On a late morning, under the warm sunlight, a crowd of Golden Reapers had gathered in the courtyard of Se-hee’s lab.

At the center of the gathering, a woman dressed in a sleek business suit lay on the ground with a contented smile on her face.

Around her, imitating her posture, the Golden Reapers also lay down, pretending to sleep.

Though their eyes were closed, the Golden Reapers would occasionally peek at the woman, adjusting their positions to mimic hers.

For the inspector, who was always exhausted and worn out, this rare moment of rest felt like all the tension in her body was melting away.

Why had she worked so hard in the Association, dealing with absurd tasks just for the sake of promotion?

Lying here, basking in the sun like this, was happiness itself.

In the warmth of the sunlight, surrounded by the Golden Reapers, whose scent seemed to reflect the sun’s radiance, the inspector smiled with satisfaction.

Watching the inspector rest in the courtyard, Se-hee and Yerin finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Wow, that was really close this time, Se-hee unnie.”

“I had a feeling an inspector might come, but I didn’t expect them to show up this quickly. Normally, it would take at least a month after an incident.”

Se-hee glanced down, gently stroking the Golden Reaper looking up at her.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, we avoided any disciplinary action or talk of relocating the Gray Reaper.”

The Golden Reaper tilted its head in confusion, as if it had no idea what Se-hee was talking about.

Finding this reaction adorable, Se-hee couldn’t resist ruffling the Golden Reaper’s hair even more, messing it up as she fondly stroked it.

“So, why did you bring so many Golden Reapers with you?” Se-hee asked, looking curiously at Yerin.

“?”

Yerin responded with a puzzled look, as if asking, “What do you mean?”

“Isn’t the mental contamination level of the Reapers extremely low? If you run a self-diagnosis test, it comes out very mild.”

“Oh… that.”

Se-hee recalled a book titled Object Mental Contamination Self-Diagnosis.

The book was published before mental contamination measuring devices had been invented, and it introduced a method of categorizing contamination into three levels: high, medium, and low.

It had about a 70% accuracy rate, as she remembered.

Of course, once the devices were developed, that method became obsolete.

But before the devices existed, it was considered a fairly accurate approach.

When checking the Golden Reaper’s mental contamination using that method, it always showed an extremely low level.

Se-hee went over the book’s checklist in her mind:

Unexplained memory gaps? None.
A sense of emotional detachment? None.
Inconsistent behavior? None.
Severe headaches when separated from contamination sources? None.
Separation anxiety? Present, but wanting to see cute things is normal, right?

After reviewing each item carefully, everything came out normal.

As expected, the Golden Reapers were cute and safe!

Besides, the mental contamination from the Golden Reapers didn’t induce harmful behavior.

As they continued their conversation, they noticed the inspector getting up from her spot and preparing to leave the courtyard.

The inspector cleared her throat and, with a much more relaxed expression, spoke to Se-hee.

“Ahem, it seems like there are no issues. The Gray Reaper was in place as well. This concludes the inspection.”

With that, the inspector turned and began walking out of Se-hee’s lab.

Oddly enough, something small seemed to be wriggling in the pocket of her suit.

Inside my cozy containment room in Se-hee’s lab.

The Black Reapers, with their mottled gray paint smeared across their bodies, clung to me with cheerful expressions.

When I first encountered these little ones, I was utterly shocked….

After meticulously clearing away the black slime and returning to Se-hee’s lab, I was startled to find a fake occupying my place.

It reminded me of a scene from a movie where someone returns home to find a clone has taken over their life.

I almost let out a yelp, thinking it was an evil Object imitating me to take my place.

Thankfully, the moment the Black Reapers saw me, they quickly dissolved back into their original size and welcomed me warmly, and the misunderstanding ended there.

I lay back on the bed, expertly turning on the TV, and snuggled into the soft blankets.

A warm, cozy feeling spread through my body, and a faint smile of satisfaction tugged at my lips.

As I lay comfortably on the bed, watching TV, mysterious white fluff balls began to float through the air in the containment room.

From those fluffy balls emerged bright, golden faces, smiling cheerfully.

Golden Reapers were flying through the air, laughing as if they were having the time of their lives.

They must be new Mini Reapers acquired from the recent Odaesan incident.

Seeing them float around like that, they likely had some connection to the cloud meat.

Watching the many fluffy white balls floating around made me irrationally angry.

Why didn’t I get any flying abilities this time?

I caught plenty of cloud meat, and judging by the way the kids were flying, it didn’t seem like a body modification was needed.

