Thud. Thud.

After dealing with Se-ah’s relentless questions in her office, I trudged out, my steps heavy. It was already late evening.

“Oh, it’s night already.”

The inner courtyard, visible through the open window in the hallway outside Se-ah's office, had shifted into the full ambiance of night, with no trace of the sun left.

All this fuss over a few minor issues!

Se-ah is way too strict.

It started with my omission of the first sighting report of the "Black Reaper" and quickly escalated into a barrage of other forgotten reports.

Especially the "Sugar Flamingo" incident—I thought no one would notice, but somehow Se-ah found out that I had been the one to discover it.

Still, Se-ah was much softer today than she used to be.

Se-hee had mentioned that Se-ah’s expression had softened, that she smiled more often, and had become kinder. I had to admit, it felt true.

It seemed like she had gained a new level of understanding and consideration for others.

“Ugh…”

As I stretched and tried to shake off the stiffness in my body, a small shadow flickered in the hallway.

Thud. Thud.

The shadow, only about half the size of an adult, was wobbling as it slowly walked down the hallway with that distinctive gait.

Could it be the Reaper coming back?

Though the steps seemed a bit off, the silhouette of the shadow looked just like a Reaper.

“Reaper?”

I picked up my pace, running down the hall, but when I got there, I was met with a sight slightly different from what I expected.

A group of Black Reapers!

Bathed in the soft moonlight spilling from the courtyard, a procession of Black Reapers filled the hallway, thud, thud walking about.

“Wow!”

The Black Reapers, ranging in size, were walking around cheerfully, bumping into each other and rolling on the ground.

They moved in clusters, big and small, just like at the colosseum.

There were tiny ones, formed by two Reapers combining, and larger ones, the size of the Gray Reaper!

The most popular size seemed to be around 1 meter, like the Gray Reaper. But without any clear purpose, they often tumbled and fell over, unable to keep their balance.

Whenever they fell, the combined Reapers scattered, breaking apart into palm-sized versions that littered the floor, laughing as they playfully tussled with each other.

Their carefree laughter was so contagious that I couldn’t help but smile along with them.

With a grin still on my face, I pulled out my phone and started recording the procession of Black Reapers as they marched in from the courtyard. One of the Reapers spotted me and began waddling in my direction.

A Reaper twice the size of a regular one, looking at me with both hands outstretched, approached.

Its tiny palms opened wide, making a “grab, grab” motion, as if asking to be picked up.

Seeing that gesture, I carefully lifted the Reaper into my hands.

It was warm.

And unlike the usual Mini Reapers, it had a satisfying weight to it, filling my hands completely and giving me a strange sense of contentment.

As I rubbed my cheek against the Reaper, it bared its adorable shark-like teeth and giggled happily.

The Reaper gently grabbed my fingers, rubbing them against its own cheek, or playfully nibbling on them with its tiny, harmless teeth.

Beep.

While I was petting the Reaper, it let out a sound of contentment, almost like a baby bird.

When I looked up, I saw that all the Black Reapers playing in the hallway had turned to stare at me.

With a bright smile, I opened my arms wide and said, “Come on, all of you!”

In an instant, the Reapers rushed toward me, enveloping me in a cocoon of Black Reapers.

Inside the underground temple, guided by the orange moon.

As I approached the brazier, the orange pearl floating above it began to glow softly.

The light from the pearl blended with the light coming down from the mosaic ceiling, softly illuminating the dark underground temple.

But as the light grew stronger, the thick pillars of the temple, densely arranged, cast deeper shadows in every direction.

Looking at the long-extinguished brazier and the floating orange pearl, an image of its original form suddenly popped into my mind.

Back then, white flames roared up toward the ceiling, and the orange pearl sat proudly above them, overlooking everything.

But now, reality looked nothing like that.

The brazier was cold and lifeless, and the orange pearl had lost its former brilliance.

The pearl, floating above the brazier, had a rough, concrete-like surface, and it was stained with black contamination.

From the corrupted pearl, droplets of black goo oozed down into the brazier below with a sickening splatter.

As I watched the pearl tremble as if in pain, I recalled the condition for its destruction.

"Drain its regenerative power."

The conditions for destruction were the same as those for the anglerfish subspecies.

Indeed, creatures corrupted by the black goo had much simpler destruction requirements.

Squelch. Squelch.

Just as I confirmed the conditions for destruction, the sound of something slimy echoed through the temple.

