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Park Seoah was bustling about in her personal office, the Deputy Director’s Office.

Final checks for the business trip.

As Park Seoah moved around busily, the Golden Reaper watched her with sparkling eyes, brimming with curiosity.

The newly born Golden Reaper found everything in this space fascinating.

It was a completely different atmosphere from the Isolation Room of the Gray Reaper and very unlike the Golden Garden where it lived.

Sunlight streamed in through the large window, illuminating a view filled with grass and trees.

The sunshine enveloped it gently, warming its body.

To the Golden Reaper, who couldn’t read, the various certificates and awards that Seoah cherished meant nothing, but it could clearly feel the emotion behind them.

Everything was intriguing: the polished wooden desk, the computer, the neatly organized documents, the stylish lamp, and the picture frames containing various landscapes.

In fact, the Golden Reaper could return to the Golden Garden whenever it pleased, but it chose to stay in this space a little longer.

This place had many things the Golden Reaper loved.

The refrigerator that always had delicious food was nice.

The magnets that buoyantly supported it were enjoyable.

But what it loved the most was humans.

It adored Park Seoah, who always sent warm feelings its way.

“I’m off on a business trip. You have to be good, okay?”

Seoah placed a pile of candy on the table where the Golden Reaper was and said something the Golden Reaper couldn’t understand.

While it couldn’t grasp the words themselves, it could feel the emotion behind them.

It realized that those words meant a long farewell.

Floating gently on the magnet, the Golden Reaper started to ghost Seoah the moment she closed the door and left.

Bouncy bouncy.

The Golden Reaper laughed joyfully as it hopped around near Park Seoah.

As she got into her vehicle, it secretly snuck into the car and released its ghosting.

The Golden Reaper hid in the shadows, giggling about something amusing.

While Seoah was busy driving, the Golden Reaper opened the zipper of the bag sitting in the passenger seat and nestled inside.

It thought to itself, always together with the Attached Human!

*

In the Comfortable Isolation Room where soft music played from the TV, I was lying on the bed, enjoying my rest.

Bouncy bouncy.

The Golden Reaper was bouncing on my stomach like a trampoline, giggling.

With joyful laughter, it took all sorts of poses before bouncing back up after landing on me.

It looked just like me but was a different being.

The Golden Reaper.

Suddenly, I became curious.

I couldn’t see my own destruction condition, but what was the Golden Reaper’s?

As I checked the Golden Reaper’s destruction condition, it gasped in shock and returned to the Golden Garden.

The destruction condition for the Golden Reaper was simple.

<Destroy the Golden Garden.>

Did the duration disappear when the Golden Garden was created?

Thinking about the activity time of the Golden Reapers lately, it seemed they could return whenever they wanted….

I had already confirmed the destruction condition for the Golden Reaper.

<Destroy the Gray Reaper.>

I felt it was okay to set aside my worries about the Golden Reaper’s death.

At least it would be safe until I die.

In a way, if I were safe, the Golden Reapers might be sturdier than I am.

Thump thump.

When I called back the Golden Reaper that had disappeared, it was extremely angry and kept punching me with its tiny fist.

While I played along, taking the hits from the Golden Reaper’s punches, Yerin suddenly rushed into the Isolation Room, looking shocked and panting.

Bang!

As soon as Yerin closed the door to the Isolation Room, a clanging sound echoed from the door.

What on earth was going on?

While I tilted my head in confusion, the more sensitive Golden Reaper seemed to sense something and stopped punching, staring intently at the door.

“Reaper, a crazy penguin has appeared! It, it bites through metal! It’s, there are so many of them!”

Yerin, drenched in sweat and panting, was babbling something, but as soon as I heard ‘penguin,’ I had a foreboding feeling.

Bouncy bouncy dancing penguin!

Was that malicious type of object showing up now?

Whack!

The beak of the penguin broke through the steel wall of the Isolation Room.

“Ah! Reaper!”

Yerin yelped in shock and rushed to me, hugging me tightly.

With a squeaky, grinding sound, the penguin began to saw away.

Squeak. Squeak.

