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In a quiet café in San Francisco, the warm afternoon sun streamed through the window at an angle.

A reporter with striking red hair was seated in a corner of the café.

In front of the reporter sat an empty coffee cup, and exhaustion was clearly visible on their face.

The reporter, who had recently begun investigating the Alexander Group, was wasting time waiting for an informant.

With a sigh, the reporter murmured, “The promised time has passed. I suppose I should wait just a little longer…?”

Fingers began to unconsciously tap on the table.

Tap-tap.

The rhythmic sound slightly broke the quiet atmosphere of the café.

A bored gaze turned to the scene outside the window.

At that moment, the reporter’s eyes met those of the Prism Sentinel.

It seemed the Sentinel was chatting with the police about the case and was wiping away the blood on his hands with a towel he had found from somewhere.

The Sentinel appeared a bit surprised at the eye contact with the reporter but soon flashed a friendly smile.

The reporter awkwardly nodded in response to that smile.

Strangely enough, it seemed like they had been running into the Prism Sentinel often lately.

He had heard that meeting such a hero wasn’t that easy, so perhaps he was just lucky?

In truth, the reporter didn’t care much for heroes.

Instead, they internally grumbled, ‘I’d rather trade this luck of bumping into the Sentinel for the luck of having my informant appear right now…’

Checking the time, the reporter concluded that waiting any longer was pointless.

With a sigh, they addressed the small friend on the table.

“I guess it’s time to head back.”

The golden reaper, lying sprawled on the table with its forehead resting against the surface as if it had caught a cold, was the subject of this.

Packing up, the reporter gently poked the chubby belly of the golden reaper to say goodbye.

“Goodbye, I’m off now.”

It seemed the golden reaper understood the reporter’s words and waved its tiny hand in a friendly manner.

Seeing that, the reporter smiled faintly and walked out of the café.

As they pushed the café door open, the reporter spotted the Prism Sentinel walking towards them.

The Sentinel was whispering something into an earpiece.

“Hello. It’s nice to see you again.”

The Sentinel came closer and greeted in a friendly tone.

“Hello, Sentinel. You seem busy again today?”

The reporter pretended to hide slight surprise at the sudden approach of the Sentinel and responded.

The two exchanged some casual conversation.

They talked about the weather, the recent happenings in the city, and the Sentinel’s activities.

Then, the conversation naturally shifted to the topic of an interview.

An interview with the Sentinel?

It wasn’t quite the topic the reporter wanted, but it was an enormous scoop.

Just as the reporter was about to enthusiastically suggest starting the interview, the Sentinel’s expression suddenly stiffened.

The Sentinel’s gaze turned to something behind the reporter, towards the café.

“Sentinel? Is something wrong?”

The reporter asked, but there was no answer.

After a few seconds, the Sentinel again leaned towards the earpiece, whispering something.

Then, they turned to the reporter with an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry. Something urgent has come up. We’ll definitely have the interview next time.”

The reporter nodded, trying to hide their disappointment.

As the Sentinel hurriedly departed, many questions swirled in the reporter’s mind.

‘What on earth is going on? The Sentinel looked stiff while gazing towards the café…’

Slowly turning their head to look towards the café, the reporter noticed a Black Reaper, in a wobbly state, staring at them from a table outside.

The Black Reaper looked dizzy, shaking its head like a puppy splashing water.

As their eyes met, the Black Reaper broke into a goofy smile.

Then, it suddenly flopped over backwards.

Seeing that, the reporter, who had been faintly smiling, let out a deep sigh and began trudging back to the newspaper office.

“Another day of coming up empty…”

It was just another day in the reporter’s monotonous life.

*

The Sentinel soared through the sky at high speed, landing in a secluded alley.

Scanning the surroundings to confirm they were alone, the Sentinel let out a deep sigh.

The familiar friendly smile vanished from their face, replaced by a tense expression.

Pressing the earpiece closer to their ear, they started speaking.

“Failed again. The Mini Reaper was nearby.”

A moment of silence followed.

Wiping the sweat off their forehead, the Sentinel continued to speak.

“Why is it that every time I try to meet, there’s a different Mini Reaper near me? I must be really unlucky.”

Their voice was filled with irritation and dissatisfaction.

The calm and collected demeanor usually shown in public was nowhere to be found.

A cold voice came through the earpiece.

[We need to call them to the headquarters.]

The Sentinel’s eyes widened.

“What? I thought you said it couldn’t just be called in recklessly.”

[That meant we can’t call them in under the pretext of an interview or anything like that.]

The counterpart explained.

[If you want the scoop so badly, you’ll have to use that as a pretext.]

The Sentinel’s expression subtly shifted.

There was a strange glimmer in their eyes.

“So, I can’t take matters into my own hands, huh?”

[Correct.]

As the reply reached their ears, the Sentinel’s face twisted.

“That’s a bit disappointing.”

The look on their face was vastly different from the kind, noble hero image recognized by the public.

It was a mix of desire, regret, and a hint of violence.

The Sentinel clenched and unclenched their fist.

Leaning against the alley wall for a moment, the sounds of the city echoed distantly.

Closing their eyes, the Sentinel took a deep breath.

When they slowly opened their eyes, once more, that friendly smile everyone knew appeared on their face.

And like nothing had happened, they stepped confidently back onto the street.

*

In a narrow, dark space where James was.

I managed to peel off all the black furballs that had clung to me.

‘Mom isn’t hurting!’

‘No more pain now?’

