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I was submerged in the Blue Mist Sea.

My vision was entirely filled with a hazy light blue hue, and the sun hid itself within the mist.

Everything around was shrouded in fog, fading into obscurity, while only the silhouette of the ship seemed to float alone like smoke rising from the mist.

Looking down beneath the deck, the fog that surrounded the area was even denser, appearing almost liquid in its undulating form.

Like waves crashing on a beach, the thick mist rolled up over the deck.

The ebb and flow of the mist, entering and exiting over the deck, felt like the breath of the fog itself.

As I stared at the mist, it felt like it blurred the lines between reality and fantasy.

In that dreamlike atmosphere, the whines of the Mini Reapers began to echo.

“Waaah.”

“I’m dizzy.”

“There are so many moms!”

The Mini Reapers, swaying as if intoxicated.

While it felt freezing cold to me in the biting mist, it looked different to the Mini Reapers.

Did the humans know that this Blue Mist was dangerous? The moment the fog appeared, they quickly hid inside the deck.

Most of the Mini Reapers had also followed their Attached Humans inside the deck.

Of course, the Mini Reapers swaying now were the ones who were stubbornly clinging to their moms.

I lifted one golden reaper, staggering near me, onto my palm.

Then I poked its chubby cheek and toppled it over.

“Who poked me?”

It tilted its head as if pondering something and then promptly bit my finger, saying “Ow!”

Not able to recognize its mom…

This mist must be seriously harmful to the Mini Reapers!

If such fog were spread all around, the Mini Reapers wouldn’t be much help…

I opened the entrance to the Mini Reaper Garden and shoved the entire James Explorer Ship inside.

As the ship vanished, I felt myself plunge into the mist.

The fog was so thick that it felt like being sucked into the depths of the ocean.

In the midst of the impenetrable fog, I sensed an endless descent, diving deeper into the abyss of mist.

Even though I was only dropping about the height of the ship, it still felt overwhelming.

Then suddenly, a chilling sensation enveloped my entire body.

It was so cold that a human would instantly freeze in such temperatures.

Had I finally reached the surface of the sea?

But the surroundings remained shrouded in darkness.

Floating on my back like a swimmer, looking up at the sky, the whole world was covered in blue mist.

“What should I do now?”

As I pondered that, the mist around me began to thin out little by little.

Like the curtain rising on a stage, the mist cleared, revealing a new scene before my eyes.

I was floating atop a plump ship on the dark blue sea.

Looking up at the sky devoid of the sun, twisted clouds filled the heavens, writhing as if alive.

And the intense blue light seeping through the gaps in those strange clouds made me feel dizzy just by looking at it.

I finally understood why the Mini Reapers had looked so dizzy.

“Moreover, two worlds seem to be overlapping…”

One was the ominous blue sea, and the other was a world where tangled clouds obscured the sun.

The other was a world where the sea was nowhere to be found, filled instead with bizarre organic forms resembling spider webs and mold.

Those two worlds were overlapping in front of me.

I consciously pushed the world of twisted organic forms out of my mind.

Then what came into view gradually normalized.

A world of the ominous sea and strange clouds.

And at the moment I completely banished the world of organic matter, a large island began to appear in my sight.

An ominous island surrounded by a bizarre blue hue.

The outline of the blue island was grotesquely distorted.

As if someone had pinched a clay island with their hands.

It looked like a nest of external beings at a glance.

Thud, thud.

I trod over the surface of the sea using my ghosting ability, making my way toward that grim island.

*

The late afternoon twilight was casting its colors over the construction site of the theme park located on the outskirts of Songpa District.

“No one around?”

Given that the theme park was nearing completion, this time should be bustling with the busy movement of workers…

“Something feels off.”

Seoah harbored a slight unease as she stepped into the construction site’s entrance.

Three months’ worth of paperwork had piled up, and the Director Lee Sehee had vanished somewhere, so she needed to find her as soon as possible.

If she couldn’t catch the director at work today, who knew when she’d appear next?

As she moved her feet, the sound of gravel crunching echoed with each step.

Following that sound, a Golden Reaper jumped around, trailing after Seoah on the gravel.

Bouncing from gravel to gravel, skip-skip.

[Giggle]

Observing that scene, a Sprout Reaper sitting on her shoulder chuckled softly.

As she passed through the entrance of the theme park, a giant mascot of the theme park greeted Seoah.