A disturbing sound of metal bending and grinding resonated inside the Isolation Room.

“Wh-what should we do, Reaper?”

An overwhelming feeling from the firewood.

Yerin was panicking and terrified.

While I was savoring the sensation of the firewood growing, the Golden Reaper, who was on my shoulder, suddenly slapped my cheek in irritation and dashed out of the Isolation Room.

Was it scolding me for dawdling?

Getting slapped while eating is the saddest thing!

For some reason, the Golden Reaper seemed to dislike Yerin’s panic and fear rather than enjoying it.

Had it become desensitized to only meal down positive emotions?

When I followed the Golden Reaper outside the Isolation Room, the research institute’s corridor had turned into chaos.

Thick steel partitions had come down everywhere in the corridor, blocking off escape, and the noisy sounds of the penguins gnawing at the partitions filled the air.

Penguin corpses littered the corridor.

Just how many penguins were there?

With this many, it seemed like they distributed ten “Bouncy Bouncy Penguin” photos to all employees.

I couldn’t see any living penguins in my view, as the Golden Reaper had dashed out to do its job.

As I stomped around the research institute’s corridor, I spotted the security team blocking the way while struggling in front of the conference room.

“Stop them!”

“Don’t let them bite through the shields! Don’t just stand there!”

Armed with shields made of special alloy and heavy, sturdy batons, they were swinging their batons at the penguins, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

I lightly approached with ghosting and burst the heads of the penguins in front of the conference room.

When all the penguins had been killed, and the situation in front of the conference room began to stabilize, the Golden Reaper, who had taken care of all the other penguins in the research institute, returned.

And it sat on my shoulder, staring at me.

It looked like it was seeking a compliment, so I patted its head with my finger.

“Good job, good job.”

Because the Sehee Research Institute is a precious place.

By the way, I heard that the popularity of the “Bouncy Bouncy Penguins” was immense and had sold out everywhere….

It seemed quite a disaster was about to occur; would it be all right?

But I had heard that most of the photos were sold by “Daily Object.”

Maybe this incident would completely ruin them.

*

Halfway up Mount Gakchi, I wiped the sweat and looked down at the base of the mountain.

Small buildings and roads, the warm sunlight streaming down.

A cool breeze lightly cooled my body.

Why on earth did they build a research institute on top of a mountain?

Even if it was a hilly mountain, it was just inconvenient.

And maybe because I hadn’t climbed a mountain in a while, it was giving off a strange sunny smell since climbing Mount Gakchi.

The sunlight wasn’t particularly strong or anything.

It smelled more like sand that had been heated by the sun.

But did sand even have a smell?

Looking up, I saw there was still a long way to go.

“Haah, it’s tiring since I haven’t moved in a while.”

Someone wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Though it was a tiny hand, so it didn’t help much… a tiny hand?

When I looked to the side, the Golden Reaper was on my shoulder.

I jumped in surprise and reached into my bag to grab the Reaper.

Inside the bag, amidst documents, a wallet, and a phone, the Golden Reaper was grinning happily.

Had it followed me all the way here?

This was a headache.

The Golden Reaper was rolling around in the bag, clutching the car keys with a clueless expression.

Yeah, what wrong could you have done?

I reached into the bag and gave the Golden Reaper’s head a gentle rub.

“Here, I’ll give you some candy, but you can’t come out of the bag even if you’re bored, okay?”

Whether it understood or not, the Golden Reaper slowly started eating the candy I gave it.

The conference hasn’t even started yet, and I already feel tired.

Should I just head back to the Sehee Research Institute?

*

At a mid-slope location opposite from where the Gakchi Research Institute was located.

A strange event was occurring in this secluded place.

The ground began to bubble and boil.

Reddish sand spouting from the ground bubbled as if boiling water.

And strange shadows started to appear.

Sure enough, there was nothing, and there was nothing blocking the sunlight, yet a shadow emerged.

The shapes of the shadows were diverse.

Some shadows resembled cubical forms.

Others had shapes like humans with limbs.

And there were also shapes that couldn’t be identified at all.

In the sky, a faint red moon seemed to be visible.

 

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