‘Mom!’

The fluffy black reapers I struggled to detach from were still bouncing up and down, looking up at me.

I had discovered melted dormant black reapers a few times, but strangely, these little ones kept asking me if I was hurt.

‘I’m not hurt.’

Even when I said I wasn’t hurt, the black reapers clung back to me and brought their tiny tongues against my skin.

It felt less like licking and more like checking what I tasted like.

After a little while, they began to surprise me with their determination.

‘Really not hurt!’

‘Not a hurt mom!’

And as if throwing a festival, they began bouncing around joyously.

It was like a ‘Fluffy Black Reaper Festival’ was being held in that small, dark room.

At that moment, golden reapers started peeking in from the only entrance of the room.

‘A new younger sibling!’

‘There are lots of siblings!’

Then, one by one, the golden reapers leapt onto the black reaper, hugging them tightly and rolling on the floor.

After some time, fluffy faces began to pop out of the mass of black fur.

The faces of the black reapers and golden reapers.

They oddly resembled the antics of the orange and sprout reapers.

I left the kids to play and walked towards the ominous-smelling orb.

The black reapers all gasped and melted away, surrounding the orb.

It was as if they were meticulously coating it in rubber.

‘Seal!’

‘Seal!’

Suddenly, the ominous smell that had lingered just moments before vanished.

Well, it seems the black reapers must have run out of firewood while trying to seal this orb…

I embraced the now-secured orb and began walking towards where James was.

If it’s James, he should be able to explain what happened, right?

*

In the corridors around the courtyard of the Sehee Research Institute.

The silver-haired girl had received temporary permission to step outside and was wandering around the Sehee Research Institute to meet the Gray Reaper.

The corridors designed to wrap around the courtyard featured large magic mirrors and various rest facilities facing toward the courtyard.

Places to sit and rest while eating simple snacks and drinks.

“There’s no Gray Reaper…”

The silver-haired girl spoke to the mini flower reaper, who was visible only to her, in a slightly tired voice as she wandered around.

The mini flower reaper smiled, saying that their mom would be coming soon, and patted her head gently from above.

Feeling a bit tired from wandering around Sehee Research Institute too much, the silver-haired girl stepped into a rest facility to find a place to sit.

Upon entering, a delicious aroma welcomed the silver-haired girl.

Inside the rest facility were numerous visitors sitting and enjoying the view of the courtyard.

On one of the tables hung a strange sign.

[Warning: Golden Reaper Appearing!]

The silver-haired girl tilted her head at the unclear meaning of the sign and briefly doubted her short Korean skills.

When she approached to confirm, there were simple warning instructions written there.

[If eating at this table, make sure to purchase enough snacks beforehand.]

‘?’

Still unsure of the meaning, the silver-haired girl felt a strange sense of excitement.

So, she bought a pile of snacks and sat down at the golden reaper appearing seat and started eating with the mini flower reaper.

How much time passed, the mini flower reaper, nibbling on cookies next to her, poked the silver-haired girl’s hand.

“What’s up?”

Without saying a word, the mini flower reaper pointed to the glass window facing the courtyard.

There, numerous golden reapers were clinging together.

A mass of golden reapers piled up to the point their faces were getting squished.

Seeing their slightly cute and pitiful state, the silver-haired girl addressed the golden reapers.

“Want to come eat with us?”

In response, the golden reapers ghosted through the glass window and started cheering, joining in to share the snacks.

They nibbled the cookies and occasionally broke off bits to share with the silver-haired girl.

Thus, the silver-haired girl had no choice but to continually snack with the golden reapers until she felt stuffed.

“Ah, so that’s why there was a warning sign…”

The silver-haired girl mumbled while rubbing her now round belly.

‘By the way, where is the Gray Reaper?’

‘I need to share the story about the prophetic dream I had…’

The silver-haired girl was visiting to share the tale of her dream with the Gray Reaper.

A significant dream that involved the Gray Reaper.

The story of the ‘prophetic dream’ she kept repeating every day.

*

In a café in San Francisco.

The reporter finally met the ‘informant’ related to the Alexander Group.

The informant was staring blankly at the ceiling of the café.

“Here too, huh? A Mini Reaper.”

“Pardon?”

The reporter asked in surprise, so the informant pointed to the ceiling fan spinning above.

Taking a closer look, there was a golden antenna barely sticking out on top of the ceiling fan.

“This area hardly has any Mini Reapers… How interesting.”

Then, they added quietly, “It’s as if the Mini Reapers are following you around, reporter.”

But the informant’s added voice seemed too small, and the reporter didn’t catch it.

“There are human experiments happening at the headquarters of Alexander.”

The informant suddenly began speaking with a seemingly expressionless face.

“But I won’t provide evidence, testify, or do any interviews.”

“Excuse me?”

The reporter frowned sternly at the absurdity of it all, wondering, ‘Could it be that I’ll come up empty in a different way this time?’

Just as that thought crossed the reporter’s mind, the informant continued.

“I don’t want any connection left. But I can help you.”

The informant took a small sip of iced coffee and continued speaking.

“I’ll leave the back door of the Alexander headquarters open at 3 AM tomorrow. The security will be disabled for one hour.”

“So, just come to the basement directly to take the evidence.”

The informant said that while maintaining their expressionless face.

‘…’

Inside the café, where the informant had just left, the reporter stood up with an uneasy expression after contemplating.

“Yeah, I can’t pass up this opportunity.”

So, the reporter made the decision to enter the building themselves.