Seo-Ah Park was bustling around in her personal office, the deputy director's room, making the final preparations for her upcoming business trip.

The Golden Reaper watched her with bright, curious eyes, taking in every movement.

For the Golden Reaper, who was practically a newborn, everything in this space was fascinating. The atmosphere here was completely different from the Gray Reaper's isolation chamber or the Golden Reapers' own golden garden.

The room was bathed in sunlight streaming through wide windows, offering a view of trees and greenery outside. The warm rays of the sun gently heated its small body, adding to the sense of comfort.

Though the Golden Reaper couldn't read, it could sense the importance Seo-Ah placed on various certificates and awards displayed around the room. It marveled at the polished wooden desk, the neatly organized folders, the sleek lamp, and the framed pictures of different landscapes. Everything was new and exciting.

Although the Golden Reaper could return to the golden garden whenever it wished, it chose to stay here a bit longer. The room had many things it loved, especially Seo-Ah, who always radiated warmth and kindness.

"I’ll be off on my trip now. Behave while I’m gone, okay?"

Seo-Ah placed a pile of candies on the table where the Golden Reaper sat and spoke words it couldn’t understand, but the Reaper could sense the emotions behind them.

It felt a tinge of sadness, realizing that Seo-Ah would be gone for a while.

As Seo-Ah closed the door behind her, the Golden Reaper floated off its magnetic perch and, turning into a ghostly form, decided to follow her.

With a joyful laugh, the Golden Reaper skipped around Seo-Ah, eventually sneaking into the car as she got in. Once inside, it slipped into the shadow of the passenger seat, giggling quietly to itself.

As Seo-Ah focused on driving, the Golden Reaper unzipped her bag and hid inside, curling up among the papers and items within. It thought to itself, I'll always be with my beloved human!

In the cozy isolation chamber, soft music played on the TV.

I lay on the bed, enjoying a moment of rest.

The Golden Reaper was bouncing on my stomach like it was a trampoline, laughing merrily. It tried all sorts of poses as it jumped up and down, landing on my belly before leaping up again.

It looked a lot like me but was a different being altogether.

The Golden Reaper.

Suddenly, I grew curious. I couldn’t see my own destruction conditions, but what were the Golden Reaper’s?

When I checked, the Golden Reaper was startled and instantly disappeared back to the golden garden.

The destruction condition was simple: Destroy the Golden Reaper Garden.

It seemed that the Golden Reaper's garden had eliminated its time limit. Judging by how the Golden Reapers acted recently, they seemed to return when they wanted to.

I had already confirmed the destruction condition of the Golden Reaper Garden: Destroy the Gray Reaper.

It seemed I didn’t need to worry too much about the Golden Reaper dying, at least as long as I was safe. In a way, as long as I was okay, the Golden Reapers were probably even more resilient than me.

Thud, thud.

When I summoned the Golden Reaper back, it returned in a huff and began hitting me with its tiny fists, clearly upset.

As I let it punch my palm in a mock fight, Yerin suddenly burst into the isolation chamber, panting heavily and looking shocked.

Clang!

The door slammed shut, and the metallic clang echoed through the room.

What in the world was going on?

Before I could ask, the Golden Reaper, who was more sensitive than me, stopped punching and stood up, staring intently at the door.

"Reaper, there’s a crazy penguin! It’s—it’s chewing through metal! There are so many of them right now, and they’re…"

Yerin was drenched in sweat, speaking frantically, and struggling to catch her breath. But as soon as I heard "penguin," I had a pretty good idea of what was happening.

Thud!

The penguin's beak suddenly pierced through the steel wall of the isolation chamber.

"Kyaaa! Reaper!"

Yerin screamed and rushed over to me, hugging me tightly.

Scrreeeetch, scrreeetch.

The penguin’s beak started sawing through the steel, creating a horrible noise as the metal bent and grated.

"What… what should we do, Reaper?"

I could feel an overwhelming wave of emotion coming from Yerin. She was terrified and utterly confused.

As I savored the growing energy, the Golden Reaper on my shoulder suddenly punched my cheek in anger before storming out of the room.

Was it scolding me for hesitating?

Getting hit while eating is the worst!

Oddly, the Golden Reaper didn’t seem to enjoy Yerin’s distress or fear; it almost seemed disgusted by them. Could it be that it can only absorb positive emotions?

Following the Golden Reaper out of the isolation chamber, I saw that the research lab's corridor was in chaos.

Thick steel barriers had descended, sealing off the area, but the noise from the penguins chewing through the metal was deafening.

The floor was littered with the bodies of penguins. Just how many of them were there?

At this point, it seemed like someone had handed out ten copies of the "Dum-chit-dum-chit Penguin Photo" to every staff member.

The Golden Reaper, having dealt with most of the penguins, had left no survivors in my sight.

As I wandered through the corridor, I eventually reached the meeting room, where the security team was holding the line.

"Hold them back!"

"Don’t let them bite through the shields! Keep moving!"

Armed with special alloy shields and heavy batons, they were desperately striking the penguins, but it didn’t seem to be very effective.

I slipped into ghost form, approached the penguins, and crushed their heads, one by one.

Once the area in front of the meeting room was secure, the Golden Reaper returned, having finished off the remaining penguins in the lab. It hopped onto my shoulder and stared at me.

It seemed to be waiting for praise, so I patted its head with my finger.

"Good job."

The Sehee Research Lab is a precious place, after all.

By the way, I’d heard that the "Dum-chit-dum-chit Penguin Photo" was selling like crazy, with tons of copies distributed everywhere…

This incident might cause significant damage. I wonder if it’ll be okay?

Then again, didn’t "Daily Object" sell most of the photos?

They might go out of business after this.

Halfway up Kkachisan Hill, I wiped the sweat from my brow and looked down at the city below.

Small buildings, roads, and warm sunlight filled the view.

A cool breeze blew, cooling me down just enough.

Why on earth did they build the research lab on top of a hill? Even though it’s more of a slope than a mountain, it’s still inconvenient.

And since it had been a while since I climbed a hill, I kept noticing a strange smell of sunlight clinging to me.

The sun wasn’t particularly strong today, so why did I keep smelling like hot sand?

Did sand even have a smell?

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

"Hah, I’m really out of shape."

Someone started wiping the sweat from my forehead with tiny hands, though they were too small to be much help… Tiny hands?

I looked over and saw the Golden Reaper perched on my shoulder.

Startled, I quickly stuffed it into my bag and looked down.

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

Did it follow me all the way here?

What a headache.

The Golden Reaper, oblivious to everything, cuddled the car keys and rolled around in the bag.

Well, it’s not your fault.

I reached into the bag and patted the Golden Reaper’s head.

"Here, I’ll give you some candy. But don’t come out of the bag, okay? Even if you get bored."

Whether it understood me or not, the Golden Reaper started munching on the candy.

The conference hadn’t even started yet, and I was already feeling exhausted.

Maybe I should just head back to the Sehee Research Lab.

On the opposite side of the hill where the Kkachisan Research Lab was located, something strange was happening.

The ground began to boil and bubble.

Red sand burst from the earth, creating frothy bubbles as it shot up like boiling water.

And then, strange shadows began to appear.

There was nothing to cast them, no objects or figures to block the sunlight, yet the shadows emerged.

The shapes were varied.

There were cubic, geometric shadows.

Shadows resembling human figures with arms and legs.

And others that were completely unrecognizable.

In the sky above, a faint red moon seemed to loom.