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Yerin boarded the shuttle bus for the Sehee Research Institute and gazed at the scenery outside.

‘It’s changing much faster than I expected.’

The once ruined landscape of Songpa District was starting to return to its former state.

The disappearance of the hungry ghosts hiding in the sinkhole and the emergence of James Tower were causing this change.

New buildings and newly opened restaurants were popping up.

Inflatable balloon characters swayed in the breeze, often seen trying to attract customers.

While sightseeing through the glass window, Yerin noticed a blurry reflection and smiled softly.

The Golden Reaper was trying to slowly unzip its bag, but its antennae got caught in the zipper.

The Golden Reaper was so focused on extracting its antennae that it didn’t even notice Yerin staring down at it.

Using both hands, it pushed the zipper desperately back and forth, shaking its head in dismay.

If only it used ghosting, it could easily escape!

Strangely enough, Golden Reapers seemed to only use ghosting when it was really necessary.

As a self-proclaimed Mini Reaper expert, Yerin could speculate on the reason for their reluctance to ghost.

It wasn’t some unique creed of the Mini Reapers; it seemed the Golden Reapers valued tactile sensations.

Just looking at how they clung to humans was evidence enough.

Sticking to them all over.

Compared to other Mini Reapers that liked humans, it was a bit of an odd behavior.

Was it similar to how a Gray Reaper, which sees with its skin, doesn’t wear clothes?

Ah, we made eye contact.

Finally extricating its antennae from the zipper, the Golden Reaper locked eyes with Yerin.

The Golden Reaper opened its mouth wide in a shocked expression.

Just its expression screamed, “I’ve been caught tailing you!”

“You were following me?”

Yerin smiled, gently patting the Golden Reaper.

Hehe.

The Golden Reaper, laughing like a child caught in a prank, clung to Yerin’s hand with an awkward expression.

Clop, clop.

After getting off the shuttle bus, they slowly arrived at the studio apartment.

Yerin placed the Golden Reaper on the table and turned on the TV.

[Earlier, the Central Research Institute, which was disbanded due to unfortunate incidents such as civilian kidnappings, fake death statistics, and embezzlement, has announced some astonishing news!]

[The association’s research institute has developed object dolls that closely resemble humans and can accurately follow commands and instructions.]

[This is expected to elevate the status of our country, which has been rated as a developing nation in the field of object technology.]

[However, there are voices of concern regarding such achievements. The American Object Association has stated that technologies utilizing non-passive objects harbor significant risks and require cautious approaches.]

[On the other hand, the Korean Object Association emphasized that sufficient safety devices have been prepared for the newly developed object dolls, asserting that there shouldn’t be any safety issues.]

The TV was playing news about the doll announced by the Object Association today.

“Doll? Was there a department developing something like that?”

Even Yerin, who had some acquaintances in the association’s research institute, found this news surprising.

Perhaps it was a top-secret project, but it seemed unlikely that a corrupt and lethargic research institute could keep such secrets.

“Well, the Reapers will resolve any object-related incidents anyway.”

Though it felt like a big accident might occur, Yerin brushed it off with her endless trust in the Gray Reaper.

Meanwhile, the Golden Reaper, visiting Yerin’s home, was uninterested in the TV and was tilting its head, observing Yerin’s number one treasure.

“Mom?”

It was a lead doll dressed up in a frilly, puffy dress.

With a lavish parasol, it exuded an aura so unexpected that one would find it hard to believe it was a Gray Reaper.

And even though it looked hollow to the Golden Reaper, it somehow gave off a faint maternal vibe.

Looking at that sight, Yerin thought of a game to play today.

Playing house with the Golden Reaper using the Gray Reaper doll!

That game was a delightful play where a supremely kind mom would appear for the Golden Reaper.

The Golden Reaper munched on snacks with the gentle mom doll and played puzzles happily.

But as with all joyful things, there always comes an end.

Once it hit 10 PM, the Golden Reaper suddenly grew drowsy.

Eventually, it collapsed while playing, burying its head on the table.

Yerin chuckled at the sight and tucked the Golden Reaper into her arms as she went to bed.

*

I was sitting in the Mini Reaper Garden in the Marshmallow Plains, examining a halo in my hand.

Halo of ability nullification, complete evasion halo, illusion manifestation halo.

All identical halos.

Shining like an angel’s ring, bright white, round halos.

And they all cause excruciating pain when placed on my head.

What I was contemplating was about that pain.

The halo I pulled out from my heart didn’t hurt at all, so there must surely be a solution.

The first thing worth considering is the number of halos.

Just like when I used two halos in the illusion of the labyrinth, the more halos I used, the greater the pain, so it was a reasonable deduction.

Since I have one halo built into my heart, it inferred that using halos causes pain.

If this hypothesis is true, the solution would be simple.

Just take the halos out from my heart and hang them in the sky.

The problem is that I didn’t know how to take them out myself.

The second hypothesis worth considering was the color of the halos.

The halo that sees death was slightly different in shape but familiar in its golden hue.

The golden color was exactly the same as the color of the firewood burning in my heart.

