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Suddenly, golden flames burst forth from the body of the Reaper, who was clutching the book tightly with both hands.

As the book began to ignite, the flames started to spread to the Reaper holding it.

What should I do?

Do I have to forcibly tear the book away?

I was at a loss, feeling restless about what to do, when I heard James’ calm voice next to me.

“Indeed, the Gray Reaper is special.”

I turned to him, wondering what he meant, and James pointed to the Gray Reaper, urging me to take a closer look.

“Doesn’t it seem like the Gray Reaper is absorbing the fire rather than being burned by it?”

Now that I thought about it, the flames spreading from the book appeared to be getting sucked into the Gray Reaper’s body.

And somehow, the Reaper’s face looked relaxed.

“Usually, when an object comes into contact with that book, it painfully burns and ultimately turns to ashes. Even objects that continuously regenerate cannot regenerate if they touch that fire. But the Gray Reaper seems unaffected.”

James added quietly, “It’s still a hypothesis, but maybe the Gray Reaper isn’t an object.”

“The bullets I’ve designed and are being manufactured in America for large objects also mimic that book’s flames…”

“So what do we do about the Gray Reaper in that state?”

“I don’t know either. I’ve never seen an object react like that. Normally, objects would try to tear the book apart or be afraid, but the Gray Reaper seems to be doing neither.”

Looks like I have no choice but to keep watching.

It could be an illusion, but it seemed the Reaper was slowly turning white amidst the golden flames.

*

Infinite firewood!

To me, it felt like I could do anything if I just had firewood, so any item that provided firewood seemed quite attractive.

But unfortunately, while it was firewood, there wasn’t much of it.

The amount trickling in at once was too little to be of much use.

If I compared the absorption rate to time, it was about 1/100 of Yerin.

Just standing quietly among ordinary people seemed better than this book.

People tended to be scared or find me cute just by my presence among them.

I could think of it as emergency rations for when no one else was around…

But it still didn’t seem very appealing.

Having a tangible item is such a hassle to carry around!

From my perspective, which often resorts to ghosting, it was clear that ghosting was worth much more than those emergency rations.

Yet, there was a fatal flaw in leaving it in the Isolation Room of the Sehee Research Institute to munch on whenever I got bored.

It tasted terrible.

The emotions contained in the flames lacked flavor.

What kind of emotion is this?

Since the book isn’t human, I couldn’t figure out what kind of emotion it contained.

Pure firewood with just one emotion.

Compared to being human, it felt like sucking on plastic that couldn’t even be eaten.

Rather than eating this, it seemed far better to go outside the research institute and scare a person.

Firewood really is best when it comes from Yerin.

I severed the firewood entering from the book and threw this useless book at the man who was looking at me with an intrigued expression.

He caught the book cautiously, his face showing confusion at my throw.

Taking all the golden rabbit pudding for myself is ultimately the final plan.

So, I need to go get more pudding now.

Considering the foul smell in the air, I had a pretty good idea of where the killer rabbits were located.

I looked toward the center of the factory where the stench emanated.

Most likely, the rabbits live where that stench keeps overflowing.

*

Having lost interest in the book, the Reaper, now thrown into the air, turned to look intently toward the center of the factory.

Well, the pudding factory takeover situation isn’t resolved yet, after all.

Still, it seems like it’s the first time I’ve seen the Reaper so enthusiastic.

So, they really liked that pudding, huh?

It was somewhat amusing to think that the indifferent-looking Reaper was, in fact, thinking about pudding.

As soon as James took the book, he began to operate his bag and carefully store it away.

“Come on, we can’t be sure how long this place will be safe. Let’s escape quickly.”

At James’ suggestion to flee, I pointed at the Reaper who was staring at the center of the factory.

“It seems like the Reaper wants to resolve this pudding factory situation, doesn’t it?”

James shook his head with a very serious face.

“Even a Gray Reaper cannot reclaim the factory.”

“Isn’t there no object that the Reaper can’t handle?”

James doesn’t seem to get it; there’s nothing impossible for a Gray Reaper!

Though the Reaper didn’t take its eyes off, the antenna on its head slightly tilted toward us, as if it was interested in our conversation.

“Still, reclaiming the factory is difficult. A troublesome being is settled in the factory’s center. It’s an object well known to Koreans. The object that currently occupies the factory is the infamous ‘Hungry Ghost.’”

