When I opened my eyes, I saw a brick wall faintly glowing with light.

Beyond the cracks in the bricks, flames flickered and danced.

The ceiling was draped in red, as if covered by a cloth of fire, and tendrils of black smoke swirled upward, twining like dancers.

The air was thick, so acrid that a human would have suffocated in an instant. The smoke was so dense it had the texture of cream, filling my vision and making it hard to see.

Struggling to turn my head in this suffocating haze, I saw the Golden Reapers sprawled around me in a circle.

Except for the extinguished glow of their logs, they looked as if they were peacefully asleep.

They had chosen to fall into slumber without reviving, worried that reviving in the garden would place a burden on my logs.

Grateful for their consideration, I raised my hand to gently stroke one of the Golden Reapers, but that’s when I became fully aware of my condition.

My arm felt weighed down like never before, and when I forced my fingers to move, they crumbled like sand.

My skin had become fine particles, like dry sand, slowly scattering.

I was on the verge of death.

My logs were almost completely depleted.

This level of exhaustion... It was the worst I'd been since my encounter with Sehee.

Even as I tried to stroke the Golden Reapers or transfer logs to them, my hand crumbled to dust, and I didn’t have much left to give.

I had no choice but to lie there in a daze, waiting for my logs to replenish.

If I tried to move my arm, my wrist would snap, and if I took a step, my ankle would shatter.

So I just lay there, staring at the slowly burning ceiling.

Luckily, my logs were refilling rather quickly.

Just like during the Central Research Center incident, negative emotions like fear and confusion were pouring in from all around me.

Something must have been happening outside.

I wondered if Yerin was okay.

As I worried about Yerin in the ominous atmosphere, I soon felt that my logs had restored to a certain degree.

Slowly, I sat up and gathered the Golden Reapers, who were scattered around me, into my arms.

I transferred logs to them, bit by bit.

Like a flickering fluorescent light, their bodies started to blink and gradually regain their glow.

'It’s Mom!'

The Golden Reapers, who had come to their senses, buried their faces in my arms, rubbing against me as if they hadn’t seen me in ages.

'It’s really Mom!'

Yes, yes, Mom is here.

I hugged them tightly, responding to their affection.

I really almost died this time.

I nearly died in an unfamiliar world, with an unfamiliar body.

Just the thought of it made me feel like I could accomplish anything, but the energy efficiency of my logs was far worse than I expected….

It must have been because I was forcing a body that had already died to move.

What kind of world was that, anyway?

Could it have something to do with those Zero-Level Relics?

Many questions came to mind, but for now, they didn’t seem to matter.

As I stood up, the Golden Reapers on the floor looked up at me with worried expressions.

Some of them seemed to think I might lose my logs and die at any moment, clutching tightly to my hair, refusing to let go.

It’s okay. Don’t worry.

I conveyed my reassurance and set off.

Step by step.

Like a family of ducks on a journey, we walked energetically, heading toward the surface.

The maze-like path and the thick smoke that obscured visibility weren’t much of an issue for me or the Golden Reapers.

Step by step.

The Golden Reapers, initially worried, began to regain their usual bright expressions as they walked beside me, enjoying the journey.

I felt like a kindergarten teacher, leading the Golden Reapers, until we reached the surface—where a grand disaster greeted us.

Though it was late at night, it was as bright as day.

But instead of sunlight, a sinister crimson light flooded the streets.

The ethereal barrier that stretched across the horizon was burning red, flickering like a massive wave.

A crimson light flooded in through the window.

When I woke up, the atmosphere around me was filled with unfamiliar shouting, so chaotic that it seeped into the quiet of my hotel room.

Peeking outside, the night streets were no longer enveloped in darkness. Instead, a red glow blanketed everything.

It flickered like flames, but its scale was beyond imagination.

I pulled back the curtains on the opposite side to confirm, and a wave of intense heat hit me in the face.

Beyond the heat was a massive wall of fire towering into the sky.

It swayed like it could collapse at any moment—a vast, fiery wall, stretching as far as I could see.

Come to think of it, the Reaper had already disappeared from my hotel room, and the many Golden Reapers that had been around me were reduced to just one.

The last remaining Golden Reaper clung to my face with a deeply worried expression.

I could feel its determination not to let go under any circumstances.

“We need to leave immediately!”

