Suddenly, golden flames erupted from the Reaper's body as it tightly gripped the book with both hands.

The book began to burn, and the flames spread to the Reaper itself.

What should I do?

Should I try to forcibly remove the book?

I was panicking, unsure of what to do, when James's calm voice came from beside me.

"As expected, the Gray Reaper is special."

I turned to look at James, wondering what he meant. He gestured toward the Gray Reaper, urging me to observe closely.

"Doesn't it look like the Gray Reaper is absorbing the fire rather than being burned by it?"

Now that I looked more closely, it did seem as if the flames from the book were being drawn into the Reaper's body.

And somehow, the Reaper's expression appeared peaceful.

"Normally, when an Object comes into contact with that book, it burns painfully until it turns to ashes. Even Objects that can regenerate continuously can't recover from that fire. But the Gray Reaper seems unaffected."

James added quietly, "It's just a hypothesis, but maybe the Gray Reaper isn’t an Object after all."

"The anti-Object bullets I designed and are currently being produced in the U.S. mimic the flames of this book, but...”

"So, what should we do with the Gray Reaper in this state?" I interrupted, still anxious.

"I wish I knew. I've never seen an Object react this way to the book. Usually, they either try to tear it apart or are terrified of it, but the Gray Reaper seems to be neither."

It seemed like all we could do was wait and see.

It might just be my imagination, but it looked like the Reaper was slowly turning white in the golden flames.

Infinite fuel!

With enough fuel, I felt like I could do anything. The object providing the fuel seemed quite attractive at first.

But unfortunately, the fuel was too little.

The amount flowing in at one time was so small that it didn’t seem very useful.

If I compared the absorption rate to time, it was about 1/100th of what I got from Yerin.

Just standing quietly among ordinary people would give me more than this book.

People, after all, either feared me or found me cute just by being near me.

It could be considered an emergency ration for when there’s no one around... but it wasn’t appealing.

Physical objects were cumbersome to carry around!

From my perspective, where I frequently used my ghost form, this emergency ration was far less valuable than my ghost form.

And leaving it in Sehee Research Institute’s containment room to consume it when bored had a fatal drawback.

It didn’t taste good.

The emotion contained in the flames had no flavor.

What kind of emotion was this?

Since the book wasn’t human, I couldn’t identify the emotion.

It was pure fuel of a single emotion.

Compared to when I was human, it felt like sucking on plastic.

It would be better to go outside the research institute and give someone a little scare instead.

Yerin is definitely the best source of fuel.

I cut off the fuel flow from the book and tossed it to the man who was watching me with an intrigued expression.

The man caught the book carefully, his expression shifting to one of surprise.

Reserving all the golden rabbit pudding for myself was a last resort.

So, it was time to get more pudding.

Judging by the stench in the air, I had a good idea of where the killer rabbits might be.

I looked toward the factory's center, where the foul odor was strongest.

That’s probably where the rabbits are hiding.

The Reaper, seemingly losing interest in the book, flung it into the air and turned its gaze toward the factory’s center.

The pudding factory situation wasn’t over yet, after all.

Still, I’ve never seen the Reaper so determined before.

It’s amusing to think that this normally expressionless Reaper is so focused on pudding.

James immediately began securing the book in the briefcase as soon as he caught it.

"We can't assume this place will remain safe for long. Let's get out of here quickly," James said, urging us to leave.

I pointed at the Reaper, who was staring intently toward the factory’s center.

"It seems like the Reaper wants to resolve this pudding factory situation."

James shook his head, his expression grim.

"Even the Gray Reaper can't reclaim the factory."

"I don't think there's an Object that the Reaper can't handle."

James doesn't seem to understand—the Gray Reaper can do anything!

The Reaper didn’t turn its gaze away, but the antenna on its head tilted slightly in our direction, as if it was listening to the conversation.

"Still, reclaiming the factory will be difficult. There's a troublesome creature occupying the center of the factory. It's an Object well-known to Koreans—what's in the factory now is an 'Anglerfish.'"

"An Anglerfish? But why would the Anglerfish that fell into the Songpa District sinkhole suddenly be here?"

