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As Watson’s physics-powered smoke began to fade, an anomaly occurred.

The change was initiated by Watson.

[‘Snow’ has arrived.]

[‘What’s going on with the ‘snow’?]

[I don’t like ‘snow.’ It’s scary.]

Watson spat out a few phrases and then extinguished himself.

Splash, splash.

Tiny footsteps could be heard.

And then, a golden glow pierced through the darkness.

Deep in the open lot, numerous golden glows shone in the darkness.

The Gray Reaper appeared, hopping around with a bunch of Gold Reapers.

With an indifferent expression, the Gray Reaper surveyed the open lot.

He seemed quite uninterested in the events unfolding in the lot.

But the Golden Reapers reacted quite differently.

A fierce anger was palpable directed at the Director and researchers.

Seeing this, the Director urgently shouted orders.

“Researchers, buy us some time!”

The Golden Reaper charged in with a ferocious expression, almost simultaneously with the Director’s command.

After issuing orders to the researchers, the Director began to rush toward the Client’s younger brother.

In the Director’s hurried hand, a familiar object caught my eye.

A cane!

The Director seemed intent on fleeing with the Client’s younger brother using the cane I had provided.

I gestured to Junior No. 1 upon witnessing this.

“Hurry and block them!”

Upon seeing this, Junior No. 1 tightly gripped his hammer and dashed out quickly.

The junior sprinted after the Director with incredible speed.

But, of course, it was still too far!

“Hahaha!”

The Director, seeing the Golden Reaper targeting him and Junior No. 1, laughed loudly.

Then, placing his hand on the younger brother’s body, he triumphantly slammed the cane into the ground.

*

I arrived at the lot where the Ghost Cat had been wailing.

What I saw were the Director and researchers.

Along with the detective team and the Ghost Cat.

The Director, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, had transformed into a very different being.

Just looking at him was suffocating, brimmed with malice towards humans.

Wasn’t he the one conducting research for the sake of humanity?

The director’s usually relaxed demeanor had now turned irritable.

Shouldn’t he be considered a different person altogether at this point?

As the Golden Reaper charged, the Director began to flee somewhere.

In that moment, I spotted a familiar object.

The cane that the detective carried around.

Wasn’t that the object that allowed for teleportation?

The instant I saw the cane, I lunged towards the Director using ghosting.

I couldn’t just allow such a harmful object to escape.

“Hahaha!”

With a triumphant laugh, I sliced off the Director’s right hand as he was slamming the cane to the ground.

“Ahhhhh!”

I confirmed the destruction condition of the Research Director as he staggered backward, clutching his severed hand.

[Will fulfill the wish.]

Another difficult condition to meet.

Still, it seemed too harmful to simply ignore as it pertained to humanity.

While I pondered, the Golden Reapers mercilessly barreled through the fleeing Director.

Like he had been struck by a large-caliber rifle, the Director was riddled with holes and collapsed, bleeding onto the ground.

“I… I exist for humanity!”

A ridiculous statement coming from someone with only malice towards humans claiming to be for their benefit.

The Golden Reapers surrounded the bleeding and dying Director, glaring at him.

It looked like a declaration of, ‘Even if you resurrect, I will kill you!’

After all, for the Golden Reaper, a severe human hater like the Director would likely feel like a sworn enemy.

*

The Director has died.

He left behind two objects.

A bizarrely glowing orb and the cane I had given him.

The Director was known to possess other objects, but none were here.

The Gray Reaper seemed uninterested in the objects left by the Director.

I slung the cane at my waist and used a monocle to check the powers of the bizarre orb.

[Heals surrounding humans.]

What a remarkable ability it was.

Healing powers looked incredibly beneficial for humans, to the point where I was worried about side effects.

The fight between the researchers and the Golden Reapers was nearing its end.

Calling it a fight felt like an understatement; it was a one-sided ravage.

Once the battle concluded, most of the numerous Golden Reapers that had filled the open lot had disappeared.

Among the remaining Golden Reapers, some clung tightly to the body of the Client’s younger brother.

Crying as though they had never seen a living person before.

For reasons unknown, they seemed immensely relieved.

I was indebted to the Gray Reaper once again.

At this point, it could be rightly said that the Gray Reaper had become more of a guardian than a mere reaper, right?

At least for me, she was undoubtedly the goddess of fortune.

