As soon as we heard that the evacuation order had been lifted, we turned the cart around and headed back to James City.

"Do you think the Reaper is okay?"

I spoke to the Golden Reaper in my palm, but it just smiled innocently, as if not understanding, and gently patted my cheek.

As we returned on the path we had left, what greeted us were collapsed buildings and destroyed roads.

James City was nearly half-destroyed.

"It’s going to take a long time to restore this," James lamented as he drove the cart, looking at the ruined city, already dreading the upcoming expenses.

At first glance, everything from the shattered roads to the buildings didn’t seem like ordinary structures.

The cross-sections of the buildings showed layers of different colors, and beneath the asphalt roads were countless metal cubes embedded.

These were probably facilities designed to deal with Objects.

As we passed through the half-destroyed city and arrived at the entrance to the wall, people in hazmat suits were blocking the way, putting up caution tape.

In the center of the caution-taped area was the wreckage of a tall building that had been cut cleanly in half.

And at the very top of that wreckage, looking up at the sky, was the Reaper.

"Reaper!"

I called out in excitement, and the Reaper looked down at me before appearing next to me in a blink.

I immediately lifted the Reaper up and hugged it, replenishing my reserves of its soft and fragrant essence.

As I squished its soft cheeks, I said, "Reaper, I missed you!"

The Reaper’s expression was one of disbelief, as if wondering why I was acting like this when only a few minutes had passed.

While the Gray Reaper and Yerin were reuniting, James was looking up at the wall, which had done its duty.

Though it was cracked in various places, shattered like a broken glass cup, the wall of James City still held its shape.

It was almost as if it was expressing the Deputy Mayor’s firm resolve.

A staff member approached James and delivered some news.

"The Deputy Mayor has been confirmed alive, but there are concerns about mental contamination."

Following the staff member, James went to meet the Deputy Mayor in a makeshift containment facility for isolating Objects.

Despite the concern of mental contamination, the Deputy Mayor seemed relatively intact.

James, seeing him sitting calmly with his eyes closed in the provided chair, pressed the communication button in the containment room and spoke.

"You’re lucky to be alive."

"Yeah, I survived by a miracle."

Hearing James’s words, the Deputy Mayor opened his eyes and responded nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.

Though the Deputy Mayor’s voice over the speaker was calm, his eyes had a strange glint, a kind of madness that James couldn’t quite place.

It didn’t match the rational man the Deputy Mayor had always been.

That must be why they suspected mental contamination.

After a brief conversation, James left the room.

Returning to where the Gray Reaper was, James saw Yerin trying to catch the Reaper’s antennae with her mouth as its hair swayed gently.

James tore his gaze away from the irresistibly charming antennae of the Gray Reaper and said, "We’ll have to postpone the city tour. I’m sure you were looking forward to it, but in this state, it’ll take at least six months to get things back in order."

"Oh… Then should we just head back to Korea with the Reaper?"

Noticing the slight disappointment on Yerin’s face, James added, "If you really want to explore, you can visit the research labs by the Rocky Mountain Wall. That area is densely packed with labs like James City, and since there are no civilians, it should be easy to get permission for the Gray Reaper to enter."

Yerin, hugging the Gray Reaper, looked as though she was deep in thought.

"You don’t have to decide right away. Take some time to rest and think it over."

With that, James led Yerin and the group to the cart.

"It’s late, so rest at the lodging, and we’ll meet again later."

However, James didn’t get on the cart, instead summoning a staff member and instructing them to send the group to a nearby hotel.

"James, aren’t you coming with us?"

"Of course not. The city’s a mess. The mayor can’t afford to rest."

James watched the cart head toward the hotel before turning and walking back toward the wall.

Sehee Research Institute’s laundry room.

One of the washing machines had broken down, and as the director, I had no choice but to come check it out.

Normally, I wouldn’t have needed to come for something as trivial as a mechanical issue, but since it involved the Reapers, I had to see it for myself.

When I arrived at this rarely visited part of the facility and looked inside the washing machine, I found the cause of the problem.

It was the Golden Reaper, smiling brightly.

The carefree, cheerful Golden Reaper was sitting inside the washing machine, peering out through the transparent door.

Tap, tap.

The Golden Reaper tapped on the transparent washing machine door, smiling, as if asking me to turn it on.

