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A city located in the middle of a snowfield, Frost.

Inside the shelter, which had fallen into silence.

The chairperson pushed open the heavy iron door of the shelter and stepped outside, but the other adults remained frozen in fear.

However, the coral-colored girl sensed something like an intuition and followed after him, exiting the shelter.

‘….’

As the radiant light pierced her eyes, she briefly closed them before slowly opening them again.

In that moment, her breath caught at the sight laid out before her.

“Wow….”

Frost, which was always shrouded in thick clouds and black smoke, was now quietly spread out under the blue sky.

It was the first time the girl had ever seen a blue sky since she was born.

Giant shadows cast by mechanical giants.

The eerie sounds echoing as the city crumbled.

The horrifying chill that emerged after the blizzard.

Now, all of that had disappeared without a trace, leaving only an eerie silence as if the world had come to a standstill.

As the coral-colored girl carefully took a step, the sound of crunching snow echoed beneath her feet.

And as she took a deep breath, the cold, clean air filled her lungs.

“Hah….”

She slowly exhaled from deep within her chest.

White steam rose from her mouth.

It was still cold, but strangely, it felt entirely different than before.

The endless chill that had covered the city after the blizzard, and the coldness she had felt all this time were also different now.

It was slightly less cold, a bit more refreshing.

The girl walked slowly, looking around.

Many facilities in the city were in ruins, and the streets were filled with debris.

But perhaps because of the blue sky, the sight didn’t appear desperate.

On the contrary, it seemed to herald a new beginning.

“!”

Hearing a commotion from behind, the girl turned around.

It was a mix of admiration, surprise, and wonder.

Adults from the shelter were gradually coming out one by one.

Their faces were also filled with shock and amazement.

Like the coral-colored girl, the adults were looking up at the sky.

Their eyes wrinkled at the sight of the clear sky they hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Wow…. it’s been a long time.”

Other adults began to step outside one by one, starting to look around.

Complex emotions crossed everyone’s faces: relief, fear, and hope.

While wandering about, the coral-colored girl encountered a familiar yet slightly changed friend.

The Red Sun Reaper landed on the girl’s palm with a somewhat shy expression.

Phew.

The coral-colored girl couldn’t help but smile.

“Why? What happened to you?”

Of course, it was because the Red Sun Reaper had become chubby.

The girl laughed, causing the Red Sun Reaper to look a bit sulky, but she simply couldn’t hold back her laughter.

The chubby belly of the Red Sun Reaper seemed to possess an allure that drew people in, and before she knew it, the coral-colored girl was poking the Reaper’s belly.

At that moment, a pinwheel appeared in the spot where the steam tower once stood, beginning to spin rapidly.

Perhaps due to the series of events, the coral-colored girl and the citizens looked up at the pinwheel with slightly fearful expressions.

But what jumped out from the pinwheel were mini Reapers wearing bright smiles.

‘Human!’

‘There are so many humans!’

‘Aren’t you cold?’

Riding on a jelly pig, the cheerful-looking mini Reapers beamed with joy.

For some reason, it felt like a warm scent of sunshine was emanating from those mini Reapers.

“It’s warm….”

The gentle warmth radiating from the jelly pig enveloped the entire city.

The jelly pigs walked among the people, spreading comforting heat.

The mini Reapers sat atop the jelly pigs, nibbling at them and urging humans to join in.

Whether it was due to the adorable appearance of the mini Reapers or the sun-like aroma.

Nobody refused the mini Reapers’ invitation.

Warmth and delicious jelly.

As they felt the warmth and fullness that was hard to come by in Frost, laughter spread among the people.

In the meantime, the mini Reapers laughed along with the humans.

The sky over Frost was still blue, and the cold wind now seemed to carry new hope.

The coral-colored girl smiled as she watched the scene.

After a long winter, spring had finally come to Frost.

*

In the courtyard of Sehee Research Institute.

“It’s warm….”

I was sitting with Yerin on a white hungry ghost chair, soaking up the sunlight.

Perhaps because we had fought in a cold place, the warm sunlight felt twice as pleasant.

“The ghost is soft and fluffy, it’s nice.”

It seemed like it was Yerin’s first time sitting on a white hungry ghost, as she kept expressing her admiration while sitting.

The cushion-sized white hungry ghost was indeed soft and nice, but the chair-sized one was the best.

Although they were hard to capture due to their low numbers, it has become easier to procure them recently for chair use.

Procurement? Gather the cushion ghosts and merge them with the Halo of Fusion—easy!

Hehe.

“By the way, I think the Reaper is gaining weight. Won’t they get fluffier than the white hungry ghost?”

Yerin rested her chin on my head and began poking my arm.

“Hehe, Mama got chubby.”

“Hehe.”

The golden Reapers, who used my belly as a trampoline, giggled at Yerin’s comment.

As soon as I heard that giggle, I tightened my stomach, sending the golden Reapers bouncing off my belly.

“Ugh!”

As they flew out like golden popcorn, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Whoooa!

At that moment, a very loud wind sound started coming from the TV.

