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The blue light of dawn began to seep through the window of Yerin Oh’s apartment.

In the early morning, she was preparing to go to the Sehee Research Institute with a blank expression.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Yerin let out a deep sigh.

“Today, the Reaper will definitely come, right?”

Her murmured voice carried a hint of desperation.

It had already been two months since the Gray Reaper disappeared from the institute.

There were no traces of the Gray Reaper anywhere.

Usually, even if it hid for a few days, it would soon be spotted at some chaotic scene, but this time was different.

There were no particularly major incidents, and the whereabouts of the Gray Reaper remained a mystery.

As Yerin opened her closet door, she continued her thoughts.

“If it’s taking this long, the Reaper must be dealing with an immense crisis on Earth.”

Still, she felt much better than she had a few days ago.

Back then, she had been wandering around like a zombie.

Even passing near the Mini Reapers would result in them coming over to cry for her.

Yerin’s condition had improved after she discovered that the number of Light Rings drawn in the sky had increased by one.

The moon would grow or more rings would appear whenever the Gray Reaper resolved something.

“Yeah, the Reaper will definitely come today.”

With a brighter expression, Yerin headed to the kitchen.

While preparing breakfast, she turned on the TV.

The screen was playing news about an incident that had occurred a few days ago.

[The aftermath of the giant goat incident that appeared in the sky near the Sehee Research Institute last week continues.]

Yerin recalled that day.

When the enormous goat broke through the sky, the Sehee Research Institute had been tense.

This had happened while the Gray Reaper was absent.

Countless Mini Reapers had charged at the giant goat, repeatedly turning into golden sparks that were extinguished by the flames it emitted.

The expressions on the Mini Reapers’ faces were so serious and solemn that it felt like a scene from a war movie.

Just when the situation seemed truly hopeless, a Golden Reaper wielding a sword appeared, slicing through the sky.

However, despite its impressive appearance, it was still not enough.

To be precise, while the goat had been severely battered by the Golden Reaper’s strikes, it seemed the Golden Reaper was tiring more quickly than the goat was getting hurt.

As the sword-wielding Golden Reaper swiftly began to lose its light, unfortunately, the reinforcement from other powerful Mini Reapers, like the Purple Reaper, was delayed.

Just as it seemed they would have to give up on the Sehee Research Institute, the Golden Horn Reaper appeared, casting a golden aurora across the sky.

Amidst the radiant golden waves like the sun, the blade of the 1st Sword was terrifyingly ignited, and with a flash, the goat turned to ash and vanished.

It was such a spectacular scene that Yerin couldn’t help but clap her hands.

As she tore her eyes away from the TV relaying the incident and opened the lid of the frying pan, she was taken aback by an unexpected sight.

Inside the frying pan, a Golden Reaper was snuggled up on top of a fried egg like a blanket.

Surprised, Yerin hurriedly picked up the Golden Reaper with chopsticks and placed it under running water.

“Are you okay? Aren’t you hot?”

But the Golden Reaper seemed unfazed, only giggling.

In fact, it looked like it was enjoying the flowing water, bobbing its head playfully as it faced the running tap.

Once Yerin cooled the Golden Reaper down enough, she placed it in the palm of her hand.

“A baby Golden Reaper. When did you come?”

She poked at the baby Golden Reaper’s chubby cheeks with her finger, murmuring.

To think that a baby Golden Reaper, which was often hard to come by, was nestled inside her frying pan….

Yerin still had to calm her racing heart before returning to the frying pan.

Looking down at the frying pan, she now saw even more baby Golden Reapers covering the fried egg.

‘!!!’

Yerin jumped back in surprise.

‘Waaa!’

At that moment, she felt a squishy sensation beneath her feet.

Turning her head, she found an overwhelming number of baby Golden Reapers bustling around the room.

“What on earth is going on?”

Yerin’s mind was in a whirl, but the Golden Reapers simply wore happy expressions and laughed merrily.

“Hehe.”

*

A cave where many Black Reapers were dead.

“Not good!”

There, I peeled off the Black Reaper that was clinging to my face until the end.

The little Reaper that had been firmly holding my cheek with the determination not to let go drooped with a sad expression when I finally removed it.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“Ah, this is tough….”

Having finally managed to detach all the Black Reapers with great difficulty, I began to advance deeper into the cave, guided by the Black Hooded Reaper.

Behind me, countless Black Reapers followed, waddling like ducklings.

“Hey, there’s something huge and strange over there!”

