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Jump, jump.

Pitter-patter.

The collaborative work of the Golden Rabbit Reapers, which seemed like it would go on forever, ended quite quickly.

The diligent Golden Reapers put the puddings they made into the refrigerator and sat around it, waiting for the puddings to set.

There were as many as five of those refrigerators.

The Golden Reapers had satisfied expressions.

And while observing the work of the Golden Rabbit Reapers, I reached a tentative conclusion.

The plan to produce Ninja Pudding in the Golden Reaper Garden seemed successful, but it was a failure.

First of all, it took too long!

There are five refrigerators for puddings.

While that number might seem sufficient for the Golden Reapers, to me, it was far from enough.

Perhaps because the refrigerators were sized for the Golden Reapers, each could only hold a single pudding bowl.

In other words, it meant that even after waiting for hours, only five puddings would result.

Too little.

At least, it was way too little.

Even thinking of solutions seemed hopeless.

Should we move the puddings to another refrigerator?

It seemed like we only had enough ingredients for exactly five puddings, so it appeared impossible.

Should we hunt more rabbits after all?

Right now, we only had five cooking hats, but if we killed more rabbits, wouldn’t we end up with a few more?

Was there a way to secretly swipe five puddings from the Golden Reapers?

Gazing at the smiling Golden Reapers waiting for the puddings to be ready, my thoughts only deepened.

*

No matter how much I poked the cheeks of the Reaper that wouldn’t respond, I was watching the men coming down from the second floor.

A striking pair.

One was crying loudly, tears streaming down his face.

The other was dressed in an outfit so peculiar it was hard to describe.

What should I even call that outfit? Should I say it’s a thickly made full-body swimsuit?

Seeing the Golden Reaper attached to him, they didn’t seem like bad people, but they looked utterly strange.

Probably, one of them must be the owner of this factory.

It was somewhat amusing how their reactions to the Golden Reaper differed.

The man in the bizarre outfit removed the Golden Reaper stuck to him, observed it, and nonchalantly placed it over his head.

The crying man, surprised by the Golden Reaper drying his tears, lifted the Reaper with an awkward expression and respectfully placed it on the railing in the corridor.

His expression looked like he wanted to throw it away at any moment, but out of fear of the Golden Reaper that had slaughtered the rabbits, he seemed to put it down carefully.

The abandoned Golden Reaper looked up with a gloomy face from the railing, gazing at the man, and then vanished into thin air as if melting away.

Surely that man was someone terrified by the ominous rumors surrounding the Gray Reaper?

It seemed like the perception of the Gray Reaper had improved significantly due to their cute dance these days, but it seemed there was still a long way to go.

Seeing the overly emotional man still weeping, the strangely dressed man patted him on the back, saying:

“Now, now, stop crying. The crisis has passed, and all you have left is the nice advance payment for the request, right?”

“Do you think so? The crisis must be over now, right? All I have to do is escape outside, right?”

That seemed to comfort him quite a bit, as the man who had been bawling stopped, mumbling about ‘the payment, the sports car….’

The oddly dressed man came down the stairs, saw me, smiled broadly, and jogged over to greet me.

And the sobbing man, perhaps scared of the Gray Reaper in my arms, greeted from a bit further away.

“Nice to meet you! It’s a pleasure! I almost died. I’m James, the owner of this factory.”

“I really thought I was going to die. Thank you for saving me.”

Mr. James seemed reasonably fine for someone who had been fleeing just a moment ago.

And as he expressed his gratitude, perhaps remembering the moment he had been chased, the man started to sniffle again.

James began to gaze down intently at the Reaper nestled in my arms.

“I can’t believe I’m actually seeing a Gray Reaper. I always wanted to see one someday.”

James lifted his gaze to me and continued speaking.

“Is there something wrong? Why does it keep its eyes closed? Did it perhaps exert too much power when it rescued us?”

“I’m not sure why the Reaper is like this. It has never acted this way before.”

I believed there wouldn’t be any problems, but I truly didn’t understand why this was happening.

