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As the scavengers fell one by one, an endless silence descended around the silver-haired girl.

Just moments ago, the shotgun had been soaring through the sky, but with the enemies gone, it lay sprawled on the ground as if its purpose had been fulfilled.

“Ha… Haha.”

The dry laughter of Cheong echoed in the open lot, calm as if nothing had happened.

The sound of rain, which had been bothersome to my ears, now felt extraordinarily quiet.

The flames ignited by the pellets flickered out, quenched by the cold raindrops that felt as frigid as ordinary water.

Except for a slight dent in the hard ground, all traces of the life-threatening pellets had vanished.

Creak. Creak.

In that moment, a strange sound pierced through the patter of rain.

‘!’

From the blood-soaked man’s body came the unsettling noise of bones twisting this way and that.

“No!”

That was a sound that should never come from someone with reinforced body parts through objects.

Cheong pulled out a luxurious syringe adorned with silver from the man’s backpack and stabbed it straight into his body.

The moment she pressed the switch, there was a ‘clunk’ sound, and a hidden needle pierced through the man’s body.

It was a syringe called ‘Dice,’ which served a role similar to a potion in a game.

Although Dice boasted a hefty price, its effect could only be described as miraculous.

It healed minor wounds instantly and could even restore a lost arm in the blink of an eye.

It was essentially a syringe that revives you as long as you’re not dead.

But perhaps due to its overly remarkable effects, or maybe because it felt too dreamlike for the cruel reality, it was, as the name suggested, imperfect despite its high price.

The probability of it working upon use was only about 1 in 6.

In the remaining 5 out of 6 cases, there was absolutely no effect.

It was like playing with your life on a roll of the dice.

Moreover, the chances decreased further with repeated use over a short period.

“Please. Please. Please.”

Was it Cheong’s earnest wish that worked, or was it another miracle akin to the shotgun?

The man’s body, which had been writhing as if his bones were about to break through his skin, began to still, and the wounds gradually faded away.

“Ah, thank goodness.”

Sitting down on the ground, Cheong, who had been tense, relaxed her body.

At that moment, the same sound began to ring out again.

Creak. Creak.

Cheong looked up at the man in surprise, but fortunately, his body seemed fine.

Creak. Creak. Creak. Creak.

And then that sound multiplied, echoing from all directions.

It was the sound coming from the bodies of the scavengers, which had been shot so cleanly that it was hard to believe they were dead.

A shot through the eye socket straight into the brain.

A shot piercing through the gap in their reinforced skin straight into the heart.

It was so clean that it recalled the sharpshooter of the Free City Alliance, ‘Night Hawk.’

Those impeccably dead bodies of the scavengers began to twitch.

As if something were stirring inside a dumpling.

As if the bones were moving on their own.

Like someone squishing around with clay.

The sound of cracking bones accompanied the writhing.

And the more they squirmed, the more their insides seemed to be squashed; it was as if dumplings were bursting, spewing out blood and entrails.

Cheong covered her ears, as if she didn’t want to hear those unpleasant sounds, and squeezed her eyes shut, unwilling to see the horrid scene.

After a while of the unsettling sounds, the bodies suddenly stopped writhing all at once.

Whoosh.

The heavy sound of rain resumed.

Cheong’s surroundings were once again enveloped in the familiar sound of rain.

The moment she opened her eyes slightly in that rain, the sound of skin tearing echoed, and blood splattered across her face.

It was like boiling hot blood.

“!!!!”

And just like a parasite bursting through a belly in a famous movie, grotesque monsters began to erupt from the scavengers’ skin.

They had several spider-like legs and a disturbing pale red color.

Monsters that looked like human spines with several human fingers attached to them.

Those were the objects that had been embedded in the bodies of the scavengers.

As the hosts died, those objects were now emerging like parasites.

Like a parasitic worm that had been inside their body.

“#$%$%#$”

Cheong clenched her eyes shut again and spat out every curse word she could think of.

This is insane. This is insane. This is insane.

Why? Why? Why?

Why would someone embed such things in their body?

Everyone is crazy.

No one is in their right mind.

Everyone is an idiot.

As Cheong tightly closed her eyes and hurled insults, the objects began to burst forth one after another from the scavenger’s body.

When the ice-cold raindrops collided with the high-temperature surface of the objects, thick steam began to rise.

It was a mix of nauseating oil fumes and the smell of blood.

And those parasite-like objects began to crawl into the darkness of the city.

As if they knew precisely where to go.

*

At the Mini Reaper Garden, on the border of the snowfield and Candy Mountain.

A secluded place where other reapers seldom ventured.

I gathered the Orange Reapers there and began explaining the prank we would perform together.

It was a simple plan to go to the ice palace made by the Golden Reapers and smash it up.

Of course, once the Orange Reapers started breaking things, my main plan was to sneak away and report to the Golden Reapers.

Hehe.

I added that if we all made a ruckus, the Golden Reapers wouldn’t be able to get too mad.

“What do you think?”

When I asked the confident Orange Reapers with my expression, they clapped enthusiastically.

“Mom, that’s amazing!”

“Incredible!”

I thought they might refuse, but the enthusiastic cheers exceeded my expectations.