My goddess, casually glancing around with an indifferent expression.

And then, the junior dashed toward that goddess.

“Wow, Reaper!”

After confirming the Director had fallen, Junior No. 1 ran straight into the Gray Reaper.

Using an embrace, they rubbed cheeks to show their closeness.

“It’s been a while!”

The junior was more enthusiastic now in showing affection towards the Gray Reaper.

Isn’t this a bit scary?

I, who rationally believed this situation was beneficial, still felt uneasy.

To put it bluntly, what if the Gray Reaper suddenly felt uncomfortable and burst someone’s head on a whim?

The Client wanted to rush towards her younger brother but hesitated due to the Gray Reaper and the variant Golden Reapers.

After all, what wasn’t normal was to be so terrified in such a situation.

And what about Junior No. 2?

“Wow, whoa, whoa! Soft! Tiny!”

Junior No. 2 was overjoyed, holding one Golden Reaper in each hand.

Well, that wasn’t normal either.

I lit up a pipe to calm my headache.

*

The harmful Director and researchers had all become donut holes at the hands of the Golden Reaper.

However, they hadn’t fulfilled the conditions for destruction, so they’d probably resurrect soon.

But seeing the current atmosphere of the Golden Reapers, they seemed ready to kill them as soon as they revived.

“Wow, Reaper! It’s been a long time!”

The junior began to cling to me as soon as the Director vanished.

“Thanks for coming to save me!”

The clingy junior scratched my limbs and rubbed cheeks, expressing affection as if they hadn’t seen me in ten years.

I didn’t remember them acting like this before; maybe they were under too much stress after fighting the Director?

The junior kept clinging and wasn’t about to stop—it seemed like a never-ending embrace.

When I lightly bit the hand that was squeezing my cheeks, they seemed to enjoy it even more.

“Wow, the Reaper just bit me!”

What’s with the enthusiasm?

After shaking off Junior No. 1 with ghosting, I sought out the reason for my arrival here.

Meow.

A Ghost Cat, whose throat was hoarse from wailing loudly, slowly walked toward me.

It was somewhat amusing to see how hoarse its meow sounded.

‘Did you find it fun? Wasn’t it dangerous?’

The cat nestled into my arms and began to brag about itself.

‘What? It wasn’t dangerous at all? I just thought you’d be bored, so I called you?’

This was the usual overconfident Ghost Cat.

The cat began chattering about all the events from this adventure.

The ruins of hellfire that rose from the abyss, the fire-breathing demonic frog, and the giant frog that was their leader.

The way the cat adapted the story so well into a captivating tale made even me, who knew exactly what happened, find it thoroughly entertaining.

‘Yeah, yeah. Impressive indeed.’

I hugged the cat tightly and petted it generously.

While I was petting the cute cat, I felt the intense gaze of Junior No. 1 directed at me.

Feeling envious, I took Junior’s hand and guided them to sit on the floor.

Then, I plopped myself down on Junior No. 1’s lap and lifted their hand to place it on my head.

If you’re that envious, you should just pet me too.

Leaning against the soft body of Junior No. 1, I relished the moment of being petted.

Strangely, the breath of Junior No. 1, who was rubbing my head, sounded a bit heavy, but I guess it was fine?

*

Late at night, at Sehee Research Institute.

I was sorting through pictures of reapers in the lounge.

[The reaper sleeping in the isolation room after the Central Research Institute incident.]
[The reaper captured by a security camera on the day the Yellow Detective came to visit.]
[A Golden Reaper enjoying cake.]
[A picture of a Gray Reaper obstructing a Blue Lizard's piano playing by holding one of its legs.]
[A Reaper joyously riding a tricycle.]
[A picture of a Reaper pressed against the glass of the isolation room, curiously watching a skeleton spider.]

There were many other photos captured by security cameras.

Among them, the best photo was definitely this one.

The picture of a reaper holding up one of the Blue Lizard’s legs, disrupting its piano playing.

This picture had been sent to me by Unnie Sehee, showcasing the reaper’s cuteness double-fold.

Sigh.

While looking at the various reaper photos, I really started to miss seeing the Reaper in person.

Although there was a Golden Reaper around, I still wanted to see the original Reaper.

“It’s getting late…”

But for some reason, I had an inexplicable feeling that I might get to see the Reaper tomorrow.

I really hope that’s the case.