Turning my gaze toward the TV, I saw a giant fused Red Reaper shouting “Revolution!” while unleashing wind pressure.

Since I couldn’t hear the resolve, all I could hear was the eerie sound of wind.

Thus, the cute scene looked like the giant’s menacing roar.

Yerin saw the TV screen and began lifting my hands up like the Red Reaper on TV.

The golden Reapers watched the TV, jealously babbling with envy.

‘So jealous.’

‘Giant Brother!’

‘I wanna be a giant golden Reaper….’

Their voices were filled with envy.

It was rare for golden Reapers to express such desires; could it be that the Halo of Fusion contained some sort of narcotic?

Thinking about it, it felt more like a size issue than a Halo issue.

The golden—no, mini Reapers loved the big stuff.

From the meek blue Reapers to the lively golden Reapers, they all loved big things!

The statues also liked big ones, the Mom Golem tried to make herself bigger, and even the Black Reaper aimed to merge into a larger form—they all adored Gigantism.

What’s the deal with their obsession with getting bigger…?

Could it be some impulse hidden within the mini Reapers?

Before I knew it, the golden Reapers that bounced off the ghost chair crawled back onto my stomach and started staring at me intently.

They didn’t really radiate resolve, but their expressions seemed to say, ‘Mama! Halo of Fusion!’

I bounced my belly again, sending the golden Reapers flying.

“Ugh!”

*

In the lounge of Sehee Research Institute.

Once upon a time, the bubble tea vending machine had stormed the popularity among mini Reapers, but its popularity had significantly waned.

When mini Reapers came to the lounge, they’d each grab a drink, but it wasn’t quite to the level of forming a line.

Doo-bang doo-bang.

Another golden Reaper entered the lounge and pressed the vending machine button with its tiny hand.

Clunk.

As a bubble tea capsule popped out of the vending machine, the golden Reaper beamed with joy, hugging the capsule tightly and starting to slurp it down.

Beside the vending machine sat a Helmet Researcher with a worried expression.

“You’ve eaten too much…”

In front of the researcher lay a golden Reaper with a swollen belly.

The Helmet Researcher poked the chubby attached Reaper’s belly gently, muttering with concern.

“Other mini Reapers aren’t like this; don’t you think they really like bubble tea?”

The golden Reaper probably loved bubble tea because this vending machine was a collaboration between the Sehee Research Institute Director and the Helmet Researcher.

With a worried expression, the Helmet Researcher looked down at the golden Reaper, then got up to head toward the snack corner.

Finally, returning with an ice cream from the freezer.

The snack the Helmet Researcher chose is a quite famous ice cream that has ice cream wrapped in rice cake.

“???”

As the Helmet Researcher peeled away the ice cream wrapper, a puzzled voice escaped as he tilted his head.

One side of the ice cream, which should have had two pieces, was completely empty, and the remaining one had turned pitch black.

It was far too homogeneous a black to be deemed rotten or moldy.

The Helmet Researcher slightly narrowed his brows and poked the black rice cake with the provided fork.

Hehe, it tickles.

At that moment, eyes and a mouth in golden color emerged on the ice cream.

“What? It was a black Reaper.”

Startled at first, the Helmet Researcher soon managed to calm down.

“By the way, how did it get into the ice cream container?”

There didn’t seem to be any openings…

As the Helmet Researcher took the black Reaper out of the ice cream mold and started kneading it like rice cake, he began to ponder the puzzling question.

*

At James Tower in the Outskirts of Songpa District.

James was checking the footage of the current situation in the situation room lined with monitors.

Mechanical giants spotted all over the world.

The Emperor Frog sitting on the Ice Throne.

The Red Reaper, much larger than usual.

During this Emperor Frog incident, all communication devices were disabled, but since they didn’t smash drones like the Steel Tower, the recordings were successfully captured.

“21:00 in the Siberian Federal District….”

As James compiled the data sent by the employees of James Research Institute, he typed something into the computer, and a red dot appeared on the world map displayed on the central monitor in the situation room.

James was marking the appearance locations and times of the giant mechanical giants on the world map, one by one.

It was work to track the original source using the appearance positions, times, and marching speeds of the mechanical giants.

Since they couldn’t capture satellite images due to the thick clouds, it was an unavoidable task.

“The emergence timings around Frost and the Korean Peninsula are particularly rapid.”

After eliminating the two striking datasets, James marked the predicted origin on the map.

The marked location was in the sea near the North Pole.

A few days later.

As soon as James made the estimate of the origin, he set out with a large number of research institute employees and arrived at the suspected origin.

A place filled with ice and cold.

It had originally been a sea full of ice and cold, but the James research team cracked the ice and found that it had somehow turned into land.

Standing on the transformed land, James was observing an unidentified ruin together with the Golden Reaper.

The institute employees roamed around the area, taking pictures and collecting data.

Much like James, each employee also had a mini Reaper perched on their shoulders.

“I thought this might be related to Artifact Number 0, but it seems entirely different.”

Although experts would need to examine the details for accuracy, James felt that there was no cultural connection with Artifact Number 0.

A temple made of colossal jade.

James looked up at the ominous temple with a serious expression.