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Beyond the corpse with its head missing, the entrance of the dark building gaped like the mouth of a monster.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

From inside that building, the sound of huge footsteps vibrating the ground could be heard.

The scent of blood grew stronger.

Swallowing hard at the sudden chill in the air, I squeezed the hand of the Reaper beside me.

A sinister red light flashed in the darkness.

The flickering light swayed up and down in time with the trembling ground, looking like the gaze of a demon.

‘It’ll be fine as long as the Reaper is here.’

Even thinking this, my entire body tensed up in nervousness.

The silhouette that emerged from the darkness was a robot shaped like a giant teddy bear.

The blood-soaked teddy bear, half-submerged in darkness, emanated a threatening aura.

Grrr.

As the sound of metal scraping echoed, blood clots began to drip from the bear’s front paw, possibly due to its caked insides.

It was standing still, but my breaths quickened as if it were galloping.

Scary!

BANG!

Then, bracing itself with its bloodied arm against the door, it slowly started to reveal its whole form.

An entrance reminiscent of a scene from a horror movie.

And the teddy bear, gradually revealing itself, suddenly hesitated, then began to slip back into the darkness.

“Huh?”

What’s it doing?

Could it be trying to run away?

The Gray Reaper’s eyes lit up as the bear disappeared into the darkness, and it dashed into the building like lightning.

At that moment, it resembled a cat chasing a fleeing toy.

“Haha, hahaha.”

Suddenly relaxed, the situation struck me as funny, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

With the Reaper by my side, it really felt safe!

*

A monster appeared.

The moment our eyes met, I realized it.

Eyes shining in yellow, piercing through to the essence.

It was a monster of an entirely different level.

Clenching my teeth, I had to get as far away from the monster as quickly as possible.

It’s okay.

It’ll be fine.

That kind of monster probably wouldn’t be interested in a weakling like me; as long as I ran and hid, it would be alright.

I concealed myself in the dark room and locked the door.

I covered my eyes to shield them from the light, curling my body as small as possible.

Bang.

A sound of something knocking on the iron door outside echoed.

No way, surely not.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The sound of something knocking on the iron door continued.

Then, after a while, there was no more noise.

“…”

Did it finally leave?

“…”

Is it gone now?

When I lowered my hands from my eyes and scanned the surroundings, nothing had changed since I entered.

Phew, thank goodness.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Just as relief filled my heart, the sound of knocking on the iron door suddenly returned.

No way.

Turning my gaze back at the noise, I saw a round hole drilled into the iron door, and the monster was peeking through.

It had a cruel smile as if to say “I found you!”

‘No! I can’t die like this!’

Screaming internally, I opened the other door and began to flee.

Thud.

But I couldn’t run far and collapsed to the ground.

When I turned around, both my legs were neatly severed.

And beyond that, the monster was slowly approaching.

I pushed my body back with what remained of my hands.

To get even a little further away from the monster.

Creeeak. Creeeak.

But I couldn’t escape.

I couldn’t even shake it off when my legs were fine, and right now, it was even more impossible.

Hoping for an unexpected strike against the nonchalant predator’s playful smile.

I threw a punch packed with all my strength.

But the moment I threw the punch, the monster suddenly vanished from my sight.

And then, my vision spun half a turn.

I saw my torso collapsing backward.

My wretched body, head and legs severed.

Before long, the monster approached and knocked my head.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Gradually, my vision narrowed, plunging me into eternal darkness.

*

The teddy bear that was desperately fleeing died.

The destruction condition for the teddy bear was [Separation of the head and torso.].

It was a situation that could seem pitiable, but I didn’t particularly feel that way.

Anyone looking at the teddy bear would think the same, right?

The teddy bear’s hands were covered in blood and chunks of intestines, painted in a gruesome way with blood.

Was this what a man-eating tiger felt like?

When I approached and stared at the pitifully crawling teddy bear, perhaps thinking it was an opportunity, the bear lifted its arm to smash me down.

It was a speed that was hard to believe for a teddy bear that had been sluggish until now.

But lightly dodging with ghosting, I severed the connection between the teddy bear’s head and body.

Black goo began to flow from the severed neck.

It was the same goo I had seen in the desert.

A black, smelly, disgusting liquid.

But unfortunately, it seemed like there was too little of that liquid.

If that’s the case, I couldn’t afford to drop the Golden Reaper by mistake.

I had been somewhat hopeful ever since I caught a whiff of that scent coming from the teddy bear!

Carrying my disappointment, I returned to where Yerin was, and she welcomed me with a fuss.

“Wow, Reaper, you’re back!”

But upon seeing my expression, she asked with a worried look.

“Huh? Reaper, did something happen? You look grumpy…”

Yerin poked my cheek, wearing a concerned face.

Within Yerin’s worries, I felt a gaze on me.