As expected, the Orange Reapers are kind and smart.

To think I’d lead such good kids into a trap made my conscience itch a little, but I decided to chalk it up as a social study for the Orange Reapers.

Hehe.

As I chuckled, the Orange Reapers joined in the laughter.

Strangely, the sight of the kind Orange Reapers smiling felt slightly eerie.

When the Orange Reapers, with their eyes closed, smiled lightly, they seemed a bit like a hidden agenda.

“Well, it’ll be fine.”

I shrugged off that feeling and laughed in anticipation of our prank.

*

It seemed the prank with the Orange Reapers was progressing smoothly.

While I went to spy on the Golden Reapers to decide the timing of our prank, all the Golden Reapers happened to be gathered in one place.

What luck that the ‘Golden Reaper Conference’ was being held irregularly!

The Golden Reaper Conference often convened for absurd reasons like “What’s the tastiest pudding?” and would last at least three hours.

‘!’

The Orange Reaper excitedly declared it was a great opportunity and urged everyone to quickly smash the ice palace.

The Orange Reapers said they were going to fill a White Hungry Ghost’s belly with hot chocolate to attack the ice palace.

Kyuheungheung.

As if it had been prepared in advance, the large White Hungry Ghost was already captured by the Orange Reapers, whining a Kyuheungheung sound.

Kraaan!

As soon as the Orange Reapers left their spots, I felt like a gigantic dinosaur as I began smashing the ice palace.

About ten minutes had passed when I started to feel a bit anxious since the Orange Reapers were taking too long.

‘Don’t tell me….’

Strangely, I had a feeling that the Orange Reapers had betrayed me.

As that feeling struck, I hurriedly tried to escape from the ice palace, but just then, I saw the Orange Reapers approaching, carrying the White Hungry Ghost from afar.

In their hands was the White Hungry Ghost, which was so stuffed with hot chocolate that it looked like it was about to burst.

‘These kind Orange Reapers wouldn’t betray me.’

Reassured, I stretched my arms out towards the Orange Reapers, conveying my intentions.

‘Quickly, pour the hot chocolate!’

Then the Orange Reaper opened the ghost’s enormous mouth.

“Kyuheehee.”

With that weirdly unsettling laugh from the ghost, its mouth opened wide, and a golden wave began to pour out.

‘!’

The golden wave erupting from the ghost’s mouth felt as if divine judgment was descending.

It was a wave filled with the wrath of the Golden Reapers, seemingly materializing the fury from the heavens.

I was swept away by the golden tide pouring down directly onto me.

As if being pulled into an endless ocean.

I sunk deep into the abyss of betrayal by the Orange Reapers and the relentless beating of the Golden Reapers.

Just before being swallowed by the golden wave, I caught a fleeting glimpse of an Orange Reaper’s figure flashing between the waves.

‘!’

That ever-gentle smile was now completely gone, and in its place was only the kind of malice that seemed to whisper “Just as planned.”

*

In the harmful city, a shining girl.

The Orange Reaper found it strangely hard to take its eyes off the girl.

‘Could she be an Attached Human?’

Thus, the Orange Reaper began to secretly observe the girl.

Sometimes it would play little pranks.

When she looked like she was enjoying herself for no reason, it would trip her over a stone on the ground.

When the girl occasionally played with a roulette, it made sure that it always landed on a loser.

During those pranks, the girl grew quite gloomy.

Then the Orange Reaper realized that whenever she felt down, it too would end up feeling sad.

So these days, it would surprise her with good luck, but sometimes it would feel down because it got banned from approaching her.

Hmph.

For the Orange Reaper, humans were perplexing.

And oddly, it would secretly grind up grasshoppers and sneak them into the girl’s white porridge, who was a bit of a picky eater.

“Ew.”

Of course, it stopped when it saw the girl vomiting blood after just a little of that grasshopper powder.

The probability of dying soared due to just that, and keeping that probability under control became quite difficult.

And in its heart, the Orange Reaper silently apologized.

‘Sorry.’

And today, at the moment the girl faced a life-threatening crisis.

The Orange Reaper decided to step forward before the girl.

The sticky rain felt unpleasant, and it wanted to be cuddled up close to the girl.

And it felt the urge to stay close and protect her, as this city was fraught with danger.

As it stealthily approached the girl, a bit of mischief started to bubble up.

Seeing the girl, who tightly closed her eyes and covered her ears, as if she were afraid of the harmful objects emerging from human bodies, the Orange Reaper found her endearing.

The Orange Reaper grabbed a sharp piece of wire lying on the ground and pierced one of the harmful objects before flying slowly toward the girl.

Hehe.

Then it slapped that object onto the girl’s face.

“!!!”

Startled, the girl jumped and promptly lost consciousness.

I expected just a little surprise, but her reaction was beyond what I had anticipated.

‘Wake up.’

The Orange Reaper slapped the unconscious Attached Human’s cheek in an attempt to wake her, but she showed no signs of recovery.

At the same time, it seemed the man began to stir as if to wake up.

Hmph.

Today, the Orange Reaper wanted to receive plenty of cuddles from the Attached Human, but it seemed it would have to wait for another opportunity.