"Of course, it’s not the same Anglerfish. But the Object in the factory resembles it enough to be called a subspecies."

Watching the Reaper’s antenna sway like a tail, I countered, "Didn’t the Gray Reaper already defeat the Anglerfish?"

James shook his head.

"The subspecies of the Anglerfish occupying the factory is far more dangerous than the original. And even if it can be defeated, there’s another problem."

"Another problem besides defeating it?"

"Remember our goal. Defeating the Anglerfish isn’t the objective—reclaiming the factory is. Do you remember what happened to Songpa when the Reaper dealt with the Anglerfish?"

"A sinkhole formed. Ah, so the factory would collapse."

"Exactly. Even if the Anglerfish is dealt with, the factory would be destroyed, making the mission a failure."

Logically, it made sense.

But, in truth, our opinions didn’t matter much.

The Reaper’s antenna straightened as if it had lost interest in the conversation.

Tap, tap.

The Reaper started walking forward with those cute little steps.

I pointed to the Reaper.

"It can't be helped."

James grabbed his briefcase and began following the Gray Reaper.

The timid man hesitated, then followed us, his voice trembling.

"Boss? Can’t we just escape on our own?"

He looked at James and me, confused and panicked.

"The factory is still too dangerous to escape on our own. There are plenty of those rabbit dolls left, so we don’t have much choice."

James’s ominous words seemed to crush the timid man’s spirit, leaving him no choice but to follow us reluctantly.

Clutching the briefcase containing the 0th Book, I followed the Gray Reaper toward the factory’s center.

The deeper we went into the factory, the stronger the stench of blood became.

The interior seemed designed to terrify anyone who dared to enter.

Human entrails and flesh were strewn about wherever the eye could see.

The flesh was arranged into grotesque patterns and hung like bizarre tapestries.

I found myself oddly impressed.

"Fascinating."

The rabbit dolls, which were merely robots.

Yet despite their twisted nature, they had created an interior with a certain aesthetic sense!

It was completely unexpected.

Had we not considered the design of the robots carefully enough?

Or was the black liquid that contaminated the rabbits the cause?

The translator was pale as a sheet, looking like he might faint any moment.

He’s probably going to faint again soon.

And if he does, I’ll have to carry him.

As soon as we reached the warehouse where the pudding was stored, we were greeted by torn-apart pudding boxes.

The boxes lay sprawled on the floor, their contents spilled out.

The puddings had been ripped apart, their remains scattered and trampled by rabbit footprints.

The traces of destruction reeked of the rabbits’ hatred for the pudding.

The Gray Reaper stopped and stared down at the pitifully discarded puddings.

Yerin gently patted the Reaper with a concerned expression.

Something felt off.

The Gray Reaper, though expressionless, looked incredibly sad.

Could this be some kind of mental contamination?

The pudding containers, their contents spilled, were filled with ground-up chunks of flesh instead.

The Gray Reaper, looking angrier than ever, lifted its head.

Looking around, I realized that the rabbit dolls had already surrounded us.

As the rabbits, eyes gleaming, charged at us, the Gray Reaper stretched out its arms to the sides.

At the same moment, the Golden Reapers sprang out in all directions.

The small, golden locusts of death leaped at the rabbits, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.

The rabbits that had been making human pudding were all dead.

It was a moment of victory, but the Golden Reapers, the heroes of the battle, looked sorrowful.

The surrounding silence was filled with the sound of weeping.

The Golden Reapers were crying endlessly as they stared at the human pudding.

They sat down in front of the pudding containers, unable to touch them, and simply wept.

Their sorrowful wails were so heartrending that it was almost unbearable.

"There, there. It’s okay."

As I patted the Golden Reapers on their heads, their crying seemed to ease slightly.

Unlike the Golden Reapers, the Gray Reaper had its gaze fixed upward, staring at something.

What is it looking at?

Curious, I followed the Reaper’s gaze and looked up at the ceiling.

There was something there.

Something floating high up near the ceiling, surrounded by bubbles...

Is that... a pudding?