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A bizarrely high road stretched out endlessly toward the sky.

As I climbed the stone pathway that reached up to the heavens, I manage to smile faintly at this peculiar scenery.

A path that soared into the air without any pillars.

Thinking about it physically, such a stone road should normally collapse under its own weight, but this heavenly path remained intact like an object.

Thump, thump.

With every step, the tiny thumping sound sliced through the quiet void, echoing around me.

This road, reaching as if it would touch the sky, appeared almost like a passageway to paradise.

The light filtering through the clouds sparkled along the surface of the stone road.

On both sides of the path, the ground could be seen far below, and around me, mist reminiscent of clouds drifted by.

The surface of the stone road had a smooth yet natural texture, almost as if it had been crafted by nature over a long time.

Yet, the geometric perfection certainly hinted at someone’s intentional design.

“I can see the end, but this road seems strangely scaled…”

This peculiar path truly felt as though it led to heaven, and it felt endless.

“Was such a gigantic road hidden within the evolution liquid?”

I couldn’t help but think so.

Feeling it out, if I walked at my current pace, it seemed like it would take months to finally reach the end.

Not wanting to enjoy a stroll for that long, I used ghosting and time acceleration to move quickly down the path.

As I progressed, I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten about the Golden Reapers and turned my gaze back.

The starting point was already a distant memory, and the Golden Reapers gathered there were no longer visible.

“Are they still gathered at the beginning of the road?”

The Golden Reapers could surely run faster than me if they put their minds to it…

It looked like those who had been following me decided to abandon that pursuit abruptly.

Though it was a bit odd, I let it slide.

Such sudden behavior from the Golden Reapers was always a thing.

Especially when they grouped up, it was often more pronounced.

“Well, I guess something interesting must’ve popped up.”

Dismissing the Golden Reapers from my focus, I began to move down the road again.

The higher I climbed, the clearer and more transparent the air became, and behind me, the horizon seemed to scatter the clouds to reveal the sun.

And as I ventured further along the road, the black corpses and cities began to appear larger.

“Much bigger than I thought…”

It felt like the black corpses grew larger the further I walked.

My predictions, which are rarely wrong, had completely missed the mark.

Rather than the size of a Black Giant, they seemed to be several times that big when I got closer.

“Something feels off.”

It did feel strange.

At first, I thought it might just be an illusion, but the change became more evident the closer I got.

With each step I took, the appearance of the city morphed.

As if time itself sped up, the buildings began looking older and older.

The change was stark enough for even my poor memory to catch on.

“….”

A bizarre premonition struck me.

It felt like I was heading toward something peculiar.

At the end of this suspicious pathway.

Finally, I set foot on the solid plateau, the endpoint of the seemingly endless road.

In that moment.

The black corpses had vanished without a trace.

As if they had never been there from the beginning.

That overwhelming presence that had filled my sight just moments ago had transformed into an illusion and disappeared in an instant.

Turning my gaze, I found the city had also faded.

The grand buildings that once lined up were nowhere to be found, only deep claw marks remained carved into the earth.

And with a sense of foreboding, I turned my gaze behind me.

“….”

Just as I had dimly predicted, the road I took to reach here had also vanished.

That bizarre stone path leading to the sky had evaporated without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.

“Mental pollution from an object? Or is it some mirage phenomenon I’m unaware of?”

Questions spiraled endlessly, but there were no clues to be found anywhere.

What lay before me was only the high plateau and the deep scars left by the gigantic claw marks.

If all of this was an illusion, what on earth had led me here?

And who, or what, left those claw marks?

Carrying such unanswered questions, I summoned a bunch of Golden Reapers around me.

“Mom?”

“Mom called!”

“Teleportation?”

When I inquired the Golden Reapers at the starting point of the road, it seemed they had perceived my sudden disappearance.

The children, looking forlorn, believed I had teleported away from them, but when I called them again, they regained their spirits and burst into giggles.

Standing atop the plateau and looking down at the land, I noticed the once-black planet had turned green.

“???”

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if it was another illusion, but this time it was definitely reality.

The Mini Reapers were reviving the now-tattered world.

“Revolution!”

The Red Reapers incinerated the polluted substances to purify the land.

“Please restore it to its original appearance!”

“Become a moist, fertile ground!”

The Blue Reapers began refilling the seas and rivers.

“Bing!”

The Green Reapers breathed life into the land.

Gradually, the earth turned green, and animals began to emerge among the verdant flora.

It seemed to be the Mini Reapers’ preference that mini round-eyed creatures or mini rabbits were in the majority…

But what came back was indeed alive, right?

And just like a declaration that this planet was now my world, colorful moons resembling those seen on Earth began to rise.

“All my little siblings are here!”

“I want to join too!”

Seeing that, some Golden Reapers took out costumes for their sibling dolls from their pockets and started to assist in the purification effort.

“Where did those outfits come from?”

For a moment I pondered that question, but as a Golden Reaper using the same abilities, I just understood and moved on.

Well, they probably gained a little spatial ability or something…

From the high plateau, I munched on fish-shaped bread with the remaining Golden Reaper beside me.

“It feels like a picnic for some reason.”

Suddenly I thought about that.

Once the black planet is completely purified, it might just become a rather nice resort.

“I’ll have to come play here with Yerin later.”

Hehe.

*

In a low-rise apartment complex in the suburbs of New York, there was a room.

From the outside, it looked just like any other ordinary house, but the interior was entirely different.

Thick gray blackout curtains perfectly blocked the outside world, and the soundproof panels covering the entire wall made it look almost like a mental hospital.

In the center of it all stood advanced broadcasting equipment.

High-performance webcams, microphones, and multiple monitors were all turned on, with a man sitting in front.

He was a streamer whose audience had recently surged thanks to content capturing the surface of the black planet.

His specialty was conspiracy theories regarding objects, especially the Golden Reapers.

“Foolish idiots. Don’t be deceived by their cute appearance! The Golden Reapers are the vanguard of the objects that devour this world!”

The man’s voice trembled with excitement.

His face was flushed under the LED lights, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

And he fervently showed pictures he had taken to the screen.

“Look at this. I discovered this little gray reaper while filming the black planet through a telescope yesterday.”

In the photo the man displayed, a tiny gray reaper popped up on the surface of the planet.

“Looks small, huh? Absolutely not!”

Like a mad scientist, the man began scribbling numbers on a whiteboard.

Complex equations filled the board.

“I did a simple calculation, and even at a minimum, it’s at least the height of Everest!”

Then to clarify for those who didn’t quite understand, he held a peach up to the webcam while explaining.

“If this is Earth, Everest would barely be this high.”

He gently scratched the peach’s surface with his fingernail.

“Now can you grasp how massive that gray reaper in the photo is?”

He spread his arms wide to demonstrate size.

And with a meaningful grin, he said.

“I told you? The gray reapers and golden reapers are monsters hiding their true identities.”

It was as if he was shouting “Checkmate!” in a game of chess.

At that moment, the doorbell rang from the speaker.

Ding-dong.

“Oh, that must be the pizza. Time has flown by. So then, everyone eat well, and see you tomorrow.”

The man checked the time and hurriedly ended the broadcast, heading for the entrance.

The moment he opened the door, his eyes went wide.

A Golden Reaper stood there, holding a pickle on top of a pizza box, grinning brightly.

“H-Holy… Golden Reaper!”

Screaming like he’d encountered a gun-wielding robber, he stumbled back, but…

Unfortunately, the broadcast had already switched off.