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The gray clouds covered the sky, pressing down on the world.

A fierce wind whipped across the endlessly spread snowfield, penetrating deep into the bones with its chill.

It was a coldness that seemed to reject the very existence of life.

At that moment.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

With the sound of heavy footsteps echoing from afar, the ground began to tremble slightly.

Giant, ice-covered mechanical soldiers emerged from the blizzard.

Everywhere they passed, the temperature plummeted further, as if the moisture in the air itself was freezing.

It was a march of giant mechanical soldiers, but humanity was oblivious to their approach.

Clouds heavily obscured the sky.

An atrocious cold that made movement nearly impossible.

Blue lightning disrupting communication.

These three factors were to blame.

The mechanical soldiers had their sights set on two places.

The location where the vanguard, the superconductive frog, had perished.

And the place where “something” emitted deadly heat to the mechanical soldiers.

The former was headed for the superconductive emperor frog, while the other was being led by the superconductive frog towards the mechanical soldiers.

The mission given to the superconductive frog was simple.

[Retrieve the energy source and keep advancing.]

At the end of the procession of the mechanical legion led by the superconductive frog stood an empty ice throne.

It was a throne that seemed to be waiting for someone.

And beneath that enormous throne was a tiny seat meant for the superconductive frog.

The superconductive frog gazed at the distant black city in the middle of the snowfield while issuing commands.

[Attack!]

[And find the energy source!]

The superconductive frog exhaled a chilling aura as it glared at the city, Frost.

*

As people began to gather in the open lot filled with snow, the area quickly turned lively.

A large pot boiled atop a drum as flames flickered beneath it, making soup.

A coral-colored girl sat among the serious-faced adults, eating the soup.

People gathered around the warm drum.

The Red Reaper gazed intently at the Attached Human in the crowd before looking up at the sky.

“I don’t hear any signals….”

No matter how much the Red Reaper signaled, the Mini Reaper Network remained silent.

Usually so noisy that I would intentionally ignore it, I found myself missing that commotion a bit now.

‘There’s a lot of humans here!’

‘Big buildings!’

‘This tastes good!’

‘This?’

‘There are beetles bigger than us!’

‘Really?’

‘Wow, that’s huge!’

‘Not that I miss it all that much….’

Just recalling that time made me feel noisy, causing any feelings of nostalgia to fade away instantly.

The Red Reaper couldn’t shake the feeling that the blocked network and the cold blizzard were anything but normal.

“I need to call Mom.”

If this situation wasn’t too serious, Mom would turn this into a grand joke, but for the sake of the Attached Human, the Red Reaper decided to endure.

The Red Reaper began to create a butterfly out of flames.

A tiny butterfly, no bigger than the size of two palms pressed together.

‘May it reach the nearby Mini Reaper.’

As the Red Reaper’s wish imbued it, the flame butterfly surged southward swiftly.

The Red Reaper watched the fluttering butterfly and then turned back to the Attached Human.

The coral-colored girl was slowly eating her soup when she saw the Red Reaper returning and smiled brightly.

The Red Reaper smiled back and stuck to the coral-colored girl’s cheek.

“Want to try?”

The coral-colored girl offered a spoonful of the pale soup, but the Red Reaper slowly shook its head.

The environment clearly looked like it was facing a food shortage.

Moreover, in such cold, one needed to eat well, so the Red Reaper couldn’t bring itself to eat the girl’s food.

In fact, it desperately wanted to eat the food from the ‘Attached Human.’

‘Let’s eat something really delicious together from the Mini Reaper Garden later.’

The Red Reaper looked up at the coral-colored girl and made that promise.

“I can’t see the Propaganda Department.”

“There’s no labor start notification, either?”

“What’s going on?”

The adults, who were spending their morning waiting for an announcement from the Steam Tower, began to grow increasingly anxious as the time dragged on.

BEEP!

At that moment, a loud alert echoed from the speakers.

[Citizens, please pay attention.]

And then a voice from the speaker that sounded drained came through.

[Currently, a serious anomaly has occurred with the Steam Tower, the lifeline of our city.]

[The city’s heating system is at risk of imminent collapse.]

[Therefore, we issue the following instructions.]

[All citizens are to immediately cease their activities and inform those around them of this fact.]

[Please gather at the Steam Tower Plaza in the center as quickly as possible.]

[When moving, please bring warm clothing, blankets, and emergency food supplies.]

