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Near Sehee Research Institute, in an apartment complex turned into ruins.

The Helmet Researcher was on a business trip to oversee the Mini Reapers.

“The sky is really clear.”

The Helmet Researcher muttered as he fed a small snack to the Golden Reaper.

Looking up, the sky was exceptionally clear and blue, so bright it was almost blinding.

The deep blue sky felt as transparent and profound as a freshly cleaned window.

The sunlight seemed to burst down vividly, while fluffy white clouds floated about, adding a refreshing touch.

However, something strange marred that pristine sky.

It had traces as if it were cut into five segments, still leaving lingering impressions that twisted the shapes of passing clouds.

As the Helmet Researcher gazed at those scars, the Golden Reaper seemed to scratch at the sky, mimicking a boastful pose.

“Mom is amazing!”

The Helmet Researcher couldn’t quite grasp the Golden Reaper’s intent, but quickly understood what they wanted to say.

Perhaps it was a story about how cool the Gray Reaper was.

Well, they did have that aura, and it was indeed a hot topic everywhere.

The recent scars would remain vivid for quite a while, to the point where no one could say they hadn’t seen them.

Holding the Golden Reaper in his palm and looking up at the sky again, the sunlight poured through the scars engraved by the Gray Reaper.

It was a beautiful array of colorful beams.

The space distortion left in those scars seemed to twist the sunlight like a prism, causing it to separate into various colors before reaching the ground.

Looking down where the sunlight touched, some Mini Reapers were basking in the sunlight that matched their colors.

“Red!”

“[Blue…]”

He could see the Blue Reaper drawn out by the joyfully cheerful Red and Orange Reapers, along with the Orange Reaper enjoying the sun’s warmth.

Various Mini Reapers were frolicking beneath the colorful lights.

Despite the joy they brought, looking just a little around revealed a drastically different scene.

Buildings’ outer walls covered in sooty grime.
An apartment left with only the skeleton.
Broken windows.
The grim sight within the apartment visible through the glass shards.

Moreover, the sunlight pouring down created bizarre shadows, giving the ruins an eerie and chilling atmosphere, as if they were the bones of a monster.

However, that eerie environment was only felt in the lonely apartment standing outside the complex.

Most of the apartment complex was occupied by an atmosphere that didn’t seem to fit with the ruins, nor with Seoul.

A white sandy beach radiating a soft glow.
Once a site where numerous missing persons had been discovered, causing quite the stir.

After rescuing all the survivors buried beneath, the now sparsely populated beach was filled with Golden Reapers lounging about.

Golden Reapers that had grown a little plump over time.

“What happened to make them like this…?”

The Helmet Researcher wondered as he looked down at the Golden Reaper, but the Golden Reaper had vanished somewhere.

“No way!”

Turning his gaze around, he found the Gray Reaper had appeared nearby, holding onto the Helmet Researcher’s Attached Reaper.

After a while, the Gray Reaper nonchalantly dropped the Golden Reaper onto the Helmet Researcher’s palm and vanished again.

“They’ve turned into ‘dachji’…”

The Golden Reaper sprawled on the palm, displaying a gloomy expression.

*

The Ashen Girl had a dream.

In her dream, she was crawling along an endless road.

She didn’t know her destination but clutched a small doll tightly in her right hand as she kept moving forward.

Realizing that she was a plaster doll, the girl felt no pain even as her limbs broke and shattered.

But each time her body broke, her consciousness drifted further away.

“If this keeps up, I might lose consciousness soon…”

Yet she had something she absolutely needed to accomplish.

It was to rescue her Mini Reaper friend, the Yellow Reaper.

With that single-minded determination, the girl clung to the threads of her consciousness.

Each time she tried to forcefully retain her consciousness, a pain surged through her head as if it would explode, but the girl didn’t give up.

Finally, she could see the Gray Reaper.

“Thank goodness…”

Before dying, she could pass on the doll…

Though she’d forgotten why passing on the doll was essential due to the chaos in her head, she clearly understood it was of utmost importance.

And so, filled with relief, the girl accepted her impending death.

‘….’

Thinking it would be her last moment, the Ashen Girl slowly awakened from her dream.

Her vision was blurry at first, but it gradually became clearer.

She could see the ceiling of the hospital room.

“I’m alive?”

At that moment, something soft and small suddenly jumped onto the face of the bewildered girl.

“Human…!”

It was her Attached Reaper, the Yellow Reaper.

With a face filled with tears, the Yellow Reaper clung to the girl’s face.

“I’m alive, huh.”

The Ashen Girl said with a faint smile.

Then, moving her hardly responsive hand, she patted the Yellow Reaper.

The Yellow Reaper also tightly grasped that frail hand and rubbed it against its own face.

Everything seemed like it would be alright now.

The Ashen Girl smiled gently and slowly drifted back to sleep.

Just before she fell asleep, it felt as though her older sister was smiling at her.

*

Deep inside Sehee Research Institute, in a comfortable isolation room.

I was rolling around on a fluffy bed.

With both hands stretched up to the ceiling, I was jamming.

But nothing happened.

“I guess I didn’t gain any abilities.”

I had high hopes for the white one we caught this time since it was quite strong, but no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of any abilities.

Is it because all the abilities of that white one were nothing more than a downgraded version of mine?

I wanted to use red flames created from my hands or rewind time, but it was a bit disappointing.

Not to mention the flash of black halo I used at the end!

That was truly impressive.

Of course, it didn’t compare to a real halo, but it would have been pretty tough to block without using the ability-nullifying halo.

And in this incident, there were plenty of lessons to be learned.

It made me think deeply about the so-called “Harmful Objects.”

I realized there were holes in my senses for detecting Harmful Objects.

Even though they felt somewhat ominous, an object that abducts without ever killing humans hardly felt like a “Harmful Object.”

If a Red External Being inflicted mental pollution or had killed humans, or even intended to kill them, it was labeled as harmful.

Moreover, the Golden Reapers were certainly not human, as events clearly demonstrated.

A plaster doll without eyes, nose, or mouth was dragging its feet around an apartment complex.

Plus, the building was left with only its skeletal structure, and a black mold-like powder swirled around to obstruct my vision, and that didn’t seem suspicious?

Honestly, I could just take a picture and it would look like a scene from a horror movie.

Well, now that I dealt with the Golden Reapers, turning them into “dachji,” things should get better.

On my bed lay the “dachji” Golden Reapers, sprawled out with their cute bellies facing the sky.

Poke, poke.

I was enjoying the sensation of poking at the Golden Reapers’ bellies one after another.

“Complete…!”

Just when I thought about making a bed out of the squishy Golden Reapers, the Yellow Reaper informed me that the doll costume was completed.

It was the Tyrannosaurus doll costume I had asked the Yellow Reaper to make.

The Yellow Reaper appeared wearing the doll costume as if demonstrating it, and the Golden Reapers started to rise up wildly upon seeing that.

“How cute!”

“Looks cool!”

“Me too!”

Truly, a tremendous hit with the Golden Reapers!

However, it wasn’t the doll costume I had been hoping for.

I wanted a realistic Tyrannosaurus doll costume!

Seeing my disappointed expression, the Yellow Reaper chuckled and pushed down the dinosaur head on its head.

“!!!”

Suddenly, the doll costume started exuding mental pollution and began to look just like a real Tyrannosaurus.

It was now a hand-sized realistic Tyrannosaurus!

If I could just catch a bunch of White Hungry Ghosts and carve them into Triceratops, I could have some dinosaur playtime!

Hehe.

I smiled happily at the thought of the mini reapers running around trying to catch the hungry ghosts, who were crying woefully.