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On the endless snowfield stretched a desolate land, where the Black City stood tall.

The sharp surrounding rocks bared their teeth as if to protect the city.

No matter how much the Red Reaper looked around, there were no signs of humans.

Only the humans of this city seemed to be the sole beings living nearby.

At the center of the city, a gigantic steam tower was stationed.

It pulsated rhythmically like a massive heart, seemingly breathing life into the entire city.

Countless pipes extending from the steam tower crisscrossed the city like veins.

Chimneys protruded from the city, ceaselessly spewing black smoke.

This acrid-smelling smoke enveloped the sky, creating the illusion of an eternal night.

The Red Reaper, swimming against the flow of that smoke, hid itself in the shadows of the city.

Concealing its body from view, it started observing the humans.

‘Even while burning so much, it’s cold.’

The heat generated by the central steam tower spread throughout the city via the pipes, but the harsh cold meant the warmth never reached every corner.

Just moving a bit away from the center, the streets were covered in ice, and enormous icicles hung from the walls of the buildings.

People hurried along, wrapped in thick coats, always appearing busy.

Their breaths turned into white puffs as they disappeared into the cold air.

Workers trudged into the massive mines that opened all over the city.

Children squeezed their bodies into narrow rock crevices that adults could hardly enter.

Those who entered the mines, be they adults or children, all emerged laden with “Blue Pebbles,” which looked like mere objects.

‘They look exhausted.’

Once a human and now a Mini Reaper, the Red Reaper thought this while watching the people work.

But this thought wasn’t from its perspective as a Mini Reaper; it stemmed from memories of being human.

After all, among the emotions radiating from them, it felt more like a faint hope shining rather than a sense of hardship.

A slight hope for a better future.

If ordinary Mini Reapers felt that emotion, wouldn’t they pat their backs and bring them snacks to cheer them on?

If the Golden Reaper, yearning for humans, were here, it would have run over to help, even if with weak strength, and moved some of those blue pebble crumbs together.

The Red Reaper, once human, just wanted to cheer them on like a Mini Reaper, but didn’t want to merely pass by.

When the Red Reaper spread its hands, tiny sparks of warmth began to spread around.

They clung to people’s bodies, giving them a weak warmth.

At least, I hope they can stay warm today.

Of course, if Mom were here, she could solve all their problems by moving everyone to the Sehee Research Institute.

But Mom, the Gray Reaper, didn’t want that.

“You only call me when you’re hurt.”

She had said to call only in danger.

“I’m not a ‘God’ who grants the wishes of all humans.”

The Red Reaper didn’t fully understand Mom’s words but had given up on calling her.

Mom was just like a cat; the more you ask for something, the less likely she is to grant it.

Looking down at the people who seemed a bit warmer, the Red Reaper moved toward the central steam tower.

‘No matter how much I look, I can’t find an Attached Human…’

There were many more people in the Black City than the Red Reaper had thought, but it still hadn’t found an Attached Human among all those people.

‘!’

Suddenly, the Red Reaper was startled to discover a human near the central steam tower.

It was a man standing beside a large speaker, making announcements to the crowd.

An unpleasant energy was emanating from him in all directions.

‘Bad… human…!’

The Red Reaper felt like throwing up.

Of course, as the Red Reaper now, it couldn’t actually vomit.

Since the moment it became a Mini Reaper, it had become entirely different from a human.

Since becoming a Mini Reaper, snacks had become incredibly delicious, and even trivial things brought immense joy.

Just playing rock-paper-scissors with other Mini Reapers was enough to be enjoyable!

And merely being with humans made it happy.

Conversely, seeing bad objects and bad humans filled it with disgust.

Yet, the Red Reaper thought the definition of ‘bad’ felt incredibly vague.

Murder? There were Mini Reapers who had an assassin as their Attached Human.

Appearance? Since becoming a Mini Reaper, distinguishing between beauty and ugliness had become difficult as long as they were human.

Everyone looked handsome.

Personality? Profession? Interests? None of them seemed to matter. I really didn’t know.

‘…’

The Red Reaper wanted to burn all the bad humans immediately, but it stifled that urge with memories of being human.

‘Just feeling sick just by looking at them, and thinking it’s bothersome to kill for just that seems too much…’

After attaching a monitoring spark to the man’s body, the Red Reaper deliberately turned its gaze away.

‘If they do something bad, let’s kill them when we actually see them doing truly bad things.’

An unjustified murder was still a bit difficult for the Red Reaper, who once was human.

Avoiding the central tower as if it didn’t want to see it, the Red Reaper headed towards the outskirts of the city.

To a cold and dark place where warmth didn’t reach.

*

Sehee Research Institute, Mini Reaper Workshop.

