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The sunlight was shining down on the Sinchon Station plaza.

A girl found her spot among the row of chairs.

With her short hair, the girl’s face stood out even more.

While it seemed peaceful with people bustling under the hot sun, the girl’s heart was anything but.

She had come to this place in Seodaemun District after following the words of a suspicious man she met in her dreams.

The man had said that a “festival” would soon begin, and those words kept swirling in her mind.

Yet, no matter how much she looked around, nothing special was in sight.

There were no signs related to the “object” she was searching for.

“Sigh…”

Frustration escaped her lips.

At that moment, she suddenly recalled the rules of the “festival” that the man from her dream had told her.

“If you eat or possess an orb, you can participate in the festival.”

“If you take all the orbs from others, you are the winner of the festival.”

“You must not tell others about the festival story.”

The rules were so simple that they were easy to remember.

However, those few rules didn’t give her a clear idea of what to do.

Just as she was about to get up from her spot, her cellphone began to ring.

When she checked the call, it was a familiar number she had seen often recently.

It was the detective in charge of the recent “loss of cognitive ability incident.”

“Hello? Detective?”

As she answered the call, a somewhat flustered voice came through.

“Oh, I’m glad I caught you. I have something to ask about the recent investigation results. Do you have some time?”

“Yes, I’m free.”

“I heard your sister visited Seongbuk District about three months ago; do you know anything about it?”

Just as she was about to respond, everything around her began to fade away.

“Several victims have records of visiting Seongbuk District at different times.”

“Don’t know? If you remember anything at all, please let me know.”

Moreover, even though the girl didn’t say anything, it felt like the detective was answering her.

Then the call ended, and an otherworldly scenery welcomed her.

A sky filled with a checkerboard pattern.

Fog that devoured all sunlight and rendered visibility nonexistent.

As if the fog swallowed sound too, her ears began to dull.

In that instant, the girl felt an instinct.

The “festival” had begun.

*

In the depths of the Mini Reaper Garden, the Golden Reaper Conference Hall.

That place, once always bustling with Golden Reapers, was now filled with a significant number of Black Reapers.

It was almost a 50:50 ratio!

Of course, in terms of sheer numbers, the Golden Reapers were still far more, but the Golden Reapers spent a lot of time wandering outside, leading to this ratio.

Yet the blissfully ignorant Golden Reapers seemed unbothered by the increasing numbers of Black Reapers.

“New siblings!”

“Loads of siblings!”

Especially there seemed to be quite a few Black Reapers that their mom had brought along compared to the existing ones.

Omnomnom.

“This is delicious!”

“Who keeps nibbling on me?”

Kyu-hing-hing.

As they nibbled on delicious snacks and played with each other, the Golden Reaper Conference began amid the bustling noise.

The most heated topic was “What snack to eat during break?”

This topic turned into a fierce voting war.

It was a showdown between the Golden Reapers’ favorite “Gray Reaper Pudding” and the Black Reapers’ beloved “Sehee Research Institute Chocolate Cookie.”

With a slight majority in numbers, it seemed like the Golden Reapers would win, but due to the support from the mini Reapers of other colors, the Black Reapers emerged victorious.

By just a few votes!

“Oh no!”

“The pudding lost!”

Although the Golden Reapers lost the vote, they seemed unconcerned.

In the midst of it all, a Ghost Reaper popped up, shouting “Black Pudding!” but most of the mini Reapers had no clue what that was, so there was little reaction.

Maybe that’s why the Ghost Reaper muttered “Blood…” with a slightly dejected expression while slicing and eating Black Pudding.

Near it, a Green Reaper was quietly eating mint chocolate pudding.

During the ongoing meeting, a surprise topic was unexpectedly brought up: “Give voting rights to the White Hungry Ghosts!”

This was something radical White Hungry Ghosts often do, and since it was a frequent occurrence, the mini Reapers’ response was lukewarm.

Kyu-hing-hing.

The sorrowful cries of the White Hungry Ghosts being dragged away by the Red Reapers went unheard by the mini Reapers.

As the Conference Hall got chaotic due to the White Hungry Ghosts, the moderator declared a short break.

Thus started the break time.

The Golden Reapers giggled in excitement, looking forward to snack time.

Although slightly disappointed that “Sehee Research Institute Chocolate Cookie” had been chosen, they still had high expectations, thinking it was quite a tasty snack.

The moist and sweet “Sehee Research Institute Chocolate Cookie” might not be as good as Gray Reaper Pudding, but it was certainly quite popular.

After a little while, small White Hungry Ghosts appeared, each carrying cookies and rushing into the conference hall.

“Cookies!”

The Golden Reaper received a cookie the size of its body for itself, smiling happily.

However, the moment it took a bite, the smile vanished from the Golden Reaper’s face.

“Crisp… so hard…”

The cookie it received this time was a hard version that emphasized crunchiness.

It was a type of “Sehee Research Institute Chocolate Cookie” that Golden Reapers didn’t particularly enjoy.

