The Golden Reaper offered me a handful of pudding, its small hands holding the treat out as if it were presenting a treasure. When I accepted the pudding with a bite, the Reaper looked up at me with eyes that seemed to ask, "Isn't it delicious?"

“Thank you!”

I patted its head enthusiastically, grateful for the gesture. The Gray Reaper’s obsession with pudding had halted the moment it discovered a particular imported brand. Even with its usually stoic expression, the Gray Reaper’s fondness for this pudding was palpable.

At first, the Golden Reaper's reaction to the pudding was puzzling. After taking one bite, it would scoop up the pudding with both hands and distribute it to everyone around. This made me think that, unlike the Gray Reaper, maybe the Golden Reaper didn’t like the pudding as much.

However, given that it kept eating this pudding almost exclusively, it was clear that the Golden Reaper adored it as well. The little Reaper was simply generous, wanting to share something so delicious with the humans around it, unlike the Gray Reaper, who would sneakily steal the pudding as it passed by.

But there was one thing that worried me.

“Jungroe, is there still no news on when the pudding will arrive?”

“Hmm. It seems that the factory producing the pudding here in Korea has been taken over by an Object classified as a Level 2 threat. Apparently, they’ve failed to recapture it multiple times.”

It was concerning that the factory had encountered problems, especially with the pudding that the Gray Reaper loved so much. I hoped the Reaper wouldn’t be too disappointed by the absence of its favorite treat.

Surely, it wouldn’t go as far as to seek out the factory itself just to get the pudding... right?

A desert had appeared in the middle of Seoul.

A desert filled with blood-red sand.

Such a bizarre phenomenon had become an amusing spectacle for the people of Seoul.

While there was likely danger due to its connection to Objects, the tourists flocking here probably didn’t care about that.

In the heart of the desert, a massive woman covered in tattoos appeared.

“Sis, why did we suddenly come here?”

Trailing behind her was a younger woman who looked timid.

“The famous…”

The large woman, trying to say something in an unfamiliar accent, paused and started over.

“The ‘Red Moon’ has appeared. They say even mentioning its name requires caution—‘No Name’ is truly a nuisance.”

She looked back at her younger sister and spoke in a low voice.

“If you ever feel like killing me, just say so. I consider my current life as a kind of ‘bonus.’ A proper death would be a blessing.”

“Why do you keep bringing up killing? I’ve told you, I’m not going to kill you anymore!”

Her younger sister, flustered, babbled incoherently.

“No matter what others say, I like you just the way you are now.”

She smiled brightly, listing all the reasons she admired her sister as if they were obvious.

“You don’t hit me, you don’t curse at me, and you’re so kind.”

Although the younger sister had made several attempts to kill her sister in the past, they had always failed due to her lack of resolve.

Then, one day, her attitude completely changed, and the older sister had no idea why.

She assumed it was just another phase in her sister’s troubled mental state.

It was particularly strange that her sister so readily believed her when she claimed to be from another world.

“So, why did we come to see the ‘Red Moon’?”

“This desert was once home to the inhabitants of the Red Moon, but it seems they’re gone now. It would have been nice if they had remained...”

Out of sight of others, the large woman scooped up a handful of red sand.

Then she took out a bottle of eye drops from her bag and let a drop of an unknown liquid fall onto the sand.

The red sand began to clump together around the liquid, eventually forming a bright, pearl-like red orb.

“Wow, it’s like magic!”

“It’s not magic, just simple alchemy.”

“Uh-huh, alchemy is amazing!”

The large woman carefully placed the orb into her bag.

The younger sister watched her curiously and asked,

“You said you’re going to use that to make something like a bomb, right?”

“Yes, it’s the perfect solution for those who can neither live nor die.”

“I’ve never seen one of those ‘undead monsters,’ so is it really necessary?”

“As long as that thing exists in this world, it’s definitely necessary.”

A fierce smile spread across her face as a certain image flashed in her mind.

The face of the man once known as the traitor to humanity.

