely not.”

The man, holding a plate, wore a gloomy expression as he swallowed the caterpillar on the dish at her response.

“It’s delicious….”

The caterpillar was as big as a fist, completely black with red and green stripes.

The bug, glistening like metal, looked horrifying, radiating a sense of poison at first glance.

While those who grew up in the Free City Alliance might be used to it, for Cheong, who had just recently entered the city, it was definitely not something she wanted to eat.

In fact, the unpleasant appearance of the food was a secondary issue.

Returning to her seat, a large woman who was smoking a cigarette laughed and remarked towards the man who was continuously inhaling the caterpillar.

“That’s poisonous, you know. Cheong can’t eat that.”

Indeed.

The most significant issue was its toxicity.

For some reason, most of the food sold in this city contained poisons, making them perilous for an ordinary person to consume.

When Cheong first slipped into this city, she nearly died from eating something improperly.

No, had she not met the companions here, she certainly would have died.

As she slowly sipped from a tube filled with a liquid made from ground beans, she thought.

“This city has truly gone mad.”

There was no need to look far; even just observing her companions confirmed that.

The woman smoking a cigarette looked to be well over two meters tall.

The massive man continuously inhaling caterpillars had two pairs of arms.

A mad city where people freely sever their own limbs for necessity.

A city of madness where they seamlessly attach still-unknown objects to their bodies.

A greedy city filled with harmful food and water, where its inhabitants swap out their organs for objects to digest them.

And a city filled with murky air that felt like having one’s lungs sliced open.

Cheong, gazing at the pollutants staining the sky yellow, put her mask back on.

Still, she understood that there was no helping it in this city.

Supply routes couldn’t function properly due to China’s blockade.

And without support from the mainland, this ‘Free City Alliance’ couldn’t sustain itself properly.

The land was extremely cramped, and the population was far too large.

In the end, they had no choice but to make use of objects that defied the laws of physics.

“I hope someday to get out of this city.”

The silver-haired girl gazed blankly beyond the sky, quietly wishing for a dream that seemed unlikely to come true.

*

In the Mini Reaper Garden, a Gray Reaper was waddling around Marshmallow Plains.

In its arms was a Ghost Cat.

The Ghost Cat seemed content in the Gray Reaper’s embrace, purring with a very satisfied expression.

Meow.

The Ghost Cat leaned comfortably against the Gray Reaper, nestling into its hold.

Softly, softly.

The Gray Reaper’s gentle touch was stroking the back of the Ghost Cat.

Meow.

Perhaps remembering something, the Gray Reaper suddenly conveyed a desire.

“Want to go eat some pork cutlet?”

‘?’

“It’s supposed to be really tasty; you’d like it.”

Upon arrival, they found themselves in a building resting atop a gigantic Jelly Pig.

No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t have the feel of a restaurant.

Meow.

The Ghost Cat seemed to quietly meow, sensing something odd, but the Gray Reaper smiled kindly and conveyed.

“We’re almost there.”

Then, the Gray Reaper led the Ghost Cat into a room completely shrouded in black.

It looked incredibly solid, and there was a strange weightiness to the black surrounding them.

Every now and then, yellow eyes blinked from the black walls.

Clank.

As the door closed with a heavy sound, the atmosphere shifted abruptly from normal to tense.

It felt almost like a prison.

Meow!

Sensing something was off, the Ghost Cat attempted to use ghosting to escape, but its paws had already been caught by the Golden Reaper.

‘!’

The Ghost Cat hurriedly turned to look back at the Gray Reaper, but the kind smile it had worn was nowhere to be found.

Hehe.

Only a Gray Cat with a playful and wicked grin remained.

Meow!

“You tricked me!”

The Ghost Cat cried out in indignation and struggled but couldn’t break free from the Golden Reaper’s firm grip.

Like a poor cat strapped to an operating table.

The Gray Reaper with an evil expression approached with firewood stacked in both hands.

“It’s okay. It’ll be over quickly.”

At the moment the Gray Reaper’s firewood lit up the cat—

Aaaaow!

The anguished cry of the cat echoed throughout the Jelly Pig Hospital.

*

In front of a small grave created in the Mini Reaper Garden.

I stood before it, staring down at the grave.

Regrettably, the consciousness of the Ghost Cat had failed.

It had died.

Being far too weak as an object, it had perished.

I paid my respects before the Ghost Cat’s grave.

“This wasn’t a cat that would die this quickly….”

Meow!

Above my head, an extremely angry cat was whacking my head for talking nonsense.

The body had been made from a halo, and the soul was summoned as a blue giant—new Ghost Cat.

But having died once and come back, with a different body.

Was that cat truly the same as the one before?

But hearing my philosophical question, the Ghost Cat angrily whacked my head even faster.

*

As the furious cat returned to Sehee Research Institute, I began wandering around the Mini Reaper Garden to cure my boredom.

While aimlessly meandering across the vast snowfields, I stumbled upon Golden Reapers sprawled all over the ground.

“Is there something going on?”

I lifted one limp hand of a collapsed Golden Reaper, and it dangled lifelessly.

It flopped around without strength, swaying to the left and right.

Somehow, this weakened Golden Reaper had a strange charm that made me want to continue touching it due to its soft texture.

So I fiddled with it for a while and finally decided to ask what was up.

The Golden Reaper, blinking its blurry eyes like someone starved to death, conveyed a thought.

“Adventure….”

Though it was a bit hard to catch, upon closer inspection, I figured out the cause.

The delightful adventure had come to an end.

As the Orange Reaper’s lies were exposed, it had been revealed that the ‘Legendary Pudding’ did not exist.

The Golden Reapers had truly set off on their journey looking for ‘Pudding’ with joyous hearts.

They were like children enjoying a treasure hunt in a film.

But now, their destination had vanished.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

I gently patted the Golden Reaper and gathered up the other sprawled ones.

In response, the Golden Reapers clung to me exclaiming, “Kind mommy!” with eager feelings.

Perhaps quite a few of the Golden Reapers had been enjoying their adventures, as I quickly became surrounded by a swarm of them, turning into a Golden Reaper Cocoon.

In that soft cocoon filled with Golden Reapers, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

It seemed like the Golden Reapers liked me just like before.

With this much, couldn’t I conclude my kind mommy week?

Hehe.

In my view completely filled with Golden Reapers, I caught sight of a structure built upon the snow.

It was an ice palace created by the Golden Reapers, having cemented snow into solid form.

It was truly intricate and beautiful.

It felt as if the end of my kind mommy week was drawing near.

*

Hiding among the Cloud Fish, the Orange Reaper arrived at a very intriguing location.

A city full of people yet ruled by harmful objects.

It truly was a harmful city!

The humans in this city lived by replacing parts of their bodies with objects.

People with spider-like eyes stuck all over their faces.

Humans with three pairs of arms and three faces.

People with gigantic blades protruding from their backs.

Those humans seemed blissfully unaware that the objects they had replaced their own bodies with were filled with ‘malevolence towards humans.’

A city overflowing with malice towards humans, filled with the repugnant stench of harmful objects.

There was not a single proper human, just a city brimming with those who had grown closer to being objects.

Any ordinary Mini Reaper would never wish to enter this city.

Yet, amidst that city, there was a girl gleaming like a star.

A pure human untouched by her surroundings.

The Orange Reaper felt a sudden curiosity upon seeing that girl.

“I wonder how that girl survives in this city?” a small curiosity lingered.