Hmm.

I’d been shocked before when I saw the Reapers putting the Golden Reapers into the washing machine via the internal CCTV, but maybe they weren’t tormenting them—perhaps it was just a game?

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to press the button.

I opened the washing machine door and reached in to pull the Golden Reaper out, but it clung to the inside of the machine, not wanting to leave.

The cute little Golden Reaper’s arms trembled as it stubbornly refused to come out.

Forcing it out seemed impossible, so I had no choice but to use the Gray Reaper Pudding that every Sehee Research Institute employee was required to carry.

Pulling out the pudding and shaking it in front of the Golden Reaper’s eyes, I saw it stare at it intently, like a cat watching a toy.

As I peeled back the wrapper and lifted a small spoonful, the pudding wobbled slightly, revealing its soft texture.

The Golden Reaper, who had been hiding in the washing machine, was suddenly standing on my lap, holding out its tiny hands.

Its cute little mouth opened wide, like a baby bird, asking for the pudding.

Its face was so carefree and innocent that I couldn’t help but feel a bit envious, making me want to play a prank.

Come to think of it, I often saw the Reaper playing cute pranks with the Golden Reapers, maybe it’s the same feeling?

Putting them in the washing machine would be too much, so I’ll just tease it with the pudding.

I held the pudding spoon just out of the Golden Reaper’s reach.

As it lunged for the spoon with its mouth wide open, I pulled it farther away, and eventually, it plopped down in defeat.

The Golden Reaper was so cute!

When I finally extended the spoon again, the Golden Reaper approached cautiously, its expression wary.

But just as it was about to bite the pudding, I pulled it back again.

The Golden Reaper, now with a slightly sad look, gazed up at me.

It looked as if it was asking, "Are you not going to give it to me?"

Its teary eyes seemed to say, "If you don’t want to give it to me, that’s fine!"

Even though it couldn’t speak, I felt like I could understand everything just by looking at its expression.

"Sorry for teasing you!"

In the end, I felt so bad for teasing it that I quietly fed it the pudding.

Nom, nom, nom.

The Golden Reaper, now happily munching on the pudding with a blissful expression, looked like it had never been sad in the first place.

After all, it’s much better to see it happy than to tease it.

Near James City, in the heart of a nearby satellite city, stood a luxury hotel.

Though the hotel had always had a prime location, James went ahead and rented the entire place for us.

Yerin, exhausted, fell into a deep sleep as soon as she hit the large, soft king-size bed.

The bed was covered in Golden Reapers, all curled up around Yerin, who held them tightly in her arms, smiling happily in her sleep.

After watching her for a while, I turned to look out at the dark hotel nightscape.

Looking down, I could see James Research Institute staff controlling the area around the empty hotel.

It was time to return to the Mini Reaper Garden.

I’d left enough Golden Reapers with Yerin for the journey back to America.

Now, it was time to use my newfound powers to have some fun.

Hehe.

Inside the Mini Reaper Garden stood the only structure in the area.

The Witch’s Gingerbread House, where the Blue Reapers lived.

It was a sturdy house, magically woven together from sweets by the Blue Reapers.

The magical house sailed across the sea of hot chocolate.

Inside the gingerbread house, which was anchored on the sea of hot chocolate, a gathering of Blue Reapers was taking place.

Whisper, whisper.

The Blue Reapers huddled together, exchanging emotions and intentions.

The topic of this gathering was ‘humans.’

They were sharing stories about humans, weak as they were, who had tried to save them.

The other Blue Reapers, hearing these stories, congratulated the storyteller with envious expressions.

To interact with a human!

For a shy Blue Reaper, that was an incredibly difficult thing to do.

No matter how attached they were to their chosen human, they usually watched from afar.

But the story began to grow more and more exaggerated.

"I… I even lay down and rested with them!"

And the tale started to snowball into outright lies.

"I cut up an apple and fed it to them!"

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Before long, the Blue Reaper telling the story was being hailed as the bravest of them all.

As the Blue Reapers reveled in their stories of bonding with humans, a dark shadow flickered over the gingerbread house.

It was the shadow of revenge, unresolved anger—a grudge.

The Gray Reaper, who had not forgotten the marshmallow hammer incident.

The Blue Reapers, unaware of the impending threat, continued to chatter, lost in their stories of affection for humans.