I was sitting on a bench in the corner of the workshop, watching the busy movements of the research institute employees.

The employees were seated at their respective places, concentrating.

In their hands were variously shaped glass containers.

From long-necked flasks to round aquarium shapes, the sizes and shapes varied.

A small handful of soil, a few meticulously chosen pebbles, and delicate plants went into those glass containers one after another.

It looked like they were building a small world inside the bottle.

‘Everyone has such good hands…’

The employees seemed quite skilled even when doing tasks that didn’t look much related to their work.

Was it because they were good at those unrelated tasks?

“It’s been a while since I last worked. It’s really hard.”

As one employee mumbled while straightening their back, the Golden Reaper, perched atop their head, patted their crown as if to say, ‘Hang in there!’.

The Mini Reapers seemed to judge based on emotions, as they truly looked like they thought the Attached Human was having a tough time.

To me, it just looked like they were returning to work after too much play.

What the employees were making now was a new product of the Sehee Research Institute.

The so-called Mini Reaper Flask!

It was a product that housed a Mini Reaper inside a well-decorated terrarium.

With fewer people visiting the Sehee Research Institute due to the theme park, Sehee came up with this new product.

And as the created ‘Mini Reaper Flask’ gained significant popularity, visitors to the Sehee Research Institute began to rise steadily.

The price was several times more expensive than an ordinary terrarium!

The condition for sale was that the Mini Reaper inside welcomed the customer!

Even though it was very expensive and had conditions, it was a popular product that sold out as fast as it was made.

Even those who said they wouldn’t buy because it was too expensive couldn’t resist when the Mini Reaper inside made a gloomy face.

Probably, the amount of golden reapers wandering around the store contributed a lot to that excessive consumption.

Smelling a scent resembling the sun would make you feel cozy and happy.

Sehee seemed to be thinking of new products, trying to stuff the Golden Reaper into a fragrance bag.

“Ugh! I don’t want to go in! Humans are torturing me!”

However, the Golden Reaper expressed with their whole body that they didn’t want to go into the fragrance bag, flailing their limbs.

“Looks like the golden reaper fragrance bag is a failure.”

With a slightly disappointed expression, Sehee released the Golden Reaper.

I turned my eyes away from Sehee’s actions and began to admire the completed Mini Reaper Flasks one by one.

‘They’re more varied than I thought! I thought you were just making them simply to rip people off…’

There were flasks decorated with nature, and others shaped like medieval castles.

The outfits of the Mini Reapers inside were also diverse.

There were Golden Reapers who looked just like me, wearing nothing, and others dressed in fancy dresses against a backdrop of elaborate castles.

As I wandered about, I stumbled upon a surprisingly cheap flask.

It was a rather large glass container housing a tiny White Hungry Ghost, who wore a happy expression.

‘Hmm.’

Seeing the White Hungry Ghost smiling happily irked me a bit.

After taking appropriate action with the flask, I chuckled and left the Mini Reaper Flask manufacturing room.

‘Since it’s a Mini Reaper Flask, there should be a Mini Reaper inside.’

Hehe.

*

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The sound of droplets hitting pipes seeped into the ears of the Coral-colored Girl.

The rhythm was regular like the swinging of a pendulum, slowly waking her consciousness.

As her eyelids gradually lifted, a terrifying cold enveloped her.

The shabby walls of the abandoned steam engine room couldn’t properly block the chill or retain warmth.

The cold air seeping in through the gaps in the walls felt like thin blades.

The Coral-colored Girl instinctively curled into herself and clutched the ragged blanket tighter.

It seemed the Blue Coal, which could barely carry her through the night, had burned out a bit early.

Just as she was about to rise from her spot because she couldn’t possibly sleep anymore.

Suddenly, a warm energy wrapped around her entire body.

It felt like someone had covered her with a warm blanket.

The girl’s eyes flew open in surprise.

And there, a red object glowed like a tiny match flame.

The Red Object was smiling at the girl as if meeting an old friend.

That smile was filled with warmth and friendliness.

The girl’s eyes widened.

Was it fear? No.

Rather, a sense of fulfillment and curiosity, as if something was connecting filled her eyes.

This marked the first meeting between the Coral-colored Girl and the Red Reaper, between an Attached Human and an Attached Reaper.

And at that moment, a massive blizzard was slowly approaching the city of Frost from beyond the horizon.

The sky gradually darkened, turning leaden, while the cold wind wrapped around the city streets, foreshadowing ominous tidings.

The blizzard, resembling a wall of snow, advanced as if it were a living creature, writhing forward.

It appeared as though a white mountain range was moving, dwarfing everything on earth.

But the residents of the Black City failed to notice the fragments of disaster approaching them.