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A man was running desperately.

“Damn. Damn. Damn. It must be those guys’ doing!”

Most of his comrades who had followed the captain had scattered in a panic.

The beginning of all this chaos started when the boss’s object, which had been functioning well for two years, suddenly went haywire.

Tripping over a stone and getting impaled by the protruding rebar from the bare concrete?

That was plausible.

What about one of his comrades falling to their death when the cracked concrete floor suddenly collapsed beneath them?

That could happen too.

How about a comrade’s grenade pin, which he had the habit of beating with his fist, popping out on its own and causing an explosion?

You could see that coming.

Or slipping on rainwater with an oily texture and falling off a rooftop?

Yep, that sounded about right.

But having all these things happen simultaneously? Now that was some seriously abnormal nonsense.

Something unknown was hovering among them.

At that moment, someone screamed in terror.

“It’s a curse! A ghost’s curse!”

Some were so gripped by fear that they began to bolt like madmen.

‘A curse? A ghost? Nonsense.’

The man struggled to keep his rationality intact.

He clearly believed that those the captain was aiming to catch were behind it all.

Luckily, there were still some calm comrades left beside him.

With tensely serious faces, they chased after the prey that had fled.

“Wait up!”

The lead comrade suddenly halted everyone in their tracks.

“There’s something over there! Something stained with blood!”

In an instant, something ghostly white and blood-streaked brushed past the alleyway.

“Ahhh!”

One comrade screamed in pure fright.

“It’s a ghost! A ghost has appeared!”

In a frenzy, he started shooting randomly down the alley, engulfed in terror.

As the bullets were swallowed into the darkness of the alley, a sound like concrete crumbling echoed, and ominous vibrations began to stir.

“Damn it.”

The man looked around.

Old, rickety buildings loomed threateningly, ready to collapse at any moment.

“Stop! Please, just stop!”

He rushed over to the comrade lost to madness and snatched the gun from his grip.

But it was already too late.

The vibrations from the bullets grew stronger, and soon a portion of the building completely caved in.

Bang!

Dust and debris enveloped everything.

Miraculously, the man survived without being crushed, but his comrades weren’t so lucky.

They met a wretched end, buried beneath the rubble of the fallen building.

The man, feeling like he had been hit by a car, had broken bones and torn skin as he tumbled about.

As he rolled out of the dark alley, he caught sight of the fleeing prey.

“Haah. Haah. Did I survive?”

He gasped in celebration of his survival, but sadly, it wasn’t over yet.

From the darkness of the collapsed building, a blood-stained white mass was slowly approaching.

It was the figure of a reaper, leading to death.

“Sa… save me….”

The man weakly turned his head and reached out a hand toward the escaping prey.

But in that moment, a massive steel structure fell from the sky.

“Ah.”

With that sight, the man felt the intuition of death and shut his eyes.

*

On the outskirts of the Free City Alliance, in the Scavenger’s territory.

For some unknown reason, the scavengers seemed to have ceased their pursuit, yet Cheong and his companions cautiously proceeded through the alley.

Above Cheong’s head, an unidentified fur ball was perched.

The fur ball seemed a bit flattened, as if claiming to be a hat.

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

The woman with the sniper rifle asked Cheong with a worried expression.

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

Cheong replied, hugging the fur ball close to his chest.

Then, as he poked the small hands and feet sticking out of the fur ball, he wore a satisfied smile.

The woman looked at him uneasily, as if watching someone mentally unstable.

How could he regard such a gruesome object, stained with blood, so fondly?

She quickened her pace to walk alongside the man ahead.

(Are you still not found it?)

She whispered to the man.

(Do I look like I’m as good with machines as you? Just wait while I search.)

The man was tapping away at a tiny smartphone that seemed utterly mismatched with his large hands, looking for information about the object clinging to Cheong.

He was having more difficulty finding information than expected.

It wasn’t easy to connect to the network on the Chinese side from the Free City Alliance, and connecting from China to overseas networks wasn’t a walk in the park, either.

(Ah, found it!)

After much effort wandering around the internet, he finally managed to uncover information regarding the mysterious object.

[Name: Orange Reaper.]

[Rank: Expected to be a premium object derived from the regular Gray Reaper.]

[It is a derived object of the premium object Gray Reaper.]

[Other than having the ability to fly and control Cloud Fish, no abilities have been revealed.]

The woman was so surprised by the information that appeared on the screen that she almost shouted.

(Premium? It’s a premium?)

There are quite a few objects that can be hunted to be modified into equipment like prosthetic limbs around the Free City Alliance, but strangely, there had never been a premium object to appear until now.

(Premium, huh? I heard from the mercenary manual that ‘premiums’ are unmanageable…)

(Well, since it’s a grade designated in Korea, our classifications might be different. Still, we should be careful and watch it without provoking it.)

(Right.)

As the man and woman whispered while watching Cheong, they soon arrived in front of a gigantic wall.

“It’s a security wall. Once we get over this, our mission is complete!”

Cheong, looking somewhat exhausted yet appearing happy, gazed up at the wall.

*

The ‘Giant Mother Golem’ was completed with sparkling starlight, and the ‘Creation of the Giant Golem’ came to an end.

That ‘Giant Mother Golem’ became a massive structure adorning the Marshmallow Plains.

It seemed that it was intended to be summoned by the Blue Reapers.

[Giant Golem!]

[Real Mother Golem!]

Since a huge and shining golem was created just like the Giant Mother, the Blue Reapers looked extremely happy.

And so did I.

For some reason, the Golden Reapers had given me a vacation.

Thus, I was able to return to my isolation room for the first time in ages and relax peacefully.

‘Mom’s Vacation!’

‘Vacation!’