As I looked where the Black Hooded Reaper pointed, a gigantic hearth boasted its immense size.

Though now cold, it bore clear signs of having burned firewood for a long time with heat still lingering in the air.

Looking at the hearth sparked a familiar feeling within me.

Even though the size was drastically different, I had seen a similar hearth somewhere before.

It must have been where the Orange Moon was.

There were no Black Reapers there for sure, but I felt confident that a hearth for burning firewood had definitely been present.

The walls surrounding the hearth were engraved with an enormous quantity of carvings.

These carvings seemed to have directly depicted the likeness of the Black Giant.

“Not bad at all…”

Unintentionally, I admired the craftsmanship and grandeur that rivaled that of the Golden Reaper who was skilled at sculpting.

“Ah!”

“Mom is watching!”

As I admired the carvings, the Black Reapers following me rushed over and altered the sculptures.

Being strong, it was done in an instant.

Now, all the carvings depicted me.

It seemed they were trying to avoid making me angry, which made me chuckle a little.

Finally arriving at the end of the cave, I found a gigantic dimensional passage open before me.

The passage opened towards the Color Universe.

The space itself seemed created solely to make this passage, radiating a colossal presence.

“I shouldn’t leave this dangerous passage open like this…”

I donned the Halo of Space and closed the opening towards the Color Universe with a ‘squeak’.

Then, I turned to the Mini Reapers trailing behind me like meerkats, conveying my intent.

“Alright, let’s head home.”

And I opened the large passage toward the Mini Reaper Garden.

“Home?”

I could sense the confusion on the faces of the Black Reapers.

But soon, the Mini Reapers began to make their way toward the passage one by one.

After a little time had passed, the once-bustling cave had become entirely empty.

I carefully checked to see if there were any straggling Mini Reapers, and then I slowly made my way towards the passage.

‘…’

Looking back one last time, I surveyed the space full of the Black Reapers’ signs of life.

A space imbued with sadness, hope, and will.

“Thanks for all your hard work until the end.”

Leaving behind this vague sense of will meant for no one in particular, I returned to the Mini Reaper Garden.

*

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As Junior No. 2 struck the ground with her staff three times, the surrounding scenery transformed, revealing the sleek appearance of a research institute.

An object isolation room enclosed with a transparent material.

Advanced measuring equipment made by James Company.

Researchers with tired expressions wandered along the corridor.

Unlike the Sehee Research Institute, it was a remarkably ordinary institute scene.

If only there had been no distortion of the flickering space replacing the ceiling.

Junior No. 2 walked along the long corridor and arrived in front of the detective’s office within the institute.

Opening the door, Junior No. 2 said in a weary voice.

“Senior, I’m here.”

Recently, Junior No. 2 had been experiencing fatigue similar to jet lag due to frequent travels between Earth and the dimensional research institute.

If it had to be named, it was more like a dimensional adaptation issue than jet lag.

“Oh, you’ve come?”

The detective lifted his gaze to meet hers.

With a gesture to wait a moment, he turned his attention back to his desk and was diligently writing something down.

The busy appearance of the Yellow Detective nowadays was as frantic as when he was planning the escape from the Central Research Institute.

Junior No. 2 leaned against the plush sofa on one side of the office.

Nom nom.

At that moment, the Golden Horn Reaper quickly leapt onto the table and began munching on snacks.

A corkboard placed in the corner of the office caught Junior No. 2’s eye.

Various drawings were pinned on the board, and some had been marked with red Xs.

As she gazed at the drawings, the detective stood up and approached the board.

Swish, swish.

The detective made a new X mark on the drawing of a blue-furred goat.

The images on the corkboard were records of the objects that Junior No. 2 and the Horn Reaper had helped to deal with the Mini Reapers.

Recently, as the number of missions had increased, the drawings on the corkboard had also accumulated significantly.

This meant Junior No. 2 couldn’t rest properly in the dimensional research institute and was shuttling back and forth between Earth and the institute.

After finishing marking, the detective picked up a cup of coffee and returned to his seat, sitting with a serious expression.

With a slightly tired voice, Junior No. 2 asked.

“Is there something else you need me to do?”

“Hmm.”

The detective took a sip of coffee and pulled out an envelope to hand to her.

“This time, it’s going to take a while. We really need to catch a really, really big fish.”

As he said this, the detective gazed quietly at the unlit steel lamp.

Though his face showed signs of fatigue, unlike before, there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.