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The island’s coastline twisted grotesquely.

Rough waves crashed against oddly shaped rocks, and the sky was dyed a gloomy blue.

Everything on this island felt like it was irritating my mind.

I placed the Golden Reaper on my palm and sent my will softly.

“Sorry for coming late.”

Seeing it lose its warm light due to the loss of all fuel, it hurt my heart a little.

Except for tightly clutching the orb, the Golden Reaper looked limp and weak.

It was hard to believe this was the Golden Reaper that always wore a sunny smile.

I was slowly infusing it with fuel, as if watering a sprout, breathing life into it.

Then, just like a wilted flower blooming again, the golden Reaper’s glow began to slowly return.

The increasingly bright golden light transformed into a dazzling halo and gradually faded away into the air.

Into the Mini Reaper Garden.

To the Valhalla of the Mini Reapers.

Once again, guidance descended upon the Golden Reaper that had lost its way, starting to flow into where it belonged.

It was the proper cycle of the eternally living Golden Reapers.

Watching this, I furrowed my brow slightly.

It was a complex emotion that could be described as both anger and annoyance.

“Why couldn’t the Golden Reaper return to the Mini Reaper Garden?”

I spat my will into the air with a hint of frustration.

It didn’t seem like the connection to the Mini Reaper Garden was blocked, nor did it seem like a situation where it couldn’t send magic.

Moreover, it didn’t seem like it had violently consumed fuel while fighting to protect or eliminate someone…

Why on earth was this happening?

‘….’

I walked toward the center of the island, filled with mixed emotions of anger and confusion.

*

When the Golden Reaper opened its eyes, feeling the softness of the plush grass, it saw a beautiful night sky adorned with a radiant Milky Way.

Plush grass like a luxury carpet and a stunning night sky.

It was a landscape the Golden Reaper was all too familiar with.

“I’m back…!”

Embracing the golden orb tightly, the Golden Reaper looked up at the sky and chuckled.

The Golden Reaper then decided to dispose of the now useless orb and slowly walked toward the Mini Reaper Garden.

Thud thud.

Once it emerged into the Mini Reaper Garden, it saw other Golden Reapers rushing somewhere en masse.

“They say there’s a lot of snacks!”

“Pudding!”

The Golden Reaper tilted its head at the sight of the procession and subtly joined in, starting to rush along.

Once it stepped out of the Mini Reaper Garden, the spectacle that unfolded before the Golden Reaper was truly magnificent.

Candy pinwheels popping out from every direction.

A gigantic Mom Statue reaching proudly toward the sky.

Tents filled with humans packed in.

A mountain of snacks piled high.

It was truly a festival for the Golden Reapers!

Colorful hungry ghost-shaped balloons floated in the sky above, and beneath them, fabric with letters used by humans flapped in the breeze.

[Gray Reaper Theme Park Open D-17 Festival.]

I couldn’t understand what it meant, but it seemed to be words filled with joyous feelings.

“Wow!”

The joyful atmosphere of the festival filled every direction.

Underneath the canopy creating shade, large and small humans, along with Mini Reapers, gathered in groups.

The Golden Reapers ran around with pudding atop their heads, eager to eat with the humans, while the humans prepared various foods and waited to share snacks with the Mini Reapers.

Joyful laughter and the fragrant smell of food filled the air.

The Golden Reaper moved slowly, admiring the festival with some sort of instinct.

At that moment, through the festival’s commotion, a small sobbing sound reached the Golden Reaper’s ears.

Turning its head to trace the source of the sound, it found a little girl crying in a corner.

Perhaps she was lost; the little human was weeping profusely with sadness.

“Human!”

Without hesitation, the Golden Reaper approached, gently patting the girl’s cheek.

The girl looked up, surprised, and halted her crying at the Golden Reaper’s cheerful smile.

Soon, a small smile resembling the Golden Reaper appeared on the girl’s lips.

After stopping her tears, the girl placed the Golden Reaper on her palm and began to chatter away.

She vividly described the fascinating Mini Reapers, delicious foods, and the splendid parade.

“The voice of a human.”

The Golden Reaper listened intently to the voice of the Attached Human it had longed to meet.

As the tale came to an end, the girl beamed brightly.

The girl’s bright eyes and playful smile.

“The appearance of a human.”

The Golden Reaper, hearing and seeing everything it had wanted from the Attached Human, smiled happily in return.

“Finally met!”