It felt like someone was watching me, not an object, but a human gaze. Who could it be?

*

In a secret space located in a corner of the factory.

All kinds of electronic equipment, whose purposes would be difficult for an ordinary person to guess, were arranged, and on one side of the room, various CCTV screens were displayed.

Two men had serious expressions as they watched the CCTV screens.

The gruesomely smashed teddy bear reflected on the screen.

The men watching the surveillance felt a chilling sense that the severed teddy bear’s head looked eerily like their own.

“Truly a special object. It doesn’t even stand a chance against something of class two. I can’t understand the psychology of civilians dancing along with such an object.”

“Oh, I was astonished to see that too. There are several major incidents related to the Gray Reaper, yet they react like this…”

The two men, who were monitoring the parking lot of the Pudding Factory with CCTV and binoculars, were troubled by the sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper.

The operation to isolate the factory and induce an accidental death had been carefully planned for a long time.

However, the sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper was an unexpected situation not accounted for.

“It seems we need to change our plans now that the Gray Reaper has appeared. In the worst case, we may have to abandon one of our targets.”

“Would it be okay if we just recovered the ‘object’ we secured and withdrew? The client might be unhappy…”

The gruff man, who had been contemplating, soon reached a conclusion.

“We’ll proceed with the operation as planned, but we’ll change our methods. An accidental death due to the failure to isolate the object is the best case, but we have no choice.”

He opened a long bag and pulled out a surprisingly large gun.

It was a sniper rifle equipped with a large scope.

“There are still other objects left in the factory, but since the Gray Reaper has appeared, it can’t be helped.”

The man, setting up the sniper rifle, looked through the scope at the parking lot.

“After dealing with James with a sniper shot, we’ll have to take out the interpreter and the researcher too. After shooting, we have to escape right away, so prepare the remaining equipment.”

But his companion remained silent.

“Huh?”

“Cough… cough.”

Unsure of the lack of response from his partner, the man lowered the scope to see his colleague choking and grasping his neck, with finger-sized holes punctured all around.

And behind him stood the Gray Reaper, glaring ferociously.

How did it find this place?

The man was quite taken aback, but his actions were swift.

In an instant, he drew his pistol and fired at the Gray Reaper.

Bang, bang. Bang.

Three bullets burst forth from the silenced pistol.

Two shots to the torso, one to the head.

The man wore a satisfied smile.

A bullet designed to deal with high-level objects made in America.

A weapon that could incinerate even a non-dying monster.

The white flames erupting from the bullets began to engulf the Gray Reaper’s body.

But disregarding the flames consuming it, the enraged Gray Reaper approached and severed the man’s head.

The blazing white flames soon quieted down, and the Gray Reaper stood there blankly, seemingly calming its emotions before starting to survey the surroundings.

*

In a cramped space, the thick stench of blood filled the air.

Suddenly, in my excitement at the notion of killing Yerin, I ended up killing them all.

Looking around, I couldn’t find any clues to identify the men or their affiliations.

I regretted that such vile humans must be uprooted.

The room where the men had stayed was filled with all sorts of electronic devices, all suspicious-looking items likely used for illegal activities.

Among them was one item that felt somewhat different.

Could this be the ‘object’ those bad men were talking about?

A leather briefcase made of antique material.

The elaborate design itself wasn’t special, but the material of the bag felt somehow peculiar.

It looked like an object, yet it didn’t give off the same feel.

Thinking it looked important, I decided to take it.

And then I punched a hole in the wall and jumped toward where Yerin was.

Now that I had dealt with the watchers, I needed to save the Pudding Factory.

*

James, comfortably lying with his eyes closed on the bed, suddenly opened them and got up.

“It’s too quiet.”

At James’ words, the interpreter looked confused, but soon realized something strange.

“Right? I don’t hear the sound of the teddy bear demolishing the building.”

James glanced at the clock and said,

“Is it possible that we handled the steel teddy bear in less than an hour after the call? Something feels off; it’s physically impossible.”

“Then could they have set another trap? Waiting for us to come out or something?”

James, jumping out of bed, approached the management room door.

“If they take their time, they could deal with us quite likely, so it shouldn’t be necessary to set up a trap. In that case, we can assume that a passing scholar showed us pity and came to save us.”

Suddenly, James raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence.

“Don’t you hear something?”

As I listened intently like James, I could faintly hear a sound.

[Pudding.]

[Pudding.]

The interpreter’s face turned pale.

“Could it be those monster rabbits?”

Just as the interpreter said this, pink robotic rabbits poured out from the ventilation ducts in the management room.

[Pudding!!!!!!]

They were adorable robot rabbits wearing chef hats and holding whisks and measuring spoons.

“Run!”

But upon seeing that sight, James and the interpreter kicked the door of the management room and hurriedly began to flee.

Dodging the sharply pointed whisks and spoon-like daggers.