NoveLight ™
The pillar of light shining down on the burning giant skull grew increasingly intense.
The red moon began to move closer to the pillar, gradually being consumed by it. The sight was reminiscent of a lunar eclipse, as the red moon was slowly swallowed by the thick, crimson beam.
I had a feeling that something significant would happen once the red moon was entirely engulfed by the pillar of light.
Although I had no concrete evidence, a strong sense of certainty filled me.
The crowd of people gathered around the skull, all staring up at the sky, must have been thinking the same thing, their eyes fixed intently on the heavens.
The moment the red moon completely vanished into the dense, crimson pillar, the sky tore open.
The dome that had separated the desert from Seoul shattered into countless fragments.
For the first time in what felt like ages, the familiar moon of our world was visible, shining down from the sky that had been hidden behind the dome, which had never allowed even the sun or moon to penetrate its transparency.
The shards of the dome, now countless in number, rained down, glittering in the moonlight and creating a breathtaking spectacle.
A cool breeze rustled through my clothes.
The cold moonlight.
The refreshing air.
The hot, dry, and suffocating atmosphere of the desert had completely vanished.
The pillar of light disappeared, and the burning skull crumbled to dust and scattered.
The ominous red moon was no more.
It was as if everything that had happened in the desert had been nothing but a dream.
“It’s over!”
“We’re finally free!”
The people who had been holding their breath in tense silence finally exhaled, basking in their newfound freedom.
At last.
At long last, it was over.
The Golden Reaper that had been dancing on my palm joyfully bounded over to the spot where the skull had been.
Following the Golden Reaper through the thick cloud of dust, I reached the place where the skull had once stood.
There, a group of Golden Reapers had gathered, dancing happily amongst themselves.
And at the center of their circle was the Gray Reaper, lying spread-eagle on the ground.
Though its eyes were open, it looked several times more exhausted than usual.
“Reaper!”
I ran toward it and hugged it from behind. The Reaper, instead of welcoming me, let its entire body go limp, as if it didn’t even have the energy to move.
But that weary expression was just part of the Reaper’s charm, so I didn’t mind!
“Now we can return to the Sehee Lab!”
The expedition to Gachi Mountain was finally over.
As my first field assignment, it was a trip filled with valuable lessons.
Two key lessons from this trip:
When the Black Agent opened his eyes, he saw the dark night sky and the familiar, ordinary moon above.
The red moon was gone.
In the distance, he could see the familiar silhouettes of modern buildings.
It seemed like he had escaped the red desert, but the red sand blanketing the ground dispelled that notion.
“You’re awake, sir?”
A blonde girl, drenched in water, greeted the Black Agent with a bright smile.
“Young miss?”
The Black Agent struggled to comprehend the situation.
“I’m sure I died... What on earth happened?”
He was certain that he had died, with a wound through his abdomen.
The girl looked directly at the Agent and spoke calmly.
“I saved you, sir. I don’t really know how it was possible either. I just suddenly realized I could do it. I don’t know why I’m alive, or how I can do this.”
Her irises had turned a deep shade of red, reminiscent of the red moon.
“Young miss, your eyes—?”
“Oh, this?”
The blonde girl glanced at her reflection in the nearby lake.
“When I woke up from the dead, my eye color had changed. But having different-colored eyes is much better than being dead, right?”
She turned back to the Agent and looked at him intently.
“Now, let’s hurry. With the red moon gone, I’ll turn to ash if I’m exposed to sunlight.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“Come on! Get up! We need to find a safe place before I turn to ash.”
The blonde girl urged the Black Agent.
Initially taken aback by her insistence, the Agent quickly began to consider his options seriously.
“How about we go to the Chairman’s residence?”
“No way. If Grandpa finds out I’ve become an Object, he’ll have me locked away in a lab.”
“The Chairman may have his quirks, but would he really do that to his own granddaughter?”
“Yes, he absolutely would. He might even dissect me himself.”
The girl giggled as she walked across the sandy ground.
“Then we have no choice. We’ll go to a safe house I’ve set up. We can stay there for a while.”
The Black Agent, having made up his mind, started walking briskly.
The blonde girl watched him for a moment before quietly murmuring to herself.
“Sir, we’re going to be together forever now.”
With a soft smile, she followed closely behind the Black Agent.
