Beyond the headless corpse, the dark entrance of the building yawned open like the mouth of a monster.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The ground shook with heavy footsteps coming from within the building.

The scent of blood grew stronger.

Swallowing nervously, I gripped the Reaper’s hand tightly, trying to steady myself as a foreboding atmosphere settled in.

Suddenly, an ominous red light flickered in the darkness.

The light bobbed up and down in sync with the heavy footsteps, resembling the eyes of a demon.

It's okay. The Reaper is with me, so everything will be fine, I thought, but my body still stiffened with fear.

Out of the darkness, a silhouette began to emerge—a giant, bear-shaped robot.

The bear, covered in blood, was half-submerged in the shadows, radiating a menacing aura.

A grating noise echoed as its steel claws scraped against the ground. Its front paws, dripping with clumps of blood and entrails, seemed heavy with gore.

Even though it wasn’t moving, my breath quickened as if I were running.

This is terrifying!

Thud!

The bear pressed one of its bloodstained arms against the doorframe, slowly revealing its entire body.

The scene was straight out of a horror movie.

As the bear fully emerged, it paused momentarily before retreating back into the darkness.

"What?" I muttered.

Why is it acting like that?

Could it be... running away?

The moment the Gray Reaper saw the bear disappear into the shadows, it sprinted into the building like a bolt of lightning, eyes gleaming.

It looked like a cat chasing a toy that’s trying to escape.

"Haha, haha," I laughed, the tension suddenly releasing from my body as the situation seemed almost absurd.

After all, as long as the Reaper was with me, I was safe!

The monster appeared.

The moment our eyes met, I realized it.

Those piercing yellow eyes saw right through me.

This was a monster of a different class.

Gritting my teeth, I knew I had to get as far away from it as possible, and fast.

It’s okay.

It’ll be okay.

Monsters like that don’t care about weaklings like me. If I can just hide, I’ll be fine.

I concealed myself in a dark room and shut the door, covering my eyes to block out the light and curling up as tightly as I could.

Thunk.

Something knocked on the metal door outside.

No... it can’t be.

Thunk thunk thunk.

The knocking continued, echoing through the metal door.

And then, after a while, everything went silent.

"…"

Has it finally left?

"…"

It must be gone now, right?

I removed my hands from my eyes and looked around. Nothing seemed different from when I had first entered.

Phew, what a relief.

Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump.

Just as relief began to wash over me, the door rattled with a rapid series of knocks.

No way.

I turned back toward the door.

A round hole had been punched through it, and the monster was peering through, a cruel smile on its face as if to say, Found you!

No! I can’t die like this! I screamed internally, throwing open the door on the opposite side and bolting.

Crash.

But I didn’t get far before I fell to the ground.

Looking back, I saw that both of my legs had been neatly severed.

And there, beyond my legs, the monster was slowly approaching.

I pushed myself backward with my hands, desperate to put some distance between us.

But there was no escape.

I couldn’t even fight it off when my legs were intact; now, it was impossible.

I swung with all my might, hoping to catch the monster off guard, but as I did, it suddenly vanished from my sight.

Then, my vision spun as if flipped upside down.

I could see my own body, headless and legless, collapsing backward.

The monster had closed the distance and smashed my head.

Thump thump thump thump.

And then, as my vision darkened, I slipped into eternal oblivion.

The teddy bear, which had been desperately trying to escape, was dead.

The condition for destroying the bear was to sever its head from its body.

It might have seemed pitiful to some, but I didn’t feel that way.

Anyone who saw the bear would agree.

Its hands were covered in blood and chunks of entrails, and its entire body was drenched in gore—it was a horrifying sight.

This must be what it’s like to see a man-eating tiger.

As I stood over the pitifully crawling bear, staring it down, it must have thought it had a chance. It tried to lift its arm and slam it down on me.

The speed was impressive, far quicker than the sluggish bear we’d seen before.

But I easily dodged it by turning into my ghost form and severed the connection between the bear’s head and body.

From the severed neck, a black ooze began to drip.

The same black ooze I had seen in the desert.

Dark, foul-smelling, and unpleasant.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of it.

Not enough to risk losing the Golden Reaper.

I had been hopeful when I caught a whiff of that scent from the bear!

Feeling a bit disappointed, I returned to where Yerin was waiting, only to be greeted by her excited voice.

"Wow, you’re back, Reaper!"

But as she saw the look on my face, her expression turned to one of concern.

"Huh? Reaper, what happened? You look a bit grumpy…"

She poked my cheek gently, her face filled with worry.

As Yerin fussed over me, I suddenly felt a presence.

It wasn’t an Object, but a human.

Who could be watching us?

In a secret room tucked away in a corner of the factory, various electronic devices were scattered around, their purpose unclear to the average person. On one wall, multiple CCTV monitors displayed different views.