It wasn’t ill, was it?

*

James had been looking forward to meeting a Gray Reaper since he established a factory in Korea.

In fact, he’d been anticipating it even before the Gray Reaper appeared in Korea.

The reason this was possible was due to a particular special book held by James’ family.

A book depicting a figure identical to the Gray Reaper.

It was a special book known as the Zero Book.

It couldn’t just be dismissed as coincidence.

It was too special to be considered a mere coincidence.

About 30% of James’ accomplishments could be attributed to this book, which contained extraordinary information.

“Really. It looks exactly the same. If only I hadn’t lost my bag, I could compare them.”

James expressed with a tinge of regret.

“Is this bag perhaps the one you lost?”

James’ face lit up when he saw the bag Yerin was holding out to me.

“This is indeed my lost bag! Thank you so much! Where on earth did you find it?”

“I’m not sure myself. The Reaper somehow brought it to me and handed it over.”

Taking the bag from Yerin, James started manipulating it in a complicated manner.

From Yerin’s perspective, it seemed just like an old-fashioned bag, but the locking mechanism looked more intricate than expected.

*

Watching James diligently work on the bag while holding the unresponsive Gray Reaper in my arms.

“Ah, at last, it’s opened.”

Inside the opened bag was an old book that looked incredibly worn.

The bag was structured to carry only that single book.

It appeared to be quite a precious book.

From the strict locking mechanism to the fact that the entire large document bag was used solely for the storage of one book.

James carefully unfolded the old book and slowly turned the pages, looking for something.

Then he softly said, “Here it is,” and opened a page, presenting it to me.

“Isn’t it remarkably similar?”

The page James held out had an insufferable amount of incomprehensible language scribbled on it, and in one corner, there was a meticulously drawn picture.

Light blue hair.

Slightly darker blue eyes.

A girl smiling vibrantly.

So beautifully sketched it could be mistaken for a photograph, yet what drew Yerin’s interest even more was the subject the picture depicted.

Wouldn’t the Gray Reaper look something like that as it aged?

Apart from the fact that it’s a perfectly human depiction.

“Was this drawn imagining what the Gray Reaper would look like as it grows up? It’s really well drawn.”

“Surely, a book with such a cliché drawing wouldn’t be kept so meticulously, would it? Amazingly, this drawing existed before the Gray Reaper appeared.”

“Huh? Before the Reaper existed? Then who was the model for this picture?”

A person identical to the Reaper!

If he existed, I wanted to meet him.

“There are many theories about the model for this drawing, but none are confirmed. It was at least over 100 years ago, so they probably wouldn’t be alive anymore.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. I would have liked to see them if they existed.”

James, noticing my reaction, spoke with a dubious expression.

“Your reaction is a bit peculiar, could it be that you don’t know about the Zero Artifact?”

“The Zero Artifact? What on earth is that?”

“Hmm? That’s strange. I sent a notice to the Korean Object Association’s affiliated research institute to let them know….”

James, whose expression had crinkled, mumbled in a small voice.

I couldn’t hear well, but it seemed he said something like, “Something’s fishy.”

Is he saying something’s off?

With a suspicious look, James erased that expression and began to talk.

“Well then, let’s save the rest of the story for after we leave the factory. It seems like we need to give up on this place anyway.”

The moment James said that, the warmth I had in my arms suddenly vanished.

“Reaper?”

The Gray Reaper suddenly leaped forward as if teleporting and snatched James’ book.

Then, holding the book tightly with both hands, it just stared at it.

For some reason, I felt like the Reaper’s glow had become even stronger.

*

While gazing at the Golden Reaper Garden, suddenly, I felt flames.

Not the firewood inside my chest, but firewood that existed externally.

Firewood entirely separate from me, not derived from a Golden Reaper.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a book in a man’s hand.

What’s this?

A book with firewood?

I rushed over as if bewitched and grabbed the book.

As I held the book, I could feel the firewood gradually increasing.

Flames flowed from the book into me, expanding the firewood within my chest.

Slowly, but endlessly.