The security room of Sehee Research Center gave off a dreary atmosphere, as there were no windows connected to the outside for security reasons.

In that space, filled with numerous surveillance camera feeds, the security staff were conversing while watching one particular screen.

"No way, a kid who sleeps so peacefully like that wouldn’t do such a thing. You’re just messing with me because I didn’t see it, right?"

"No, seriously. You don’t believe me? It really happened."

On the screen they were zooming in on was the image of a baby Reaper, with navy-blue skin, peacefully sleeping, breathing softly.

Its serene, sleeping form looked so calm and peaceful that it resembled a sleeping angel.

"Come on, a kid with such an innocent expression taunted the camera?"

"I’m telling you, it’s true. Why would I lie about something like this?"

The senior employee, as if remembering something, pulled up a saved video on the screen and said,

"Now that I think about it, I don’t know why I’m even trying to convince you. We can just rewind the footage and see…."

However, no matter how much they rewound the footage, all they could see was the baby Reaper, sleeping soundly. There were no unusual behaviors to be found.

"Huh, well that’s odd. It’s like something out of an Object incident. Did I imagine it?"

"See? I told you. This new baby Reaper is harmless and quiet."

The junior employee stood up with a grin and walked over to where they had hidden some cup noodles in the security room.

"I'm hungry. Want a cup of noodles too, senior?"

"Sure."

While preparing two cups of noodles they had brought from the break room, the junior said,

"Recently, it feels like the Blue Reapers have been acting a bit differently. It’s like they’ve been getting a bit closer to us, if that makes sense."

"Really? I don’t really have much interaction with the Blue Reapers, so I wouldn’t know."

"It’s definitely different. Not just me—some people say that when they get home, they find their apples peeled for them and stuff."

The junior returned with two steaming cups of noodles.

Taking the noodles the junior handed over, the senior said,

"This familiar instant noodle smell. Despite the fact that the lab is making a lot of money lately, we still get stuck with these cheap cup noodles."

As they ate their noodles, the security staff exchanged various stories.

Tales of Blue Reapers giving out chocolates.

Rumors of a giant gray Reaper statue made of gold in the basement of Sehee Research Center.

None of the stories were particularly meaningful.

"Well, I’ll go take out the trash."

The junior gathered up the remnants of the cup noodles and put them in a plastic bag, stepping out of the security room.

Left alone in the security room, filled with the lingering smell of noodles, the senior began to feel drowsy as the post-lunch sleepiness started creeping in.

With their hand resting on their chin, they stared blankly at the CCTV footage, waiting for their shift to end—the posture of a diligent Sehee Research Center employee.

Just then, something changed on the baby Reaper’s screen.

The baby Reaper had cracked its eyes open slightly, and its gaze met the senior’s.

"Ah!"

The senior, startled awake, pushed back their chair and stood up. The baby Reaper's eyes opened wider, as if mocking them, with an expression that seemed to tease.

Beep—

Then, it stuck out its tongue and made a “bleh” face.

I knew I wasn’t imagining it!

Right on cue, the door to the security room opened, and the junior walked in.

"Senior? Why did you suddenly jump up like that?"

But by the time the junior returned after dealing with the trash, the mischievous expression and teasing tongue of the baby Reaper had already disappeared.

From a dizzying height, the black, oily expanse of land stretched out endlessly to the horizon.

Its glossy surface rippled slowly in a menacing rhythm, like the breathing of a slumbering beast.

In the midst of this dark, sticky sea, a herd of pigs cloaked in flames trampled across the muck, each step burning through the black ooze.

Ahead of the pigs loomed a swirling, gaping hole, vast and deep like the entrance to an abyss, swallowing all light into its dark depths.

The entrance to the abyss, toward which the pigs marched, looked identical to the one seen from the helicopter, but its color was even darker, more polluted.

The sight of the flaming pig horde relentlessly advancing toward the unreachable pit evoked apocalyptic imagery, as if hinting at the end of days.

The pigs' march, fueled by malice and hatred toward humanity, had a clear objective.

An invasion of Earth, and an attack on humankind.

Yerin’s hotel was near that pit, so I couldn’t just leave things as they were.

The target was the lead pig, the largest of them all.

I reached out with both hands, intending to tear the space apart, but something unexpected began to happen.

It was as if the universe itself was alive and reading my intentions—the space around me started to twist and collapse.

A black sphere, continuously swallowing light, formed in the air and ripped the space apart.

The pigs that had once filled the field couldn’t even resist, as they were sucked into the black sphere, consumed in a vortex of blood and pain.

Even the giant pig couldn’t withstand the force of the black sphere and was shattered into pieces.

But in the world of Objects, victories are never so easily won.

Since I hadn’t met the conditions for true destruction, the pigs weren’t dead—their torn flesh began to knit back together, reviving them.

The enormous pig, which had lost most of its body, now dripped molten lava instead of blood as it looked up at me.

The smaller pigs, also revived, started to stare at me as well.

[!!!!!]

The giant pig opened its mouth wide and let out a bellow, but I couldn’t understand what it was saying.

It was a language I had heard on Earth a few times before, but now I couldn’t comprehend it.

Why couldn’t I understand it now?

Confused, I looked down at my body, only to be greeted by a form unfamiliar to me.

A body blackened and burned.

Logs burning white-hot in the void.

A vague, blurry silhouette.

A colossal stature that seemed to reach the heavens.

And a body that had long since died, both flesh and soul.

As I cast my shadow over the black sludge below, I realized that I had become one with it, looking down at the pig horde.

What is this? What’s going on?

As soon as I recognized that my body had changed, my senses expanded outward at a dizzying speed.

Across the entire continent, beyond the planet, even to the edges of the universe.

Omnipotence.

Yes, I could feel it—this overwhelming power.

But just as I was about to be consumed by this intoxicating sensation, a faint voice broke through.

"Mom, please hurry…."

It was the pained voice of the Golden Reaper!

I could hear the voices of the children waiting for me.