“That’s pretty big…”

It was a massive statue of a Gray Reaper.

It was concealed by cloth, but externally, the statue had one hand on its hip and the other raised high towards the sky.

Continuing forward past the mascot, a heavy sound began to reach her ears.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The noise and vibrations resonating from deep within, blending with the sounds of the construction site.

Turning a corner, she spotted a gigantic steel structure slowly moving forward.

No one was touching it; it was moving by itself.

Beside it, a worker was carefully watching to ensure the steel structure wouldn’t topple over.

“?”

Who on earth was moving that structure?

Thud!

Had it reached its intended point? The steel structure settled onto the ground.

At that moment, the worker who’d watched the steel structure’s movement knelt down and spoke.

“Alright, good job.”

Then a Black Reaper crawled out from beneath the steel structure, grinning cheerfully as they replied with a refreshing voice.

Bee-!

Seeing that made Seoah vividly imagine a future construction site in Korea filled with Mini Reapers.

Surely the strong Black Reapers would completely replace the construction workers, right?

Because the Black Reapers wouldn’t need wages; just give them delicious food…

“…”

As she passed by the Black Reaper and the Attached Worker, she arrived at an open lot where people were gathered, eating.

A slightly unusual point was that there seemed to be far more Mini Reapers than people.

“Are there too many Mini Reapers?”

Seoah had a slight question, but it was quickly resolved.

In the distance, Director Lee Sehee was distributing cookies bundled with Mini Reapers.

As Sehee and Seoah’s eyes met while She was giving out Mini Reapers…

“Eek.”

Sehee turned pale and let out a shout before turning to run madly away.

Seeing that, the Mini Reapers packed inside the cookie box seemed to perceive it as a game, and they began to chase after her excitedly.

“Waaah!”

“Tag!”

Watching Sehee flee with a line of Mini Reapers trailing behind, Seoah was left bewildered, watching the scene blankly.

“Why is she running away?”

Though she’d seemed to not want to sign the paperwork, it didn’t seem like a reason to flee…

“!!!”

At that moment, Seoah’s mind snapped back to reality.

“What on earth did I just do???”

Finally realizing what kind of situation Sehee was in, Seoah hurriedly began to chase after her.

*

Stumbling around, I arrived at the beach of the twisted island.

From a distance, it didn’t look right, but upon arrival, the island radiated an even more ominous atmosphere.

A shore covered in hazy blue sand.

A bizarre mountain rising as if it might touch the clouds.

A rhythmic vibrating sound shaking the entire island periodically.

Black, twisted trees growing near the beach.

Intermittent appearances of dark blue mist rising above the sandy beach.

Moreover, there was no sign of the external being who was clearly the island’s owner.

Only the presence of the external being permeated the island.

Rustle, rustle.

Walking while leaving footprints on the blue sand, I noticed a faintly glowing golden light.

A small light resembling the sun.

Hastily rushing toward that light, I found the Golden Reaper collapsed, having lost all its firewood.

“????”

“The Golden Reaper is hurt. How did I not notice sooner?”

I was feeling incredibly disoriented.

“Is that why I felt uneasy?”

Though nothing had happened to the Mini Reapers, the unease felt ominous without any context.

The Pacific Ocean must have already been damaged by the external beings without humans noticing.

The fallen Golden Reaper was tightly hugging a Golden Orb.

It was holding it so tightly that even pulling at it wouldn’t make it budge.

Moreover, there was no firewood left on the Golden Reaper’s body, but the orb still had a bit of firewood left, radiating a gentle light.

I placed the Golden Reaper and the orb in the palm of my hand and started blowing firewood into it.

Then the gentle light from the Golden Orb intensified, and the Golden Reaper’s will began to seep out.

[To the Attached Human yet to be met.]

[All Mini Reapers are said to have their Attached Humans destined for them, so perhaps that’s why we haven’t met yet? ]

[I wonder what they’ll look like? What voice will they have? ]

[I really wanted to meet them.]

[There’s so much I want to do together.]

[I want to eat cookies together and share fun stories. ]

[And… and… I want to look into their eyes and gaze at them. ]

[Dying isn’t that scary, but not being able to meet is frightening. ]

[If I die here, I feel like I won’t be able to return to my mom. ]

<….>

[I’m getting sleepier. ]

[Even when I try to open my eyes, they keep closing. ]

[Mom…, I’m so cold. ]

[Mom, where are you? ]

[I miss you. ]

<….>