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Early in the morning, soft sunlight streamed through the window, gently illuminating the one-room apartment.

The Helmet Researcher slowly opened his eyes and, as he woke up, the Golden Reaper next to him also stretched and giggled.

A smile spread across the Helmet Researcher’s face.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

The Helmet Researcher asked.

In response, the Golden Reaper nodded and cheered with shining eyes.

Seeing that, the Helmet Researcher chuckled softly, got out of bed, and headed for the kitchen.

Breakfast was a simple calorie bar, as usual.

The researcher took a bite of the calorie bar and handed a small cookie to the Golden Reaper.

The Attached Golden Reaper received the cookie, which was as big as its body, and sat at the table, starting to munch on it.

Munch munch.

It was a happy and cozy morning scene that always followed after leaving the Association.

After finishing breakfast, the Helmet Researcher began to get ready for work.

As he changed clothes and packed his bag, the Golden Reaper kept wandering around.

Finally, after he was ready and standing at the front door, the Helmet Researcher extended his arm.

Normally, the Golden Reaper would hop onto his palm by now, but today was different.

‘?’

The Helmet Researcher looked around with a puzzled expression.

At that moment, a small sound came from the table.

Clunk. Clunk.

Turning around, he found the Golden Reaper still on the table.

But the strange thing was that the Golden Reaper was holding something with both hands.

Upon closer inspection, it was another Golden Reaper, all flopped over.

“Is it a naturally occurring Golden Reaper? It’s been a while since I’ve seen one.”

The Helmet Researcher mumbled.

Recently, it had been common for Golden Reapers to appear naturally outside of the Sehee Research Institute.

Initially, it was thought that they followed someone from somewhere, but now it was becoming a widely accepted theory that Golden Reapers could appear anywhere on Earth.

This was especially true as there had been quite a few observations of baby Golden Reapers popping out seemingly out of thin air.

They tended to show up more in places with many Golden Reapers, like near the Sehee Research Institute or in windmills.

There was even a probability map for Golden Reaper appearances!

If the occurrence rate is high, it tended to significantly increase the property value, so this was one of the first figures considered when looking for a house.

The Helmet Researcher picked up the dazed baby Golden Reaper and put it in his pocket, placing the Attached Golden Reaper on his shoulder before heading out.

Once outside, he noticed many more baby Golden Reapers. Some were rolling around on the walls, while others peeked out from between stones and waved their hands.

“There sure are a lot of them. Is something going on?”

‘?’

The Helmet Researcher asked, but the Golden Reaper on his shoulder just shook its head, seemingly without a care in the world.

As he got closer to the research institute, the number of Golden Reapers increased even more.

‘So this is why the property prices around the Sehee Research Institute are rising?’

Most research institutes are treated as undesirable facilities due to dangerous objects, but the Sehee Research Institute was different.

In fact, if news came out about the institute moving, residents would actively oppose it.

Lost in such nonsensical thoughts, he soon arrived at the Sehee Research Institute.

As he was unpacking in the office, suddenly, Senior Yerin Oh appeared and wreaked havoc.

“Okay, go play now!”

Senior Yerin Oh said, adding, “Golden Reaper Festival!” as she opened a huge bag.

It was such a massive bag that it could truly pass for cargo transport, and endless baby Golden Reapers poured out from it.

In an instant, the office was filled with baby Golden Reapers.

“Senior Yerin!”

The Helmet Researcher shouted in surprise.

And Senior Kim Jungrwi rushed over to stop Senior Yerin, but the office had already fallen into a state of paralysis.

‘….’

The Helmet Researcher sighed and sat down.

On the keyboard lay numerous Golden Reapers looking up at the Helmet Researcher, while more hung around the monitor.

Golden Reapers with expressions that seemed to say, “Let’s play together!”

The Helmet Researcher tried hard to ignore them and carefully cleared the Golden Reapers off the keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

The baby Golden Reapers looked gloomy as they peered from behind the monitor, but now the environment for work was finally set.

Fortunately, the Attached Golden Reaper realized the situation and took action.

It guided the baby Golden Reapers that were disturbing the work to the lounge.

Leading the way was the Attached Golden Reaper, followed by the baby Golden Reapers.

Phew.

The Helmet Researcher sighed in relief as he watched the cute procession of Golden Reapers.

No matter how much of a Helmet Researcher he was, it was hard to work while looking at the sad expression of a Golden Reaper.

A few minutes after starting work, a small vibration was felt.

Turning his gaze, he saw a baby Golden Reaper left behind, sprawled on his phone.

It was a Golden Reaper that looked sad for not being played with.

In the end, the Helmet Researcher gave up.

After taking a call, he headed to the lounge with the baby Golden Reaper.

‘Is it okay to take a break today…?’

Reflecting on the atmosphere of the research institute, which seemed completely unable to work, the Helmet Researcher opened the lounge door.

Immediately, the Golden Reapers rushed in and welcomed the Helmet Researcher.

“Human!”

“A human has arrived!”

The Golden Reapers wore expressions of joy.