It was a hypothesis that if I dyed the remaining halos with the color of firewood, perhaps I could use them easily.

So, I conducted all sorts of experiments with the halos still out.

I tried putting them into my heart, and I attempted to roast the halos on sticks above the firewood like grilling meat.

But despite various attempts, the colors did not change.

‘Ah, I don’t know!’

I needed halos to fight the bad guys of the Color Universe, but I figured it would resolve itself in due time.

I sent all the halos back to the sky and lay down on the ground.

Then my eyes caught sight of a wriggling worm.

They were the jelly trio shaped like worms that I got from visiting the Free City Alliance.

I skillfully combined those bland jelly triplets and created something akin to a recruiting inflatable character.

One worm for the body, and one each for the arms.

Hehe.

Then, lighting it up, it began to wriggle upwards like a genuine recruiting inflatable figure.

“Kyuheh.”

And as I watched the worm, a bunch of white hungry ghosts gathered around, laughing.

As if they thought I had forgotten about the ‘Ice Palace incident.’

Hehehe.

But I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to wipe out those white ghosts.

However, it seemed that their numbers had dwindled too much.

At this rate, an enormous number of white ghosts should have gathered by now, but there were too few.

Turning my gaze, I spotted the four-legged golden reapers playfully hopping around the field.

Aren’t they a bit too trendy for golden reapers?

A suspicious feeling started blooming within me.

*

The Golden Reaper was constantly fleeing in a chaotic and frantic scene.

‘!!!’

Behind the Golden Reaper, its recently plump mom was chasing it with a scary expression.

‘I must eat the plump Golden Reaper!’

Mom could easily outpace it if she wanted, but strangely, her body felt heavy, unable to shake off the chase.

Nearby, other Golden Reapers were sprinting away together.

They were Golden Reapers that had also become plump like mom.

And when the Golden Reaper looked down at its body, it noticed its belly sticking out a bit.

‘Gotcha!’

A Golden Reaper running next to it was caught by mom’s hand and dragged away.

Startled, the Golden Reaper turned back to find mom had almost caught up to it.

‘!’

Then a huge hand slowly approached the Golden Reaper and grabbed it.

‘No way!’

The Golden Reaper struggled to avoid being eaten, but it ultimately got sucked into the large mouth.

‘!!!!!!!!!’

In the bluish dawn.

The Golden Reaper jolted awake from a nightmare.

Crawling out of Yerin’s arms, the Golden Reaper let out a sigh of relief.

Though it didn’t quite understand the dream, it felt greatly relieved that it wasn’t real.

Yet feeling a bit uneasy,

The Golden Reaper began to carefully inspect its body parts like its limbs.

And when it looked at its belly, the Golden Reaper was taken aback.

‘I gained weight!’

As it poked its belly, the Golden Reaper dramatically placed its hands on its cheeks like Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream.’

“Reaper, let’s play together.”

Suddenly, the sound of Yerin’s sleep talking reached the despairing Golden Reaper.

Turning its head, the Golden Reaper saw a vast amount of firewood being absorbed into Yerin, flowing out from her.

*

In front of the large cruise ship docked at the port.

In fact, it would have been fine to fly directly to Korea on Cloud Fish, but Cheong had flown to the port hoping to experience the cruise at least once.

Looking up at the massive cruise ship that was as big as a building, Cheong couldn’t hide the excitement bubbling within her.

Having only lived in China, the fact that she was leaving the country gave her a slight thrill.

Plus, the destination was Korea, the homeland of the Orange Reaper!

Of course, Korea was classified as a somewhat dangerous country in the era of objects, but no matter how dangerous, it couldn’t possibly be worse than the Free City Alliance.

As the wheels of her suitcase clattered across the deck, a refreshing sea breeze tickled her nose.

Taking in the ocean-scented air deeply, she slowly walked toward the cruise railing.

Amidst the soothing music playing softly, the cruise ship buzzed with preparations for departure.

Seagulls flew around the cruise ship as if to say farewell, and in the distance, the dazzling sunlight shimmered and sparkled on the sea.

Against the backdrop of shimmering waves, the Orange Reaper began poking Cheong’s cheek.

From the direction the Orange Reaper was pointing, an unfamiliar foreign language could be heard.

“Oppa, is it true we’re going to a place called Korea this time?”

“Yeah.”

There stood a handsome white man wearing a stylish coat alongside a very young-looking woman.

They resembled each other quite closely yet had an age difference, making them look like a father and daughter.

However, such details weren’t really important.

What stood out the most was one thing.

The Purple Reaper perched on the woman’s head!

The Purple Reaper wearing an eye mask exchanged glances with the crowned Orange Reaper.

The woman looking at that scene wore a beaming expression and started approaching Cheong.

“Wow, is that the Orange Reaper?”

Perhaps out of consideration for Cheong, the woman spoke to her in simple English.

At that moment, the deep horn of the cruise ship sounded, signaling the start of the journey to Korea.

As the ship crossed the sea, it began sailing towards Korea.

With the white seagulls and the endless blue horizon in the background, Cheong had a feeling that her connection with these individuals would extend far beyond her expectations.