[Prioritize the protection of the elderly and children, and cooperate to move safely.]

[This is an emergency. The survival of our city is at stake.]

[Do not panic and please act calmly.]

[Further instructions will be given once you arrive at the Steam Tower Plaza.]

As the broadcast ended, the Red Reaper felt the shift of emotions like confusion and fear spreading among the humans.

“What do we do? They say the city is in danger.”

The Red Reaper smiled reassuringly to the anxious Attached Human and quietly made a small wish.

‘May the flame butterfly arrive in time….’

*

Thud, thud.

Feeling a bit bored sitting on the Hungry Ghost chair, I began to wander around inside the Sehee Research Institute.

‘?!’

As I passed by the researcher lounge, I witnessed an intriguing scene.

The lounge was bustling with people.

With so many users, the newly opened Sehee Research Institute’s lounge always felt spacious, but now it was filled to the brim with researchers.

The reason for this was apparently a small machine set up in the corner.

If I were to name it, I’d call it a mini bubble tea vending machine?

The mechanism was such that when a Mini Reaper approached and placed its tiny palm on it, capsule-shaped bubble tea would pop out.

As I wondered who could have made it, I caught snippets of related conversations amidst the chatter.

“It wasn’t here just yesterday; it suddenly appeared. Who made it?”

“I heard that the director installed it after seeing Mini Reaper bubble tea!”

Listening to the chatter in the lounge, it seemed this suspicious vending machine was indeed made by Sehee.

The vending machine was immensely popular among the Mini Reapers.

I had occasionally seen Mini Reapers enviously watching humans drink bubble tea, but I never realized there were so many of them.

Such was the vending machine’s popularity that the lounge floor was lined with Mini Reapers in a domino-like fashion.

I wanted to sneak up and give it a little nudge, it looked so stunningly like a domino.

Crowded around the line were researchers, all gathered to watch.

Thud, thud.

The Golden Reaper in the front row pressed its tiny palm against the machine.

At that moment, with a ‘click,’ a small but significant capsule popped out for the Mini Reaper.

The Golden Reaper’s eyes sparkled with happiness as it quickly held the capsule above its head and dashed toward its Attached Human.

And then, it cheerfully clinked the bubble tea capsule against the big bubble tea cup held by its Attached Human.

‘Cheers!’

The Golden Reaper seemed to have learned from watching the humans, mimicking the toast as it chuckled.

And finally enjoying bubble tea, the Golden Reaper radiated pure joy.

‘Bubble tea suddenly looks delicious.’

Just as I was about to step forward to try a drink, Golden Reapers began to swarm from all directions.

At first, I thought they were warning me about cutting in line, but the earnestness in their voices was quite different.

‘Mom, something’s wrong!’

‘There’s a huge dewdrop frog!’

‘Dewdrop!’

Hearing the children’s chatter, it seemed something was appearing near the barrier.

‘No way!’

After striking the Golden Reaper who proclaimed, ‘Dewdrop is more important than Mom, hehe,’ I hurriedly moved towards the barrier.

‘….’

Climbing up the barrier, the cold wind brushed across my face.

‘It’s gotten colder.’

As I gazed northward into the chilling gusts, the snowfield still looked like a pristine white carpet laid out.

One difference stood out.

At the edge of that white world, a colossal ice throne towered high.

Its shape felt strangely familiar.

It was an ice throne of a known size and appearance, as if I had seen it somewhere before.

Atop the throne sat a giant frog wearing a crown.

The moment I laid eyes on that frog, I understood why the Golden Reapers had been so adamant about ‘dewdrops.’

It’s so plump.

That frog bore an uncanny resemblance to a desert rain frog.

Though the size was entirely different.

And around it, mechanical soldiers clad in armor made of ice were closing in.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Their march resembled the onslaught of a massive wave.

There were so many of them that I could feel the heavy vibrations all the way up on the barrier.

‘Ah, the ice throne of Dobong-gu!’

As I watched the mechanical giants, I realized where I had seen the ice throne before.

‘If it’s a relative of the superconductive frog, it’s no big deal.’

As that thought crossed my mind, I raised my right hand, clenching my fist toward the giant frog.

‘Squish.’

But much to my surprise, the space didn’t crumple as I had imagined.

It was as if the air was as hard as frozen ice, utterly impossible to grasp.

Startled, I looked at the frog, and from the peculiar crown upon its head, a blue light radiated forth.

Is that oddly shaped crown the halo?