The laboratory was filled with safety lines carefully placed to guide the visitors.

“Sehee unni, are you sure it’s okay to let visitors see the isolation room?”

“There were just too many requests to see the Gray Reaper. Besides, we already got approval from the Association, so it should be fine as long as nothing goes wrong.”

Sehee unni spoke in a casual tone, not seeming too worried.

Truthfully, I wished the isolation room wouldn’t be made public.

If people keep coming in and out, I won’t get to play with the Reaper!

If visitors came to take a tour and saw a researcher hanging around in the isolation room, it’d look weird…

At 10 a.m., a large group of people, all wearing visitor ID badges, started flocking along the safety lines.

The guide was Senior Kim Jung-rae.

Since this was the first public viewing of the Gray Reaper’s isolation room, a large crowd gathered to catch a glimpse.

Noticing the flood of visitors, the Gray Reaper’s antenna slightly tilted toward the magic mirror.

Then, it waved gently from side to side.

The Golden Reapers, on the other hand, rushed towards the magic mirror, bouncing around wildly.

“Wow.”

An admiring gasp came from the crowd of visitors.

Well, the Reaper is kind of cute.

Unlike before, the public’s opinion had improved quite a bit, and all the visitors seemed to be observing the inside of the isolation room with friendly expressions.

They were amazed by how the Reaper was just sitting there watching TV or how the Golden Reapers were adorably active. The hallway filled with various excited murmurs.

The atmosphere was calm and joyful.

Thank goodness, it didn’t seem like there’d be any trouble today.

The isolation room, usually peaceful with its cozy bed, tasty snacks, and frolicking mini Reapers, seemed a bit more chaotic today.

While the room was soundproof, the large crowd of people beyond the magic mirror made it feel noisy in a figurative sense.

Feelings of goodwill were pouring in from outside the isolation room, pushing inward.

The Blue Reapers, feeling shy, turned invisible and hid in a corner, glancing nervously toward the magic mirror, where they could feel the flood of friendly energy.

Meanwhile, the Golden Reapers rushed toward the crowd, grinning brightly.

A few of them even pressed against the magic mirror, trying to peer through to the other side.

Why don’t they just phase through the mirror? I don’t get the Golden Reapers sometimes.

Ignoring the commotion outside, I turned on the TV and flipped to the news.

What appeared on the screen was a scene of me, falling from the sky.

I looked expressionless, but oddly, there was a sense of relief on my face.

[So, this is the moment after the Gray Reaper defeated the giant jellyfish?]

[Yes, based on the circumstances, that seems to be the case.]

It was a rerun of an interview James gave on the news.

For some reason, James decided to tell the world that I had singlehandedly taken care of everything, so now the entire world was buzzing with stories about me.

Lately, the clips of me “dancing” had also started popping up on TV again, which was honestly quite troublesome.

Yerin seemed happy, though, now that there was a flood of Reaper merchandise.

It looked like she’d bought a whole bunch of expensive figures and plush toys.

Even though the real deal was right next to her, she still needed a figure?

“Wow!”

Suddenly, a cheer loud enough to pierce through the isolation room’s walls echoed around.

Turning my head, I saw the Golden Reapers gathered in a circle.

They were swaying to the beat.

In the center of the group, a Golden Reaper was putting on a flashy dance.

Its tiny body wriggled and twisted in rhythm, and as people noticed, the excitement outside only grew louder.

It’s nice to have more fans, but this is getting too noisy—I need to get rid of them.

I phased into my ghost form and quietly slipped into the crowd.

“Huh? The Gray Reaper disappeared.”

People started murmuring nervously as I vanished, and the hallway grew chaotic.

When I turned off the lights by lowering the switch, an anxious atmosphere began to spread.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

In the pitch-darkness, people only had their phone flashlights to rely on.

Then, right in the middle of the crowd, I suddenly reappeared, startling everyone.

Hehe, now that they’re all scared, they’ll start running, and peace will return.

But only half my plan worked.

Half the crowd screamed and backed away, while Kim Jung-rae tried to calm them down.

But the other half? They rushed forward and started petting me.

“The Gray Reaper is so cute!”

“Is this hair moving on its own?”

Taking advantage of the chaos, Yerin also latched onto me.

And so, I found myself being pulled around, passed from one person to another.

This is all James’ fault.

Next time I see him, I’ll have to mess with him a little.

Late at night, the sound of a blaring TV filled a detective agency that smelled faintly of coffee.

[We at Trinity Labs feel deeply responsible for this incident.]