From the shadows cast by the pillars, black cloud fish began crawling, having lost their ability to fly. They now walked slowly on grotesque, swollen legs.

Those legs looked like they belonged to a waterlogged corpse, swollen and covered in patches of hair.

Attaching such filthy legs to the once-cute cloud fish made them appear twice as hideous.

Grrrk.

As black goo dripped from their mouths, I stretched out one hand toward the approaching cloud fish.

My right hand turned pitch black, and with a snap, I grasped the air.

A black sphere formed in midair, beginning to suck everything in the temple into it and erase them.

The mosaic attached to the ceiling.

The thick temple pillars.

The broken statue of the Black Reaper.

The extinguished brazier.

The cloud fish emerging from the shadows, dripping with black goo.

And even the contaminated pearl.

When I opened my hand, the black sphere disappeared, leaving nothing behind in the temple.

Even the ceiling had been sucked away, and soft moonlight now streamed into the underground temple from the open sky above.

Looking up from the completely ruined underground temple, I saw beams of silver light shining down on me like spotlights.

In the sky above, various moons appeared before me: a gray moon, a red moon, a blue moon, an indigo moon, and though it wasn’t visible yet, I could still sense the orange moon.

The thick wall of fog surrounding me, like fortress walls, began to lose its strength and quickly dissipated.

As the fog dispersed, the cloud fish that had lived within it scattered across the sky.

The river of cloud fish that had adorned the sky like the Milky Way was also slowly dissolving.

It marked the end of the cloud fish crisis.

Late at night, countless supplies were being transported to the grounds of Trinity’s First Research Lab.

Thick containment walls and construction materials designed for Object isolation were being delivered.

The head of the First Research Lab stood by the tall windows of his office, watching as trucks entered the facility nonstop.

[Director, the materials are arriving as scheduled.]

"Load all the materials into the prepared containers. We must be ready to move out the moment the fog over Mount Odae clears, so ensure everything is in order."

[Yes, Director.]

The head researcher put his phone in his pocket and slowly paced his office, mentally reviewing the plan.

"I feel uneasy. Very uneasy."

The plan had been perfect. The Gray Reaper had been eliminated from the equation, yet the sense of unease wouldn’t go away.

He tried to convince himself that his anxiety stemmed from the fact that they were rushing into this without sufficient experiments or verification.

Given that the Gray Reaper seemed to be collecting moons, there was no other choice.

Even if further research proved that the Evolution Fluid was humanity’s last hope, without the moons, humanity was doomed.

The preparations to establish a secret research lab in Mount Odae had already been made.

Every precaution had been taken to ensure that no one would notice—not the media, nor the associations of nations around the world.

Most importantly, the Gray Reaper mustn’t become aware of it.

While other labs treated the Gray Reaper as little more than a beast, the head researcher had formed a different opinion after studying the notes from the Third Research Lab.

"The Gray Reaper is an adversary with human-level intelligence."

It was using this intelligence to destroy humanity’s last hopes—both the moons and the Evolution Fluid.

It must never realize what they were doing.

That’s why they had devised a plan to minimize external exposure.

The plan was to contain the Evolution Fluid with specialized containment walls and carry out the research as quickly as possible in the secret lab.

As soon as the orange moon was neutralized, they would move in and set up the lab.

Once the black goo’s harmful effects were neutralized, humanity could finally free itself from the Objects.

And that achievement would belong to him alone, the head researcher thought with a small smile.

The more he envisioned the future rewards, the more his feelings of unease began to fade.

[Director, the fog over Mount Odae has been confirmed to have cleared!]

And just as his heart began to settle, the awaited moment came through over the radio.

“Move out immediately.”

The head researcher gave the order over the radio and watched from the window as the vehicles began to depart.

"The weather’s nice."

Tearing his gaze away from the departing trucks, he looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful night sky above.

It felt as though the universe itself was celebrating humanity’s entry into a new chapter.

A sky free of clouds.

A few cloud fish swimming gracefully across it.

And then, reflected in the window, a yellow flame blazing brightly.

“!”

Startled, the head researcher spun around and saw the Gray Reaper, standing at his desk, casually flipping through the Third Research Lab’s notes.

The Reaper’s gaze shifted from the notes to the head researcher.

Its expression was one of mild irritation—and anger.

Clap. Clap.

Two claps.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

Three heavy stomps.

And with that, everything began to collapse.

The building.

The Trinity Research Lab.

And the head researcher’s dreams.