Two men stood before the monitors, their expressions grim as they watched the scene unfold.

The shattered teddy bear on the screen.

As they stared at the bear’s severed head, they couldn’t help but feel a chilling sensation, as if their own heads were in danger.

"It really is a top-class Object. A second-class one wouldn’t stand a chance. I still can’t understand why civilians are so fascinated with these things, dancing along with a monster like that."

"Yeah, it’s baffling. Considering how many major incidents the Gray Reaper has been involved in, you’d think people would react differently…"

The two men, who had been monitoring the parking lot of the pudding factory via CCTV and telescopes, were deeply troubled by the sudden appearance of the Gray Reaper.

The plan to isolate the factory and stage accidental deaths had been meticulously crafted over a long period.

But the unexpected appearance of the Gray Reaper was a variable they hadn’t accounted for.

"The Gray Reaper’s presence means we might need to adjust our plan. In the worst case, we’ll have to abandon one of our targets."

"Should we just recover the ‘item’ we secured and get out of here? The client won’t be happy…"

After some deliberation, the stern-looking man came to a decision.

"We’ll proceed with the operation, but we’ll change our approach. While accidental death due to a containment failure would be ideal, we’ll have to resort to other means."

He opened a long case and pulled out a gun that was clearly designed for something special.

It was a sniper rifle with an unusually large scope.

"Even though there are other Objects still in the factory, the appearance of the Gray Reaper means we have no choice."

The man set up the sniper rifle, scanning the parking lot through the scope.

"Once I take out James, I’ll have to deal with the translator and the researcher too. As soon as I fire, we’ll need to make a quick exit, so get the rest of the equipment ready."

But his partner didn’t respond.

"Hmm?"

"Urk…"

Concerned by the lack of response, the man looked away from the scope, only to find his partner clutching his throat, struggling to breathe, with several finger-sized holes punctured through his neck.

Behind him, the Gray Reaper glared menacingly.

How did it find us here?

The man was startled but reacted quickly.

In an instant, he drew his handgun and fired at the Gray Reaper.

Thud thud. Thud.

Three shots were fired from the silenced gun.

Two to the torso, one to the head.

The man smiled in satisfaction.

These were special anti-Object bullets made in the United States.

Even unkillable monsters could be burned to death with these.

White flames began to engulf the Gray Reaper’s body.

But despite the flames, the Gray Reaper, with a furious expression, approached and blew the man’s head off.

The roaring white flames died down after a while, and the Gray Reaper stood still, as if gathering its thoughts, before beginning to search the area.

The small room was filled with the thick scent of blood.

In a fit of rage over the threat to Yerin, I had killed them all.

Looking around, there didn’t seem to be any clues about the identity or affiliation of these men.

It was a shame—I would’ve liked to root out these bad people entirely.

The room was cluttered with various electronic devices, most of which looked suspiciously like they were used for illegal activities.

Among them was something that felt a bit different.

This must be the ‘item’ those bad guys were talking about.

It had a certain importance, so I decided to take it with me.

The item was a briefcase made of antique leather, intricately designed, but it wasn’t the craftsmanship that made it special—the material itself felt unusual.

It seemed like an Object, but it wasn’t. Something about it felt significant.

I grabbed the briefcase and then broke through the wall, jumping down to where Yerin was.

Now that the people watching us had been dealt with, it was time to save the pudding factory.

James, who had been lying comfortably with his eyes closed on the bed, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

"It’s too quiet," he said.

The translator looked puzzled at first, but then quickly realized something was off.

"You’re right. I can’t hear the sound of the teddy bear demolishing the building anymore."

James checked his watch and spoke, "So, within less than an hour of the phone call, the steel teddy bear was taken care of? Something’s not right. That doesn’t make any sense."

"Do you think they’ve set another trap? Maybe they’re waiting for us to come out?"

James got up from the bed and walked over to the control room door.

"If they had time on their side, they’d just wait and deal with us with a high probability of success. There’d be no need to set another trap. So maybe a passing good Samaritan decided to save us."

Suddenly, James put a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence.

"Do you hear that?"

The translator, following James’s lead, pressed his ear to the ceiling and faintly heard a sound.

[Pudding.]

[Pudding.]

The translator’s face went pale.

"Could it be... those monster rabbits?"

As the translator spoke, pink robot rabbits began pouring out of the control room’s ventilation shaft.

[Pudding!!!]

They were cute little robot rabbits, wearing chef’s hats and holding whisks and measuring spoons.

"Run!"

But seeing this, James and the translator didn’t hesitate—they burst out of the control room door and ran for their lives, dodging the sharp whisks and spear-like measuring spoons wielded by the deadly cute rabbits.