Of course, when humans gave such cookies, Golden Reapers would enjoy them, but there was an immense difference between eating something from a human and sharing among mini Reapers!

This snack seemed to cater to the preferences of the Black Reapers.

Unlike Golden Reapers who favored soft and extremely sweet treats, Black Reapers typically enjoyed snacks with a strong texture.

“Not fair…”

“Is this because we lost the vote?”

“So this is the cookie we get?”

Sad-faced Golden Reapers emerged all over the conference hall.

It was only now that they fully realized the meaning of the voting results.

The era where they could always get what they wanted through voting had come to an end.

Hing-hing.

*

In the depths of the Mini Reaper Garden.

I was lying on a warm marshmallow with hot chocolate flowing beneath it, enjoying a cozy sleep.

“Mmm.”

Just then, feeling a bit of commotion around me, I turned my gaze to find numerous Black Reapers gathered around me.

Omnomnom.

The Black Reapers were piling up snacks as if they were going to eat everything from the Sehee Research Institute, munching away.

The newly arrived kids seemed a bit greedy.

Had they been starved ghosts before?

In addition to the Black Reapers eating snacks, there were many other Black Reapers engaging in strange behaviors around me.

Some had melted into a blob and transformed into Black Hungry Ghosts like in the “Tower at the End”, wandering around.

Others were cutting white marshmallows into brick shapes and stacking them around me.

They all seemed to be new Black Reapers.

Although I couldn’t distinguish the Black Reapers one by one, they had never acted this way before!

Upon closer inspection, a gigantic Black Hungry Ghost was carrying white marshmallow bricks, and the Black Reapers were receiving them and stacking them around me.

What on earth were they doing?

Curiosity suddenly struck me, and I opened my eyes.

“Ah!”

“Mom, you’re awake!”

Upon that, the Black Reapers started panicking and made a commotion.

Then they rushed over me, bursting with energy.

“You can’t wake up, mom!”

“?”

When I asked why, they responded that they were building something for mom.

“What kind of building is it?”

“A temple!”

Their answer was “a temple.”

Hmm, I do have a bit of a divine vibe, don’t I?

Hehe.

Looking closely, it did seem to have an architectural feel resembling a religious building.

But the entrance was sized for mini Reapers, so once completed, it would be impossible for me to exit.

Would I have to awkwardly ghost out of that building?

“If I can’t go out, what’s the point?”

When I questioned them, the Black Reaper tilted its head and exuded enthusiasm.

“Because it’s a grave?”

“!”

Yikes, the Black Reapers are being blasphemous again.

I kicked the bricks and knocked the structure down, biting the Black Reapers who had been carrying them.

“Waaaah!”

“Mom is bullying us!”

“Mom’s house has always been a grave!”

*

The streets dyed white with fog.

Thump. Thump.

The short-haired girl was slowly moving through the fog, her footsteps muffled.

“There’s not a single person around.”

Except for the checkerboard patterns in the sky and the fog, it looked like the street she had just seen, but there were no people in sight.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only strange point.

Stagnant water.

Frozen birds in the air.

Unmoving clock hands.

Like time had been sliced and displayed, everything in the foggy street was frozen.

Thump.

As she cautiously walked through that street, she sensed a heavy vibration that the fog hadn’t completely swallowed.

A slightly uneasy feeling arose, but the short-haired girl firmly bit down and began to proceed toward the sound.

“Sis, just wait a little. I will definitely bring you back.”

She had a wish to fulfill.

At the end of her path through the fog.

Two horrifically shaped monsters were fighting fiercely.

One was a bloody monster.

A twin blades monster with severed arms at the elbows and saws attached.

The other was a bipedal reptilian monster covered with green scales.

A crocodile monster that used its tail like a spear instead of having arms.

Those dreadful monsters were fighting to kill each other, and the girl gasped in shock and turned to flee.

Into the fog that devoured light and sound.

As she frantically ran, the girl hid her body in the narrow space between buildings and pulled her knees to her chest.

“I was deceived by the man in my dreams.”

“He didn’t tell me that the orbs were such horrible things.”

Instinctively, she realized.

Those monsters were the “ones who had eaten the orbs.”

And the “festival” that the man spoke of was about monsters taking each other’s orbs.

The girl hung her head, softly sobbing.

“Sister, what should I do? What can I do?”

Somehow, the moment she ate that dreadful orb, everything felt like it would be over.

She wanted to throw away that terrifying orb immediately, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

It was her only lifeline to save her sister.

“Should I eat it?”

“I don’t want to eat it.”

As she continued to ponder, an odd thought crossed her mind.

She couldn’t hear the sound of fighting.

“…”

At that moment, a scraping sound of metal against asphalt reached her ears.

Creeeak. Creeeak.

With a pale face, the girl slowly raised her head.

In the fog, she could see the indistinct silhouette of a monster dragging its twin blades toward her.