---

At the end of the corridor where the graduates walked,

The air was filled with a strong scent of sulfur from the room at the end.

The head that had fallen to the floor floated up into the air on its own, attaching itself to the man’s body, and a crimson flame erupted.

The flames burned away his eyes, leaving only charred black holes in their place.

His skin dried up in the heat, leaving behind a grotesque visage of red and black leather.

The man had completely lost his human form, transforming into a monster that resembled a twisted corpse.

The monster slowly looked down at the silver-haired girl through the faint embers left in the eye sockets.

Though the silver-haired girl was slightly scared by the horrific sight she had never seen before, she slowly moved to prepare for battle.

Despite her fear, the girl didn’t stop but cautiously picked up the sword that the man had dropped.

The sword was sharp as a needle, with a strong scent of blood lingering on the blade.

The silver-haired girl firmly gripped the handle of the needle-like sword and pointed it toward the man.

Seeing this, the monster opened its mouth towards the silver-haired girl.

[Livestock cannot defeat their owner.]

It was a rough and distorted voice that was hard to understand.

As the monster’s hand suddenly swung through the air, a red flame left a trail in the void.

It was an incredibly quick slash.

That slash was faster and stronger than any attack she had experienced in the ‘facility.’

It was an attack that no child in the ‘facility’ could block or evade.

If the silver-haired girl had been the same as before she ate the fruit, she would have never been able to dodge it.

However, the silver-haired girl was no longer the same as before.

In the midst of accelerated time, the silver-haired girl dodged the attack with the grace of the wind.

[No, how can livestock…?]

Surprise colored the monster’s voice.

But the rough voice of the monster couldn’t continue any longer and came to an abrupt end.

This was because the silver-haired girl had swiftly closed the distance and plunged the needle-like sword into the monster’s heart.

The monster took a slow step back, feeling around its heart.

A sticky, dark red liquid oozed out, resembling dried blood.

As the man looked down at his chest, the wound seemed to squirm, as if it would regenerate any moment, but it refused to heal, as if something was blocking it.

[W-Why?]

That was all the man said before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

On the corpse that the silver-haired girl saw, numerous small indigo sprouts began to sprout.

*

Mini Reaper Garden, Marshmallow Plains.

In front of me lay the yellow reaper and the purple reaper with an eye patch sprawled out.

The yellow reaper lay flat as if fainted, exposing its chubby belly, while the purple reaper leaned against the wall and was trying to create a vibe.

The purple reapers really do maintain their posture even when they faint.

Feeling a bit curious, I poked the cheeks of the purple reaper.

After the purple reaper and yellow reaper had fainted, the 1st Sword of the Golden Reaper and the Hungry Ghost Reaper moved slowly, doing something.

They were wielding swords slowly, trying to sync with each other, but I had no idea what they were doing.

‘Still, this time I finally got to experiment.’

Every time I tried to conduct a halo experiment with special children, something went wrong, but this time, I managed to finish the experiment without any issues.

I began to scribble something on the marshmallow to summarize the experiment results.

[Yellow Reaper - Can use the Illusion Manifestation Halo.]

[Fake Eye-Patch Purple Reaper - Can use the Halo of Space.]

[Children already experimented.]

[Blue Idol Reaper - Halo of Decree.]

[Orange Crowned Reaper - Complete Evasion Halo.]

[Children yet to be experimented - Abnormal Black Reaper & Golden Horn Reaper & Cloaked Golden Reaper.]

[Halo with no owner - Ability Nullification Halo.]

<1st Sword of the Golden Reaper - None.>

[Hungry Ghost Reaper - None.]

[Special Note - Both the 1st Sword and Hungry Ghost Reaper can just use any halo.]

[However, they could not use it as naturally as the Blue Idol Reaper or the Orange Crowned Reaper.]

As I wrote down the experiment results, I suddenly felt uneasy.

Could it be that the memories of my daily ‘Cute Puppy’ observation reports back when I was an employee at the Seoul Research Institute resurfaced?

Maybe that’s why I suddenly felt like tormenting the ‘Cute Puppy.’

Hehe.

I hadn’t seen it since I spotted it at the Jelly Pig Hospital last time; I wondered where it could be.

I stood up from my seat and began my journey to find the cute puppy.

*

“Olympics!”

While I was on my way to find the cute puppy, I spotted a Golden Reaper exuding an unexpected will.

Not just one or two, but quite a few Golden Reapers were running somewhere, radiating that will.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Suddenly curious, I started to follow the Golden Reapers slowly.

The line of Golden Reapers stretched on for quite a distance.

They passed through winding corridors and even weaved through steel barriers with their ghosting abilities.

‘Was there such a passage in the Sehee Research Institute? I don’t think I’ve seen this before….’

Upon reaching the end of the passage, I found Sehee playing with the Golden Reapers in a huge room.

Oh look, she’s made something weird again….

What’s up with all these strange folks around me, Sehee and Yerin?

“Reaper, over here!”

Once Sehee noticed me, she smiled brightly and waved her hand.

Bouncing happily.

As I walked slowly over to sit beside Sehee, she quickly scanned her surroundings and clapped her hands enthusiastically.

‘Olympics!’

‘Snacks!’

The Golden Reapers, with expectant looks on their faces, gazed up at Sehee with sparkling eyes.

Seeing their expressions, Sehee chuckled softly and shouted loudly.

“Let’s start the 1st Golden Reaper Olympics!”

‘Uwaa!’

In response to Sehee’s shout, the Golden Reapers jumped up joyfully, their faces lit with happiness.

Golden Reapers really do match the atmosphere no matter when you see them.

