When I woke up in the morning, a strange sound echoed through the isolation room.

"Kihihing."

It was the sound of a cotton candy dog being devoured by the mini reapers.

A round body made of pure white cotton candy, with shiny, hard chocolate chip eyes and nose. It looked like a well-groomed pet made out of cotton candy.

For some reason, the mini reapers seemed slightly angry, vigorously munching on the cotton candy dog.

I gathered up the golden reapers that were biting the dog with such determination and lifted them.

"Why are you doing this?"

Upon asking, I received a multitude of answers.

"Bad dog!" "It attacked a human!" "It tried to destroy Mama's golden statue!"

As I listened to the fragments of explanation from the golden reapers, I realized what was going on.

Ah, so that's the 'cute dog'...

I quickly understood why all this was happening.

The 'cute dog,' with its anger management issues, had probably gotten mad and done something reckless.

Looking at the poor dog being chewed up by the golden reapers, with a pitiful expression, a fun idea suddenly popped into my head.

Hehe.

Just getting eaten? That's too mild.

These kids were so kind-hearted, still not quite skilled in pranks yet.

Such mild punishment wouldn't do.

I got up, looked down at the mini reapers, and conveyed my intention.

"I have the perfect punishment for the cotton candy dog."

The mini reapers tilted their heads but quickly backed away from the cute dog, understanding my intent.

As I picked up the cotton candy dog and smiled mischievously, the dog trembled with fear.

I immediately dropped the cotton candy dog into a large tub of water.

The dog flailed frantically, trying to escape the water, but its limbs quickly dissolved, making it impossible to climb out.

"Kihing!"

Its front paw barely managed to grab the edge of the tub, but it soon melted away, crumbling down again.

The cotton candy dog stared at its crumbling paw, looking sorrowful as it slowly sank back into the water.

Though it constantly regenerated, the speed at which it melted in the water was much faster, making it impossible to keep up.

The sight of it melting all over while regenerating left the dog looking like a half-dissolved zombie, struggling in the water.

"Kihihing."

And eventually, the cotton candy dog, with only its head remaining, let out a pitiful whine.

The chocolate chips on its face slightly melted, making them look like tears.

"What do you think? Fun, right?"

But when I turned around, I noticed that the golden reapers were watching with slightly sympathetic expressions, as if they felt sorry for the dog.

Huh?

In Sehee's lab, a rare meeting was taking place in the conference room.

On the whiteboard in the room, it read:

"Emergency Cute Dog Countermeasure Meeting."

They had gathered to discuss how to deal with the unfortunate situation of the cute dog turning into a cotton candy dog.

Kim Jungroe was the first to speak.

"Fortunately, there were no damages from the 'cute dog's' escape. We've also secured confidentiality agreements from the workers."

The workers, who must have been quite startled, had quickly signed the agreements with smiles on their faces.

Jungroe had thought it would be difficult to get them to sign, but the workers were surprisingly cooperative.

"That's a relief. If word got out, the public outcry would be much worse than during the Seoul lab incident."

Sehee nodded in relief.

Jungroe turned the page of the report and continued.

"First, we should punish the staff responsible for opening the isolation room to prevent this from happening again."

Sehee, however, looked uneasy.

"Hmm, but there’s no need for harsh punishment. After all, no one was harmed."

Perhaps it was because Sehee herself was known for her lax work habits, but she seemed against any serious punishment.

Or maybe she was worried she could be next on the chopping block.

"Then, maybe just a pay cut..."

Jungroe was reluctantly agreeing when Seoah interrupted.

"Absolutely not!"

Rubbing her temples as if she had a headache, she continued.

"We can't let this slide with just a pay cut. First, we need to redo the entire security training. We'll discuss the level of punishment later."

Then, Seoah brought up a more pressing issue.

"The real problem is that the 'cute dog' is missing."

With a serious expression, she laid out the facts.

"The cute dog usually finds about five objects a month. If that number drops, there’s no doubt the Association will start an audit."

Though the cute dog was managed by a private lab, it was a crucial part of Seoul’s defense against objects.

Faced with an unsolvable problem, the room fell into a tense silence.

"Ah!"

Sehee, who had been scowling in frustration, suddenly let out a shout as if she had an idea.

"We just need to do what we did last time."

"Director, do you have a plan?"

Jungroe asked, hopeful, while Seoah noticed something strange in Sehee’s words.

Last time? Was there a similar incident before?

As Seoah pondered, Sehee spoke confidently.

"Let’s bring the cotton candy dog and paint it red!"

"What?"

Both Jungroe and Seoah looked at her as if she had just spouted nonsense, causing Sehee to shrink back, sulking into the corner of the room.

"Yerin agreed to it before..." "We succeeded once before too!"

Though countless words swirled in Sehee’s mind, she kept her mouth shut, knowing the issue with the gray reaper was still a secret.

The meeting continued, but no unusual solutions emerged.

"Knock, knock."

Just as the group was about to settle on reporting the truth as quickly as possible, there was a knock at the door.

Yerin entered with a bright expression.

"The cotton candy dog can track objects too!"

It seemed the cotton candy dog had started barking at objects just like the cute dog.

With that news, the meeting came to a close.

With the "cute dog" situation resolved, things at the lab returned to peaceful days.

The reaper wasn’t acting out, and none of the other objects at Sehee’s lab were causing any issues.

So peaceful.

I lay comfortably in the reaper’s isolation room, holding its small hand.

Squish.

When I pressed the soft palm of the reaper’s hand, its fingers curled slightly. Watching its tiny fingers wriggle was so entertaining that I couldn’t stop pressing it—it was an irresistibly charming hand.

Aside from me, there were other visitors in the reaper’s room.

"Alright, who gets it?"

A young girl, surrounded by golden and black reapers, held a spoonful of pudding.

Smiling sweetly, she looked around at the mini reapers, who were eagerly waiting with their mouths open like baby birds.

After some deliberation, she picked one of the golden reapers and offered the spoon.

Nom nom.

The golden reaper, delighted with its bite of pudding, beamed happily.

Judging by its reaction, it must have been homemade pudding.

Meanwhile, the girl’s older sister, who seemed to be the prisoner, was poking the fluffy white goblin with her finger, writing something in her notebook.

Recently, this prisoner had been visiting the reaper more frequently.

At first, she would talk to the gray reaper, but recently, she had switched to observing and analyzing the mini reapers, the gray reaper, and the white goblin.

But something strange had been bothering me.

The mini reapers adored almost all kinds of humans, yet they showed no interest in this prisoner.

Especially the golden reapers, who usually ran to greet new people with bright smiles, were indifferent.

Was it because she was a prisoner?

But from what I heard, this prisoner hadn’t committed intentional murders to the extent that the reapers would avoid her.

It almost felt like they were treating her as if she were an object.

Could it be that the prisoner wasn’t human?

Based on how the mini reapers, who almost always showered affection on humans, were reacting, it didn’t seem impossible.