[While it was the Third Research Director’s personal misdeeds, we acknowledge our failure to prevent this.]

The broadcast was discussing the collapse of Trinity’s Third Research Facility.

“They’ve finally gone under, haven’t they, old man?”

A blonde girl looked at her hands with a slightly bitter expression, recalling the two researchers she had met in the desert who were from Trinity Labs.

“They’re the ones who made me like this. I wanted to take my revenge, but now I’ll never get the chance.”

“My lady…”

The girl, who had been wearing a sad look, glanced at the man in black and smiled faintly.

“But what happens to the other labs now?”

“The remaining labs under Trinity are likely to be dissolved as well.”

She tilted her head slightly and asked,

“But didn’t the investigation reveal that it was just the Third Research Facility acting independently?”

“Still, the incident was too big for someone not to take responsibility.”

In the agent’s opinion, the real issue lay with something called the “Evolutionary Fluid.”

At that moment, the TV also began covering the topic.

[So, are you saying that Trinity’s Third Research Facility conducted experiments that involved turning humans into Objects?]

[Yes, based on the evidence found at the lab, it seems highly likely.]

It was revealed that the main ingredient for the Evolutionary Fluid was humans.

They’d tortured people to create the liquid, with the insane idea of evolving humans and controlling Objects.

As horrifying reports about the Evolutionary Fluid were pouring in, one detail caught everyone’s attention—even those who hadn’t cared before.

It turned out that a popular snack sold by the Third Research Facility had been made from the leftover scraps of the Evolutionary Fluid—the so-called “human meat snack.”

The public was shocked and outraged.

After all, the snack was delicious, aromatic, and affordable, so plenty of people had enjoyed it.

Now, there was a growing movement to dismantle Trinity entirely.

The girl, who had been silently watching the TV, switched it off and stood up.

When she opened the curtains, moonlight poured in, illuminating her figure.

“The detective keeps telling me to wait. But how long do I have to wait before I can live under the sun?”

“There will be a day when you stand in the sunlight.”

“I’m sure there will, right?”

The girl, looking slightly uneasy but determined, smiled at the agent, who returned her smile.

Near the canopy sky of the Mini Reaper Garden, there was a flying gingerbread house.

This was the home of the Blue Reapers.

Originally, it had floated on a hot chocolate sea, but to avoid the ever-grinning Golden Reapers, it had taken to the skies.

Inside, all ten Blue Reapers were gathered, peering into a crystal made of bubbles.

Reflected in the crystal was the view of the laundry room in Sehee’s lab.

Inside, the Gray Reaper stood with a bored expression, watching the spinning washing machine.

<Mom, I’m scared!>

One of the Blue Reapers trembled in fear at the sight.

Inside the washing machine were countless Golden Reapers, spinning around.

Somehow, the Gray Reaper had gathered all the Golden Reapers it had bonked with its marshmallow hammer and tossed them into the washing machine.

The Golden Reapers seemed to be enjoying themselves, smiling as they spun around, but to the Blue Reapers, it was a terrifying scene.

Since they weren’t immune to physical damage and were fragile, they’d be in big trouble if they ended up in there!

The Blue Reaper who had been trembling pulled its hat down and continued to shiver, while the others gathered around it for comfort.

Just then, the Gray Reaper turned its gaze toward the Blue Reapers, staring at them as if it knew they were watching.

Startled, the Blue Reapers quickly dissolved the bubble crystal and huddled together, trembling even more.

Deep into the night, at the excavation site of Trinity’s Third Research Facility.

Most people had gone home, but one researcher remained, inspecting the discovered objects.

“What’s this?”

[That’s a headless lizard. Even if it dies, if you throw it into the fire, it’ll come back to life.]

When the researcher pointed to an object and asked, a voice answered from a vintage lamp hanging at his waist.

The researcher hurriedly jotted down notes, scribbling furiously as he continued to walk around the temporary storage area, examining the various Objects excavated from the Third Research Facility.

That’s when he spotted something unusual.

A black, decaying purple hermit crab.

Its pincers had rotted away, and it was lying on its back, weak and dying.

Seeing this Object, the researcher lifted the lamp and asked,

“One last question. What is this hermit crab?”

[That’s a minion of the purple moon.]

The voice from the lamp spoke playfully.

[So, are we making a contract now?]

“No.”

The researcher placed the lamp inside a thick alloy container and sealed it shut.

<Handle with care.>
<Lamp of Temptation.>
<Refer to the report for more details.>