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Golden waves spread out.

The sight of tiny Golden Reapers spreading out in unison resembled waves with concentric circles.

They bumped into one another and tumbled down, some rolling around as if caught on something.

Using ghosting, they intermittently disappeared and reappeared, spreading in all directions.

However, perhaps due to being unaccustomed to ghosting, the Golden Reapers rolled around on the ground each time they used it.

While hopping with their little feet, they’d vanish like ghosts upon encountering obstacles.

Then they’d appear on the opposite side of the obstacle, landing on both feet but unable to maintain their speed, hence rolling around.

When they spotted a human, they danced with their feet and jumped in for a hug.

The first Golden Reaper to hug a human raised its small hands high with a victor’s smile.

It was as if they were marking their territory, with only one sticking to each person.

When another Reaper approached, they glared at it to chase it away.

Before the Golden Reapers spread out, the exhibition hall was a buffet of objects hostile toward humans.

A buffet where prey lay unconscious and scattered.

But the objects intending to sample the buffet had no choice but to halt their actions at the appearance of the Golden Reapers.

From the objects’ perspective, an unusual aura radiated from the Golden Reapers.

And with the sheer number of them, it felt intimidating.

The air, once hostile towards humans, shifted to a calmness in an instant.

However, the serene atmosphere created by the Golden Reapers lasted less than 10 minutes.

Objects lacking patience began to ignore the Golden Reapers and recklessly charged towards the fallen humans.

The perception that the actions of the Golden Reapers seemed harmless also played a part.

They paid no attention to the objects, sticking close to people and remaining still.

Such indifferent behavior of the Golden Reapers encouraged other objects.

Perhaps those Golden Reapers were not really aggressive, but just harmless?

Objects that had been observing the Golden Reapers and waiting for a chance began to show their teeth towards their prey again.

It all started with a lizard the size of a tiger.

Dinosaurs resurrected from the past to the modern day.

The dinosaurs, having run out of patience, charged at the sleeping humans.

At that moment, the Golden Reapers raised their heads, their eyes shining.

With dozens of gazes directed at them, the dinosaurs should have hesitated.

However, regrettably, the dinosaurs were not objects of that level of intelligence.

The price for ignoring the warning glares of the Golden Reapers was gruesome.

Dozens of holes shaped like small Reapers were punched into them, bleeding profusely as they died.

The bodies of the Golden Reaper glistening gold turned red, soaked in blood.

Such cute yet horrific scenes were unfolding all over the exhibition hall.

Until the objects charging at the humans went extinct.

*

As everyone in the exhibition hall fell asleep, and objects ran amok creating chaos at that moment.

At a time when no one should be moving, the door to the management room of the Bucheon Research Institute opened.

A man in a neat suit, a lab coat, and an elegant cane stepped out.

Behind him, researchers followed like henchmen.

The director walked confidently across the exhibition hall, where everyone lay asleep.

They headed towards a particular research booth with a clear purpose.

The director’s aim: the booth created by the ‘Sejong Research Institute’.

Inside was the object on display, [Indestructible Cube.].

Upon arriving at the Sejong Research Institute booth, the director easily obtained the object they sought.

The isolation room’s door was already open, and the security staff were all fast asleep.

CCTV and other electrical facilities had long since fallen silent.

The director smiled with satisfaction as they read the description attached to the object.

[Indestructible Cube.]

“With this, I’ve got the object I need.”

The director, holding the cube in their left hand and the cane in their right, looked around.

Upon finishing the necessary tasks and leaving the isolation room, the atmosphere in the exhibition hall had slightly changed.

The hall, previously filled with fallen humans, now teemed with tiny creatures no bigger than a palm.

They were golden objects remarkably similar to Gray Reapers.

Standing atop the chests of the fallen humans, they stretched their necks to look toward the director.

With dozens of those gazes directed at him, it felt oddly reminiscent of meerkats.

“Is that a power of the Gray Reapers? That’s a skill I’ve never seen before. Even in the Time Gap, I didn’t encounter such a power. What could be happening?”