Then, in the large room, the sound of machinery operating could be heard, and a stadium of Golden Reaper size appeared.

Sehee and I sat in a vantage point overlooking the arena, snacking on goodies.

Om nom nom.

While enjoying the delicious snacks and drinks, the first event began.

The first event seemed to be a bread-eating race instead of a running race!

The Golden Reaper who ran the shortest distance at the fastest speed and ate the bread first would be the winner!

The Golden Reaper who came in first jumped out from afar like a rocket, biting into the bread.

It boasted an unusual athletic ability that set it apart from the other Golden Reapers.

The one who secured first place bit into the bread while grinning brightly.

After that, many more events followed.

Donut wrestling where they threaded donuts onto their antennae, and a fight to steal an opponent’s donut.

A game where they pushed their opponent off into a hot chocolate outside the ring.

A game where they threw candies accurately to score points.

A competition to lift the heaviest chocolate, among others.

It was as if the events from the Olympics had been transformed into something befitting the Golden Reapers.

When the Olympics wrapped up, the scores were announced.

“The first place goes to~ that Golden Reaper munching on a donut!”

When Sehee announced the winner, the Golden Reaper who came in first bounced around happily.

“Looks like the kid who won the first event became the ultimate champion.”

‘What?’

Sehee glanced at me while speaking, but I raised a question mark above my head.

‘They can differentiate?’

More and more seemed to have the psychic ability to ‘distinguish between Golden Reapers,’ like Yerin….

The first-place Golden Reaper strutted over to claim its prize, while the rest of the Golden Reapers sprawled out on the floor with gloomy faces.

At the end of Sehee’s trail of bouncing steps was a large door.

“Now, all the snacks in here are for the first place!”

As Sehee said that and opened the door, the interior of the room was revealed.

Darkness filled the room without a single light.

A sweet aroma wafting out into the hallway.

The air was chillingly cool.

A long room that seemed endless.

And as the lights turned on in the room, various types of snacks lined the walls without end.

‘Snacks!’

The Golden Reapers smiled happily and rushed towards a gigantic pudding.

It was a super giant pudding that looked to be about 3 meters wide and long.

The Golden Reapers took bites of the pudding and then bounced over to Sehee, sending her a message.

‘Can we eat together?’

At first, Sehee didn’t understand, but eventually gleaned the message from the Golden Reaper’s gestures and nodded her head.

Then the Golden Reaper turned to me with a bright face and sent a message.

‘Let’s eat together, Mom!’

While looking at Sehee and the sprawled-out Golden Reapers, they sent out the intent.

‘Let’s all eat together!’

Then, the Golden Reapers that had been sprawled out like corpses came back to life and rushed over.

‘Let’s eat together!’

Thus, the finale of the Olympics turned into an om nom nom party.

By the way, these snacks should be pretty pricey given the quality of the facility; I wonder if Seoah won’t catch on?

*

“Ha. Ha.”

The silver-haired girl was catching her breath, gazing down at the sprouting monster.

The battle hadn’t been particularly tough, but she was quite tense, and it made her breath come out in huffs.

As she regained her breath, the silver-haired girl approached the brown-haired girl.

Gently, she untied the bounds that held the brown-haired girl to the bed.

“Did the Human Corps turn out to be objects?”

Though the freed brown-haired girl still appeared confused, she quickly collected herself and spoke to the silver-haired girl.

“First, let’s go back and report. It should be an issue caused by the objects invading.”

The silver-haired girl almost shouted at the indecisive brown-haired girl but held back and spoke in a soft voice.

“Let’s just push a little further ahead. We must not go back.”

“But….”

The silver-haired girl held the brown-haired girl’s face in her hands, looking into her eyes.

“Even if you’re confused, believe in me, okay?”

Thanks to the silver-haired girl’s firm will and shining eyes, the brown-haired girl took a calm breath and nodded.

“I understand, I will.”

Then, the brown-haired girl added softly, “I trust you.”

The silver-haired girl and the brown-haired girl held each other’s hands tightly and stepped out of the room.

Beyond that, a much more shabby corridor lay ahead.

A dirty corridor entirely unfitting for the ‘noble’ Human Corps.

They advanced down the corridor until they reached a large door that welcomed them.

The silver-haired girl and the brown-haired girl nodded at each other and slowly pushed the door open.

As the door swung open, the room revealed its interior.

A darkness filled the room without a single beam of light.

A thick scent of blood flooded out from the entrance.

The air was chillingly cool.

The corridor’s light barely illuminated the exceptionally long room.

When the silver-haired girl found the switch and turned on the light, a horrific sight appeared.

Endlessly lined along both walls were slabs of meat, meat, and more meat.

All of it appeared to be human flesh.

It truly looked like a human slaughterhouse.

With her pale face gazing upon the scene, the brown-haired girl swallowed hard.

“Is all of this human? This is absurd….”

The brown-haired girl, ghostly pale, gasped for breath for a while.

Seeing this shocking scene, the brown-haired girl realized something was wrong with the facility.

After calming down somewhat, the brown-haired girl tightly held onto the silver-haired girl’s hand and said,

“This can’t be caused by the actions of a single individual.”

“Yeah, the whole facility is at fault.”

At that moment, a loud noise began to echo.

Red lights began to flicker, and an announcement flowed through the room.

[‘The Betrayers of Humanity’ have intruded into the facility.]

At the same time, footsteps could be heard from all directions.

As if they were being surrounded.

In that moment, something small came into the silver-haired girl’s line of sight.

[Human! Over here!]

It was a blue object waving its hands from a distance.