*

On the outskirts of Songpa District, James Tower.

James was busy handling various cases.

Primarily dealing with victims of kidnapping incidents that occurred in Europe and analyzing countless data sent from the “James Explorer” ship.

“Whew, this is tough.”

James uploaded the verified data to the institute’s secure cloud and stood up from his seat.

As he finished up some of the tasks, he stretched, straightening his back.

Although James wasn’t particularly old, sitting at a desk for too long since coming to Korea was taking a toll on his back.

As he stretched, the Golden Reaper sitting on the table was trying hard to mimic James’ expression.

James couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, making it difficult to continue stretching.

“When exercising, you shouldn’t make people laugh.”

James knocked playfully on the Golden Reaper’s head with his finger.

“Human, are you hurt?”

Hearing this, the Golden Reaper looked up at James with a worried expression and wrapped its tiny fingers around James’.

“No, I’m fine.”

James smiled as if to comfort it and placed the Golden Reaper on his head.

At that moment, the telephone on the desk rang loudly.

“Oh, the machine that makes humans work is ringing!”

The Golden Reaper seemed displeased with the phone’s sound, furrowing its tiny brow and lightly tapping the phone’s surface with a little fist.

As James picked up the receiver, he heard the familiar voice of his secretary.

[This is a regular contact from the James Explorer ship.]

“Right, switch it to this side.”

With that, there was a slight crackling noise followed by a connection.

Gikig. Gikig.

It sounded somewhat like an old tree creaking, but also like a “normal” sound from a ship.

[Director James. Regular contact. There are currently no unusual reports.]

And then a seemingly uneventful conversation continued.

They discussed the current location and progress of the exploration vessel, and whether anything seemed related to the “Blue Mist.”

During this exchange, James casually threw out a strange remark to the captain.

“Oh, if this matter ends well, I might be able to send you to JamesSS.”

This was an old confirmation method for mixing in some odd information while communicating with the object-handling exploration team.

Of course, the American Object Association preferred using drones or mental pollution sensors to gather various information.

[Thank you, Director!]

A voice filled with great emotion came through the phone.

However, James’ expression remained stiff.

And understandably so.

Because JamesSS was already the name of a broken space station.

*

After sending the Golden Reaper back, I was continuously climbing the bizarre island.

It didn’t look that big from the outside, but it was considerably vast when I began to walk.

Gikig.

As I ascended toward the island’s center, strange noises and illusions occasionally appeared.

The air was thick with illusions of spider webs made of mold.

“I feel dizzy.”

Every time, it left me feeling lightheaded, as if my head was spinning.

This dizziness and the hallucinations might have caused the Golden Reaper to get lost and fail to make contact.

Continuing to ascend, I began to see objects that once were humans sprawled across the ground.

Gikig. Gikig.

These objects were certainly bizarre in appearance, but their behavior was even stranger.

[Kiki. Kikik!]

They clutched their heads in pain, laughing as if it were the most delightful experience.

A joyful sound escaping from faces filled with agony?

Can I even call that laughing?

Some of them uttered words that could be recognized as “language.”

[Don’t come near!]

[I don’t want to get close!]

[Light, darkness, colors!]

An object with both eyes gouged out revealed its empty sockets, still scratching at them while mumbling.

But the language they spoke was none of the languages found on Earth.

It could only be called a dying curse turned madness.

What was even more bizarre were the actions of the screaming objects.

While they screamed about fear and urged avoidance, they steadily moved toward the center of the island.

Those with legs walked slowly on their own.

Those with arms crawled forward.

Those without limbs inched closer.

As they moved, they twisted into increasingly grotesque forms.

A tangle of blue void and tentacles.

Just seeing their appearance and hearing their sounds made me exceedingly uncomfortable, so I smashed all those harmful objects to bits.

After dealing with all the twisted objects, I set my feet back toward the island’s center, heading towards where the External Being was likely to be.

‘….’

As I climbed the spiraling twisted path, a silhouette of a man slowly began to emerge behind a dark rock.

The dreary blue light descending from the sky illuminated one half of his face, causing an object eye embedded in one of his eyes to glimmer in response to the light.

As the man approached slowly, the hem of his long coat slightly swayed.

His face was etched with many experiences, marked by the passage of time.

‘….’

It was a man I recognized from Italy.

He was probably the Attached Human of the Purple Reaper…

How strange; I can’t see the Purple Reaper anywhere.

“Where is the Purple Reaper?”