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Whirr—.

I opened my eyes to the sudden sound of flames.

But contrary to my expectations, there was no fire in front of me, just an unfamiliar landscape.

I was baffled by the surreal sight.

‘Is this a dream…?’

In the dream, I stood atop a high cliff.

Dark clouds loomed overhead while below my feet stretched a black liquid sea extending to the horizon.

A strong, pungent smell of oil filled the air.

Jagged rocks jutted out from the black liquid.

It’s cold.

As the wind blew over the cliff, it felt like the cold was piercing my flesh.

Maybe it was because it was high up, but it was unbearably freezing.

But oddly enough, I didn’t see any white mist escaping from my mouth.

No, it seemed like I wasn’t even breathing.

Slowly turning my head from the open scenery of the dream, I spotted the entrance of a colossal cave.

In the dream, I began to walk toward the massive cave.

Sluuurp. Sluuurp.

The peculiar sound of my footsteps sliced through the still air.

Although the entrance of the cave was pitch dark, strangely enough, the inside was vividly visible.

Must be because it’s a dream?

After wandering through the wide yet winding cave for a few minutes, a massive open area came into view deep within.

In stark contrast to the outside, the area felt warm and inviting.

In the corner of that space, a giant pig was burning itself.

The red flames wrapped around the pig’s body, providing warmth to the cave’s interior.

Surrounding the pig were people in shabby clothes, sprawled on the cave floor like refugees.

‘Mama….’

It sounded like a voice, but it seemed more like something echoing from deep within my chest.

Gaze directed towards the deepest part of the cave.

There, a truly enormous figure was situated.

It possessed black skin, legs that seemed rooted to the earth, and elongated arms.

Moreover, next to it were plenty of black masses that looked identical to that giant figure.

Unconsciously, I looked down at my hands.

To my surprise, I bore the same appearance as that being.

Black skin, long arms, and nails that looked slightly injured.

After a long pause of staring at my arms, I crawled toward the giant being.

As I got closer to the massive entity, my heart swelled with joy as if I had taken a drug.

‘Mama…!’

And just as I touched the being’s skin, my hand began to melt away in excruciating pain.

‘Painful mama….’

Yet, in the deep sorrow of my heart, I felt greater sadness than the pain of my dissolving hand.

‘No….’
‘Don’t be in pain….’

Around me, black masses with nine shining white eyes shared the same sorrowful intent as me.

It was a sight that looked nothing like reality.

‘Where is this…?’
‘Is this really a dream?’

Just as those thoughts popped into my mind, the surroundings suddenly blurred, and everything vanished into darkness.

*

In the Mini Reaper Garden’s Marshmallow Plains.

Where White Hungry Ghosts scuttled about and the White Hungry Ghost Incinerator Golem frolicked.

As I arrived with the newly discovered Black Reapers at the Mini Reaper Garden, the Golden Reapers began to swarm in from all directions.

Like a wave of gold flowing in.

‘These guys do this every time….’

The Golden Reapers always gathered in droves to create a festive atmosphere whenever a new sibling appeared.

Was this their way of showing care for their younger siblings?

‘Fluffy little sibling!’
‘New little sibling!’
‘Mommy’s fluffy too!’

The Golden Reapers bounced around me and the Black Reapers, swirling with happiness.

They surged toward the Black Reapers, hugged them tightly, and began to press their chubby cheeks together.

Then, one of the Golden Reapers dove into the fluffy fur.

Beneath the black face poking out from the fur, a golden and cheerful face popped into view.

‘Warm!’
‘Fluffy!’

The Golden Reapers looked overjoyed at the appearance of a new sibling.

How interesting.

Seeing them eating stiff cookies with sad expressions at the Golden Reaper Conference, I thought they’d dislike having more siblings.

But if they were children who cared about such things, they would have taken away the voting rights of the new siblings.

‘Fluffy!’
‘Fluffy!’

The Golden Reapers ceaselessly shouted out their fluffy desires and began to fluff up their own hair.

Perhaps they all thought alike, and one by one, Golden Reapers transformed into fluffy shrimp tempura, just like the ones I had seen in the External Being Temple.

Now, the Marshmallow Plains were filled with golden-furred shrimp tempura rolling on the ground and black cotton balls.

While I observed the eternally happy Mini Reapers, a voice rang out again.

The sinister voice of the Orange Reaper whispered.

Hmm.

Just when will I get separated?

When the Golden Reapers fused, they separated quickly, yet I was taking a long time.

I felt that leaving it be would cause a permanent merge, so just as I thought, ‘Should I try separating with the Halo of Fusion?’

