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As the Reaper hopped three times, flames suddenly erupted from the dug-up drain around the open lot.

Did the gasoline from the wrecked sports car flow into the drain?

The even spread of gasoline was likely due to the Reaper’s ability.

A sudden wave of heat hit.

The open lot where the Hungry Ghosts and the Reaper were battling transformed into an arena engulfed in flames.

Boom!

And then the ground began to shake violently.

“Is the internal tunnel collapsing? It shouldn’t crumble from that kind of shock, right?”

James’s expression showed disbelief at the bizarre phenomenon.

“The Reaper can do anything! If it wanted, it could probably destroy the Earth.”

With a face full of smiles, I bragged about the Reaper’s greatness.

Bang!

With a sudden explosion, the ground with the Hungry Ghosts unnaturally caved in.

During the incident in Songpa District, a massive sinkhole occurred.

But this time, it was like a cute little sinkhole, on a smaller scale, specifically designed for the Hungry Ghosts.

It was as if the events from Songpa District had been downsized.

As the swirling dust settled, the Hungry Ghost had already been sucked into the hole.

But the ending was different from the one in Songpa District.

Thud. Thud.

With a loud noise, a gigantic monster’s hand burst from the edge of the sinkhole.

The sinkhole couldn’t contain the Hungry Ghost.

Bam.

The sound of the Hungry Ghost’s body bursting echoed out.

The hand that had firmly gripped the ground disappeared with that sound.

And then came the enormous thud that shook the ground.

The Hungry Ghost was once again slammed to the bottom of the sinkhole.

Suddenly, the Golden Reaper jumped in and obliterated the Hungry Ghost’s hand.

Before I knew it, the Gray Reaper was surrounded by Golden Reapers.

As the Gray Reaper reached forward, the Golden Reapers rushed toward the sinkhole, jumping in one by one.

Every time a Golden Reaper jumped in, the sound of the Hungry Ghost’s body vaporizing could be heard.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

As the Golden Reaper fell endlessly into the sinkhole, the sounds resembled popcorn popping.

Grrrrrr!

The tortured screams of the Hungry Ghost echoed from within the sinkhole.

Gone was the confidence it once had; only terror filled that sound.

Boom!

With a massive noise, the Hungry Ghost jumped out of the sinkhole.

The appearance of the Hungry Ghost in mid-air was ragtag.

It was covered in holes shaped like Golden Reapers.

It looked like a paper that had been punched repeatedly with a hole punch.

But something was off about the trajectory of the falling Hungry Ghost.

Was it not aiming for the Gray Reaper?

The Hungry Ghost was jumping toward us, who were watching from the outskirts of the open lot.

Though it was ragged, it still had a massive body that could turn one or two people into mush.

Why all of a sudden?

“Dodge!”

At the sudden shout, I turned around to see James hastily fleeing with an unconscious man over his shoulder.

But it was already too late to escape.

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*

Remembering the time we fought in Songpa District, I tried making a sinkhole again, but it was pointless.

Why isn’t the Hungry Ghost escaping from the Songpa District sinkhole?

Did someone smear honey underground?

Recreating the battle against the Hungry Ghost, I realized just how much stronger I had become.

Such a battle and regeneration barely stressed the firewood anymore.

The experiment was over, and it was time to fight seriously.

As I called forth the Golden Reaper, numerous Golden Reapers rushed out from the Golden Reaper garden.

Some Golden Reapers dashed toward the extremely harmful Hungry Ghosts and severed their arms.

I reached out toward the sinkhole.

Commanding the Golden Reapers.

“Hey, there’s a harmful object to humans over there! Take it out!”

Bam. Bam.

The Golden Reapers hopped toward the sinkhole at their own speed.

And they jumped in without hesitation.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The irregularly ringing explosion sounds were delightful to hear.

Sure enough, the Golden Reapers had much better fuel efficiency.

Since the Golden Reaper garden had been established, the firewood needed for resurrection had become almost negligible.

I could feel the regeneration speed of the Hungry Ghost slowing down.

I thought we would smoothly handle this, but the Hungry Ghost made one last desperate attempt.

For reasons unknown, it attacked Yerin.

What a fool.

I’d never leave Yerin in danger!

With my arms wide open, I summoned the Golden Reaper garden into reality.

As I spread the garden with all my might, the surrounding factory area vanished in an instant.

And what filled the surroundings were:

The land of beds, the Sea of Hot Chocolate, and the paradise of snacks and pudding.

“Huh? Suddenly, it turned into the Golden Reaper’s house?”

Yerin’s voice was filled with surprise.

Kaboom.

And the Hungry Ghost landed in a completely different place from where Yerin was.

The Hungry Ghost looked confused by the sudden change in environment.

It didn’t know why its jump had gone awry.

But the Hungry Ghost did not give up and began to charge toward Yerin again.

Such a useless endeavor.

*

“Wow!”

As the Reaper spread its arms, the surrounding scenery transformed entirely into the Golden Reaper’s house.