The man now holding the title of Director of Trinity Lab’s Third Branch.

At the mansion of one of the three directors leading Trinity Lab.

In the garden, black, slimy plants grew on the soggy, dark soil.

In one corner of the mansion, a middle-aged man, the Third Director, stood over a butler who had turned into a puddle of mud.

“Hmm, I was sure I had successfully recreated the elixir this time, but it’s another failure. Such a pity.”

The director kept repeating how unfortunate it was, though his expression showed no sign of disappointment.

“...! ...! ...”

The melted butler squirmed desperately, trying to scream, but all that came out was a faint, unintelligible noise.

The director looked down at the butler and spoke.

“Such loyalty, even to the end. You asked to be burned alive instead of having a funeral.”

With a snap of his fingers, a tiny spark appeared and gently landed on the butler.

In an instant, the butler’s body ignited as if soaked in gasoline.

“Different organisms require different treatments. I’ll need to conduct more experiments.”

A large man lying beside the burning butler suddenly jolted awake.

“Oh, you’ve come to your senses already? That golden horn really does make a difference.”

But the large man didn’t seem entirely normal.

His eyes were black, even the whites, and drool dribbled down his chin.

The director, however, was pleased, nodding approvingly.

“I was wondering if I’d have to find a new butler, but it looks like I’ve got one right here. Welcome, new butler.”

The director patted the large man’s shoulder, welcoming him as the new butler.

He then ordered the man to clean up the burnt remains of the previous butler and disappeared into the depths of the mansion.

The large man slumped to the ground and began to devour the remains.

His mouth split into three sections like a monster’s, greedily consuming the petrified remains.

Late at night, after the sun had dipped below the horizon,

the blonde girl danced to the music on the TV, the window of her apartment open to the night air.

She was imitating the latest craze—the Gray Reaper Dance.

After dancing for a while, the girl stopped and looked at the Black Agent.

“Are you hungry?”

The Black Agent loosened the collar of his shirt and nodded.

“Yes.”

The blonde girl nodded slightly and approached him, sinking her teeth into his neck.

When she finished feeding, she exhaled a hot breath and licked her blood-stained lips.

The Black Agent watched her and said,

“Perhaps it would be wise to contact the Chairman. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid his attention.”

“Absolutely not. We don’t know what Grandpa might do. He might actually dissect me.”

The Black Agent looked puzzled.

“The way the Association responded so quickly and unusually this time shows how much the Chairman cares about you. Do you have any reason to suspect he’d want to keep this hidden?”

The blonde girl thought for a moment before answering.

“Well, Grandpa is... strange. He always says he loves me, but he never stops me from going to dangerous places.”

“Isn’t that because he respects your decisions and freedom?”

“Who gives that kind of freedom to an elementary school student!”

The girl’s expression grew firm as she continued.

“I’ve had an uneasy feeling more than once. Sometimes it feels like Grandpa wants me to have a fatal accident, though I don’t know why.”

Seeing how agitated she was, the Black Agent decided not to press his opinion.

“Then I’ll make a plan that avoids detection by the Chairman.”

The Black Agent began organizing the necessary tasks, such as creating a new identity.

The hungry Golden Reapers lay sprawled out on the bed.

Snacks were piled up around them like mountains.

But the Golden Reapers had lost their appetites, lying flat on their backs.

I lay beside them, flipped over, trying to console my sorrow by watching the news.

No more pudding.

I had finally found the elusive ninja pudding, only for it to be gone.

What was even worse was not knowing when we might get it again.

“They say production has stopped, and they don’t know when it will be available again. I’m sorry, Reaper!”

Yerin, standing nearby, didn’t know what to do as she watched the dejected Golden Reapers and me.

The heartless TV continued broadcasting the news as always.

[An Object has reportedly taken over a factory in Incheon that holds the license to produce a famous overseas pudding.]

My ears perked up at the sound.

An Object had taken over the factory that produced the famous pudding!

So that’s why production stopped?