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An open lot near James Tower located in Songpa District.

There, it was filled with employees busily moving and organizing equipment.

In the center of the lot lay the slightly charred Golden-Meka-Tyranno rocket, sprawled out.

James looked down at the rocket and mumbled with a hint of pride.

“Retrieving a Tyranno-shaped rocket must be the world’s first.”

There was a touch of disbelief in James’s mumbling.

Looking down at the table, he saw a Golden Reaper earnestly chewing on something spread out over the newspaper.

This Golden Reaper was the one that always followed James around, and it was trying to eat the tough dried squid that James had left out as a snack.

The Golden Reaper seemed to struggle with tearing the hard squid apart, gnawing at it with its tiny teeth, but it wasn’t very effective.

Was it weak, or were its teeth a bit soft?

It was a good thing that getting bitten by the Golden Reaper didn’t hurt humans, but it looked uncomfortable trying to eat tough food.

“Hmph.”

With the big piece of squid in its mouth, the Golden Reaper looked up at James with a gloomy expression.

Seeing that, James pulled on the squid that was stuck in the Golden Reaper’s mouth.

“Ah!”

Thinking James was trying to take back its squid, the Golden Reaper clung onto it with all its might.

But when James held the Golden Reaper and tugged, the squid slipped right out of its mouth.

“Nooooo!”

Chuckling at the struggling Golden Reaper in his grasp, James said,

“I’ll cut it for you, just wait.”

With tiny scissors, James snipped the squid into bite-sized pieces for the Golden Reaper.

Nom nom.

The Golden Reaper then sat by the squid, a bit embarrassed, and began to chew on it.

‘I wonder how long it will take for the Golden Reaper to eat that piece of squid?’

James watched the Golden Reaper munching away and flipped through the newspaper on the table.

On the page he turned to, there was a photo of dozens of Red Reapers flying around, burning slime.

[Communism's Angels. The Red Reapers that thwarted the world's threat!]

That was the title of the photo.

In fact, up to now, the Gray Reapers and Mini Reapers had mostly been active on the front lines with objects, making it easy for the general public to think, “Ah, the Gray Reapers destroyed an object.”

But this time, the ‘Dark Green Slime Incident’ was a bit different.

It was a direct threat faced by most of the people globally.

Almost nobody lived in places without animals like cats or doves, or even insects and plants.

There were numerous reports of tables suddenly sinking, with dark green slime oozing out from underneath.

At that moment, when the object was right in front of them, and there were no clear countermeasures, the Red Reapers appeared.

Perhaps because of this, the popularity of Red Reapers, along with Gray Reapers and Mini Reapers, skyrocketed.

Fan sites for the Red Reapers sprouted left and right, and numerous re-discoveries of actions attributed to Gray Reapers and Mini Reapers were popping up.

James thought a very good atmosphere was forming.

As time passed, humans would inevitably have to live under the protection of Gray Reapers and Mini Reapers.

Moreover, seeing the Red Reapers walking around with sickles and hammers led to opinions that these Reapers could understand human culture.

Objects that understand and protect humans!

Such recognition was gradually spreading.

There was just one problem.

The rumor that the system desired by the Mini Reapers was communism floated around, but how to resolve that?

However, no matter how hard James racked his brain, there was no clear solution.

*

Deep within the Mini Reaper Garden, beyond the Black Sugar Desert.

I had arrived at a region that no Mini Reaper had reached before, looking around.

After destroying the Green Moon, it was a new area that formed in the Mini Reaper Garden.

It was a jungle made of all sorts of colorful jelly.

Jelly shaped like trees.

Jelly shaped like rocks.

Jelly shaped like flowing rivers.

Jelly shaped like vines.

With various shapes and colors, it was a fun place to wander around.

It almost felt like a jungle decorated with giant plastic block toys.

Though it looked like a toy, the jelly’s characteristics were preserved.

Nom nom.

I lay on a sunlit rock, gazing up at the sky while munching on jelly.

Without Yerin feeding me snacks, or Mini Reapers offering tributes to share with their mom, I was using shadows to tear off jelly to eat.