Seeing them, the Helmet Researcher couldn’t help but smile as if to say, “What can I do?”

*

Upon returning from the butterfly space beyond the dimensional boundary to the Mini Reaper Garden, he saw Golden Reapers rushing in from all directions.

Amidst the wriggling Black Reapers, the Golden Reapers came running in with expressions of joy as if a festival was underway.

“Brother!”

“A new younger sibling!”

“Black younger brother!”

The joyous intentions of the Golden Reapers echoed.

The Black Reapers, on the other hand, looked around with bewildered expressions, as if they had fallen into a strange world.

Then, upon spotting me, they all turned towards me and began pouring out their intentions.

“Mom!”

“What should we do now?”

“Should we build a temple?”

“Should we fight humanity’s enemies?”

“Who should we fight?”

Like slaves who had only worked their whole lives, the Black Reapers were craving their next task.

“Do we need humans?”

“Should we gather humans?”

“If there are no humans, Mom will be sad.”

Strangely enough, many of the children seemed keen on abducting humans.

Even though humans are needed, just having humans alive provides enough energy, doesn’t it?

Could it be that the Black Giant fell due to a lack of humans for firewood?

Well, it doesn’t really matter.

I sent my intentions to the Black Reapers.

“There’s no need to do anything. Just play freely!”

That left the Black Reapers looking confused.

‘?’

But before long, they were captured one by one by the Golden Reapers and started the Mini Reaper Garden tour.

“This floor feels warm and nice.”

I saw the Golden Reapers walking around the Marshmallow Plains, showing off the hidden spots of the plain.

Kyu-hee-hee.

And there were scenes of them sharing a meal of hungry ghosts while introducing the delicious snacks of the garden.

“Mom, do we really not need humans?”

Just as the last Black Reaper questioned with a serious face, even it was swept away by the Golden Reapers, and this time they began tugging at my ankles.

“Mom!”

“Mom! There’s a new place!”

The Golden Reapers insisted that they had discovered a new place and wanted to go together.

Being pulled along by the seemingly excited Golden Reapers, I ventured beyond the Jelly Jungle.

“Oh.”

What appeared next was a vast brown canyon.

It was a beautifully natural environment, like a new region made of caramel.

In the sky, transparent butterflies, resembling butterfly objects, fluttered around.

“Mom!”

“Let’s go in together!”

At the border of the canyon and the Jelly Jungle, the Golden Reapers clustered together, wanting to enter with me.

“Okay, let’s go together.”

The Golden Reapers and I leapt together, landing on the caramel ground.

The Golden Reapers smiled happily as they stood on the caramel.

But I failed to land properly on the soft ground and fell flat.

“Yikes, it’s quicksand.”

As I struggled while getting pulled deeper, the surrounding Golden Reapers giggled.

“Hehe.”

“Mom is…”

“Mom is stuck.”

Grabbing onto the space, I pulled myself out of the swamp and buried everyone within the caramel as punishment.

“No way!”

“No way!!”

I carefully buried them so that only their bellies popped out of the caramel.

And beneath them, I placed a message orb.

[The naughty children who laughed at mom.]

Hehe.

*

On the top floor of James Tower in the outskirts of Songpa District.

James’s office was situated where a panoramic view of Seoul could be seen through the huge glass windows.

Late at night, while the city lights sparkled, James was deep in thought.

A thick report was spread across his desk.

On the cover was written [Report on the Appearance of the Time Butterfly].

James slowly flipped through the pages, checking the content.

It stated that the Time Butterflies, which were appearing all around the world, had suddenly vanished.

“Hmm.”

James muttered while rubbing his chin.

The appearance of the Time Butterflies wasn’t a big problem due to the struggles of the Golden Reapers.

But their frequency of occurrence was increasing, which was why the James Research Institute was focused on finding the cause.

James took a sip of hot chocolate and let out a deep sigh.

“Thank goodness.”

Yet, his voice held more worry than relief.

James’s gaze turned to other documents on the desk.

Among them was a report on a recent incident that occurred at the Sehee Research Institute.

It detailed the appearance of a giant goat-shaped object.

“The frequency of special large objects appearing is increasing…”

James murmured.

At that moment, a newspaper on the desk caught his eye.

A declaration from the anti-Golden Reaper group, titled ‘The Unified Distrust of Human-Shaped Objects,’ was boldly printed.

James chuckled softly and picked up the newspaper.

He skimmed through it and then placed it back on the desk.

The anti-Golden Reaper groups were claiming that the increase in special objects was related to the increase in Golden Reapers.

“Those foolish folks…”

However, James knew their claims were unfounded.

The increase in Golden Reapers was steady, and similarly, the increase in special objects was also steady, with no other discerning correlations to be found.

If anything, the correlations with special objects lay elsewhere.

James stood up with a serious expression and looked up at the sky.

The translucent Black Planet was drawing closer.

The Black Planet, which was already taking up a substantial part of the sky, was now blocking over half of it.

The Black Planet.

To James, that approaching planet looked like the trumpet of doom.