Hop, hop.

Tap, tap.

The seemingly endless collaborative work of the Golden Rabbit Reapers came to an abrupt end. The Golden Reapers, who had been working so diligently, placed the completed puddings into refrigerators. Then, they sat around the refrigerators, waiting patiently for the puddings to set.

There were five refrigerators in total.

The Golden Reapers looked satisfied with their work.

However, observing their work, I came to a tentative conclusion: while the plan to produce Ninja Pudding in the Golden Reaper Garden seemed successful, it was actually a failure.

First of all, it took too long!

There were five refrigerators in total.

For the Golden Reapers, this might have been enough, but from my perspective, it was far from sufficient.

Since the refrigerators were sized for the Golden Reapers, each could only hold one pudding dish.

In other words, after waiting for hours, only five puddings would be ready.

That’s way too few.

Far too few.

Even when considering possible solutions, nothing seemed feasible.

Moving the puddings to another refrigerator?

It seemed impossible, as there were only enough ingredients for five servings.

Should I hunt more rabbits to solve this?

There were only five chef’s hats available now, but if I kill more rabbits, maybe I could get more?

Is there a way to secretly swipe the five puddings without the Golden Reapers noticing?

As I watched the Golden Reapers smiling and waiting for the puddings to be ready, my thoughts grew more and more complicated.

While I poked the Reaper’s unresponsive cheeks, I watched two men descend from the second floor.

A duo with a strong first impression.

One was crying loudly, tears streaming down his face.

The other was dressed in an outfit so peculiar that it was hard to describe.

How do I even describe that outfit? Maybe it’s like a full-body swimsuit, but thicker?

Seeing that a Golden Reaper was attached to them, they didn’t seem to be bad people, but they sure looked odd.

I guessed that one of them was probably the factory owner.

The difference in their reactions to the Golden Reaper was amusing.

The man in the strange outfit detached the Golden Reaper from himself, examined it, and then, with a calm expression, placed it on his head.

The crying man, on the other hand, was startled when the Golden Reaper tried to wipe away his tears. He hesitantly picked up the Reaper and gently placed it on the railing, looking as though he wanted to toss it away but was too scared of the Reaper, which had just shredded the rabbits.

The abandoned Golden Reaper sat on the railing, looking up at the man with a sullen expression before fading away into thin air.

That man must be afraid of the Gray Reaper’s ominous reputation.

I thought the perception of the Gray Reaper had improved significantly thanks to its dance craze, but I guess there’s still a long way to go.

I thought everyone would become fans of the Gray Reaper after seeing its cute dance!

The strange-looking man patted the sobbing man on the back and said, "Come on now, stop crying. The crisis is over, and all that’s left for you is the hefty advance payment you received, right?"

"Right? The crisis is over now, isn’t it? All we have to do is escape, right?"

This seemed to comfort the sobbing man a bit, as he muttered "advance payment, sports car..." and slowly stopped crying.

The man in the peculiar outfit noticed me as he descended the stairs, then smiled warmly and approached to greet me.

The man who had been crying stopped a bit farther away, clearly wary of the Gray Reaper in my arms.

"Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you! I almost died back there. I’m James, the owner of this factory."

"I really thought I was going to die. Thank you for saving us," the crying man added.

James, who looked perfectly composed despite having been chased earlier, and the other man, who seemed to remember the harrowing moments and began to tear up again, stood before me.

James then looked down at the Reaper nestled in my arms, staring intently.

"I never thought I’d see the Gray Reaper in person. I’ve always wanted to see it at least once."

James then raised his gaze back to me and continued speaking.

"It’s keeping its eyes closed. Is there something wrong? Did it use too much power when saving us?"

"I’m not sure why the Reaper is like this. It’s never acted this way before."

Although I believed there wasn’t anything seriously wrong, I couldn’t help but wonder why it was behaving this way.

Could it be that it’s hurt?

James had been hoping to encounter the Gray Reaper since the moment he decided to establish a factory in Korea.