At that moment, a secretary with a very urgent expression burst into the room.

Noticing the absence of the Reaper, they grabbed my hand and led me outside the hotel.

“We must leave quickly.”

The secretary handed me a motorcycle helmet and helped me onto the backseat of a motorcycle in the hotel parking lot.

“Hold on tight.”

As we left the hotel on the motorcycle, a sound like the sky collapsing echoed above us.

The ethereal barrier, burning under its own weight, was beginning to crumble.

Through the wall of fire, giant pigs began to fall into the research complex, shaking the ground.

Amid this hellish scene, the secretary raced the motorcycle forward at full speed.

Their goal was clear: to get as far away from the collapsing barrier as possible, to somewhere safer.

The streets were already filled with abandoned vehicles, and corpses littered the ground.

People burned to death.

Others had their brains sucked dry.

The pigs, breathing fire, boldly flaunted their presence, burning people alive.

And among the chaos, ghost-like Objects roamed the streets, their presence only discernible by the corpses they left behind.

In the midst of this nightmare, the secretary skillfully maneuvered the motorcycle, weaving through the debris of a crumbling world.

The motorcycle danced through the falling rubble, deftly dodging the fire and pursuing pigs.

It felt like a scene straight out of a movie—a thrilling escape, and for a moment, it seemed like we might actually make it.

But fate is always unpredictable.

With a bone-jarring impact, the motorcycle collided with an invisible obstacle, sending both the secretary and me flying onto the asphalt.

Thud. Thud.

I blacked out for a moment, but the sound of the Golden Reaper tapping on my helmet brought me back to consciousness.

We had rolled quite a distance on the asphalt. The motorcycle, now completely wrecked, was far away, and the secretary lay motionless nearby, seemingly unconscious.

“Ugh.”

A sharp pain stabbed my side.

It felt like something had broken.

As I groaned, the Golden Reaper looked up at me with a worried expression.

It seemed like my ribs were broken, but overall, I was in decent shape.

Considering how fast we had been going, I was lucky to be alive.

The Golden Reaper must have protected me.

Just then, a pig spotted us, and like a predator stalking its prey, began to slowly approach.

Thud. Thud.

The heavy footsteps echoed like the sound of inevitable death drawing nearer.

I couldn’t run, not with broken bones.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, the Golden Reaper bravely rushed forward to protect us.

The massive pig swelled its belly, preparing to spew fire.

The air trembled with heat, and the Golden Reaper charged forward, determined to block the flames with its small body.

At that moment, the space around us tore open.

The pig, made of molten lava and fire, didn’t roar like thunder. Instead, it met its end in a deep, grave silence.

The once menacing, unstoppable pig was torn in two, its form collapsing into a scattered mess of flames and smoke.

Amidst the torn pig, glowing yellow lights flickered.

Beyond the split pig, a silhouette appeared, shimmering in the distance.

Piercing eyes glowing in the dark.

Long, flowing hair.

A small stature and a burning heart.

And finally, gray, soft skin.

“!”

The Reaper had appeared, leading a host of Golden Reapers in tow.

“Reaper!”

Ignoring the pain in my side, I limped toward the Reaper.

As I saw their face, a wave of relief washed over me, and the reality that I had survived finally hit me.

Yerin limped over and, with a face full of joy, hugged me tightly, nuzzling her face into mine.

“Reaper, are you hurt anywhere?”

She looked down at me with a worried expression.

“You look more withered than usual. And your light is much weaker…”

Gently stroking my lifeless cheeks, Yerin gazed into the flames in my eyes with concern.

But from my perspective, Yerin seemed far more injured.

Her body was covered in scratches, and her side looked particularly painful.

Compared to that, I had only run out of logs.

After tearing open the space to save Yerin, the logs that had slowly been refilling were depleted once again.

But now, those empty logs were quickly refilling.

Worry, relief, kindness, affection.

Every kind of emotion was flowing from Yerin, restoring me.

Perhaps it was due to the worry, or the fact that she had just survived a deadly situation, but Yerin’s log supply was stronger than ever.

As I turned my head from Yerin’s embrace, I saw the chaotic street.

Ghostly Objects in the sky, pigs on the ground.

And in the distance, the cause of it all—a giant shadow loomed over everything.

The king of the pigs, radiating an overwhelming presence.

Its face broke through the thick smoke, staring down at me.