“Hungry Ghost? Why is it suddenly here when it fell into the sinkhole in Songpa?”

“Of course, it’s not that Hungry Ghost. But you could call the object in the factory a subspecies of Hungry Ghost as it looks quite similar.”

Watching the Reaper’s antenna swaying gently, I countered.

“Didn’t the Gray Reaper already defeat the Hungry Ghost?”

James shook his head and said.

“The subspecies of the Hungry Ghost that occupies the factory is far more threatening than the Hungry Ghost itself. And even if it can be eliminated like a Hungry Ghost, that’s still a problem.”

“Is there another problem apart from elimination?”

“Let’s remember our objective. Eliminating the Hungry Ghost isn’t our goal. Reclaiming the factory is the purpose. Have you forgotten what happened to Songpa when the Gray Reaper dealt with the Hungry Ghost?”

“There was a sinkhole. Oh, then the factory will collapse.”

“Exactly. If that happens, even if we succeed in dealing with it, we’ll still fail to reclaim it.”

Logically, it was a sound opinion.

But in reality, our opinions didn’t matter much.

Having lost interest in our conversation, the Gray Reaper’s antenna stood upright.

Bump bump.

And then, the Reaper began to take cute little steps forward.

I pointed towards the Reaper.

“It can’t be helped.”

James picked up his bag and started to follow the Gray Reaper.

The timid-looking man saw this and followed James.

“Boss? Can’t we escape first on our own?”

The man spoke with a hint of panic as he watched me and James follow the Reaper.

“It’s still too dangerous in the factory. There are quite a few rabbit dolls left, so we have no choice. In reality, we don’t have any options.”

At James’ grim words, the timid man looked greatly disheartened and had no choice but to follow us reluctantly.

*

Clutching the bag containing Volume 0 tightly, I followed the Gray Reaper toward the core of the factory.

As we ventured deeper into the factory, the nauseating smell of blood grew stronger.

The decor seemed strategically arranged to terrify anyone who entered.

Human entrails and flayed flesh could be seen hanging everywhere within view.

The flesh that was thinly spread out and formed some sort of pattern hung like a grotesque tapestry.

I was somewhat impressed.

“How fascinating.”

These were merely robotic bunny dolls, yet here they were, crafting an aesthetic ambiance despite their twisted forms!

It was something I could have never expected.

Had I underestimated the contemplation of the robots I designed?

Or was it due to that black liquid that contaminated the bunnies?

The interpreter had gone pale and looked as if they would faint at any moment.

They seemed poised to faint again soon.

If they fainted, I’d have to carry them once more.

As we arrived in the logistics warehouse that packaged the pudding, what greeted us were the shredded pudding boxes.

The pudding boxes were sprawled out, having vomited their contents everywhere.

The puddings were torn open and scattered on the floor, trampled in the shape of bunny footprints.

Those traces conveyed the bunnies’ hatred towards the pudding.

The Gray Reaper stopped and gazed down at the mass of puddings that had been cruelly discarded.

Yerin Oh was petting the Gray Reaper with a worried expression.

Something felt off.

The Gray Reaper was definitely expressionless, yet it seemed incredibly sad.

Is this a form of mental pollution as well?

The pudding containers that had spilled their contents were filled with ground-up flesh instead.

The Gray Reaper, looking extremely angry, lifted its head.

As I looked around, I noticed the bunny dolls had already surrounded us.

With gleaming eyes, the bunny dolls charged us as the Gray Reaper spread its arms wide.

At the same time, the Golden Reapers scattered in all directions.

A small, chubby swarm of golden locusts, which leaves no bones behind as it leaps toward the bunnies.

*

The bunnies that were making human pudding were all dead.

It was a moment of victory, but the victorious Golden Reapers looked rather sorrowful.

The surroundings were silent, yet filled with wails.

It was because of the Golden Reapers who constantly shed tears while gazing at the human puddings.

Everyone collapsed in front of the pudding containers, unable to make a move and simply crying.

Their wails were so sorrowful that it made my heart uncomfortable.

“Okay, okay. It’s alright.”

As I petted them a bit, their crying subsided a little, so I walked around and stroked the heads of the Golden Reapers.

In stark contrast to them, the Gray Reaper was gazing up at the sky, watching something.

What on earth is it looking at?

I too looked up to follow the gaze of the Reaper.

There’s something there.

Something seems to be floating up near the ceiling.

Is that… pudding floating surrounded by bubbles?