I was utilizing the tentacle summoning ability I obtained earlier and the shadow molding ability from destroying the Purple Moon.

Since I couldn’t give physical power to shadows like the Purple Reapers, it felt useless at first, but by combining it with tentacles, I found a way to make it work.

By extending the shadows with the shadow molding ability!

And summoning tentacles from that shadow!

It was a great discovery to easily grab jelly outside the range of my tentacles.

After munching on jelly and playing around on the squishy rock, I suddenly thought of the Green Moon.

‘Now that I’ve captured the Green Moon, the Mini Reapers will gain some abilities soon, but how will they come out?’

Since Mini Reapers mostly appear connected with the moon’s retinue, could it be a Green Reaper with a number in the trillions, like the bacteria count?

The abilities gained might likely be related to nature, but I had no idea how they would be granted.

‘If a Green Reaper comes out, the Mini Reapers will definitely celebrate.’

I could almost see the Golden Reapers exuding joy at ‘new youngest!’.

As I spent time thinking about this and that, something suddenly popped out from the shadows of the jungle with a ‘bang’.

‘!!!’

It was a small object of an unfamiliar shape, but it had a small piece of firewood nestled in its heart.

Ah, that must be the Green Reaper.

Unlike the Orange Reaper, it was somewhat different from other Mini Reapers.

But it was still a relief that its body resembled a Mini Reaper.

With cat-like ears, it floated in the air.

Following the Blue Reaper, Red Reaper, and Orange Reaper, here was a flying Mini Reaper.

“Bing?”

With a puzzled expression, the Green Reaper looked around, saw me, and let out a small sound before starting to swirl around me as if to say it was happy to see me.

“Bing!”

Then it cried out loudly and started flying off somewhere urgently.

‘?’

*

At a large hospital near Sehee Research Institute.

The only survivor of James Space Station had arrived in Korea through the Mini Reaper Garden.

Though there were no serious injuries, he was hospitalized due to mental trauma, unable to gather his spirits.

‘No, Mingming, don’t go.’

The woman was lost in endless nightmares.

A recurring nightmare of the last moment when Mingming transformed into a beam of light and disappeared.

“Meow.”

Maybe there was no more blood to flow, her wounds were all dried up.

Faintly glowing golden eyes.

Finally, putting on a forced smile as if to say not to worry, the faint ‘meow’ echoed.

‘If only I could see another moment.’

Though it had been a short journey, there were many memories between her and Mingming.

But all the woman could see in her dreams was this nightmare.

And with Mingming disappearing into a beam of light, the woman woke up.

In the dark hospital room, she had slept so long that her blurry eyes scanned her surroundings, but she closed them again and lay back down.

If she fell asleep again, she would be able to see Mingming.

*

As the woman fell asleep again, a small green object peeked out from the corner of the hospital room.

“Bing….”

It was Mingming, returned from the dead.

But Mingming could not approach the woman without hesitation.

It had changed too much in appearance.

Due to the influence of the Gray Reaper, Mingming had become a Green Reaper.

The Green Reaper confirmed that the woman was asleep and flew back into her arms.

“Meow.”

Feeling the warmth of the affectionate human, it closed its eyes with a peaceful expression.

*

In the serene Seoul Forest that rejects civilization, a massive object stood tall in the middle.

The premium object, Steel Tower.

Without light from human creation, the dark night was endlessly quiet, clouds slowly parted, and moonlight began to pour down.

As the seven-colored moonlight illuminated the Steel Tower soaring into the sky, it was as if something long dormant was awakening.

Crack.

Beginning to crack the Steel Tower, which no human weapon could even scratch.

A chilling black light began to seep from the gaps in the shattered Steel Tower.

Ironically, it was a light darker than the darkness that enveloped Seoul Forest.

The crumbling surface of the Steel Tower was like a devil shedding its skin.

Slowly, very slowly, the interior of the Steel Tower was revealed, empty and hollow.

Though the surface began to crumble slowly, the Steel Tower stood firm and unyielding.