Lively music echoed through the containment room.
Three madwomen were shaking me like a puppet.
Sehee, Yerin, and the newest addition to their ranks, Seo-ah.
They danced energetically, joined by the Golden Reapers who seemed to be having the time of their lives.
On the TV, my dancing was playing on an endless loop.
Why.
Why did that have to be recorded?
I thought the dome created by the red moon was blocking everything, so no one would see the center of the desert!
Red moon, couldn’t you have done your job properly?
The video showed my awkward movements as I stretched out my limbs in a clumsy attempt at dancing.
It wasn’t even a good dance, yet it was replayed on the news repeatedly, as if it were the most entertaining thing.
Watching it made me cringe so hard I couldn’t even watch the news lately.
Recently, it had become such a popular video that the Sehee Lab even started selling merchandise based on it.
Normally, the Association would have banned the sale of Gray Reaper merchandise without question, but this time, the demand was so high they couldn’t bring themselves to forbid it.
I thought the hype would die down after a few days, but interest and popularity showed no signs of waning.
And here were the director, deputy director, and researchers of the lab—shaking me like a marionette to match the dancing in the video.
The future of the lab looks bleak.
Though the firewood was piling up fiercely, this wasn’t how I wanted to gather it.
Amidst the never-ending dance party, I decided to stop thinking altogether.
I’m going to escape to the Golden Reaper Garden!
The Golden Reaper Garden was as sweet and comforting as ever.
It had changed quite a bit since I last visited.
The most noticeable addition was a giant red skull-shaped cushion in the garden.
It was a huge cushion shaped like the skull I fought in the red desert.
Golden Reapers were happily dancing on top of the massive cushion.
It seemed to be a structure added after the Golden Reapers defeated the skull, and while it didn’t seem particularly practical, as long as the Golden Reapers enjoyed it, that was all that mattered.
The garden had also expanded significantly.
It seemed that the garden grew in proportion to the number of Objects the Golden Reapers defeated.
There were more types of snacks available, more space to relax, and plenty of places to rest.
The field of beds had expanded so much that it was now difficult to see the end, and the flow of the cocoa river that ran through it had increased significantly.
On the river floated my favorite snacks—pudding, marshmallows, and pastries!
And there were many other new structures as well.
Like the giant skull cushion, these structures seemed to be derived from the Objects the Golden Reapers had defeated.
For example, a once-spinning red rock cube Object had been transformed into a marshmallow structure that delighted the Golden Reapers.
Chocolate soldiers, another newly added feature, were being devoured by the Golden Reapers, indicating that they had likely defeated a number of Objects I hadn’t even encountered.
I lay on a bed, munching on a crispy pastry, and watched the Golden Reapers dance.
It seemed that their dancing skills had improved considerably, probably because they had been dancing for so long.
It’s strange, isn’t it? The original me can’t dance, but the copies are better dancers.
The modern fortress surrounded by high walls and guarded by numerous security personnel.
Chairman Oh Moo-ryong’s mansion.
Currently, the mansion was steeped in deep sorrow and silence.
“I’m sorry, sir. We couldn’t find her.”
“...”
Oh Moo-ryong remained silent, staring at the pond.
“Given the destruction of the decoy doll provided by the Chinese and the traces of blood found, it seems likely that the young miss did not survive…”
When Oh Moo-ryong turned around without a word, the man continued his report.
“The traces left on the altar in the red desert have been confirmed to be her blood. Based on the amount and distribution of the blood, it appears she was impaled through the heart while still alive.”
“So…”
Oh Moo-ryong spoke in a voice hoarse with age.
“So, you couldn’t even retrieve the body?”
The middle-aged man delivering the report prostrated himself on the ground and responded.
“Yes, that’s correct. We scoured the entire desert, but we couldn’t find her.”
“I see. Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing more to be done. You may go.”
His reaction was surprisingly dry, given how much he doted on his granddaughter.
But the man didn’t seem to find anything odd about it and withdrew with a reverent, “Yes, sir,” before backing out of the room.
Now alone in the quiet garden, Oh Moo-ryong gazed down at the pond for a long time, muttering to himself in a low voice.
“I’ve used it for too long. Things always break when they’re overused.”
Muttering to himself, Oh Moo-ryong slowly walked back into the mansion.