There wasn’t much difference from usual, except that I had to stay with the Golden Reapers during the vacation.

From antennae to fingers, toes, and even between my hair, the Golden Reapers had clung onto me.

Ugh, it was bothersome.

If the Golden Reaper hadn’t been soft and cushiony, it would have been terribly uncomfortable, but thankfully it was bearable.

I buried my back in the plush bed and used the soft, warm Golden Reaper as a blanket.

For the first time in ages, I turned on the TV and started watching the news.

[Hello. We bring you this news flash.]

[Through cooperation with the Chinese public security, a group smuggling golden horns has been apprehended. The suspects have been shockingly modified into objects all over their bodies.]

[This indicates that a loophole has been created in the Free City Alliance blockade, which the object modifiers had sealed themselves in to avoid detection.]

[In response, the Chinese government has declared a state of emergency and urgently deployed association experts near the Free City Alliance to thoroughly inspect the blockade system.]

[The Chinese authorities stated they will continue to take strict measures against illegal smuggling and object modification. We will keep you updated with the latest news as it comes.]

[That was the breaking news.]

A gold bar made from melting golden horns was displayed on the news screen.

Unlike regular gold, it was a gold lump with a warm color, as if it contained the sun.

When compared to the back of the Golden Reaper watching the TV, it definitely resembled a similar shade of gold.

Turning my head to take a look, the Golden Reapers were staring blankly at the TV, with no idea what was being discussed.

Swinging their golden antennae around without knowing the content at all.

As the eldest, shouldn’t they do a bit of studying?

With that thought, I poked at the antennae of the Golden Reaper.

In response, the Golden Reaper gently nibbled my finger and giggled.

Well, it was cute.

Do I need it?

*

On the outskirts of the ‘Wei family’ territory in the Free City Alliance,

Having passed through the gigantic security wall like a huge building, Cheong and his party were engaged in a minor argument while waiting for the receiver at the delivery spot of the requested goods.

“Cheong, think it over again. This request feels a bit suspicious.”

The woman clung to Cheong and suggested giving up the request, insisting it was suspicious.

The idea was to abandon the request and return the items to the intermediary who brought them.

In truth, there were quite a few strange aspects to this request.

The scavengers had tracked them somehow.

An unexpected number of attacks.

The appearance of the scavenger’s leader, the ‘Tank’.

And lastly, the suddenly vanished scavengers.

But Cheong slowly shook his head in stubborn refusal.

“This is a request from ‘Wei family’, one of the three clans governing the Alliance. If we give up, it’ll become hard to work as mercenaries.”

“That’s true, but….”

“Besides, if it’s a request that could prompt the scavenger leader of a region to come, it might be even more problematic to abandon it.”

Cheong then muttered in a serious tone.

(And I need to make a lot of money with this ‘family request’. There’s something I must do.)

Though his voice was too low for the woman standing nearby to hear, the Orange Reaper perched like a hat on Cheong’s head heard it clearly.

‘I’ll make it happen. That wish.’

The Orange Reaper vowed, exuding will that the attached human wouldn’t hear.

Just then, sounds of disciplined footsteps began to approach.

As the man appeared tense and spoke,

“Damn, the clan members give me the creeps every single time.”

The figure emerging from the clan looked like they were dressed in a neat gray suit.

The problem was that clothes and body parts were all seamlessly stitched together.

It resembled a mackerel that was half-rotten, cut into hexagonal shapes, and awkwardly sewn up.

Like a statue of a ‘clothed person’, the skin and clothing were fused together.

And the eyes were entirely filled with black sclera, devoid of any whites, making them look alien.

It was an appearance that was painfully hard to get used to.

“You’ve brought the items.”

At the receiver’s remark from the clan, the man placed the bag he had been carrying in front of him.

The receiver took the bag and weighed it for a moment before nodding and speaking.

“Good job. Once the items are verified, the agreed-upon payment will be deposited. You may leave now.”

The receiver’s tone was rigid and formal.

Like a programmed machine, his voice bore no fluctuations of emotion whatsoever.

His gaze towards the group was cold and indifferent.

With that, the conversation ended.

Cheong and his party began to leave silently, as if accustomed to it.

The Orange Reaper, disguised like a bizarre fur ball headpiece, was quivering with tension, unable to take its eyes off the ‘receiver’.

‘A harmful object!’

Though the scavengers were humans patched together from objects.

That receiver was a 100% pure object, extremely dangerous, and had never been human even once.

*

The open lot that Cheong’s group had left fell into silence.

The receiver painstakingly confirmed that there was no one around in such silence.

Then he opened the backpack by unsealing its specially designed secure lock.

As he did, a brilliant golden light flickered across the open lot.

The contents of the backpack were a cubic mass of golden horns that had been smuggled from Korea.

With relief flashing across his face, the receiver slipped the backpack back over his shoulder, though it quickly reverted to his usual expressionless demeanor.

He surveyed the surroundings with a cautious gaze, but only silence met him.

Finally, as if letting go of tension, he began to mumble softly to himself.

The unfocused eyes of the mumbling receiver seemed to gaze beyond the space, as if watching emptiness.

“It seems the scavengers caught a whiff of it, but… the goods have arrived safely.”

After a brief pause, he strengthened his voice and added.

“Yes.”

Once more, after scanning the area, a subtle smile graced the receiver’s lips.

As if he had obtained something precious, a gleam sparkled in his eyes.

“And although it requires verification….”

He continued to speak slowly, caressing the backpack.

“I’ve discovered a pure human that can be used for grand deeds.”

There was both expectation and caution in his tone.

Tightly clutching the backpack, he nodded again before striding away confidently.

Amidst the dust that sparkled under the sunlight, the receiver’s figure gradually faded from view.