The fact that the Gray Reapers possessed an ability the director didn’t know was a considerable shock.

Currently, he was researching to deal with ‘Nameless’, but he thought he must definitely capture a ‘Gray Reaper’ for further study in the future.

The mini Reapers, keeping an eye on the departing director, did not take their eyes off him.

There was a sense of inexplicable hostility emanating from the mini Reapers monitoring the director.

For the director, it was puzzling.

Why on earth were these mini Reapers hostile towards him?

Even after pondering the cause of that unfathomable hostility, he couldn’t understand it.

The director beckoned his researchers, drawing them into his shadow.

Tap tap.

With the sound of his cane striking the ground twice, the director and the researchers vanished without a trace.

*

The Golden Reapers I created scattered in all directions.

Rolling around and bumping into each other, it was chaos.

The objects that threatened humans seemed utterly bewildered by the sudden appearance of the Golden Reapers.

Well, I guess if something that tiny suddenly started running around, one would wonder what in the world was going on.

Yerin now seemed quite safe, so I left her on the ground and climbed up a utility pole to observe the situation.

The actions of the Golden Reapers up above could be easily summarized.

‘…These guys really love humans, don’t they?’

That was my impression from up top.

The Golden Reapers, loving humans for no apparent reason.

What caught my eye first was the sight of a golden Reaper piercing through a yeti’s heart.

It was a combination of three different object abilities.

Seeing the tiny creature I had created going around covered in blood felt a bit strange.

Squatting on the utility pole, I continued to observe, and the behavior patterns of the Golden Reapers were consistent.

Zero interest in objects.

If objects threatened humans, they transformed and attacked.

They seemed to consider protecting attached humans quite important.

There appeared to be no criteria for deciding who an attached human was.

Is any human good enough?

It seemed they treated whichever human they targeted first as their own property, a sentiment that’s hard to comprehend.

Right now, one of them was clinging to my hair, grasping it with both hands.

Am I not an object but the creator? Are they treating me as a human then?

Objects that had the potential to harm humans were shoved out to the outskirts of the exhibition hall by the terrifying Golden Reapers.

Objects that posed no direct threat to humans were entirely ignored by the Golden Reapers.

Watching the objects driven out by the Golden Reapers attempt to escape outside the exhibition hall, something felt off.

This exhibition hall is designed like a prison, isn’t it?

And it was cleverly crafted in such a way that you wouldn’t easily notice it was a prison unless you looked closely.

The objects that fled to avoid the Golden Reapers found themselves stuck against walls circling around the outskirts of the exhibition hall, unable to budge an inch.

But the design of the exhibition hall wasn’t my concern.

What I was focused on was how to resolve this sudden mass sleep incident.

And perhaps the solution lay with that giant Golden Tree.

With the Golden Reapers protecting them, people had begun to feel at ease and could move.

Of course, the protection of the Golden Reapers was temporary, so I needed to act quickly.

*

Leaving Yerin’s protection to the Golden Reapers, I headed toward the giant tree.

Interestingly enough, the booth of the Bucheon Research Institute had no researchers visible at all.

Other booths had plenty of sleeping researchers.

Apart from a few visitors, there was no one who appeared to be a researcher.

If I make it this obvious that ‘our research institute is the culprit!’, it’d be foolish not to realize.

Indeed, a crime committed by Bucheon Research Institute!

What on earth were they trying to do by making everyone sleep like this?

To prevent the establishment of a zoo… it doesn’t seem likely, but this will surely make it even less likely to get the zoo approved.

Yet again, another one of my dreams is fading away…

Finally arriving in front of the Golden Tree, which still radiated intense light.

A large tree standing tall in a spacious open lot.

I examined the conditions for breaking this lonely tree.

[The human must overcome the tree’s nightmare.]

‘Hmm?’

At least this hint was within the realm of comprehension.

Since everyone was asleep now, they were probably all having nightmares.

If someone woke up here, wouldn’t that mean the tree gets smashed?