“Can objects do this too? What should we call this? Spatial substitution? Spatial movement?”

James looked worried about something.

Kreeek.

The Hungry Ghost stubbornly charged toward us, undeterred by such strange phenomena.

I was surprised by the unexpectedly tenacious Hungry Ghost, but something even more surprising happened.

As the Reaper stomped down on one foot, the space folded directly, forming a wall between the Hungry Ghost and us.

And as the Reaper reached out its hands and cupped them together, the space with the Hungry Ghost began to curl inward.

Inside that curled space, the Hungry Ghost twisted and distorted as if trapped in a fisheye lens world.

Then as the Reaper clenched its hands tightly, the spherical cut-out space crumpled and vanished without a trace.

The Reaper turned to us with a calm expression.

“This… is like being a god.”

James’s expression went beyond worry and now looked helpless.

“Are you okay, Reaper?”

The Reaper looked expressionless and composed as always.

Still, for some reason, the Reaper seemed tired, so I ran over and hugged it.

The Reaper often felt better when I hugged it, so I hoped it would work this time too.

Fortunately, the Reaper’s expression improved as it looked down.

*

I doubt I’ll forget today’s events.

I had always firmly believed that someday, the U.S. and humanity would catch up to and conquer the objects.

But what I witnessed today certainly made me wonder.

Could humanity ever reproduce this phenomenon?

The one good thing was that it seemed difficult even for the Gray Reaper to create such phenomena.

The Gray Reaper’s expression was hard to read, but right now it looked exhausted to the point of being apparent even to me.

The mysterious space that had covered reality vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like bubbles bursting.

“Well then, the last obstacle blocking our way has disappeared, so let’s go reclaim the factory.”

I said with a bright smile in my voice.

As I passed through the torn door, I was able to reunite with the pudding production object that the Hungry Ghost had occupied.

“Restarting production right away is going to be tough.”

The pudding production object was in shambles.

Many of the production facilities had been destroyed.

Moreover, the most important stuffed rabbit toys had either been completely destroyed or escaped.

At this rate, it seemed like it would take quite some time before the factory could return to normal.

*

In the depths of the factory where the Hungry Ghosts had been guarding, there was an object that looked entirely different from what I had imagined.

“This is the object that produces pudding? I had imagined something larger since it was called a pudding production factory…”

Rather than a factory, it resembled a toy for playing house.

It looked like a cute little kitchen, furnished with cooking utensils the size of stuffed rabbit toys that had attacked us.

Considering how wrecked the surrounding structures were, several mini kitchens appeared to be in quite good condition.

“With this condition, isn’t it okay? Is restarting production difficult?”

“It’s difficult; the most essential stuffed rabbit toys are missing. It will take quite some time to normalize. I’m sorry you came all this way just for pudding.”

The Reaper, who had been listening quietly to the conversation with James, walked over to the mini kitchen.

Could it be that the Reaper wanted to do it itself?

But it seemed too small for the Reaper to enter!

As the Reaper spread its hands, oddly-shaped Golden Reapers popped into existence from its palms.

They were cute Golden Reapers with chef hats and rabbit ears.

The Golden Reapers skillfully entered the mini kitchen and took their respective places.

“Could they be a substitute for the stuffed rabbit toys?”

James looked bewildered.

I was a bit surprised too.

The Reaper was just too万能 (万能; all-powerful)!

The Reaper stared at us with an expression that seemed to say it could absolutely do it.

“Then, let’s give it a try.”

As James placed the cherished book on a device, golden flames surged from the book, and the mini kitchen began to light up.

And cute little cooking began.

It was a division of labor for cooking, but the strange part was that it seemed time was speeding up inside the mini kitchen by tenfold.

In an instant, the pudding was sent via a chimney attached to the mini kitchen, floating up covered in bubbles.

“Wow, the pudding is coming out incredibly fast.”

“That’s because time is accelerated inside that kitchen. Once we fix the factory and get the other mini kitchens operational, it’ll start coming out even faster.”

I imagined the Reaper happily looking at the pudding and turned my head, only to find the Reaper looking dissatisfied.

What on earth was making it sulky this time?

The Reaper walked over, picked up the book, and threw it at James.

Then the Reaper made a significant expression and placed its hand on the device that held the book.

Then, flames began to surge from the Reaper’s body, drawing itself into the machine.

“Huh? Huh?”

And then the mini kitchen began to gradually accelerate.

10 times, 100 times, 1,000 times, 10,000 times.

The Golden Reapers were moving at such high speeds that they left no traces behind.

James shouted “Stop!”, but it was already too late.

And the bubble-covered pudding erupted from the chimney like a cannon.

The torrent of pudding attacked the factory!!

Boom!

The pudding torrent broke through the factory ceiling and began to scatter freely across the sky.

Wow, the whole world is full of pudding.

What am I going to do? I think Unnie Seoah is going to be super mad at me.