I heard a rather amusing trick in the Orange Reaper’s whispers.

‘Oooh.’

It was an idea that made me gasp in admiration.

Listening closely to the Orange Reaper’s suggestion, I began to consider the ‘Fantastical Star Candy Trick.’

What a genuinely fun idea.

Hehe.

As soon as the thought struck me that it might be fun, I threw on the Halo of Illusion and stretched out my hands to stir the air.

Strings of sugar, crafted from illusion, flowered and danced from the tips of my fingers.

And those strings tangled and twisted in the air, gradually forming into a larger mass.

The mass combined and morphed into brightly colored, delicious-looking star candies.

Countless star candies began to adorn the air like stars in the night sky.

‘Ah!’
‘Candy!’
‘Mama’s candy!’

The Golden Reapers halted their rolling and started gazing up at the star candies with shiny eyes.

Seeing that sight, I smiled and snapped my fingers, and warm golden firewood settled gently within the star candy.

Shining star-shaped candy, as big as a Golden Reaper’s head.

That rainbow-colored candy was filled with elements that tempted the Mini Reapers.

‘Looks delicious….’

The Golden Reapers stood wide-eyed, gazing at the star candy with open mouths.

And finally, I altered the Halo of Illusion into the Halo of Command and imposed one simple yet vast rule.

A rule that required an immense amount of firewood.

[It seems like it should reach the Mini Reapers, but it absolutely doesn’t.]

Then, radiant light burst forth from the star candies, slowly descending toward the Golden Reapers.

‘Wow!’
‘Star candy!’

The Golden Reapers thought it was candy from mom, smiling joyfully and bouncing around.

‘Star candy!’

They leaped up toward the star candy floating above their heads!

But the candy evaded them as if it were alive, slipping away from the Golden Reapers’ hands.

‘No way!’
The Golden Reapers used time acceleration and even ghosting to catch the candy, but they could never grasp it.

‘No way!!’

Watching them, I couldn’t help but laugh with the Orange Reaper.

The Golden Reapers refused to give up and continued to chase the star candy.

They dashed around the Marshmallow Plains trying to catch the candy, but time and again, they came up empty.

‘Almost got it!’
‘Help me!’
‘No way!!!’

They were executing all sorts of tactics, trying to seize the star candy, including attempting to help each other catch it.

But the strength of the Golden Reapers was not enough to grasp the star candy.

The Golden Reapers sat down, reaching out toward the unreachable star candy, teary-eyed.

‘No way….’

As time passed without them catching the candy, the Golden Reapers lay on the ground with sad faces.

And they endlessly gazed up at the sad star candy they could not reach.

‘Star candy….’

*

A faint consciousness awakened in the darkness.

As my eyelids slowly opened, the first thing the reporter saw was the blackened crumbs.

The smell of oil, which I had caught in the dream, lingered at the tip of my nose.

‘What are these crumbs? This isn’t my bed, is it?’

The reporter was confused by the sudden situation.

As they tried to sit up, their whole body felt stiff.

As if they had been in a deep sleep for a long time.

Pushing aside the charred crumbs and mountains of garbage, they managed to stand up.

Only then did the surrounding scenery come into focus.

Dark clouds filled the sky.

A pitch-black open space devoid of any light.

An unbearable stench filled the air.

Endless mountains of garbage spread out in all directions.

“A landfill site? How did I…?”

Although I found myself in a strange place, the strangest thing was that I could see everything so clearly.

Even amidst the inky darkness, everything was vivid.

Just like in a dream.

In confusion, I pressed my forehead.

At that moment, something oozed from my hand.

Dried, red bloodstains.

Cautiously feeling it, I found a round blood scab stuck to the center of my forehead.

“Blood stain…? What on earth happened?”

I tried to retrace my memories but nothing came to mind.

Why I was here, how I got here—it felt like everything was shrouded in fog.

The last memory of the reporter was mundane.

Just the routine of going to work and coming home as usual.

Searching my pockets, I found no phone or wallet.

The clothes I was wearing were ragged, and there were unmistakable blood stains on my chest.

“This… is my blood?”

Fear and confusion washed over me.

‘It’s okay. Human.’

But at the same time, I felt a strange calmness.

It felt as if someone, or something, deep inside my being was reassuring me.

In the darkness, the reporter’s eyes gleamed.

Deep within those eyes, it seemed like black waves were rippling.

The reporter slowly walked along a narrow path between the heaps of garbage.

“First, to go home. Let’s go home.”

And so, the reporter mumbled with a confused expression and walked toward their destination.