In fact, he had been expecting it even before the Gray Reaper appeared in Korea.

The reason this was possible was because of a special book that James’s family possessed.

A book with an illustration of a figure that looked exactly like the Gray Reaper.

This was a special book known as the "0th Book."

It couldn’t just be a coincidence.

The 0th Book was too special to be dismissed as mere coincidence.

James would even attribute 30% of his achievements to the information contained within this book.

"It’s really identical. If only I hadn’t lost my briefcase, I could have made a comparison," James lamented.

"Is this the briefcase you lost?" Yerin asked, holding out the briefcase.

James’s eyes lit up when he saw it.

"This is indeed my lost briefcase! Thank you so much! Where did you find it?"

"I’m not entirely sure. The Reaper somehow brought it to me out of nowhere."

James took the briefcase from Yerin and began to manipulate it in a complex manner.

To Yerin, it had seemed like just an antique briefcase, but the lock mechanism appeared more intricate than she had imagined.

I held the Gray Reaper, who was as unresponsive as if it were asleep, in my arms while watching James diligently work on unlocking his briefcase.

"Ah, it’s finally open," he said.

Inside the briefcase was an old, worn-out book.

The briefcase was designed solely to hold that single book.

It appeared to be a very precious book.

The complex locking mechanism and the fact that the entire briefcase was used to store just one book spoke volumes about its value.

James carefully opened the aged book and began to flip through the pages, searching for something.

After a moment, he found what he was looking for and said quietly, "Here it is," before holding the book out to me.

"Doesn’t it look exactly the same?"

The page James showed me was filled with writing in an incomprehensible language, but in one corner, there was a carefully drawn illustration.

A girl with light blue hair.

Her eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue.

She had a lively smile on her face.

The illustration was so meticulously drawn that it could have been mistaken for a photograph, but what caught Yerin’s attention even more was how much the girl in the drawing resembled the Gray Reaper.

Except, unlike the Reaper, who was entirely gray, this girl was fully human.

"Is this a drawing of what the Gray Reaper might look like if it grew older? It’s really well done."

"This isn’t just some ordinary drawing. This picture existed long before the Gray Reaper appeared."

"What? Before the Reaper appeared? Then who is the model for this drawing?"

Someone who looks just like the Reaper? If that person existed, I would love to meet them.

"There are many theories about who the model for this picture might be, but nothing is certain. This figure is at least over a hundred years old, so there’s no way they could still be alive."

"Oh, that’s a shame. I would have loved to see them."

James, noticing my reaction, looked at me with a doubtful expression and asked, "Your reaction is a bit strange. Don’t tell me you don’t know about the 0th Artifact?"

"The 0th Artifact? What’s that?"

"Hmm? That’s odd. I sent an official notice to the Korean Object Association’s research institutes."

James frowned deeply and muttered to himself. Although I couldn’t hear him clearly, it sounded like he said, "Something’s fishy."

Did he say something seems suspicious?

James, still wearing a puzzled expression, then brushed it off and continued speaking.

"Well, let’s discuss the rest after we get out of the factory. I think we’ll have to abandon this place."

As soon as James said that, the warmth in my arms suddenly vanished.

"Reaper?"

The Gray Reaper abruptly leaped forward as if teleporting, snatching the book from James’s hands.

Then, clutching the book in its small hands, the Reaper simply stared at it.

I had the feeling that the Reaper’s glow had become slightly stronger.

While observing the Golden Reaper Garden, I suddenly sensed a flame.

Not the logs of fire within my chest, but a flame that existed outside of me.

It wasn’t something derived from me, like the Golden Reapers; it was entirely separate.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a book in the hands of a man.

What is this?

A book with a log of fire?

As if entranced, I lunged forward and grabbed the book.

The moment I held the book, I felt the sensation of the log gradually increasing in size.

The flames from the book began to flow into me, steadily growing the log of fire within my chest.

Slowly, but endlessly.