Though I had destroyed the orange moon and gained some new abilities, none of them had anything to do with flying.

“Why can’t I fly?!”

As I grumbled in frustration, the Golden Reapers began dropping from the sky.

It was as if they were saying, “Mom, don’t be sad,” as they bombarded me with their cute little bodies.

The Black Reapers tilted their heads in confusion and sent a message.

“Mom can’t fly.”

“Can’t fly!”

The Black Reapers seemed to be stating with absolute certainty that I would never be able to fly.

Wait, was this a rebellion?

Were they mocking me?!

“Why can’t I fly? I can absorb the abilities of other Objects. I’ll definitely get the ability!”

“?”

Hearing this, the Black Reapers looked even more confused, tilting their heads further.

Then, they began to clump together, growing larger and larger.

They took on a form similar to the corpse-like beings inside the black orb in the Mini Reaper garden.

Although still ambiguous, their shape became more defined, no longer a vague blurry figure like before.

It had elongated arms, nine eyes, and no legs, as if it were rooted to the ground.

“Mom was never meant to fly.”

The Black Reapers spoke in a tone of finality.

Ugh, the Black Reapers were bullying me!

Feeling dejected, I closed my eyes and spread myself out on the bed, lying there motionless.

The Golden Reapers, unsure of why their mom was acting this way, began to gently stroke my hair, trying to comfort me.

At some point, one of the Golden Reapers climbed onto my face and started patting me lightly.

“Mom! The big sibling is here!”

The big sibling?

Ah, are they talking about the blonde girl who’s with the Black-Clad Agent?

It was amusing that they considered the blonde girl, who was clearly older than the Mini Reapers by at least a year, as their sibling.

At the Golden Reaper’s insistence, I turned into a ghost and floated out of the containment room, spotting the blonde girl and the Black-Clad Agent arriving in Se-hee’s courtyard.

Given the research lab’s scent that attracts the Mini Reapers, it seemed the blonde girl had no trouble entering the facility.

The Black-Clad Agent looked uncomfortable as he glanced around.

“I’d heard it was a mess, but this exceeds my expectations.”

Objects roamed freely through the courtyard.

He couldn’t shake the thought, Can a place like this even be called a lab?

“Well, it’s probably because it’s a place like this that we were able to enter so easily,” the blonde girl remarked, pointing to a corner of the courtyard filled with the sweet scent of hot chocolate.

In the corner, a Red Reaper, who had likely never seen a white anglerfish before, was gleefully playing tag with it.

To the anglerfish, it must have felt like it was being chased by a fire-breathing baby from its owner’s home.

“Well, it looks like they’re having fun, so I suppose it’s fine.”

The blonde girl chuckled, taking a sip from the cup of hot chocolate she was holding.

A group of Mini Reapers crowded around the blonde girl.

“Big sibling!”

“Big!”

“They’re calling me their sibling,” the blonde girl laughed as she watched the adorable Mini Reapers repeating the word “sibling.”

“What do you plan to do next, miss?” the Black-Clad Agent asked calmly.

The blonde girl pressed her lips thoughtfully as she considered.

“I’m not sure. Ever since I met the Gray Reaper, I’ve felt so at ease. My grandfather’s affairs, the Trinity Research Lab, even my parents, who disappeared so suddenly—none of it seems to bother me anymore.”

The girl gently grabbed one of the Golden Reapers, stroking its soft hair as she continued.

“It feels like my heart is filled with the same carefree joy that these little ones have.”

“Perhaps I’ve become something entirely different from a human,” she added quietly, taking another sip of hot chocolate.

“For now, I think I’ll return to the detective office and offer my thanks. After that, I’ll probably just relax here and think about what’s next.”

As she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun, she looked back at the Black-Clad Agent.

“What about you? What will you do?”

The blonde girl gazed up at the man with a slightly anxious expression.

Seeing her expression, the Black-Clad Agent smiled faintly and replied.

“I was as good as dead in the desert. As long as you wish it, miss, I’ll follow you for as long as you need me.”

Hearing this, the blonde girl’s expression turned slightly discontented.

She muttered under her breath, “Are you still saying things like that?”

But the Black-Clad Agent didn’t hear her and continued speaking.

“Besides, I agree with staying at Se-hee’s lab. Since the Gray Reaper’s influence may have caused changes in both of us, it’s worth taking time to observe what happens.”

Although the Black-Clad Agent spoke with a calm, reassuring tone, the blonde girl still had a somewhat pouty expression on her face.